Active class patrol boat, 1962
History
United States
Name	USCGC Morris
Namesake	Robert Morris
Operator	U.S. Coast Guard (1927-1941) (1946-1971) U.S. Navy (1941-1946) Sea Scouts (1971-2015) Liberty Maritime Museum (2015-2021) Vietnam Aviation Museum, Galveston, Texas (2021-present)
Builder	American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Cost	US$63,163
Launched	4 April 1927
Commissioned	19 April 1927
Decommissioned	7 August 1971
Identification	MMSI number: 367323170 Callsign: WDE2300 Pennant number: WSC/WMEC-147
Fate	Donated to Liberty Maritime Museum
Status	Museum ship at Sacramento River
General characteristics
Class & type	Active-class patrol boat
Displacement	232 tons (trial)
Length	125 ft (38 m)
Beam	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draft	7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Installed power	After 1938 re-engining: 1,200 brake horsepower (0.9 megawatt)
Propulsion	As built: Two 6-cylinder 300 brake horsepower diesel engines After 1938 re-engining: Two 800 brake horsepower General Motors diesel engines
Speed	As built: 10 knots In 1945: 12 knots (maximum); 7 knots (economical)
Range	In 1945: 2,900 nautical miles (5,370 kilometers) at 10 knots; 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 kilometers) at 7 knots
Complement	20 (3 officers, 17 enlisted men) (1930) 46 (5 officers, 41 men) (1945)
Sensors & processing systems	Sonar (1945) QCO-1 Detection radar (1960) SPS-23
Armament	In 1927: 1 x 3-inch (76.2-millimeter) 23-caliber gun In 1941: 2 x depth charge tracks In 1945: 1 x 3-inch (76.2-mm) 23-caliber gun, 2 x single 20-mm 80-caliber gun mounts, 2 x depth charge tracks, 2 x Mousetraps1 x 3-inch (76.2-mm) 23-caliber gun1 x 3-inch (76.2-mm) 23-caliber gun In 1960: 1 x single 40-mm 60-caliber antiaircraft gun mount

USCGC Morris (WSC-147), was a 125 ft (38 m) United States Coast Guard Active-class patrol boat in commission from 1927 to 1971. She was named for Robert Morris, (1734–1806) who was appointed in 1789 as United States Senator from Pennsylvania.^[1] In May 1966, she was redesignated as (WMEC-147).

Active-class were designed for trailing the "mother ships" along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their re-engining in the late 1930s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels an additional 3 knots. All served in World War II, but two, the Jackson and Bedloe, were lost in a storm in 1944. Ten were refitted as buoy tenders during the war and reverted to patrol work afterward.

Originally designated WPC, for patrol craft, they were re-designated WSC, for sub chaser, in February 1942, during World War II. The "W" appended to the SC (Sub Chaser) designation identified vessels as belonging to the U.S. Coast Guard. Those remaining in service in May 1966 were re-designated as medium endurance cutters, WMEC.

Morris was laid down and launched by American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation, Camden on 4 April 1927. She was commissioned on 19 April 1927.

Her command was transferred to the US Navy in 1941 until 1946.

The Morris, identifiable by its "W147" marking, plays a prominent role in a 1961 episode of the television series Perry Mason entitled "The Case of the Traveling Treasure."^[2]

In May 1966, she was redesignated as WMEC-147. In 1971, USCGC Morris was the last Active-class ship to be decommissioned.

The Morris was decommissioned on 7 August 1970 and acquired by the Boy Scouts of America, where she was used as a Sea Scout Ship in Sacramento, California.^[3]

She was overhauled by Liberty Maritime Museum in Sacramento between 2000-2010, and sold to the Vietnam War Flight Museum in Houston for use as a museum ship in 2021. She transited through the Panama Canal under her own power to Galveston, Texas, where she currently lies.^[4][5]

• Rum Patrol

• Canney, Donald L. (1995). U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790–1935. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-1-55750-101-1.
• Flynn, Jim; Lortz, Ed; Lukas, Holger (March 2018). "Answer 39/48". Warship International. LV (January 2018): 23–25. ISSN 0043-0374.
• Johnson, Robert Irwin (1987). Guardians of the Sea, History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-720-3.
• Scheina, Robert L. (1982). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-717-3.
• Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946–1990. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-719-7.

• "13 May 1986". Daily Chronology of Coast Guard History. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
• "Crawford, 1927" (asp). Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard-Manned Army & Navy Vessels. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
• "Record of Movements, Vessels of the United States Coast Guard, 1790–December 31, 1933" (PDF). U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
• "R/V Crawford 1956–1969". History of WHOI Ships. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Retrieved 2 February 2014.