KEY WEST— A World War II veteran saw the Coast Guard vessel he served on more than 60 years ago get dedicated Saturday as this island city's newest museum.

Howard Marhsall, 84, of Middleboro, Mass., served as a petty officer on the USS Mohawk from 1943 to 1946. Now permanently moored at Key West's Truman Annex, the 165-foot cutter was assigned to North Atlantic escort operations with the Greenland Patrol and launched 14 attacks against Nazi submarines.

"This is the happiest day of my life, except the day I got married" said Marshall, who served on the Mohawk. "She was a tough old ship and it means a lot to me" for the ship to be preserved.

Built in 1934 for the Coast Guard, the Mohawk was used by the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The vessel was decommissioned in 1947.

"The Mohawk is the last of her tribe of convoy escort ships or patrol gunboats chasing Nazi submarines," said Frans Boetes, founder of the USS Mohawk Coast Guard Cutter Military Museum. "The ship is remarkable. Most of the equipment is from 1934 (and) still works."

Areas of the vessel on display in the new museum include the original radio room, bridge, galley, officers' staterooms, crew quarters and sonar room where crewmembers listened for German submarines during the war.

The World War II-era Mohawk was the fifth military vessel to bear the Mohawk name. The second was a steamer stationed at Key West in the mid-1800s, operating against pirates and slave traders.