Companions,
In 1790 the new country realized it needed a way to enforce laws in the vicinity of coastal seas and lakes and tributaries of these United States. Trade and Interstate commerce were starting to flourish but so were other areas such as smuggling and incidents at sea. The Revenue-Marine (later changed to US Coast Guard on 28 Jan 1915) was formed by the Tarriff Act on 4 Aug 1790 upon the recommendation and urgings of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to act as the armed customs and border enforcement arm of the government. Enforcing tariffs for the new nation and protecting what sovereignty the US was able to project fell largely on the Revenue-Marine during 1790-1798 when the Continental Navy was disbanded due to budget constraints (USN restored by the Constitution and for budget in 1794). It was during the Quasi-War with France from 1798 to 1801, the reformed U.S. Navy once again with the Revenue-Marine, fought alongside, capturing or assisting in the capture of 20 French ships. This was also the case during the War of 1812 and Counter Piracy operations @1819-1832. It was in 1837 that congress granted the Revenue-Marine the mission of assisting mariners at sea which continues to this day along with the fisheries mission. The services continued to work together through the Mexican American War and Civil War which included the USRC (US Revenue Cutter) Harriet Lane firing the first maritime shots of the Civil War in Charleston harbor.
Renamed the Revenue-Cutter Service in 1894, the US Coast Guard changed to the recognized name in 1915. The Coast Guard has served within and around the Navy in every conflict since. The maritime enforcement responsibility has been extended to make official arrest authority for smuggling, contraband, and drug movement throughout the world both as Coast Guard cutters and units and through Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETS) embarked in US Navy ships on the high seas in the Caribbean and Middle East for Desert Shield, Desert Storm and follow-on operations. While the U.S. Coast Guard is the second smallest of the U.S. military service branches in terms of membership, the service by itself is the world's 12th largest naval force. They go where called to enforce Federal law and live up to their enduring motto: Semper Paratus - Always Ready!
The Naval Order is proud to include the US Coast Guard as a foundational cornerstone to our organization and wish them God’s Blessings in fulfillment of their mission. Semper Paratus!
For the Good of the Order
Bob Whitkop, CAPT USN (Ret)
Commander General