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June

Daily Chronology of Coast Guard History

1 June

1874-The light was first lit at Spectacle Reef Lighthouse, located on a limestone reef at the northern end of Lake Huron, near the Straits of Mackinac, ten miles from land. The structure of this lighthouse was similar to that of Minots Ledge, and its construction was "a notable engineering work."

1941-The Navy organized the South Greenland Patrol. It consisted of three cutters and a Navy vessel.

1946-The Coast Guard returned to operation under the Treasury Department after the end of World War II.

1948- The Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May, New Jersey, was established as a receiving center for the initial classification, outfitting, and indoctrination of recruits. The primary reason for this move from the training station at Mayport, Florida, which was then be decommissioned, was to locate more centrally the Service's facilities for handling recruits.

3 June

1882-At 8 in the morning the three-masted schooner J.P. Decamdres, bound for Milwaukee with a cargo of cord-wood and railroad ties, stranded about one mile north of the life-saving station at the entrance to Milwaukee Harbor (No. 15, Eleventh District) and became a total wreck. Her crew of six men and a passenger were rescued by the lifesaving crew.

1941-President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order making 2,100 US Coast Guard officers and men available to man four transports, USS Leonard Wood, Hunter Liggett, Joseph T. Dickman, and Wakefield along with 22 other ships manned by US Navy personnel.

1982-USS Farragut towed two vessels seized by the Coast Guard to San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the first time that a Navy ship took an active role in law enforcement and the interdiction of drug smuggling in the Caribbean.

4 June

1954-USS Asterion and SS Kokoku Maru collided in a heavy fog 40 miles west of San Francisco, killing one crewman of the latter ship and injuring three others. The Coast Guard cutters Magnolia, Comanche, Avoyel, and patrol boat CG-95311, as well as two commercial tugs, converged on the scene. Comanche and Magnolia successfully removed all 43 survivors from the disabled Kokoku Maru, all of whom were subsequently delivered safely ashore. Although Asterion was able to proceed under its own power, the Japanese ship had to be towed by the commercial tugs to San Francisco. When the bilge pumps on one of the tugs failed, Coast Guard aircraft dropped emergency pumping equipment to control the flooding. The two tugs then successfully towed the Kokoku Maru into San Francisco harbor.

5 June

1794-The Third Congress authorized an additional 10 revenue cutters and gave the Treasury Department the responsibility for lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and piers.

1912-Senator Charles E. Townsend of Michigan introduced a bill to consolidate Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service to form the Coast Guard. The bill became law on 28 January 1915.

6 June

1900-Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to establish anchorage grounds at Kennebec River, Maine.

The Novarupta-Katmai Volcano erupted near Kodiak, Alaska, from 6 to 9 June, 1912. Revenue Cutter Manning and other cutters as well as personnel assisted in relief efforts, including providing fresh water to the inhabitants of Kodiak, distributing relief supplies, and building a new village for the displaced inhabitants. The new village was named Perry after the commanding officer of Manning, Revenue Captain K. W. Perry, USRCS. Captain Perry also established a refugee camp for persons displaced by the falling ash.

1944-A total of 99 Coast Guard cutters, Coast Guard-manned warships and landing craft participated in the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe at Normandy, France. The Coast Guard-manned landing craft LCI(L)s-85, 91, 92, and 93 were lost at the Omaha beachhead that day. Sixty cutters sailed in support of the invasion forces as well, acting as search and rescue craft for each of the five landing beaches. A Coast Guard manned assault transport, the USS Bayfield, served as the command and control vessel for the landings at Utah Beach. Coast Guard officers commanded one of the assault groups that landed troops on Omaha Beach that morning.

1945-Coast Guard-manned USS Sheepscot (AOG-24) went aground and was lost off Iwo Jima. No lives were lost.

1985-CGC Polar Sea departed Seattle for a voyage through the Northwest Passage by way of the Panama Canal, the east coast, and then Greenland, sparking an international incident with Canada. She completed the first solo circumnavigation of the North American continent by a U.S. vessel and the first trip by a Polar-Class icebreaker. She also captured the record for the fastest transit of the historic northern route. She arrived back in Seattle on 27 October 1985.

