Guard History News

After more than 30 years of active service, U.S. Coast Guard Island-class patrol boats USCGC Aquidneck (WPB 1309) and USCGC Adak (WPB 1333) were decommissioned in a ceremony aboard Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Tuesday.Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area, was in attendance to honor the years of service Aquidneck, Adak, and their crews, provided to the Coast Guard.“Thank you to every single crew member who has ever served aboard Aquidneck and Adak, from the plank owners to the final crew and all the crews in between,” Poulin said.

On the night of March 23, 2008, most of the crew sleeps while fishing vessel Alaska Ranger makes her way to the rich fishing grounds off the coast of Alaska. As the Engineer makes his nightly rounds, he discovers a serious flood in the rudder room. He raises the alarm and the captain issues a Mayday call. But before the crew can investigate the source of the leak, the rising water reaches their electrical systems and the ship loses power. With the ship listing and in danger of sinking, the captain orders the crew to abandon ship.

The US Coast Guard will have MAN’s 28/33D STC engines installed as the main propulsion for its new Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) programme. The programme is the replacement platform for the 13 ‘Famous’ class and 14 ‘Reliance’ class cutter vessels, making the order the largest vessel procurement order in the Coast Guard’s history. Lex Nijsen – Head of Four-Stroke Marine – MAN Diesel & Turbo, said: “We are very pleased to have won this major order within such a key, domestic market. It’s a breakthrough for us as this is the first time that the USCG has ordered MAN 28/33D STC engines. Indeed, the engine’s sequential turbocharging (STC) concept…

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. has appointed Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., U. S. Coast Guard (Retired), as President of Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., Washington Operations. Admiral Papp served as an Officer in the Coast Guard for nearly 40 years, completing his career as the 24th Commandant of the U. S. Coast Guard from 2010 to 2014. The Coast Guard is the largest component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He was a career cutterman, serving in six cutters, commanding four of them, including the Coast Guard’s square rigged sailing ship, USCG Barque EAGLE. As a flag officer, Admiral Papp served as Commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area…

In September, 2016, an U.S. shipyard and the Canadian design business of an Italian-owned Norwegian shipyard won the largest vessel procurement contract in U.S. Coast Guard history. Now, Eastern Shipbuilding will build nine — and possibly many more — Vard Marine designs in its Panama City, Fla., shipyard. Early impressions are of a unique vessel not so unlike comparable European designs by Vard Holdings or parent company Fincantieri. An oceangoing hull of clean, classic — some would say Canadian — lines are the platform for an electronics and weapons payload designed…

When the U.S. Coast Guard’s first new Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC) is put to sea in 2021, it will be powered by diesel propulsion engines manufactured in Beloit, Wis., by Fairbanks Morse. The OPC will “provide a critical capability bridge” between the National Security Cutter which patrols the open ocean, and the Fast Response Cutter which serves closer to shore, according to the Coast Guard. The cutters operate independently or in task groups to conduct search and rescue, law enforcement, homeland security and defense missions.

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft delivered the 2016 State of the Coast Guard Address at U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Congressional Auditorium Tuesday. This was Adm. Zukunft’s second State of the Coast Guard Address and he welcomed the opportunity to recognize Service accomplishments, reinforce his strategic intent and provide direction for the coming year. "Now, on behalf of the 88,000 women and men of the Coast Guard, I profoundly thank the 114th Congress and this Administration for delivering an authorization bill along with the largest acquisition budget in Coast Guard history,” stated Zukunft. The commandant’s speech focused on how the budget is being driven by strategy and how the budget will support his priorities to invest in the 21st century Coast Guard…

The U.S. Coast Guard based in Northern California seized a semi-submersible vessel carrying more than 16,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean last month - the largest bust of its kind in Coast Guard history. The Coast Guard Cutter Stratton intercepted the 40-foot "self-propelled semi-submersible" in the Pacific Ocean 200 miles south of Mexico on July 18 and arrested four alleged smugglers, officials said. The Guard seized 275 bales of cocaine. Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy says that the Alameda, California-based crew also apprehended four suspected smugglers. The drugs are valued at $181 million. The drugs were found on a semi-submersible vessel, which is mostly submerged, with just the cockpit and the exhaust pipe visible above water.

U.S. Representatives from U.S. Coast Guard, the city of Sturgeon Bay and the Door County Maritime Museum dedicated the Coast Guard’s last operational 41-foot utility boat, Tuesday, during the Sturgeon Bay Maritime Festival. The dedication ceremony, held at the Door County Maritime Museum, was attended by Thad Birmingham, mayor of Sturgeon Bay; Capt. Amy Cocanour, commander of Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan, and Capt. John Little, chief of staff of the Ninth Coast Guard District, as well as numerous local Coast Guard units.

Eastern Shipbuilding has donated $250,000 for the construction of the National Coast Guard Museum in New London, Connecticut, the National Coast Guard Museum Association announced yesterday. Eastern Shipbuilding, a diversified ship builder headquartered in Panama City, Florida, made the donation to the National Coast Guard Museum Association, which is currently engaged in a nationwide fundraising campaign to build a museum to honor the men and women of the U.S. Coast guard. The Coast Guard is currently the only branch of the U.S. military without a dedicated museum.

