David Munro

The USCG Yard Curtis Bay, established in 1899 near Baltimore, Maryland, is the United States Coast Guard’s sole shipbuilding and major repair facility. Throughout its history, the Yard has played a critical role in building, overhauling, and maintaining Coast Guard cutters, buoy tenders, and other vessels. During World War II, it dramatically expanded its operations, constructing hundreds of small craft and performing vital repairs for the war effort. Today, the Yard remains an essential logistics and engineering center, supporting Coast Guard missions worldwide with advanced ship maintenance and upgrades.

USCGC GENTIAN (WIX-290) was a Cactus-class 180-foot seagoing buoy tender commissioned by the United States Coast Guard in 1943. Built during World War II, GENTIAN was primarily tasked with maintaining aids to navigation, but also conducted search and rescue operations, law enforcement, and icebreaking duties. Over her decades of service, she was stationed at several homeports, most notably in the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic coast. GENTIAN was decommissioned in 1999 and later transferred to the Nigerian Navy, marking the end of her distinguished Coast Guard career.