The U.S. Coast Guard’s 81-year-old Barque Eagle departed floating drydock on February 27, 2018, following completion of a four-year life extension project.

In August 2017, the 295-foot Eagle began the fourth and final phase of a service life extension project under the Coast Guard's in-service vessel sustainment program.

The project’s fourth phase involved mechanical, electrical and structural repairs and inspections while dry-docked in the Oakridge, an ex-Navy floating dry dock that was previously used to maintain nuclear submarines.

The project, which provided an additional decade of service life for the historic training vessel, will allow America's Tall Ship Eagle to train the Coast Guard’s future officers for years to come.

Eagle will now return to the Coast Guard Academy for its summer ports of call.

USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), also known as the Barque Eagle, was built in 1936 as a German sail training ship originally named Horst Wessel. The vessel was used to train German sailors until it was decommissioned at the start of World War II. It was given antiaircraft armament and recommissioned in 1942 and eventually was taken by the U.S. as war reparations.