Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

November 17

Portrait of Hamilton authoring the first draft of the U.S. Constitution in 1787

1791  Secretary of Treasury Hamilton fixed the value of rations at a “generous” 12 cents per day for each man in Revenue Marine.

The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star cuts through Antarctic ice in the Ross Sea near a large group of seals as the ship’s crew creates a navigation channel for supply ships, January 16, 2017. The resupply channel is an essential part of the yearly delivery of essential supplies to the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station.US Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley

1973  The “Largest Icebreaker in the Western World,” CGC Polar Star, was launched.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless (WMEC 624) and crew patrol, March 4, 2024, off the coast of Haiti. Dauntless deployed for two months to support Operation Vigilant Sentry while conducting maritime safety and security missions. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt.j.g. Olivia Gonzalez) Note the shelter on the flight deck.

1982  President Ronald Reagan visited the CGC Dauntless and awarded the cutter and crew the Coast Guard Unit Commendation for their work during the period of July 1980 to July 1982.  President Reagan wrote in the Record of Inspections: “Aboard ‘Dauntless’ – a proud ship with an impressive crew.”  This was the first visit by a U.S. president aboard a cutter in 19 years.

Edith Munro, US Coast Guard, mother of Douglas Munro.

1983  LT Edith Munro, USCGR, a World War II SPAR veteran and the mother of Coast Guard hero Douglas Munro, passed away at the age of 88.

November 18

1953  Heavy rains in the Coquille, Coos, and Willamette River Valleys of western Oregon caused flooding of the lowland areas and isolation of some towns through the blocking of highways by slides and high water, necessitating the evacuation of families and livestock.   A Coast Guard relief detail of boats, men, and aircraft participated in relief assistance measures, cooperating with the Red Cross and civil authorities. (The river flooded again 1964 and 1996.)

1999  The 605-foot Russian freighter Sergo Zakariadze, loaded with a cargo of cement dust, ran aground at the entrance to San Juan harbor, Puerto Rico.  Coast Guard Strike Team, MSO San Juan, Greater Antilles Section, among others, responded to the accident.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

November 15

Minot’s Ledge ighthouse in a storm

1860  The light in the massive stone Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse, which was built on the original site of the one lost in 1851, was exhibited.  Work on the new lighthouse commenced in 1855 and finished in 1860.  “It ranks, by the engineering difficulties surrounding its erection and by the skill and science shown in the details of its construction, among the chief of the great sea-rock lighthouses of the world.”

1929  The SS Briton came ashore at Point Abino, Lake Erie, and was in danger of breaking up.  Coast Guard patrol boat CG-164, under the command of BMC Clarence C. Kimball, safely rescued all 27 persons on board the stricken vessel.

USCG 41-foot Utility boat

1977  Coast Guard UTB-41332 from Station Cape Disappointment capsized in the Columbia River during a night training exercise.  The UTB sank after the current swept it past the Columbia River Lightship.  Three Coast Guardsmen were killed in the accident: BM3 Greg Morris, BM3 Ray Erb, and SN Albin Erickson.

 “Twenty minutes into a night navigation exercise at Cape Disappointment, Washington, Coast Guard utility boat 41332 tracked off course, strayed into breaking surf, and capsized, trapping eight of its 10-person crew inside a dark, slowly flooding cabin. Over the next hour, the survivors fought their way underwater to the outside. Three students lost their lives.”

USCGC Polar Star. USCGC photo.

1977  CGC Polar Star departed Seattle en route Antarctica for ice tests and operational tasking in connection with Operation Deep Freeze.  Polar Star recently completed installation of modified propellers and open water engineering trails in the Seattle area.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

November 14

Coast Guard helicopter hovers over scene as Coast Guard and others fight fire aboard the coastal tanker Dynafuel and the Norwegian freighter Fernview following collision at sea ten Miles off New Bedford, Mass., this morning.

1963  Coast Guard air and surface rescue craft responded immediately when the freighter Fernview and the tanker Dynafuel collided in Buzzards Bay. Fernview sliced into Dynafuel’s stern. While helicopters removed the injured aboard the stricken ships, surface craft extinguished the fires.  Coast Guard units had completed the evacuation of all aboard the disabled vessels before the Fernview backed away and Dynafuel capsized and sank. Five crewmen aboard the tanker were lnjured but all 62 aboard the two vessels were rescued.

