This Day in U.S. Coast Guard History – January 25

1799- Having existed essentially nameless for 8-1/2 years, Alexander Hamilton's "system of cutters" was referred to in legislation as "Revenue Cutters."  Some decades later, the name evolved to Revenue Cutter Service and Revenue Marine.

1940- The ocean station program was formally established on 25 January 1940 under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt.  The Coast Guard, in cooperation with the U. S. Weather Service, were given responsibility for its establishment and operation.  The program was first known as the Atlantic Weather Observation Service and later known (and "beloved') by thousands of Coast Guardsmen who served after World War II as the "Ocean Station" program.  Cutters were dispatched for 30-day patrols to transmit weather observations and serve as a SAR standby for transoceanic aircraft.  The program ended in the 1970s.

2004-A helicopter crew from AIRSTA Detroit helped rescue 14 people stranded on an ice floe about one mile west of Catawba Island, Ohio.

(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)