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

June 15

Steamboat General Slocum

1904  Nearly 1,000 lives were lost when the steamboat General Slocum caught fire in the East River in New York.  The disaster led to improved safety regulations and life-saving equipment.

Victims of General Slocum washed ashore at North Brother Island

1917  Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Espionage Act, authorizing the Treasury Secretary to assume control of U.S. ports, control ship movements, establish anchorages, and supervise the loading and storage of explosive cargoes.  The authority was immediately delegated to the Coast Guard and formed the basis for the formation of the Coast Guard’s Captain of the Ports and the Port Security Program.

USS Cambria (APA-36) at anchor, date and location unknown. Her camouflage is Measure 32 Design 3D. US Navy photo. Navsource from Michael Marzolla for his father, Lt. Anthony Mario Marzolla USCG, USS Cambria

1944  Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasion of Saipan, Marianas.  The Coast Guard-manned transports that took part in the invasion included the USS Cambria, Arthur Middleton, Callaway, Leonard Wood, LST-19, LST-23, LST-166, and LST-169.

USS Arthur Middleton (AP-55) undergoing conversion from a Maritime Commission Passenger and Cargo liner to an Attack Transport in drydock at San Francisco Navy Yard, Hunters Point, circa 1942. Photographs show how much had to be added to a cargo liner to convert her into an attack transport. She needed heavier booms to handle landing craft (note the boat chocks atop the hatch in the photo of the ship’s after end). Note also the catwalk to assist in handling personnel boats launched from the new triple Welin davits, and the boat chocks positioned under the davits. The small lattice mast ultimately carried a radar antenna. Mare Island Navy Yard photos from “U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History” by Norman Friedman.

The U.S.S. Serpens Monument is dedicated to those who lost their lives when the U.S.S. Serpens was destroyed. The 14,250-ton ammunition ship exploded off Lunga Baech, Guadacanal, British Solomon Islands on the night of Jan. 29, 1945 and was the largest single disaster suffered by the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II. (U.S. Army photo by Rachel Larue/released)

1949  Two hundred and forty-eight unidentified victims of the 1945 explosion of the U.S. Coast Guard-manned Serpens at Guadalcanal were buried in Arlington National Cemetery in what was described as the largest recommittal on record.

USS Serpens (AK-97)

1986  Upon assuming the office of Commandant on May 30, 1986, ADM Paul Yost banned the wearing of beards by Coast Guard personnel, to be effective on June 15, 1986.

25 June 2009: The Pacific Ocean – A U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point C-130 crew flies over USS Crommelin (FFG 37), homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the FSS Independence, a patrol boat from the Federated States of Micronesia, patrolling the Western Pacific Ocean. 
(U.S. Coast Guard photo #090625-G-0314D-002 by PO3 Michael De Nyse from the Navy Newstand)

2009  Law Enforcement officers from the 14th Coast Guard District reported aboard the USS Crommelin (FFG-37) to support U.S. Coast Guard fisheries enforcement in Oceania in an operation called the “Fight for Fish” mission.  It marked the first time a Navy warship was utilized “to transit the Western Pacific enforcing fishing regulations in a joint effort with the Coast Guard to stop illegal fishing in this region.”

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

June 14

1775  The official birthday of the U.S. Army: it was on this date in 1775 that the Continental Congress adopted “the American continental army.”  The Army’s motto is: “This We’ll Defend.”

1906  Congress passed the first regulatory fishing law for Alaska.  The new law was enforced by the Revenue Cutter Service.

USCGC Duane (WPG-33) in Godthaab Fjord, Greenland in the Spring of 1941. Her mission was to survey the east coast of Greenland in order to identify sites for airfields. Note the SOC-4 seaplane amidships.
Photo courtesy of A. D. Baker III from “U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft of World War II” by Robert L. Scheina.