1993-The 150-foot tramp steamer Golden Venture ran aground on Rockaway beach in New York with some 300 illegal Chinese migrants on board. Ten drowned or died of hypothermia, six vanished and the rest were rescued by the Coast Guard and local agencies.

7 June

1902-The Alaskan Game Law was passed and it was to be enforced by the Revenue Cutter Service "on request" of the Secretary of Agriculture. It was not effectively enforced by Coast Guard until 1925, however.

1924-Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act and the enforcement responsibility was assigned to the Coast Guard.

8 June

1882-The sloop-rigged yacht Circe, of Cleveland, was dismasted at 1 o’clock in the afternoon about a mile outside of Cleveland Harbor. The crew of Station No. 8, Ninth District (Cleveland), discovered the accident and towed her safely into the harbor.

1973-The first women since World War II graduated from the Reserve Officer Candidate Program (OCS) and were commissioned ensigns. They trained aboard CGC Unimak for a two-week cruise, thereby becoming the first women to see service afloat.

9 June

1910-Congress passed the Motor Boat Act (Public Law 61-201, 36 Stat. 462). The Federal authority to regulate uninspected vessels originated with the passage of this Act, which established standards with respect to navigation lights, machinery requirements, life preservers, and for the licensing of operators on small vessels (under 65-feet in length) carrying passengers. It applied only to vessels "that are propelled by machinery other than steam."

1990-The 853-foot Norwegian tanker Mega Borg exploded near Galveston, Texas, killing two of her crew. Coast Guard units consisting of 500 Coast Guardsmen fought the fires and cleaned up the resulting oil spill. The units included CGCs Buttonwood, Point Spencer, Steadfast, Valiant and Cushing. Steadfast became the on-scene commander and maintained communications between the operations center at MSO Galveston and personnel fighting the fire. Salvia worked with Navy skimmers seven miles from shore in the Sabine Pass area. The Atlantic and Pacific Strike Teams brought people and equipment from across the country and MSOs in Houston, Mobile, Morgan City, New Orleans, and Port Arthur sent personnel to assist MSO Galveston.

2001- Coast Guard Group Operations Center in Galveston, Texas, was inundated with calls for assistance after Tropical Storm Allison dumped over 36 inches of rain in a three-day period, causing massive flooding in and around Houston. Coast Guard flood punts and helicopters rescued over 220 persons.

10 June

1872-Congress ordered that Life-Saving stations were to be erected "under supervision of two captains of the revenue service." An Act of Congress authorized government life-saving stations on Cape Cod and Block Island.

1922-Congress readjusted pay and allowances of Coast Guard commissioned and enlisted personnel on basis of equality with other services. Until this time a Coast Guard captain was equivalent to a Navy lieutenant commander.

11 June

1764-Sandy Hook Lighthouse, at the south point of the entrance to New York Harbor, was first lighted. Today, its octagonal tower, built by Mr. Isaac Conro of New York City with money collected by a group of New York merchants, is the oldest original light tower still standing and in use in the United States.

1966-Finding itself disabled and adrift two miles from Cape Kubugakli, Alaska, the fishing vessel Katy C radioed for assistance. A Coast Guard helicopter, after ascertaining that the ship was unable to anchor by herself, took her in tow until she was out of danger.

12 June

1813- Revenue cutter Surveyor, at anchor in the York River, Virginia, was surprised by a three-barge attack force launched from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Narcissus. Outnumbered 50 to 15, the cuttermen wounded seven and killed three of the enemy before the cutter was captured. The British commanding officer of Narcissus was so impressed by "the determined way in which her deck was disputed, inch by inch," in hand-to-hand combat, he returned to Revenue Captain William Travis, the commanding officer of Surveyor, "the sword you had so nobly used."

1917-An Act of Congress appropriated $300,000 to enable the U .S. Coast Guard to extend its telephone system to include all Coast Guard stations not then connected as well as the most important light stations with no means of rapid communication. The Life-Saving Service had pioneered the use of the telephone beginning in the 1880s, linking the various stations along the nation's coast with the new communication device.

1925- Lake Huron Lightship radio fog signal was placed in commission, being the first signal of this kind on the Great Lakes.

