Fir's homeport was Seattle, Washington for all but one of her fifty one years of service when she was temporarily assigned to Long Beach, California when USCGC Walnut was decommissioned on 1 July 1982.

With the onset of World War II Fir was assigned to the U.S. Department of the Navy and painted battleship grey.

On 27 May 1988, after the decommissioning of USCGC Ingham, Fir gained the distinction as the U.S. Coast Guard's oldest commissioned cutter.

In accordance with a Coast Guard custom, she displayed gold hull numbers on her bow and was designated as "Queen of the Fleet" on 30 May 1988.

One year later, on 1 October 1991 Fir was decommissioned, and; on 27 April 1992 was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Secretary of the Interior.

During her career, Fir was a multi-mission ship whose accomplishments mirrored the changing American maritime scene, and the needs of the U.S. Coast Guard for more than half a century.

Fir's primary duties included resupplying coal, potable water, food, and other vital provisions; icebreaking, aids to navigation (ATON) maintenance, delivery and pick-up of U.S. Mail for lightships and lighthouses on the Washington and Oregon coasts.

In July 1991, Fir renovated and restored the Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Tatoosh Island at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

[4] In early June 1958 USS Tinian was taken in tow at Tacoma, Washington, by the U.S. Navy Military Sea Transportation Service's tugboat USNS Yuma, destined for San Diego.

While very near the Swiftsure Bank lightship at the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Yuma developed engine troubles.

On 10 August 1958 Bill Muncey crashed his boat Miss Thriftway at the Seattle Seafair unlimited hydroplane races on Lake Washington.

[4] On 5 July 1990 Fir extinguished a rapidly burning fire in a personal craft at Shilshole Bay, Washington.

[4] Before decommissioning in 1991, Fir was responsible for 138 lighted and unlighted buoys in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Puget Sound areas.

When these efforts failed, she was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) facility, Suisun Bay, California, in 1997.

[13] Fir was purchased by The Lighthouse Project LLC, a Virginia group dedicated to the restoration and repurposing of aids to navigation, in spring 2017.

[16] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Coast Guard.