Initially launched in 1921, the first Cutter OAK of the US Coast Guard serviced the harbor's aids to navigation. This included maintaining the buoys and lighthouses in the New York Harbor. By 1962, when this episode of New York: A Portrait in Sound aired, the Cutter Oak managed the same responsibilities from the ocean surrounding the NY area, all the way up the Hudson River to Albany, at times. The OAK worked seven days a week in good, and especially in bad, weather.

In 2002, the present day Cutter OAK was launched, where it continues to service waters surrounding the southeast borders of the United States, as well as areas around the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.