The vessel's manufacturer, Bollinger Shipyards, of Lockport, Louisiana, delivered the ship to the Coast Guard, in Key West, on April 20, 2017, for final outfitting and crew training.

The Sentinel-class cutters are lightly armed patrol vessels with a crew of approximately two dozen sailors, capable of traveling almost 3,000 nautical miles, on five-to-eight day missions.

The cutter is a multi-mission vessel intended to perform law enforcement, search and rescue, fisheries and environmental protection, and homeland security tasks.

[5][6] In 2014 the Coast Guard announced that Benjamin B. Dailey, keeper of the Cape Hatteras Lifesaving Station, would be the namesake of the 23rd cutter.

[11][12][13][14] Shortly after being commissioned, Benjamin Dailey deployed on behalf of her operational commander, the Eighth Coast Guard District, conducting counter-narcotics, fisheries enforcement, and border security off southern Texas.