|
The U.S. Coast Guard was a part of the Treasury Department because its initial purpose was to deter smuggling. Until 1913, the Federal Government was primarily funded with tariff revenue, enforced by the Revenue Cutter Service. Since 1967, it has been transferred to the Transportation Department. The mission expanded to ensure our Nation's maritime safety, security, and stewardship. It is responsible for a range of coastal activities like navigation and life saving, since World War II, the stewardship role has taken on more importance, but since the 9-11 attacks, security has taken on more prominence. While normally an independent service, during war time, the Coast Guard is transferred to the Navy. This occurred shortly before Pearl Harbor (November 1941). And the Coast Guard during World War II played a vital role. The Navy 's expertise is with large naval vessels, but the War created a huge need for boats of varying design and purposes. And here it was the Coast Guard that had the expertise in handling small craft. Of course during the War, it was the Navy's large ships, both carriers and big-gun battleships and cruisers that made the headlines and get most of the coverage. As the Coast Guard puts it, their 'service and sacrifice is lost in that shadow'. World War II historians just typically overlook or merely briefly mention the Coast Guard's role. That role and the Service's responsibilities were immediately expanded upon transfer to the Navy. And that role included operations in both the Atlantic and Pacific, although the Pacific role as the most active. No one other than Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz applauded the performance of Coast Guard men and women, writing in the introduction of, “I know of no instance wherein they did not acquit themselves in the highest traditions of their Service, or prove themselves worthy of their Service motto, ‘Semper Paratus’—‘Always Ready.’" 【Willoughby 】
The U.S. Coast Guard was a part of the Treasury Department because its initial purpose was to deter smuggling. Until 1913, the Federal Government was primarily funded with tariff revenue, enforced by the Revenue Cutter Service. Since 1967, it has been transferred to the Transportation Department. The mission expanded to ensure our Nation's maritime safety, security, and stewardship. It is responsible for a range of coastal activities like navigation and life saving, since World War II, the stewardship role has taken on more importance, but since the 9-11 attacks, security has taken on more prominence.
Hitler and Stalin launched World War II (September 1939). The United States did not enter the War until the Javanese carrier attatck non Pearl Harbor (December 1941). Two days after the German invasion of Poland, France and Britain declared war on Germany (September 3). President Roosevelt proclaimed U.S. neutrality and ordered units of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard to establish a 'Neutrality Patrol' (NP) (September 5). The NP began observing and reporting on belligerent warship movements in the NP are off the U.S. coasts within he limited range of its cutters. The CG's high-seas Treasury-class cutters (sometimes referred to as Secretary-, or 327-foot-, class cutters) were the mainstay of NPs. , Coast Guard cutters were patrolled as far north as Greenland. The Northland captured a German expedition (September 1941) and 3 years later pursued a German armed trawler 70 miles through icy Arctic waters before the Germans scuttled their vessel. President Roosevelt directed the Coast Guard to establish the Atlantic Weather Observation Service (January 1940). This was an important step because of how weather affects military operations. The CG weather operations provided This vital information to The allies And helped deny i to the Germans. Most famously, it made a vital difference on the D-Day landings. The CG used its oceangoing cutters. A U.S. Weather Bureau (WB) observer was added to the crew. Observations were taken twice daily. WB weathermen measured atmospheric conditions using balloons and recorded water temperatures. The CG cutters were commonly on station for a month. They served as aids to navigation for military and commercial vessels and transatlantic air traffic, and their expanding array of radar and radio equipment were manned on board around the clock. The CG weather ships also provided medical service merchant ships at sea and served in search-and-rescue missions. Once America entered the War, these missions were in danger. The cutter Muskeget (WAG-48), a Coast Guard weather ship, was sunk by a German U-boat.
While normally an independent service under the Treasury Department, during war time, the Coast Guard is transferred to the Navy. This occurred shortly before Pearl Harbor (November 1941). And the Coast Guard during World War II played a vital role. The Navy 's expertise is with large naval vessels, but the War created a huge need for boats of varying design and purposes. And here it was the Coast Guard that had the expertise in handling small craft. Of course during the War, it was the Navy's large ships, both carriers and big-gun battleships and cruisers that made the headlines and get most of the coverage. As the Coast Guard puts it, their 'service and sacrifice is lost in that shadow'. World War II historians just typically overlook or merely briefly mention the Coast Guard's role. That role and the Service's responsibilities were immediately expanded upon transfer to the Navy.
Coast Guard World War II operations included operations in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, although the Pacific role as the most active. The two theaters were very different. America's ability to bring its massive power to bear required crossing two oceans to get to Europe and Asia. Only the distance to Asia/Oceania battlefield was more twice the distance to European battlefields. This meant that far more shipping was required. In addition, far more amphibious operations were required in the Pacific because of the huge numbers of Pacific islands that had to be seized back from the Japanese.
Coast Guard combat operations began at Pearl Harbor (December 1941). CG cutters provided anti-aircraft fire and conducted anti-submarine patrols with U.S. Navy assets. The Peal Harbor attack included regular and midget submarines. The first CG combat casualties in the Atlantic occurred off Iceland. Te German U-132 torpedoed the Secretary-class cutter Alexander Hamilton (WPG-34) killing 26 and woundi56 wounded. She capsized and had to be sunk by the Navy (January 1942). The Hamilton was the first American warship lost to enemy action after Pearl Harbor. On the same day, the CG–manned troop transport USS Wakefield (AP-21) was refueling in the Japanese besieged British bastion of Singapore. During a Japanese air raid, a bomb penetrated B deck and exploded in ship's the sick bay. Four Coast Guardsmen were killed. The damage did not prevent Wakefield from taking on civilian refugees and delivering them to India.