The Coast Guard accepted delivery of the fourth National Security Cutter, Hamilton, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Monday. Hamilton will be the first of two NSCs to be homeported in Charleston, South Carolina. The cutter will be commissioned into service Dec. “After three years of fabrication and expert craftsmanship, Ingalls shipyard has delivered a great ship to the Coast Guard,” said Capt. Douglas Fears, the prospective commanding officer of Hamilton. The cutter is now officially an asset of the Coast Guard and custody is turned over from the shipyard to its commanding officer and crew. “Hamilton's crew has prepared over six months for this day…

Huntington Ingalls Industries' (NYSE:HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division christened the company's fifth U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter (NSC), James (WMSL 754), today in front of nearly 1,000 guests. Charlene James Benoit, great-great niece of the ship's namesake, Capt. Joshua James, is the ship sponsor. "The boundaries surrounding illegal migrant activity, weapons, drug smuggling and terrorism continue to blur and converge," said Vice Adm. Peter Neffenger, vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and the ceremony's principal speaker. "The challenges created by that convergence require a 21st century Joshua James. We need his spirit and his adherence to our values. We need his adaptability, his staying power and his multi-mission focus.

With a stifling heat wave affecting most of the country last week, it’s hard to picture U.S. Coast Guard units focusing on our nation’s Arctic interests. But for a dedicated group of Coast Guard men and women, the Arctic is all that is on their mind. As the nation’s lead federal agency for ensuring maritime safety and security in the Arctic, the Coast Guard will perform its statutory missions to ensure the Arctic remains a safe, secure and environmentally protected region. After a successful Arctic Shield 2012 operation on the North Slope and Barrow…

She was a leader. She was a trailblazer. She was a lifesaver. She’s the namesake of the Coast Guard’s newest cutter – Margaret “Madge” Norvell. The Coast Guard welcomed their newest fast response cutter to the fleet this weekend as Coast Guard Cutter Margaret Norvell was commissioned in Miami. The cutter is the first in its class to be named after a Coast Guard heroine. Norvell, a member of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, first served at the Head of Passes Light as an assistant keeper from 1891 to 1896.

20th Annual Dinner to be Held in New Orleans on March 1st, 2013. The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced today that its 20th Annual Tribute to the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Eighth District will take place on Friday, March 1, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Coast Guard Foundation’s New Orleans awards dinner is a festive celebration of the men and women serving in the U.S. Coast Guard's 8th District, which includes the Gulf Coast as well as the inland waterways of the country.

The 154-foot Coast Guard Cutter Webber is a Fast Response Cutter and will be able to deploy independently to conduct missions such as ports, waterways, and coastal security, fishery patrols, drug and illegal migrant law enforcement, search and rescue, and national defense operations along the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean. The Webber is capable of speeds of 28-plus knots, armed with one stabilized, remotely operated 25mm chain gun and four crew-served .50 caliber machine guns, and crew capabilities to hold 24 people.

1798- Hostilities began in the Quasi-War with France. The Revenue Cutters Pickering, Virginia,Scammel, South Carolina, Governor, Jay, Eagle, General Greene, and Diligence were the first to be placed under Naval orders, comprising about one-third of the U .S. Fleet. 1801- In a cost saving measure, the Treasury Department sent circulars to the various Collectors looking toward reducing the size of the cutters and their crews. 1838- Under the authority of an Act of Congress passed this date, the President divided the Atlantic coast into six, and the Great Lakes coast into two, lighthouse districts. A naval officer was detailed to each lighthouse district…

1809- Congress authorized the construction of twelve new cutters to enforce President Thomas Jefferson’s embargo.   1942- Coast Guard amphibious aircraft V-166 landed in the open ocean and took aboard 21 survivors of a torpedoed tanker in Gulf of Mexico.   Source: USCG Historian’s Office

1814 - Sloop-of-war Peacock captures British Stranger, Venus, Adiona, and Fortitude.   1815 - Commodore Stephen Decatur's squadron arrives at Tripoli to collect reparations for seizure of American merchant ships in violation of Treaty of 1805.   Source: USCG Historian’s Office

1932-The Steamboat Inspection Service and Bureau of Navigation were combined to form the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection (47 Stat. L., 415). The new agency remained under the control of the Commerce Department. 1933-The airways division, which had been conducted as a division of the Lighthouse Service, but under the administrative supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics, Department of Commerce, was separated from the Lighthouse Service. (USLHS AR 1933, p. 97). 1939-"At the end of the year, the total number of lighthouse tenders was 65, of which 64 were in commission and ‘.1 was out of commission and advertised for sale. Of the vessels in commission, 42 were steam-propelled, 18 had diesel engines, and 4 had diesel-electric drive.

1820-On 29 June 1820 the Revenue cutter Dallas captured the 12-gun brig-of-war General Ramirez, which was loaded with 280 slaves, off St. Augustine. The 8 July 1820 issue of theSavannah Republican noted: "On the 28th ultimo, while the Cutter DALLAS was lying in the St. Mary's River, Captain Jackson received information that the Brig of war GENERAL RAMIREZ, supposed to be a piratical vessel was hovering off St. Augustine. The Cutter forthwith got under way in pursuit of the Brig having first obtained 12 United States soldiers from Fernandina to strengthen the Cutter's force. At half past three the next day, she hailed the Brig and received for answer…

1902-Alaskan Game Law passed to be enforced by Revenue Cutter Service "on request" of Secretary of Agriculture. It, however, was not effectively enforced by Coast Guard until 1925.   1924-Oil Pollution Act was passed; enforcement responsibility was assigned to the Coast Guard.   Source: USCG Historian’s Office

1947-Authority of the U.S. Coast Guard for the establishment and disestablishment of prohibited, restricted, and anchorage areas, conferred by the Espionage Act (50 U.S.C. 191) and Proclamation No. 2412 of 27 June 1940 was terminated by Proclamation No. 2732, signed by the President on this date. 1948- The Coast Guard assumed command of the former Navy base at Cape May, New Jersey, and formally established its east coast recruit training center there the next day. 1983- Former world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey passed away at the age of 87. He served in the Coast Guard during World War II and achieved the rank of commander. 1988: The first search and rescue agreement with the Soviet Union was signed at a summit in Moscow.