February
Daily Chronology of Coast Guard History
1 February
- 1871- Using his administrative authority, Secretary of the Treasury George S. Boutwell re-established a Revenue Marine Bureau and assigned Sumner I. Kimball as the civilian Chief with the duty of administering both the revenue cutters and the life-saving stations.
- 1938- The Lighthouse Service Radio Laboratory was moved from the shops of the lighthouse depot in Detroit, Michigan, "to the Lazaretto Lighthouse Depot in Baltimore, Md., where a building had been constructed providing more adequately for this Important branch of the work of the Service."
- 1942- Enlistees after this date were restricted to enlistment in the USCG Reserve. This was done to prevent having too many enlistees in the service at war’s end.
- 1944- Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasion of Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll.
2 February
- 1944- Coast Guardsmen participated in the landings at Saldor, New Guinea.
3 February
1801- Treaty of peace with France was ratified on this date, thereby ending the "Quasi-War" with France, in which cutters of the Revenue Marine had rendered outstanding service.
1880- Date of a terrific gale on the New Jersey coast. Six vessels came ashore with 47 persons on board all but two survived. Nineteen USLSS crewmen won Gold Life-Saving Medals during the wreck of George Taulane.
- 1943- The torpedoing of the transport Dorchester off the coast of Greenland saw CGCs Comanche and Escanaba respond. The crew of Escanaba used a new rescue technique when pulling survivors from the water. This "retriever" technique used swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship. Although Escanaba saved 133 men (one died later) and Comanche saved 97, over 600 men were lost, including the famous "Four Chaplains" who gave up their lifejackets to those that did not have one and went down with the ship.
- 1997-The 660-foot freighter Contship Houston ran aground on a coral reef 12 miles southeast of Key West in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The vessel, under Coast Guard supervision, was safely floated off the reef some 144 hours later.
4 February
1859- U.S. signs "Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation" with Paraguay at Asuncion after the revenue cutter Harriet Lane, as part of a US Navy expedition, forced the opening of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers.
1863- Commissioned officers of the Revenue Cutter Service were to be appointed by the President by and with advice and consent of the Senate. This act contained the first statutory use of term "Revenue Cutter Service." Previous laws referred only to "revenue cutters".
1982- The Attorney General, William Smith, declared at a press conference that Operation Tiburon was "the most successful international marijuana interdiction effort to date." The operation began in November, 1980, and accounted for the seizure of 95 vessels. It was a combined operation that included elements of the Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Customs Service and various state and local law enforcement agencies.
1999- The 639-foot freighter New Carissa ran aground north of Coos Bay, Oregon. Coast Guard helicopter crews rescued 23 crewmembers but the vessel remained firmly aground and attempts to refloat her failed. A unified command made up of Coast Guard and Navy personnel as well as marine salvors attempted to prevent a catastrophic oil spill as the ship began breaking apart. The team decided to set the oil on board the New Carissa on fire so it would burn away before being spilled and fouling the shore. It was the largest "in situ" burn ever tried in U.S. waters and it consumed a significant amount of the oil aboard the New Carissa. The Coast Guard's annual report for that year noted: "While some oil did spill out of the vessel, the unified command's efforts greatly reduced the potential environmental damage to the Oregon coast." The ship eventually broke in two and her bow section was towed to sea and sunk by the Navy.
5 February
1882- The schooner Mary L. Vankirk, bound for Philadelphian from South Creek, Pamlico Sound, NC. carrying a crew of five men, encountered heavy weather. She lost sails and sprung a leak, so that before long she became water-logged and almost unmanageable. In this condition it was determined to run to leeward and seek refuge in Hatteras Inlet. Matters, however, became worse and it was decided to beach the vessel. She was discovered heading for the land by the crew of Station No. 18, Sixth District (Chicamicomico, NC. The surfboat was run out, but the life-saving crew returned to the station for the breeches-buoy apparatus. The latter arrived abreast of the schooner at 8:15, fifteen minutes after she struck the bar about half a mile north of the station. The schooner was so close that the keeper was able to wade out into the water and cast a heaving-line to those huddled in the rigging. As quickly as possible, the men in the rigging hauled off the whip-line. The breeches-buoy was soon rigged and went spinning out to the vessel. All five men were safely landed.
