USCGC Dexter ( WAVP - 385 ) USCGC " Dexter " ( WAVP - 385 ) , originally WACG - 18 , later WHEC - 385 , was a " Casco " - class United States Coast Guard Cutter in service from 1946 to 1952 and from 1958 to 1968 . She was the fourth ship of the United States Revenue Cutter Service or United States Coast Guard to bear the name . Construction and U . S . Navy service . " Dexter " began life as the United States Navy " Barnegat " - class seaplane tender USS " Biscayne " ( AVP - 11 ) . She was laid down on 27 October 1939 by Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton , Washington , launched on 23 May 1941 , and commissioned into the U . S . Navy on 3 July 1941 . She operated as a seaplane tender in the Atlantic Ocean , Caribbean Sea , West Africa , and North Africa during the first half of World War II . Converted into an amphibious force flagship and redesignated AGC - 18 in 1943 , " Biscayne " served in the Mediterranean in 1943 – 1944 , seeing action in the amphibious landings in Operation Avalanche at Salerno , Operation Shingle at Anzio , and Operation Dragoon in southern France . She then served in the Pacific in 1945 , serving at Iwo Jima , in the Okinawa campaign , and in the Philippines before the war ended . Postwar , she served in Korea and China . She was decommissioned on 29 June 1946 . Transferred to the United States Coast Guard . " 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 . The Navy transferred " Biscayne " to the Coast Guard on either 10 July 1946 , 19 July 1946 , or 29 July 1946 . at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay at Baltimore , Maryland . After she underwent conversion for service as a weather reporting ship , the Coast Guard commissioned her as USCGC " Dexter " ( WAGC - 18 ) on 20 September 1946 with Commander A . G . Morrill , USCG , in command . U . S . Coast Guard service . Atlantic service 1946 – 1952 . " Dexter " was stationed at Boston , Massachusetts , which would remain her home port until December 1952 , and was redesignated WAVP - 385 during her time there . 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 . While on station , she acted as an aircraft check point at the point of no return , a relay point for messages from ships and aircraft , as a source of the latest weather information for passing aircraft , as a floating oceanographic laboratory , and as a search - and - rescue ship for downed aircraft and vessels in distress , and engaged in law enforcement operations . She arrived at Boston to assume her duties on 17 October 1946 . On 30 November 1946 , " Dexter " was at Naval Station Argentia , Newfoundland , Canada , underway to her first ocean station duty at Ocean Station Charlie . By 28 December 1946 she was back in Boston . For the next few months , she was on Ocean Station Charlie and Ocean Station Alfa , taking time out in October 1947 for underway training near Berkley Station at Norfolk , Virginia . " Dexter " served on Ocean Station Able from 30 October 1947 to 10 December 1947 . While on that duty , she responded to a request for assistance by the merchant ship SS " Louisburg " , which was flooding , on 4 November 1947 . " Dexter " transferred a life raft and damage control timbers to " Louisburg " and escorted her safely to St . John ' s , Newfoundland . " Dexter " then returned to Ocean Station Able . On 4 November 1948 , while underway from Ocean Station Alfa , " Dexter " assisted the fishing vessel " Pan Pades Andros " , which was disabled about southeast of Sable Island . Following this assistance case , " Dexter " was put into repair status until 12 February 1949 , when repairs were completed and she was in port on standby . On 14 February 1949 , " Dexter " relieved Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Winnebago " ( WPG - 40 ) from duty on Ocean Station Delta , and in turn was relieved by Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Androscoggin " ( WPG - 68 ) . On 27 April 1949 she relieved Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Ingham " ( WPG - 35 ) on Ocean Station Echo and on 29 April 1949 was underway to Bermuda with an injured crew member . She resumed station on 3 May 1949 . On 21 May 1949 she assisted the fishing vessel " Sea Hawk " and on 22 May 1949 turned " Sea Hawk " over to Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Legare " ( WSC - 144 ) for further assisatnce and returned to Boston for repairs . On 30 July 1949 , " Dexter " assisted the U . S . Navy destroyer USS " Livermore " ( DD - 429 ) while at sea . On 9 September 1949 , she was forced to proceed south of Sable Island to avoid the center of a hurricane . She proceeded on to Ocean Station Bravo and relieved Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Humboldt " ( WAVP - 372 ) on 12 September 1949 . On 30 September 1949 , she was relieved on Ocean Station Bravo by the Canadian Coast Guard ship CGS " St . Stephen " . In October 1949 , she participated in gunnery exercises in the Newport , Rhode Island , area . For the next few months , " Dexter " had her regular ocean station patrols with nothing unusual happening until 7 August 1950 , when she went off Ocean Station Charlie temporarily to assist the merchant ship SS " Belfrey " , and proceeded to escort her toward St . John ' s , Newfoundland , until 11 August 1950 , when she was relieved of the escort duty by Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Spencer " ( WPG - 36 ) and returned to Ocean Station Charlie . On 26 November 1950 she assisted U . S . Navy destroyer escort USS " Tweedy " ( DE - 532 ) , which was adrift off Cape Cod , Massachusetts . On 2 January 1951 " Dexter " departed Boston en route Ocean Station Hotel . In April 1951 she was temporarily off Ocean Station Echo for two days , while investigating a reported depth charge in the area . On 11 June 1951 she temporarily departed Ocean Station Delta on a distress - response mission and reoccupied the station on 14 June 1951 . During November 1951 , she was forced to leave Ocean Station Alfa for a short while due to an urgent medical case . On 19 February 1952 , " Dexter " left Ocean Station Hotel to assist the merchant ship SS " Helen Stevenson " , which had cracked across the main deck port and starboard at the hatch . She escorted " Helen Stevenson " to a point less than 10 nautical miles ( 18 . 5 kilometers ) east of St . Georges , Bermuda , and then returned to station . On 18 October 1952 , she departed Ocean Station Alfa and proceeded to Boston . On 8 November 1952 , she departed Boston for the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay , Maryland , arriving there on 9 November 1952 . On 17 December 1952 , " Dexter " was decommissioned at the Coast Guard Yard and placed in storage there . In 1957 she was re - engined with four new FM diesel engines . Pacific service 1958 – 1968 . " Dexter " was recommissioned on 30 June 1958 and assigned to a new home port , Alameda , California . She departed Curtis Bay on 14 July 1958 under the command of Commander Bainbridge Leland , USCG . " Dexter " arrived at Alameda on 11 August 1958 . She assumed duty as the United States West Coast training ship for the United States Coast Guard Reserve training component . She provided training at sea for Coast Guard Reserve recruits undergoing training at Alameda Training Station . Manned by a complement of 83 — eight officers , 10 chief petty officer s , and 65 other enlisted men — to 85 , " Dexter " had facilities for handling over 100 recruits at a time . Recruits spent approximately three months aboard " Dexter " for indoctrination and one extended cruise beyond the waters of San Francisco Bay . " Dexter " also made cruises to various ports on the U . S . West Coast , as well as to British Columbia , Hawaii , Alaska , and Mexico , in connection with training activities . " Dexter " also participated as a search - and - rescue patrol vessel for various sailing races and regattas , including the September 1958 America ' s Cup Race at Newport , Rhode Island , and the Transpacific Yacht Race s from Los Angeles , California , to Honolulu , Hawaii , of 1959 and 1961 and 1965 . " Dexter " also conducted search and rescue operations . On 18 July 1959 , she towed the disabled fishing vessel " Cloud Nine " until relieved by Coast Guard buoy tender USCGC " Blackhaw " ( WLB - 390 ) . On 5 February 1965 , she unsuccessfully searched for an F - 4B Phantom jet fighter aircraft near San Clemente Island . In early February 1966 , she towed the disabled sloop " Allegro " from south - southwest of San Diego , California , to Asuncion Bay . " Dexter " was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC - 385 on 1 May 1966 . Decommissioning and disposal . On 18 January 1968 , the Coast Guard decommissioned " Dexter " . She was transferred to the U . S . Navy on 9 July 1968 and sunk as a target later that year .