USCGC Bramble (WLB-392)
at Toledo, OH 1980's

Bramble was built by Zenith Dredge Company in Duluth, Minn. On 02 August 1943 the keel was laid, she was launched on 23 October 1943 and commissioned on 22 April 1944. The original cost for the hull and machinery was $925,464. In the spring on 1945, she departed the Great Lakes to her first homeport of San Pedro, Calif., to perform aids to navigation duties. Later that year, she was transferred to Juneau, Ak. For supply and aids to navigation work around the Aleutian Islands.
After World War II, her homeport was changed to San Francisco. Except for a brief stay in Hawaii in 1946, she remained assigned to San Francisco until 1949. From July to October 1947, Bramble participated in “Operation Crossroads,” the first test of an atomic bomb’s effect on surface ships, at Bikini Island.
In 1949 she was reassigned to San Juan, Puerto Rico and moved again in 1953 to Miami, Fla.
The Coast Guard Cutters Bramble, Spar and Storis were selected to attempt a forced passage along the northern shore of Canada from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. Bramble departed from Miami on 24 May 1957 en route Seattle, Wash. via the Panama Canal. On 01 July 1957 the task force departed Seattle for the Atlantic via the Bering Straits and Arctic Ocean. The ships traveled through 4,500 miles of semi-charted water in 64 days to recross the Arctic Circle into the Atlantic. The success of the mission distinguished the three cutters as the first surface ships to circumnavigate the North American continent.
In 1962 Bramble transferred to Detroit, Mich. to perform the missions of aids to navigation, search and rescue, icebreaking and law enforcement throughout the Great Lakes.
Upon completion of a major renovation in September 1975, she reported to Port Huron, Mich., the homeport she stayed at until her decommissioning in 2003