1946- Four Coast Guardsmen from Willapa Harbor Lifeboat Station perished while searching for two crab fishermen feared lost in Williapa Bay. The men were: BMC Joseph W. Miller, USCG; MM 1/c Geloyd J. Simmons, USCG; Coxswain James R. Graves, USCG; S 1/c Howard W. Hampton, USCG.
6 February
1893- Secretary of Treasury authorized to define and establish anchorage grounds for vessels in harbor of Chicago and adjacent waters of Lake Michigan.
1942- CGC Nike rescued 38 persons from China Arrow off Ocean City, Maryland.
1990- Two Coast Guard Air Station Houston crews were the first to receive the Igor I. Sikorsky Award for Humanitarian Service. The award was presented by the Helicopter Association International at their Dallas convention. The crews were honored for their rescue of seven fishermen during Hurricane Chantal last year. They flew through driving rain, winds in excess of 65 miles-per-hour, thunderstorms and squalls to rescue the men from their capsized boat.
1996- Alas Airlines Flight 301 crashed off the Dominican Republic and Coast Guard units conduct search and rescue operations.
1996- Coast Guard units responded to calls of assistance due to severe flooding throughout the Pacific Northwest.
7 February
- 1914-Pursuant to the Convention for Safety at Sea in London, President Woodrow Wilson directed that the Revenue Cutter Service undertake the task of manning the International Ice Patrol. Henceforth, the Revenue Cutter Service and the Coast Guard, with brief respites during both World Wars, served in this capacity.
- 1942- Presidential order created the War Shipping Administration which assumed control over all phases of merchant marine activities.
- 1943-During a fierce convoy battle near Greenland, the CGC Ingham rescued 33 survivors from the torpedoed troopship SS Henry Mallory while the Bibb rescued 202. Bibb then rescued 33 from the torpedoed Kalliopi.
1969- CGC Tern, commissioned on this date and stationed in New York, embodied an advanced concept in servicing aids to navigation. Her over-the-stern gantry system of handling buoys was unique. The automation and modernization of over-age, isolated lighthouses and light stations showed significant progress this year. A new, more effective version of the LAMP (Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Project) plan was promulgated in this year.
1980- The CGC Cape Horn saved all six crewmen of the F/V Hattie Rose in a dramatic night-time rescue. The Hattie Rose, a Gloucester-based 75-foot stern trawler, began taking on water in 25-foot seas and 45-knot winds, 15 miles east of Provincetown. Sea and wind conditions prevented a rescue by air and so the Cape Horn, under the command of LTJG William L. Ross, and 11 crewmen, diverted from one SAR case to go to the Hattie Rose's assistance. The F/V Paul and Dominic, standing nearby the stricken vessel, helped direct the cutter to the area. The Cape Horn's crew got a line to the men, now standing on the bow which was still afloat, and pulled four of the crew to safety aboard the cutter. The line parted, however, and the two remaining fishermen began drifting away, but two of the Cape Horn's crew, Duncan Grant and Thomas Jennings, leaped into the 35-degree water and secured a line around the two. They were all then hauled safely aboard.
2003-The CGC Matagorda, a 110-foot Island Class patrol boat, became the first cutter to begin the Integrated Deepwater System modernization and life extension overhaul when she was decommissioned on 7 February 2003 at the Bollinger Shipyard in Lockport, LA.
8 February
- 1958-A U.S. Navy P5M aircraft enroute from San Juan to Norfolk lost one engine and changed course to the island of San Salvador, British West Indies, to attempt a night ditching. AIRSTA Miami sent up a Coast Guard UF amphibian plane, later reinforced by a second amphibian. After contacting the disabled US Navy plane, the pilot of the first amphibian talked the Navy pilot out of attempting to ditch without benefit of illumination and alerted the commanding officer of the Coast Guard LORAN station on San Salvador for assistance after ditching. In true Coast Guard tradition, the LORAN station's CO borrowed a truck and an 18-foot boat to assist. The commanding officer managed to be on the scene 1 1/2 miles offshore, when the Navy P5M landed with two minutes of fuel remaining. While one of the amphibians provided additional illumination, the Navy plane was guided through a dangerous reef to a mooring, using her operative port engine. There were no casualties.