1999-The small cruise vessel Wilderness Adventurer ran aground in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. All passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the stranded vessel. The responders from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Coast Guard, and Glacier Bay Tours and Cruises (which operated the vessel) then successfully refloated her and towed her to drydock. Oil containment booms contained the 300 gallons of fuel that leaked from the vessel. A Coast Guard spokesman later stated "This is the best-run multi-agency operation I've seen in my career. It went well. We still have a damaged vessel to take care of, but at least it's not at the bottom of the ocean in a national park." The Coast Guard also investigated the accident.

13 June

1929-Coast Guard Radio Technician A. G. Descoteaux became the first person to broadcast from an aircraft. In a Loening amphibian, he reported the takeoff of a French aircraft on a trans-Atlantic flight at Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The account was relayed by ground equipment to an extensive national hookup and was received by U.S. and foreign listeners.

1942-Coast Guardsman John C. Cullen (Seaman 2/c) discovered Nazi saboteurs landing on beach at Amagansett, Long Island. He reported this to his superiors. The FBI later captured the Nazis and Cullen was awarded the Legion of Merit.

1942-CGC Thetis sank the German U-boat U-157 off the Florida Keys. There were no survivors.

1943-CGC Escanaba exploded and sank off Ivigtut, Greenland, with only two survivors. The cause for the loss has never been confirmed.

14 June

1775-The official birthday of the U.S. Army: it was on this date in 1775 that the Continental Congress adopted "the American continental army." The Army's motto is: "This We’ll Defend."

1906-Congress passed the first regulatory fishing law for Alaska. The new law was enforced by the Revenue Cutter Service.

1941-CGC Duane rescued 46 survivors from the torpedoed SS Tresillian.

1996-CGC Mellon seized the Polish fishing vessel Admiral Arciszewski after it was found to be illegally fishing in U.S. waters 385 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor. CGC Steadfast escorted the fishing vessel into Kodiak.

15 June

1904-Nearly 1,000 lives were lost when the steamboat General Slocum caught fire in the East River in New York. The disaster led to improved safety regulations and life-saving equipment.

1917-Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Espionage Act, authorizing the Treasury Secretary to assume control of U.S. ports, control ship movements, establish anchorages and supervise the loading and storage of explosive cargoes. The authority was immediately delegated to the Coast Guard and formed the basis for the formation of the Coast Guard's Captain of the Ports and the Port Security Program.

1944-Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasion of Saipan, Marianas. The Coast Guard-manned transports that took part in the invasion included the USS Cambria, Arthur Middleton, Callaway, Leonard Wood, LST-19, LST-23, LST-166 and LST-169.

1949-Two hundred and forty-eight unidentified victims of the 1945 explosion of the U.S. Coast Guard-manned Serpens at Guadalcanal were buried in Arlington National Cemetery in what was described as the largest recommittal on record.
1986-Commandant ADM Paul Yost banned the wearing of beards by Coast Guard personnel.

2009-Law Enforcement officers from the 14th Coast Guard District reported aboard the USS Crommelin (FFG-37) to support U.S. Coast Guard fisheries enforcement in Oceania in an operation called the "Fight for Fish" mission. It marked the first time a Navy warship was utilized "to transit the Western Pacific enforcing fishing regulations in a joint effort with the Coast Guard to stop illegal fishing in this region."

16 June

1880-An Act of Congress (21 Stat. L., 259, 263) provided that "masters of light-house tenders shall have police powers in matters pertaining to government property and smuggling."

1966-The freighter Alva Cape and tanker Texaco Massachusetts collided in New York Harbor near Third Coast Guard District Headquarters on Governor's Island. Thirty-three crewmen perished in the ensuing explosion. Coast Guard units responded and the rescue effort garnered significant national media attention.

17 June

1832-The practice of utilizing "surplus" naval officers as officers of the Revenue Marine was discontinued. Revenue officer vacancies were henceforth filled by promotion from within the service.
1910-An Act of Congress (36 Stat. L., 534) abolished the Lighthouse Board and created the Bureau of Lighthouses to have complete charge of the Lighthouse Service. This law constituted the organic act under which the Lighthouse Service operated thereafter.

