USCGC Bitt

USCGC "Bitt" (WYTL-65613) was a cutter in the US Coast Guard. Constructed by Western Boat Building Corp and commissioned in 1966, the vessel served as part of the USCG for sixteen years before being decommissioned in 1982 and transferred to the National Science Foundation (NSF). During her Coast Guard service "Bitt" was based in Washington and Alaska where she was utilized mainly in a law enforcement and search and rescue (SAR) role. She is still in active service as a research vessel with the NSF.
Construction and design.
Crewed by five personnel, "Bitt" was a small vessel displacing 74 tons. She was long, with a beam of and a draft. The vessel's main drive engine consisted of one Caterpillar D379 V-8 diesel which produced 400 shaft horsepower and drove a single propeller, giving a cruising speed of and a cruising range of . Her maximum speed was , at which she could patrol . She carried no armament, but was fitted with a SPN-11 detection radar. Upon completion she cost a total of $US 158,366 to construct.
History.
"Bitt" was one of fifteen steel-hulled icebreaking small harbor tugs that were put into service in the 1960s to replace wooden-hulled harbor tugs that the Coast Guard had used since the 1940s. She was initially homeported at Bellingham, Washington where her duties included law enforcement and SAR as well as ice operations. On 5 January 1969 she assisted in the evacuation of a stranded person near the Nooksack River when a dike broke. On 29 July 1969 she towed the disabled fishing vessel "Jet Stream" to safety from Admiralty Inlet. On 20 October 1975 she rescued two persons from a capsized sailboat. She transferred to Valdez, Alaska in 1978. She was decommissioned in October 1982 and transferred to the National Science Foundation for use as the Research Vessel "Clifford A. Barnes". She is currently in service through an agreement with the University of Washington School of Oceanography research facilities at Seattle Washington.