USCGC Gresham ( WAVP - 387 ) USCGC " Gresham " ( WAVP - 387 ) , later WHEC - 387 , later WAGW - 387 , was a " Casco " - class United States Coast Guard Cutter in service from 1947 to 1973 . Construction and U . S . Navy service . " Gresham " began life as the United States Navy " Barnegat " - class motor torpedo boat tender USS " Willoughby " ( AGP - 9 ) . She was laid down on 15 March 1943 as a " Barnegat " - class small seaplane tender designated AVP - 57 by Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton , Washington . While under construction , she was converted into a motor torpedo boat tender and was launched as such on 21 August 1943 . She commissioned into the U . S . Navy on 18 June 1944 . She operated in support of the New Guinea campaign , the Philippines campaign , and operations in Borneo during World War II , and continued her Borneo operations after the war ended . She was decommissioned on 26 June 1946 and stricken from the Navy List on 19 July 1946 . Transferred to the United States Coast Guard . While " Willoughby " was at Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo , California , between December 1945 and June 1946 , the United States Coast Guard inspected her for possible Coast Guard service . " 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 . " Willoughby " was transferred to the Coast Guard at Government Island , Oakland , California , simultaneously with her Navy decommissioning on 26 June 1946 . After undergoing conversion for use as a weather - reporting ship , she was commissioned into Coast Guard service as USCGC " Gresham " ( WAVP - 387 ) on 1 December 1947 . During her Coast Guard career , " Gresham " s primary duty was to serve on weather stations in the Pacific 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 also served on the Bering Sea Patrol , took part in United States Coast Guard Reserve training cruises , and participated in the U . S . Navy ' s underway refresher training program to ensure her readiness to support military operations . U . S . Coast Guard service in the Pacific 1947 - 1967 . Upon commissioning in 1947 , " Gresham " was assigned to the 12th Coast Guard District , with her home port at Alameda , California . Her first ocean station patrol was at Ocean Station Fox , and began with her departure for the patrol on 26 March 1948 . For the next few months she conducted naval mine and coastal patrols and served on Ocean Station Fox and Ocean Station Able . During July 1949 , " Gresham " was among the ships patrolling the Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles , California , to Honolulu , Hawaii . On 9 September 1949 she assisted the British merchant ship SS " Pacific Enterprise " , which had run aground two nautical miles ( 3 . 7 kilometers ) north of the Point Arena Light Station in thick fog . On 8 January 1950 " Gresham " was assigned to Ocean Station Peter in the Pacific ; cutter USCGC " Winnebago " ( WPG - 40 ) relieved her on 29 January 1950 . Later in 1950 she served on Ocean Station Nan and Ocean Station Oboe . In 1951 " Gresham " served on Ocean Station Uncle and Ocean Station Sugar . On 16 June 1951 cutter USCGC " Chautauqua " ( WPG - 41 ) relieved her on Ocean Station Sugar , and she proceeded to Yokosuka , Japan . She repeated the cruise from Ocean Station Sugar to Yokosuka in March 1952 and February 1954 . On 22 May 1955 , " Gresham " assisted merchant ship SS " David Thompson " , which was adrift in the Pacific . During July 1955 she again escorted the Transpacific Yacht Race . After several more weather patrols , " Gresham " departed Alameda on 13 August 1956 , for Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada , via Port Angeles , Washington , on a U . S . Coast Guard Reserve training cruise . On 30 September 1956 , she was relieved from Ocean Station November by cutter USCGC " Pontchartrain " ( WPG - 70 ) . On 17 October 1956 , " Pontchartrain " rescued passengers of the passenger ship " Sovereign of the Skies " ; " Gresham " left Alameda and rendezvoused with " Pontchartrain " at San Francisco Light Station on 19 October 1956 as " Pontchartrain " brought in the rescued passengers . Tragedy struck " Gresham " on 17 December 1958 while she was relieving cutter USCGC " Klamath " ( WPG - 66 ) on Ocean Station Romeo . The ships were in a line - ahead formation with " Gresham " 500 yards ( 457 m ) ahead of " Klamath " and transferring mail to " Klamath " when a large wave engulfed " Gresham " s quarterdeck , injuring 11 enlisted men , inflicting a severe head injury on Ensign George T . Bergman , and washing Bergman overboard . The cutters could not recover Bergman . During 1959 and 1960 , " Gresham " served on Ocean Station November seven times . During this period , the U . S . Ambassador to the United Nations , Henry Cabot Lodge , arranged for Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to tour San Francisco Bay while Khrushchev was visiting San Francisco , California , during his September 1959 state visit to the United States . " Gresham " was in port at Alameda at the time , and was chosen to carry Khrushchev on his tour of the bay . " Gresham " continued her duties on Ocean Station November throughout the next few years . On 1 May 1966 , she was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC - 387 . Vietnam War service 1967 - 1968 . " Gresham " departed San Francisco for Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , on 16 April 1967 under the command of Commander Norman L . Scherer , USCG . Upon her arrival in Hawaii , " Gresham " became flagship of Coast Guard Squadron Three , 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 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 fire support for ground forces , resupplying Coast Guard and Navy patrol boat s , and search - and - rescue operations . Serving in the squadron with " Gresham " were cutters USCGC " Yakutat " ( WHEC - 380 ) , USCGC " Bering Strait " ( WHEC - 382 ) , USCGC " Barataria " ( WHEC - 381 ) , and USCGC " Half Moon " ( WHEC - 378 ) ; like " Gresham " , they all were former Navy " Barnegat " - class ships . They 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 . " Gresham " remained in the Western Pacific until 28 January 1968 and arrived home at Alameda on 10 February 1968 . U . S . Coast Guard service in the Pacific 1968 - 1969 . " Gresham " made her final patrol in the Pacific when she served on Ocean Station November in September 1969 . On the night of 23 September 1969 she went to the assistance of the 543 - foot ( 166 m ) containerized cargo ship SS " Hawaiian Legislator " , which had lost power in her main propulsion gear and was adrift approximately south of " Gresham " s position . After rendezvousing first with U . S . Navy ammunition ship USS " Firedrake " ( AE - 14 ) to transfer a Coast Guardsman with appendicitis for transport to San Francisco , " Gresham " went to the aid of " Hawaiian Legsilator " and took her under tow towards San Pedro , California . On 26 September 1969 she turned the tow over to a commercial tug and then set course for San Francisco . She moored at Government Island , Alameda , on 30 September 1969 . She was then deactivated and placed in reserve . U . S . Coast Guard service in the Atlantic 1970 - 1973 . In January 1970 " Gresham " was reactivated and transferred to the United States East Coast , assigned a new home port at Norfolk , Virginia . She was assigned the duty of establishing a new weather station , Ocean Station Hotel , approximately northeast of Norfolk and deemed necessary to report critical weather data necessary to improve storm - warning forecasts for the northeastern United States after winter storms in 1969 shut down large areas there ; the new XERB - 1 weather buoy also was tested at Ocean Station November for use by " Gresham " at Ocean Station Hotel . " Gresham " arrived at Norfolk on 7 February 1970 and established Ocean Station Hotel on 20 February 1970 . On 27 February 1970 she was reclassified as a meteorological cutter and redesignated WAGW - 387 . USCGC " Taney " ( WHEC - 37 ) replaced " Gresham " on Ocean Station Hotel early in 1973 . Decommissioning and disposal . " Gresham " was decommissioned on 25 April 1973 . She was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 21 May 1973 for lay - up in the James River in Virginia . She was sold for scrapping on 25 October 1973 to B . V . Intershitra of Rotterdam , the Netherlands .