"Aspen" was built to replace , a "Mesquite"-class buoy tender, in her area of operations. "Buttonwood" was decommissioned 28 June 2001 after 58 years of service. In 2009, "Aspen" seized of marijuana and arrested four suspected smugglers from a go-fast boat off the coast of Baja California, which as at the time the third largest marijuana seizure in Coast Guard history and the first by a "Juniper"-class cutter. "Aspen" was deployed to the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. During her time on scene, "Aspen" transited over and recovered over of spilled crude oil. She recovered over 35 bales of marijuana of the coast of Baja California and returned thirteen illegal immigrants to Mexico in 2011. In July 2012, she seized 341 bales of marijuana weighing with a street value in excess of 6.7 million. In 2012, USCGC "Aspen" recovered two (NOAA) specialized ocean wave glider buoys worth 750,000 and serviced 7 other NOAA buoys. She also serviced 44 navigational buoys and helped Coast Guard Station Golden Gate with 25 hours of small boat response time.