The Red class consisted of five coastal buoy tenders designed, built, owned, and operated by the United States Coast Guard.

The latter was the longest continuously serving vessel in the Coast Guard fleet at the time of her retirement.

[3] The Coast Guard's FY 1963 budget included $3 million to fund Red Birch, which was described to Congress as a replacement for USCGC Hawthorne.

[5] In its FY 1969 budget request, the Coast Guard sought $2.5 million for a Red-class cutter to replace two older buoy tenders in the Chesapeake Bay and Portsmouth, Virginia area.

[6] The Coast Guard received $3.1 million in its FY 1970 budget for Red Oak to replace USCGC Lilac, which was 37 years old at the time.

[7] All five ships of the class were built at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland.

Their shallow draft and flat bottoms were required for their work along the edges of dredged channels, but this hull form made them harder to maneuver and more prone to rolling.

These transfers were part of a comprehensive program to improve the Argentine Navy's ability to interdict drugs and their precursor chemicals.