Remembering the Coast Guard Cutter Cuyahoga 40 Years Later
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cory J. Mendenhall.
The profession that is the Coast Guard is an inherently dangerous one. Through this understanding, the Service continuously makes every effort to ensure the safety of its members. Every loss of a shipmate is felt and resonated throughout the Service. It’s during these tragic moments that the service reflects on the things that...
From the Bridge Wing 11-30-13
Today in Coast Guard History
1808 – Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin requested 12 new cutters at a cost of $120,000 to enforce “laws which prohibit exportation and restrain importations” to support the embargo ordered by President Thomas Jefferson. President Jefferson had ordered an embargo against most European imports and exports to protest the harassment of U.S. sailors...
From the Bridge Wing 11-29-13
Today in Coast Guard History
1837 – Two early complainants on the efficiency of the American lighthouses, E. and G.W. Blunt, publishers of the famous Blunt’s “Coast Pilot,” submitted a statement to the Secretary of the Treasury. They argued that the whole lighthouse system “needs revision, a strict superintendence and an entirely different plan of operation.”
1920 –...
From the Bridge Wing 11-27-13
Today in Coast Guard History
1883 – The schooner Maggie W. Willard with a crew of five men struck on Sea Horse Rock about two miles west of the Crumple Island Station (First District) on the coast of Maine at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. She was discovered by the station crew, who offered assistance. Finding the vessel in a very dangerous position and leaking the crew’s effects were saved...
From the Bridge Wing 11-26-13
Today in Coast Guard History
1964 – The Israeli passenger liner Shalom and the Norwegian tanker Stolt Dagali collided off Point Pleasant, New Jersey in a dense fog. Nineteen tanker crewmen were killed in the collision which sliced the tanker into two pieces. CGC Point Arden was the first on scene. Five other cutters and “a fleet” of Coast Guard and Navy helicopters soon joined in...
From the Bridge Wing 11-25-2013
Today in Coast Guard History
1968 – M/V Triple Crown foundered off the coast of Southern California with a loss of nine lives while retrieving the anchor and chain of a large offshore drilling rig. The Coast Guard investigated.
1999 – Elian Gonzalez, a five-year old Cuban boy, was found on Thanksgiving morning clinging to an inner tube three miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida....
From the Bridge Wing11-23-13
Today in Coast Guard History
1942 – The Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, known as SPARs, was organized.
1970 – Simas I. Kudirka, a Lithuanian seaman, attempted to defect from his Soviet fishing vessel to Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant. The incident occurred during a meeting near Martha’s Vineyard between the Soviets and the U.S. on fishing rights. After consulting with the First District...
From the Bridge Wing 11-22-13
Today in Coast Guard History
1906 – At the second International Radio Telegraphic Convention, which was held in Berlin, the attendees agreed to adopt the wireless signal “SOS” as the internationally recognized signal for distress at sea. Their thinking was that three dots, three dashes and three dots could not be misinterpreted.
1953 – A great boon to ocean navigation for aircraft...
From the Bridge Wing 11-21-2013
Today in Coast Guard History
1970 – Two 378-foot cutters, Coast Guard Cutter Sherman and Coast Guard Cutter Rush combined with the USS Endurance to sink a North Vietnamese trawler attempting to smuggle arms into South Vietnam.
1995 – Coast Guard Cutter Decisive located and began tracking a 75-foot freighter packed with Haitian migrants 30 miles off the northwest coast of Haiti on 19 November....