- 2007-The CGC Storis was decommissioned after 64 years of service.
9 February
- 1965-A commercial CD-7 with 84 persons on board exploded in midair off Jones Beach, Long Island. Despite an extensive search by 7 Coast Guard cutters, 6 Coast Guard aircraft, and a US Navy tug, no survivors were located. Only 9 bodies and various pieces of debris were located and recovered.
- 1968-CG cutters Androscoggin, Minnetonka, and Winona, along with 82 footers and Navy assets, on patrol in Vietnamese waters, thwarted a Communist attempt to run four trawlers through the Market Time blockade off the coast of South Vietnam. The cutters sank three of the trawlers and forced the fourth to return to Hainan Island without landing her cargo. The defeat of this attempted re-supply was hailed as "the most significant naval victory of the Vietnam campaign."
10 February
- 1840- A House resolution was introduced to inquire into transferring the Revenue Marine to the Navy.
- 1940-CGCs Bibb and Duane became the first vessels to make radio transmissions as "weather stations."
1992- Retired Coast Guard Chief Journalist Alex Haley, internationally noted author and the first person to ever hold that rate in the Coast Guard, died of a heart attack.
1995-The 689-foot tank ship Mormac Star, carrying more than 4.7 million gallons of Jet A fuel and nearly 5.7 million gallons of number 2 diesel fuel, ran aground in Sandy Hook Channel, two miles off the beaches of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, spilling 33,600 gallons. COTP New York responded. Other responding units included Stations New York and Sandy Hook, VTS New York, and the Atlantic Area Strike Team. The spill was successfully contained and the vessel salvaged.
11 February
- 1973-Due to "Vietnamization", the draw-down of U.S. forces in Vietnam, the post of Senior Coast Guard Officer, Vietnam was discontinued.
12 February
1802- Revenue Marine had a total of 38 commissioned officers in service: 9 captains, 10 first mates, 9 second mates and 10 third mates.
1983-The 605-foot collier Marine Electric capsized and sank off Virginia during a gale. Three of the 34 crewmen on board were rescued by Coast Guard and Navy assets. This sinking contributed to the establishment of a permanent rescue swimmer program for the Coast Guard.
1986- Rains began in northern California that lasted for a week, causing severe flooding. Coast Guard units participated in rescue and relief operations.
- 1997- Three of four crewmembers of MLB-44363 out of the Quillayute River Motor Lifeboat Station were lost when responding to a distress call from the sailing vessel Gale Runner.
13 February
1960- A Coast Guard R5D aircraft from Honolulu dropped a pump to the Japanese training vessel Toyama Maru, which had radioed that it was taking on water and was in danger of sinking off Palmyra Island. The pump controlled flooding until the arrival of CGC Bering Strait, whose crew made repairs to the Japanese vessel, using 2,500 pounds of sand and cement parachuted by a Honolulu-based SC-130B plane.
1969- The National Transportation Safety Board issued its "Study of Recreational Boat Accidents, Boating Safety Programs, and Preventive Recommendations".
1991- Two HU-25A Falcon jets from Air Station Cape Cod, equipped with AIREYE technology depart for Saudi Arabia for the Inter-agency oil spill assessment team use. They were accompanied in flight by two C-130 aircraft from Air Station Clearwater carrying parts and deployment packages.
14 February
1903- An Act of Congress (31 Stat. L., 826, 827) that created the Department of Commerce and Labor provided for the transfer of the Lighthouse Service from the Treasury Department. This allowed the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to succeed to the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury under the existing legislation.
15 February
1911- Congress transferred Fort Trumbull, New London, Connecticut from the War Department to the Treasury Department for the use of the Revenue Cutter Service as its cadet training school.
1943- CGC Calypso removed 42 persons from lifeboat of SS Buarque (Brazil) east of Cape Henry.
