Harry Claiborne, as all Keeper-class ships, has a strengthened "ice belt" along the waterline so that she can work on aids to navigation in ice-infested waters.

Higher grades of steel were used for hull plating in the ice belt to prevent cracking in cold temperatures.

Claiborne was the principal lighthouse keeper of the Bolivar Point light when the Hurricane of 1900 hit the Texas coast near Galveston.

Storm surge covered the low-lying barrier island where the light was located, but before the ground floor entrance to the lighthouse was submerged, over 125 people had crowded into the building.

Fifteen years later, another class 4 hurricane pounded the Galveston area and 50 people took shelter with Claiborne in his lighthouse.

Rear Admiral Paul Pluta, commander of the 8th Coast Guard District was the featured speaker at the event.

[17][18] The bulk of Harry Claiborne's year is spent at sea tending its buoys, or in port maintaining the ship.

In November 2009, Harry Claiborne searched for a T-34C training aircraft on a flight from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi which crashed in the Gulf of Mexico.

[21] Harry Claiborne served as a training platform for the Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team Galveston to practice boarding ships from a helicopter in March 2007.

[22] In February 2008, Harry Claiborne deployed the Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System in a training exercise for oil spill recovery.

Also on board for the trip were Rear Admiral Kevin S. Cook, commander of the 8th Coast Guard District, and U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant General Steven Hummer.

While under normal circumstances, the spacecraft would be met by a full recovery team, some events might leave the astronauts to their own devices.

The Johnson Space Center decided to test astronauts ability to leave the capsule on their own and enter the raft with which they are equipped.

In July 2017 Harry Claiborne was dispatched to carry the spacecraft to waters off Galveston for the tests and then hoist it back on board.

[29] On 11 October 2020, Harry Claiborne was stationary in the Sabine Pass channel while resetting a buoy that had been moved off-station by Hurricane Delta.

As Cheramie Bo-truc 33 attempted the maneuver, her captain noted the shoaling water and tried to turn back into the channel.

After the collision, Cheramie Bo-truc 33's momentum spun her toward the bank and she went aground roughly 40 feet from Harry Claiborne.

The grounded vessel was refloated by pumping off ballast water, but then hit Harry Claiborne a second time as the current set her toward the buoy tender.

The National Transportation Safety Board held the captain of the offshore supply vessel largely responsible for the incident.