Photos by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
MUSKEGON, Mich. — Earlier this month, the USS Silversides Submarine Museum announced that its board and staff have made the decision to de-accession the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter McLane, due to the boat’s state of disrepair.
Commissioned in 1927, the McLane served with distinction through multiple eras of Coast Guard history. During World War II, the U.S. Navy used the vessel for anti-submarine warfare. In 1942 it sunk a Japanese submarine.
The vessel had been closed to the public since spring 2025 due to ongoing maintenance concerns. It was towed away from the museum’s property, 1346 Bluff St., along the Muskegon channel, and taken to the Verplank Dock Co. along East Western Avenue, on Muskegon Lake, where it is currently moored.
“After nearly a century of service in both salt and fresh water, the McLane’s condition had deteriorated to the point of being inaccessible for public touring and beyond the scope of feasible preservation,” a press release from the SS Silversides Submarine Museum, announced.
“Despite efforts to explore alternative preservation options, the museum ultimately determined that continued stewardship of the McLane was no longer sustainable. With the cold season approaching, the combination of time, weather, and structural decline made timely action necessary to ensure the safety of the vessel and the surrounding environment.”
The 125-foot long Alert-class ship was designed for trailing “mother ships” along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. It was constructed at a cost of $63,173.
In the 1930s, its original six cylinder diesel engines were replaced with eight cylinder engines that gave the vessel an additional 3 knots of speed.
The vessel was named after Louis McLane (1786-1857) who was appointed by President Andrew Jackson as U.S. Secretary of Treasury in 1831 and, in 1833, was appointed by Jackson as U.S. Secretary of State. He also had represented Delaware in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
Throughout World War II, the McLane patrolled in the water of the Territory of Alaska, including the Bering Strait. While on patrol in Dixon Entrance, between Alaska and British Columbia, on June 7, 1942, the McLane received a report that an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine had been sighted in the area and began a search for it. On July 8, 1942, a Royal Canadian Air Force Bristol Bolingbroke maritime patrol aircraft of the No. 115 Squadron reported it had bombed and damaged a submarine. The Coast Guard-manned U.S. Navy patrol vessel USS YP-251 and the Canadian Navy minesweeper HMCS Quatsino joined the McLane on July 9, 1942 and the three ships began a search for the Japanese submarine in Dixon Entrance southeast of Annette Island.
McLane reported that it gained sound contact on a submarine at 8 a.m. but then lost it and a depth charge it dropped set to explode at 300 feet failed to detonate. It regained sound contact at 9:05 a.m. and chased the submarine for an hour. The submarine evaded it until sound contact was made again at 3:40 p.m. At 3:53 p.m. the McLane dropped two depth charges, one set to explode at 150 feet and another at 250 feet, then two more at 3:56 p.m., at 200 feet and 300 feet.
Both McLane and YP-251 reported that bubbles rose to the surface. The vessels reported that a torpedo passed ahead of McLane and only 28 yards astern of YP-251 at 5:35 p.m., leaving a 125-foot feather that indicated the submarine’s firing position, which McLane turned toward.
YP-251 reported that she sighted a periscope and dropped a depth charge over the spot where the periscope submerged. McLane followed up that attack with two depth charges of its own. McLane then attempted to regain sonarcontact on the submarine.
The vessels reported that an oil slick rose to the surface, and at 7:35 p.m. YP-251 reported sighting a periscope, dropped a depth charge, and struck a submerged object, which it rode over. McLane then dropped two depth charges, after which the vessels reported that oil, bubbles, and what appeared to be rock wool (used to deaden sounds in submarines) rose to the surface.
McLane continued to search the area for any sign of the submarine until early on the morning of July 10, 1942, but found none. McLane, YP-251, and the Bolingbroke aircraft received shared credit for sinking the submarine.
The commanding officers of the two vessels — and USCG Lt. Ralph Burns of McLane and USCG Lt. Neils P. Thomsen of YP-251, received the Legion of Merit for the action. In 1947 the Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee identified the sunken submarine as the Japanese submarine Ro-32.
In 1967, however, the U.S. Navy determined that Ro-32 had been inactive in Japan at the time of the sinking and had remained afloat through the end of World War II, and the identity of the submarine reportedly sunk on July 9, 1942 remains undetermined.
In February 1943, the crew of the McLane rescued the crew of a downed Lockheed model 10 Electra.
In May 1966 the boat was reclassified as a medium endurance cutter and re-designated WMEC-146. It was decommissioned on Dec. 31, 1968 and became a training ship for the Sea Scouts.
McLane was donated to the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum (now known as the USS Silversides Submarine Museum) in 1993.
“All historical artifacts and interpretive materials housed aboard the McLane were carefully removed and preserved to ensure their continued educational and historical value,” the museum press release stated. “These artifacts will now be part of the broader collection at the USS Silversides Submarine Museum and shared with partner organizations who answered the call to help safeguard this legacy: the USS Slater WWII Destroyer Escort, Albany, NY,, the USS Croaker WWII US Submarine and USS The Sullivan’s WWII Destroyer, Buffalo Naval Park, Buffalo, NY, and the Buckley Old Engine Club, Buckley.
“The McLane had been a symbol of service and strength for decades,” said Veronica Campbell, executive director of the USS Silversides Submarine Museum. “Though it was difficult to say goodbye, we were incredibly grateful to our community partners—King Towing, who ensured the vessel’s safe transport, and Pitsch Companies, who handled the dismantling with care and professionalism. Their support helped us navigate this transition with dignity and respect.”
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