page_title: United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: United States Coast Guard Auxiliary / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Auxiliarists rescue boater off an outboard that had foundered during storm 1967, Long Island Sound, New York.
context_page_description: The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is the volunteer uniformed auxiliary service of the United States Coast Guard. Congress established the unit on June 23, 1939, as the United States Coast Guard Reserve. On February 19, 1941, the organization was re-designated as the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. The Auxiliary exists to support all USCG missions on the water or in the air, except for roles that require "direct" law enforcement or military engagement. As of 2018, there were approximately 24,000 members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
  Collectively the Auxiliary contributes over 4.5 million hours of service each year and completed nearly 500,000 missions in service to support the Coast Guard. Every year Auxiliarists help to save approximately 500 lives, assist 15,000 distressed boaters, conduct over 150,000 safety examinations of recreational vessels, and provide boater safety instruction to over 500,000 students. In total the Coast Guard Auxiliary saves taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
context_section_description: The development of the single-operator motorboat, and later the outboard engine, during the early 20th century increased the number of recreational boaters operating on United States federal waters. By 1939 there were more than 300,000 personal watercraft in operation. The previous year the Coast Guard had received 14,000 calls for assistance and had responded to 8,600 "in-peril" cases.
caption: Auxiliarists in 1967 rescuing a boater off an outboard that had foundered during a storm in Long Island Sound, New York.
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