America’s Tall Ship

The Eagle was originally the SS (Segelschulschiff) Horst Wessel, launched in 1936 by Nazi Germany and one of four sail training vessels. During World War II, the ship was outfitted with antiaircraft guns, shooting down one German plane (by accident) and three Russian planes. Following the war, the Horst Wessel was sent to the U.S. as reparations. The ship’s German crew and captain assisted in sailing across the Atlantic – surviving a hurricane – to its new home in New Haven, Conn. The Eagle is the seventh so-named vessel, and still serves as a training ship for cadets of the Coast Guard Academy and OCS candidates.