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

March 23

95 foot Cape Class WPB

1974  The 40-foot sailing vessel Lorisel II reported she was aground one mile southeast of North Rock, Bahamas, off the eastern shore of Bimini.  An HU-16 aircraft and CGC Cape Shoalwater were dispatched to assist.  The aircraft located the vessel and a local island boat was diverted to remove two women and a child from Lorisel II.  Cape Shoalwater re-floated the vessel, returned the passengers, and the Lorisel II got underway with no apparent damage.

2001  Two Coast Guardsmen, BM2 Scott Chism and SN Christopher Ferreby, gave their lives in the line of duty when their small boat CG-214341 capsized on Lake Ontario.  Their loss led to important changes in the small boat community’s training, equipment, and operations.

From: U.S. COAST GUARD Newsfeed unofficial, Facebook page, March 23, 2015  ·

F/V ALASKA RANGER

2008  Two Coast Guard helicopters worked with the F/V Alaska Warrior to save 42 of 47 crewmen from the sinking F/V Alaska Ranger in an Easter Sunday blizzard amidst 20-foot waves.  There was flooding in aft steerage of Ranger and the doors would not close.  The ship’s shell was rusty and flat-bottomed, built for Gulf of Mexico.  It was located 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor in the Bering Sea.  CGC Munro’s HH-65 Dolphin pulled five fishermen from the water, three of whom had to be cut free from the netting and ropes.  The HH-60 Jayhawk from St. Paul Station in the Pribiloff Islands lifted 15 sailors out of the sea and onto the sister ship, F/V Alaska Warrior.  Warrior also saved 22 lives on its own.  The crew of Munro received the Coast Guard Unit Commendation and aviators LT Brian J. McLaughlin, LT Timothy L. Schmitz, LT Steven M. Bonn, LT Greg S. Gedemer, Petty Officer 2nd Class O’Brien Hollow, Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert R. DeBolt, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Alfred V. Musgrave received Air Medals.

2012  The 9th Coast Guard District concluded Operation Taconite, its annual ice-breaking operation in the western Great Lakes, thereby officially bringing the 2011-2012 icebreaking season to a close.  Under control of Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Operation Taconite was carried out in Lake Superior, the St. Mary’s River, the Straits of Mackinac, and northern Lake Huron.  Operation Taconite began December 21, 2011.  Working together during this year’s ice-breaking season were crews aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Mackinaw, Alder, Hollyhock, Mobile Bay, Neah Bay, Katmai Bay, Biscayne Bay, and Thunder Bay, the latter being temporarily assigned to the Great Lakes from its homeport of Rockland, Maine.  Together these eight cutters spent 1,668 hours breaking ice and assisted more than 60 vessels.

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

March 22

1794  Congress declared that no American citizen may carry slaves from the United States to another nation or between foreign nations.

Elmer Stone, Coast Guard Aviator #1

1917  Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG, graduated from Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School, thereby becoming the service’s first aviator.  Third Lieutenant Stone was designated as Naval Aviator #38 and later Coast Guard Aviator #1.

1919  The Acting Secretary of the Treasury advised that light keepers and the officers and crews of vessels were not entitled to the benefits of the Public Health Service free of charge after retirement.

1969  ENC Morris S. Beeson, on CGC Point Orient, was killed in action during a boarding in Vietnam.

ENC Morris S. Beeson, on CGC Point Orient

A Note from The Virtual Wall

While the majority of US naval units were drawn from the Navy, the Coast Guard provided a number of smaller ships well suited to coastal patrol and close-in support for the riverine forces. Chief Petty Officer Beeson was killed in a small boat operation south of Chu Lai. The incident is described in the USNAVFORV History for March 1969:

“On the 22nd the small boat from the USCGC POINT ORIENT was checking fishing craft close inshore 56 miles north of Qui Nhon. While proceeding to board the three sampans caught in a restricted zone heavy automatic weapons fire was received from three positions to the north and west. A crewman was struck and killed instantly by the first burst of fire. In the incident three of the five sampans hailed by the small boat stopped their engines instead of evading up the river with the other two. Because restricted area violators had frequently been evading, the incident appeared to be a deliberate ambush with the sampans luring the small boat close to the shore line.”

The incident occurred at Tam Quan Point which forms the northern border of Tam Quan harbour, Binh Dinh Province.

Beeson Hall, the USCG Division 12 headquarters in Da Nang, was the only Coast Guard facility named for any of the Squadron One Coast Guardsmen killed in action in Vietnam.

2003  Three Iraqi sailors were captured in the northern Persian Gulf, the first Enemy Prisoners of War (EPOWs) taken by Coast Guard forces deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  The 24-member crew of USCGC Adak (WPB-1333) plucked the Iraqi sailors from the sea after they had jumped overboard when their patrol boat was destroyed by coalition forces.  The EPOWs were taken aboard Adak and later transferred to an undisclosed location.

