|
SERVING THE BEST TROOPS IN THE WORLD  This week we celebrate the birthday of The United States Coast Guard! August 4 is celebrated as Coast Guard Day to honor the establishment on that day in 1790 of the Revenue Cutter Service, forbearer of today's Coast Guard.  The United States Coast Guard is this nation's oldest maritime agency.   Today, the Coast Guard will:
• Save 15 lives
• Assist 114 people in distress
• Protect $4.9 million in property
• Interdict 26 illegal migrants at sea
• Conduct 82 search and rescue cases
• Seize $2.4 million worth of illegal drugs
• Conduct 23 waterfront facility safety or security inspections
• Respond to 11 oil and hazardous chemical spills
• Board 202 vessels of law enforcement interest  The United States Coast Guard, one of the country's five armed services, is also one of the most unique agencies of the federal government. The USCG traces their history back to August 4, 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of the federal revenue. Known variously as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, they expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.  USRC Bear - Revenue Cutter 'Bear' , probably the most famous cutter of all, the Bear was originally built by Alexander Stephen & Son in Scotland for sailing in northern waters as a whaler and sealer. She was a 198-foot, 703-ton barquentine-rigged steamer. Although she was not a true icebreaker, her hull was reinforced for operations in light ice and is therefore a forebear of today's icebreakers. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy for the Greely Arctic rescue mission in 1884 and was turned over to the Revenue Cutter Service in 1885. Here she served valiantly in Alaskan waters for over 40 years under the command of many famous captains, including the indomitable Michael Healy. She was taken back into naval service during World War II and served on the Greenland Patrol.  USRC Forward - Forward, a 89-foot topsail schooner that displaced 139 tons, was built by William Easby of Washington for $3,786.75. She was in service from 1842 until she was sold in 1865. She was homeported in Baltimore, MD and later Wilmington, DE and saw service during the Mexican War, including the assault on Tabasco in 1846. She was transferred briefly to the Coast Survey in 1847. During the Civil War she was stationed in Beaufort, North Carolina. Added responsibilities for the Coast Guard included humanitarian duties such as aiding mariners in distress. Law enforcement functions also continued to expand. Congress tasked the Coast Guard with enforcing laws against slavery, piracy, and enlarged their responsibilities to prevent smuggling. They were also given the responsibility to protect the marine environment, explore and police Alaska, and chart the growing nation's coastlines, all well before the turn of the twentieth century.  USRC Naugatuck - Probably the most unique cutter to have sailed under the Revenue Service ensign, Naugatuck, also known as the E.A. Stevens, was a gun battery that could partially submerge for protection. She displaced 120 tons, was steam-driven, and mounted a 100-pounder Parrott rifle and two 12-pounders. She was originally built in 1844 and entered Revenue service in 1862, apparently as something of a gift by her builder who hoped to generate interest in his novel design.
She took part in the famous battle between the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor in Hampton Roads and in the attack on Drewry's Bluff, VA, in 1862. She also served as a guard vessel in New York Harbor later in the war.  USRC Fessenden - Retaining the power plant machinery of the original Fessenden constructed in 1865, this cutter entered service in 1883. She was a 192-foot, 330-ton iron-hulled side paddlewheel steamer that served on the Great Lakes. Her cruising grounds were from "the mouth of the Detroit River through Lakes St. Clair and Huron to Straits of Mackinac." Her area of responsibility increased to include Lake Superior and then through Lake Erie to the Niagara River.
She would go to "winter quarters," i.e. lay up, usually in late-November when the lakes and waterways became icebound, and then return to duty in early May. While in service on the Great Lakes, she participated in numerous civic events, including Milwaukee's 1899 "Carnival Week," Chicago's 1900 "Naval Parade of G. A. R.," and Cleveland's 1901 celebration of Commodore Oliver Hazzard Perry's victory on Lake Erie over a British fleet in 1813.  USRC Boutwell - Boutwell, commissioned in 1873, was an iron-hulled, twin-screw 138-foot steamer built by David Bell of Buffalo at a cost of $70,000. She was 138 feet in length and displaced 198 tons. Her primary cruising ground was between Charleston, SC to Jacksonville, FL, and her homeport was Savannah, GA.  Onward to a new century. . .the elegant lines of a turn of the century cutter made a fitting nautical subject for this painter. Here McCulloch, with her while hull and buff superstructure and stack, makes way under steam and full sail. In the first years of the twentieth century the masts and sails (with a few exceptions), coal-fired boilers, and iron hulls gave way to steel, oil and diesel fuels, and turbine propulsion, closely emulating the maritime technological advancement of the US Navy. Nevertheless, the cutters remained distinctive vessels, easily recognizable from their Navy counterparts due to their "form following function" designs as well as the colors adorning their hulls. The service received its present name in 1915 under an act of Congress when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the Life-Saving Service. The nation now had a single maritime service dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws. The Coast Guard began to maintain the country's aids to maritime navigation, including operating the nation's lighthouses, when the Lighthouse Service was transferred to the Coast Guard in 1939. Later, in 1946, Congress permanently transferred the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard, thereby placing merchant marine licensing and merchant vessel safety under The Coast Guard purview.  Keeper and crew of the Vermilion Life-Saving Station, Michigan  The Coast Guard's "Relief Fleet" on the Mississippi River after the 1927 Flood.  Bodie Island Lighthouse - A third Lighthouse was completed in 1871, after the first two were destroyed, with material left over from construction of a new tower at Cape Hatteras. Tower was 156 ft with a first-order Fresnel lens that made its light visible from 19 miles at sea. The Bodie tower is painted with white and black horizontal bands.  Annisquam is the oldest of four lighthouses to guard Gloucester peninsula. The keeper’s house, built in 1801 continues to house Coast Guard families. Rudyard Kipling lived there while writing "Captain’s Courageous" – a great literary tribute to American sailors.  USCGC Hornbeam - The Hornbeam has been stationed at Woods Hole and Cape May during her career. She has participated in numerous SAR operations, including assisting after the Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided in 1956, temporarily assumed duties on the Nantucket light station in 1954, assisted in the shipping quarantine during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, freed the research ship Gosnold from the ice near Woods Hole in 1968, escorted the USS Atka, which was taking on water, to safety in 1965, assisted her sister cutter Spar after the latter went aground in 1961, among other notable incidents. The Coast Guard was introduced to aviation in 1903 when the surfmen from the Kill Devil Hill Lifeboat Station [below, right] in North Carolina provided the Wright Brothers with added muscle during the pre-launch activities of that epic flight. Three surfmen helped carry the fragile biplane from its shelter to the launch site on 17 December. Surfman J.T. Daniels took the only photograph of the event using the Wrights’ camera.  The first practical steps toward a Coast Guard air arm occurred in early 1915 when Lieutenants Elmer Stone and Norman Hall conceived of using aircraft for Coast Guard missions. With the backing of their commanding officer, CAPT Benjamin Chiswell, they approached the Curtiss Flying School at Newport News, VA, discussed their idea and were taken on experimental flights in the school’s aircraft. A Curtiss F flying boat was used for much of the experiment. In 1934 Henry Morgenthau became the Secretary of the Treasury. He was an aviation enthusiast and supported its expansion within the Coast Guard. He transferred the aviation detachment of the Customs Service to the Coast Guard in 1934. World War II accelerated the growth of aviation within all of the armed services including the Coast Guard. Coast Guard aviation played a critical role in the defense of Greenland. Prior to the United States’ entry into World War II, the cutter Duane, with a Curtiss SOC-4 on board, surveyed the coast of Greenland for potential airfield sites during the summer of 1941.  The responsibilities of Coast Guard fixed wing aviation also increased following World War II. In 1946, Coast Guard aircraft were used for the first time on the International Ice Patrol, a practice that continues today. The primary objective of these Ice Patrol flights is to observe ice floating in the vicinity of the Grand Banks, so that shipping in that well-traveled area can be advised of current conditions throughout the iceberg season. Ice Patrol flight tracks are normally between 1,000 and 1,500 nautical miles long (from six to eight hours’ flight time). Since 1983 the flights have used HC130 aircraft carrying Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) equipment as the primary reconnaissance tool. At the normal altitude of 8,000 feet, the SLAR can cover a swath extending 35 miles on each side of the aircraft.  