[5][7] Engine exhaust was ported through the transom rather than through a conventional stack and this permitted a 360 degree view from the bridge; a feature that was very useful in search and rescue work as well as a combat environment.

[8] The design specifications for Point Orient included a steel hull for durability and an aluminum superstructure and longitudinally framed construction was used to save weight.

[5][6][10][11] After delivery in 1961, Point Orient was assigned a homeport of Fort Pierce, Florida, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.

[5] At the request of the United States Navy, in April 1965, she was alerted for service in South Vietnam and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation Market Time along with 16 other Point class cutters.

[12][13] While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, Point Orient was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay, Philippines in May 1965 where she was refitted for combat service.

After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Da Nang on 16 July 1965 in the company of USS Snohomish County, their temporary support ship.

Point Orient became the first Coast Guard unit in Vietnam to engage the enemy on 24 July 1965 after being fired on from the shore by machine guns and mortars while attempting to board a junk.

[19][20] On 22 March 1969, Chief Engineman Morris S. Beeson, Engineering Officer of the Point Orient crew was killed in action while the cutter's small boat was attempting to interdict three sampans entering a restricted zone in Quảng Trị Province.