Happy Birthday, USCG
On 4 August 1790, the Department of the Treasury established the United States Revenue Cutter Service. In 1915, that organization was combined with the United States Life-Saving Service to form a US military service.
That military service today is known as the United States Coast Guard.
Happy Birthday, Coasties.
Category: Historical
Happy Birtday from your brothers and sisters in the Blue Water Navy!
We dump shit on you for never being out of sight of land and call it “sea time”, but I gotta hand it to you. You are ballsy mofos to go out in the seas that you do.
Happy Birthday to the “Hooligan Navy”!
Happy Birthday, Coasties.
I’ve seen you in action. Nothin’ to be ‘shamed about.
Yeah, I’d go with the standard joke about Coasties, but not today. Happy Birthday! Semper Paratus!
Happy birthday to any puddle pounders who operate in the great frozen wastes of the Great Lakes in winter. I do not envy them, especially when they have to go rescue some dumb twit who decided to take a walk along the shore in a blizzard. They have my admiration and respect.
Another year. Another birthday. Another post by me insisting that the USCG was not established 1790, as it likes to claim, but was established in 1915.
The US Coast Guard all ready had its birthday this year, back in January. It turned 101. What the Coast Guard claims as its birthday was the establishment of part of its ancestry, arguably the first water-borne enforcement arm of what today is the IRS, the Revenue-Marine, which existed until 1894 when it was renamed the Revenue Cutter Service. It and its predecessor operated as an element of the US Treasury. There was a separate government agency that developed over time, called the United States Life Saving Service. It was established to assist ships in distress and to rescue shipwreck survivors. The two were merged in January 1915 and gave rise to what we know as the US Coast Guard today. The law was signed by President Wilson and was called the “Act to Create the Coast Guard.” So, a belated 101st happy birthday (7 months late) to the US Coast Guard.
There you go, confronting The Narrative with troublesome facts again…
GMAFB, 2/17 Air Cav. Using that logic, the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps do not date to the Revolutionary War – because those entities were the Continental Army, Navy, and Marines. Further, since DoD didn’t exist until 1947, then none of the current “big 4” services (which are all subordinate to DoD) technically existed before then. Those existing beforehand were all merely “predecessor organizations”, right?
The Coast Guard can trace its organization, lineage, and history in an unbroken line back to the establishment of the US Revenue Cutter Service 226 years ago today, just like the the US Army can trace it’s lineage back to the establishment of the Continental Army prior to the Declaration of Independence on 14 June 1775. Arguing that today “isn’t really their birthday” is IMO absurd. But hey – it’s still a free country; suit yourself.
Happy Birthday, USCG.
It’s not absurd at all. As I said last year, absurd is saying that the DHS is 150 years old because one its elements is. Now, THAT’S absurd–and so is the USCG claiming its birth year was 1790. It was legally formed in 1915 with “An Act to Create the Coast Guard.” Superfluous? Wilson was bored? What?
I thought you liked the truth, however disagreeable or uncomfortable its affect.
So, your position is that the US Army only dates to 1947 vice tracing it’s lineage to the Revolutionary War? Either government reorganizations that combine existing entities destroy the predecessor organizations (along with their lineage and history) and create new successors without lineage and history, or the gaining entities during reorganizations absorb existing organizations and inherit their lineage and history. If it’s the latter, then the Army rightfully traces its origin to June 1775 and the creation of the Continental Army – just as the USCG traces its origin to its oldest predecessor organization, the Revenue Cutter Service, and dates to 1790. Both today have different names than they did when first created – but that’s irrelevant. They still retain their predecessor’s lineage and history. If instead reorganizations “terminate and create”, then the USCG is the oldest US military service. That’s because existing services were reorganized under DoD in 1947. By your logic, this reorganization – also pursuant to a change in Federal law which consolidated missions and functions, just as the 1915 act did for the USCG – must logically have terminated their predecessor organizations and histories (the Department of War and the previously independent, cabinet-level Department of the Navy). It then perforce created new organizations having the same roles and missions, and similar names – but under DoD vice independent – which did not inherit their predecessor’s history and lineage. Ergo, in that case the “big 3 services” that existed prior to 1947 vanished, history and all – and were replaced with new organizations having similar names (plus a new one, the USAF) but no valid history and lineage. The latter contention is IMO obviously absurd. But it’s exactly the same contention you’re making here about the USCG’s birthday. You’re saying that the USCG’s two predecessor organizations and their lineage/history vanished when the USCG was reorganized and renamed in 1915. IMO that position is as absurd as arguing that the US Army only dates to 1947, because the Department of War “went away” and the Army became a part of DoD. As I said: still a free country,… Read more »
No, no, and no. When the War Dept folded and the Department of the Army was established, the US Army was not newly created from different agencies with different missions. Hell, when was the USAF formed, when the US Army was? It was, after all, a part of the Army and the Army dates to 1775. So, is that the USAF birth year? And then there’s this: If we play the lineage game, why begin at 1776? We had an Army, subject to a king, of course, so shouldn’t we take the British Army’s formation date? The USCG,as USCG LTCDR Botticelli wrote in his 2002 essay, was established in 1915. He doesn’t pretend otherwise. Neither will I.
