The Cutter Kukui, (WAK-186) would start life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the USS Colquitt. She was launched on January 21, 1945, at Froemming Brothers shipyard in Milwaukee under a Maritime Commission contract. She was transferred to the U.S Navy and commissioned on September 22, 1945 with Lieutenant Commander F. E. Miner, U.S. Coast Guard, in command.
Colquitt was transferred to the US Coast Guard two days later and served until decommissioned by the Navy on March 11, 1946, on which date her transfer to the Coast Guard became permanent. She was renamed and reclassified Kukui (WAK-186), by the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard needed a large cargo vessel to supply the equipment and personnel needed for the construction and logistical support of the Pacific LORAN chain. She was converted to Coast Guard specifications at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland and then headed to her new homeport in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Through 1960 she was responsible for constructing the entire Philippine LORAN system. All construction of this system was done by Coasties in the Kukui crew.
Their dual role as seamen and construction workers was one of the most unique assignments in the armed forces. She carried on her decks two LCMs to ferry men and equipment to shore and also had three bulldozers, several trucks and a few jeeps stashed in her holds.
Seven months a year she was underway providing necessary logistic support to members of the Coast Guard LORAN chain throughout the western Pacific. During this time she delivered “everything from toothpicks to antenna poles; from a can of pepper to a Quonset hut.” She also carried the complex electronic equipment necessary to set up the LORAN system. As a Coast Guard public affairs release noted: “The men and officers of the black-hulled cutter were a versatile group. They not only sailed the ship but they operated bulldozers, landing craft, trucks and jeeps.
She would continue this essential LORAN support role until her decommissioning in Honolulu on March 1, 1972.
She was turned over to the Navy after decommissioning, who in turn would give her to the Philippine Navy.