The Eagle is a three-masted sailing Barque with 21,350 square feet of sail, homeported at the CG Academy, New London, Connecticut. It is the only active commissioned sailing vessel in the U.S. maritime services. The Eagle bears a name that goes back to the early history of the Coast Guard. The first Eagle was commissioned in 1792, just two years after the formation of the Revenue Marine, the forerunner of today's Coast Guard.

Today's Eagle was built in 1936 by the Blohm & Voss Shipyard, Hamburg, Germany, as a training vessel for German Naval Cadets. It was commissioned Horst Wessel and following World War II was taken as a war prize by the United States. On May 15, 1946, the barque was commissioned into U.S. Coast Guard service as the Eagle and sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany to New London, Connecticut.

Eagle serves as a seagoing classroom for approximiately 175 cadets and instructors from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. It is on the decks and rigging of the Eagle that the young men and women of the Academy get their experiences at sea. Sailing in Eagle, cadets handle more than 20,000 square feet of sail and 5 miles of rigging. Over 200 lines must be coordinated during a major ship maneuver, so cadets must memorize the role of each line.