(Photos show and HU-16E, an H-52, USCGC White Sage (WLM-544), two Active class WMEC125s, a WPB95. and a 40 footer)

A United States Coast Guard (USCG) Port Security Unit (PSU) boat crew pictured while undergoing a tactical training exercise.

1990  PSU 302, staffed by reservists from Cleveland, Ohio, arrived in the Persian Gulf in support of operation Desert Shield.  They were stationed in Bahrain.

HH-60J Air Station Astoria

1991  An HH-60J Jayhawk from Aviation Training Center Mobile participated in a search and rescue operation off the coast of Alabama, the first such case conducted by an HH-60J, which was just beginning to enter Coast Guard service.

Response Boat, Medium (RB-M). Photo from Vigor

2008  The Coast Guard received a report of a homemade migrant vessel heading north towards the Marquesas Keys 30 miles west of Key West, Florida.  An RB-M was dispatched from Sector Key West to intercept the vessel, with a smaller special purpose boat capable of making shallow water pick-ups following the RB-M to the scene.  A Special Purpose Craft – Law Enforcement (SPC-LE) was also dispatched to assist.  The RB-M arrived first on scene to find the small, outboard-driven vessel about two miles southwest of the Marquesas Keys making an attempt to go ashore.  Though the vessel proved to be fairly agile and was quickly closing the distance to shore, the RB-M used its speed and maneuverability to “shoulder” the vessel, keeping it in deeper water until it could be disabled.  Using a boat hook, the RB-M crew disconnected the fuel line to the outboard engine, rendering it inoperable.  The fourteen migrants aboard were then safely removed from the vessel.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

View of the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse in Harrisville, Michigan. The lighthouse was completed in 1870. Photo credit: Dylan L. Tanner

1882  On November 11, the steam-barge H.C. Schnoor struck on the bar off Alcona (MI) at 11 o’clock at night about three hundred yards from the shore (on Lake Huron).  A strong southeast gale prevailed at the time, and there was a heavy sea.  At 8 o’clock in the morning of the next day (November 12) a team came with the news from Alcona to Station No. 5, Tenth District, (Sturgeon Point), about four miles and a half from the scene of the disaster.  After a half-hour for preparation, the keeper was on the road with two teams, one bearing the wreck ordnance and the other the surfboat.  An hour later they arrived and launched the surfboat.  The surf, however, was so heavy that they failed to get alongside the barge and they were obliged to return.  The wreck-gun was then used.  The gear, having been set up, the mate was brought ashore by the breeches-buoy.  As the crew was obliged to work from a point of land so narrow that they could not spread sufficiently to keep the lines apart, they twisted.  The heavy current caused the lee part of the whip-line to foul with the hawser.  Before the lines could be cleared, however, the wind changed and beat down the sea.  The surfboat was launched and took the captain (who had been on shore at Alcona) and the mate back to the barge.  The immediate danger ended with the subsidence of the sea.  The life-saving crew returned to the station.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

November 11

1881  The crew of Life-boat Station No. 14, Eleventh District (Racine, WI) rendered service during the severest storm of the season.  The life-saving crew noticed several vessels running north for safety under bare poles and two of them made safely into the harbor.  Observing this, the master of the schooner Lavinda tried to make the same haven, but the vessel became unmanageable, struck the south pier, immediately became waterlogged, and in five minutes was a wreck.  The life-saving crew sprang for the lifeboat and put out to her assistance.  They got alongside and managed to run a line from the wrecked vessel to the station tug H. Wetzel, which had steamed out to her relief.  The tug soon towed her into the harbor.

USCGC Tampa (Coast Guard Cutter, 1912) photographed in harbor, prior to World War I. Completed in 1912 as the U.S. Revenue Cutter Miami, this ship was renamed Tampa in February 1916. On 26 September 1918, while operating in the English Channel, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German Submarine UB-91. All 131 persons on board Tampa were lost with her (111 Coast Guardsmen, 4 U.S. Navy personnel, and 16 passengers consisting of 11 British Navy personnel and 5 civilians.), the largest loss of life on any U.S. warship in combat during the First World War. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

1918 The Allied powers signed a cease-fire agreement with Germany at Rethondes, France on November 11, 1918, bringing World War I to a close.  Between the wars November 11 was commemorated as Armistice Day in the United States, Great Britain, and France.  After World War II, the holiday was recognized as a day of tribute to veterans of both world wars.  Beginning in 1954, the United States designated November 11 as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. wars.  Over 8,000 Coast Guardsmen served during the World War I and 111 were killed in action with the enemy.

