Historical Significance

*The INGHAM has had six distinct configurations and careers. These included her pre-war duty as a cruising cutter in the Bering Sea and Alaska; as a convoy escort flagship in the Battle of the Atlantic; as an amphibious assault flagship in the invasion of the Philippines; as an ocean station vessel in peacetime, protecting oceanic air traffic; then back to war again interdicting Viet Cong sea traffic and providing gunfire support to the Army in Vietnam; and finally interdicting drug traffic in the Atlantic and Caribbean.
*During the Atlantic battle, INGHAM carried a total of 18 guns ranging from 5-inch to 20-mm machine guns. Today she carries only a 5-inch mount and a number of marine guns which are stowed in the armory.
*The first blow of the new German offensive fell in early November 1942, when eight U-boats attacked eastbound Convoy SC-107 and sank 16 ships. The attack ended after the INGHAM and the USS LEARY (DD-158) and USS SCHENCK (DD-159) arrived along with covering aircraft from Iceland. The INGHAM was the first American warship to sink an enemy submarine (U-626) in the bitter battle of the North Atlantic.
*In 1985, the INGHAM, the grand old lady of the 327's, continued to live up to her well-earned reputation by seizing a number of smugglers and rescued the crew of a sunken merchant ship in the South Atlantic in the continuing battle on drugs.
SEMPER PARATUSWhatever her mission, she was always ready to respond to a call of distress, and engaged in hundreds of sea rescues. SEMPER PARATUS, the Coast Guard's stirring march song, contains the following words: (click here!)
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Last Updated: 16 October, 1996
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