This Day in Coast Guard History – Nov. 13

1883-At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the sloop Madge Schults , capsized as she was passing in through Rockaway Inlet, about half a mile distant from the Rockaway Point Station (Third District). The man clung to the bottom of his craft and made signals for help. They were quickly seen by the lookout at the station and the life-saving crew went off in their boat. He was taken from the water and landed on Barren Island.

1944-The Coast Guard-manned frigate USS Rockford, in concert with the Navy minesweeper USS Ardent, attacked and sank the Japanese Navy submarine I-12 mid-way between Hawaii and California.  There were no survivors.  In sinking I-12, Ardent and Rockford unwittingly avenged the atrocity I-12 had perpetrated on 30 October 1944 when, after sinking the Liberty Ship John A. Johnson, the submarine had rammed and sunk the lifeboats and rafts and its crew then machine-gunned the 70 survivors.

(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)