USCGC Maple (WLB-207) is a Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was based at Sitka, Alaska for 16 years and is currently homeported at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Her primary mission is maintaining aids to navigation, but she also supports search and rescue, law enforcement, oil spill response, and other Coast Guard missions. Construction and characteristics Maple was built by the Marinette Marine Corporation on the Menominee River in Wisconsin. She was launched on December 16, 2000. She was christened by Fran Ulmer, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. She was the seventh of the fourteen Juniper-class ships launched. Her original cost was reported as $30 million. Maple's hull is constructed of welded steel plates. She is long and has a beam of . She is capable of maintaining a sustained speed of 15 knots. The ship has thirteen diesel fuel tanks capable of holding 74,498 gallons. Maple has an unrefueled range of 6,000 miles at 12 knots. Maple has a single variable-pitch propeller that is powered by two Caterpillar 3608 Diesel engines, each with an indicated 3,100 shp. There are two electric maneuvering thrusters, the bow thruster producing 460 hp and the stern thruster producing 550 hp. The thrusters act as part of a dynamic positioning system that is capable of maintaining the ship within five meters of a fixed position on the sea in winds up to 30 knots and seas up to . This allows the crew to work on buoys in difficult weather conditions. The ship's crane extends to and can lift onto her buoy deck, which is 2,875 square feet in area. This capability has allowed Maple to service NOAA's 6-meter NOMAD weather buoys, which weigh 25,000 pounds. Maple is capable of light icebreaking. She can sail through ice thick at three knots. Maple is armed with two 50-caliber machine guns and a variety of small arms for boarding operations. Her complement is seven officers and forty-six enlisted personnel. Maple and all but one of the Juniper-class buoy tenders are named after trees. She is the third Coast Guard vessel of this name, after USLHT Maple, launched in 1893, and USLHT/USCGC Maple (WAGL-234), launched in 1939. Operating history After her launch, Maple sailed down the Great Lakes and out into the Atlantic through the Saint Lawrence Seaway. During the trip she stopped in Ogdensburg, New York the former homeport of her