USCGC Campbell ( WPG - 32 ) USCGC " Campbell " ( WPG - 32 ) was a Secretary - Class ( also known as " Treasury Class " ) Coast Guard ship built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1935 - 1936 and commissioned in 1936 . Seven similar " combat cutters " were built and named for secretaries of the United States Treasury . The " Campbell " was named for George Washington Campbell , a native of Scotland , who served as a Secretary of the Treasury under President James Madison . The ship earned the title " Queen of the Seas " during a 46 - year career , spanning World War II , the Korean War , and Vietnam War . Launch and early service . The " George W . Campbell " was launched on 3 June 1936 and sailed to her homeport of Stapleton , New York , under the command of Cdr . E . G . Rose , USCG , assigned to conduct search and rescue and law enforcement patrols . She left New York on 22 October 1936 , for her shakedown cruise to Southampton , England , returning to New York on 16 November . Her peace - time armament consisted of two 5 - inch 51 caliber and two 6 - pound signal guns , all mounted forward . Unlike the other Secretary Class cutters , " Campbell " and " Ingham " did not continue to carry aircraft , though they had originally been equipped to do so . In August 1937 her official name was shortened to " " Campbell " " and it was also during this time that her mascot Sinbad reported aboard . Sinbad remained on the " Campbell " throughout her tour of duty during World War II , caused at least two international incidents in foreign harbors , faithfully manned his battle station during combat , and generally kept the crew amused during her long voyages over eleven years ; Sinbad died on 30 December 1951 , after many years of service , and was the first and one of the few Coast Guardsmen to have a published biography . Wartime duties . On 5 September 1939 , President Franklin D . Roosevelt proclaimed American neutrality in the conflict and ordered the formation of a neutrality patrol by the Navy to report and track any belligerent air , surface , or submarine activity in the waters off the United States east coast and in the West Indies . The Navy determined that its destroyers were not capable of extended cruises in the North Atlantic and asked that the Coast Guard conduct these patrols . The Coast Guard assigned the " Campbell " to conduct the first Coast Guard neutrality patrol , which were referred to as " Grand Banks Patrols . " " Campbell " would perform five such cruises , each lasting approximately two weeks , the last such cruise returning to New York on 29 January 1940 . When prepared for convoy escort duty prior to her sailing for Portugal , workers at the New York Navy Yard added three 3 - inch 51 caliber guns in - line , aft . Her two signal guns that were directly forward of the bridge were replaced with a single 3 - inch 50 caliber gun . Her two 5 - inch 51 caliber main batteries remained unchanged . " Campbell " was the first Secretary Class cutter to transfer for duty with the Navy ( on 1 July 1941 ) and the first to sail on escort of convoy duties when she escorted Convoy HX - 159 which sailed on 10 November 1941 . The " Campbell " ' s permanent station was changed from Stapleton to Boston in February , 1942 , and she later exchanged a for a gun , installed 6 more 20 mm guns , substituted 2 " K " guns for " Y " guns and had splinter protection built around three gun decks , bridge and wheel house . " Campbell " , along with " Spencer " , were the first US warships equipped with HF / DF , pioneered by the Royal Navy for the fight against the German U - boat fleet . The two cutters had been selected by the Navy to serve as test ships to gain experience with HF / DF , using British FH3 systems ( carrying the U . S . designation Type DAR ) installed in the American shipyard in Northern Ireland under the supervision of experts from the Admiralty Signals Establishment . As the Royal Navy had already discovered , HF / DF was an important part of combatting the threat posed to Allied convoys by U - boats , and the experience with the interim DAR equipment provided impetus to the U . S . development of its own Type DAQ system . When the British and Canadians assumed full responsibility for convoys in the North Atlantic in mid - 1943 , the US took control of all mid - Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys , where the cutters faced a constant threat from U - boats and the Luftwaffe . Convoys were especially vulnerable once they cleared Gibraltar . " Campbell " sailed as an escort for Mediterranean convoys in 1943 – 1944 and saw considerable action against both U - boats and aircraft , with two incidents in particular of note . U - boat attack , February , 1943 . On 21 February 1943 , " Campbell " was escorting the 48 - ship Convoy ON - 166 when the convoy was surrounded by a U - Boat " wolf pack " . " U - 92 " and " U - 753 " torpedoed and sank the " NT Nielsen Alonso " . Dispatched to assist , " Campbell " rescued fifty survivors and then turned to attack " U - 753 " , damaging it so badly that it had to withdraw . Throughout the 21st and 22nd , " Campbell " attacked several U - Boats inflicting damage and driving off the subs . Later on the 22nd , " U - 606 " , having sustained heavy damage , surfaced in the midst of the convoy attempting a surface attack . " Campbell " struck the sub a glancing blow that gashed Campbell ' s hull in the engine room below the waterline , but continued to attack , dropping two depth charge s which exploded and lifted the sub out of the water . The crew brought all guns to bear on the subs , fighting on until water in the engine room shorted out all electricity . As the ship lost power and the searchlights illuminating the sub went out , the U - Boat commander ordered the sub abandoned . " Campbell " ceased fire and lowered boats to rescue the sub ' s survivors . " Campbell " , disabled in the attack , was towed to port nine days later , repaired and returned to escort duty . Illustrator Anton Otto Fischer , working for Life Magazine , was serving as a Lieutenant Commander on the " Campbell " for this voyage . His series of detailed oil paintings depicting the battle and its aftermath appeared in Life ' s July 5 , 1943 edition . Additional detail on U606 encounter on 2 / 22 / 43 by nephew of the Chief Engineer ( added 12 / 26 / 2011 ) : Luftwaffe attack , May , 1944 . In April 1944 , the Convoy UGS - 40 , consisting of some 80 vessels , sailed for the Mediterranean , led by " Campbell " . The escort screen contained three destroyers , six American destroyer escorts from CortDiv 5 , and two French destroyer escorts . Due to recent attacks by the Luftwaffe against Allied convoys in the western Mediterranean , UGS - 40 sailed with an elaborate air defense plan , formulated by the convoy ' s screen commander , Comdr . Jesse C . Sowell , aboard the " Campbell " . Practiced in Hampton Roads prior to the convoy ' s departure and as it crossed the Atlantic , these tactics were designed to meet mass aerial attacks by German aircraft carrying a variety of weapons ranging from bombs , to torpedoes , to radio - controlled glider bombs . Off Gibraltar , UGS - 40 acquired additional escorts : British antiaircraft cruiser HMS " Caledon " ( D53 ) , USS " Wilhoite " ( DE - 397 ) , USS " Benson " ( DD - 421 ) , and two American minesweeper s ( USS " Steady " ( AM - 118 ) and USS " Sustain " ( AM - 119 ) ) carrying special apparatus to jam radar transmissions and thus confuse the German glider bombs . On 9 May 1944 , the convoy possed through the Straits of Gibraltar en route to Bizerte , Tunisia , without incident , but two days later detected German " snoopers " trailing the convoy . In the next few hours , 10 successive shore - based fighter interception sorties failed to drive off the enemy reconnaissance aircraft . First alerted by shore - based radar , the escort screen went to general quarters at 13 : 16 on 11 May , beginning the first of five successive alerts . In " Campbell " , Commander Sowell warned the escorts to be alert to the possibility of a dusk attack . At 20 : 25 , radar noted the approach of enemy aircraft , and Sowell formed the convoy into eight columns apart for maneuvering room . When the enemy was reported north of Cape Corbelin , UGS - 40 steered due east , past Cape Bengut . Shortly after sunset , escort ships commenced laying smoke screen s , as the German aircraft , a mixed force of Junkers ( Ju . ) 88 ' s , Heinkel He . 