Like all ships in the Reliance class of 210-foot medium-endurance cutters, Dauntless is named for an aspirational trait, in this case meaning to "persevere fearlessly."

She became the first cutter to seize one ton of marijuana in a single bust when her crew boarded the fishing boat Big L on March 8, 9173.

During the mass Cuban exodus (see Mariel boatlift) between April 23 and May 13, 1980, over 25 vessels were towed to safety, eight persons adrift at sea were rescued, and 55 SAR cases were conducted.

In June 1993, she was decommissioned and entered Major Maintenance Availability (MMA) at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland.

The major renovations included the addition of an engine exhaust stack aft of the pilot house, a complete powerplant overhaul, installation of new navigation and communications systems, and extensive habitability improvements.

After relocating to Galveston, Dauntless continued performing her primary missions of law enforcement, alien migrant interdiction operations, protection of marine resources, SAR, and later homeland defense in the Gulf of Mexico.

At a June 21, 2024 Naval Air Station Pensacola ceremony celebrating her 56 years of service, Dauntless was removed from active duty and placed in commission, special status—an inactive shipyard condition.

Dauntless has appeared in two motion pictures: The Island, in which (portraying the fictional USCGC New Hope) she was boarded and seized by Caribbean pirates, and in the James Bond film Licence to Kill[9] In the 2016 novel Goliath by Shawn Corridan and Gary Waid, Dauntless along with Alex Haley are the two Coast Guard cutters that respond to the fire aboard and subsequent stranding of a Russian ULCC.