1942-The Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet ordered the organization of coastal pickets to combat the "submarine menace" off the Atlantic Coast. The hodge-podge fleet of primarily small private recreational craft taken into government service under Coast Guard direction became known as the "Corsair Fleet."
1983-National Narcotics Border Interdiction System (NNBIS) began operations under the direction of Vice President George Bush and the executive board consisting of Secretaries of State, Transportation and Defense, the Attorney General, the Counselor to the President, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director of the White House Drug Abuse Policy Office. "U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps airborne and seaborne craft, intelligence, technology, surveillance, and manpower now are used to augment operations by the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Border Patrol, and the U.S. Attorney's Office. The system provides a coordinated national and international interagency network for prioritizing interdiction targets, identifying resources, recommending the most effective action, and coordinating joint special actions."

18 June

1812-The United States declared war against Great Britain.

1838-The steamboat Pulaski, a passenger vessel traveling between Baltimore and Charleston, suffered a boiler explosion while at sea, killing over 100 passengers and crew. This was one of three fatal steamboat boiler explosions within as many months that forced the Federal Government to begin regulating merchant steam vessels.

1878-On 18 June 1878 Congress established the U.S. Life-Saving Service as a separate agency under the control of the Treasury Department (20 Stat. L., 163).

1878-The 45th Congress enacted a rider on an Army appropriations bill that became known as the Posse Comitatus Act [Chapter 263, Section 15, U.S. Statutes, Vol. 20.] This act limited military involvement in civil law enforcement leaving the Revenue Cutter Service as the only military force consistently charged with federal law enforcement on the high seas and in U.S. waters. The rider prohibited the use of the Army in domestic civilian law enforcement without Constitutional or Congressional authority. The use of the Navy was prohibited by regulation and the rider was amended in 1976 outlawing the use of the Air Force. In 1981, however, new legislation allowed the Secretary of Defense to bring Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps support to civilian authorities in intelligence, equipment, base and research facilities, and related training.

1903-Alaska’s first coastal lighthouse, Scotch Cap Lighthouse, was first lit. It was located near the west end of Unimak Island on the Pacific side of Unimak Pass, the main passage through the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea.

1930-An Act of Congress provided "for the transfer of the old lighthouse at Cape Henry, Virginia, to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities."

1938-The first low power, unattended "secondary" radio aid to navigation was established at St. Ignace, Michigan.

1995-The 736-foot cruise ship Celebration suffered an engine-room fire and lost power while off the coast of San Salvador, Bahamas. CGC Forward responded and was designated as the on-scene commander. CGC Vigorous was also diverted to lend assistance. The cruise ship's Halon system put out the fire but she was drifting dangerously close to shore. The Forward then towed her throughout the night away from shore until the arrival of commercial tugs the next day. A Coast Guard helicopter medevaced one passenger. On 20 June the crew of the Forward and MSO Miami team members stood by while the 1,735 passengers still aboard were transferred from the Celebration to the cruise ship Ecstasy, which had arrived in the area. The Ecstasy then sailed for Miami and the Celebration, with one engine then on-line, sailed to Freeport for repairs.

1999-CGC Midgett departed its homeport of Seattle for a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. Midgett was attached to a Navy carrier battle group and its crew brought the Coast Guard's expertise in boarding ships to the group. Once in the Gulf, the cutter's primary mission was to enforce United Nations' sanctions against illegal Iraq petroleum shipments and conduct SAR operations.

19 June

1845-The Secretary of the Treasury had Lieutenants Thornton A. Jenkins and Richard Bache detailed from the Navy and sent abroad to procure information that might tend to the improvement of the lighthouse system of the United States. Subsequently, when the Secretary submitted the report of these two naval officers and asked that a board be appointed to consider thoroughly the matter of lighthouse improvements. No legislative action resulted.

1876-The first Gold Life Saving Medals ever awarded was presented to Lucien M. Clemens and his brothers Hubbard M. Clemons and Al J. Clemons. On 1 May 1875 the Clemens' brothers "displayed the most signal gallantry in saving two men from the wreck of the schooner Consuelo" in an open rowboat. Five others on board the schooner perished when the schooner capsized in the heavy seas "with the wind blowing a gale from the northeast" before the brothers arrived on scene.

