Parallel Histories: Modoc and Comanche

Former U.S. Navy Sotoyomo-class auxiliary ocean tugs that became two of the smallest U.S. Coast Guard medium endurance cutters (WMEC-194 and WMEC-202).[1]

Prepared 2025-12-14. Revision: rev6 (adds details from “A Breath of Life for CGC Comanche,” In Tow, Summer 2007). Print format: US Letter, 1-inch margins. Links are live; footnotes display full URLs.

Source and attribution notes

Owner / local-history notes requested for inclusion:

  • The 27-foot Chris-Craft carried by the Modoc Pearl was once owned by John Wayne.[2]
  • Pete Bennison bought Modoc from Marine Power and had her towed to the Hylebos Waterway (Tacoma) for an extensive refit; he moved her to Gig Harbor in 2001.[2]
  • The published “Earthrace” history for Modoc was largely copied from a poster displayed in the salon of the vessel.[3]

Where a detail above is not independently corroborated in the public sources cited below, it is explicitly treated as an owner/local-history note per request.

Comanche after 1980 — added primary association narrative (Summer 2007):

The Coast Guard Tug Association newsletter article “A Breath of Life for CGC Comanche” provides a detailed post-1980 narrative: lay-up at a reserve fleet in San Francisco Bay; commercial towing beginning in the late 1980s; later tie-up on Tacoma’s Foss Waterway; movement to a scrap yard in March 2006; renewed preservation attempts; movement under own power from Tacoma to Olympia in January 2007; and formal approval of the Comanche 202 Foundation in Washington State on May 19, 2007.[15]

Note: Other public summaries (e.g., preservation directories and Wikipedia compilations) sometimes date commercial service as starting in 1991 and/or describe an idle period “near the Sacramento River.” This report preserves those references but treats the 2007 CGTA article as the most detail-rich narrative currently in hand.[7][14]

Public-source backbone for this report includes: the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office entry for Comanche, the Earthrace “Modoc” page (noting the attribution concern above), and standard summary references for the ships’ Navy identities (Bagaduce/ATA-194 and Wampanoag/ATA-202).[1][4][14]

Inline images

USCGC Modoc (WMEC-194), photograph
USCGC Modoc (WMEC-194). Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain USCG imagery). [6]
USCGC Comanche (WMEC-202), photograph
USCGC Comanche (WMEC-202). Source: MuseumShips (photo credit per page). [7]
Modoc in later service, photograph
Modoc in later civilian / mission context (Earthrace image set). [3]
143-foot Sotoyomo-class tug hulls (not to scale detail) Modoc (WMEC-194) Comanche (WMEC-202) Diagram for report navigation only. See technical specs and sources in footnotes.
Simple inline diagram (SVG) included to keep the report self-contained and print-safe.

At-a-glance comparison

Topic Modoc (WMEC-194) Comanche (WMEC-202)
Original U.S. Navy identity USS ATA-194; later named Bagaduce (ATA-194).[4] USS ATA-202; later named Wampanoag (ATA-202).[1]
Coast Guard service Commissioned as USCGC Modoc (WATA-194) in April 1959; later WMEC-194; decommissioned May 1979.[4] Loaned and commissioned as USCGC Comanche Feb 1959; permanently transferred June 1969; decommissioned Jan 1980.[1]
Post-USCG commercial/preservation highlights Private ownership; known as Modoc Pearl (touring / lodging); later acquired by Earthrace (2019) as operational base.[3] CGTA newsletter (2007) details commercial towing beginning in the late 1980s and operating broadly (Mexico–Alaska; Tacoma–Hawaii), then Foss Waterway tie-up and 2006–2007 preservation actions (move to Olympia; foundation approval).[15] Other summaries often cite commercial operation beginning in 1991 and ending around 2000.[7][14]

Parallel histories (aligned by era)

Era 1 — WWII build and Pacific operations (1944–1945)

Modoc / USS ATA-194 (later Bagaduce)

  • 1944–45 Built for the U.S. Navy as ATA-194; deployed late-war and supported towing/salvage. Compiled narratives place her in storm-damaged anchorage support at/near Okinawa (Buckner Bay context).[3]

Comanche / USS ATA-202 (later Wampanoag)

  • 1944 Laid down Aug 1944; launched Oct 1944; commissioned Dec 1944 as ATA-202.[1]
  • 1945 Joined Pacific operations and ServRon 10 support, including Okinawa logistics/towing activities (as recorded by the USCG Historian’s Office).[1]

Era 2 — Post-war, reserve, and transfers (1946–1959)

