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

1935  Chief Warrant Gunner and Naval Aviation Pilot (CWO-GUN; NAP) Charles T. Thrun, USCG, Coast Guard Aviator Number 3, was killed when his Grumman JF-2 Duck crashed at Cape May.  CWO Thrun was the first Coast Guard aviator to die in the line of duty.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo of Fourth Avenue in Huntington, WV 25 January 1937

1937  Coast Guard units began flood relief operations in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.  These operations lasted until March 11^th and resulted in the rescue of hundreds of victims and thousands of farm animals.

1946  Staged jointly by the Coast Guard and the Navy, the first public demonstration of LORAN was held at Floyd Bennett Field in New York.

The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279) was one of three icebreakers used by Operation Deep Freeze in the Ross Sea area, December 1955. US Navy photo.

1949  The tanker Gulfstream collided with icebreaker CGC Eastwind. The collision and resulting fire killed 13 of Eastwind’s crew, nine of whom were chief petty officers.

Haley, Alex. “Tragedy Stalks the Sea: An Account of the Eastwind Disaster.” –

“It was half-past four the morning of January 19th. Off Cape May, New Jersey, long, shapeless tendrils of fog converged to shroud in a vast milkiness the Gulf Oil tanker SS Gulfstream, travelling light from Philadelphia to the Persian Gulf, and the U.S. Coast Guard’s super-icebreaker Eastwind, Boston to Baltimore. At 4:35 they came together with a rasping snarl of steel on steel. Men catapulted from their bunks fought back terror. There came a second jolt when the Gulfstream bucked clear, her bow a huge, snaggled tooth that had left a gaping wound in the Eastwind’s starboard midsection. Almost immediately a fire broke out, filling compartments with stifling, acrid smoke. Through it more than a hundred bewildered Coast Guardsmen groped their way topside. Among them were ambulatory cases, men in varying stages of undress, men suffering from shock, guided more by instinct than reason….

“The United Fruit Company’s new, sleek SS Junior arrived as the Eastwind fire began to get the upper hand. Faced squarely with the possibility of even more appalling disaster should the magazines be set off, Captain John A. Glynn of the Eastwind ordered 83 of his men to board the Junior which would carry them to New York….

“As this is written the death toll has risen to 13. They were:

• William E. Barnett, CSC
• Ewell Busby, ENC
• Harry F. Brown, HMC
• Donald W. Bryson, BMC
• Stanislaus Coindreau, SA       [Died in Marine Hospital, Staten Island, from injuries.]
• Robert E. Connors, EN3
• Louis Cywinski, DCC
• Peter A. Everett, QMC
• Kenneth S. King, SKC
• Anthony G. Machansky, RMC
• Rupert D. Midgette, ENC
• John V. Kerr; FA
• Albert P. Williams, SA…       [Died in Marine Hospital, Staten Island, from injuries.]

1969  CGC Absecon, while on ocean station duty, was directed to assist the sinking M/V Ocean Sprinter.  Absecon launched a small boat and rescued all of the merchant vessel’s crew.  The five Coast Guardsmen manning the small boat received the Coast Guard Medal for their actions.

USCGC Polar Sea

1977  The Coast Guard accepted delivery of CGC Polar Sea from Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, Washington.  Polar Sea was placed “In Commission, Special” on January 31, 1977 under the command of CAPT Richard Cueroni.

The tug Scandia and barge North Cape that ran aground on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island

1996  The tug Scandia and its barge, the North Cape, ran aground on the shore of Rhode Island, spilling 828,000 gallons of oil.  This was the worst spill in that state’s history.  The Coast Guard rescued the entire crew, pumped off 1.5 million gallons of oil and conducted skimming operations.

The North Cape oil spill took place on January 19, 1996, when the tank barge North Cape and the tug Scandia grounded on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, after the tug caught fire in its engine room during a winter storm. An estimated 828,000 US gallons (3,130 m³) of home heating oil was spilled. Oil spread throughout a large area of Block Island Sound, including Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, resulting in the closure of a 250-square-mile (650 km²) area of the sound for fishing.