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

March 21

1791  Hopley Yeaton of New Hampshire was commissioned as “Master of a Cutter in the Service of the United States for the Protection of the Revenue.”  He is often listed as the first commissioned seagoing officer of the United States.  His commission was signed by George Washington and attested to by Thomas Jefferson.  However, seven other commissions for officers of the Revenue Cutter Service were signed on the same date.  Yeaton’s claim to being first is tied to the fact that he is at the top of the list of officers.  He commanded the Revenue cutter Scammel, stationed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and the list is based on the cutters’ homeports from north to south.  Thus, Yeaton was first on the list, having command of the cutter in the northernmost port.

Elmer Stone, Coast Guard Aviator #1

1916  On this date Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG became the first Coast Guard officer ordered to flight training.  He reported on April 1, 1916 to Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School.

2013  CGC Midgett, returned to its homeport of Seattle, Washington, after its 75-day counter-narcotics patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean.  While on patrol in the eastern Pacific in late February, the crew successfully interdicted a 30-foot fishing vessel that was carrying 1,100 pounds of cocaine hidden inside the vessel.  Midgett’s boarding team confiscated the drugs and detained the suspected smugglers.  Midgett’s crew also visited Bahia Malaga, Colombia, for a partnership exercise with the Colombian Navy. The ship hosted the Colombian Navy’s chief of staff, pacific operations commander, and several other senior personnel for a tour of the ship.  After departing Seattle in early January 2013, Midgett and its 170-member crew first underwent a three-week drill in San Diego that included more than 300 training exercises in navigation, medical response, damage control, engineering, combat systems, seamanship, and anti-terrorism force protection.  The crew’s successful performance earned them several battle readiness awards as well as certification by shipboard training teams.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) sits moored at the U.S. Antarctic Program’s NSF McMurdo Station in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze, Feb. 16, 2025. Operation Deep Freeze is one of many operations in the Indo-Pacific in which the U.S. military promotes security and stability across the region. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Briana Carter)

2014  CGC Polar Star returned to its homeport of Seattle, Washington, following a 108-day deployment in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2014.  Polar Star originally departed Seattle on December 3, 2013 and made port calls in Honolulu, Sydney, Australia, McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and Tahiti, French Polynesia.  Having completed a reactivation that began four years ago, this deployment marked the first time in six years that a U.S. icebreaker provided support to Operation Deep Freeze. In January 2014, Polar Star departed Sydney to assist in the rescue effort of two ships, the Russian vessel Akademik Shokalsiky and the Chinese vessel Xue Lon.  Both of these vessels were beset in 15 feet of sea ice near Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica.  While Polar Star was en route to assist, the shifting ice conditions allowed the two ships to break free from the ice prior to the Coast Guard icebreaker’s arrival.  In Antarctica, Polar Star broke a navigable shipping lane through 12 miles of ice in McMurdo Sound, encountering ice up to 10 feet in thickness.  The shipping channel was used by the tanker ship Maersk Peary to deliver approximately three-and-a-half million gallons of fuel to McMurdo.  The channel was also used by the cargo ship Maersk Illinois to deliver more than 500 containers of supplies to operate McMurdo and South Pole stations for the next 12 months.  The crew of the Polar Star also delivered and deployed nearly one mile of fuel hose to Marble Point, an air station 20 miles west of McMurdo. In February 2014, prior to departing Antarctica, Polar Star hosted Coast Guard VADM Peter Neffenger, then-Deputy Commandant for Operations, who visited Antarctica to observe the operations of the U.S. Antarctic Program.

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

March 20

Schooner I’m Alone

1929  The most notable incident from which international complications resulted during the Prohibition era was that of the schooner I’m Alone of Nova Scotia, a vessel built for the rum trade.  She had successfully plied this trade for over four years when she appeared off the Texas coast and was picketed by the cutter Wolcott in the spring of 1929.  Boatswain Frank Paul marked her at 10.8 miles from shore and signaled her to heave to.  Several blanks were fired and this brought the vessel to a stop.  Captain Randall of the schooner allowed the Boatswain on board, there was a discussion, but when he returned, I’m Alone continued on her way.  The chase resumed and shots were fired into her rigging.  On the second morning, some two hundred miles south of the U.S., the cutter Dexter came up to assist and proceeded to fire into the runner, sinking the vessel.  One of her crew was drowned.  Repercussions were heard immediately from Canada, Britain, and France, as the drowned seaman was French.  The initial complaint was that of the position of the schooner at the point of contact.  Her captain maintained she was only a 7-knot vessel and she was anchored about 15 miles out in safe waters.  The second infraction was that the pursuit was not a continuous one; the intervention of Dexter muddied this question.  Since the speed of the suspect vessel is a consideration in determining how far out it might be seized, it should be noted that I’m Alone managed to stay ahead of Wolcott, a nearly new cutter capable of at least 11 knots, for over 24 hours.  As I’m Alone was sunk, the captain’s statement that her engines were in need of repair also could not be proven.  In any case, the international round of diplomatic niceties did not cease until 1935 when the United States backed off and compensation was paid to the crew of the schooner.

USCGC Wolcott, Type: 100-foot
LOA: 99’8” / 30.38m – LOD: 99’8” / 30.38m – Beam: 23’0” / 7.01m – Draft: 10’9” / 3.28m – Displacement: Gross 173 Net Tons 105, Speed: 12 knots maximum (original spec) – Built by: Defoe Boat & Motor Works of Bay City, Michigan. – Year Launched: July 1926

USCGC Dexter

USCGC Dexter 3″/23 gunnery practice. This was the Weapon Dexter used to sink the I’m Alone.

