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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 12/14/2002 11:59:26 PM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 In 1790 a predecessor of the U.S. Coast Guard was established by the First Congress of the United States. This newly formed maritime force did not have an official name. Rather, it was referred to simply as "the cutters" or "the system of cutters." This small force was to enforce national laws, in particular, those dealing with tariffs. At the time, these cutters were the only maritime force available to the new government under the Constitution. After all, the Continental Navy had been disbanded in 1785. Thus, between 1790 and 1798, there was no United States Navy and the cutters were the only warships protecting the coast, trade, and maritime interests of the new republic. Between 1797 and 1799 laws were passed which formalized the military role of the cutters. The act of 1 July 1797 authorized the President to employ the cutters to defend the seacoasts and to repel any hostility to the vessels and commerce of the United States. The law also made provisions for assigning Marines to cutters. The Act of 2 February 1799 stated that, the President of the United States shall be, and is hereby authorized to place on the naval establishment, and employ accordingly, all or any of the vessels, which, as revenue cutters have been increased in force and employed in the defense of the seacoasts...and thereupon, the officers and crews of such vessels, may be allowed, at the discretion of the President of the United States, the pay, subsistence, advantages and compensations, proportionably to the rates of such vessels, and shall be governed by the rules and discipline which are, or which shall be, established for the Navy of the United States. The act of 2 March 1799, provided that the cutters "shall, whenever the President of the United States shall so direct, cooperate with the Navy of the United States, during which time they shall be under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy…" During the Quasi-War with France (1797-1801), eight cutters operated along the southern coast and among the islands of the West Indies. The two brigs and two of the schooners each carried 14 guns, and 70 men. The sloop and the other schooners each had 10 guns and 34 men. Eighteen of the twenty-two prizes captured by the United States between 1798 and 1799, eighteen were taken by unaided cutters. Revenue cutters also assisted in capturing two others. The cutter Pickering made two cruises to the West Indies and captured 10 prizes, one of which carried 44 guns and was manned by some 200 sailors, more than three times its strength. Although the cutters did not participate in the Barbary Wars (1801-1815), a number of cutter officers transferred to the Navy and fought in the Mediterranean. With the War of 1812, augmenting the Navy with shallow-draft craft became a one of the services primary wartime missions. During the war’s opening phases Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin requested from Congress, "small, fast sailing vessels," because there were, "but six vessels belonging to the Navy, under the size of frigates; and that number is inadequate..." Since then, cutters have extensive service in littoral or "brown water" combat operations. The cutters distinguished themselves during the War of 1812. It was a cutter that captured the first British vessel. One of the most hotly contested engagements in the war was between the cutter Surveyor and the British frigate Narcissus. Although Surveyor was eventually captured, the British commander considered his opponents to have shown so much bravery that he returned to Captain Travis his sword accompanied by a letter in which he said,  Your gallant and desperate attempt to defend your vessel against more than double your number excited such admiration on the part of your opponents as I have seldom witnessed, and induced me to return you the sword you had so ably used in testimony of mine...I am at loss which to admire most, the previous arrangement on board the Surveyor or the determined manner in which her deck was disputed inch-by-inch. The defense of the cutter Eagle against the attack of the British brig Dispatch and an accompanying sloop, is one of the most dramatic incidents of the war. With the cutter run ashore on Long Island, its guns were dragged onto a high bluff. From there Eagle’s crew fought the British ships from 9 o’clock in the morning until late in the afternoon. When they had exhausted their large shot, they tore up the ship’s logbook to use as wads and fired back the enemy’s shot which had lodged against the hill. During the engagement the cutter’s flag was shot away three times and was replaced each time by volunteers from the crew. Piracy, which prevailed during the first quarter of the nineteenth century in the Gulf of Mexico, owed its suppression chiefly to the revenue cutters. The officers of the Service waged a relentless war upon the pirates. They pursued the pirates to their rendezvous and hideouts and attacked and dispersed them wherever found. Soon it became too hazardous for the pirates to continue to base themselves along the coast or in the numerous bayous of