USCGC Eagle (WIX-327)
Barque used as a sail training ship for the US Coast Guard Academy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), formerly the Horst Wessel and also known as the Barque Eagle, is a 295-foot (90 m) barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is one of only two active commissioned sailing vessels in the United States military today, along with USS Constitution which is ported in Boston Harbor. She is the seventh Coast Guard cutter to bear the name in a line dating back to 1792, including the Revenue Cutter Eagle.[1][2][3]
USCGC Eagle under full sail in 2013 in the Caribbean Sea | |
History | |
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Germany | |
Name | Horst Wessel |
Namesake | Horst Wessel |
Builder | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
Yard number | 508 |
Laid down | 15 February 1936 |
Launched | 13 June 1936 |
Sponsored by | Bertha Luise Margarete Wessel |
Commissioned | 17 September 1936 |
Decommissioned | 1939 |
Recommissioned | 1942 |
Captured | April 1945 |
Fate | Transferred to the United States |
United States | |
Name | USCGC Eagle |
Commissioned | 15 May 1946 |
Homeport | |
Identification |
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Motto | Tradition, Seamanship, Character |
Nickname(s) | "America's Tall Ship" |
Status | in active service |
Badge |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type | Gorch Fock-class barque |
Displacement | Full load: 1,784 long tons (1,813 t) |
Length |
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Beam | 39 ft (12 m) |
Draft | Full load: 17.5 ft (5.3 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Sail plan |
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Speed |
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Range |
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Each summer, Eagle deploys with cadets from the United States Coast Guard Academy and candidates from the Officer Candidate School for periods ranging from a week to two months. These voyages fulfill multiple roles. The primary mission is training the cadets and officer candidates, but the ship also performs a public relations role for the Coast Guard and the United States. Often, Eagle makes calls at foreign ports as a goodwill ambassador.
The ship was built as the German sail training ship Horst Wessel in 1936; it served to train German sailors in sail techniques until decommissioned at the start of World War II. The vessel was given anti-aircraft armament and re-commissioned in 1942. At the end of the war, Horst Wessel was taken by the U.S. as war reparations.