Sea Cloud The Sea Cloud is sailing cruise ship of the Sea Cloud Cruises line . Initially built as a private yacht , it subsequently served as a weather ship for the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy during World War II . The ship served as the first racially integrated warship in the United States Armed Forces since the American Civil War . Originally a private yacht , she was transferred to the Coast Guard and then to the Navy during World War II . Following the war , " Sea Cloud " was returned to private ownership , serving as a yacht for numerous people , including as presidential yacht of the ruler of the Dominican Republic . The ship currently sails in Europe and the Caribbean as part of a fleet of sail cruise ships operated by Sea Cloud Cruises GmbH of Hamburg , Germany . Private yacht . " Sea Cloud " was built in Kiel , Germany , as a Barque for E . F . Hutton & Co . . She was launched in 1931 as the Hussar II ; at the time of her construction , she was the largest private yacht in the world . In 1935 , the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union , Joseph E . Davies , obtained the ship after marrying Hutton ' s ex - wife Marjorie Merriweather Post . Davies renamed the ship " Sea Cloud " . As a man with political influence , Davies entertained many high profile people on the ship , including Queen Elisabeth of Belgium . The ship even served as an informal embassy , as Soviet and United States officials stayed and met on the vessel . Coast Guard service . Davies had first offered the ship to the Department of the Navy in 1941 , but the Navy turned him down . President Franklin Delano Roosevelt objected to the ship entering service , remarking that she was too beautiful to be sacrificed . However , on January 7 , 1942 , the Navy reassessed their position , chartering the ship for $ 1 per year . The Navy sent " Sea Cloud " from Georgetown , South Carolina , to the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay , Maryland , to be refitted as a " weather observation station vessel " , and had its four masts removed and hull painted battleship gray . The " Sea Cloud " was commissioned as a United States Coast Guard Cutter on April 4 , 1942 , and assigned to the Eastern Sea Frontier , with a permanent home port in Boston . During 1942 , " Sea Cloud " mostly served as a weather ship at Weather Patrol Station Number Two ( position ) . On June 6 , 1942 , the ship rescued eight survivors from the schooner " Maria da Gloria " . On August 3 , 1942 and August 4 , 1942 , the " Sea Cloud " served at Weather Patrol Station Number One while was converted to a weather ship . Naval service . In 1943 , the Navy asked for control of " Sea Cloud " and " Nourmahal " , another former yacht converted into a weather ship . On April 9 , 1943 , the United States Navy commissioned " Sea Cloud " as USS " Sea Cloud " ( IX - 99 ) , though she maintained a Coast Guard crew . She was assigned to Task Force 24 . Relieving in February 1944 , " Sea Cloud " patrolled a one - hundred square mile area near the New England coast , generating weather reports for the First Naval District . On February 27 , 1944 , " Sea Cloud " travelled to be refurbished at Atlantic Yard in East Boston , afterwards taking over a new one - hundred square mile area at Weather Station Number One . On April 5 , 1944 , " Sea Cloud " received radar indication of a small target at position , bearing 350° at . General quarters were sounded and battle stations manned , but contact was lost ten minutes later . The target was identified as a submarine , but after " Sea Cloud " carried out standard anti - submarine drills with no evidence of damage being inflicted , she returned to port . After minor repairs , " Sea Cloud " was rebased to Argentia , Newfoundland , where she was assigned to Weather Station Number Three . While patrolling the area on June 11 , 1944 , the crew spotted a Navy TBF Avenger , exchanging recognition signal s . " Sea Cloud " received orders to report to the and join the five other escort ships under her command . The envoy searched for a raft reported in the area , but returned with no sightings . After this event , " Sea Cloud " was once again reassigned to Weather Station Number Four . After a search for a downed aircraft , she returned to port in Boston . " Sea Cloud " was decommissioned on November 4 , 1944 , at the Bethlehem Steel Atlantic Yard and returned to Davies , along with $ 175 , 000 for conversion to pre - war appearance . For her wartime service , " Sea Cloud " was awarded the American Campaign Medal and the World War Two Victory Medal . Racial integration . In late 1944 , Lieutenant Carlton Skinner took command of the ship , after previously serving as executive officer in November 1944 . At that time , black seamen were only permitted to serve as ship stewards . After witnessing a black man save the crew of the yet still be denied promotion because of the rule , Skinner proposed an experiment . Skinner submitted his plan to the Secretary of the Navy and was allowed to sail his first weather patrol with a fully integrated crew . Within a few months , fifty black sailors , including two officers , were stationed aboard the " Sea Cloud " . Skinner requested that the experiment not be publicized and the ship not be treated differently from other ships in the task force . Skinner showed that his integrated crew could work just as efficiently as a segregated crew , if not more so , when his crew passed two fleet inspections with no deficiencies . Under Skinner ' s command when the ship was integrated , American painter Jacob Lawrence served on the Sea Cloud . He was able to paint and sketch while in the Coast Guard , notably his " War Series " . Return to civilian service . Following its return , " Sea Cloud " received a reassembled rigging in 1947 , and a new set of twenty - nine sails in 1949 . She was painted white , and a gold eagle painted on the bow . The ship ' s reconstruction took nearly four years . Ownership eventually went from Joseph E . Davies to his wife Marjorie Merriweather Post in the aftermath of their divorce . After evaluating the cost of running a 72 - person crew , Post decided to sell the ship . Presidential yacht " Angelita " . Rafael Trujillo , ruler of the Dominican Republic , purchased " Sea Cloud " in 1955 , trading a secondhand Vickers Viscount for it . He renamed the ship " Angelita " after his daughter . The yacht served as a houseboat and government office . Following Trujillo ' s assassination on May 20 , 1961 , his family attempted to smuggle themselves and Trujillo ' s body to the Canary Islands aboard the " Angelita " , but were forced back by the Dominican Republic ' s new government . School ship " Patria " . Five years after Trujillo ' s death , the ship , now named " Patria " , was sold to Operation Sea Cruises . Company president John Blue renamed her " Antarna " . He brought her to the United States , but port authorities docked the boat after a dispute . Charles and Stephanie Gallagher paid the fees to get the ship free and set her to sea , even though Blue still held the ship ' s papers . The two dreamed of making the ship an " oceanic school " where students would supplement their traditional learning with at - sea education . Blue eventually retrieved his ship after a confrontation in Panama . Cruise ship " Sea Cloud " . After the ship stayed in port for eight years , Hartmut Paschberg and a group of Hamburg associates purchased her , once again naming her " Sea Cloud " . Paschberg and thirty - eight other men sailed the ship to Europe , arriving in the Port of Hamburg on November 15 , 1978 . " Sea Cloud " spent eight months undergoing repairs in the now - named Howaldtswerke - Deutsche Werft shipyard , the very yard she was built in . She was redesigned with a sixty - four passenger capacity for a crew of sixty . The ship set sail on her first cruise in 1979 , and has since been described by the " Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships " as " the most romantic sailing ship afloat " . In 2011 , the " Sea Cloud " underwent extensive renovations at the MWB - Werft , Bremerhaven . She is still operating as a cruise ship .