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Queens of the Fleet

The Queen of the Fleet is the oldest cutter on active duty.  She is authorized to wear gold hull hunbers.

Designation Name Class Service Comments Pictures Model
USCGC Campbell
(aka: George W.
Campbell)
WPG/WHEC 32
327 1936 – 1982 Built in Philadelphia and stationed in Stapleton, New York
2 October 1939: performed the first Nuetrality Patrol
1941: used as a test bed to see if 327s could serve as convoy escorts
Convoy duty and amphibiou command ship in WWII
22 February 1943: Rammed and sank U-606
Typical post-war duties – OWS
Deployed to Vietnam
Crowned as first official Queen of the Fleet in mid 1970s
Sunk as a reef off Hawaii
CGH Yes
USCGC Duane
(aka: William J.
Duane)
WPG/WHEC 33
327 1936 – 1985 Built in Philadelphia and stationed in Oakland
1939: Neutrality/Greenland/OWS Patrols
Convoy duty and amphibious command ship in WWII
17 April 1943: assisted CGC Spencer in sinking U-175
Typical post-war duties – OWS
Deployed to Vietnam
Queen of the Fleet from 1982 to 1985
Sunk as an artificial reef off Key Largo, Florida
CGH Yes
USCGC Ingham
(aka: Samuel D.
Ingham)
WPG/WHEC 35
327 1936 – 1988 Built in Philadelphia and stationed in Pory Angeles, Washington
1939: Neutrality/Greenland/OWS patrols
Convoy duty and amphibious command ship in WWII
17 December 1942: sank U-626
Typical post-war duties – OWS
Deployed to Vietnam
Queen of the Fleet from 1985 to 1988
Retired as the most decorated cutter in the Coast Guard Fleet
Only cutter to be awarded two Presidential Unit Citations
Currently centerpiece of the Ingham Memorial Museum in Key West, Florida
CGH Yes
USCGC Fir
WAGL/WLM 212
Hollyhock 1940 – 1991 Designed by LHS – Delivered to CG
Spent her career in the Pacific Northwest
To Liberty Marine Maritime Museum in Sacramento, CA
CGH
USCGC Storis
WAGL/WAG/
WAGB/WMEC 38
Storis 1942 – 2007 Built as a supply ship for the Greenland patrol
Basically a stretched 180′ buoy tender with an aircraft on the fantail
Stationed in Boston after the war
1 July 1957 Set out with CGCs Spar and Bramble to find a deep water
channel through the Arctic Ocean
This transit ended the 450 year search for the Northwest Passage
Returned to Greenland via the passage and then transited
to Alaska via the Panama Canal
becoming the first cutter to circumnavigate the North American Continent
Performed ice braeking duty until 1972
Converted to Medium Endurance Cutter
Decommissioned in 2007
Known as the Galloping Coast of the Alaskan Coast
CGH
USCGC Acushnet
WMEC 167
213 1946 – 2011 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: desiganted a Medium Endurance Cutter
1990: transferred to Eureka, CA and operated in Alaskan waters
1998: Transferred to Ketchikan, AK
CGH Yes
USCGC Smilax
WLIC 315
Bluebell 1944 Commissioned as one of seven Bluebell Class Inland Tenders
Stationed in Fort Pierce, FL until 1954
Stationed in Brunswick, GA unitl 1994
Currently in Atlantic Beach, NC
CGH
CGH