Scramble Magazine – June 2018

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Scramble 469

After the devastating cat-

egory 5 hurricane Harvey,

that flooded Houston, and

many other areas in the

South East of Texas late

August, category 5 hurri-

cane Irma that followed a

destructive path over the

Lower Antilles, Bahamas

and Florida a week later,

followed by yet another

category 5 hurricane Maria

that destroyed both the

Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico two weeks later, the

United States Coast Guard flew dozens of flights to rescue

those in need, and bring in necessary aid. The USCG is mainly

known for its Search and Rescue missions. But Search and

Rescue is only one of the many tasks of the USCG, which roots

go back to 1790.

History

On August 4th 1790, at the request of Alexander Hamilton,

Secretary of the US Department of the Treasury, Congress

decided to fund the construction of 10 cutters to be used to

collect customs duties in the nation’s seaports. This small

fleet is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United

States, and became known as the ‘Revenue Marine’.

Being the only naval force of the early United States (the Navy

was only re-established in 1798), the Revenue Marine was

used for other tasks as well. These tasks included protecting

the coast, trade and maritime interests of the new republic,

and combating piracy, rescuing mariners in distress, ferrying

government officials, and even carrying mail.

By the 1860s, the service was known as the U.S. Revenue

Cutter Service and the term Revenue Marine gradually fell

into disuse.

The modern Coast Guard was formed by a merger of the

Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life-Saving Service on

January 28th 1915, under the U.S. Department of the Treas-

ury. In the years that followed the Lighthouse Service and

the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation were trans-

ferred to the Coast Guard, in respectively 1939 and 1942.

In 1967, the Coast Guard moved from the U.S. Department of

the Treasury to the newly formed U.S. Department of Trans-

portation. This arrangement lasted until it was placed under

the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003 as part

of legislation designed to more efficiently protect American

interests following the terrorist attacks of September 11th

2001.

USCG roles and missions

The Coast Guard is responsible for defending America’s

borders and protecting maritime environment. Over the

years the USCG has adopted 3 basic roles, which are further

subdivided into eleven statutory missions.

The three roles are :

Maritime safety

Maritime safety is concerned with the protection of life and

property through regulation, management and technology

development of all forms of waterborne transportation.

Maritime security

Maritime security is concerned with the prevention of inten-

tional damage through sabotage, subversion, or terrorism. It

also includes border control, Maritime Law Enforcement and

Maritime Drug - and Migrant Interdiction.

Maritime stewardship

With Maritime Stewardship the USCG will enforce laws pro-

tecting the maritime environment. The nation’s waterways

and marine ecosystems are vital to the country’s economy

and health. Ensuring America enjoys a rich, diverse and sus-

tainable ocean environment is an important USCG mission.

USCG Aviation

In early 1915 USCG Lt. Stone and Lt. Hall explored the use

of aircraft for patrol, and search and rescue. Although the

Curtiss H-10 Flying boat which was used for the experiment

lacked navigational equipment, the experiment proved suc-

cessful and as a result the first USCG aviation group was

trained at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida during

1916-1917. Although US Congress supported the idea of using

USCG Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty

HC-130H 1503 taxiing in after a mission. (All photos by author)

Coert van Breda