1980- The 70-foot fishing vessel Donna Catalina sank 40 miles south of Nantucket Island. After pumps lowered to the four-man crew failed to keep up with the flooding, a Coast Guard helicopter lifted the crew to safety.
16 February
1926- Congress authorized the Secretary of Treasury to acquire a site at New London, Connecticut, without cost to United States, and construct thereon buildings for the United States Coast Guard Academy at a total cost not to exceed $1,750,000.
1944- Justo Gonzalez became the first Hispanic-American to make the rank of chief petty officer when the Coast Guard promoted him to Chief Machinist's Mate (acting) on 16 February 1944. The promotion was made permanent on 16 October 1948.
1993- The Haitian passenger ferry Neptune sank, sending 1,215 Haitians to their deaths. Coast Guard units participated in the search and rescue operation but found no survivors. They then assisted in recovering the bodies of those killed.
17 February
1944- Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasions of Eniwetok and Engebi, Marshall Island.
1956- The CGC Casco saved 21 persons from a US Navy seaplane that was forced to ditch 100 miles south of Bermuda and delivered both the survivors and the disabled aircraft to the Naval Air Station at St. Georgia Harbor, Bermuda.
18 February
1842- The House of Representatives passed a resolution requesting the Committee on Commerce to make an inquiry into the expenditures of the Lighthouse Establishment since 1816. This was to explore the possibility of cutting down on expenses, to examine the question of reorganizing the establishment and administration, and also to ascertain whether the establishment should be placed under the Topographical Bureau of the War Department.
1952- During a severe "nor’easter" off the New England coast, the T-2 tankers SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton broke in half. U .S. Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, and lifeboat stations, working under severe winter conditions, rescued and removed 62 persons from the foundering ships or from the water with a loss of only five lives. Five Coast Guardsmen earned the Gold Lifesaving Medal, four earned the Silver Lifesaving Medal, and 15 earned the Coast Guard Commendation Medal.
1968-Engineman First Class Robert J. Yered was awarded the Silver Star for action on 18 February 1968 while attached to Explosive Loading Detachment #1, Cat Lai, Republic of Vietnam. EN1 Yered was supervising the loading of explosives on board an ammunition ship when an enemy rocket struck a barge loaded with several tons of mortar ammunition moored alongside. His citation noted that "without regard for his personal safety, [he] exposed himself to the enemy fusillade as he helped extinguish the fire on the burning barge. . .His courageous act averted destruction of the ammunition ship, and the Army Terminal." EN1 Yered also received the Purple Heart for injuries suffered during the incident.
1979- Coast Guard HH-3F helicopter CG-1432 crashed 180 miles southeast of Cape Cod, killing four of its five occupants. The helicopter was preparing to airlift a 47 year old crewman from the Japanese fishing vessel Kaisei Maru #18.
19 February
1845- Lighthouse establishment transferred to Revenue Marine Bureau. Metal buoys were first put into service. They were riveted iron barrels that replaced the older wooden stave construction.
1862- Congress authorized cutters to enforce law forbidding importation of Chinese "coolie" labor.
1941- Coast Guard Reserve established when Congress passed the Auxiliary & Reserve Act. Auxiliary was created from former Reserve. The legislation was introduced by Representative Gordon Canfield of New Jersey.
1945- The invasion of Iwo Jima commenced. Coast Guard units that participated in this bloody campaign included the Coast Guard-manned USS Bayfield, Callaway, 14 LSTs and the PC-469. Three of the LSTs were struck by enemy shore fire: LST-792, LST-758, and LST-760.
1988- The CGC Mallow made the largest drug bust in Hawaiian waters to date. The Mallow, the Navy fast frigate USS Ouellet with a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment from the CGC Jarvis, and an AIRSTA Barbers Point HC-130 tracked the 160-foot Panamanian-flagged freighter Christina M 800 miles southeast of Hawaii. A boarding team from Mallow discovered 454 55-pound bales of marijuana aboard. The freighter was seized and her crew of eight arrested.
20 February
1845- President Tyler vetoed a bill providing that no cutter be built nor purchased unless an appropriation was first made by law, on grounds that sanctity of contract of those already contracted for should not be overridden by Congress. Congress overrode his veto on 3 March 1845.
