Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-08-10
With 155 Years Of Outstanding Service
In Wars and Peace Coast Guard Has Been
Biz Factor in Present Successful Operations

The United States coast guard on
August celebrates the 155th ami
versary of its founding, proud of be-
ing the nations first fleet" and
proud of it's "firsts" and its distin-
guished service on all fronts of
World War II. Most of the $4,000
men who wear the coast guard
shield on their uniform sleeves will
celebrate the services birthday
overseas, for the coast guard, Gre
ated primarily to prevent Snug
glers from reaching the coast,
ranges far from home in time of
war to fight alongside the army,
navy and marine corps.
The coast guards story really be-
gins in 1887 when Alexander Hamil-
ton, first secretary of the treasury,
while urging adoption of the then
pending constitution, wrote of the
need for a sea-going service which
would prevent material attractions
upon the rights of the revenue" "a
few armed vessels" he wrote, Judi
ciously stationed at the entrance to
our ports, might at small expense
be made useful sentinels of the
laws"
With the constitution adopted, the
first congress elected under it, in
the spring of 1870, approved Hamil-
tons idea for a marine law en-
forcement agency, and on August 4,
1870, the services birthday, appro-
priated money to build 10 cutters
and pay salaries to their officers and
men.
For six years the small cutters
were the only armed vessels under
the United States flag. (The navy
was created in 1894 by act of con-
gress, but its ships were not in serv-
ice until 1897.
Given Naval Rank.
The possible defense value of the
cutters was recognized early. In
suggesting establishment of the
service, Hamilton asked that Off
GERS of the cutters be given military
or naval rank, which," he said,
will not only induce fit men to en-
gage, but attach them to their duties
with a nicer sense of honor" In
1897, congress passed a temporary
act to increase the strength of the
cutters land cause said revenue
cutters to be employed to defend
the sea-coast and repel any hos
hlity to their vessels and commerce
within their jurisdiction, having due
regard to the duties of said cutters
in the production of the revenue"
In 1898, during the "unde-
clared" naval war with France,
the President, with a view of
producing concert of action Of
the naval forces of the United
States" placed the revenue ves-
sells at the disposition of the
secretary of the navy. In the
next year, congress passed an
act providing that the cutters
were to cooperate with the navy
whenever the President should
SO direct-a precedent since fol-
lowed in every war.
The cutter fancy went through
Pearl Harbor unscathed and the
next day left the stricken Pacific
base on antisubmarine patrol. The
165-foot Icarus received credit for
sinking the first German submarine
in United States waters when she
blasted a U-boat and took SO pris-
oners off the Carolina coast. "a
coastguardmanned destroyer escort,
with several navy ships, was in at
the kill on the last U-boat sunk in
the Atlantic by American forces.)
Many Ships Lost.
A tragic first of the coast guard
was the loss of the cutter Hamil-
ton, torpedoed off Iceland in Janu-
airy, 1912, the first American war;
ship lost to a submarine after the
start of the war and, unfortunately,
the first of a line of coastguard-