Today in Coast Guard History
1843 – Secretary of Treasury Spencer issued new “Rules and Regulations for the governing of the Revenue Cutter Service” that centralized control of personnel, promotion and discipline issues under the Revenue Marine Bureau, but left direct superintendence and direction of the individual cutters with the local Collectors of Customs.
1848 – The Revenue cutter C. W. Lawrence weighed anchor off Washington, D.C. and set sail down the Potomac River. The cutter was commanded by Captain Alexander V. Fraser, the first chief of Revenue Marine Bureau, who left that position to take command of the new brig-rigged cutter. He was ordered to proceed on an epic voyage around Cape Horn via the Hawaiian Islands to San Francisco where the cutter arrived safely on 31 October the following year.
1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8929 transferred the Coast Guard to the Navy Department.
1943 – The invasion of Bougainville, Solomon Islands, commenced. Coast Guard units participated in the landings.
1949 – The authority to reestablish the Women’s Reserve of the Coast Guard Reserve (SPARS), approved by the President on 4 August 1949, became effective.
1984 – The largest marijuana bust to date in West Coast history took place when CGC Clover seized the 63-foot yacht Arrikis 150 miles southwest of San Diego. The yacht was loaded with 13 tons of marijuana.
Blogs
Bygone days returned – Coast Guard Compass blog
A mere blip on the chart just 26 miles off the southern coast of Cape Cod, Mass., the island of Nantucket greets the Atlantic Ocean as it makes its assault on the East Coast. Discovered in 1604, Nantucket has a rich maritime history of whaling expeditions and life-saving efforts aboard doomed ships. Volunteer lifesavers on the island in the 18th century later became members of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and eventually the U.S. Coast Guard, now operating at Station Brant Point. – See more at: http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2013/10/bygone-days-returned/#sthash.2Qgd9CT9.dpuf
Yankee 188 Recruit Journal: Week 05 – Coast Guard Boot Camp blog
Today, our Company Commanders gave us extra responsibility before we even woke up. Our wakeup call was not done through one of their bellowing throats but by our very own company Yeoman (who is one of our own shipmates). Our Company Commanders weren’t even in the building yet as far as we knew. We were tasked with waking up, getting ready and marching to morning chow on time and all on our own. This was a big deal and an even bigger test of our integrity. We all made it to chow, fully clothed and on time – mission complete.
Aux rocks the air – Coast Guard Heartland blog
Train and maintain is a phrase often associated with mundane tasks that need to get done to please supervisors. Despite the eye rolling and negative connotations associated with the phrase, Coast Guardsmen train for a reason. The Coast Guard is in the life-saving business, and in a business that is literally life or death, it’s paramount that Coast Guardsmen are able to operate like a well-oiled machine.
A great asset in the war against occupational stagnation is the Coast Guard Auxiliary. You’d be hard pressed to find a group of people more willing to help out.
For ten years, Walter Ybos, Flotilla 4-8 out of Slidell, La., has spent his well-earned retirement helping Coast Guardsmen keep their cutting edge.
Elsewhere
Coast Guard visits mysterious ‘Google barge’ – USA Today
The Coast Guard on Wednesday visited the mysterious “Google barge” floating in San Francisco Bay, but the agency would not reveal anything about the tech giant’s hush-hush vessel.
Here is the Coast Guard statement about the barge.
Video
At 98 years old, Olivia Hooker recalled her experiences as one of the first African American female members in the Coast Guard SPAR program during World War II. Hooker is a native of White Plains, N.Y., and received her doctorate as a school psychologist.
U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ali Flockerzi.
