[On July 31, 1876, the U.S. Revenue Cutter School of Instruction—now known as the Coast Guard Academy—was founded. So this week for its 150th anniversary I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of Coast Guard contexts!]
Three fascinating facts about the newly created Coast Guard (formed by the Coast Guard of Act of 1915 which merged multiple organizations about which I’ve written in the week’s first two posts) as connected to its role in the Great War:
- Immediate need: Less than a year after the passage of that federal law which created this new organization, and even though the United States had not yet entered the war, an attack on American soil proved the importance of such coastal protection. On July 31, 1916, 90 years ago this week and exactly 40 years after the founding of the School of Instruction, a munitions depot at New Jersey’s Black Tom Island (just across the Hudson River from New York City) from which supplies were being shipped to the Allied war effort was bombed by German saboteurs, killing four workers and causing millions of dollars of damage. While the Coast Guard was unable to prevent this attack, its aftermath led to a significantly enhanced role, both in New York and around the country, and to the creation of a new position to oversee such protections, “captain of the port” (first filled by the famous Coast Guard Captain Godfrey Carden).
- Inspiring rescues: While we generally associate the Coast Guard with such domestic duties in the waters around the United States, the newly expanded organization was also part of the war effort in foreign waters once the U.S. entered the war. In particular, vessels like the cutter Seneca provided an escort for a number of Allied convoys, and when such convoys were targeted by German submarines, the Seneca took part in a number of inspiring rescues. In April 1918, when the British sloop Cowslip was torpedoed, the Seneca ignored instructions to stay away (due to the danger of further torpedoes) and rescued more than 80 sailors from the British vessel. And in September, when the British steamship Wellington was torpedoed and gradually sinking amidst additional attacks, 11 Guardsmen died during the Seneca’s rescue efforts, leading to 20 Navy Cross Medals and one Distinguished Service Medal (the most honors for one operation in Coast Guard history).
- Impressive diversity: There had long been women performing vital pre-Coast Guard roles like lighthouse keepers (most famously Ida Lewis, “The Bravest Woman in America”), but during World War I, thanks to the U.S. Navy’s authorization of the new category of “female yeomen,” women were able to serve as uniformed Coast Guard personnel for the first time. Likely the first pair were the 19 year old Californian twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker, who transferred from the Naval Coastal Defense Reserve to serve in the Coast Guard (while two of their brothers were in the army in France). [BEN: FYI, on Bluesky a reader shared this USCG research report suggesting that isn’t the Bakers’ story.] A number of Americans of color likewise served in the WWI Coast Guard, including the entirely Black crew of the Yocona, the first integrated federal vessel in U.S. history; and inspiring individual servicemen like Francis Leroy Wilkes (a multiracial Black and Wampanoag man who was killed in combat when a submarine sank his cutter the Tampa in 1918) and Carlton Howard West (a Wampanoag from Nantucket who served on the cutter Gresham). Just a few of the many figures who reflected the Guard’s increasing diversity in this foundational period.
Next Coast Guard context tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What you do think?
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