USCGC Yakutat ( WAVP - 380 ) USCGC " Yakutat " ( WAVP - 380 ) , later WHEC - 380 , was a " Casco " - class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1948 to 1971 . Construction and U . S . Navy service . " Yakutat " began as the United States Navy " Barnegat " - class seaplane tender , USS " Yakutat " ( AVP - 32 ) . She was laid down on 1 April 1942 by Associated Shipbuilders , Inc . at Seattle , Washington , launched on 2 July 1943 , and commissioned into the U . S . Navy on 31 March 1944 . She served in the Central Pacific during World War II and on occupation duty in Japan postwar . She was decommissioned on 29 July 1946 and placed in reserve at Alameda , California . Transferred to the United States Coast Guard . " Barnegat " - class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability . 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 " Yakutat " to the Coast Guard on 31 August 1948 . In September 1948 , she was towed to the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco , California , where she underwent conversion for service as a weather reporting ship . The Coast Guard commissioned her as USCGC " Yakutat " ( WAVP - 380 ) at San Francisco on 23 November 1948 . U . S . Coast Guard service . North Atlantic operations 1949 – 1967 . Proceeding from San Francisco via the Panama Canal and Kingston , Jamaica , " Yakutat " eventually commenced ocean station patrol duties in the North Atlantic , based at Portland , Maine , in late January 1949 . Her primary duty was 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 . " Yakutat " shifted her home port to New Bedford , Massachusetts , later in 1949 , and operated out of New Bedford until 1971 , continuing her ocean station patrols . Periodically , she conducted naval refresher training in company with U . S . Navy ships out of Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . In February 1952 , " Yakutat " proceeded to the scene of an unusual maritime disaster that occurred off Cape Cod , Massachusetts . Two commercial tankers – SS " Fort Mercer " and " SS Pendleton " – each broke in two and sank almost simultaneously . " Yakutat " , as the ship in tactical command of the rescue efforts , consequently picked up men from both ships and directed the rescue efforts of other participating vessels in the vicinity . Members of her crew were awarded one gold and five silver Lifesaving Medal s for their achievemnents in this rescue operation . In December 1952 , " Yakutat " rescued survivors of a plane crash off the entrance to St . George ' s Harbor , Bermuda , with her small boats . On 14 September 1953 , " Yakutat " performed emergency repairs by constructing a concrete bulkhead aboard and pumping the bilge s of the Spanish merchant ship " Marte " , which had a large hole at the waterline , about southeast of Naval Station Argentia , Newfoundland , Canada . In the autumn of 1955 , " Yakutat " assisted the Portuguese fishing vessel " Jose Alberto " . " Yakutat " assisted the damaged Liberian merchant ship " Bordabere " south of Cape Race , Newfoundland , between 27 April 1965 and 3 May 1965 . " Yakutat " s crew shored up " Bordabere " , pumped out seawater that had flooded her , and escorted her to Halifax , Nova Scotia , Canada . In late November 1965 , " Yakutat " assisted the American merchant ships " American Pilot " and " Maumee Sun " after they collided west of the Cape Cod Canal . " Yakutat " was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC - 380 on 1 May 1966 . On 26 September 1966 , her Navy loan to the Coast Guard came to an end and she was transferred permanently from the Navy to the Coast Guard . Vietnam War service 1967 – 1968 . In 1967 , " Yakutat " was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three , which was designated Task Unit 70 . 8 . 6 . The squadron was activated at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , on 24 April 1967 when its commander , Captain John E . Day , hoisted his pennant aboard his flagship , Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Gresham " ( WHEC - 387 ) . Coast Guard Squadron Three was tasked to operate , in conjunction with U . S . Navy forces , in Operation Market Time , the interdiction of communist coastal arms and munition s traffic along the coastline of Vietnam during the Vietnam War . The squadron ' s other Vietnam War duties included fire support for ground forces , resupplying Coast Guard and Navy patrol boat s , and search - and - rescue operations . Serving in the squadron with " Gresham " and " Yakutat " were cutters USCGC " Bering Strait " ( WAVP - 382 ) , USCGC " Barataria " ( WHEC - 381 ) , and USCGC " Half Moon " ( WHEC - 378 ) ; like " Yakutat " and " Gresham " , they all were former Navy " Barnegat " - class ships . They departed Pearl Harbor on 26 April 1967 and reported to Commander , United States Seventh Fleet , for Market Time duty on 4 May 1967 . They were joined by Navy radar picket destroyer escort s ( DERs ) of Escort Squadrons 5 and 7 . The ten Market Time ships arrived at Subic Bay in the Philippines on 10 May 1967 . The five Coast Guard cutters and five Navy destroyer escorts continuously manned four Market Time stations off Vietnam , while only Navy warships served on two Taiwan patrol stations . One ship rotated duty as the station ship in Hong Kong . " Yakutat " remained in the Western Pacific until 1 January 1968 , then returned to the United States . " Yakutat " earned two campaign star s during this Vietnam War tour , for : North Atlantic service 1968 – 1970 . " Yakutat " returned to her routine North Atlantic duties out of New Bedford in 1968 . On 28 February 1969 she suffered minor damage when the fishing vessel " Seafreeze Atlantic " collided with her while docking at New Bedford . Vietnam War service 1970 . In 1970 , " Yakutat " was reassigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three for a second tour of duty in Vietnam , and resumed her Operation Market Time duties on 17 May 1970 . She completed her tour on 31 December 1970 . " Yakutat " earned two more campaign stars during this Vietnam War tour , for : Other awards . " Yakutat " also received a Navy Unit Commendation and a Meritorious Unit Commendation during her Coast Guard career . Decommissioning . The Coast Guard decommissioned " Yakutat " on 1 January 1971 in South Vietnam and transferred her to the U . S . Navy . Foreign service . Republic of Vietnam Navy service 1971 – 1975 . The U . S . Navy transferred " Yakutat " to South Vietnam on 10 January 1971 and she was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as RVNS " Tran Nhat Duat " ( HQ - 03 ) . " Tran Nhat Duat " cooperated with units of the United States Navy on coastal patrol and counter - insurgency missions off the coast of South Vietnam until the collapse of that country at the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975 , when she fled to Subic Bay in the Philippines . On 22 May 1975 and 23 May 1975 , a U . S . Coast Guard team inspected " Tran Nhat Duat " and several other former " Casco " - class cutters which had been transferred to South Vietnam in 1971 and 1972 and , like " Tran Nhat Duat " , 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 . " Acquisition for spare parts by the Philippine Navy . After " Tran Nhat Duat " was cleaned , the U . S . Navy transferred her to the Republic of the Philippines ; title to her was formally transferred to the Philippines on 5 April 1976 or 6 April 1976 . She never entered service with the Philippine Navy , instead being cannibalized for spare parts . She was discarded ca . 1982 and probably was scrapped .