USCGC Klamath (WHEC-66) was an Owasco class

Owasco class cutter

The Owasco Class Cutter was a cutter class operated by the United States Coast Guard. A total of thirteen cutters in the class were built, all named after lakes. Eleven were constructed by the Western Pipe & Steel Company at San Pedro, California, while the remaining two—Mendota and...

 high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

. The war ended before the ship was completed and consequently Klamath did not see wartime service until the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

Klamath was built by Western Pipe & Steel at the company's San Pedro shipyard. Named after Klamath Lake, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, she was commissioned as a patrol gunboat with ID number WPG-66 on 19 June 1946. Her ID was later changed to WHEC-66 (HEC for "High Endurance Cutter" - the "W" signifies a Coast Guard vessel).

Peacetime service

Klamath was homeported at Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, from 19 June 1946 to 1 May 1973. She was used for law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue operations in the Pacific. Additionally, she also conducted Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

 Patrol annually.

From 20 to 24 March 1966, she inspected the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 MV Olyturka, which had sought haven in U.S. waters following a casualty. On 25 March 1966, the Japanese FV's Bansho Maru No. 38 and Tenyo Maru No. 3 were discovered in U.S. waters and escorted out.

Vietnam War

Klamath was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, from 14 May 1969 to 31 January 1970.

Return to peacetime duties

In February 1972, a boarding party from Klamath helped save the badly damaged MV Tenzan Maru and she was subsequently escorted to safety.

Decommissioning

Klamath was decommissioned on 1 May 1973 and was sold for scrap on 18 November 1974.