1964- The CGC Coos Bay rescued 11 of the crew of the foundering British freighter Ambassador in heavy seas, 1,000 miles east of Boston. Coast Guard aircraft from Air Station Argentia, Newfoundland, were first on the scene after the freighter issued an SOS on 18 February. The Coos Bay, on Ocean Station patrol 350 miles distant, steamed to the area and arrived there 24 hours later. In concert with the Norwegian freighter Fruen, they managed to get lines aboard the wallowing Ambassador in what was called one of the most dramatic rescues of the year. Demonstrating outstanding seamanship during the rescue, the cutter's commanding officer, Commander Claude W. Bailey, was awarded the Legion of Merit. Many of his crew had volunteered to enter the frigid water to assist in the rescue as well. Two were awarded the Coast Guard Medal while seven others received the Coast Guard Commendation Medal.
21 February
1943- The USS Spencer, CG, received credit from the U.S. Navy for attacking and sinking the U-225 in the North Atlantic. The British have since recorded that the U-225 was actually destroyed by B-24 Liberator "S" of RAF No. 120 Squadron on 15 February 1943 and they have revised the official British records to reflect this change. The renowned German naval historian, Professor-Dr. Jurgen Rohwer, stated that the Spencer "probably" attacked and sank the U-529 instead, although the Spencer has not received official credit for that sinking.
22 February
1943- The USS Campbell, CG, under the command of CDR James A. Hirshfield and assigned to the international escort group A-3 that was escorting Convoy ON-166 through the North Atlantic, engaged numerous submarine contacts during a running battle across the sea. Campbell's attacks damaged at least two U-boats. The cutter also rescued 50 survivors from a torpedoed Norwegian freighter. Then, on 22 February 1943, as the Campbell returned to the convoy after rescuing the Norwegians, it detected a radar contact closing the convoy. The Campbell raced toward the target and soon made visual contact. It was the surfaced U-606, earlier disabled by a depth charge attack delivered by the Free Polish destroyer Burza. The Campbell closed to ram while its gunners opened fire. The big cutter struck the U-boat with a glancing blow and one of the submarine's hydroplanes sliced open the Campbell's hull, flooding the engine room. The crew dropped two depth charges as the submarine slid past, and the explosions lifted the U-boat nearly five feet. Hirshfield later noted, "I felt sure he was ours." The Campbell illuminated the U-boat with a spotlight and the gunners continued to fire into the submarine's conning tower and hull. Hirshfield was hit by shell fragments but remained at his station. When he realized the Germans had given up, he ordered his men to cease firing. The Campbell then rescued five of the U-606's crew. Due to the collision, Campbell was towed to safety, repaired, and returned to service. CDR Hirshfield was awarded the Navy Cross for this action.
1944- Coast Guardsmen participate in the invasion of Parry Island (in the Marshall Islands).
23 February
1822- Congress authorized the Revenue Cutter Service to protect the natural environment by preventing "scoundrels" from cutting live oak, needed for cutters and Navy vessels, on Florida public lands.
1837-Congress called for an inspection of the coast from Chesapeake Bay to the Sabine River "with regard to the location of additional light-houses, beacons, and buoys." Captain Napoleon L. Coste, commanding the Revenue cutter Campbell, was dispatched. He reported that the first addition to aids to navigation on this entire coast should be at Egmont Key, Tampa Bay. A lighthouse was authorized immediately and built the next year.
1877-First Lieutenant Dorr F. Tozier, USRCS, assisted in saving the French bark Peabody, which had gone aground on 23 February 1877 off Horn Island in the Mississippi Sound. Tozier was awarded a Gold Medal by the President of the French Republic "for gallant, courageous, and efficient services" in saving the French bark.
2003- The Honolulu-based Coast Guard cutter Walnut was ordered to the Middle East in preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
24 February
1964- A U.S. Coast Guard ice skiff rescued 25 persons from an ice flow that had broken loose from the shore near Camp Perry, Ohio. A similar rescue took place almost simultaneously at St. Clair Shores, Michigan when another Coast Guard ice skiff and a police helicopter removed five more from an ice flow.