Cutter Yocona towing environmental bouy (EB-16) off of San Diego underway for deployment. May 19,1975.

1955  CGC Yocona rescued the crew of the sinking fishing vessel Ocean Pride some 50 miles off Cape Lookout, Oregon.  When 60 to 70 mph winds and heavy seas with 30 feet swells made it impossible to launch lifeboats, Yocona came close aboard the sinking fishing vessel to allow all of its crew members to jump on board the cutter to safety.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) cuts a channel through the multi-year pack ice and snow as Healy transits the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole, September 27, 2022. This is the third time the icebreaker has traveled to the North Pole since its commissioning in 1999. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Deborah Heldt Cordone, Auxiliary Public Affairs Specialist 1.

2022 CGC Healy returned to its homeport of Seattle following its historic 17,000-mile, 124-day deployment in the high Arctic latitudes that included a transit to the North Pole. Healy and its crew traversed the ice-packed Arctic Ocean to the top of the world, reaching the geographic North Pole on 30 September 2022. This was only the second time a U.S. surface vessel had reached 90 degrees north unaccompanied.  In July and August 2022, after a port call in Seward, Alaska, Healy traveled into the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, going as far north as 78 degrees, while supporting an Office of Naval Research-sponsored team from the University of Washington Applied Physics Department and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The embarked team worked with Healy crew to conduct various evolutions, including deploying and recovering sea gliders, underwater sensors and acoustic buoys, throughout the marginal and pack ice zones as part of the Arctic Mobile Observing System. During transits to and from the Arctic, Healy participated in flight operations in Kotzebue Sound and off the coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska, with Air Station Kodiak MH-60 helicopter aircrews, conducted passing exercises with the CGC Kimball (WMSL 756), and completed patrols of the international maritime boundary line between the U.S. and Russia. In September and October, after a port visit to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Healy transited north again to conduct multidisciplinary, internationally collaborative research as part of the Synoptic Arctic Survey. The embarked National Science Foundation-funded team collected samples and data to study environmental changes across the Arctic Ocean. Upon reaching the North Pole, Healy conducted two days of science operations and the crew enjoyed several hours of ice liberty. After disembarking all science personnel during a second logistics stop in Dutch Harbor at the end of October, Healy made a final port call in Juneau, Alaska, where friends and family of crewmembers were given the opportunity to sail on the cutter during its final underway leg through the inside passage to Seattle

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

November 9

1970  The installation of the Coast Guard’s Control Data Corporation 3300 Computer System at Headquarters was completed.  A period of system acceptance testing was satisfactorily completed and the computer system was then accepted for use by the Coast Guard.

November 10

Photograph of the Marine Corps War Memorial, which depicts the second U.S. flag-raising atop Mount Suribachi, on Iwo Jima. The memorial is modeled on Joe Rosenthal’s famous Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.

1775 The official birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps: On this date in 1775 the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution to create a “Corps of Marines.”  Although they were disbanded in 1783 and were not re-established permanently until July 11, 1798, the Marine Corps recognizes November 10, 1775, as its official birthday.  The Marine Corps’ motto is Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful).  On October 21, 1921, Major Edwin McClellan, Officer-in-Charge, Historical Section, Headquarters Marine Corps, sent a memorandum to Major General Commandant John A. Lejeune, suggesting that the original birthday on November 10, 1775, be declared a Marine Corps holiday to be celebrated throughout the Corps.

1913 Lightship No. 82 was lost with all hands during a gale while on station near Buffalo, New York.  Six crewmen were aboard when the lightship went down.  LV-82 was commanded by Hugh M. Williams, Master.

1975 The Great Lakes ore-carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, caught in an unexpected storm on Lake Superior, sank with a loss of all 29 hands.  Coast Guard units helped conduct a search for the ship and survivors although all efforts proved to be futile.

