Most served the United States for over 40 years, including with distinction through World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Because the air passenger trade was expanding both at home and overseas, the Coast Guard believed that cutter-based aircraft would be essential for future high-seas search and rescue.

The final 327-foot (100 m) design was based on the Erie-class US Navy gunboats; the machinery plant and hull below the waterline were identical.

This standardization would save money—always paramount in the Coast Guard's mind, as the cutters were built in U.S. Navy shipbuilding yards.

The seven Treasury-class Coast Guard Cutters were:[1] Displacing 2,350 tons with a 12-foot (3.7 m) draft, these ships had a maximum speed of 20 knots (37 km/h).

The ships were originally built with two open centerline 5"/51 caliber gun mounts forward, and carried either a single Grumman JF-2 Duck or Curtiss SOC-4 aft.

With the exception of Hamilton, which was torpedoed and sunk 10 miles (16 km) off Iceland 29 January 1942, all of the Treasury-class ships led very long lives.