Security Levels


 

  National Threat Level: Elevated

USCGC ACUSHNET HISTORY


America's Oldest Commissioned Cutter - "Queen of the Fleet"

U.S. Navy Service in the Second World War 

The last of the Diver Class of Coast Guard Cutters, USGCC ACUSHNET (WMEC 167) was built by the Basalt Rock Co. of Napa, CA and originally commissioned as the USS SHACKLE (ARS 9) in 1944.  SHACKLE served as a rescue and salvage ship for the US Navy through World War Two, conducting salvage work, minesweeping and other duties at Pearl Harbor, Midway, Guam, Iwo Jima, Okinawa among many other places, and was noted for her immediate response the torpedoing of USS PENSYLVANIA (BB 83) three days before the end of the war.  SHACKLE earned three battle stars during World War Two, from the assault on Iwo Jima, the assault on Okinawa, and the East China Sea minesweeping operations.  During World War Two, her crew also earned the American Campaign Medal, the World War Two Victory Medal, and Navy Occupation Service Medal.

Transfer to the U.S. Coast Guard 

USCGC ACUSHNET, Circa 1950In 1946, ACUSHNET was commissioned as a Coast Guard Cutter and was eventually joined by two other vessels of the same 213ft class, USCGC ESCAPE (formerly USS ESCAPE, ARS 6) and USCGC YOCONA (formerly USS SEIZE, ARS 26).  In her long and varied career, ACUSHNET has been designated as a tug (WAT), an oceanographic vessel (WAGO), and as a medium endurance cutter (WMEC).  She is the second Coast Guard cutter to bear the name ACUSHNET.  

First homeported in Portland, Maine as a Coast Guard Tug, ACUSHNET earned a valiant reputation as a dependable friend to fishermen and boaters in distress.  From 1968 to 1978, she supported the National Data Buoy Project while designated as anUSCGC ACUSHNET Atlantic Ice Patrol, Circa 1950 oceanographic vessel, originally out of San Diego, California and then out of Gulfport, Mississippi.  In 1978, ACUSHNET was reclassified as a medium endurance cutter and served until 1990 enforcing maritime laws in the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, and Caribbean Sea.  ACUSHNET also executed other duties such as environmental protection, boating safety, search and rescue, and participated in Sealift 1980, the Cuban refugee crisis.  In 1990, ACUSHNET changed homeport to Eureka, California and patrolled the West Coast from the southern waters of California to the northern waters of the Bering Sea.

USCGC ACUSHNET, Circa 1960

ACUSHNET Today 

While both sister ships have been decommissioned, ACUSHNET continues to serve as a medium endurance cutter in the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean.  Previous plans would have brought all of the 213ft class cutters out of ACUSHNET departing Dutch Harbor, Alaska, August 2009service by the mid-1990s, but Coast Guard policy reviews continue to extend the service-life of ACUSHNET as suitable replacements have not been identified to meet the demanding operating environment.  ACUSHNET changed homeport to Ketchikan, Alaska in 1998 where she primarily patrols the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea.  Her primary missions include search and rescue, homeland security, maritime law enforcement, and environmental protection.  The cutter’s motto, “Juvate, Servate, Confirmate,” means “Help, Save, Strengthen.”


ACUSHNET Motto: "Help, Save, Strengthen"
Last Modified 1/19/2010