Coast Guard miscellany

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1902 — President Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and his party of 40 guests boarded USRC Onondaga in Charleston Harbor. The cutter, which had been dressed in "rainbow fashion," extended to the President "all honors as prescribed by the Regulations, Revenue Cutter Service." The cutter and its crew of transported them to Fort Sumter and back. The cutter expended "42 6 pdr saluting charges" by firing two separate 21-gun salutes.

Not our Onondaga and not imaged

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1974 — The oil tanker Elias docked at the Atlantic Richfield Terminal in Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania, caught fire. CG-40412 responded and was first on scene and began SAR for any crew who jumped overboard. CG-40412 crewman Kim Lee remembered: "The response for our crew on 40412 was looking for personnel off the ship Elias that might be in the water. We were first on scene and I called back to base giving the update. The request by us was to shut the Delaware River down to all traffic due to crude oil on fire extending completely across the Delaware River. Captain of the Port (Capt. Goodwin) shut the river down which stopped all vessels traffic in the area. A while had passed and we then received a distress call from the Coast Guard Cutter Cleat and we quickly responded toward the Cleat. The crewmen from the Cleat were in the water and the Cleat was on fire and drifting into the Elias which was totally involved in fire. My crew (Petty officer Joe Friel and Allen Mowbray) began pulling the crew out of the river. We then attached a tow line on the burning Cleat and began towing it toward the middle of the channel. At one point while towing the Cleat our engines on the 40412 stopped because of the ships (Elias) mooring lines in our props. My crew quickly pulled up the mooring lines and cut them apart with a hand ax. Freeing one engine we were able to pull the Cleat to safety and put out the fires on the Cleat. All members of the Cleat crew were accounted for but one engine men who we found still down in the engine room trying to start the Cleat's main.”

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1938 — The Coast Guard established a "Flood Relief Force" to assist the Red Cross and the victims of flooding of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. The "Force" consisted of 26 motorboats, one communication truck, two portable radio sets, one Grumman JF-2 amphibian aircraft, and 60 enlisted men, all under the command of LCDR Roy Raney and based at Selma, Alabama. On April 10 and 11, the Floor Relief Force was "engaged in removing persons from dangerous positions and in transporting Government and Red Cross officials throughout the flood area."

2014 — CGC Seneca returned to its homeport in Boston after completing a 53-day deployment which included two weeks of training at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia, and five weeks of fisheries patrols off the coasts of New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina. Seneca patrolled the Mid-Atlantic Ocean in support of the Coast Guard Fifth District's Operation Ocean Hunter. They boarded 26 fishing vessels from March 2 until April 5. During the patrol, Seneca ensured the commercial fishing fleet was in compliance with all federal fisheries regulations and issued two fisheries violations. In addition to law enforcement, Seneca conducted a workup with the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team and other deployable specialized forces units. Using Seneca's flight deck, MSRT members completed 76 vertical insertions and 44 hoists. They also completed 210 climbs where they boarded the cutter from a tactical boat via a caving ladder. Seneca also completed several helicopter in-flight refuels and vertical replenishments with Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1938 — Coast Guard Patrol Boat CG-240, part of the Coast Guard's Flood Relief Force established to assist flood victims in Alabama, evacuated 102 persons from the vicinity of Hohn Miller's Plantation, below Camden, Alabama.

1952 — Immediately following the crash of a commercial overseas transport aircraft off the San Juan Harbor, Coast Guard forces coordinated with those of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy to rescue 17 of the 69 persons on board.

[Randi]

Isaac Mayo — Surfman, Gold Life-Saving Medal recipient and FRC namesake

[Randi]

Dorothy Stratton — Wartime Coast Guard trailblazer and SPAR Leader

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1912 — At around 11:40 p.m., RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg off Newfoundland while sailing on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. She sank a little over two hours later. There were 1,517 lost including 103 women and 53 children out of total passenger and crew of 2,207. Subsequently, certification and life saving devices were improved and an International Ice Patrol was created to patrol the sea lanes off Newfoundland and Greenland during the winter months. The Revenue Cutter Service took over the operation of the Patrol the following year.

[Michael]

[Randi]

Edith Munro — leader, mentor, SPAR and Medal of Honor hero mother

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1820 — Landing parties from the cutters Louisiana and Alabama destroyed a pirate base on Breton Island.

1944 — The Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Joyce, along with her sister warship USS Peterson and a Navy DE sank the German submarine U-550 off New York. The U-boat first torpedoed what was at the time the largest tanker in the world as the convoy it was joining was forming up outside of New York harbor. The destroyer escorts then attacked the U-boat, forcing it to the surface, and then sank it in a surface gun-battle. Joyce rescued the surviving u-boatmen as well as those off the stricken tanker.