Louisiana. They, therefore, established themselves on Bretons Island. The cutters Alabama and Louisiana discovered their new hideout, drove the pirates off, and destroyed everything on the island which could afford shelter or make it habitable. The destruction of this hideout practically ended pirate bases on U.S. territory. During the Seminole Wars (1836-1842) eight revenue cutters supported Army and Navy operations. Duties performed by these vessels included attacks on war parties, breaking up rendezvous points, picking up survivors of Seminole raids, carrying dispatches, transporting troops, blocking rivers to the passage of Seminole forces, and the dispatch of landing parties and artillery for the defense of settlements. These duties were performed along the entire coast of Florida. The two principal naval operations carried out during the War with Mexico (1846-48) were blockading the enemy’s coasts and amphibious landings. The U.S. Navy was critically short of the shallow-draft vessels needed for the landings. Five cutters were engaged in amphibious operations and performed important services during a number of landings, particularly those at Alvarado and Tabasco. Cutters also served on blockade duty. The sympathies of the cutter force were divided between the North and the South during the American Civil War (1861-65). In a famous dispatch to General John A. Dix, the Treasury Secretary declared that, "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." Transmitted on the evening of 15 January 1861, this order was to ensure Federal control of the cutter Robert McLelland, then in the port of New Orleans. Despite this message, many cutter men, including those on Robert McLelland, chose to join the Confederacy. It was at this time that the Service received its first official name, the Revenue Cutter Service.  The principal wartime duties of Union cutters were patrolling for commerce raiders and providing fire support for troops ashore. Meanwhile, Confederate cutters were principally used as commerce raiders. Cutters were also involved in notable individual actions. The first naval shot of the Civil War was fired by the cutter Harriet Lane when it challenged the steamer Nashville with a shot across its bow. The steamer was attempting to enter Charleston harbor without displaying the U.S. flag. The Revenue Cutter Service also rendered conspicuous service during the Spanish-American War (1898). Eight cutters, carrying 43 guns, were in Admiral Sampson’s fleet and on the Havana blockade. The McCulloch, with a complement of 10 officers and 95 men and carrying six guns, was at the Battle of Manila Bay and was later employed by Admiral Dewey as his dispatch boat. In the action off Cardenas on 11 May 1898, the cutter Hudson, Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb commanding, sustained the fight against Spanish gunboats and shore batteries side by side with the torpedo boat U.S.S. Winslow. When half of Winslow’s crew had been killed and its commander wounded, Hudson rescued the torpedo boat from certain destruction. In recognition of this act of heroism, Congress authorized a gold medal for Lieutenant Newcomb, a silver medal for each of the officers, and a bronze medal for the enlisted members of the crew. Also during the Spanish-American War, the Navy assigned the task of coast watching to the U.S. Life-Saving Service. As a result, approximately two-thirds of the Navy’s coastal observation stations were Life-Saving Stations. Although the Spanish fleet never approached the U.S. coast, this Coast Guard predecessor service dutifully maintained its vigilence throughout the war. On 28 January 1915, the Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life-Saving Service were combined to form the United States Coast Guard. The law combining these two services stated that the Coast Guard was an armed service at all times and made provisions for its transfer to the U.S. Navy when needed. While this had been the practice since 1798, when the Navy was created, this relationship was finally defined in law. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 saw cutters become responsible for enforcing U.S. neutrality laws. With the declaration of war against Germany on 6 April 1917, a coded dispatch was transmitted from Washington to every cutter and shore station of the Coast Guard. Officers and enlisted men, vessels and units, were transferred to the operational control of the Navy Department. The Navy was augmented by 223 commissioned officers, approximately 4500 enlisted men, 47 vessels of all types, and 279 stations scattered along the entire United States coastline. 192 Coast Guardsmen lost their lives in World War I. In the end 8,835 men had served in the Coast Guard during World War I.
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On 1 November 1941 the Coast Guard was ordered to operate as part of the Navy. Among the most important Coast Guard undertakings were cold weather operations in Greenland, anti-submarine warfare escort, amphibious landings, search and rescue, beach patrol, port security, and LORAN duty.
Coast Guard-manned ships sank 11 enemy submarines and Coast Guard aircraft sank one. Most of these U-boats were destroyed in 1942 when the issue of who would win the Battle of the Atlantic was still very much in doubt.
