USCGC James Rankin (WLM-555) is a Keeper-class coastal buoy tender of the United States Coast Guard.

Her primary mission is maintaining 361 aids to navigation in Upper Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries including the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Potomac River, and the Annapolis area.

[1] Secondary missions include marine environmental protection, light icebreaking, search and rescue, and security.

[2] On 22 June 1993 the Coast Guard awarded the contract for the Keeper-class vessels to Marinette Marine Corporation in the form of a firm order for the lead ship and options for thirteen more.

[3] The Coast Guard exercised options for the 5th through 10th ships of the class, including James Rankin in February 1997.

[9] Rather than building the ship from the keel up as a single unit, Marinette Marine used a modular fabrication approach.

[13] James Rankin, 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.

[11] Despite her relatively southerly basing, James Rankin has been called upon for light ice breaking to keep commerce moving in Chesapeake Bay.

[13] James Rankin was accepted by the Coast Guard and placed in "commissioned, special" status on 26 August 1998.

[19] She left Marinette on 26 September 1998 and sailed through the Great Lakes to reach her new home port in Baltimore, making numerous stops along the way.

[20] She was placed in full commission at a ceremony on 1 May 1999 which was presided over by Vice-Admiral Roger T. Rufe, commander of the Fifth Coast Guard District.

[23] The bulk of James Rankin's year is spent at sea tending its buoys, or in port maintaining the ship.

The barge Pequeco II sank at the mouth to the Elk River with 2 million pounds of sodium silicate aboard.

[27] The ship was responsible for keeping pleasure boats out from under the Blue Angels aerobatic show over Baltimore Harbor in September 2014.