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

April 25

1819  USRC Active captured the pirate vessel Irresistible in the Chesapeake Bay.

An engraving of the explosion that destroyed the Moselle. Courtesy of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library. Via Ohio Memory.

1838  The steamboat Moselle, with more than 265 passengers and crew aboard, departed from a landing near Cincinnati, Ohio for St. Louis.  Her boilers exploded soon after casting off, killing 136.  This was one of three catastrophic steamboat boiler explosions within as many months that forced the Federal Government to begin regulating merchant steam vessels.

1956  The U.S. Coast Guard issued new regulations for security screening of merchant seamen.  Changes in the screening program were made for the purpose of conforming with a recent U .S. Court of Appeals ruling (Parker V. Lester) which held that procedures used by the Coast Guard did not meet the minimum requirements of due process of law.  The legal background for the Coast Guard security program stems from the Magnuson Act, which authorized the President to issue rules safeguarding vessels and waterfront facilities when he found security endangered by a subversive activity. The President made such a finding in 1950 by Executive Order No. 10173 and directed the Coast Guard to set up and conduct the program.

In the illustration above we have Cuba at the top, Haiti to the right, Jamaica to the left and in the center, a tiny piece of the USA, Navassa Island. 

While preparing the post on USCGC Seneca’s recent patrol, I had an occasion to look up the Windward Passage. It lies between the Eastern end of Cuba and the West end of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). It is only 80 kM (43 nautical miles) wide.

Navassa Island “with a few infos added: Lulu Town, Navassa Island Light, peak (77 m)” Credit: Wikipedia user: Indolences

Surprisingly it includes a bit of the US, its territorial sea, and Exclusive Economic Zone. Little Navassa Island has a Coast Guard connection.

From 1917 to 1996, Navassa was under the administration of the United States Coast Guard.

In September 1999, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service established the Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses 1,344 acres (5.44 km²) of land and a 12 nautical mile (22.2 km) radius of marine habitat around the island. Later that year, full administrative responsibility for Navassa was transferred from the Office of Insular Affairs to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That may be reason enough to cruise by once in a while. Not sure anyone would be allowed ashore.

Navassa Island’s lighthouse with the light keeper’s quarters in the foreground

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

April 24

An aerial view of upper New York Bay from over Staten Island and looking North towards Manhattan. Statue of Liberty is in the upper left. The Caven Point Pier is visible in the center-left of the photo with four MSTS Troopships tied up at the pier. The Berthing location of the El Estero on the day of her fire is highlighted by the Red arrow. Pic courtesy of https://tugster.wordpress.com/

1943  While loading a cargo of ammunition at a Bayonne, New Jersey pier, the freighter El Estero caught fire, threatening downtown Manhattan with devastation should the ship’s cargo explode.

“Though public knowledge about Caven Point’s additional duties would remain non-existent until the end of the war in Europe, the FDNY Marine Division was well briefed on the nature and scale of operations carried out at the facility. Every ship calling at Caven Point to load munitions was required to tender a copy of its blueprint and cargo hold plans to the Marine Division, so that in the event of an emergency, first responders could quickly and easily access, contain, and fight fires on any ammunition-laden ship. In addition to these measures, the U.S. Coast Guard maintained an active fire watch and sizeable fleet of pump-equipped patrol boats on a 24-hour alert around the pier, and the Bayonne Fire Department kept a fast reaction squad on alert as well. Every commercial tugboat calling the pier complex for ship-assist duties was required to have substantial external firefighting capabilities, to provide near-immediate response in the event of fire. Due in large part to these precautions, operations at Caven Point proceeded smoothly despite the hectic nature of operations at the now combined-use facility through 1942 and into 1943, when the buildup of men and material bound for England and Africa began to greatly swell the number of ships loading men, materials and munitions at the pier.”

Coast Guardsmen under the command of LCDR John T. Stanley responded immediately and were soon reinforced by local firefighters.  Two Coast Guard fireboats along with commercial and New York City firefighting tugs headed to the area.  LCDR Stanley boarded the freighter which was now burning out of control and he was joined by LCDR Arthur F. Pfister who was in charge of the Coast Guard vessels.  Upon consultation with the Captain of the Port of New York, Third District commander RADM Stanley V. Parker, they decided to scuttle the ship.  However, the sea cocks were not accessible and so they decided to fill the vessel with water.  While firefighting teams fought the blaze aboard the El Estero, the tugs arrived and took the freighter under tow, heading to deeper water away from New York City.  The tugs and firefighting vessels began spraying their water cannons on the freighter, filling her holds with water.  The residents of the city were warned to expect an imminent explosion.  Fortunately, the vessel began listing to starboard and soon thereafter sank northwest of the Robbins Reef Light, extinguishing the fires.  All of the men aboard the vessel escaped harm.  The fire was later ruled as accidental.

