Return to Special Mission Cutters

Oceanographic Research Cutters

180′ Cactus Class
Model: Yes

Designation Name Class Hull Service Comments Picture
USCGC Evergreen WAGL/WLB
WAGO/WMEC
295 1943 – 1990 1943: Commissioned as an Auxiliary Buoy Tender
1967: Redesignated as a Large Buoy Tender
1975: Redesignated as an Oceanographic Research Vessel
1986: Redesignated as a Medium Endurance Cutter
CGH

213′ Diver Class
Acquired from the Navy to replace retiring 125s and 165s
Originally classified as Fleet Tugs
Some retained their navy name and hull numbers
Others were renamed and/or renumbered
Known only as 213s – no other class designation
Reclassified Medium Endurance Cutters in 1967
Acushnet was decommissioned in 2011
Model: Yes

Designation Name Class Hull Service Comments Pictures
USCGC Acushnet
(ex USS Shackle ARS 9)
WAT/WMEC 167 1946 – 2012 Commissioned in 1944 as USS Shackle (ARS 9)
Transferred to the Coast Guard in 1946
Served in Boston
Took part in the Two Tankers Rescue in 1952
and on International Ice Patrol cruises
1968 to 1971: Oceanographic Research Cutter (WAGO)
Attached to Office of Naval Research
and Scripps Oceanographic Institute
as part of the NOAA National Data Buoy Project
Became known as NOAA’s Ark
1978: designated a Medium Endurance Cutter
1990: transferred to Eureka, CA and operated in Alaskan waters
1998: Transferred to Ketchikan, AK
Queen of the Fleet from 2007 to 2011
CGH

USCGC Neverbuilt Oceanographic Research Ship
Proposed in 1971
Designed to further CG oceanographic research
Cancelled when the oceanographic mission
went to the newly established NOAA
Model: No

Designation Name Class Hull Service Comments Pictures
USCGC Joseph Henry
(aka CGC Neverbuilt)
WHEO 701 CGH