Historic Coast Guard cutter becomes museum
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) – A historic Coast Guard cutter that performed search-and-rescue missions between the Florida Keys and Cuba during the 1980 Mariel Boatlift has arrived in Key West to serve as a floating military museum.
The 327-foot Ingham, launched at Philadelphia in 1936, is the only cutter ever awarded two Presidential Unit Citations. It served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
In 1980, when 125,000 Cubans fled Mariel, the Ingham rescued refugees from swamped rafts and boats and escorted refugee vessels to safety in Key West.
A group of Key Westers acquired the vessel that is now a registered National Historic Landmark, after its previous home, a maritime museum in Charleston, S.C., could no longer afford to maintain it.
The Ingham is docked on Key West’s Truman Waterfront and is scheduled to open to the public in December.