From the Newsletter

Coast Guard Heritage Fleet to Escort Training Square-Rigger Eagle

Two World War II era Coast Guard boats with Puget Sound historical connections and another from the Vietnam War era will escort the square-rigged sail training vessel Eagle into Seattle's Elliott Bay on July 1 (Tuesday). Known as "America's Tall Ship," the Eagle is scheduled to make a one day stopover in Seattle on its way to participate in the Tall Ships Tacoma 2008 event July 3 - 7. It has been three decades since the almost 300-foot-long sailing vessel has visited Puget Sound.

The Eagle will be welcomed to Seattle by a three boat Coast Guard Heritage Fleet which spans more than a half century of Coast Guard history from WWII to the mid-1990's. The Fleet consists of an 83-foot patrol boat, CG-83527, built in 1944, a 65-foot buoy tender, Blueberry, built in 1941, and an 82-foot patrol boat built in 1962 and formerly known as the Point Divide.

The CG-83527 was assigned to Tacoma beginning in 1945 and provided security, search and rescue, vessel safety inspection and navigational aids services in south Puget Sound until decommissioned in 1962. Sold as military surplus in the mid-1960's the retired cutter spent more than 35 years as a live aboard yacht in Alameda, California. In 2003 Tacoma's former Coast Guard patrol boat was itself rescued, purchased and restored to its early 1960's military appearance by Combatant Craft of America (CCA). The nonprofit CCA operates the CG-83527 in Puget Sound as part of its mission to preserve the history of military patrol boats and honor those veterans who served aboard these vessels in times of war and peace.

During the Tall Ships Tacoma event the CG-83527 will escort the Eagle during the Parade of Sail on July 3 (Thur.) and will be on exhibit and open for public tours from July 4 through 6 on the Thea Foss Waterway

http://www.cg83527.org/heritagefleet.htm