1941  CGC Duane rescued 46 survivors from the torpedoed SS Tresillian.

British Merchant Ship Tresillian sunk by U-77, 13 June 1941. Entire crew of 46 rescued by USCGC Duane.

1979  The Coast Guard announced the award of a $215 million contract for 90 Short Range Recovery (SRR) helicopters to Aerospatiale Helicopter Corporation of Grand Prairie, Texas.

Admiral Arciszewski was a B89 type, built in 1977 in the Komuniy Paryskiej yard in Gdynia. At 2620 grt it was among the largest Polish vessels, classed as a factory freezer stern trawler with reefer capacity and ice strengthened. It was renamed Queen Lydia in 2002 and broken up in Alang 2004-06-09.

1996  CGC Mellon seized the Polish fishing vessel Admiral Arciszewski after it was found to be illegally fishing in U.S. waters 385 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor.  CGC Steadfast escorted the fishing vessel into Kodiak.

United States Coast Guard Cutter Mellon (WHEC-717) makes way through the Bering Sea while acting as search and rescue standby cutter for the Bering Sea Opilio Crab fishery. U.S. Coast Guard photograph 010209-C-6130A-500, PA1 Keith Alholm

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

June 13

“SQUAN BEACH”; no date/photo number; photographer unknown. Probably 1927.

1903  A Gold Lifesaving medal was awarded to Captain Robert F. Longstreet “for heroic conduct at Squan Beach, New Jersey,” for his efforts to rescue five fishermen from their capsized vessel on June 13, 1903. The heavily – laden vessel was observed to capsize in “heavy breaking surf caused the heavy ground swell and strong southerly wind, following a storm which had just passed along the coast.”  Observers went to the Squan Beach life – saving station for help, but because it was the inactive season, only Captain Longstreet was present.  Nevertheless, he launched a small skiff with the help of a fisherman and rowed out the fishing vessel.

Loening OL-5, “Radio operator, holding mouthpiece of transmitter – wearing ear-phone helmet. Aviation Unit, Gloucester, Mass.; 8 March 1929; Photo Number 3-8-29

1929  Coast Guard Radio Technician A. G. Descoteaux became the first person to broadcast from an aircraft.  In a Loening amphibian, he reported the takeoff of a French aircraft on a trans-Atlantic flight at Old Orchard Beach, Maine.  The account was relayed by ground equipment to an extensive national hookup and was received by U.S. and foreign listeners.

Meanwhile, the 1925 addition of aircraft to the Coast Guard’s inventory created a new challenge for communications. Early aircraft had not been designed or constructed with radios in mind. Luckily, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Elmer Stone, a pioneer in maritime aviation, devised specifications for an aviation radio set. With those specifications in mind, Radio Electrician A.G. Descoteaux and Chief Radioman R.H. Salvas exercised field-level initiative to develop a 90-pound battery-operated radio set. This set enabled Coast Guard aircraft to report vessel sightings in real time to nearby cutters and shore stations. This capability proved critical to successful surface vessel interdictions and, later, aviation rescues and interdictions.

Loening OL-5, “Machine gun and ring mount ready for action – showing magazine and shell catcher in place. Gloucester, Mass.”; 8 March 1929; Photo Number 3-8-29 (14).

Loening OL-5, waterborne take-off, OL-5 No. 1(?), no caption/date/photo number.

https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Portals/10/CG-1/leadership/docs/pdf/ELN/burke.pdf?ver=2017-03-01-092950-090

1933  LT Richard L. Burke piloted a seaplane from AIRSTA Cape May to rescue an ill seaman from the fishing trawler Shawmut 130 miles offshore.  He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this rescue.

Seaman John Cullen, left, received the Legion of Merit from Rear Adm. Stanley V. Parker for his service in World War II. Credit…The New York Times

1942  Coast Guardsman John C. Cullen (Seaman 2/c) discovered Nazi saboteurs landing on beach at Amagansett, Long Island.  He reported this to his superiors.  The FBI later captured the Nazis and Cullen was awarded the Legion of Merit.