Hundreds of oiled birds and large numbers of dead lobsters, surf clams, and starfish were recovered in the weeks following the spill. US federal and Rhode Island state governments undertook considerable work to clean up the spill and restore lost fishery stocks and coastal marine habitat. The North Cape oil spill is considered a significant legal precedent in that it was the first major oil spill in the continental U.S. after the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska on March 24, 1989.

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

City of Columbus and Revenue Cutter Dexter. Drawn by: Schell and Hogan from a sketch by an officer of the United States Revenue Cutter Dexter 1884.

1884  USRC Dexter, under the command of CAPT Eric Gabrielson, came to the aid of the stricken steamer City of Columbus after it had grounded on the Devil’s Bridge rock outcropping off Martha’s Vineyard.  The cutter maneuvered around the wreckage and launched its small boats to effect rescues.  Second LT John U. Rhodes, First LT Warrington D. Roath, Third LT Charles D. Kennedy, and volunteers from the cutter’s crew distinguished themselves in their rescue efforts.  They worked in concert with lifeboats from the Massachusetts Humane Society’s Gay Head station.  All told 29 passengers and crew were saved out of 132 aboard City of Columbus.  A local newspaper reported that the Dexter’s “…officers and crew, from the captain to the cabin boy, acted the part of heroes, both at the scene of the wreck and afterwards in caring for the survivors.”

USCGC Bibb before WWII

1938  CGC Bibb returned to Norfolk after a 10-day post-trial run from Norfolk to the Virgin Islands and back again with the Commandant, RADM Russell R. Waesche, aboard.  During the run Bibb went to the aid of the four-masted schooner Albert F. Paul, which had lost its topsails and was leaking badly.  The Paul was taken in tow and Bibb proceeded under reduced speed.  CGC Sebago was contacted by radio and relieved Bibb of the tow.  During the cruise, “constant communication was maintained between Bibb and Radio Station Fort Hunt, Virginia (NMH).”

No caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown. On ramp in preparation for launch, crew is running to the PBM; view is forward quarter, port side. Note beaching gear and anchor with hoist.

1953  A Coast Guard PBM seaplane crashed off the Chinese coast near Swatow, China during takeoff after having rescued 11 survivors from a ditched U.S. Navy aircraft that had been shot down by Chinese anti-aircraft fire.  A total of nine servicemen lost their lives in this second crash, including five of the Coast Guard aircrew.  The survivors were later rescued by the USS Halsey Powell (DD-686).  The entire Coast Guard PBM aircrew were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for their actions.

1974  Coast Guard units rescued 61 crewmembers from the 551-foot tanker Keytrader and the 657-foot Norwegian freighter Baune after the two vessels collided on the night of January 18, 1974 in dense fog.  Sixteen other crewmembers did not survive.  Keytrader was carrying 18,000 tons of fuel oil.  A 53-foot Coast Guard vessel assisted in fighting the ensuing fire.

2003  On January 18^th, CGC Walnut departed from her homeport in Honolulu, Hawaii and began her 10,000 mile transit to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  This 45-day transit was completed as quickly as possible with brief stops for fuel and food along the way in Guam, Singapore, and Kuwait.  The cutter deployed with an oil spill recovery system in the event the regime of Saddam Hussein committed any acts of environmental terrorism.  When those threats did not materialize, the cutter then conducted maritime interception operations enforcing U.N. Security Council resolutions, participated in the search for two downed United Kingdom helicopters, and patrolled and provided assistance to captured Iraqi offshore oil terminals being secured by Coast Guard port security personnel.   The cutter’s crew completely replaced 30 buoys and repaired an additional five along the 41-mile Khawr Abd Allah Waterway.  This ATON mission vastly improved the navigational safety of the waterway for humanitarian aid, commercial, and military vessels sailing to the port and was a critical step to economic recovery for the people of Iraq.