USCGC Barataria ( WAVP - 381 ) USCGC " Barataria " ( WAVP - 381 ) , later WHEC - 381 , was a " Casco " - class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1949 to 1969 . Construction and U . S . Navy service . " Barataria " began life as the United States Navy " Barnegat " - class seaplane tender USS " Barataria " ( AVP - 33 ) . She was laid down on 19 April 1943 by Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton , Washington , launched on 2 October 1943 , and commissioned into the U . S . Navy on 13 August 1944 . She operated in the Central Pacific and the Philippines during World War II , and at Okinawa , in China , and in Korea after the war ended . She was decommissioned on 24 July 1946 and placed in reserve at Naval Air Station Alameda in Alameda , California . Transferred to the United States Coast Guard . " Barnegat " - class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability , and the 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 U . S . Navy loaned " Barataria " to the Coast Guard on 17 September 1948 . After undergoing conversion for use as a weather - reporting ship , she was commissioned into the Coast Guard service as USCGC " Barataria " ( WAVP - 381 ) on 10 January 1949 . North Atlantic service 1949 - 1967 . " Barataria " was stationed at Portland , Maine , on 1 August 1949 , and it would remain her home port until January 1968 . Her primary duty was to serve on ocean stations 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 . " Barataria " patrolled the America ' s Cup Race at Newport , Rhode Island , in September 1962 . When the Cuban Missile Crisis developed in October , 1962 , " Barataria " was conducting an ocean station patrol on Ocean Station Echo in the shipping lanes east of Cuba . " Barataria " made contact with a Soviet freighter transporting a cargo of ballistic missile s and was ordered to shadow the freighter and await the arrival of a U . S . Navy warship which would conduct a boarding of the Soviet ship . " Barataria " remained at battle stations , Condition 2 , and repeatedly attempted to establish communications with the Soviet ship . All attempts failed . A U . S . Navy destroyer based at Norfolk , Virginia , arrived and the Navy crew boarded the Soviet vessel . " Barataria " won the Commander Eastern Area Gunnery Excellence Award in 1963 and the Military Readiness Award in 1965 . On 1 May 1966 she was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC - 381 . On 26 September 1966 her period on loan to the Coast Guard ended when she was stricken from the Navy List and transferred permanently to the Coast Guard . Vietnam War service 1967 - 1968 . On 1 April 1967 , " Barataria " departed Portland , Maine , and moved to Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . There she joined four other Coast Guard cutters - - USCGC " Gresham " ( WHEC - 387 ) , USCGC " Yakutat " ( WHEC - 380 ) , USCGC " Bering Strait " ( WHEC - 382 ) , and USCGC " Half Moon " ( WHEC - 378 ) — in forming Coast Guard Squadron Three . All five cutters were former " Barnegat " - class ships . " Gresham " became flagship of the squadron , which was designated Task Unit 70 . 8 . 6 . Captain John E . Day , commander of the squadron , hoisted his pennant aboard " Gresham " upon activation of the squadron at Pearl Harbor on 24 April 1967 . Coast Guard Squadron Three was tasked to operate in conjunction with U . S . Navy forces in Operation Market Time , the interdiction of communist coastal arms and munition s traffic along the coastline of Vietnam during the Vietnam War . The squadrons other Vietnam War duties included naval gun fire support for ground forces , resupplying Coast Guard and Navy patrol boat s , and search - and - rescue operations . The cutters departed Pearl Harbor on 26 April 1967 and reported to Commander , United States Seventh Fleet , for Market Time duty on 4 May 1967 . They were joined by Navy radar picket destroyer escort s ( DERs ) of Escort Squadrons 5 and 7 . The ten Market Time ships arrived at Subic Bay in the Philippines on 10 May 1967 . The five Coast Guard cutters and five Navy destroyer escorts continuously manned four Market Time stations off Vietnam , while only Navy warships served on two Taiwan patrol stations . One ship rotated duty as the station ship in Hong Kong . During her Vietnam War tour , " Barataria " was underway 83 percent of the time and cruised over without a major mechanical or electrical failure . Keeping a close watch on all moving craft in her surveillance area , " Barataria " detected , inspected , or boarded nearly 1 , 000 steel - hulled vessels traversing her area , any one of which could have been a trawler trying to sneak supplies to the enemy . " Barataria " was called upon many times to use her main battery against enemy troops ashore who were engaged with allied forces ; United States Army spotter planes reported all of " Barataria " s rounds on target , never once falling out of the target area . On one gunfire support mission , " Barataria " scored three direct hits on point targets which had been spotted by aircraft . Pacific service 1968 - 1969 . " Barataria " returned to the United States on 12 January 1968 and was reassigned to San Francisco , California , which was her home port for the remainder of her Coast Guard career . She was used for law enforcement and search and rescue duties in the Pacific Ocean . On 24 March 1968 , " Barataria " sustained an engine - room explosion off Unimak Island in Alaska ' s Aleutian Islands . From 21 May 1969 to 27 May 1969 , " Barataria " rescued the crew of and stood by the Peruvian merchant ship " Yavari " southwest of San Francisco . " Yavari " sank before a salvage tug could arrive . Decommissioning and disposal . " Barataria " was decommissioned on 29 August 1969 . She was sold for scrapping in October 1970 to N . W . Kennedy Ltd . of Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada .