May
Daily Chronology of Coast Guard History
1 May
1882-The Treasury Department reported that the crew of the cutter Oliver Wolcott deserted their ship. No reason was given for this mass desertion.
1885-The Navy transferred the USS Bear to the Revenue Cutter Service. The Bear became one of the most famous cutters to sail under the Revenue Cutter & Coast Guard ensigns.
1944- An acoustic torpedo fired by the U-371 hit and destroyed the stern of the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Menges while she was escorting a convoy in the Mediterranean, killing thirty-one of her crew. [see 4 May 1944 entry] The Menges was later repaired and returned to service. She assisted in the sinking of the U-866 on 19 March 1945.
4 May
7 May
1939- On 12 May 1939, Boatswain's Mate First Class Clarence Samuels was appointed as a Chief Photographer's Mate (Acting), becoming the first African-American photographer in the Coast Guard and only the second Coast Guard photographer in the entire history of the Service.
1952- The Coast Guard announced the establishment of an Organized Reserve Training Program, the first in U.S. Coast Guard history. Morton G. Lessans was sworn in as the first member of the Organized Air Reserve on 12 December 1951.
1986-CGC Manitou stopped the 125-foot Sun Bird in 7th District waters and her boarding team discovered 40,000 pounds of marijuana hidden aboard. The boarding team then located the vessel's builder's plate and learned that the Sun Bird was the decommissioned "buck-and-a-quarter" cutter Crawford. The former cutter and her 14-man crew were taken into custody. A newspaper article describing the incident noted: "If Crawford was a person, Miami would have probably seen it blush . . . The ex-Coast Guard cutter received more publicity for smuggling the drugs than for its 20-year Coast Guard career."
17 May
18 May
19 May
20 May
21 May
22 May
23 May
24 May
25 May
26 May
27 May
28 May
29 May
30 May
31 May