USCGC Northland ( WPG - 49 ) USCGC " Northland " ( WPG - 49 ) was a cruising class of gunboat especially designed for Arctic operations that served in World War II and later served in the Israeli Navy . She was the last cruising cutter built for the Coast Guard equipped with a sailing rig . Design . " Northland " was built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation , Newport News , Virginia , launched 5 February 1927 and commissioned 7 May . She was long , had a maximum displacement of 2 , 150 tons , and had diesel - electric propulsion . She was originally fitted with auxiliary sails , but they were removed and her tall masts were trimmed in 1936 . Bering Sea Patrol . Prior to World War II her homeports were alternately San Francisco , Oakland , and Seattle . She served primarily on the Bering Sea Patrol , where she performed " everything under the midnight sun . " The cutters on Bering Sea Patrol were much more than symbols . They assisted in the performance in many governmental functions . For the Justice Department they enforced the law , apprehended criminals , and transported floating courts . They gathered military intelligence for the Navy Department , and carried mail for the Post Office Department . For the Interior Department , the cutters carried teachers to their posts , conducted sanitation inspections , and guarded timber and game . They surveyed coastlines and regional industries for the Department of Commerce and carried Public Health Service personnel to isolated villages , otherwise without medical service . " Northland " departed the West Coast in 1938 on her last Arctic cruise , after which she decommissioned . In June 1939 , however , she recommissioned and transferred to Boston , Massachusetts to prepare for the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition . World War II service . With the eruption of war in Europe in September , she was withdrawn from the expedition and returned to Alameda , California . In May 1940 , " Northland " entered New York Navy Yard to be outfitted for special duty in Greenland . She embarked on her first Greenland Survey 20 August and visited harbors in order to determine the best location for patrol forces . The information that resulted contributed to the composition of a Greenland pilot volume as well as new charts . These were subsequently utilized in the formal organization of the Greenland Patrol , after an agreement between the United States and exiled rulers of German - held Denmark was signed 9 April 1941 . By that agreement Greenland was included in the United States ' system of cooperative defense of the Western Hemisphere . " Northland " set out 7 April 1941 on a two month cruise to assist in the South Greenland Survey Expedition . While conducting this survey she searched for victims of ships sunk in the North Atlantic . While on one of her many mercy missions , she was involved in a near catastrophe . Only six miles from the scene of battle between " Bismarck " and the British ships that finally sank the giant German warship , " Northland " was mistaken by the British for a German ship and very nearly taken under fire . The South Greenland Patrol was organized with cutters " Modoc " , " Comanche " , and " Raritan " , and the former Coast and Geodetic survey ship " Bowdoin " . A month later the Northeast Greenland Patrol was organized with cutter " Northland " , former Interior Department ship " North Star " , and " Bear " , Capt . Edward H . " Iceberg " Smith , USCG , in command . A month before the consolidation of the two patrols , " Northland " sighted the German - controlled Norwegian sealer " Buskø " 12 September and assumed to send a boarding party to investigate . Northland seized " Buskø " and took it to MacKenzie Bay , on the Greenland coast , where she became the first American naval capture of World War II . It was believed that she had been sending weather reports and information on British shipping to the Germans . A search of " Buskø " also led to the discovery of a German radio station about five hundred miles up the Greenland coast from Mackenzie Bay . A night raiding party from " Northland " detained three Germans at Peter Bregt , with equipment and code , as well as German plans for other radio stations in the far north . The two Greenland Patrols were consolidated 25 October under Smith , who became a Rear Admiral . From the outset , " Northland " served as Admiral Smith ' s flagship . By 1943 the force had grown to include thirty - seven vessels . Cutter " Northland " sighted and attacked a submarine in Davis Strait 18 June 1942 . The presence of oil and bubbles indicated possible hits from the cutter ' s depth charges , but German records give no indication of a submarine sinking in this area . In July 1944 " Northland " discovered a German trawler believed to be " Coberg " , which had been fired and completely gutted by her crew . This was one of the ships suspected of carrying three separate German expeditions to Greenland . A second German craft was disposed of in September after " Northland " pursued her for seventy miles ( 113 km ) ) through ice floes off Great Koldewey Island , The Germans scuttled their ship and then surrendered and were taken on board " Northland " . " Northland " received two battle stars for World War II service . " Northland " returned to the Treasury Department 1 January 1946 and remained on weather patrol duty until she decommissioned 27 March . " Northland " had a hand in the desegregation of the United States Navy . While executive officer of the ship , Carlton Skinner , who would later captain the " USCGC Sea Cloud " , the first integrated warship since the Civil War , witnessed a black kitchen assistant save the ship . This convinced him that black sailors were just as capable as white sailors . Service in the Israeli Navy . Although sold for scrap 3 January 1947 , " Northland " was renamed " Jewish State " , and transported Jewish refugees to Palestine . In 1948 she was renamed " Eilat " and became the flagship of the infant Israeli Navy . Later , the ship she became a training ship . In 1955 , the ship was renamed " Matzpen " , serving as a barracks or depot hulk . The ship was scrapped in 1961 .