USCGC JUNIPER (WLB-201) is the flagship of the new ocean-going Juniper Class buoy-tenders. JUNIPER’s motto, “Leading the Way”, remains relevant many years after her commissioning in 1996. She guards many of the Northeast’s most critical waterways, including the approaches to New York City, Boston, Nantucket, and all of Long Island Sound, ensuring that their buoys remain lit and mariners stay safe. As a multi-mission asset within the network of the evolving U.S. Coast Guard, JUNIPER frequently engages in law enforcement and fisheries regulation, homeland security operations, search and rescue, environmental pollution response, and icebreaking.