When the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Smilax (WLIC-315) was commissioned in 1944, allied forces had landed at Normandy five months earlier and had another 10 months of fighting ahead before victory in Europe and the Pacific would bring World War II to an end.
With nearly seven and half decades of water in her wake, the Smilax is the oldest Coast Guard cutter in service today. She turns 75 on Nov. 1.
The septuagenarian inland construction tender was enthroned as the Coast Guard “Queen of the Fleet” in 2011 when the Ketchikan, Alaska-based medium endurance cutter Acushnet (WMEC-167) was decommissioned after 67 years of service.