USCGC Thetis (WPC-115)

1942  CGC Thetis sank the German U-boat U-157 off the Florida Keys.  There were no survivors.

Escanaba rescuing survivors from USAT Dorchester. USCG Image.

1943  CGC Escanaba exploded and sank off Ivigtut, Greenland, with only two survivors.  The cause for the loss has never been confirmed.

(original USCG caption) USS Escanaba, CG; “All hands at Quarters on deck.”; circa-late 1942; photo is from Roll No. 4; photo by Ray Platnick, P.M.1c.

2023  The Navy organized Coast Guard Port Security Unit (PSU) 305 members conducted a casing of the colors ceremony at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Tuesday, marking the end of the Coast Guard’s 21-year mission supporting Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO).  Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan presided over the historical ceremony and presented a Coast Guard Unit Commendation award to the men and women of PSU 305. Port Security Units are part of the Coast Guard’s deployable specialized forces and have served JTF-GTMO as the Maritime Security Detachment (MARSECDET) for over 21 years. The Virginia-based PSU 305 was the first PSU deployed to Guantanamo Bay in 2002 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and this tour completes their fifth unit eployment. “Thanks to the quiet resolve and careful watch of our Port Security Units for the past 21 years, the work our Nation has conducted here has been done safely and securely,” said Fagan during the ceremony. Coast Guard PSUs and Maritime Safety and Security Teams have provided maritime anti-terrorism force protection for JTF-GTMO since 2002. There have been 39 unit rotations to Guantanamo Bay since the Coast Guard began supporting the mission. The men and women assigned to the MARSECDET collectively provided over 200,000 underway hours conducting around-the-clock waterside patrols and over 50,000 hours of shoreside anti-terrorism and force protection defense security to Department of Defense assets and personnel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. Upon the conclusion of the JTF-GTMO mission, PSUs will continue to remain an agile expeditionary force provider, playing a critical role in protecting strategic maritime operations in an environment of increasing global competition. In addition, PSUs will participate in national level joint and combined exercises to enhance readiness and proficiency for the full spectrum of PSU capabilities. “This is an exciting time for the PSU community” said Capt. Matthew Michaelis, Pacific Area deputy chief of operations. “As the focus shifts from a long-standing enduring mission, we look forward to supporting future missions that align with their diverse set of capabilities. Our PSUs recently completed three joint DoD exercises and are preparing for additional exercises overseas with DoD and some of our trusted partners. The increased focus on interoperability will better prepare our PSUs to deploy in a joint or multi-lateral environment as they were designed, while also creating opportunities to evolve and uncover new and novel ways for their employment.”

Coast Guardsmen from Port Security Unit 307 conduct seaward security for Department of Defense assets and personnel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, April 25, 2022. During the nine-month deployment, unit operations focused on maritime defense, providing more than 30,000 hours of around-the-clock waterside and shore side anti-terrorism and force protection. U.S. Coast Guard by photo by Lt. Cmdr. Glenn Sanchez.

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

June 12

Revenue cutter Surveyor, at anchor in the York River, Virginia, was surprised by a three-barge attack force launched from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Narcissus

1813  Revenue cutter Surveyor, at anchor in the York River, Virginia, was surprised by a three-barge attack force launched from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Narcissus.  Outnumbered 50 to 15, the cuttermen wounded seven and killed three of the enemy before the cutter was captured.  The British commanding officer of Narcissus was so impressed by “the determined way in which her deck was disputed, inch by inch,” in hand-to-hand combat, he returned to Revenue Captain William Travis, the commanding officer of Surveyor, “the sword you had so nobly used.”

1917  An Act of Congress appropriated $300,000 to enable the U .S. Coast Guard to extend its telephone system to include all Coast Guard stations not then connected as well as the most important light stations with no means of rapid communication.  The Life-Saving Service had pioneered the use of the telephone beginning in the 1880s, linking the various stations along the nation’s coast with the new communication device.

