USCGC McCulloch ( WAVP - 386 ) USCGC " McCullough " ( WAVP - 386 ) , later WHEC - 386 , was a " Casco " - class United States Coast Guard Cutter in service from 1946 to 1972 . She was the fourth ship of the United States Revenue Cutter Service or United States Coast Guard to bear the name . Construction and U . S . Navy service . " McCulloch " began life as the United States Navy motor torpedo boat tender USS " Wachapreague " ( AGP - 8 ) . She was laid down on 1 February 1943 by Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton , Washington , as the " Barnegat " - class seaplane tender USS " Wachapreague " ( AVP - 56 ) , but selected for conversion to a motor torpedo boat tender on 2 February 1943 . She was launched on 10 July 1943 and commissioned into the U . S . Navy on 17 May 1944 . During World War II she served in the New Guinea campaign , the Philippines campaign , and the campaign in Borneo , and performed postwar service in Borneo . She was decommissioned on 10 May 1946 at Boston , Massachusetts . Transferred to the United States Coast Guard . " Barnegat " - class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability , and the United States 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 Navy transferred " Wachapreague " to the Coast Guard on 27 May 1946 and struck her from the Navy List on 5 June 1946 . After she underwent conversion for service as a weather reporting ship , the Coast Guard commissioned her as USCGC " McCulloch " ( WAVP - 386 ) on 25 November 1946 . U . S . Coast Guard service . North Atlantic service 1946 - 1972 . " McCulloch " s first home port was Boston , Massachusetts , where she would remain stationed until July 1966 . Her primary duty was to serve on ocean stations in the Atlantic 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 . While " McCullough " was patrolling Ocean Station Bravo off the coast of Labrador , Canada , in January 1959 , raging winter seas cracked her main decks and swept one crewman overboard . In spite of that harrowing experience , she managed to reach Naval Station Argentia in Newfoundland , Canada , without further mishap . During October and November 1965 , " McCulloch " was assigned to patrol the Florida Strait and rescue Cuban refugees during the Cuban Exodus , in which thousands of Cubans chanced the rough , hazardous passage from Camarioca , Cuba , to Key West , Florida , many in overcrowded and unseaworthy craft handled by totally inexperienced persons . During this patrol , " McCulloch " was under the command of Commander Frank Barnett , USCG , who was in tactical command of 12 Coast Guard cutters and four airplanes assigned to the Cuban Patrol . In early November 1965 , " McCullough " rescued 280 Cuban refugees from small craft in the Florida Strait and carried them to Key West . The crew was cited for outstanding service during this patrol and , on 22 April 1966 , " McCulloch " was awarded a Unit Commendation for her Florida Strait patrol , with ceremonies held at Boston , entitling her crew of 144 to wear the Unit Commendation Bar . On 1 May 1966 , " McCulloch " was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC - 386 . In July 1966 , she was stationed in Wilmington , North Carolina , which would remain her home port until 21 June 1972 . Just as during her years at Boston , she spent her years at Wilmington in ocean station , law - enforcement , and search - and - rescue operations . On 17 June 1970 , " McCulloch " helped fight a fire aboard the merchant ship " Tsui Yung " in Wilmington . Dcommissioning and transfer to South Vietnam . In April 1972 , " McCulloch " and two of her sister ships , Coast Guard cutters USCGC " Absecon " ( WHEC - 374 ) and USCGC " Chincoteague " ( WHEC - 375 ) , were deployed as Coast Guard Squadron Two , with crews composed mainly of members of the United States Coast Guard Reserve . They were originally scheduled to sail to Subic Bay in the Philippine Islands , but were diverted to the U . S . Navy base at Apra Harbor , Guam . Eventually the three cutters were decommissioned , transferred to the U . S . Navy , and then transferred to South Vietnam , all three of these events happening for " McCulloch " on 21 June 1972 . Foreign service . Republic of Vietnam Navy service . In South Vietnam , " McCulloch " was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as patrol vessel RVNS " Ngo Quyen " ( HQ - 17 ) . When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975 , " Ngo Quyen " fled to the Philippines . On 22 May 1975 and 23 May 1975 , a U . S . Coast Guard team inspected " Ngo Quyen " and several other former " Casco " - class cutters which had been transferred to South Vietnam in 1971 and 1972 and , like " Ngo Quyen " , fled to the Philippines in April 1975 . One of the inspectors noted : " These vessels brought in several hundred refugees and are generally rat - infested . They are in a filthy , deplorable condition . Below decks generally would compare with a garbage scow . " Philippine Navy service . After " Ngo Quyen " was cleaned , repaired , and made ready to return to service , the U . S . Navy transferred her to the Republic of the Philippines on 5 April 1976 . The Philippine Navy commissioned her as the patrol vessel BRP " Gregorio del Pilar " ( PF - 8 ) on 7 February 1977 . She served until either May 1985 or April 1990 , when she was decommissioned and probably scrapped .