1941  Sabotage was discovered on an Italian vessel at Wilmington, North Carolina.  The Coast Guard investigated all Italian and German vessels in American ports and took into “protective custody” 28 Italian vessels, two German and 35 Danish vessels.  Coast Guard boarding teams discovered that their crews had damaged 27 of the Italian ships and one of the German ships.  The Coast Guard also took into custody a total of 850 Italian and 63 German officers and crew.  Two months later these vessels were requisitioned for service with the United States by order of Congress for the Latin American trade.

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

March 19

1943  British Steamer Svend Foyne was a victim of an iceberg collision off the southern tip of Greenland.  One hundred forty-five persons were rescued by the Coast Guard and others.  The International Ice Patrol was suspended during this period (1942-1945) of World War II.

Coast Guard manned Destroyer Escort USS Menges, after hit by  a German Acoustic Homing Torpedo, May, 1944

1945  The first all-Coast Guard hunter-killer group ever established during the war searched for a reported German U-boat near Sable Island.  The group was made up of the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escorts USS Lowe, Menges, Mosley, and Pride, and was under the overall command of CDR R. H. French, USCG.  He flew his pennant from Pride.  Off Sable Island the warships located, attacked, and sank the U-866 with the loss of all hands.  Interestingly, the Menges had been a victim of a German acoustic torpedo during escort-of-convoy operations in the Mediterranean in 1944.  The torpedo had detonated directly under her stern, causing major damage and casualties, but she remained afloat.  She was later towed to port and the stern of another destroyer escort, one that had been damaged well forward, was welded onto the Menges.  She then returned to action.

USS Pride (DE-323), Coast Guard manned destroyer escort

Appearing very different from its last Greenland visit in 1884, the USS Bear returned in 1944. Unlike in 1884, the Bear relied on a Coast Guard crew during World War II. As part of the Greenland Patrol, it cruised Greenland’s waters and, in October 1941, brought home the German trawler Buskø, the first enemy vessel captured by the U.S. in WWII. (Coast Guard photo)

1963  The famous cutter Bear sank off the coast of Nova Scotia on this date while under tow from Halifax to Philadelphia were she as slated to be “put out to pasture” as a floating museum-restaurant.  The two men who were aboard the old cutter were rescued after a Coast Guard aircraft dropped a raft to the accompanying tug.

1989  M/V Aoyagi Maru ran aground on a reef in Lost Harbor, Alaska.  USCGC Rush rescued the crew of 19. She was declared a total loss after being gutted by fire when 1,200 pounds of explosives were ignited to burn off the 100,000 gallons of fuel left aboard and her cargo of 74,000 pounds of rotting cod.

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

March 15

US AMP (Army Mine Planter) GEN. JOHN P. STORY was built in 1919 for the Army Corps of Engineers, and was transferred to the USLHS in 1922 and renamed USLHT ACACIA (pic.5). With twin screws, a length-over-all of 172 ½ ft., she displaced 1130 tons. She was further renamed USCGC ACACIA (WAGL 200) after the USLHS was merged into the USCG on September 1, 1939. Also as part of the merger, the 9th LHD became part of the 7th CG District. The unarmed ACACIA was the only buoy tender sunk by a U-boat during WWII, on March 15, 1942.

1942  The 172-foot tender CGC Acacia was en route from Curacao, Netherlands West Indies to Antigua, British West Indies, when she was sunk by shellfire from the German submarine U-161.  The entire crew of Acacia was rescued.  She was the only Coast Guard buoy tender sunk by enemy action during the war.

Map of Manus and Los Negros during World War II. Source: Building the Navy’s Bases in World War II, Volume II.

1944  Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasions of Manus in the Admiralties and Emirau (St. Mathias Islands).

PB-1G, CG-77249, on runway in Argentia, Newfoundland, running up engines, International Ice Patrol, 15 February 1954. Photo No. 021554-01. Original caption states: “U.S. Coast Guard plane, PB-1G (B-17), taking off on a 9-hour patrol.”

1946  For the first time, Coast Guard aircraft supplemented the work of the Coast Guard patrol vessels of the International Ice Patrol, scouting for ice and determining the limits of the ice fields from the air.

1983  The Coast Guard retired its last HC-131A Samaritan.

1991  F/V Alaskan Monarch became trapped in the ice-encrusted Bering Sea near St. Paul, Alaska and was in danger of being swept onto the breakwater rocks outside St. Paul Harbor.  CGC Storis and an HH-3 from AIRSTA Kodiak, under the command of LT Laura H. Guth, responded.  After a flight of 600 miles, including a winter crossing of the Alaska Peninsula and 400 miles of open water, Guth and her crew rescued four of the six-man crew before waves crashed over the vessel and swept the two remaining crewmen into the frigid water.  They both were quickly pulled from the water safely.

1997  Operation Gulf Shield began. This operation was a counterpart to the counter-narcotics Operation Frontier Shield.