U.S. Coast Guard Tall Ship

[JohnnyTarr]

The Coast Guard's Eagle

The Eagle is a three-masted sailing Barque with 21,350 square feet of sail. It is homeported at the CG Academy, New London, Connecticut. It is the only active (operational) commissioned sailing vessel in the U.S. maritime services. (One of five such Training Barques in world. Sister ships include: MIRCEA of Romania, SAGRES II of Portugal, GORCH FOCK of Germany, and TOVARICH of Russia.)

The Eagle bears a name that goes back to the early history of the United States' oldest contiunous seagoing service. The first Eagle was commissioned in 1792, just two years after the formation of the Revenue Marine, the forerunner of today's Coast Guard.

Today's Eagle, the seventh in a long line of proud cutters to bear the name, was built in 1936 by the Blohm & Voss Shipyard, Hamburg, Germany, as a training vessel for German Naval Cadets.

It was commissioned Horst Wessel and following World War II was taken as a war prize by the United States. On May 15, 1946, the barque was commissioned into U.S. Coast Guard service as the Eagle and sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany to New London, Connecticut.

Eagle serves as a seagoing classroom for approximiately 175 cadets and instructors from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. It is on the decks and rigging of the Eagle that the young men and women of the Academy get their first taste of salt air and life at sea. From this experience they develop a respect for the elements that will be with them throughout their lifetime. They are tested and challenged, often to the limits of their endurance. Working aloft they meet fear and learn to overcome it. The training cadets receive under sail has proven to be an invaluable asset during their subsequent Coast Guard careers.

On Eagle, cadets have a chance to practically apply the navigation, engineering and other training they receive in classes at the Academy. As upper-class cadets, they perform the leadership functions normally handled by junior officers. As under-class cadets, they fill positions normally taken by the enlisted crew of the ship, including helm watch at the huge brass and wood wheels used to steer the vessel.

Sailing in Eagle, cadets handle more than 20,000 square feet of sail and 5 miles of rigging. Over 200 lines must be coordinated during a major ship maneuver, so cadets must learn the name and function of each line.

The ship readily takes to the task for which it was designed. Eagle's hull is built of steel, four-tenths of an inch thick. It has two full length steel decks with a platform deck below and a raised forecastle and quarterdeck. The weatherdecks are three-inch-thick teak over steel.

When at home, Eagle rests alongside a pier at the Coast Guard Academy on the Thames River. The Academy was originally founded in 1876 with a class of nine students on board the Revenue Cutter Dobbin. In 1932, a permanent Academy was built on land donated by the New London community. Enrollment at the Academy numbers approximately 700 men and women, all of whom sail at one time or another on America's only active duty square rigger.

Length: 295 feet

Maximum Speed: 11-16 knots (under full sail)

Maximum Range: 5450 miles

Training Complement: 12 Officers, 38 crew, 150 cadets (average)

Major Missions: Training vessel for CG Academy Cadets

Commissioned: 15 May 1946

[Captain Jim-sib]

Double Eagle

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g276/2go...se/100_3202.jpg

The first Revenue Cutter called the Eagle, based in Savanna, and the present Eagle...7th to bear the name Eagle.

Piece completed & sold during Pepsi Sail

[JohnnyTarr]

That is very cool.

[Rumba Rue]

A few years back the Eagle was in San Diego along with a whole bunch of other ships for the Festival of Sail.

Gorgeous ship, just awesome!

[El Pirata]

Here are a 2 pics I took at Little Creek this past winter.

[Gentleman of Fortune]

I saw a really cool ships log from a German Midshipman that was for a 6 month period during 1938 (i think) from the Horst Wessel (now Eagle).

Interesting that the Nazis used it to train young naval officers as well. The winning bid was well over the 100 euros I bid on it.....

Greg

[Coastie04]

Some notes from my experiences on Eagle...

It's impossible to forget that she was a Nazi ship. If you know where to look, there are still some swastikas in the metal of the ship. On one of the original watertight doors there's one, and a few in the Admiral's Cabin. For the latter, you need to look under the very nice wooden pannels if given an opportunity. Also, she's a pretty ship to look at, but when doing maintenance, you find the signs of age. But, as far as tall ships go, she probably gets as much or more than any other ship of her age and is probably the safest 'old boat' to sail. It is common during cadets' six-week third class summer (between freshman and sophmore years) onboard that they navigate for a time with just celestial navigation. Turn the GPS off (at least on deck and if the weather allows) and break out the sextants.

Of other historical note, the ship came over to the U.S. with a half-German crew. Instead of scuttling the ship (and the rest of the German Navy-there are areas below that have a depression that used to hold explosives for that purpose) when it was obvious that Germans were days from loosing WWII, the German crew helped the new American crew to fix her up and many sailed across the Atlantic with her. Some stayed in the CT area and I was fortunate enough to meet one of them that's still alive in the area. He also confirmed a story that was thought to be a rumor for a while. Horst Wessel shot down at least one Allied plane during the war. She was at port and with a deck machine gun was credited with shooting down a fighter.

Additionally, she has always had the Eagle as a figurehead. However, instead of a shield in the wreath carried in the Eagle's talons, she originally had a swastika. The last German captain gave the gift of a shield designed to cover the swastika as a parting gift to the American captain when they were ready to leave Germany. Ever since, the many replacement figureheads have held a wreath with a shield in it.

So, this hunk of metal, referred to by many cadets as "the slave ship", "the love boat", "the bird", "rust bucket", and many other names, has quite an exciting history. She's truly one of those boats that you wish could speak just to tell you her story...and how to better trim the sails.

Coastie

[Captain Jim-sib]

When she was originally built in Germany, she was called the Horst Wessel...named after a high ranking Nazi . At the end of WWII, my Charleston-born & bred father-in-law was asked if wanted to sail back to the States on her. The new owners were looking for men with sailing experience, yet me f-i-l declined since he had another sail boat to take care of.