Mar 6
U. S. Coast Guard - A Historical Overview - Part Six
Also during the Spanish-American War, the Navy assigned the coast watching mission to the U.S. As a result, approximately two-thirds of the Navy s coastal observation stations along the coastline of the U.S. At no time was the elusive Spanish fleet observed along our coastline, but the 24-hour-a-day job was accomplished by a Coast Guard predecessor. On the morning of 6 April 1917, a coded dispatch was sent from Washington to every cutter and shore station of the Coast Guard. Within a few hours the entire Coast Guard, officers and enlisted men, vessels and units came under the operational control of the U.S. In August and September 1917 six Coast Guard cutters, Ossipee, Seneca, Yamacraw, Algonquin, Manning, and Tampa left the United States to join our naval forces in European waters. They constituted Squadron 2 of Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet s patrol forces based at Gibraltar. Throughout World...