1992-In a joint operation with INS, the Coast Guard assisted in the seizure of the 167-foot Belize-registered freighter Lucky No. 1, her 15-man crew, and 117 illegal Chinese migrants that were aboard. The seizure took place off Oahu.

20 June

1874-An Act of Congress provided for lifesaving stations on the coasts of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida, as well as on the Great Lakes and the Pacific Coast.

1874-The first Life Saving Medal enactment was passed, which was updated in 1878 and 1882. Ship masters were also required to report accidents and death in order to gather data to aid in evaluating sites for search and rescue stations.

1906- Congress passed the Sponge Fishing Act and directed that the Revenue Cutter Service enforce it.

1918-An Act of Congress (40 Stat. L., 607, 608) changed the designation of Lighthouse Inspectors, who were in charge of the 19 lighthouse districts, to that of Superintendents of Lighthouses.

1964-CGC Reliance, the first of the Coast Guard's new 210-foot medium endurance cutter class, was commissioned.

1966-CGC Point League attacked and crippled a North Vietnamese junk attempting to run the Navy’s Market Time blockade. The action continued into the next day as the junk stranded itself on the shore and its crew fired a demolition charge, destroying their ship.

21 June

1944-Cutters 83415 and 83477 assigned to Rescue Flotilla One wrecked off coast of Normandy, France during a storm - no lives were lost. This is the storm that wrecked the artificial harbor constructed by the Allies off the coast of Normandy.

1979-On 21 June 1979, SN Ina J. Toavs was awarded the Coast Guard Medal, the first woman to receive the award.

22 June

1818-Boarding parties from the Revenue cutter Dallas seized the privateer Young Spartan, her crew, and the privateer's prize, the Pastora, off Savannah, Georgia. The crew of the Pastora had been set adrift and their fate remained unknown. The New York Evening Post noted that the crew of the privateer had committed offenses "that can only be expiated by making their exits on the gallows." (July 3, 1818 issue).

1936-Congress passed an act to define jurisdiction of Coast Guard. In one of of the most sweeping grants of police authority ever written into U.S. law, Congress designated the Coast Guard as the federal agency for "enforcement of laws generally on the high seas and navigable waters of the United States."

1940-Port Security responsibilities were undertaken again for the first time since World War I when President Franklin Roosevelt invoked the Espionage Act of 1917. The Coast Guard was to govern anchorage and movement of all vessels in U.S. waters and to protect vessels, harbors, and inland or coastal waterways of the U.S. The Dangerous Cargo Act gave the Coast Guard jurisdiction over ships with high explosives and dangerous cargoes.

1948-Congress enacted Public Law 738, which authorized the operation of floating ocean stations for the purpose of providing search and rescue communication and air-navigation facilities, and meteorological services in such ocean areas as are regularly traversed by aircraft of the United States.

1965-Coast Guard forces in Vietnam fired their first shot of the war when LT John M. Cece, commanding CGC Point Orient, gave the order to "commence fire" while patrolling the 17th Parallel. The cutter was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One.

1977-Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams introduced Ensign Beverly G. Kelley and Boatswain's Mate 3/c Debra Lee Wilson during a press conference as two of 12 women who had been assigned to sea duty. "This is the first time in Coast Guard history that women have been sent to sea." Both women had orders to report to the Morgenthau later that year.

1982-The first successful hostage rescue at sea occurred when a combined Coast Guard-FBI boarding party deployed from CGC Alert took control of the 890-foot Liberian-flagged motor tanker Ypapanti. The incident began on 16 May 1982 when the Ypapanti anchored off the entrance to Delaware Bay after it was denied entrance to U.S. waters by COTP Philadelphia, due to the lack of required safety equipment aboard. Initially the CGCs Hornbeam, Active and Point Franklin responded. After the situation stabilized, Active and Point Franklin departed while Hornbeam stood by the tanker to monitor the situation and to act as on scene commander; she was relieved on 29 May by Alert. During the next few days the tanker's crew mutinied and seized control of the tanker from the master in a wage dispute. After a prolonged period of unsuccessful negotiations and threats by the crew to kill various officers and to set fire to the vessel, the Alert went alongside the tanker on 22 June 1982. A senior Coast Guard negotiating team went aboard to present one last wage / repatriation offer to the crew. When this offer was rejected a combined Coast Guard / FBI boarding team went aboard from the Alert and took control of the Ypapanti without injury. The vessel was then returned to the control of the master and 12 loyal crewmen. Twenty-four mutineers were detained on board the Alert and were transferred to the custody of the INS in Cape May.