You and the good LCDR are entitled to your own opinions. Just be advised that neither the USCG nor pretty much anyone else shares them.
Happy 226th Birthday, USCG.
“Using that logic, the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps do not date to the Revolutionary War – because those entities were the Continental Army, Navy, and Marines.” What? Haver you gone daft? There was no USA when they were formed. Cripes. And there is no similar logic in what you offered. If the Army had joined with the Navy and formed a new service, then that new service–with its new name–would have its own birth date. Think it over.
Not daft at all.
All three of those military services – the US Army, US Navy, and USMC – trace their formal establishment to dates in 1775. In other words, each service above traces their organizational history farther back than the existence of the USA itself – either under the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution – albeit only one of them does so continuously (the Navy and USMC were disestablished under the Articles of Confederation; the Army never was).
However, they were not the “US Army”, the “US Navy”, or the “USMC” during the revolutionary war; they were the Continental Army/Navy/Marines. Ergo, the change in names afterwards was irrelevant to their lineage and history – just as the change in name of the USRCS and USLSS to the USCG in 1915 was irrelevant to the USCG’s lineage and history. In each case, the latter-day organization inherited the history and lineage of their predecessors.
Next I suppose you’ll take issue with the 4th of July, since the USA itself didn’t exist then either? After all, the colonies were still under the Continental Congress at the time; the USA therefore didn’t yet exist; and the USA didn’t “really” (formally) become independent until the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
That the Army, Navy, and Marines were the same organizations before the US was attached to each is the point. The Coast Guard was not. It did not exist before being formed in 1915. There was no Coast Guard before there was a US Coast Guard. It is one of those pesky facts. I didn’t concoct it. If folks want to pretend that the Coast Guard dates to 1790 because one of its elements dates to that year, then–to repeat myself–the DHS was not established in 2002 any more than the USCG was established in 1915. The DHS was established in 1865. And as for being a minority voice in this or any other matter, I’m good with that. It’s not the first time. It won’t be the last.
Au contraire. The Army was decidedly not the same before and after 1947. What became the USAF was a part of the Army prior to the creation of DoD in 1947. When DoD was created The USAF “flew off” and became independent.
And regarding your comment about DHS – that would be 1790 for DHS. That’s when the USCG was established, and they’re now part of DHS. (smile)
And, actually, the USN, USMC, US Army, and USAF did exactly that (joined with the others and formed a new entity) in 1947. Last time I checked, only the USAF – which never previously existed as an independent entity – adopted that as their date of origin. And that was as much due to “appendage measuring” and the desire to stress their independence on the part of the USAF leadership as anything else. Had the USAF been sane about it, they’d have traced their origin to the procurement of the first US Army aircraft by the Signal Corps on 2 August 1909.
Dang. We invite you guys to a birthday party, and you gotta get in a squabble.
[grin]
I’m wondering if any adult beverages have been served at your table yet.
I guess this means no invite next year. No, I won’t say it. I’m struggling not to say it. Somebody, please dare me to say it!
OH, just SAY IT!!! I know that you can! Just don’t spit on yourself when you do.
No, but thanks. It had to be a dare. But enough is enough. It was fun while it lasted. Well, I had fun.
Just as an aside, the US Navy still claims its Birthday dating back to October 13, 1775 which was when the Continental Navy was founded and yet they were disbanded by congress in 1785. So how do you square that with the fact that the actual date the US Navy was established is April 30, 1798 but is not celebrated as such? Are these two Navies clearly not the same given one was officially disbanded?
You raise a new and interesting angle. The continental Navy was officially disbanded and then followed a gap of years before the US Navy was established. What was the naval situation during that gap? Google isn’t helping–yet. If anyone knows, please offer info and sources. Was there no Navy protecting the fledgling USA for a decade or so. Were the young states protecting their own shores?
It was the predecessor to the U.S. Coast Guard, the Revenue Marine, that bore that burden as piracy and smuggling were the main concerns of the fledgling U.S.
Here’s an excerpt from “A Brief History of the United States Revenue Marine” written by Lieutenant Worth Ross, U.S.R.M. on the centennial of the services founding.
Revenue-cutters have participated in all wars of the United States except the Algerine war. While action of the service in the nations defence has not been separately chronicled in history, its work has always been timely and efficient, and its record honorable. In 1797 its vessels, owing to the belligerent attitude of France, were placed on a strict war footing, and during the troublous times that followed that year were unceasing and effective agents in co-operation with the navy in maintaining the dignity and position of the government. On the cessation of hostilities the cutters resumed their functions under the Treasury Department.
Take note that 1797 there was no established US Navy having been disbanded in 1798.
Continental Navy disbanded in 1785, US Navy established in 1798.
The Revenue Marine was tasked with building and deploying 10 Cutters. Cutters were home-ported up and down the eastern seaboard.
1) Vigilant
Launched in March of 1791, Vigilant may have been the first cutter hull to enter the water. She was built at New York for service in New York waters. Her first master was Patrick Dennis. She was sold in November, 1798.
2) Active
Active launched on 9 April 1791 at Baltimore, Maryland. She patrolled the waters of the Chesapeake under the command of Master Simon Gross. She was sold in 1800.
3) General Green
General Green was launched on 7 July 1791 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was assigned to the Pennsylvania station under the command of Master James Montegomery. She was sold in December, 1797.
4) Massachusetts
Massachusetts was launched on 15 July 1791. She was built at Newburyport, Massachusetts. Her first master was John Foster Williams. She was sold on 9 October 1792.
5) Scammel
Scammel was launched on 24 August 1791. She was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Her first master was Hopley Yeaton. She was sold on 16 August 1798.
6) Argus
Argus was launched sometime in 1791. She was built at New London, Connecticut. Her first master was Jonathan Maltbie. She was sold in 1804.
7) Virginia
Virginia was launched sometime in 1791. She was built at Norfolk, Virginia. Her first master was Richard Taylor. She was sold in 1798.
8) Diligence
Diligence was launched sometime in June or July of 1792. She was built at Washington, North Carolina. Her first master was William Cook. She was sold in 1798..
9) South Carolina
South Carolina was launched in 1792. She was built at Charleston, South Carolina for service in South Carolina and nearby waters. Her first master was Robert Cochrane. She was sold on 5 June 1798.
10) Eagle
The first Eagle was launched sometime in 1793. She was built in Savannah, Georgia for service in Georgia’s waters. Her first master was John Howell. She was sold on 14 September 1799.
Interesting stuff. I did some more googling as well. My conclusion is that the US Navy’s birthday is also wrong. It’s first life was short and the Revenue Cutter Service was, for years, the only naval protection fielded by the federal gov’t. As for the Navy, it would be as if there two siblings born some 10 years apart. The first sibling died and the second took the first’s birthday as his own.
Buncha studs, that’s what they are … both men and women. Anyone who does what they willingly do has my respect. Yeah, we dump on you, but you also know it’s in fun.
“You have to go out. You don’t have to come back”. That takes more cojones than I can muster! Happy birthday, puddle pirates! And like HMC Ret says, we dump on you in fun, but we got your back if someone outside dumps on you!
Coast Guard Air Station Sitka.
’nuff said.
Happy Birthday Coasties!!!!
Friend of mine was stationed there. A Texas boy – go figure.
One of my “Scout kids” – a young lady – was on the Great Lakes. Also a Texas girl.
The must take the Alaskan boys and put them on station in Galveston…
Makes me want to break out my fishing rod.
LMAO!
Not to be confused w/ Coast Monitors. 🙂
Semper Fi Coasties.
Happy Birthday USCG!
Happy Cake and Candle Day to my brother and sister Coasties <3
Semper Paratus!
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M92ce631a9a276de73a9f3e61ab1fb513o0&w=269&h=179&c=7&rs=1&qlt=90&o=4&pid=1.1
Bummer. I was kind of hoping that the picture would show.
It’s further to my first post. Enjoy!
By the way, I LOVE Bacon’s cartoons. He really knew how to portray the funny Navy.
He was at my Chief’s initiation. Quite the entertainer.
Well, THAT didn’t work, but here’s a better one.
http://i0.wp.com/broadside.navytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/05/150511-19vindicationcolor500.jpg?resize=500%2C540
Well despite the protestations of 2/17 Air Cav better we celebrate the Coast Guard than the other famous birthday that occurs on August 4th…
Hint, he’s officially 55 years old. Least that’s what his birth certificate says….