[Randi]

Bernard “Bernie” Webber and the greatest smallboat rescue in Coast Guard history

[Randi]

Captain Joyce Dietrich-Holm: Celebrating Women’s History Month in the Intelligence Community

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

2014 — Coast Guard marine inspectors conducted safety and security examinations on the first-ever container ship to arrive in Cleveland. The Fortunagracht, a 450-foot Dutch-flagged container ship, delivered the first-ever load of containerized cargo to the Great Lakes. Before the establishment of the Cleveland-Europe Express, shippers relied heavily on rail service to transport goods from the larger east coast container ports, such as New York and Baltimore, to the Great Lakes region. Talks to bring CEE to Cleveland began in the fall of 2013 with cooperation between the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, and other government agencies.

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

2010 — The Deepwater Horizon oil rig located more than 50 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, suffered massive explosions killing 11 and injuring 16 of its 126 person crew. The oil platform, which burned for more than a day, sank into the Gulf of Mexico on April 22, 2010. An estimated 60,000 barrels of oil gushed each day for 87 days, making the Deepwater Horizon spill and its response unprecedented. The Coast Guard mobilized 14% of its total workforce, active duty and reserve, and its role expanded under the National Contingency Plan which called for the service to direct all response efforts to contain and clean up the oil spill. On April 30th, 2010 Admiral Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Commandant, was appointed as the National Incident Commander (NIC) to oversee the federal response. He retired as Commandant on May 25, 2010, but continued on as NIC in uniform until he formally retired from the Coast Guard on June 30, 2010. He then continued to serve as NIC (as an SES civilian) until October 1, 2010.

[pommystuart]

I spend days on and off watching (on TV) the closing off of the underwater well head. Slow but interesting.

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1838 — The passenger steamboat Oronoko suffered a catastrophic boiler explosion while tied up at Princeton, Mississippi that killed over 100 passengers. This was one of three fatal steamboat boiler explosions within as many months that forced the Federal Government to begin regulating merchant steam vessels.

1910 — The U.S. Government took over the sealing operation of Pribiloff Islands from private lessees.

1924 — In an effort to increase the number of cutters available for Prohibition enforcement, Navy destroyers were transferred to the Coast Guard for law enforcement purposes. The Coast Guard was also authorized to commission temporary officers.

2014 — The Coast Guard concluded icebreaking operations on the lower Great Lakes, more than four months after it started on December 15, 2013. Operation Coal Shovel is a bi-national domestic icebreaking effort covering the St. Lawrence Seaway, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, the Detroit/St. Clair River System, and southern Lake Huron. Crews aboard CGCs Mackinaw, Hollyhock, Bristol Bay, Neah Bay, and Morro Bay were joined by crews from Canadian Coast Guard Ships Samuel Risley, Griffon, and Des Groseilliers. In total, the Coast Guard crews conducted more than 2,100 icebreaking hours during the 128 days of Operation Coal Shovel. Also assisting the ships with ice reconnaissance were aircrews from AIRSTA Traverse City and AIRSTA Detroit. During Operation Coal Shovel, U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews assisted 184 vessels and provided harbor breakouts to relieve or prevent flooding in four U.S. and one Canadian community.

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1944 — Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasions of Aitape and Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea.

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1790 — The Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton submitted a report to Congress suggesting the utility of building "ten boats for securing the collection of the revenue." Hamilton's suggestion was accepted and passed into law on 4 August 1790 after the bill was signed by President George Washington.

1880 — Captain Jerome G. Kiah and his crew of six surfmen from the Point Aux Barques Life-Saving Station responded to a distress signal from a stranded scow in Lake Huron. They departed their station in their pulling surfboat but the boat capsized a number of times in the icy water, eventually causing the six surfmen to perish from hypothermia. Only Captain Kiah survived the ordeal, but was severely injured from the cold water and forced to resign from the Service. He carried the psychological scars of the disaster for the rest of his life, but rejoined the Life-Saving Service later that year as District Superintendent.

1924 — A tube transmitter for radio fog-signal stations, developed to take the place of the spark transmitters then in use, was placed in service on the Ambrose Channel Lightship and proved successful.

[Randi]

Joseph Napier — Heroic Surfman, Gold Lifesaving Medal recipient and FRC namesake

[Randi]

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1838 — The steamboat Moselle, with more than 265 passengers and crew aboard, departed from a landing near Cincinnati, Ohio for St. Louis. Her boilers exploded soon after casting off, killing 136. This was one of three catastrophic steamboat boiler explosions within as many months that forced the Federal Government to begin regulating merchant steam vessels.

1956 — The U.S. Coast Guard issued new regulations for security screening of merchant seamen. Changes in the screening program were made for the purpose of conforming with a recent U .S. Court of Appeals ruling (Parker V. Lester) which held that procedures used by the Coast Guard did not meet the minimum requirements of due process of law. The legal background for the Coast Guard security program stems from the Magnuson Act, which authorized the President to issue rules safeguarding vessels and waterfront facilities when he found security endangered by a subversive activity. The President made such a finding in 1950 by Executive Order No. 10173 and directed the Coast Guard to set up and conduct the program.