23 June

1716-The Province of Massachusetts authorized the erection of the first lighthouse in America. It was built on Great Brewster Island in Boston Harbor.

1817-The cutter Active forced a South American privateer posing as an armed merchantman to leave the Chesapeake Bay and American waters.

1895-USRC Windom was launched. She was the service's first attempt at "modern" ship construction and was designed by the Coast Guard's Engineering Division, complete with in-house staff naval architects and engineers. Windom was the first cutter to have a modern powerplant, in this case a triple-expansion steam engine, and a fully watertight hull with transverse and longitudinal bulkheads. She was capable of making a top speed of 15 knots.

1939-Congress created the Coast Guard Reserve which later became what is today the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

24 June

1914-Congress authorized the Secretary of Treasury to "detail for duty on revenue cutters such surgeons and other persons of the Public Health Service as. . .necessary" and for cutters with such medical personnel aboard to extend medical and surgical aid to crews of American vessels engaged in deep sea fisheries. This Act of Congress (38 Stat. L., 387) regularized procurement and assignment procedures of Public Health Service personnel to revenue cutters, launching a partnership between the two services that continues to this day.

1930-An Act of Congress provided "that light keepers and vessel officers and crews, who during their active service were entitled to medical relief at hospitals and other stations of the Public Health Service, may be given such relief after retirement as is now applicable to retired officers and men in other branches of the Government service, under joint regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce."

1938-Under an Executive Order of this date, "about 35 positions of steward on lighthouse tenders were brought under the classified civil service."

1995-CGC Juniper was launched, the first of the new 225-foot Juniper Class buoy tenders.

25 June

1936-"The act of June 25, 1936 was in reality an amendment to the Seamen’s Act of 1915, and had been called the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. This law provided for (1) "qualifications, examinations, and issuance of certificates of service or efficiency to unlicensed personnel; (2) the issuance of continuous discharge books to all seagoing personnel," a three-watch eight-hour day, and certain citizenship requirements. The act greatly increased the workload of the shipping commissioners, particularly in providing for the issuance of discharge books and various certificates. This had the effect of both increasing the efficiency of unlicensed personnel and raising the dignity of the profession."

2002- U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Michael Jackson, joined by U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thomas H. Collins, announced the award of the Integrated Deepwater System (IDS) contract. It was the largest acquisition project in the history of the Coast Guard.

26 June

1944-LCDR Quentin R. Walsh and his commando unit forced the surrender of Fort du Homet, a Nazi stronghold at Cherbourg, France, captured 300 German soldiers and liberated 50 U.S. paratroopers who had been captured on D-Day. For his heroic actions Walsh was awarded the Navy Cross.

1948-In order to implement the expanded postwar activities of the Coast Guard in the field of aids to navigation, Congress approved Public Law 786, which provided legislative authority for the Coast Guard to establish and operate maritime aids for the armed forces and LORAN stations essential for the armed forces and maritime and air commerce of the United States.

27 June

1851-The British bark Henry stranded off Bridgehampton Beach, Long Island with 204 persons on board. All were safely landed with government surf boat.

2003-CGC Walnut, homeported in Honolulu, returned home after being deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She deployed to the North Arabian Gulf in January with an oil spill recovery system in the event the regime of Saddam Hussein committed any acts of environmental terrorism. When those threats did not materialize, the cutter conducted maritime interception operations enforcing U.N. Security Council resolutions, participated in the search for two downed United Kingdom helicopters, and patrolled and provided assistance to captured Iraqi offshore oil terminals being secured by Coast Guard port security personnel. The cutter’s crew completely replaced 30 buoys and repaired an additional five along the 41-mile Khawr Abd Allah Waterway. This ATON mission vastly improved the navigational safety of the waterway for humanitarian aid, commercial, and military vessels sailing to the port and was a critical step to economic recovery for the people of Iraq.

