While most spring breakers are piled into hotel rooms and relentlessly honking scooter horns, 10 college students are in Key West to restore a historic military ship and learn more about their chosen profession.

Nine cadets from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and one U.S. Naval Academy student who is in an exchange program at the Coast Guard school, are living and working aboard the cutter Ingham for their spring break.

The 327-foot ship was the longest-serving ship in the military, operational between 1935 and 1988, when it was decommissioned. The ship, now docked at Truman Waterfront, appears exactly as it did when laden with troops and is open for tours.

"We volunteered to come down and help with the restoration of the Ingham," said Dan Miller, a junior at the academy from Rockville, Md.

He and his cohorts have been sleeping in the onboard berths, scraping paint and repairing heads.

"This ship really isn't that different from the ones used today," academy junior Jermaine Hernandez said. "It's just an older model. They don't make these ships anymore, so we're living in history,"

Bill Verge, a retired Coast Guard captain who conducts tours and runs the historic ship museum at the Truman Waterfront, said the Ingham continues to be fully functional.

He plans to show movies on the deck of the ship in nice weather and host overnight trips for Scouts and other groups.

The Ingham is the Coast Guard's most decorated ship and served in World War II, Vietnam and the Mariel boatlift. The ship also received two presidential unit citations, Verge said.

"These guys are working during their spring break and getting an education in history, but also familiarization with the real work involved with the Coast Guard," Verge said.

The cadets on Wednesday spent time on the cutter Mohawk, which is still on active duty and homeported in Key West.

The cutter and its crew returned recently from a humanitarian mission in Haiti, where the Mohawk was the first foreign aid ship on the scene after the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12.

"We'll meet with the crew and hear about what they did in Haiti," Miller said.

The cadets are in Key West until Saturday and all of them said that, in addition to their onboard work, they have had ample time to explore Key West and its March madness.

mbolen@keysnews.com