Free Ship Plans USCG Cutter Acushnet Former USS Shackle

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet serves 67 year career

That began as U.S. Navy salvage vessel USS Shackle

Decommissioned in 2011, she was the only World War II vintage vessel still in Coast Guard service

USCG Cutter Acushnet/USS Shackle

U.S. Coast Guard cutter Acushnet's long career began during World War II as U.S. Navy salvage ship USS Shackle (ARS-9). After joining the Coast Guard, she served as a tug, oceanographic research vessel, and medium-endurance cutter. 

With the attack on Pearl Harbor, navy shipyards were suddenly hard-pressed to build all the new vessels that would be required for the war effort. The U.S. Navy turned to the U.S. Maritime Commission to contract many of the attack transports, oilers, and other auxiliary ships it needed, such as salvage ships.

Outboard profile USCG Cutter Acushnet

While the first task of salvage ships was to clear the damaged ships in Pearl Harbor, duties went beyond dealing with destroyed or sunken ships to any repair tasks beyond the scope of a ship's crew, such as fire-fighting or towing disabled craft. The Navy used every resource possible – both military and commercial salvage company - in the design of what would be named the Diver class salvage vessel to which Shackle/Acushnet belongs. Her keel was laid in October 1942 at the Basalt Rock Company shipyard located on the Napa River, and she was launched February 1944. This shipyard constructed all 16 Diver class salvage ships.

 U.S.C.G. cutter Acushnet/U.S.S. Shackle has great lines and would make for a great ship model, built from the free ship plans available at TheModelShipwright.com

Full-size Patterns to Scratchbuild a Revenue Cutter

Downloadable Patterns for 19th Century Revenue Cutter
And Instructions on Creating a Solid Hull Ship Model

19th Century Revenue Cutter

On our page Creating a Solid Hull Ship Model we have full size patterns for a 1/72 scale model of the 51 Ton revenue cutter illustrated in Howard I. Chapelle’s The History of American Sailing Ships.
We offer illustrated step-by-step instructions for using the patterns to cut the rough hull from a single block of basswood.
Finished model will be about 16 inches in length, and is a great starter project for scratch-built ship modeling.

Free Ship Plans U.S.C.G. Cutter Mackinaw

U.S.C.G. Cutter Mackinaw

Queen of the Great Lakes

U.S.C.G. Cutter Mackinaw Queen of the Great Lakes

Built specifically for service on the Great Lakes, when Mackinaw was launched, she was the most powerful icebreaker in the world. She went on to a 62 year service career, becoming an icon to the Great Lakes mariners and residents of coastal towns that depended on her to clear a path through the lakes’ thick ice. When she was decommissioned, she became a museum ship in Mackinaw City, Michigan. Our Mackinaw plans page offers six ships plans: outboard profile and inboard profile, upper deck plans, lower deck plans, cross section plans, ships lines plans, and shell expansion plan. The Mackinaw would make a beautiful scratch-built ship model, and at a large scale, an impressive radio-controlled ship model of the "Queen of the Great Lakes.

Free Ship Plans of U.S.C.G. Cutter Fir

U.S.C.G. Cutter Fir Offers Insight

Into Development of Modern Buoy Tending

Free Ship Plans offer Chance to Recreate it

U.S.C.G. Cutter Fir underway

Designed a National Historic Landmark U.S.C.G. cutter Fir is the last surviving tender built under the U.S. Lighthouse Service. She was originally used to service and maintain lighthouses in the Puget Sound and along the Washington coast.

Although built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service, she was commissioned by the the U.S. Coast Guard in 1940. She served along the coast of Washington state until decommissioning in 1991.

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior designated Fir a National Historic Landmark on April 27, 1992. Other than being refit with new engines, Fir is essentially unaltered from her configuration when she was commissioned. As such, she “represents a largely unheralded workaday-aspect of the lighthouse service, as well as the seafaring foundation from which the modern Coast Guard’s buoy tender fleet evolved.”

Plans for a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter

By request, here are free ship plans for a World War II era ex-Navy 133-foot United States Coast Guard Cutter.

Coast Guard Cutter White Sumac

 In addition to the plans presented here, we also have a number of detail plans, including one showing the difference between when the vessel was commissioned in the U.S. Navy and its service as a Coast Guard Cutter.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter White Sumac was originally constructed as a yard lighter (YF416) for the United States Navy in 1943. This class of vessel provided logistical support to naval operations during World War II. Following the War, the Coast Guard acquired eight of these vessels to use as buoy tenders. The vessel was documented as part of a National Park Service program that documents historically significant engineering, industrial, and maritime sites in the U.S. These plans are maintained by the Library of Congress.

The Model Shipwright offers these ship plans to members FREE as high-resoultion TIFF files, or, we can send you prints of the plans for $10 per 24" x 36" sheet, plus postage. For more information, use our Contact Page to let us know of your interest.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter White Sumac Deck Plan

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter White Sumac Sections Plan

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter White Sumac Body Plan

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter White Sumac Shell Plating Plan