Dragger BELMONT

Dragger BELMONT

BELMONT tied up at O’Hara wharf, Rockland. Dragger BELMONT, launched 4/4/1941 by Snow Shipyards, Rockland. Design by Albert E. Condon & Joseph P. Andralouis, master builder Ernest A. Gamage. LOA 121.8’ BELMONT and NORTH STAR were enlargements of the dragger ST. GEORGE. "The wooden fishing trawler Belmont was acquired for service for a fee of $2,122 to serve under charter by the Navy "for Coast Guard use as a vessel of the Greenland Patrol." After conversion, including the addition of two small depth charge tracks and minimal anti-aircraft armament, she was commissioned as a vessel of the Coast Guard on 19 June 1942 and renamed Natsek, after Greenland's Natsek Fjord. Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas S. LaFarge, USCGR, was given command and assigned a crew of 23, including one Navy enlisted man. She was immediately assigned to CINCLANT and the Greenland Patrol and was homeported in Boston. In December of 1942, Natsek was lost off Greenland, and her entire crew with her." Length: 116' 9" Beam: 23' 6" Draft: 11' 8" maximum Displacement: 225 gross tons Cost: For initial acquisition= $2,122; conversion= $150,000 Commissioned: 19 July 1942 Decommissioned: Lost at sea with all hands, probably 17 December 1942 Disposition: N/A Machinery: 1 x Fairbanks Morse, 5-cylinder, 2-cycle diesel; 575 horsepower; single screw Maximum speed: 11 knots Economical speed / range: 9 1/2 knots; 2,750 miles Complement: 1 officer, 23 men Armament: 1 x 6-pounder; 2 x 20mm; 2 x small depth charge racks --Tim Sullivan 2012 Information: More at http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/natsek_1942.pdf