USCGC Eagle (WIX-327)

USCGC Eagle under full sail in 2013 in the Caribbean Sea
History
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	U.S. Coast Guard Academy New London, Connecticut, U.S.
Identification	Hull number: WIX-327 Call sign: NRCB IMO number: 6109973 MMSI number: 303990000
Motto	Tradition, Seamanship, Character
Nickname(s)	"America's Tall Ship"
Status	in active service
Badge	Crest of USCGC Eagle
General characteristics
Class and type	Gorch Fock-class barque
Displacement	Full load: 1,784 long tons (1,813 t)
Length	Overall: 295 ft (90 m) Waterline: 234 ft (71 m)
Beam	39 ft (12 m)
Draft	Full load: 17.5 ft (5.3 m)
Installed power	2 × 320 kW (430 hp) Caterpillar 3406 generators
Propulsion	1 × 1,200 hp (890 kW) MTU 8V 4000 diesel engine
Sail plan	Foremast: 147.3 ft (44.9 m) Mainmast: 147.3 ft (44.9 m) Mizzenmast: 132.0 ft (40.2 m) Sail area: 22,280 sq ft (2,070 m2)
Speed	Sail: 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph) Diesel: 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Range	Sail: Unlimited Diesel: 5,450 nmi (10,093 km; 6,272 mi) at 7.5 kn (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph)
Complement	Permanent: 7 officers, 50 crew When Deployed: 12 officers, 68 crew, and 150 trainees

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]

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.