a capacity of . Considering dry storage capacity and other factors, her at-sea endurance was 21 days. Her wartime complement was 6 officers and 74 enlisted men. By 1964 this was reduced to 5 officers, 2 warrant officers, and 42 enlisted personnel. Mesquite was armed with a 3"/50 caliber gun mounted behind the pilot house. She also had two 20mm guns, one mounted on top of the wheelhouse and one on the aft deck. Two racks of depth charges were also mounted on the aft deck. All of this armament was removed when she returned to the Great Lakes in 1947. The Rush-Bagot Treaty with Canada had largely demilitarized the lakes leaving Mesquite with only small arms for law enforcement actions. At the time of construction, Mesquite was designated WAGL, an auxiliary vessel, lighthouse tender. The designation was system was changed in 1965, and she was redesignated WLB, an oceangoing buoy tender. Her namesake is the Mesquite tree of the southwest United States. World War II service Upon the completion of her fitting out and sea trials, Mesquite sailed from Duluth to the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland to have her armament and sensors installed. She was commissioned there on August 27, 1943. Her first, brief assignment was to the Coast Guard's 5th District, which was responsible for the mid-Atlantic coast. Within a month she was slated for service in the Pacific and began a series of training exercises to prepare. Mesquite sailed through the Panama Canal arriving at Brisbane, Australia on February 29, 1944. She reached Milne Bay in New Guinea on April 16, 1944. Mesquite was engaged in placing and maintaining aids to navigation in the Milne Bay Area for two months. On June 19, 1944 she arrived at Wakde Island less than a month after it was taken from the Japanese. She placed buoys in the area for two months and then moved on to Manus Island once again placing and maintaining buoys and other aids to navigation. By July 16, 1945 Mesquite was buoy tending in the Philippines. She spent the next year maintaining aids to navigation in the Philippines. She sailed back to the United States via Guam, and Hawaii, arriving at San Francisco on August 12, 1947. Great Lakes service After returning from the Pacific, Mesquite's first home port was Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, where she arrived on December 5, 1947. Her