When the Nazis had a 295 foot, 1,800 ton three-masted barque built for training their sea-cadets and named it for their most unheroic hero, Horst Wessel, they created a very fine ship for its purpose. Obtained by the U. S. Coast Guard Academy as war reparations and re-named the Eagle, she is again serving to teach seamanship to her young crews. But these cadets have as their profession the making of the sea-lanes safe for the commerce of the world.
Last summer the Eagle, accompanied by the U.S.C.G.C. Campbell, cruised across the Atlantic to London, Antwerp, and Lisbon, and then home by way of the Canary Islands.
The cadets of the class of 1950 were taking their last training cruise aboard her. They had stripped off the old German markings, holystoned, scraped, chipped, and painted, ever since she had been brought back from Hamburg in 1946. As one member of that class expresses it: “The Eagle isn’t an inanimate, ugly duckling any longer; she can go out and come back. ‘Two block those boat falls! On the fore-t’gallant yard! Run ’er home! On the capstan, heave around! Make up those lines!’ . . . just an echo. ‘Lights out, silence about the decks!’ ”
TRIAL OF THE GERMAN WAR CRIMINALS AFTER WORLD WAR II
The announced national objectives of the Allies included not only unconditional surrender by the Germans but the trial of their leaders as war criminals.
BATTLESHIP ROW, PEARL HARBOR, DECEMBER 7, 1941
What would have been the difference if we had positively known that the Japanese were going to attack?
THE THREE-MASTED BARQUE EAGLE UNDER FULL SAIL
Cruise-ship for cadets of the U. S. Coast Guard Academy last summer, the cutter Eagle is the former Nazi training vessel Ilorst Wessel. She carries 21,500 square feet of canvas.
THE EAGLE AT THE COAST GUARD ACADEMY, NEW LONDON
Downstream und across the river from the Submarine Base, the Coast Guard Academy presents a neat, attractive appearance. At her berth in the Thames the Eagle spends the winter.
HE LEARNS TO KNOW HIS SHIP
From stem to stern and from top to bilge the cadet must know and understand his ship. For training purposes the Campbell, equipped with modern machinery such as Coast Guard officers now use, accompanied the Eagle.
THE GOAL IS MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY
Summer cruise presents the opportunity par excellence for learning by doing. The entire ship becomes a laboratory afloat, where the theory of the classroom is put into tangible practice.
THE ANCIENT ART OF SWINGING A HAMMOCK
If this cadet doesn’t take up enough to get the bow out of his hammock, he won’t be able to stand up straight in the morning! liy many the hammock is considered the answer to a practical joker’s prayer.
MARLINE-SPIKE SEAMANSHIP
Cruising on the Eagle gave the cadets ample opportunity to brush up on all aspects of their seamanship. This pair is busy whipping lines to replace mizzen vangs that have been badly chafed.
HE LEARNS TO KNOW HIS SHIP
From stem to stern and from top Lo bilge the cadet must know and understand his ship. For training purposes the Campbell, equipped wilh modern machinery such as Coast Guard officers now use, accompanied the Eagle.
THE GOAL IS MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY
Summer cruise presents the opportunity par excellence for learning by doing. The entire ship becomes a laboratory afloat, where the theory of the classroom is put into tangible practice.
THE ANCIENT ART OK SWINGING A HAMMOCK
If this cadet doesn’t take up enough to gel the bow out of his hammock, he won’t be able to stand up straight in the morning! By many the hammock is considered the answer to a practical joker’s prayer.
MARLINE-SPIKE SEAMANSHIP
Cruising on the Eagle gave the cadets ample opportunity to brush up on all aspects of their seamanship. This pair is busy whipping lines to replace mizzen vangs that have been badly chafed.
THE CAMPBELL ESCORTED THE EAGLE
This famous 327-foot sub-buster, gleaming in her fresh peacetime white, was the second training ship for (lie annual summer cruise. In her own way she is quite as handsome as the barque she accompanied.
THE OL’ SWIMMING ’OLE ON THE CAMPBELL
Behind schedule and with no time for a swimming party, a few creative minds on the Campbell rigged an in-port awning for a top-side pool. It appears that the experiment was a success.
FROM A MIZZEN-TOPMAN’S POINT OF VIEW
Looking not unlike animated clothes-pins, the cadets learn to furl sails under perfect conditions, in case they may be called to shorten sail on a dark and stormy night when they will use every skill practice has taught.
JUST HOW CLOSE DID THE ALLIES COME TO LOSING THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC?
Although Axis submarines sank 2,775 merchantmen in the Atlantic, the total loss amounted to only 3.7% of the ships that were sailed in convoys, such as that pictured above.
JUST HOW CLOSE DID THE ALLIES COME TO LOSING THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC?