wrote



"Old Ironsides" is a museum piece. A fully operational museum piece that
actually sails every few years, but a museum piece nonetheless. Her main
functions are educational and historic, not military.

Her "main function" is to serve as the Flagship of the Navy. That's a military
function, not a "museum" function. Certainly she also serves as a "history
lesson incarnate", but that is not her "main" function. If it were, she'd be
property of the National Park Service, not the Department of Defense.

And to answer the comment of Clown Prince of Spamalot (aka KB9RGZ), many US Navy
ships are not intended to "sail into battle" (a quaint phrase, but it reveals
your ignorance of military matters). YTB's tugs don't "sail into battle",
DSRV's don't "sail into battle", AD's don't "sail into battle", AOE's don't
"sail into battle", AS's don't "sail into battle", ATB's don't "sail into
battle", ARS's don't "sail into battle", in fact CVA's don't "sail into battle",
and no, the USS Constitution will not "sail into battle", but she's still a
fully commissioned ship of the line in the US Navy.

The USCG Barque Eagle, homeported at the Coast Guard Academy
in Connecticutt, is a working training ship, used in training future
seagoing officers.

Does she go out on search and rescue?

Probably not, but I'm sure she teachs some of the elements of SAR. Navigation
is a big part of her training mission, and you can bet that includes things like
plotting an expanding-squares search pattern, calculating set and drift, and
other topics useful in real world SAR operations. Regardless of that, not all
USCG ships "go out on search and rescue". Some go out an tend bouys. Some go
out and break ice. Some go out on training missions. Etc., etc., etc.

Or is her purpose mostly historic and educational?

Very little "historic" about the Eagle. Her purpose is a training ship for
Coast Guard Midshipmen. That's just as much a "purpose" as SAR.

And the main point remains: Sailboats make up far
less than 1% of the US military fleet.

Nobody is trying to argue that point, are they? By the same token, CVA's make
up a tiny percent of the US military fleet also, as do ARS's, AOE's, DSRV's,
LPH's, and a host of other types. Doesn't make their mission any less
important, or relegate them to "nothing more than museum pieces".

Ding ding, ding ding, ding ding, ding ding. Eight bells and all's well.

de Hans, K0HB