Already the CGC Mohawk has been stripped of all welcoming signs for visitors, the awning above the quarter deck is gone and the boat is shuttered and sad.
It seems such a cruel waste that this remarkable survivor has to be destroyed to make way for an up market marina and shopping complex.
I am glad I got to take the tour and thoroughly enjoyed the superbly preserved story of this elderly ship.
For those that didn't take the time to visit, here are the few photos I took, not realizing at the time that the Mohawk would one day soon be destined for deliberate destruction. Click the link below for the full essay of the tour:
CGC Mohawk
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The US Coastguard cutter Mohawk was built in 1934 as a light ice breaker (!) for use in the Hudson River and it was designated as a Coastguard Power Gunboat (WPG). The Mohawk saw years of active service helping convoys across the freezing waters of the North Atlantic:
After the war the Mohawk served in the Coastguard for years until its engines literally gave out and it was towed to a scrap yard. By some miracle this ship, the last of its kind, was saved by a bunch of devoted former shipmates and it is still undergoing the process of restoration in it's berth:
The ship served with distinction during the Atlantic convoys, facing off against German submarines, a fact proudly recorded in paint:
The ship's crew saved 500 sailors from drowning and lost one's ship's dog overboard. The captain refused to turn back to save the frantically paddling dog and suffered the hatred of the crew for the rest of his time on board; such is the force of sentiment even in the middle of a war... and the story is still told by the devoted restorers working on the ship today.
The Mohawk attracts loyalty not only from former crew members but from the people who currently operate and maintain the ship at the dock. They have amassed a huge quantity of artifacts from the period and they talk avidly to former crew who come back to visit the old ship. The visit starts with a meet and greet with the man taking the money. He showed us pictures of the ship in action and pictures of the ice that covered the superstructure during winter convoys: 
The visit is self guided with the entire ship pretty much open to inspection and quite fascinating it is too, as the shop is filled with artifacts from the time it served in the war. First the galley (kitchen) where they made all meals for the 100 sailors and 14 officers on board. The stove operated on engine oil and apparently that same fuel seasoned the food according to some of those artifacts I mentioned earlier:
Then there was the radio room with it's type writers and it's radio equipment. And a photograph. I was told the operator photographed still comes back to the ship every year to keep an eye on it's restoration progress:
From the radio room there are steep steps to descend to lower levels:
To the wardroom, the communal area of the ship where people hung out together. The silver barrel in the foreground is a coffee urn, and the literature advises the tables in the background were well illuminated so they could double as operating tables...
The men shared modest quarters, all 100 of them, the petty officers shared smaller cabins but used the same primitive bunks to sleep on:
The officers in the rear of the ship (abaft) got greater comfort with more privacy and more luxurious bunks. However the whole proposition of putting to sea in a narrow beamed 165-foot ship was likely to be pretty rough. The ship rolled like crazy, something that was illustrated in a video made from an 8 millimeter film shot in Greenland in 1942. The video showed the successor to the drowned dog, called "Ricky Bow Wow" playing on the ship (his id card is on display next to the television):
Then we saw crew members trying to stay upright as the ship plowed through relatively small waves in the North Atlantic. I got seasick just watching the video:
The modern crew member and restorer we met in this area, Chip the ship's engineer, had tons of stories to tell about life on board the ship and encounters with crew including a former enemy. One notable U-Boat Captain came to visit the Mohawk told of seeing the Mohawk through his periscope while cruising for convoys to blow up. Chip kept Bruce and Celia entertained and I listened with one ear while I meandered with my camera: 
It was a great place to wander, check out the old pin ups (Mae West) and newspaper clippings of one sort or another, including the ship's newsletter:
And an original poster:
And there was the depth charge itself ready for launch on deck:
It was a cold windy day when Bruce, Celia and I visited the Mohawk, so they huddled and listened to the stories below decks out of the cold north wind while I wandered the corridors:
Then I poked my head into the steering compartment which housed the spare wheel:
Before heading on deck to brave the breeze and check out the topsides, working my way forward, starting at the fantail:
The Truman Waterfront seawall is a good place for the old ship to be tied up. It puts Mohawk right in the middle of the action, across from the cruise ships and in the same basin as the National Marine Sanctuary patrol boats, not to mention the current crop of race boats in town for the annual Southern Ocean Racing Conference sailing regatta. And the seawall is also part of the old navy base which is still visible in parts:
Indeed when this was an active Navy port this very seawall was where submarines, similar to Mohawk's old nemesis, were tied up. Happily those were friendly submarines, but not nearly as friendly and as welcoming as Mohawk is today. 
The Treasury class cutter was named for 19th century Treasury Secretary Samuel Ingham, and was built in 1934. The ship served on Atlantic convoy duty in World War Two and sank a German submarine in 1942, which was before the ship went to the Pacific to take up duties there.
Later Ingham served in the Korean War and in Vietnam before being decommissioned in 1988. The ship was on display Up North until last year when after a refit was brought to Key West and now sits alongside the old Mohawk as part of the incipient Maritime Memorial Museum. The ship is a National Historic landmark and is also a memorial for the 912 members of the Coastguard who died in World War II and Vietnam. 
Cheyenne loved every minute of her wild wandering around the dock, checking in with me from time to time as she ran back and forth:
The ship looks to be in great shape:
Even though there was evidence of the recent activity surrounding the yacht races:
I wanted to illustrate the splendid signal flags flapping tightly in the breeze which may or may not have worked out:
And there it is. Another attraction for Key West to boast about.