USCGC Elm (WLB-204) is a U.S. Coast Guard Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender home-ported in Astoria, Oregon. She is responsible for maintaining aids to navigation on the coasts of Oregon and Washington, including the Columbia River. Construction Elm was built by the Marinette Marine Corporation on the Menominee River in Wisconsin. Elm was launched on January 24, 1998. She was the fourth of the fourteen Juniper-class ships launched. Her original cost was approximately $26 million. Her 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. Elm has an unrefueled range of 6,000 miles at 12 knots. Elm 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. Elm is capable of light icebreaking. She can sail through ice thick at three knots. Elm is armed with two 50-caliber machine guns and a variety of small arms for boarding operations. Elm and all but one of the Juniper-class buoy tenders are named after trees. She is the third Coast Guard ship of this name. The first Elm was a derrick barge launched in 1919 to maintain aids to navigation in the Hudson River. The second USCGC Elm (WAGL-260/WLI-72260) was a buoy tender launched in 1938. Operational history After launch and sea trials, Elm sailed down the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway to reach her new homeport of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. She was based at Coast Guard Station Fort Macon. Her primary mission was to maintain 250 buoys between Shark River Inlet, New Jersey and the border between North and South Carolina, including Chesapeake Bay. She supported other Coast Guard missions as well, including search and rescue, law enforcement, oil spill response, and