New Mackinaw To Sail Great Lakes Old Mac Becomes Maritime Museum

Frank Hillus of Greenfield, Wisconsin, was 18 in 1944, when he became one of the original crew members of the nation's most powerful icebreaker at the time, the Mackinaw. He served as a motor machinist mate second class and was one of more than 6,000 men and women who served on the ship over her 62-year history. U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (WAGB 83) was decommissioned in Cheboygan Saturday, June 10, in the Coast Guard's first double ceremony, which also commissioned her successor and namesake, Mackinaw (WLBB 30).

Wrapped in patriotic red, white, and blue bunting and with flags flying, both ships were moored in Cheboygan near the mouth of the Cheboygan River with Lake Huron visible on the horizon.

At 10 a.m., three hours before the U.S. Coast Guard Band would perform and more than 2,500 people would arrive to take their places in chairs under a tented roof, the two commanders shared stories, laughs, and fought back tears while paying homage to the old Mackinaw and the more than 6,000 people who have served aboard her since she was launched in 1944. They stood in the morning sunlight, with the new Mackinaw as a backdrop and the soon-to-be floating museum Mackinaw just a few yards up river.

Captain Joseph McGuiness (left), commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (WAGB 83), shakes the hand of Captain John Little, commander of the new Mackinaw (WLBB 30) before the decommissioning and commissioning ceremonies of both ships took place Saturday in Cheboygan. The new Mackinaw can be seen in the background. "The Mackinaw is not just another old ship, it's a great ship. It's the Mac," said Commander Joseph McGuiness, at the helm for three years and the last commanding officer of the old cutter. "Sixty-two years later, she's still the heavyweight champion of the world."

Standing to his left, Commander John Little, appointed commander of the new Mackinaw April 10, recounted his first experience with the old cutter while breaking ice in the St. Marys River.

"The first time I worked with that ship, I was a 140 captain [refers to the boat's length] and we had worked for hours and hours getting a track cleared with just tremendous difficulty. It was horrible weather, it was snowing sideways up in the St. Marys," he said. "The Mackinaw showed up and the sky broke and the ice just went away and the captain said, 'Is there anything else you'd like us to do, Lieutenant Little?' and I said right then, 'That's what I want to do.'"

Seen at left, moored in her home port of Cheboygan, the new U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (WLBB 30) following her commissioning ceremony and the setting of her first watch, which is the beginning of her multi-mission role of service on the Great Lakes. At right, the decommissioned Mackinaw (WAGB 83) will become a floating maritime museum and is scheduled to move to her new home in Mackinaw City Wednesday, June 21. "We've always thought, and certainly in the three years I've had her, we've always thought she had an angel welded onto her mast," said Commander McGuiness. "She's a storied ship that came with a full hold of luck when they built her, and we haven't run it out yet."

After June 21, when the Mackinaw is moved to her new home in Mackinaw City to become a maritime museum, Commander McGuiness will move on to his next assignment with the First District Command in Boston.

Beth Newton of Georgia, communications officer for the old Mackinaw, whose next orders take her to Seattle where she will be stationed onboard the 420-foot polar icebreaker Healy, the Coast Guard's largest cutter, said she will miss the Mackinaw.

"You get attached to her," she said. "She's so well liked by the people of the Great Lakes."

Onboard the new Mackinaw for one week, Jeremiah Ruhlen of Columbus, Ohio, has served in Milwaukee and in two stations on the Atlantic seaboard.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen before," he said of the new cutter. "It's definitely an amazing ship."

Jeannette Killen, administrative and supply officer from Graybull, Wyoming, has been stationed on the new ship for one year, and notes the tradition the new crew and ship face.

"It's a great inheritance we've gotten," she said. "We're excited to carry on what the Mackinaw has been doing well, for the last 62 years."

She said over the last year the crew has been on training missions and she was looking forward to the formal commissioning about to take place.

"Then it's, sort of, game on!" she said.

Saturday's event focused on the reliability and reputation of the old 290-foot Mackinaw, the character of the crew that served on her, and the commissioning of the new 240-foot Mackinaw, which now will serve as the Great Lakes' largest cutter.

The old Mackinaw was built to move commerce and to keep ore carriers and other ships running in the Great Lakes through the winter months during World War II. Congress authorized her construction just 10 days after Pearl Harbor was attacked and was built by the Toledo Ship Building Company. She was commissioned three years and $10 million later, December 30, 1944 and was considered the most powerful icebreaker in the world. Her motto: "We move ships when no one else can."

During her first winter of service, she made 17 passes through the Straits of Mackinac, escorting eight combat vessels that would otherwise have been icebound until spring.

She is now a victim of time, having been built with World War II operating systems and parts no longer readily available.

"Everybody wants to compare the two icebreakers," said Commander McGuiness. "Well, how much ice can you break? That's a 3,000 ton sledge hammer (pointing to the new Mackinaw) and that's a 5,000 ton sledge hammer (pointing to the old Mackinaw). So guess what? The old ship could probably break more ice. But you know what? Nobody cares. It's really not about ice breaking, it's about moving ships, it's about moving commerce," he said, noting that replacing broken parts on the old ship can take up to six months and that time affects shipping.

