News Release

The Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is anchored near the Statue of Liberty, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Erik Swanson.

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, "America’s Tall Ship," is scheduled to return to their homeport at the State Pier in Ft. Trumbull here Friday at 9:30 a.m., marking the conclusion of their 2011 Summer Training Cruise which spanned five foreign countries and three U.S. ports.

During the training cruise, more than 550 cadets trained aboard the Eagle in five functional areas of shipboard life: deck, operations, engineering, damage control and support.

In the 97 days since leaving New London, the crew visited ports in Ireland, Germany, England, Iceland, Nova Scotia, Boston, New Bedford, Mass., and New York.

For their visit to Hamburg, Germany,the crew of the Eagle arrived at the Landungsbruecken Pier in celebration of the ship's construction at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg 75 years ago.

Following their port call in Reykjavik, Iceland, the crew of the Eagle held an honoring ceremony at the final resting place of the Coast Guard Cutter Alexander Hamilton, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1942. The visit by the Eagle crew marked the first time a Coast Guard crew has paid homage to their fallen shipmates since the wreckage site was discovered by the Icelandic coast guard in 2009. In tandem with the Eagle crew, a helicopter crew from the Icelandic coast guard attended the ceremony while hovering above the wreckage site and dropping a wreath in honor of the American Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives.

During their transit from Iceland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Eagle and its crew crossed the Arctic Circle for the first time since being built 75 years ago. During their voyage, approximately 200 Coast Guard men and women were inducted into the Order of the Blue Nose - a traditional line-crossing ceremony which commemorates a crewmember's passage into the Arctic Circle.

The 50 enlisted members and six officers who make up the permanent crew, along with 19 cadets and 72 swabs aboard the Eagle will be pulling into their homeport of New London after nearly 14 weeks at sea.

At 295 feet in length, the Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the stars and stripes and the only active square-rigger in U.S. government service.

Constructed in 1936 by the Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, and originally commissioned as the Horst Wessel by the German navy, the Eagle was taken by the United States as a war reparation following World War II.

With more than 23,500 square feet of sail and six miles of rigging, the Eagle has served as a floating classroom to future Coast Guard officers since 1946, offering an at-sea leadership and professional development experience.

The permanent crew maintains the ship and guides trainees through an underway and in-port training schedule, dedicated to learning the skills of navigation, damage control, watchstanding, engineering and deck seamanship.

To read more about the crew, cadets and training aboard the Eagle, please visit the following resources:

• Cadets of a Different Kind
• Bring on the Swabs
• On the Job Training
• Practical Leadership
• Honoring Fallen Heroes
• Building Trust
• Fore and Aft
• Seizing Opportunity
• Honoring the Past
• Crucible Moments
• To Know the Ropes

To view photos and to learn more about the Eagle, its mission and its people, visit the ship’s Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/CoastGuardCutterEagle