The O'Briens were crew members on board the sloop Unity, which captured HMS Margaretta at the entrance to Machias harbor on 12 June 1775.

During her third deployment (13 January 1984 – 1 August 1984), which included 81 consecutive days at sea in the Indian Ocean, O'Brien took part in two refugee rescue missions, earning the Humanitarian Service Medal.

Conducting Persian Gulf patrols in support of the United Nations embargo of Iraq, O'Brien investigated over four hundred vessels.

O'Brien departed on her fourth Middle East Force deployment on 17 February 1995 and continued to conduct operations in support of the United Nations embargo on Iraq.

During Pacific Middle East Force (PACMEF), O'Brien continued conducting operations in support of the United Nations embargo on Iraq and her efforts resulted in the seizure of over 1.5 million gallons of contraband oil.

All of the previous years' hard work paid off in 2001 when O'Brien participated in PACMEF '01, conducting maritime interdiction operations, including boarding over thirty merchant vessels throughout the summer in the Persian Gulf.

The crossed nautical tridents overlapped by the single cannon dedicate the first naval battle of the American Revolution in which Jeremiah O’Brien and his men defeated the British warship, Margaretta.

Pine trees on either side of the cannon symbolize the state of Maine, the home of Jeremiah O'Brien and the site of his famed victory.