HURON (lightship) now a museum ship- Port Huron, Michigan, 13 April 2012, photo credit: Notorious4life via Wikipedia

1925  Lake Huron Lightship radio fog signal was placed in commission, being the first signal of this kind on the Great Lakes.

Hyperbolic navigation example (Image: Wikipedia)

1942  The U.S. Navy makes its first operational test with LORAN equipment with a LORAN receiver mounted in a K-2 airship on a flight from Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

USCGC Vigorous

1975  CGC Vigorous seized the Bulgarian F/V Argonaut off the coast of New England.  More than 500 pounds of lobster were reported found aboard the fishing vessel by the Coast Guard boarding party.  Lobster was protected from foreign fishing by the Continental Shelf Fishery Resource Law.

1999  The small cruise vessel Wilderness Adventurer ran aground in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.  All passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the stranded vessel.  The responders from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Coast Guard, and Glacier Bay Tours and Cruises (which operated the vessel) then successfully refloated her and towed her to drydock.  Oil containment booms contained the 300 gallons of fuel that leaked from the vessel.  A Coast Guard spokesman later stated “This is the best-run multi-agency operation I’ve seen in my career.  It went well.  We still have a damaged vessel to take care of, but at least it’s not at the bottom of the ocean in a national park.”  The Coast Guard also investigated the accident.

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

June 11

Sandy Hook Lighthouse, National Park Service Photo.

1764  Sandy Hook Lighthouse, at the south point of the entrance to New York Harbor, was first lighted.  Today, its octagonal tower, built by Mr. Isaac Conro of New York City with money collected by a group of New York merchants, is the oldest original light tower still standing and in use in the United States.

USCGC Taney tied up at Pier 4 in Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii, circa 1940
VIRIN: 220509-G-G0000-002.JPG, Photo by: USCG Historian’s Office

1942  After the Battle of Midway (4–7 June), CGC Taney anchored at Midway Island after escorting USS Regulus (AK-14) there.  For the next four days Taney conducted SAR operations in the waters around Midway, the island itself, and then “went out into the Pacific Ocean to look for survivors reported by plane.”  Taney departed Midway Island on June 16 and escorted Regulus back to Honolulu.

Cape Kubugakli, Alaska

1966  Finding itself disabled and adrift two miles from Cape Kubugakli, Alaska, the fishing vessel Katy C radioed for assistance.  A Coast Guard helicopter, after ascertaining that the ship was unable to anchor by herself, took her in tow until she was out of danger.

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

June 10

Side view of the Old Harbor Life Saving Station at Cape Cod National Seashore’s Race Point Beach

1872  Congress ordered that Life-Saving stations were to be erected “under supervision of two captains of the revenue service.”  An Act of Congress authorized government life-saving stations on Cape Cod and Block Island.

New Shoreham Life Saving Station, formerly located on Block Island, now at Mystic Seaport

1922  Congress readjusted pay and allowances of Coast Guard commissioned and enlisted personnel on basis of equality with other services.  Until this time a Coast Guard captain was equivalent to a Navy lieutenant commander.

Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, and Intelligence Service Center (C5ISC)

2020  The Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Information Technology Service Center (C4ITSC) was disestablished and the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, and Intelligence Service Center (C5ISC) was established at a commissioning ceremony held on 10 June 2020 on grounds of the Coast Guard property in Alexandria, VA, formerly known as USCG Washington Radio Station (NMH) and later TISCOM.  The facility was formerly renamed COGARD C5ISC Alexandria VA.

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

June 9

1910  Congress passed the Motor Boat Act (Public Law 61-201, 36 Stat. 462).  The Federal authority to regulate uninspected vessels originated with the passage of this Act, which established standards with respect to navigation lights, machinery requirements, life preservers, and for the licensing of operators on small vessels (under 65-feet in length) carrying passengers.  It applied only to vessels “that are propelled by machinery other than steam.”

