Happy 222nd Birthday to America's oldest contiguous sea-going service

[Luigi59]

The U.S. Coast Guard, which celebrates its 222nd year August 4, began its service as the Revenue Cutter Service, Aug. 4, 1790, when President George Washington signed the Tariff Act. This act authorized the construction of 10 ships, known as "cutters," designed to enforce tariffs and trade laws and prevent smuggling along coasts and U.S. waterways.

The word "revenue" in the service's name is derived from the organizations affiliation to the Treasury Department. The RCS spent more than 100 years as a service before evolving to incorporate more robust responsibilities. Congress combined the RCS with the U.S. Life-Saving Service through an act in 1915 to create a single entity with the common purpose of saving lives and upholding laws. This single entity was named the Coast Guard.

In 2011, over 43,000 active duty members, over 7,800 reservists, over 8,300 civilian employees, and almost 33,000 volunteer Auxiliarists:

• Responded to 20,510 Search and Rescue cases and saved over 3,800 lives.
• Removed over 166,000 pounds of cocaine bound toward the U.S. via the Transit Zone.
• Continued the deployment of six Patrol Boats and 400 personnel to protect Iraqi critical maritime oil infrastructure and train Iraqi naval forces.
• Provided security for over 230 military outload evolutions, which provided supplies to support Operation New Dawn and Operation Enduring Freedom.
• Conducted nearly 1,700 security boardings on High Interest Vessels bound for the United States.
• Interdicted nearly 2,500 undocumented migrants attempting to illegally enter the United States.
• Conducted over 10,400 annual inspections on U.S. flag vessels inspected and certificated in accordance with 46 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) § 2.01-7.
• Conducted over 9,500 Port State Control safety and environmental exams on foreign vessels entering U.S. ports.
• Conducted over 6,200 Marine Casualty investigations, including over 4,200 marine casualties for vessels and more than 1,200 investigations for pollution from vessels.
• Conducted over 46,000 recreational vessel boardings, issued over 8,000 citations, and visited 1,150 recreational boat manufacturers in conjunction with state efforts to provide education and ensure compliance with federal regulations.
• Conducted over 5,500 fisheries conservation boardings.
• Expended $127 million of the $142 million appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
• Investigated and responded to over 3,000 pollution incidents.
• Verified more than 70,760 Transportation Worker Identification Credentials.
• Screened over 472,000 vessels, including 122,000 commercial vessels and 28.7 million crewmembers and passengers prior to arrival in U.S. ports.

 

[LineInTheSand]

If we trace it back to the U.S. Lighthouse Service it's 223 years old.... but the Coast Guard has always liked its ships more.

 

[AF6872]

And probably liked them to actually move. Still the most under appreciated service.