The roots of today's Coast Guard were established in 1790 by Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers and the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton proposed the formation of the Revenue Marine, a seagoing military service that would enforce customs and navigation laws, collect tariffs, hail in-bound ships, make inspections and certify manifests.

 

The first Coast Guard Academy, then called the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction, was held aboard the two-masted topsail schooner Dobbin. The first class of nine cadets boarded the Dobbin in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1876 for a two-year training mission.The modern Academy was born in 1915 with the merger of the Life Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service.  The modern Academy was born in 1915 with the merger of the Life Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service.

 

The Barque Eagle arrived in New London in 1946.  The ship was originally named the Horst Wessell, and was constructed by Adolf Hitler to train German naval engineers. The United States seized Eagle as a war reparation following WWII. When USCG prize crew was sent to get her, Horst Wessel was one of several nearly identical sister ships anchored in the harbor. Apparently because of the eagle figurehead under her bowsprit, one of the CG crewmembers called her the one with the eagle — and the name stuck, she was renamed as US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle. Because of her sail rig, a barque, with square sails on fore and main masts, but only fore-and-aft sails on mizzen, current Eagle sailors generally refer to her as USCG Barque Eagle.  The 295-foot Barque Eagle is the flagship of the U.S. Coast Guard. She serves as a training vessel for cadets at the Coast Guard Academy and candidates from the Officer Candidate School. The Eagle is the only active-duty sailing vessel in America's military, and one of only two commissioned sailing vessels, along with the USS Constitution.

 

Four (4) sister ships built by the Germans for their Navy during WWII are Mircea of Romania, Sagres II of Portugal, Gorch Fock II of Germany, and Tovarich of Russia. 

 

Read more about the history of the Coast Guard