High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USCGC Wachusett (WHEC-44) was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. She was commissioned too late for service in that war and consequently did not see military service until the Vietnam War. Wachusett was built by Western Pipe & Steel at the company's San Pedro shipyard. Named after Wachusett Lake, Massachusetts, she was commissioned as a patrol gunboat with ID number WPG-44 on 23 March 1946. Her ID was later changed to WHEC-44 (HEC for "High Endurance Cutter" - the "W" signifies a Coast Guard vessel).