MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Coast Guard Barque Eagle to welcome guests for ride-in to Newport, Rhode Island

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Coast Guard Barque Eagle to welcome guests for ride-in to Newport, Rhode Island

Editors' Note: Media requesting to ride into Newport aboard Eagle must RSVP to Coast Guard 1st District External Affairs at 617-223-8515 by 3 p.m. Thursday.

BOSTON — The U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle "America's Tall Ship" is scheduled to welcome guests aboard Tuesday as Eagle arrives and moors at Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. Eagle's visit coincides with the Volvo Ocean Race Opening Ceremony and Sail Newport, and will include pier-side public tours. 

WHO: The Coast Guard Barque Eagle crew will host guests aboard the ship as Eagle makes way into Newport, Rhode Island. 

WHAT: Eagle is arriving in Newport for a scheduled port call, and participation in Sail Newport. 

WHERE: Ride-in guests shall arrive at 72 Fort Adams Drive, Newport, RI, 02840 no later than 6:30 a.m., Tuesday. Coast Guard small boats will ferry media from Fort Adams to the Barque Eagle for the ride-in to Newport.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 8, 2018.

At 295-feet in length, Eagle is the largest tall ship in United States government service. Constructed in 1936 by the Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, and originally commissioned as the Horst Wessell by the German Navy, Eagle was a war reparation for the United States following World War II.

The Eagle is a three-masted barque with more than 22,300 square feet of sail and six miles of rigging. Eagle has served as a classroom-at-sea to future Coast Guard officers since 1946, offering an at-sea leadership and professional development experience as part of the Coast Guard Academy curriculum.

-USCG-