The United States Coast Guard wooden-hulled 83-foot patrol boats were all built by Wheeler Shipyard in Brooklyn, New York during World War II. The first 136 cutters were fitted with a tapered-roof Everdur silicon bronze wheelhouse but due to a growing scarcity of that metal during the war, the later units were fitted with a flat-roofed plywood wheelhouse. A total of 230 83-footers were built and entered service with the Coast Guard during the war. Twelve other 83-footers were built for the Navy and were transferred to Latin American navies. The patrol boats were powered by two 600-horsepower "Viking 2nd" Model TCG-8 inline eight-cylinder gasoline engines manufactured by the Sterling Engine Company. Their combined fuel economy was poor: 100 gallons per hour at a cruising speed of 12 knots, 120 gallons per hour at full throttle. The class was followed by Cape-class 95-foot patrol boat and 82-foot Point-class cutter.
Rescue Flotilla One
Sixty of the 83-foot cutters were sent to England to serve as rescue craft off each of the landing beaches during the Invasion of Normandy. Officially called Rescue Flotilla One, the cutters were nicknamed the "Matchbox Fleet" because their wood construction and large gasoline tanks made them potential tinderboxes. Renumbered USCG-1 through USCG-60, they were able to pull almost 500 men from the water on D-Day. The thirty cutters assigned to the American sector saved 194 men off shore from Omaha Beach and 157 near Utah Beach. Arriving off the invasion beaches at 5:30 AM, the cutter USCG-16 alone rescued 126 men that day. The thirty cutters assigned to the British and Canadian sectors saved 133 men from the water off Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches. No cutters were lost to enemy fire, but USCG-27 and USCG-47 foundered along the Normandy Coast during a storm on June 21, 1944. Operating from June through December 1944, the cutter flotilla saved 1438 lives.
''Tiburon''
In September, 2018, the last surviving 83-foot patrol boat, Tiburon was purchased by a Seattle couple for $100 from another private owner who had converted it to a motor yacht. For the 75th anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy in June, 2019, it was on display on Lake Union near the Center for Wooden Boats and the Museum of History & Industry. While moored in Seattle, Tiburon had also been the site of crew reunions for D-Day celebrations in 2006 and 2007.