Bagaduce to USCG Modoc

  • 1959 Transferred to the Coast Guard and commissioned as USCGC Modoc (WATA-194).[4]

Wampanoag reserve to USCG Comanche

  • 1947–59 Placed out of service; named Wampanoag (1948). Loaned to the Coast Guard and commissioned as Comanche Feb 1959.[1]

Era 3 — Coast Guard operations (1959–1979/80)

USCGC Modoc — Coos Bay, OR focus

  • 1959–79 West Coast SAR and law enforcement with periodic Alaska patrols; reclassified WMEC-194 in 1968; decommissioned May 1979.[3][4]

USCGC Comanche — Morro Bay / San Francisco / Eureka

  • 1959–80 SAR, law enforcement, and logistics support (including light station resupply) across multiple ports; decommissioned Jan 1980.[1]

Era 4 — Civilian ownership, commercial towing, and preservation (1980s–present)

Modoc — Marine Power to Modoc Pearl to Earthrace

  • 1980 Summary references note sale to Marine Power & Equipment (Seattle) after USCG decommissioning.[4]
  • Owner note Pete Bennison purchase/tow/refit sequence and 2001 relocation to Gig Harbor; John Wayne Chris-Craft note.[2]
  • 2019–present Earthrace acquisition and mission refit described by Earthrace.[3]

Comanche — reserve lay-up, commercial tow service, and renewal

  • 1980 Decommissioned from USCG service.[1]
  • Post-1980 lay-up CGTA narrative: “sitting…in the mud” in a reserve fleet in San Francisco Bay before re-entering service.[15]
  • Late 1980s CGTA narrative: bought by a Washington State tug operator and worked as a commercial tug, towing “floating objects” around the Pacific, from Mexico to Alaska and Tacoma to Hawaii.[15]
  • Late 1990s–Mar 2006 CGTA narrative: commercial work waned; tied up on Tacoma’s Foss Waterway until moved to a scrap yard near Tacoma in March 2006.[15]
  • 2006 CGTA narrative: Coast Guard Tug Association became aware and explored saving options; American Fleet Tug Museum (SF) attempted but did not complete the acquisition effort, leaving the vessel anchored off Tacoma.[15]
  • Jan 2007 CGTA narrative: moved under her own power from Tacoma to Olympia; performance supported plans for a “floating working historic vessel.”[15]
  • May 19, 2007 CGTA narrative: Comanche 202 Foundation approved by the State of Washington; board and advisors named, with emphasis on training/preservation potential.[15]
  • Cross-check note Other summaries sometimes cite commercial service beginning in 1991; treat as a date-discrepancy requiring primary documentation (bill of sale / registry record) for final reconciliation.[7][14]

Further resources (from attached link list, plus key references)

Items below support deeper research; availability may vary.

Footnotes (live links)

  1. U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office, “Comanche, 1959 (WMEC-202)”. https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Water/All/Article/2437866/comanche-1959-wmec-202/ [back]
  2. Owner / local-history notes supplied with request (included as such in this report): John Wayne Chris-Craft; purchase from Marine Power; tow to Hylebos Waterway for refit; move to Gig Harbor in 2001. [back]
  3. Earthrace Conservation, “Modoc”. https://www.earthrace.net/assets/modoc/ [back]
  4. Wikipedia, “USS Bagaduce (ATA-194)”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bagaduce_(ATA-194) [back]
  5. Wikimedia Commons, file page for USCGC Modoc (WMEC-194) image. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCGC_Modoc_(WMEC-194).jpg [back]
  6. MuseumShips directory entry (Comanche) used here for inline photo and summary narrative. https://museumships.us/coast-guard/comanche [back]
  7. MarineTraffic photos (Modoc / Modoc Pearl). https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/photos/of/ships/shipid:5933673/shipname:MODOC?order=date_uploaded
  8. CG-Tugs pages:
    Modoc Reunion: http://www.cg-tugs.org/modoc_reunion.htm
    Modoc page: http://www.cg-tugs.org/modoc.htm
  9. Wikipedia, “USS Wampanoag (ATA-202)” (includes a brief post-USCG summary). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wampanoag_(ATA-202) [back]
  10. Coast Guard Tug Association, In Tow newsletter PDF (Summer 2007, Volume 2, Number 1), article “A Breath of Life for CGC Comanche” (Joe Peterson—Tacoma [Edited]). http://cg-tugs.org/InTow%20N4.pdf [back]

Revision note: This report intentionally separates (a) official/historians’ office facts, (b) third-party compiled narratives, and (c) owner/local-history notes.