1987- Coast Guard attorney LCDR Robert W. Bruce, Jr., became the first member of the armed forces to argue a case before the Supreme Court in uniform when he represented the Coast Guard in Solorio vs. United States on 24 February 1987.
1989- Coast Guard units searched for survivors of United Airlines Flight 811 after it crashed off the coast of Hawaii. The units included a HC-130, two helicopters, and the CGCs Cape Corwin, Mallow and Sassafras. No survivors were found and the units then assisted in the retrieval of debris.
25 February
1799- President Adams authorized by Congress to place revenue cutters in the naval establishment.
1825- Congress empowered the Revenue Marine to enforce state quarantine laws.
1942- Wartime port security delegated to Coast Guard by Executive Order 9074.
2001- The tugboat Swift sank after colliding with the freighter A.V. Kastner on the Elk River in the upper Chesapeake Bay. Coast Guard units from New Jersey and Philadelphia worked with state police and local rescue agencies to rescue three survivors. Two crewmen perished. The Coast Guard also conducted the marine casualty investigation.
26 February
1793- Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury, submitted to the Senate the first list of cutters with stations, officers names, rank and dates of commission.
1984-Five people died, three were injured, and 22 people rescued when the tanker American Eagle exploded 180 miles southeast of New Orleans. An AIRSTA New Orleans HH-3 took the three injured crewmen ashore while a British tanker watched over the crippled ship until a commercial tug could arrive. The new day the American Eagle started to break up and sink. The 24 remaining crewmen abandoned ship. Oil rig supply boats and a Coast Guard helicopter recovered 22. The other two became the subject of an HU-25 search but the SAR case was suspended after three days.
27 February
1925- An Act of Congress authorized the purchase of rubber boots, oilskins, etc., for the use of personnel while engaged in lighthouse work requiring such equipment. Actually, this legislation simply confirmed an existing practice.
1925- An Act of Congress repealed the law providing a ration allowance for keepers of lighthouses and increased their salaries correspondingly. This change was not only advantageous to the light keepers, but also simplified office work.
1949-Aerial ice observation flights by long-range aircraft operated from Argentia, Newfoundland. An International Ice Patrol by vessels was neither required nor established during the 1949 season, and it was the first time that aircraft alone conducted the ice observation service.
1953-The CGC Coos Bay, on Ocean Station Echo, about half-way between Bermuda and the Azores, rescued the entire crew of 10 from the US Navy patrol plane that was forced to ditch in the Atlantic Ocean.
2003: The CGC Dallas was ordered to deploy overseas to support Operation Enduring Freedom and to prepare for future contingencies. She was underway on patrol when she received the order from the Atlantic Area commander to sail overseas to the Mediterranean. Dallas deployed with an HH-65B Dolphin helicopter and 7-member aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, New Jersey.
2004-The Coast Guard repatriated 531 Haitian migrants to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after they were rescued in the Windward Pass. The migrants were from 13 boats stopped since 21 February 2004. The repatriations were completed by three cutters. The crew of the CGC Valiant transported 290 migrants, the crew of the CGC Vigilant delivered another 241, and the CGC Nantucket escorted the cutters for safety and security. The migrants were turned over to the Haitian coast guard.
28 February
1867- As ordered by the Treasury Department, each officer of Revenue Cutter Service, while on duty, was entitled to one Navy ration per day.
1942- Certain duties of former Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation transferred to Coast Guard temporarily by Executive Order 9083. The transfer was made permanent on July 16, 1946. Also, the U.S. Maritime Service was transferred to the Coast Guard from the War Shipping Administration on this date.
- 1942- U S. Maritime Service transferred to Coast Guard from War Shipping Administration.
- 2004-Coast Guard units responded to an explosion aboard the 570-foot Singapore-flagged tanker Bow Mariner off the coast of Chincoteague, Virginia. The Bow Mariner was carrying 6.5 million gallons of industrial ethanol when it exploded and sank. The Coast Guard rescued six survivors.
29 February
- 1944- Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasion of Los Negros, Admiralty Islands.