111 ' s , and Dornier Do . 217 ' s , approached from the stern of the convoy and broke into groups to attack from different points of the compass . The destroyer escorts and friendly fighter craft downed an estimated 17 of the enemy torpedo planes , and drove away all the remainder , and the Allied convoy emerged unscathed . My father , Anthony Accardi from Boston , MA , served aboard the Campbell during WWII . He participated in the sinking of U606 and the Luftwaffe attack in 1944 . Passed down through the family is a wooden lamp made on the ship shortly after the attack . Engraved in pencil is this description of the battle : “ Thursday , May 11 , 1944 . While on convoy duty in the Mediterranean Sea off Algiers , we were attacked by thirty or more German Planes composed of Junker 88 ’ s , Heinkel 111 ’ s . Thirteen were shot down , five more left the scene smoking , three torpedoes were shot at us , one missed us by only ten feet . There was no one killed and no ships in our convoy were lost . The attack lasted thirty - Nine minutes from 9 : 06 to 9 : 46 . ” On the opposite side of the lamp Gun Crew No 6 is listed as such : Battery Officer - Lt Tom Lin , Gun Capt - Trahant , Pointer - Accardi , Sightsett - Piper , Trainer - Wiliams , 1st Shellman - Rosta , 2nd “ - Hill , Ranner , Pressagno , 1st Powderman - Hall , 2nd “ - Lucas , 3rd “ - Vosnick , Trayman , Korecki , Later service . After conversion to an Amphibious Command Ship ( Type AGC ) in the Boston Navy Yard between 4 January and 28 March 1945 , " Campbell " was assigned to duty in the Pacific as an Amphibious Flagship . She sailed from Pearl Harbor for Saipan and arrived on 3 August 1945 , sailing again for Manila on 10 August , and Leyte on the 19th . On 1 October 1945 she was anchored at Wakanoura Wan , Honshū , Japan as the flagship for Communications Service Division 103 . On 30 October she sailed to Sasebo and stayed until 30 November when she was ordered back to the U . S . In January 1959 , " Campbell " was one of the ships which answered the distress call of which had struck an iceberg off Greenland . She participated in the search until it was called off on 7 February . " Campbell " was twice more called to combat action , in Korea and Vietnam . During Operation Market Time , " Campbell " destroyed or damaged 105 Viet Cong structures and steamed over in the Vietnamese War Zone . " Campbell " was assigned to Search - and - Rescue , Maritime Law Enforcement , Military Readiness , and Ocean Station duties . She was homeported in New York City until 1969 when she moved to Portland , Maine . In 1974 her homeport was again changed , this time to Port Angeles , Washington . There she continued her peacetime duties until decommissioned in 1982 . At the time of decommissioning , " Campbell " was the oldest active continually commissioned vessel in the United States Fleet . Sinking . USCGC " Campbell " was sunk on 29 November 1984 as a target in the mid - Pacific ocean by the United States Navy at coordinates , northwest of Hawaii , and rests at . A final message was transmitted as the ship , which remained largely intact after a Harpoon missile strike , went down . It said : " UNCLAS / / N05752 / / SUBJ : FINAL FAREWELL 1 . I SERVED WITH HONOR FOR ALMOST FORTY - SIX YEARS , IN WAR AND PEACE , IN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC . WITH DUTY AS DIVERSE AS SAVING LIVES TO SINKING U - BOATS , OCEAN STATIONS TO FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT , AND FROM TRAINING CADETS TO BEING YOUR FLAGSHIP . I HAVE BEEN ALWAYS READY TO SERVE . 2 . TODAY WAS MY FINAL DUTY . I WAS A TARGET FOR A MISSILE TEST . ITS SUCCESS WAS YOUR LOSS AND MY DEMISE . NOW KING NEPTUNE HAS CALLED ME TO MY FINAL REST IN 2 , 600 FATHOMS AT 22 - 48N 160 - 06W . 3 . MOURN NOT , ALL WHO HAVE SAILED WITH ME . A NEW CUTTER CAMPBELL BEARING MY NAME , WMEC - 909 , WILL SOON CONTINUE THE HERITAGE . I BID ADIEU . THE QUEEN IS DEAD . LONG LIVE THE QUEEN . "