Eighty-four-year-old Frank Hillus of Greenfield, Wisconsin, was a motor machinist mate second class and a member of the first crew on the Mackinaw.

"I came to see the end of the old and the beginning of the new," Mr. Hillus told The St. Ignace News before Saturday's ceremonies began.

Though he was kept busy below deck in the engine room during the three years he was assigned to the Mackinaw, he remembered one time in the winter during the war when he stood on deck looking out at the challenge that lay ahead for the ship.

"There were high windrows of ice," he remembers. "I couldn't tell you how high, just mighty high."

Mr. Hillus was 18 years old when he first stepped onto the deck of the Mackinaw. He remembers the guys he served with and said he has only one regret: He wishes he had saved the diesel manuals he was given when he attended classes for his job on the cutter.

"I enjoyed every minute I was on board," he said.

Two hours later at the Cheboygan ceremony, Mr. Hillus received a standing ovation during the official decommissioning, when Commander McGuiness introduced him and spoke about the importance of the Mackinaw's crew through the years.

Rear Admiral John Crowley Jr., commander of the Ninth Coast Guard District, told of his first encounter with the Mackinaw, which he called, "the raw power of the Mighty Mackinaw.

"It was approximately 31 years ago, when the then 31year-old Mackinaw was approaching the cutter Woodrush in Whitefish Bay. Steadily and effortlessly approaching at the bridge wing, she stopped, backed, and immediately multiple, multi-ton chunks of ice exploded high in the air above bridge wing height. What an awesome sight," he said.

"I remain in awe today. I remain in awe of the capability of the ship, and in the competency of the great sailors who have sailed her," said Rear Admiral Crowley.

Commander McGuiness agreed.

Today, freighters traveling in the winter in the Whitefish Point area will radio for critical information on shipping conditions, including water levels, ice flow rates, and icebreaker locations. Once they are advised, Commander McGuiness said their response consistently is, "OK. So where's the Mackinaw?"

"She'd move the ships. She'd save the day, every time," he said.

"To her crew she was truly loved, truly respected. She made us something larger than ourselves. Part of the championship team, part of a group of lifelong shipmates," said Commander McGuiness. "The ship is the crew."

In Coast Guard tradition, eight bells signal the end of the watch, but Commander McGuiness offered that, this day, the eight bells would signify the beginning of the watch for the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum committee, which will now assume the care of the ship.

To those attending Saturday's ceremony, Commander McGuiness said, "When your end arrives, may

you all be as strong, may you all be as loved, may you all be as respected, and may you all be as good looking as the Mighty Mac."

The new Mackinaw was launched April 2, 2005, in Marinette, Wisconsin, where she was built by the Marinette Marine Corporation at a cost of approximately $92 million.

Commander John Little of the new Mackinaw talked about the new ship's multi-mission responsibilities, that in addition to icebreaking, she would be conducting homeland security operations, tending weather buoys, servicing aids to navigation, operating oil spill recovery equipment, and enforcing maritime law. The new Mackinaw will operate in lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, Ontario, and Erie, he said.

"We know this new cutter has a proud tradition to uphold, and we're going to give it a run. Count on it," said Commander Little.

Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant U.S. Coast Guard, said, "We take these ceremonies seriously for two reasons: First, these are the commanders of our profession. They embody our core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty."

Secondly, he said the decommissioning and commissioning ceremony transfers accountability from one crew to another.

"A ship is a collection of metal, machine, and equipment," he said. "It is nothing without the crew and the captain. The crew is the character and personality of the ship."

He called upon the crew of the new Mackinaw to honor their predecessor.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert, whose wife, Jean Hastert, is the sponsor of the new Mackinaw, told those attending that America needs a Coast Guard for protection and law enforcement. As the ship's sponsor, Mrs. Hastert launched the ship by breaking a champagne bottle over its bow and will remain involved in special events for the ship, such as homecomings.

"The old Mackinaw successfully met that challenges of our nation for many years and now has earned the right to be remembered as one of the great Coast Guard cutters," Mr. Hastert said.

To the new Mackinaw's crew, he added, "Remember the legacy of service set by the old Mackinaw and her crews."

He then challenged the crew of the new Mackinaw to live up her motto, "Forging a path with strength and honor."

Through its history, the old Mackinaw impacted the county both nationally and regionally, said U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak, who represents Michigan's First District, which includes the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula.

"When the Mackinaw was commissioned," he said, "our country was in the dark days of World War II. As our armies, sailors, and airmen fought in Europe and the Pacific, the Mackinaw and her crew worked tirelessly to keep our lakes free of ice. One could say the Mackinaw delivered the raw materials to produce the tanks, the bombs, the guns, and the ships to win the war, that saved the world."

After the war and during the winter of 1993 and 1994, when Northern Michigan was declared a national disaster area, the Mackinaw again displayed

her strength, said Congressman Stupak. The Mackinaw plowed through record thick ice to keep freighters moving that brought home heating oil and coal to the region, he explained.

"Yes, the Mackinaw's watch has come to an end, but may she forever sail in our hearts," concluded Mr. Stupak.