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Why is the US still using a Nazi tall ship?
BBC News ^ | 29 July 2015 | James Morgan

Posted on 07/29/2015 7:42:24 AM PDT by Freeport

The Eagle was built by the Nazis and fought for Hitler in World War Two - so how did a tall ship that once flew the swastika end up as a training vessel for new US Coast Guard cadets?

Driving home along the coast of Connecticut one winter's evening, Tido Holtkamp saw a ghost.

There she was - moored in the harbour, her three towering masts, draped with those familiar sails he had rigged back in the German Navy in World War Two.

Her body had been repainted in the red, white and blue of the US, but her curves were unmistakable.

"That's my ship!" shouted Holtkamp, stopping the car. "That's my ship. The Horst Wessel. What in the world is she doing here in America?"

He may be 89 years old now, but the old sailor still twinkles wide-eyed as he recalls that moment back in 1959.

We are sitting in the grand museum of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, not far from the place where the sight of the ship stopped Holtkamp in his tracks.

Above him hangs a carving of a gleaming golden eagle - the original German figurehead of his beloved vessel.

She is docked outside in the bay, with 150 young cadets preparing to jump aboard, climb the rigging and set sail for the Bahamas.

The Eagle is the flagship of the Coast Guard, and the only tall ship on active service in the US military.

Since 1946 every single new cadet undergoing officer training has begun his or her career by learning to sail on her - the old way.


(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: coastguard; eagle; horstwessel; sailingship
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To: Freeport

What’s the big deal? It’s not like it’s flying a Confederate flag or something.


41 posted on 07/29/2015 8:28:36 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Freeport
so how did a tall ship that once flew the swastika end up as a training vessel for new US Coast Guard cadets?

Because we have it????maybe...???

42 posted on 07/29/2015 8:30:46 AM PDT by Cold Heat (For Rent....call 1-555-tagline)
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To: Freeport

it is a legitimate war prize. watch the left try to get rid of it now.


43 posted on 07/29/2015 8:34:41 AM PDT by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: DoodleDawg

Fly a Confederate flag from it and then build a wall around it to keep the illegals out.


44 posted on 07/29/2015 8:36:25 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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To: dfwgator

The Eagle is a prize of war. She wasn’t captured on the high seas & boarded like the U-505, but get this:

There hasn’t been a peep out of postwar Germany about the Eagle, but they have a standing demand that they want the U-505 returned to Germany even though it was captured in combat (first “Away all boarders!” command by a U.S. captain since the War of 1812).

When the U-505 was being restored at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, German suppliers who had originally fitted her out assisted in the restoration while protesting, “That’s our U-Boat and we want it back but we’ll at least fit her out properly so you thieving Amis can see what real German workmanship is like!!”


45 posted on 07/29/2015 8:41:19 AM PDT by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam.")
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To: Freeport

Why does North Korea still have The Pueblo?


46 posted on 07/29/2015 8:42:38 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Fiji Hill
This one did, having been named Horst Wessel.

No, the ship itself was not a NAZI. Who built it is totally immaterial. It is a vessel in the service of our Nation at the Coast Guard Academy. This is the same stupid stuff as the Confederate flag flap.

By the way, The United States took German Type 21 submarines into our fleet after WWII. They were the best subs we ever had until the nuclear fleet emerged.

47 posted on 07/29/2015 8:43:33 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: elcid1970
...at least fit her out properly so you thieving Amis can see what real German workmanship is like...

My heart sank when I saw what they did to that vessel at the museum. They cut mammoth holes in it to make it a walk-in exhibit. If you want to see a submarine, go through the hatch like God intended.

48 posted on 07/29/2015 8:46:47 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Fiji Hill
This one did, having been named Horst Wessel.

I can't get over this! Do you think that an inanimate object actually adopted NAZI political views?

Insanity runs deep in the United States.

49 posted on 07/29/2015 8:48:28 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Freeport

1959 was the best year of my life.

I had not yet been conceived.


50 posted on 07/29/2015 9:04:38 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: Freeport

She’s beautiful!


51 posted on 07/29/2015 9:05:36 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Let's put the ship of state on Cruz Control with Ted Cruz.)
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To: NorthMountain

It’s still a NAZI SHIP.


52 posted on 07/29/2015 9:06:13 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: dfwgator

Don’t be a


53 posted on 07/29/2015 9:06:32 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: cripplecreek

You realize that


54 posted on 07/29/2015 9:06:51 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: laplata

Now that’s a


55 posted on 07/29/2015 9:07:07 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: Da Coyote

You sure can


56 posted on 07/29/2015 9:07:27 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: GingisK

There is no


57 posted on 07/29/2015 9:07:49 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: Lazamataz

And everybody on board is SO SCREWED!!!


58 posted on 07/29/2015 9:08:08 AM PDT by NorthMountain ("The time has come", the Walrus said, "to talk of many things")
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To: chajin

We are not


59 posted on 07/29/2015 9:08:11 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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To: glorgau

This can be


60 posted on 07/29/2015 9:08:26 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Republicans are nothing more than "beards" for Democrats.)
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