Hometown Heroes: Chief Warrant Officer Lee Currier

Lee Currier spent his childhood years in Glen Burnie and moved to Severna Park with his family when he was in middle school. After he and his twin sister graduated from Severna Park High School in 2002, Currier spent time at Anne Arundel Community College and worked in construction.

Neither was a perfect fit, and at his parents’ recommendation, Currier joined the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in October 2003. Growing up near the Chesapeake Bay, he had early introductions to the Coast Guard. His family accessed the Patapsco River from the same creek where the Coast Guard Yard is located. Currier recalled a fishing trip in the southern Chesapeake where father got a hook stuck in his hand and they visited Coast Guard Station Cape Charles in Virginia for assistance.

His 23-year career in the USCG has taken Currier around the world – to more than 30 countries – and back home to Baltimore this summer for Sail250, a celebration of the country’s 250th birthday.

His journey began on a high endurance cutter before Currier went to training school to become a boatswain’s mate. From there, he completed his first of three tours on the USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), a 295-foot, three-masted barque used as a training vessel for future USCG officers.

“It’s known as ‘America’s Tall Ship,’” Currier said, explaining the 90-year-old ship was given that moniker during the country’s bicentennial celebration in 1976. “It is one of two active tall ships within the U.S. fleet, the other one being the USS Constitution – that’s up in Boston, ‘Old Ironsides’ – but we are the only actively sailing ship within the American maritime fleet.”

In 2008, Currier was stationed near home, at Aids to Navigation Team Baltimore, then Aids to Navigation Team Crisfield. He went on to Training Center Yorktown, where he taught on Aids to Navigation before returning to Eagle as a chief boatswain’s mate in 2020. During his second tour aboard the tall ship, he served as chief of the deck department and unit command chief.

Prior to his current tour aboard Eagle, Currier went to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, to serve on the USCGC Maple, a buoy tender. He was promoted to chief warrant officer (CWO) in 2024 and returned to America’s Tall Ship in June of the same year.

His specialty within the CWO rank is a boatswain, and aboard the Eagle Currier serves as first lieutenant and sailmaster. In those roles, he is in charge of maintenance and preservation of all exterior surfaces of the ship, from the hull to the masts, rigging, small boats, deck equipment and more. As sailmaster, he oversees setting and dousing of the sails and advises the ship’s captain on what sails to set, how to sail, and more.

Eagle’s mission is twofold: training future USCG officers in seamanship, leadership, followership and everyday life at sea; and public affairs and public relations at home and abroad. This summer, Eagle and its crew are participating in Sail250, America’s 250th anniversary maritime celebration.

Currier shared that Sail250 included celebrations in New Orleans and Norfolk prior to Baltimore’s event that ran June 25 – July 1, and Eagle will continue on to New York City and Boston this month.

Reflecting on highlights of his service in the Coast Guard, Currier listed traveling to over 30 foreign countries on the Eagle, being a part of tall ship events like Sail250, transiting the Panama Canal, participating in the Deepwater Horizon cleanup, and training thousands of cadets who are now senior officers. He shared that some cadets he trained in 2005 were executive officers aboard the Eagle when he returned to the ship in 2020.

“When I was stationed in Maryland, I had the opportunity – the privilege – to work on every lighthouse within … the confines of Maryland, which is a cool thing to say that I’ve been able to touch every lighthouse that people see up and down the coast of the Chesapeake Bay within Maryland waters,” Currier added.

A husband and father to two sons, 6 and 9 years old, Currier is grateful to his wife, Alicia – a Severna Park High School class of 2003 graduate – and his parents and in-laws for their support throughout his career.

Currier admits that he didn’t know what he was signing up for when he joined the Coast Guard 23 years ago; he was just following a path that seemed interesting at the time.

“Over the years, however, I’ve come to realize that my true motivation is to serve the American people to the best of my abilities,” Currier said. “Whether I’m ensuring a buoy is in the correct position, supporting commercial shipping, or training future officers in ship handling, I find fulfillment in knowing that my work contributes to public safety. I continue to serve because I genuinely enjoy what I do and take pride in helping others, even if my role isn’t always in the spotlight.”