28 June

1946-Peacetime cruises for the cadets of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London Connecticut, were revived.

29 June

1820-On 29 June 1820 the Revenue cutter Dallas captured the 12-gun brig-of-war General Ramirez, which was loaded with 280 slaves, off St. Augustine. The 8 July 1820 issue of the Savannah Republican noted:

"On the 28th ultimo, while the Cutter DALLAS was lying in the St. Mary's River, Captain Jackson received information that the Brig of war GENERAL RAMIREZ, supposed to be a piratical vessel was hovering off St. Augustine. The Cutter forthwith got under way in pursuit of the Brig having first obtained 12 United States soldiers from Fernandina to strengthen the Cutter's force. At half past three the next day, she hailed the Brig and received for answer, "This is the Patriot Brig GENERAL RAMIREZ----." Captain Jackson finding a number of blacks on board took possession of the vessel and brought her into St. Mary's, arriving on the 1st instant. Captain Jackson found on the Brig about 280 African slaves. The Captain and crew, 28 in number, acknowledged themselves Americans."
1944-CDR Frank A. Erickson landed a helicopter on the flight deck of CGC Cobb. This was the first rotary-wing aircraft-shipboard landing by Coast Guard personnel.

1950-The Coast Guard adopted a Navy directive relative to security measures, including precautions against possible sabotage at installations and aboard ships.

1982- The Soviet Union launched COSPAS I, the first search and rescue satellite ever launched. In combination with later SARSAT satellites, a new multi-agency, international, search and rescue service was made operational.

30 June

1932-The Steamboat Inspection Service and Bureau of Navigation were combined to form the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection (47 Stat. L., 415). The new agency remained under the control of the Commerce Department.

1933-The airways division, which had been conducted as a division of the Lighthouse Service, but under the administrative supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics, Department of Commerce, was separated from the Lighthouse Service. (USLHS AR 1933, p. 97).

1939-"The total personnel of the Service as of June 30, 1939, was 5,355, consisting of 4,119 full—time and 1,156 part—time employees, the former including 1, 170 light keepers and assistants; 56 light attendants; 1,995 officers and crews of lightships and tenders; 113 Bureau officers, engineers and draftsmen, and district superintendents and technical assistants; 226 clerks, messengers, janitors, and office laborers; 157 depot keepers and assistants, including watchmen and laborers; and 482 field-force employees engaged in construction and repair work."

1939-"At the end of the year, the total number of lighthouse tenders was 65, of which 64 were in commission and ‘.1 was out of commission and advertised for sale. Of the vessels in commission, 42 were steam-propelled, 18 had diesel engines, and 4 had diesel-electric drive. The average age of the fleet of tenders is 19.52 years. There are 10 tenders, aggregating 8,535 tons, 35 years of age and over. Thirty lighthouse tenders are equipped with radiotelegraph; 38 with radio direction finders; and 55 with radiotelephones."

1939-"Lightships were maintained on 30 stations during the year. At the close of the year, the total number of lightships was 43, which included 9 relief ships and 4 ships out of commission."

1939-"The total number of aids to navigation maintained by the Lighthouse Service at the close of the fiscal year was 29,606, a net increase of 849 over the previous year."

1942- The Coast Guard's Beach Patrol Division was established at Coast Guard Headquarters under the command of Captain Raymond J. Mauerman, USCG.

1946-The general World War II demobilization task was completed with all Separation Centers decommissioned, resulting in a reduced number of Coast Guard personnel to 23,000 officers and enlisted personnel from a wartime peak of about 171,000 on 30 June 1945.

1946-By this date, all lightships removed from their stations as a war measure had been restored, except Fire Island Lightship which had been replaced by a large-type whistle buoy offshore and a radio-beacon on shore at Fire Island Light Station, New York.

1946-The U .S. Navy returned the Coast Guard’s eleven air stations to the operational control of the Coast Guard.

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