sometime between May 1946 and the Coast Guards 1967 adoption of the "
racing stripe" markings on its ships.
Barnegat-class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability, and the United States Coast Guard viewed them as ideal for
ocean-station duty, in which they would perform
weather reporting and
search and rescue tasks, once they were modified by having a
balloon shelter added aft and having
oceanographic equipment, an oceanographic
winch, and a
hydrographic winch installed. After World War II, the Navy transferred 18 of the ships to the Coast Guard, in which they were known as the
Casco-class cutters. After the Navy transferred
Wachapreague to the Coast Guard on 27 May 1946, she underwent conversion for service as a
weather reporting ship. The Coast Guard commissioned her as '
USCGC McCulloch
(WAVP-386)' on 25 November 1946. She was the fourth ship of the U.S. Coast Guard or its predecessor, the
United States Revenue Cutter Service, to bear the name, which honored the financier
Hugh McCulloch (1808–1895), who served as
United States Secretary of the Treasury under
Presidents Abraham Lincoln and
Andrew Johnson from 1865 to 1869 and
Chester A. Arthur from 1884 to 1885.
North Atlantic, 1946–1972 McCullochs first
home port was Boston, Massachusetts, where she would remain stationed until July 1966. Her primary duty was to serve on ocean stations in the
Atlantic Ocean to gather
meteorological data. While on duty in one of these stations, she was required to patrol a 210-square-mile (544-square-kilometer) area for three weeks at a time, leaving the area only when physically relieved by another Coast Guard cutter or in the case of a dire emergency. Spending an average of 21 days per month at sea,
McCulloch patrolled the direct line of air routes to
Europe, acting as an aircraft check point at the
point of no return, relayed weather data to the
United States Weather Bureau and acted as a source of the latest weather information for passing aircraft, and maintained an
air-sea rescue station for downed
civilian and
military aircraft and vessels in distress. She also operated as a floating oceanographic laboratory and engaged in
law enforcement operations.
McCulloch remained engaged in these duties until more modern techniques of weather reporting and data gathering came into use and made seagoing weather ships obsolete. While
McCulloch was patrolling
Ocean Station Bravo off the coast of
Labrador,
Canada, in January 1959, raging winter seas cracked her main decks and swept one crewman overboard. In spite of that harrowing experience, she managed to reach
Naval Station Argentia in
Newfoundland, Canada, without further mishap. During October and November 1965,
McCulloch was assigned to patrol the
Florida Strait and rescue Cuban refugees during the
Cuban Exodus, in which thousands of Cubans chanced the rough, hazardous passage from
Camarioca,
Cuba, to
Key West,
Florida, many in overcrowded and unseaworthy craft handled by totally inexperienced people. During this patrol,
McCulloch was under the command of
Commander Frank Barnett,
USCG, who was in tactical command of 12 Coast Guard cutters and four airplanes assigned to the
Cuban Patrol. In early November 1965,
McCulloch rescued 280 Cuban refugees from small craft in the Florida Strait and carried them to Key West. The crew was cited for outstanding service during this patrol and, on 22 April 1966,
McCulloch was awarded a
Unit Commendation for her Florida Strait patrol, with ceremonies held at Boston, entitling her crew of 144 to wear the
Unit Commendation Bar. On 1 May 1966,
McCulloch was reclassified as a
high endurance cutter and redesignated
WHEC-386. In July 1966, she was stationed at
Wilmington,
North Carolina, which would remain her home port until 21 June 1972. Just as during her years at Boston, she spent her years at Wilmington in ocean station, law-enforcement, and search-and-rescue operations. On 17 June 1970,
McCulloch helped fight a fire aboard the
merchant ship Tsui Yung in Wilmington.
Decommissioning and transfer to South Vietnam In April 1972,
McCulloch and two of her sister ships, the Coast Guard cutters and , were deployed as Coast Guard Squadron Two, with crews composed mainly of members of the
United States Coast Guard Reserve. They were originally scheduled to sail to
Subic Bay in the
Philippines, but were diverted to the U.S. Navy base at
Apra Harbor,
Guam. After their
antisubmarine warfare equipment had been removed, the three cutters eventually were decommissioned, transferred to the U.S. Navy, and then transferred to
South Vietnam, all three of these events happening for
McCulloch on 21 June 1972. == Republic of Vietnam Navy service ==