The post-World War II years brought an explosion in the number of recreational boats and created a new search and rescue clientele. The helicopter was ideally suited to this mission. Able to react swiftly, it could lift entire pleasure boat crews from imminent disaster, or in less trying circumstances, deliver de-watering pumps and fuel. Admittedly, during its early years the helicopter had a major handicap - the pilot needed three hands in order to fly it. Soon, helicopters rescuing distressed boaters became a commonplace event.  A Coast Guard Grumman HU-16E Albatross and a Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard in March, 1964, probably at Air Station Mobile. The Coast Guard acquired 91 HU-16Es, with the first entering service in 1951. The last Coast Guard HU-16E was retired in 1983. The Coast Guard acquired 99 HH-52As, beginning in 1963, and retired the last one in service in 1989. For over 30 years, these amphibious aircraft were the "workhorses" of the Coast Guard's air fleet. With the increasing responsibilities in defense readiness, law enforcement, fisheries patrol, and environmental protection, the Coast Guard acquired a new generation of aircraft to replacing its aging fleet. During the 1980s, 1990s, and into the new century, the primary aircraft in the Coast Guard inventory were the HU-25A, HU-25B, and HU-25C Guardian, the HC-130H Hercules, the HH-65A and HH-65B Dolphin, and the HH-60J Jayhawk.  The HU-25C Guardian is the service’s first multi-mission jet. It is nearly twice as fast as any aircraft in the inventory and can get to the scene quickly to perform its role. Sixteen new HC-130H Hercules turboprop aircraft have joined the Coast Guard fleet and replaced earlier models. The primary missions of the Hercules are long-range surveillance and transport.  The largest cutters in the Coast Guard fleet have always been ocean-going vessels capable of handling a multitude of missions in any weather. They have demonstrated the remarkable ability to answer successfully the nation's call in a variety of crises, many times on the spur of the moment, a testament to their designers, their builders, and their crews.  "USCGC Pontchartrain on her first underway trial
These cutters were designed to carry out a variety of duties that included escort of convoys, hence the heavy anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weaponry. Although they were designed primarily as warships, they never saw combat during World War II. One historian noted that their appearance was "tubby," leading to machinery design that "was compact and innovative, but overly complex. Many demands were placed on this design and, as a result, these cutters were uncomfortable sea boats." The majority of their armament was removed shortly after the end of World War II but due to their built in adaptability as multi-mission cutters, most remained in service until the mid-1970's and some did see service in Vietnam.  USCGC Courier
The larger cutters also included a number of vessels brought into service for a specific task. The Courier was a Cold War "warrior" commissioned into the Coast Guard fleet to act as a relay station for the U.S. Information Agency's "Voice of America" from 1952 to 1964. She was stationed off the island of Rhodes, Greece, during that time. Interestingly, the transmitting equipment on board her was the most powerful of its kind ever installed on a ship. She ended her Coast Guard career as a training vessel for reservists and was decommissioned in 1972.  USCGC Yakutat (WAVP-380; WHEC-380)
The clean lines of the 311-foot cutters are apparent in this photograph. They proved to be excellent high endurance cutters, "fine sea boats" in the words of one historian, and served the Coast Guard well. The Yakutat was in Coast Guard commission from 1948 through 1969 when, after duty in Vietnam, she was transferred to the South Vietnamese Navy. With the fall of South Vietnam, she fled to the Philippines where she was used for spare parts for the other South Vietnamese 311's that escaped the Communist takeover.  USCGC Northland
Greenland, circa 1944. She had quite an active career with the Coast Guard rescuing stranded Army Air Force crewmen in Greenland and attacking German weather stations and supply trawlers.  "OPERATION DEEP FREEZE" -- 1963. The 269-ft., 6,515 ton U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker EASTWIND rips open a channel through frozen McMurdo Sound for cargo ships carrying personnel, equipment, and supplies for scientific stations in the [sic] Antarctica. In some areas the ice is 10 to 20 feet thick."
The Eastwind became the first cutter to ever circumnavigate the globe in 1960 when she departed Boston on October 25, 1960, transited the Panama Canal, crossed the Pacific Ocean, visited New Zealand and the McMurdo Sound Station, Antarctica, and sailed home via the Indian Ocean. She sailed through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and arrived back at Boston in May, 1961.  USCGC Healy (WAGB 20) was constructed by Avondale Industries in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her keel was laid on September 16, 1996. A spectacular launch followed on November 15, 1997. Delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard and placed "In Commission, Special" on November 10, 1999, Healy joined the icebreakers Polar Star (WAGB 10) and Polar Sea (WAGB 11) in their homeport of Seattle, Washington. The ship departed New Orleans on January 26th, 2000, arrived in Seattle on August 9th, 2000 and was placed "In Commission, Active" on August 21st, 2000."
