HORNBEAM is a 180' all steel ocean going tender with a single 1200 horsepower diesel engine with bow thrusters. She was built in Duluth, Minnesota and originally served out of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In 1976 she was renovated at the Coast Guard's Curtis Bay, Maryland shipyard and later served at Cape May, New Jersey. She represented a high point in the later multi-purpose tenders serving as a lighthouse supply ship, buoy tender, ice breaker, lightship supplier/tow ship and general rescue ship. HORNBEAM's career included being the first rescue ship on the scene of the 1956 sinking of the Andrea Doria saving 46 crew members.