Page 12 - USCG Chief Petty Officer Logbook

VOL LXVI...NO. 21,623.
The New York Times
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1917. –EIGHTEEN PAGES ONE CENT TWO CENTS THREE CENTS In New York City New England and Middle States Elsewhere
PRESIDENT PROCLAIMS WAR; WARNS ALIEN ENEMIES HERE; 91 GERMAN SHIPS SEIZED AND SPIES PUT UNDER ARREST; NAVY MOBILIZED AT ONCE; CUBA AND BRAZIL MAY JOIN US
Captain Ellsworth P. Bertholf, Commandant of the newly established Coast Guard recognized the
need to align the two distinct services of the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service into a system that would work seamlessly if tasked to serve under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department in times of war or so directed. Due to the existing military nature and discipline of the Revenue Cutter Service steps were taken to also institute those standards into the former Life-Saving Service. Because of his for-sight, just two years into his tenure, the transfer from the Treasury Department to the Navy Department, upon President Woodrow Wilson’s declaration of war with Germany on 6 April 1917, was accomplished “without a jar.”5 “Plan One Acknowledge” coming from the Navy wireless station broadcast
to all Coast Guard bases and stations, 12
thus transferring control of Coast Guard districts, assets, and personnel to the Navy.1 Under Bertholf’s leadership, the U.S. Coast Guard, performed what was and will continue to be a normal function of the Coast Guard...changing and evolving to the needs of the shifting times of our Nation. The Coast Guard contributed 223 commissioned officers, more than 4,500 enlisted men, 47 cutters, and 279 U.S. coastal stations to the Navy. Six ocean-going cutters traveled to Europe on convoy duty, while smaller cutters patrolled home waters. Coast Guard officers commanded several naval air stations and transports in the U.S. and Europe. Others became captains of the port, the largest being the Port of New York, a duty the service still carries out today. The Coast Guard suffered grievous losses. A German U-boat torpedoed the U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter (USCGC) Tampa, resulting in the loss of all hands. Crewmen from the USCGC Seneca died while trying to save the British merchant vessel Wellington. A German U-boat sunk the U.S. Lighthouse Service Lightship No. 71, but all aboard survived. Two cutters were lost due to collisions, USCGC McCulloch off San Francisco and USCGC Mohawk off Sandy Hook. Coast Guard veterans served heroically in WWI: they earned two Distinguished Service Medals, eight Gold Life Saving Medals, 49 Navy Crosses, and 11 foreign awards. In 1919, the USCG returned to peacetime duty under the Department of the Treasury. Heroism was common among Coast Guardsmen as they were awarded two Distinguished Service Medals, eight Gold Life-Saving Medals, 49 Navy Crosses, and 11 foreign awards.3