Coast Guard Cutter Reliance patrols the Western Caribbean in support of the Joint Interagency Task Force – South October 2014. The cutter’s crew worked with an aviation detachment from the Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron based in Jacksonville, Fla., to detect and interdict suspected smugglers. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Clinton McDonald)

2014 CGC Reliance returned to its homeport at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, following a nine-week patrol in the Caribbean Sea supporting the Joint Interagency Task Force-South.  During the deployment, the 75-member crew of Reliance was responsible for conducting counter drug operations in support of U.S. and international law.  Reliance sailed with an aviation detachment from the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron based in Jacksonville, Florida.  The cutter worked directly with federal and international partners at JIATF-S and the Coast Guard Seventh District to combat transnational organized crime networks operating in the Caribbean Basin.  Reliance’s efforts directly contributed to the prevention of 14 metric tons of contraband from reaching American shores.  During the Reliance’s 63-day deployment, the cutter traveled over 6,000 miles, conducted three law enforcement boardings and conducted more than 100 helicopter launch and recovery evolutions while operating throughout the Western Caribbean.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

November 7

1950  The Coast Guard announced that it would open a limited number of Organized Reserve enlistments to male veterans of other services and to males without previous military service in an effort to bring Coast Guard port security training units up to authorized strength without delay.  Heretofore, such enlistments had been offered only to former Coast Guardsmen.

Mara Hope, Water sprayed on fire at Mara Hope, Tanker ship, Port Neches

1984  The tank ship Mara Hope suffered a fire in her engine room that quickly got out of control.  She had lain idle at the Coastal Marine Shipyard on the Neches River for more than a year, but the owners of the Liberian tank ship had crewed the vessel and were working to reactivate the ship when the fire broke out.  Coast Guard personnel and a 32-footer from MSO Port Arthur soon arrived on scene as did a 41-footer from Station Sabine.  Local firefighters also assisted.  It took almost three days to get the blaze under control.  The ship was declared a total loss.  There were no serious casualties.

November 8

U.S. COAST GUARD MANNED COMBAT TRANSPORT LEONARD WOOD CARRIES FIGHTING MEN AND VITAL WAR MATERIALS TO THE ENEMY-HELD INVASION SHORES

1942  Operation Torch, the Allied landings in Vichy-French-held North Africa, commenced.  Coast Guard-manned Navy vessels participated in the assault, including the attack transports USS Leonard Wood, Joseph T. Dickman, and Samuel Chase.  Coast Guardsmen also manned the landing craft on the Navy’s USS Arcturus, Charles Carroll, Joseph Hewes, William P. Biddle, and Exceller.

1957 After making contact with CGC Minnetonka on Ocean Station November Pan Am Flight 90944 Romance of the Skies was not heard of again. Wreckage of the aircraft was later found approx 90 miles of the ocean station.  No survivors were found.

AMACO Virginia Ablaze

1959  The tanker Amoco Virginia, with a cargo of aviation gasoline, exploded and caught fire at Houston, Texas.  U.S. Coast Guard units in the Galveston-Houston area assisted local and Federal agencies in extinguishing the blaze.  For 10 more days, Coast Guard air and surface units controlled a dangerous situation by spreading foam to reduce the fire hazard of leaking aviation gas, directing harbor traffic, pumping out the damaged vessel, and moving her to a safe dock.

“… foam to fight was on its way. At about 7:00 A.M. the U.S. Air Force at Ellington Air Force Base sent ten 55-gallon drums of foam to the scene and another ten barrels at 9:30 A.M. The Coast Guard Houston Port Captain, with approval from the Eighth Coast Guard District office in New Orleans, bought more chemical foam from commercial sources. A veritable air lift was begun to bring foam into Houston through Ellington Air Force Base with the first plane in the airlift arriving at Ellington at 11:59 A.M. Later that afternoon Air Force and Navy aircraft arrived with foam at almost ten minute intervals. This foam air lift continued for seven hours, stopping at about 7:00 P.M. when the Houston Civil Defense spokesman advised no further need for foam. The fire had been brought for the second–but final– time under control. This foam air lift consisted of 47 flights, hauled more than a half million pounds of foam, involved more than 400 Air Force and Navy personnel, and used some 42 Air Force and Navy vehicles.”

Aerial view of St. Paul. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, photographer not specified or unknown – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library.

1979  The crew of Coast Guard LORAN Station St. Paul Island, Alaska, rescued the crew of the Japanese factory fishing vessel Ryuyo Maru NR Two which had run aground near Tolstoi Point on St. Paul Island during a storm.  The Coast Guardsmen used a makeshift breeches buoy to affect the rescue of all of the 81 crewmen aboard the fishing vessel.