CG Squadron 3 enroute Subic Bay, 1967, Vietnam War

1967  At the request of the U.S. Navy, five Coast Guard Casco class high endurance cutters (WHECs) were commissioned as Coast Guard Three (RONTHREE) at Pearl Harbor for service in Vietnam.

Squadron Three in Subic Bay, WHECs  Half Moon (W378), Yakutat (W380), Barataria (W381), Bering Strait (W382), and Gresham (W387) along side repair ship USS Jason (AS-8).

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va. (MAY 7, 2004) — Pall bearers carry the casket of DC3 Nathan Bruckenthal during his interment ceremony. Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guard casualty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. USCG photo by PA2 Fa’iq El-Amin.

2004  Damage Controlman Third Class Nathan Bruckenthal, USCG, from Smithtown, New York, and two U. S. Navy sailors were killed in the line of duty while conducting maritime intercept operations in the North Arabian Gulf.  He and six other coalition sailors attempted to board a small boat near the Iraqi Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal.  As they boarded the boat, it exploded.  Petty Officer Bruckenthal died later from injuries sustained in the explosion.  Petty Officer Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guardsman killed in action since the Vietnam War.  He was assigned to Tactical Law Enforcement South in Miami, Florida and deployed with Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia aboard the USS Firebolt.  This was his second deployment to the Arabian Gulf for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Bruckenthal (WPC-1128) participates in a fueling exercise with the Coast Guard Cutter Campbell on the Chesapeake Bay, April 11, 2020. The Coast Guard acquired the first Sentinel Class cutter in 2012, with the namesake of each cutter being one of the service’s many enlisted heroes. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Isaac Cross)

Below is a press release from U.S. Coast Guard District Eleven. Along with it came some great video showing how drug interdiction is done. The video above is a Youtube mashup of the two videos included in the news release. 

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

April 22

1944  Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasions of Aitape and Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea.

The 82-foot patrol boats of Squadron One (RONONE) deploying from Subic Bay in the Philippines to the theater of operations in Vietnam. (U.S. Coast Guard)

1965  The Coast Guard and the Navy agreed on the deployment of 82-foot patrol and 40-foot utility boats to support Operation Market Time in Vietnam.

CG Squadron 3 enroute Subic Bay, 1967, Vietnam War

April 23

1790 The Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton submitted a report to Congress suggesting the utility of building “ten boats for securing the collection of the revenue.” Hamilton’s suggestion was accepted and passed into law on 4 August 1790 after the bill was signed by President George Washington.

1880 Captain Jerome G. Kiah and his crew of six surfmen from the Point Aux Barques Life-Saving Station responded to a distress signal from a stranded scow in Lake Huron.  They departed their station in their pulling surfboat but the boat capsized a number of times in the icy water, eventually causing the six surfmen to perish from hypothermia.  Only Captain Kiah survived the ordeal, but was severely injured from the cold water and forced to resign from the Service.  He carried the psychological scars of the disaster for the rest of his life, but rejoined the Life-Saving Service later that year as District Superintendent.

1924  A tube transmitter for radio fog-signal stations, developed to take the place of the spark transmitters then in use, was placed in service on the Ambrose Channel Lightship and proved successful.

2007  The Intelligence Specialist (IS) rating was launched with a special ceremony at Coast Guard Headquarters.

Coast Guard Cutter Seneca (WMEC 906) patrols off coastal Haiti, March 1, 2025. The crew of Seneca conducted a 54-day maritime border security patrol in the Windward Passage. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Solana Laughlin). Note the shelter on the flight deck for migrants. 

Below is a news release from Coast Guard News.

I look at both this news release and an April 14 release about USCGC Spencer’s 92 day deployment to the Florida Straits, and it doesn’t look like much is happening.  146 Medium Endurance Cutter days and only one migrant interdiction. Zero drug interdictions. Is this the best allocation of resources?

As I noted in an earlier report passing along an April 1, 2025 news release about the repatriation of the 99 migrants mentioned in the news release below.

“Since the beginning of fiscal year Oct. 1, 2025, Coast Guard crews have repatriated a total of 412 aliens to Haiti, compared to 857 aliens repatriated to Haiti in FY24.”

412 repatriated over six months vs 857 over twelve month, it appears that intercepts are being made at about the same rate, or perhaps a bit lower rate, than in FY24. The Coast Guard was on the job then, as it is now.

That is not a flood of immigrants, and a lot of assets are being employed.

Even the Navy is helping out in Caribbean. This release mentions, Cutters James (WMSL 754), Vigilant (WMEC 617), Valiant (WMEC 621), Tampa (WMEC 902), but no mention of Spencer or of any of the 20 Webber class cutters assigned to 7th District.

Even if Seneca had not intercepted the 99 immigrants 35 miles North of Cap-Haitien (at least 450 nautical miles from Florida and about 300 nautical miles from Puerto Rico) isn’t it likely some other cutter would have intercepted them?

Meanwhile in the Eastern Pacific Drug transit zones USCGC James makes 11 drug interceptions and USCGC Stone makes 12 interdictions, but still the vast majority of drugs are getting through.