Welcome aboard the United States Coast Guard Cutter SHERMAN (WHEC 720). The SHERMAN was the sixth of twelve 378 foot high endurance cutters (WHECs) built for the Coast Guard in the 1960s. This is the largest class of Coast Guard cutter with the exception of the Polar icebreakers, which are 400 feet long.

SHERMAN’s Beginnings

SHERMAN’s keel was laid on 25 January 1967 at Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was launched on September 3, 1968.

The cutter is named for John Sherman, the 19th century statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury from March 10, 1877 to March 3, 1881 under President Rutherford B. Hayes. Mr. Sherman also served as Secretary of State during the McKinley administration and spent a total of 37 years in Congress as a senator and representative from Ohio.

SHERMAN was stationed in Boston, Massachusetts at the beginning of her career, and her main mission was ocean station patrol in the North Atlantic Ocean. These 21-day patrols involved guiding transoceanic air traffic, observing and making oceanographic observations. The 378-foot cutters were well built for these rough patrols with high endurance, high speed, exceptional maneuverability, and excellent scientific and communications facilities.

SHERMAN in Vietnam

In 1970, SHERMAN was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three in Vietnam. Her tasking during the conflict was primarily in support of Operation Market Time, which involved sorting through the hundreds of small vessels off the Vietnamese coast in search of enemy weapons smugglers. Again, the 378 turned in an outstanding performance. SHERMAN inspected some 900 vessels during her ten-month tour in Southeast Asia, and was actually underway on patrol 86% of her time there. During the same period, SHERMAN conducted 10 MEDCAPS (Medical Civic Action Projects), treating about 1,400 sick civilians. The old 5” gun (now replaced by a sleeker, quicker 76mm mount) answered 152 calls for naval gunfire support, including a running gun fight on the night of November 21, 1970 which resulted in the sinking of the North Vietnamese “SL-3”, an armed freighter carrying tons of enemy munitions.

In 1971, SHERMAN returned to Boston. With satellite technology reducing the need for ocean station patrols and concern over the American drug problem rising, the emphasis shifted to drug interdiction. In October of 1976, SHERMAN seized the 275-foot Panamanian freighter DON EMILIO and confiscated 82 tons of marijuana, up to that time the largest drug seizure in history.

In 1977, the United States adopted a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in response to growing concern over marine resource depletion. This gave the Coast Guard a much-increased area to patrol, especially off the tremendous western coastline in the rich waters of the North Pacific and Bering Sea. SHERMAN was transferred to her current homeport in Alameda, California in May of 1979. Her primary mission shifted to Alaskan Patrols, which involve fisheries law enforcement, drug interdiction, search and rescue standby, and military readiness. In fact, SHERMAN and her sister cutters on the West Coast are often the only regular U.S. military presence in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. Alaskan patrols remain the cutter’s primary mission today.

In May of 1986, SHERMAN was decommissioned and delivered to TODD Shipyard to begin the FRAM (Fleet Renovation and Modernization) project. This project significantly upgraded the cutter’s weapons and communications capabilities, with the most visible changes being the new 76mm Oto Melera gun, the CIWS mount, and the new retractable helicopter hangar. The ship completed the ready-for-sea period of this project as the Coast Guard celebrated its 200th year of service, and was recommissioned as part of the new generation of fully operation long range patrol vessels in July of 1990.

The Coast Guard strives to maintain a reputation worldwide as one of the five armed forces which performs a multitude of vital peacetime missions. Its history is rich and its members proud and capable. The SHERMAN is an excellent example of a unit which has proved its capabilities in missions ranging from search and rescue to combat. Since FRAM, SHERMAN has successfully accomplished taskings such as HIPATs (Hawaiian patrols), OPVISTA to Panama, RIMPAC ‘96, various fleet exercises, and fisheries law enforcement in areas as far south as the equator and as far north as the Arctic Circle.

Feel free to look around at one of your Coast Guard’s finest cutters and ask any questions that may come to mind. We are glad to have you with us.

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