U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary
Public Affairs
PHOTO RELEASE
Date: 25 July 2008
Contact: Anthony Turner
Chief, External Communications Division
310-908-6950
anthony.j.turner@uscg.mil
http://www.new.auxpa.org/
San Francisco CA (July 23, 2008) - U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Vessel Silver Charm, escorts Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, a three-masted sailing barque with 21,350 square feet of sail during Festival of Sail Parade in San Francisco Bay. The New London, Conn., based cutter's hull is built of steel four-tenths of an inch thick and has two full length steel decks with a platform deck below.
This is the Eagle's first trip to the West Coast in four years. The ship was a war prize from Nazi Germany, and is the only square-rigged sailing ship in the United States government service. It was originally commissioned the Horst Wessel in 1936 by Nazi Germany where it was one of three training ships used to train navy cadets. Taken as a war prize by the United States in 1946 and renamed, the Eagle now allows the Coast Guard's future officers to apply the navigation, engineering, and leadership training they receive in classes at the Coast Guard Academy to real-life challenges on the sea. (USCG Photo by Eric J. Hebert, USCGAUX.)
