Like all ships in the Reliance-Class of 210-foot (64 m) medium endurance cutters, Durable was named for an aspirational trait meaning to be capable of withstanding wear or decay.

On her first day of duty at Brownsville, Durable assisted the grounded fishing vessel Dahlia 125 miles (201 km) south of Galveston.

A passing merchant ship managed to save two survivors of San Nicholas, but all the cutter found was debris.

Arriving on scene, the cutter made up a 3,500-foot (1,100 m) towline and fought 50-knot (93 km/h) winds and 12-foot (3.7 m) seas while towing all three vessels to safety.

During this same six-month period, she gained international attention for her law enforcement activities that overshadowed this successful search and rescue work.

On 3 June 1978, with a television news crew aboard who were filming the cutter's enforcement of fisheries laws, she seized the F/V Adeline Marie after discovering 49,400 pounds of marijuana on board.

Fifty-five miles south-southwest of St. Petersburg she located the 40-foot (12 m) yawl Carte Blance, boarded her, and discovered 15,396 pounds of marijuana.

In recognition of her outstanding performance in both search and rescue and law enforcement activities during the period from December 1977 through August 1978, the commander of the Atlantic Area, VADM R. T. Price, awarded the cutter and crew the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation.

From December 1978 to August 1979, she inspected the entire fleet of Japanese tuna long-line fishing vessels that sailed in the Gulf of Mexico.

On 22 April 1979 she seized the F/V Cap'n Stud after discovering 15,000 pounds of marijuana, however, the vessel and cargo were destroyed while hard aground on a reef.

A year later, on 18 November 1981 Durable seized the F/V Miss Karline which was attempting to smuggle 13,600 pounds of marijuana and arrested her crew of 11.

The following year, on 25 September 1982, she seized two U.S. fishing vessels, the Don Manuel and the Brownskin Gal, off the Yucatán Peninsula carrying 13 tons of marijuana.

The vessel was found abandoned and sinking while at anchor -- Durable's crew managed to "interdict" the illicit cargo before she sank.

On 12 March 1986 she attempted to stop and board the Mexican F/V Fermin II, but her crew scuttled the fishing vessel.

On 16 May 1986 a boarding party discovered approximately 200 tons of marijuana aboard the sailing vessel West Wind.

Durable, along with all units based in D7 and D8, were frequently called upon to intercept illegal migrants attempting sea passage to the U.S. from islands in the Caribbean, in particular Cuba and Haiti.

[1] After a military coup occurred in Haiti on 30 September 1991, 15 U.S. and two French missionaries left the island nation on 8 October aboard three sailboats, bound for Guantanamo Bay.

After receiving a request for assistance through the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France, the Coast Guard sent a HU-25 Falcon to locate the three vessels, which were found 60 miles (97 km) south of Guantanamo Bay.

Those so afflicted were transferred to the cutter and two-men crews from Durable were placed aboard each of the sailboats to assist the remaining passengers in sailing the vessels.

In May 1992 Durable, along with Nantucket (WPB-1316), participated in Operation Tradewinds '92, a joint exercise involving U.S. forces and units of the Lesser Antilles Regional Security System (RSS).

The Durable, on a fisheries enforcement patrol in the Gulf of Mexico, was ordered to the waters off the north coast of Haiti.

During that patrol the cutter conducted three search and rescue missions and took custody of the 173-foot (53 m) Honduran freighter Gold Star after the Coast Guard Law Enforcement Team 8H assigned to the USS Clark discovered 1,000 pounds of cocaine aboard the vessel.

The Durable rendezvoused with Confidence, put an eight-man custody crew aboard the M/V Gold Star, took the vessel under tow and sailed to Key West.

The speedboat managed to ground on a beach and its crew escaped inland, but the cutter seized the craft and its illicit cargo.

The operation involved forces from the U.S., Great Britain, Antigua, Bermuda, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, St. Maarten, Barbados, Grenada, and the Netherlands.

In December 1997, during a 50-day patrol of the Caribbean, Durable recovered eight bales of marijuana that were dumped overboard from a "go-fast" boat that the cutter had been chasing.