Make Ready the Boarding and Capture team!
The Coast Guard Historian’s Office has the 316-page CG-260 manual of organizations and regs for 378-foot high endurance cutters, dated January 1973, digitized online.
USCGC Morgenthau (WHEC-722), a 378-foot high endurance cutter, by John Wisinski
Covering the dozen Hamilton-class cutters, it makes interesting reading, especially for those interested in Cold War/Vietnam-era Coastie and by extension Naval lore.
I found the Landing and VBSS (Visit, board, search, and seizure) bills particularly interesting.
They include a two-squad 27-man Landing team, a 6-man Visit/Search team, a 31-man Boarding and Capture team, and a 27-man Prize Crew with the number of pistols (at the time M1911s) and rifles/SMGs (M1 Garands and M1 Thompsons) listed.
The Hamiltons would, in the 1980s, upgrade their WWII-era small arms lockers to M9s and M16A2s while ditching their 5″/38 main battery for a MK 75 76mm OTO. Also gone were the 26-foot whaleboats in lieu of RHIBs.
And don’t scream about OPSEC, as all this stuff is a few generations outdated.
Anyway, enjoy!
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