Category:USCGC Red Birch (WLM-687)

**ARA Punta Alta**
	Multipurpose auxiliary ship in service with the Argentine Navy since 2000.
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Instance of	ship;
Operator	Argentine Navy;
Manufacturer	United States Coast Guard Yard;
Country of registry	United States of America;
Date of official opening	1964;
Authority file
	Q5653848;
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Type	Coastal buoy tender (add this type to the list)
Designer	Coast Guard
Built by	United States Coast Guard Yard, Baltimore
Keel laid	6 July 1964
Launch date	19 February 1965
Completion date	7 June 1965
Length overall	47.9 m (52.3 yd)
Beam	9.4 m (10.2 yd)
Draft	2.1 m (82.6 in)
Displacement	525 t (1,165,815.00 lb)
Main engine	2 Caterpillar diesels; 1,800 BHP; twin controllable-pitch propellers and a bow thruster unit
Speed	13 knots

History

1965-02-19 Named: RED BIRCH by her sponsor, Mrs. William S. Mailliard, the wife of Congressman William S. Mailliard of California. Flag: United States
1965-06-07 Placed in commission-special status under the command of LT Eugene E. E. O'Donnell, USCG. Assigned to San Francisco, where she replaced the decommissioned tender Columbine.
1965-06-11 Departed Curtis Bay
1965-07-26 Arrived at San Francisco after sailing through the Panama Canal.
1965-09-17 Placed in commission. Her assigned area of responsibility included San Francisco, San Pablo, Suisun Bay and the San Joaquin River areas.
1965-10 Escorted the Japanese motor vessel Louisiana Maru and the U.S. tug Las Plumas to port following a collision off Yerba Buena Island.
1970-04-30 Recovered a downed Army helicopter five miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
1976-06-01 Transferred to Baltimore, Maryland and was placed under the operational control of the Fifth Coast Guard District.
1976-07-12 Arrived at the Coast Guard Yard after a cruise through the Panama Canal. Her area of responsibility included the shallow estuaries and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay from Hooper's Straits northward to Baltimore. Secondary missions of the Red Birch included search and rescue, military readiness, maritime law enforcement and marine environmental protection. In addition, during the winter months, Red Birch was tasked with keeping the Chesapeake's shipping lanes from being closed by ice. By this time the crew had come up with the cutter's motto: 'Illuminamous Via', "We Light The Way." She was awarded the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation for her icebreaking activities and her emergency servicing of aids to navigation that were damaged from ice from 1 January 1977 to 4 March 1977. Her citation stated, in part: "Over a 7 day period of intense operations, USCGC RED BIRCH escorted 35 barges through the ice to deliver 10 million gallons of fuel oil, which alleviated a fuel crisis in the area."
1998-06-12 Decommissioned and transferred to Argentina. Renamed: PUNTA ALTA (Q-63) Flag: Argentina
2006 Part of the amphibious phase of combined exercise Fraternal , along with units of the Brazilian Navy.
2011-12 Anti-Aircraft Battalion staff Marines fired from a missile unit RBS-70 as part of their training.