USCGC Matagorda ( WAVP - 373 ) USCGC " Matagorda " ( WAVP - 373 ) , later WHEC - 373 , was a " Casco " - class United States Coast Guard Cutter in service from 1949 to 1967 . Construction and U . S . Navy service . " Matagorda " began life as the United States Navy " Barnegat " - class seaplane tender USS " Matagorda " ( AVP - 22 ) . She was laid down on 6 September 1940 at the Boston Navy Yard at Boston , Massachusetts , launched on 18 March 1941 , and commissioned into the U . S . Navy on 16 December 1941 . She operated in the Caribbean and Atlantic during World War II . In July 1945 she began conversion to a press information ship , designated AG - 122 , for use in the scheduled 1945 - 1946 invasion of Japan , but was converted back into a seaplane tender when the end of the war made the invasion unnecessary . She was decommissioned on 20 February 1946 and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Orange , Texas . 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 Navy loaned " Matagorda " to the Coast Guard on 7 March 1949 . The Coast Guard converted her into a weather - reporting ship and commissioned her as USCGC " Matagorda " ( WAVP - 373 ) on 8 June 1949 . " Matagorda " s primary duty during her Coast Guard service 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 . U . S . Coast Guard service . " Matagorda " was stationed at Boston , Massachusetts , from her commissioning on 8 June 1949 until 1954 . She was used for law enforcement , ocean station , and search and rescue operations in the Atlantic Ocean . In 1954 she was transferred to Honolulu , Hawaii , and took up duties in the Pacific Ocean similar to those she had performed in the Atlantic . On 26 January 1956 , " Matagorda " delivered clothing from Washington Intermediate School in Honolulu to an orphanage in Japan . In August 1960 , " Matagorda " towed the disabled fishing vessel " Wild Goose II " . On 12 January 1965 , " Matagorda " stood by the disabled Liberian tanker " Saint Helena " northwest of Midway Atoll ; " Saint Helena " had sustained hull damage due to heavy seas and was in danger of breaking in two . " Matagorda " herself sustained damage ; she was relieved by Coast Guard Cutter USCGC " Bering Strait " ( WAVP - 382 ) on 13 January 1965 and proceeded to Hawaii , via Midway , in heavy seas . In mid - September 1965 , " Matagorda " escorted the disabled Liberian merchant ship " Londias " to Honolulu . On 27 February 1966 , " Matagorda " transferred of water to the disabled merchant ship " Union Success " and took her under tow until relieved of towing duties . " Matagorda " was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC - 373 on 1 May 1966 . Decommissioning and disposal . " Matagorda " was decommissioned at Honolulu on 15 October 1967 . On 30 October 1968 she was returned to the Navy , which sank her as a target off Hawaii in early 1969 in position 20°08 ’ North , 158°30 ’ West .