WASHINGTON – The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Wrangell based in Portland, Maine, usually patrols the North Atlantic for fish poachers and security threats. Now it’s got a new job: guarding U.S. Navy ships readying for a potential war with Iraq.

The Wrangell, with its 16-person crew and commander, is headed to the Persian Gulf in the Coast Guard’s first mobilization of forces to a potential combat zone since the Vietnam War. Overall, 600 active-duty personnel and reservists, and eight cutters are deploying.

Another New England cutter, the Grand Isle based in Gloucester, Mass., is also going, but its crew is staying behind.

Vice Adm. James Hull, commander of the Portsmouth, Va.-based Atlantic Area Command, said Wednesday that he ordered the deployments this week at the request of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld as the United States repositions military forces to support the war on terrorism and future contingencies.

The aim is to “deter the suicide bomb threat,” said Cmdr. Jim McPherson, a spokesman at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington. The cutters – 110-foot, high-speed patrol boats – are expected to depart within the next few days and will protect Navy ships, oil tankers and military command vessels.

“These Coast Guard forces have unique and specialized expertise in providing coastal defense,” Hull said at a news conference at a pier at Norfolk International Terminals in Virginia.

Four of the 110-foot cutters were being loaded aboard a Military Sealift Command cargo ship that will ferry them overseas. The remaining four cutters are to be loaded onto another cargo ship.

The crews will be flown to join the boats at their final destination, which, along with departure dates and duration of the deployment, was not disclosed for security reasons.

“Of course, we are a little bit anxious about what we’re doing and how long we’re going to be called to do that,” said Lt. Chris Barrows, 31, the Wrangell’s commanding officer. He’s been in the Coast Guard for 10 years and is a graduate of the service academy in New London, Conn.

In addition to regular fishery and security patrols, and search-and-rescue operations, the Wrangell since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon has frequently been in Boston, providing extra security for sensitive installations and ship movements.

“The crew jokes sometime that Boston seems like our second home,” said Barrows in a telephone interview from Virginia late Wednesday. He leaves at home a wife and two children.

Now, “There’s a little bit of anxiety that goes with being away and being away in a foreign place and having that threat about what we’re doing everyday,” he said.

Overall, the 400 men and women assigned to the cutters have been training since early November. Crew members said they have received training in chemical, biological and radiological warfare.

Barrows, who will also have a handful of law enforcement personnel from Yorktown, Va., on board, said his crew has openly discussed fears about going to a potential war zone.

“We all have the same anxieties,” he said. “I guess I’d be more worried about the guy who says he’s not scared a little bit. But everybody’s very excited … to be part of this mission.”

Hull said he did not know exactly what the deploying Coast Guard members will do, but their mission could include port operations, security and defense, maritime interception, boarding and searching other ships, and environmental defense – “all missions the Coast Guard has an expertise in.”