USCGC Duane ( WPG - 33 ) The USCGC " Duane " ( WPG - 33 / WAGC - 6 / WHEC - 33 ) ( earlier known as the USCGC " William J . Duane " ) was a cutter in the United States Coast Guard . Her keel was laid on May 1 , 1935 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . She was launched on June 3 , 1936 as a search and rescue and law enforcement vessel . The " Treasury " class Coast Guard cutters ( sometimes referred to as the " Secretary " or 327 - foot class ) were all named for former Secretaries of the Treasury Department . The cutter " Duane " was named for William John Duane , who served as the third Secretary of the Treasury to serve under President Andrew Jackson . Ship history . After fitting out , she departed the Philadelphia Navy Yard on October 16 , 1936 and arrived at Oakland , California on November 24 . She was then assigned to temporary duty in Honolulu , and arrived there on December 9 , 1936 , to participate in the U . S . colonization efforts of the Line Islands in the Pacific . The " Duane " then returned to her permanent homeport of Oakland , arriving on February 25 , 1937 . For the next two years , she joined the Bering Sea Patrol Force for annual cruises of that area . In mid - 1937 her name was shortened to merely " Duane " . In September 1939 she was assigned to duty with Destroyer Division 18 , conducting neutrality patrols along the Grand Banks ( these patrols were known as " Grand Banks Patrols " ) , as ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt . She departed Oakland on September 7 , 1939 and arrived at her new homeport of Boston on September 22 , 1939 . Here she conducted four Grand Banks patrols , from October through December , 1939 , completing her final patrol on January 12 , 1940 . World War II . " Duane " was then assigned to weather patrols in the mid - Atlantic , and also carried out a survey of the western coast of Greenland in mid - 1940 . In late 1940 she was fitted with additional armaments , receiving anti - aircraft and anti - submarine weapons . On 14 June 1941 she rescued 46 survivors from the British tanker , which had been sunk by . She was assigned to permanent duty with the U . S . Navy on 11 September 1941 , and was designated WPG - 33 . On 1 April 1942 the " Duane " was reassigned from weather patrols to convoy escort duty during the battle of the Atlantic . " Duane " was converted to an combined operations - communications headquarters ship in 1944 . Upon completion , she was to have been taken over by the Navy and assigned the hull number AGC - 6 . However , this plan was dropped and she was retained for Coast Guard service ( her designation then became WAGC - 6 ) . " Duane " was attached to the Eighth Amphibious Force in the Mediterranean Sea , and took part in " Operation Dragoon " , the invasion of southern France , in August 1944 . She remained in the Mediterranean until July 1945 , when she returned to the United States and reverted to her previous designation WPG - 33 . Post - war . The ocean - weather station program was permanently established by multi - national agreement soon after the end of World War II . The Coast Guard was then assigned the duty of manning those stations for which the U . S . accepted responsibility . As the 327s completed conversion to ocean station vessels , each immediately deployed to their new stations . For most of the next twenty years , " Duane " and her sisters , except which was stationed in the Pacific , alternated duty between weather stations " Charlie " ( 850 miles northeast of St . Johns , Newfoundland ) , " Bravo " ( 250 miles northeast of Cape St . Charles , Labrador ) ; " Delta " ( located 650 miles southeast of Argentia , Newfoundland ) ; and " Echo " ( 850 miles east northeast of Bermuda ) . Sometime later these became known simply as " ocean stations . " Although the crew probably considered these patrols boring , they were important to the continued growth and safety of international over - water commercial air flights . On 1 May 1965 all the vessels in her class were re - classified as high endurance cutter s and she was redesignated WHEC - 33 . Vietnam and after . On 4 December 1967 " Duane " was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three off the coast of Vietnam , where she served as the flagship for Coast Guard squadron . The " Duane " permanently departed Vietnamese waters on July 28 , 1968 . The " Duane " then again returned to ocean station duty but this task was rapidly becoming obsolete . The stations were decommissioned in the early 1970s , having been overtaken by electronic aids to navigation such as LORAN . The mid - 1970s were a period of transition for the Coast Guard with the passage of the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act and the nation ' s shift towards increased interdiction of narcotics smugglers . These operations called for off - shore patrols of up to three weeks . Decommissioning and disposal . " Duane " left Coast Guard service and was decommissioned on August 1 , 1985 as the oldest active U . S . military vessel and was laid up in Boston for the next two years . " Duane " is now a historic shipwreck near Key Largo , Florida , United States . The cutter was deliberately sunk on November 27 , 1987 to create an artificial reef . It is located a mile south of Molasses Reef . On May 16 , 2002 , it was added to the U . S . National Register of Historic Places .