Unalaska, AK – The crew of the Coast Guard cutter Akushnet, a Ketchikan-based vessel that arrived in port yesterday, spent today showing groups of Unalaska kids around their ship. The crew hosted an open house on the ship this morning and afternoon, and will be leaving port on Thursday.

This is the Akushnet's first visit to Unalaska as the Coast Guard's Queen of the Fleet. The ship received that title at a ceremony in Kodiak earlier this month, when the cutter Storis was retired and the Akushnet became the Coast Guard's oldest commissioned vessel.

The Akushnet went into service 62 years ago as a Navy salvage ship named the USS Shackle, and was involved in salvage operations during the battles of Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima in World War II. It was commissioned as a Coast Guard cutter after the war, and has been home-ported in Ketchikan since 1998.