USCGC Cuyahoga
Patrol Boat / Cutter · United States · Lost 1978 · Chesapeake Bay
A Coast Guard training cutter lost with 11 lives in a 1978 night collision in the Chesapeake Bay, later raised and re-sunk as an artificial reef.
The Vessel and Her Loss
Built in 1927, Cuyahoga was one of the Coast Guard's long-serving Active-class patrol boats, later used for officer candidate training out of Yorktown, Virginia. On the night of October 20, 1978, she collided with the Argentine cargo ship Santa Cruz II near the mouth of the Potomac River and sank within minutes, killing 11 of her 29 crew. Raised for investigation, she was found unrepairable and was deliberately re-sunk in 1979 as part of Virginia's Triangle Reef, where she remains a popular dive site.
Vessel
- 1927
- WIX-157
- American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation
- Camden, New Jersey
- Steel
- 125 ft
- 23.5 ft
- 320
- Twin diesel
- U.S. Coast Guard (also served briefly with the U.S. Navy as AG-26)
Loss
- October 20, 1978
- Collision
- Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Potomac River, Virginia
- Chesapeake Bay
- Not established
- Not established
- 29
- 11
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- 100 ft
- Intact, upright, deliberately re-sunk as an artificial reef
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Triangle Reef, Chesapeake Bay entrance, Virginia
No documented position found; recorded as unlocated.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Well documented (90/100)
U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Report
Collision details, casualty count, rescue details, cause
U.S. Coast Guard, 'The Long Blue Line'
Service history and later reefing as artificial reef
