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Following the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, the Coast Guard again carried out extensive patrols to enforce the neutrality proclaimed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 5 September 1939. Port security began on 20 June 1940 when President Roosevelt invoked the Espionage Act of 1917, which governed the anchorage and movement of all ships in U.S. waters, and protected American ships, harbors and waters. Shortly afterwards, the Dangerous Cargo Act gave the Coast Guard jurisdiction over ships carrying high explosives and dangerous cargoes. In March 1941, the Coast Guard seized 28 Italian, two German and 35 Danish merchant ships. A few days later, 10 modern Coast Guard cutters were transferred on Lend-Lease to Great Britain. Coast Guard military history On 9 April 1941 Greenland was incorporated into a hemispheric defense system. The Coast Guard was the primary military service responsible for these cold-weather operations, which continued throughout the war. On 12 September, the cutter Northland took into protective custody the Norwegian trawler Boskoe and captured three German radiomen ashore. The ice-going cutter Northland had been built for service in Alaskan waters. During the spring of 1941 the cutter had been brought around to the East Coast for duty in Greenland waters. Boskoe was the United States first captured vessel of World War II. Individual cutters and units were assigned to the Navy beginning in the spring of 1941. On 1 November 1941 the remainder of the Coast Guard was ordered to operate as part of the Navy. Among the most important Coast Guard undertakings were cold weather operations in Greenland, anti-submarine warfare escort, amphibious landings, search and rescue, beach patrol, port security, and LORAN duty. Coast Guard-manned ships sank at least 11 enemy submarines. Most of these U-boats were destroyed in 1942 when the issue of who would win the Battle of the Atlantic was still very much in doubt. Coast Guard personnel manned amphibious ships and craft from the largest troop transports to the smallest attack craft. These landed Army and Marine forces in every important invasion in North Africa, Italy, France and the Pacific. Also, due to their experience in handling surfboats, Coast Guardsmen also helped train members of the other military services in the use of amphibious craft. Coast Guard coastal picket vessels patrolled along the 50-fathom curve, where enemy submarines concentrated early in the war. On shore armed Coast Guardsmen patrolled beaches and docks, on foot, on horseback, in vehicles, with and without dogs, as a major part of the nations anti-sabotage effort. Once this threat abated, the Coast Guard manned 351 naval ships and craft and 288 Army vessels in addition to 802 cutters (those over 65 feet in length). Coast Guard cutters, boats and aircraft rescued more than 1,500 survivors of torpedo attacks in areas adjacent to the United States. Cutters on escort duty saved another 1,000, and over 1,500 more were rescued during the Normandy operation by 60 83-foot patrol craft specifically assigned to that duty. Two hundred and thirty one thousand men and 10,000 women served in the Coast Guard during World War II. Of these, 1,918 died, a third losing their life in action. The Service sustained its first casualties on 8 December 1941 when the Leonard Wood was bombed by Japanese aircraft at Singapore. One Coast Guardsman died as a prisoner of war, having been captured at Corregidor. Almost 2,000 Coast Guardsmen were decorated, one receiving the Medal of Honor, six the Navy Cross, and one the Distinguished Service Cross. The Coast Guard returned to the Treasury Department on 1 January 1946. |
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