The U.S. Coast Guard played four key roles in World War II: 1) convoy escort, 2) amphibious landing operations, 3) search and rescue, and 4) patrolling ports and beaches.
Convoy escort/coastal protection: Escorting merchant shipping was the first major mission the Coast Guard had to take on. This was the first operation, because American men and supplies could get to the battlefield, nothing further could be accomplished. The Coast Guard escorted convoys in the Atlantic and Pacific. The first patrol operation was along the American eastern coast when the German U-boats unleashed Operation Drumbeat. The Coast Guard and the Navy were unprepared. Fortunately the same did not unfold in the Pacific. Here given the huge distances, American shipping was much more vulnerable. Fortunately, the large Japanese submarine force was not deployed for commerce raiding. The Japanese believed that it was beneath their dignity to attack merchant vessels. As a result, it did not even prove necessary to organize Pacific convoys.
When the German U-boats executed Operaton Drumbeat alng the Amecan easternseabord, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest King requested that the CG Reserve organize a unit to supplement coastal naval forces involved anti-submarine and rescue duties (May 1942). Because of Pearl Harbor, Navy did not have neededescorts. Dersvely called the 'Hooligan Navy' or 'Corsair Fleet', the Coastal Picket Patrol was composed of privately owned yachts— nd other boats. The Navu equipped them with machine guns, four depth charges, and a radio. They were meant to attack German U-boats tey encountered. Yacht owners usually remained in command of their boats and were given the temporary enlisted rank of chief boatswain's mate. The crewsconsisted of college boys, Boy Scouts, beachcombers, ex-bootleggers, and former rumrunners. Almost anyone who could reef a sail and steer a course, and many who could not, could qualify. Grdully the Corsair attrated better trained and more experienced seamen.
Amphibious operations: The Coast Guard supported the Army and Navy (Marine Corps) in landing operations. Some of these were in the Atlantic (North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France), but by the great bulk of the landings were in the Pacific. Landing craft varied greatly in size from the huge LSTs to small small unit boats because of the number of landings, the crews were needed in large numbers. This would be he Coast Guards major contribution to World War II. Notably the United so massively expanded its amphibious capability that two massive landings were conducted simultaneously (June 1944). The attention was on D-Day in France, but at the same time another massive landing was conduced halfway across the globe in the Pacific--Saipan. And note that that these were not 1 or 2 day operation. The supplies for these operations had to be continued to be delivered over beaches, in some cases such as D-Day this lasted for months because the Germans held on to the Channel ports for months after D-Day. More than half of the CG's wartime personnel were used to man 802 Coast Guard, 351 Navy, and 288 Army vessels to support land, sea, and air forces in all the combat theaters. Coast Guard troopships, attack transports, cargo transports, fuel ships, and auxiliary vessels supported Allied amphibious operations, fighting fleets, and land forces around the world, but espcilly in the Pacific. It proved to be dangerous duty, specially approaching defended enemy shores. And their were inevitable accidents whenever explosives are involved. The CG–manned transport Serpens (AK-97) was destroyed when an accidental detonation of the depth charge cargo tore tragically through the ship and and killed all but two of her 200-man crew. It was the greatest single loss in Coast Guard history.
Search and rescue: The Coast Guard patrolled for fires, unauthorized craft, as well as other hazards A major search and rescue operations was to rescue downed airmen in he Pacific. We believe, however, but this was mostly conducted by the Navy.
Port and beach security: The Coast Guard patrolled ports and provided security They were also
beach patrols. The Coast Guard patrolled beaches and provided support for amphibious operations.
CG beach patrols dated back to the old Life-Saving Service. The basic system war-time beach patrols was set in motion (Late-1941). The Navy was assigned the responsibility for offshore patrols and the Coast Guard working along the nation’s coasts. Coast Guard lifesaving stations and lighthouses became bases for a force of some 25,000 Coast Guardsmen patrolling the thousands of miles of American shoreline. They patrolled on foot ad horseback, in vehicles, and with and without dogs to assist them. It was patrolling Coast Guardsman who came across the German saboteurs deposited by a German U-boat. German Operation Pastorious landed two sabotage teams, one in Florida and the other in New York. Each of these team of four men were to attack important American war factories and railroads.
No lesser a figure than Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz applauded the performance of Coast Guard men and women, writing in the introduction of, “I know of no instance wherein they did not acquit themselves in the highest traditions of their Service, or prove themselves worthy of their Service motto, ‘Semper Paratus’—‘Always Ready.’" 【Willoughby 】
The Coast Guard expanded its personnel o over 170,000 men and women serving at one time dunning World War II. Nearly 2,000 Coast Guardsmen were decorated. The Coast Guard also had a Women's Reserve -- SPARS. The Coast Guard also had a Temporary Reserve made up of men and women from a variety of backgrounds
1,918 Coast Guardsmen died during World War II. This included one Coast Guardsman who died as a prisoner of war. This was unusual, because CG assisted landings were offensive operations. And most POWs were taken n the first 6 months of the War until Japanese offensive operations were curtailed by he U.S. Navy victory at Midway (June 1942).
Willoughby, Malcolm. The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II
Navigate the CIH World War II Section:
[Return to the Main American World War II military services page]
[Return to the Main World War II military force page]
[Biographies]
[Campaigns]
[Children]
[Countries]
[Deciding factors]
[Diplomacy]
[Geo-political crisis]
[Economics]
[Home front]
[Intelligence]
[POWs]
[Resistance]
[Race]
[Refugees]
[Technology]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Return to Main war essay page]