Lt. Jack C. Rittichier, HONORED ON PANEL 58W, LINE 14 OF THE WALL, born 08/17/1933, killed in action 06/09/1968, QUANG TRI Province, Vietnam

1968  LT Jack C. Rittichier was shot down and killed in action along with his Air Force crew while flying a combat SAR mission as an exchange pilot with the Air Force’s 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRS) in Vietnam.

Galveston, TX–Coast Guard, tugboats, and fireboats attempt to out a fire that engulf the Swedish motor tanker Mega Borg after it exploded 60 miles southeast of Galveston, TX. USCG photo by KALNBACH, CHUCK PA1

1990  The 853-foot Norwegian tanker Mega Borg exploded near Galveston, Texas, killing two of her crew.  Coast Guard units consisting of 500 Coast Guardsmen fought the fires and cleaned up the resulting oil spill.  The units included CGCs Buttonwood, Point Spencer, Steadfast, Valiant, and Cushing.  Steadfast became the on-scene commander and maintained communications between the operations center at MSO Galveston and personnel fighting the fire.  Salvia worked with Navy skimmers seven miles from shore in the Sabine Pass area.  The Atlantic and Pacific Strike Teams brought people and equipment from across the country and MSOs in Houston, Mobile, Morgan City, New Orleans, and Port Arthur sent personnel to assist MSO Galveston.

2001  Coast Guard Group Operations Center in Galveston, Texas, was inundated with calls for assistance after Tropical Storm Allison dumped over 36 inches of rain in a three-day period, causing massive flooding in and around Houston.  Coast Guard flood punts and helicopters rescued over 220 persons.

2009  The U.S. Coast Guard’s first National Security Cutter, Bertholf (WMSL 750), conducted a structural test fire of its missile decoy launching system in the Southern California Operations Area of the Pacific Missile Range Facilit. The crew of CGC Bertholf, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, and the Navy Research Lab successfully launched two rounds from the Nulka Anti-Ship Missile Defense System.  These MK-234 Nulka rounds hover in the air while attracting incoming anti-ship missiles.  This is the first time that a Nulka round has been launched from a Coast Guard cutter. The successful completion of the test fire was the first phase of the crew’s two-month multi-mission patrol which includes a counter drug patrol in the Eastern Pacific under the tactical control of Commander, Joint Interagency Task Force South for detection and monitoring, and under the tactical control of Commander, Coast Guard District Eleven for interdiction and apprehension.

The U.S. Coast Guard high endurance cutter USCGC Gallatin (WHEC-721) lies tied up at a pier at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, during exercise “Ocean Venture ’88”, on 30 March 1988.

2013  CGC Gallatin returned to homeport of Charleston, South Carolina following a successful three-and-a-half month patrol in counter-drug missions, search and rescue, maritime exercises, and community outreach.  Gallatin’s counterdrug operations for this patrol resulted in the collective seizure of more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine and 3,500 lbs. of marijuana.  Gallatin’s  patrol highlights include: three cocaine seizures and four go-fast vessel disruptions; transfer of marijuana seized May 10 by a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment aboard the Royal Netherlands Navy Vessel HNMLS Friesland; search and rescue mission of passengers aboard a sinking panga March 15; maritime exercises and professional exchange missions with Dutch Naval Vessel HNMLS Friesland and U.S. Navy’s Mayport, Florida-based HSV Swift; and port calls in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Bocas Del Toro, Panama; and Roatan, Honduras. During the port calls, Gallatin’s crew enthusiastically worked several community outreach projects which included ship tours for more than 400 school children and their teachers in Guantanamo Bay and Roatan.  The crew also painted, plumbed, and did electrical work in local hospitals and churches.

HNLMS Friesland (P842), a Holland-class offshore patrol vessel operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy, moors at Naval Air Station Key West’s Mole Pier.