On 30 September 1942, STORIS was officially commissioned as a cutter of the U.S. Coast Guard. She had been laid down in 1941 at the Toledo Shipbuilding Company, her design and early service life influenced by the Second World War that was raging in Europe and across the Pacific. Who could have known that this new ship would go on to become one of the most historic and accomplished cutters ever to serve the Coast Guard? STORIS’ military service career of over 64 years in active, front-line service is exceptional. She was the very last of the ships that served on the Greenland Patrol of World War II and she was the last cutter to have participated in the official Bering Sea Patrol of the Alaskan Territory. She was the flagship of the historic Summer 1957 mission to chart a deep-draft route through the Northwest Passage and Canadian Arctic and when she reached the waters near Greenland that she patrolled during WWII, she became the first American vessel to circumnavigate North America. STORIS was Queen of the Coast Guard fleet from 1991 to 2007 and wore her gold numbers with pride. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 31 December 2012, STORIS was historically significant at a national level.
Instead of supporting the preservation of this great ship, the government allowed her to be destroyed. We deserve to know who was responsible, how this was allowed to happen and why.
Photo: STORIS underway on the Maumee River in Toledo.
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