U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle (WIX 327) returned to her homeport of New London, Thursday following a 97-day deployment. Over the past three months, the crew trained U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets and visited nine ports, including six foreign countries, acting as a goodwill ambassador for the United States and Coast Guard.
From May through August, Eagle trained over 600 Coast Guard Academy cadets, Sea Scouts, Sea Cadets, Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps members, and military exchange cadets in leadership fundamentals, navigation techniques, seamanship practices, damage control systems, engineering procedures, and more. While on board, the cadets had their first introduction to life at sea on a Coast Guard cutter, a foundational experience in their developmental journey toward becoming future officers in the Coast Guard, often requiring them push beyond their comfort zones to sail and operate an 88-year-old tall ship.
During this year’s deployment, Eagle leveraged opportunities to engage communities and strengthen U.S. relationships with valued partners throughout the Western Hemisphere. Eagle sailed through the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, visiting ports in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Bermuda, Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. While in the Dominican Republic, Eagle hosted the Commanding General of the Dominican navy and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, while participating in a ceremony honoring the 149th Anniversary of the Dominican Naval Academy. In Colombia, the crew coordinated a Women’s Peace and Security Luncheon onboard where crew members and cadets engaged in a round-table discussion with Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, and Colombian military members. In Barbados, Eagle hosted the President of Barbados and the U.S. Ambassador for an Independence Day celebration aboard the Barque.
Domestically, Eagle participated in the Sail Portsmouth 2024 Tall Ships festival, leading the parade of sail into Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In Rockland, Maine, Eagle celebrated the recertification of Rockland as a Coast Guard City, took part in the Maine Lobster Festival, and hosted a reception aboard the ship for local officials. Across all domestic port calls, Eagle hosted local high school students while promoting the Service and engaging with potential recruits for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
“Our crew performed at an exceptionally high-level throughout this summer deployment,” said Capt. Jessica Rozzi-Ochs, Eagle’s commanding officer. “Their commitment to training and mentoring the next generation of U.S. Coast Guardsmen is impressive and unmatched. Under their tutelage, the cadets have grown as mariners and leaders and are well prepared for the challenges facing them as future officers. Furthermore, the trainees and crew built key public and stakeholder awareness for U.S. Coast Guard partnerships domestically and throughout the Western Hemisphere.”
Known as “America’s Tall Ship,” Eagle is a 295-foot, three-masted barque operated as a training vessel for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. It is the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only active square-rigger in U.S. government service.
Eagle was constructed in 1936 by the Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. Originally commissioned as the Horst Wessel by the German navy, the United States acquired the Barque as a war reparation following World War II. Since 1946, Eagle has sailed out of New London, Connecticut as a training ship for future Coast Guard officers.