USCGC Acacia, Military ship in Caribbean Sea, United States
The USCGC Acacia is a sunken US Coast Guard vessel lying on the ocean floor in Caribbean waters. Originally built as a minelayer, it was later converted to service lighthouses and navigational buoys before being lost during World War II.
Launched in 1920 at a Wisconsin shipyard, the vessel first served as a military minelayer before being reassigned to the Coast Guard. In 1942, during World War II, it was sunk by the German submarine U-161 while operating in Caribbean waters.
The Acacia served during a period when the Coast Guard was shifting from a wartime force toward a service focused on civilian maritime safety. Its lighthouse and buoy maintenance role was a visible sign of that change along the Caribbean coast.
The wreck lies on the ocean floor and is accessible only to experienced divers with the right equipment and training. Those interested in its history can find records in Coast Guard archives and maritime museums along American and Caribbean coastlines.
The German submarine U-161 fired hundreds of rounds at the Acacia before she went down, an unusually prolonged attack for a single target. Despite this, all 35 crew members survived, which was a rare outcome for a ship lost at sea during wartime.
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