She was built at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, in early 1988 and commissioned on 4 August 1988, at Coast Guard Base Mobile, Alabama.

Cushing primarily supported the United States Coast Guard's search and rescue, law enforcement, living marine resources, and counter drug and illegal migrant missions in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic.

Cushing was later transferred to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina,[5] where her primary focus was fisheries and marine law enforcement, as well as search and rescue.

[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciK8JahRKUM In September 2018, Ukraine was selected to receive the Cushing, as well as her sister ship Drummond through the United States Navy International Programs Office, as part of military aid to the country.

Cushing and Drummond were transported to the Black Sea port city of Odesa aboard the Ocean Freedom dry cargo ship, arriving on 21 October 2019.

[8][9] In Ukrainian service, Cushing was renamed to Sloviansk, in memory of the home town of sailors Roman Napriagila and Sergiy Mayboroda and was subordinate to the 30th Surface Ships Division.

On 3 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sloviansk was conducting reconnaissance and patrol missions around the port cities of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne.