“They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters;”
Psalm 107, King David.

Atlantic Ocean. (April 16, 2023): American sailors take a step back in history to the days of tall ships driven by the winds and at the mercy of the surf when they board the Eagle, a U.S. Coast Guard sailing ship used to train new officers. In this photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Hillard, Officer Candidate Elle Parks, National Ocean and Aeronautics Administration Corps and Coast Guard Seaman Jake Miller , center, a crew member assigned to the Eagle helm the bridge while underway in the Atlantic Ocean. Eagle conducted a four-month summer deployment to teach practical seamanship skills to the future leaders of the U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA Corps, foreign military personnel, and partner members from Tall Ships America.

America has been training its naval officers this way since 1877 when the first cadets enrolled in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, the forerunner to today’s Coast Guard. This 295-foot multi-mast cutter is one of only two active commissioned sailing vessels in the United States military today, along with USS Constitution which is ported in Boston Harbor. The Eagle’s mission is to prepare future officers for command through intense courses including navigation, seamanship, ship and boat maneuvering, line handling, sailing, first aid, weather patterns, damage control, and engineering.

Each summer, Officer candidates rotate tours on the Eagle for voyages ranging from two weeks to four months. She has a standing permanent crew of seven officers and 50 enlisted members and she takes on a variety of temporary crew and sails with up to 150 trainees on training missions, Another important role for the Eagle is public relations for the Coast Guard and as a goodwill ambassador for the United States at port calls around the world.

The ship was built as the German sail training ship Horst Wessel in 1936 and was taken by the United States as war reparations after World War II. Horst Wessel was a German “Brown Shirt” who was a street fighter for the Nazi’s and a favorite of Adolf Hitler. His murder in 1939 made him a martyr among the Nazi faithful. He became a propaganda symbol for the Nazis that ironically became a tool that trains Americans sailors to this day