Coast Guard personnel manned amphibious ships and craft from the largest troop transports to the smallest attack craft. These landed Army and Marine forces in every important invasion in North Africa, Italy, France and the Pacific. Also, due to their experience in handling surfboats, Coast Guardsmen also helped train members of the other military services in the use of amphibious craft.
Coast Guard coastal picket vessels patrolled along the 50-fathom curve, where enemy submarines concentrated early in the war. On shore armed Coast Guardsmen patrolled beaches and docks, on foot, on horseback, in vehicles, with and without dogs, as a major part of the nation’s anti-sabotage effort. Once this threat abated, the Coast Guard manned 351 naval ships and craft and 288 Army vessels in addition to 802 cutters (those over 65 feet in length).
Coast Guard cutters, boats and aircraft rescued more than 1,500 survivors of torpedo attacks in areas adjacent to the United States. Cutters on escort duty saved another 1,000, and over 1,500 more were rescued during the Normandy operation by 60 83-foot patrol craft specifically assigned to that duty.
While the 82-foot cutters helped patrol inshore, larger cutters helped form a deepwater barrier against infiltration. For this task, the Coast Guard established Squadron Three. It usually consisted of five high endurance cutters on ten-month deployments from their U.S. home ports. Thirty high endurance cutters served on this duty between 1967 and 1971.
The Coast Guard set up and operated a LORAN C (long range navigation) system in Southeast Asia in order to assist the U. S. Air Force warplanes with precision navigation. The Coast Guard LORAN Construction Detachment began work in January 1966 and on 8 August 1966 the navigation network was on the air.
The rapid development of deepwater ports in Vietnam brought an expanded need of navigational aids for preventing vessel accidents. South Vietnam’s small aids-to-navigation force with its one buoy tender could not meet the demand. Coast Guard buoy tenders in the Pacific made periodic trips to Vietnam installing and maintaining buoys. A Coast Guard Aids to Navigation (ATON) Detail was set up in Saigon to coordinate workloads for these visits as well as keeping buoys and range markers lighted.
Coast Guard pilots flew combat search and rescue with the Air Force in Southeast Asia, under an inter-service exchange program. Most of the time the pilots were assigned to the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, at Danang. One Coast Guardsman, LT Jack Rittichier, was killed when his helicopter was shot down during an attempt to pull an American from enemy-held territory.
Some 8,000 Coast Guardsmen served in Vietnam. Seven lost their lives and 59 were wounded. Although research is incomplete, it has been verified that through 1970, Coast Guardsmen received the following awards: 12 Silver Stars, 13 Legion of Merit medals, 13 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 114 Bronze Stars, 4 Air Medals, 151 Navy Commendation Medals, 27 Army Commendation Medals, five Coast Guard Commendation Medals, 43 Navy Achievement Medals, 66 Purple Hearts, 53 Vietnamese Navy medals and 15 Presidential Unit Commendations.
| 'The Coast Guard is a military, multi-mission, maritime service. Though we are America's smallest armed service, we perform an astonishingly broad range of services to our country-so broad that it is possible to devote a fulfilling career to one or even several major mission areas without understanding how the whole Service works together for our nation's benefit.' -- ADM Loy, CG Commandant |
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With the holidays approaching, thousands of Americans are again asking what they can do to show their support for servicemembers, especially those serving overseas in this time of war. Several organizations are sponsoring programs for members of the Armed Forces overseas. Click the holly below to find different ways you can express your support to US troops this Christmas season. |
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| 'Unless we fail in our objective -- this thread is designed to stir your emotions and memories and to bring out the patriotism in you.' -- SAMWolf, US Army Veteran
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With the holidays approaching, thousands of Americans are again asking what they can do to show their support for servicemembers, especially those serving overseas in this time of war. Several organizations are sponsoring programs for members of the Armed Forces overseas. Click the holly below to find different ways you can express your support to US troops this Christmas season. |
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God Bless and have a great Sunday
Do you know the Navy formula for making coffee?
If an anchor won't float add more grounds.
We have them here to navigate the Lanier bridge, which is tricky.
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