Qualla: USCGC Ingham (WHEC-35)

USCGC Ingham (WHEC-35): Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Julian Lupyan, CC0. Only one ship in the entire United States Coast Guard ever earned two Presidential Unit Citations. She sits today in Key West, Florida, rust-streaked and weathered, her 327 feet of steel holding more combat history than most navies can claim. USCGC Ingham spent fifty-two years in active service, from the convoy lanes of the North Atlantic to the rivers of Vietnam, and every year of it left its mark. Now a museum ship and National Historic Landmark, Ingham is also something more solemn: the Commandant of the Coast Guard has designated her the National Memorial to the 912 Coast Guardsmen killed in action during World War II and Vietnam. Their names are etched on a plaque on her quarterdeck, where the salt wind off the Gulf of Mexico keeps them company.

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Image: Julian Lupyan | CC0

USCGC Ingham (WHEC-35): Born at the Navy Yard

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MECU, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Treasury Department awarded Ingham's contract on January 30, 1934, and her keel was laid at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on May 1, 1935. She slid into the Delaware River on June 3, 1936, christened by Katherine Ingham Brush, alongside three sister ships. Commissioned on Septemb...

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Image: MECU | CC BY-SA 3.0

USCGC Ingham (WHEC-35): Hunting U-Boats in the Gray Atlantic

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. When World War II erupted, Ingham was thrown into the desperate business of convoy escort. The North Atlantic in winter is a punishing place: towering seas, ice forming on rigging, visibility measured in yards. Through that gray chaos, Ingham shepherded merchant ships carrying fu...

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Image: U.S. Navy | Public domain

USCGC Ingham (WHEC-35): Two Wars, Two Citations

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit United States Coast Guard - Crew of the USCGC Ingham, Public domain. The Vietnam War brought Ingham back to combat. Deployed from August 1968 to February 1969, she participated in Operation SEA LORDS and Operation SWIFT RAIDER, operations that pushed into the Mekong Delta's narrow waterways to interdict enemy supply lines. The missions were danger...

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Image: United States Coast Guard - Crew of the USCGC Ingham | Public domain

USCGC Ingham (WHEC-35): Second Oldest and Still Afloat

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lionel Pinn, CC BY-SA 4.0. Ingham served on through the Cold War years, returning to the Coast Guard's core missions of search and rescue, law enforcement, and ocean patrol. When she was finally decommissioned in 1988, she was the second oldest commissioned warship afloat in the United States, younger only...

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Image: Lionel Pinn | CC BY-SA 4.0

USCGC Ingham (WHEC-35): A Quiet Berth in Key West

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mlanni98, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today, Ingham is moored in Key West's harbor, her gray hull a stark presence among the pleasure boats and charter fishing vessels. Visitors can walk her decks, peer into the cramped quarters where sailors slept in three-high bunks, and stand behind the 5-inch/38-caliber deck gun ...

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Image: Mlanni98 | CC BY-SA 4.0