The Healy is the largest and heaviest cutter ever designed and built for the Coast Guard. She can break 4.5 feet of ice at 3 knots and 7.8 feet of ice by backing and ramming.  SAINT PAUL ISLAND, Alaska -- The Coast Guard Cutter Mellon (WHEC 717) makes way through the Bering Sea while acting as search and rescue standby cutter for the Bering Sea Opilio Crab fishery Feb. 9, 2001. The USCGC Mellon was commissioned on 22 December 1967. She has spent her Coast Guard career in Pacific waters. This photo provides a good overhead view of a 378', showing all of the modifications made for their service into the twenty-first century. Since mankind first took to the seas thousands of years ago, they always brought along members of the animal kingdom with them on board their ships. Coast Guard crews followed this ancient custom and adopted numerous varieties of mammals and birds, among others, as mascots and brought them along on their voyages. Many actually saw combat against the enemy, some were wounded, some died, and many were decorated. Quite a few even lived to a ripe old age and enjoyed a well-earned retirement ashore. Many of the shore units too have adopted a mascot to help them around the station and when they venture out on a patrol or a rescue. All Coast Guard mascots have served just as their human counterparts have, with courage, honor, and are "Always Ready" to go to those in need of assistance.  Sinbad, the Coast Guard's most famous mascot. He was adopted by a crewman from the cutter Campbell prior to World War II. He was so beloved by the crew that they actually enlisted him in the Coast Guard. Sinbad served faithfully through thick and thin, surviving combat with the Germans and Japanese, causing a few international incidents with his antics, and even having a book written about him!  Here we have Bear, the now-retired mascot of Coast Guard Station Kenosha, who served there from 1990 to 2000. Bear is a pure-bred Chocolate Labrador Retriever. BMC Chad Curth told us that Bear "was transferred from his kennel to Station Kenosha PCS on 4 June 1990 as a puppy. He loved to ride the Station's boats and even rode on the back of the Station's jetski. Kenosha's school children knew him by name because he was one of the most popular attractions at their yearly field trips to the Station. His medical care came from the Army veterinarians at the Great Lakes Vet Treatment Facility at Great Lakes Naval Training Center."  The mascot at Coast Guard Station Honolulu from March 2003 until April 2004 was "Seaman Muttley."
 Turk is a full blooded Golden Retriever and has been with Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City since 1996. So far he has achieved the rank of BMC (Chief Boatswain's Mate -- he's a Chief Petty Officer, one of the highest enlisted ranks!). Turk is very well a part of the crew at the station. He is taken care of through a military veterinarian, as well as the crew. His favorite past times are sleeping, playing with his Cong toy, chasing birds, and swimming. About 34,000 Americans ranging in age from 17 to 90 volunteer to work - without pay - for the U.S. Coast Guard.
"We do it because it's fun," said Viggo Bertelsen Jr., national commodore of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. "We also derive a great deal of satisfaction out of serving our country and being affiliated with the U.S. Coast Guard." 
Auxiliary members make up a real cross section of America, said the commodore, a former Navy officer. Some auxiliary members are on active duty in the armed forces. Some are military retirees. Others have no formal ties to the military. Yet all eagerly help safeguard the nation's ports and waterways, Bertelsen said. 
Each year, Auxiliarists save almost 500 lives, assist some 15,000 boaters in distress, conduct more than 150,000 courtesy safety examinations of recreational vessels, and teach over 500,000 students in boating and water safety courses. The results of these efforts saves taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
 |
The U.S. Coast Guard provides great safety information for children. It has two online coloring books available - "Water 'n Kids" and "Coastie the Safety Dog" - that you can use to help educate your children on boating safety.
Coastie is an animated robotic cartoon character in appearance, and is very mobile. He has navigation and searchlights, a rotating beacon, a siren, an air horn, and eyes and eyelids that move meaningfully. He talks, plays music, and interacts with the instructor and the children during the presentation. He is painted bright blue and has decals promoting boating and water safety from many boating safety organizations. Coastie teaches rules about what to do and not do in a water emergency situation. You can take Coastie's Boating Safety Quiz , too. |
 U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary courses provide instruction to boaters at all levels, from the fundamental to the advanced. Our courses are taught by experienced and knowledgeable instructors committed to the highest standards of the U.S. Coast Guard.  America's Waterway Watch is a national awareness program that asks those who work, live, or recreate on or near the water to be aware of suspicious activity that might indicate threats to our country's homeland security. United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Happy Birthday to The United States Coast Guard!  FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before.
Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. Let's have fun! We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity. We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon. We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way. God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always |
Happy Birthday, USCG - Thanks for keeping the coast secure!
