US Coast Guard Training Vessel "The Eagle" at its berth in New London, Connecticut, 8-24-09. Originally the Horst Wessel, it was taken as a war reparation by the United States. She was first sent to Wilhelmshaven, Germany, for repairs and modification, and was commissioned into the United States Coast Guard as the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle on 15 May 1946. In June 1946 a U.S. Coast Guard crew, assisted by the German captain and crew still aboard, sailed her from Bremerhaven, through a hurricane, to her new home port of New London, Connecticut.