Feature Story

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is shown half painted after being re-welded at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. U.S. Coast Guard photograph by Petty Officer Second Class Thomas Burckell.

The U.S. Coast Guard prides itself on its motto Semper Paratus, meaning always ready. In order for the vessels of the U.S. Coast Guard to remain always ready, every four years each cutter must be pulled out of the water to undergo extensive inspections and to provide upgrades if necessary during an operation known as dry dock. Most of the larger cutters in the service perform these inspections and upgrades at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Md.  Smaller cutters and ships on the West Coast generally dry dock with a contracted company closer to their respected homeports.

Currently, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is in dry dock with an expected completion date of Jan. 13, 2012. In all, the Eagle is going through 75 upgrades and repairs to include: removing, overhauling and reinstalling the rudder bearings, propeller and propulsion shaft, main mast and bowsprit, and repainting the eagle figurehead with gold leaf, said Chief Warrant Officer Seth Andersen, engineering officer aboard Eagle.

Eagle goes to the yard because of the uniqueness of her build. Unlike the current U.S. Coast Guard cutters across the nation, the Eagle is built half riveted and half welded. Once Eagle is pulled out of the water, the ship will be inspected for wear and tear of the riveting and welding by specialists located at the yard, said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Eric Jones, commanding officer of Eagle.

“What’s interesting is that Eagle may be 75-years-old, but most of the identified repairs that need to be made on Eagle this year are the same as any other modern cutter in the Coast Guard,” said Jones. 

Between scheduled, four-year dry dock periods, the crew of Eagle carries out dockside inspections at Fort Trumbull in New London, Conn., which sometimes includes contractors from the Coast Guard Yard to help with repairs, said Andersen.

To put any Coast Guard cutter through dry dock, the crew and the engineering staff from Coast Guard Headquarters must consider finances and conduct inspections at least a year and a half prior to taking the cutter to the dry dock destination in order to identify what needs to be repaired or upgraded.

“Putting Eagle through dry dock has more gravity than most other cutters because we are preserving a historical ship, not just maintaining an asset,” said Andersen.

These services during dry dock are done to ensure better navigation and survivability for the crew and the trainees that sail every year as part of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy training program, said Richard Tonra Shannon, a Coast Guard retired chief warrant officer.

Shannon spent two years as a boatswains mate sailing on Eagle before becoming the sail master for 10 years. He went through dry dock with Eagle in 1977 when the original eagle figurehead was taken down and replaced with a mahogany eagle figurehead painted in gold leaf. The original figurehead now hangs in the U.S. Coast Guard Museum at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

Since Eagle was taken as a war prize from Germany in WWII, she has undergone several overhauls, said Shannon. From 1975 to 1983, Eagle went through dry dock for eight consecutive winters while sailing during the summers. Some of the changes that were made during that time period included the following: in 1976, a new pilot house was built to help with year-round sailing and navigation, in 1981 to 1984, all steel decks on the exterior surface were demolished and resurfaced with fresh stainless steel overlaid with teak wood, in 1982, the original German M.A.N. engine was replaced with a 1,000 horsepower caterpillar engine, the main and emergency generators were replaced and the two berthing areas were subdivided into four areas to allow females to train aboard the Eagle.

“Going to dry dock is not fun – it’s dirty, loud and seems to go on forever,” said Jones. “Like every other cutter though, going to dry dock with Eagle is a necessary investment for the future of the Coast Guard.”

Every U.S. Coast Guard vessel must undergo dry dock operations either at its homeport, a contracted location or at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard, and “America’s Tall Ship” U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is no exception.