World War II-Era Boat Being Dismantled in Washington

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Global Diving and Salvage Inc. have begun operations to dismantle and remove an 83-foot, World War II-era wooden U.S. Coast Guard boat that sank off Port Hadlock in 2023.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), through its Derelict Vessel Removal Program and with grant support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is removing the 76-ton wooden cutter resting in a sunken state near Port Hadlock. Established in 2002, the program has removed more than 1,200 vessels statewide, while there are currently 358 abandoned or derelict "problem vessels."

Natural resources specialist Laurel Schoenbohm noted that removing a vessel of this size is extremely rare due to high costs and the requirement for heavy equipment. Being one of 230 boats built in 1944 and serving as a search and rescue boat in Tacoma from 1945 to 1962, this particular vessel later passed into private ownership and was moved to California.

Having changed hands again in the early 2000s to return to Washington and undergo restoration, the boat sank in 2023, creating an oil sheen on the water surface and posing a risk to the environment and other vessels moored in the area because asbestos tests came back positive. Due to the boat being too weakened to be refloated entirely, the Seattle-based Global Diving and Salvage team is carrying out the operation by breaking the vessel into pieces to bring it to the surface.