f you are reading this blog, you likely already know that “America’s Tall Ship,” the 269-foot steel-hulled three-masted barque USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), started life in 1936 as one of the quartet of John Stanley-designed Gorch Fock-class school ships (segelschulschiff) for the German Kriegsmarine (Gorch Fock, Horst Wessel, Albert Leo Schlageter, and Herbert Norkus), followed by Mircea for the Romanian Navy.

Horst Wessel (the future USCGC Eagle) at the Mürwik Naval Academy in Flensburg, Germany, during 1937, two years before the start of WWII.  While the U.S. got Horst Wessel (now Eagle) in 1946, and has used her ever since, and Norkus never sailed, the original Gorch Fock went to the Russians, who kept her until 2003, then gave her backContinue reading “f you are reading this blog, you likely already know that “America’s Tall Ship,” the 269-foot steel-hulled three-masted barque USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), started life in 1936 as one of the quartet of John Stanley-designed Gorch Fock-class school ships (segelschulschiff) for the German Kriegsmarine (Gorch Fock, Horst Wessel, Albert Leo Schlageter, and Herbert Norkus), followed by Mircea for the Romanian Navy.”

USS Portland (LPD 27) viewed from USS Boxer (LHD 4), while sailing in the Indian Ocean. June 24, 2026.

HMS Victorious (R38) entering Hong Kong on October 17, 1961.

USS Aries (PHM-5) decommissioned in 1993

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine JS Jingei (SS-515) hits the decommissioned USS Juneau with a torpedo in support of a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) during exercise Valiant Shield 2026. Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026.