Photo #: NH 74689-U.S. Army Cargo Vessel FP-344 (1944); Fitting out at the Kewaunee Shipbuilding & Engineering Corp. shipyard, Kewaunee, Wisconsin, Circa July 1944. FP-344 was later renamed FS-344. Transferred to the Navy in 1966, she became USS Pueblo (AGER-2). Courtesy of Kewaunee Shipbuilding Corp., 1968. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

I’m sure most of you have heard of the USS Pueblo and know that she was seized by the North Koreans. That happened 44 years ago today. One crewmember was killed and the remaining 82 were held for 11 months. The ship is still held, displayed as a museum at Pyongyang, the North Korean capital city.

You may not know that she was once manned by Coast Guardsmen. Originally she was an Army Transport, the FP(later FS)-344, and from 7 April 1945 to January 1946 she was Coast Guard manned.

She was one of 288 Army vessels manned by the Coast Guard during WWII (along with 351 Navy ships and craft.)

Sources:

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-p/ager2.htm

Scheina, Robert L., U. S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft of World War II, US Naval Institute Press