Here’s to some of the hardest-working yet most unsung folks in WWII.
Official wartime caption: “Coast Guard lookout in Pacific. As a Coast Guard combat cutter skirts an island somewhere in the South Pacific, lookouts keep an unceasing watch for signs of the enemy. Their warnings bring the call to ‘battle stations’ to preserve the safety of the vessel.”
National Archives Identifier 205584962. Local Identifier 26-G-01-10-44(2)
On 1 September 1945 Coast Guard counted 170,480 personnel in uniform, including 9,624 women in the SPARS.
In addition to the 1,677 commissioned Coast Guard vessels in active service at the end of the 1945 fiscal year, Coast Guard personnel on 1 August 1945 were manning 326 Navy craft and 254 Army vessels, with about 50,000 Coast Guard men serving on Navy and 6,000 on Army vessels.
The 351 Navy vessels that the Coast Guard manned during the war included:
Another 2,998 Coast Guard Reserve vessels had been acquired through purchase, charter, or gift, principally to combat the submarine menace along the coasts during the War as the famed “Hooligan Navy.” Still, by September 1945, this number had been whittled down to 336.
The Coast Guard maintained 24 air stations and myriad outlier fields along the coasts of the CONUS United States during the war, under the operational control of the various sea frontiers, with over 300 “fighting” aircraft, mostly PBM-3/5 Mariners (27), Kingfishers (76), PBY-5A/6A Catalinas (114), and at least 10 PB4Y-1 Liberators/P4Y-2G Privateers with smaller numbers of Grumman Duck, Widgeon, and Goose amphibians. Besides ASW patrol, these served as task units in the conduct of air-sea rescue. Assistance was rendered in 686 plane crashes, and 786 lives were saved during the 1945 fiscal year alone, while 5,357 emergency medical cases were transported and 149 obstructions to navigation and derelicts were sighted for removal.
At the same time, at least three USCG Curtiss SB2C-3/4 Helldivers were based at San Diego to patrol the skies offshore for Japanese Fu-Go incendiary balloons. Meanwhile, four huge Consolidated PB2Y-5 Coronados in USCG service were flying on LORAN support missions out of Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco.
More than 92 percent of the 214,000 personnel who served in the Coast Guard during World War II (including 12,846 women) were volunteer Reservists in for the duration, with an additional 125,000 personnel serving in the stateside Temporary Reserve—many of those draft exempt due to war industry jobs and/or age and just looking to “do their part” to protect the beaches and ports. My great-grandfather, 4F due to his age, nonetheless volunteered for the overnight USCG Beach Patrol in Pascagoula, equipped only with a Coleman lantern and a Stevens 12-gauge.
During the war, the USCG sustained a total of 1,918 casualties (one while a Japanese POW), with 639 killed in action and 1,279 wounded.
On December 28, 1945, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9666, which directed the transfer of the Coast Guard from the Navy back to the Treasury Department, with only its 17,000~ regulars guaranteed a job in the coming days.
Official caption: “Somewhere on the storm-tossed Atlantic aboard a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter crossing the shipping lanes guarding a convoy of supplies to America’s fighting men on the far-flung battlefronts. Christmas is the same as any other day to the vigilant men of the Coast Guard who seek out the enemy submarines attempting to molest the continual bridge of ships supplying our men across the seas.” Photo released 11/25/1942.
Note the loaded K-gun, stern depth charge racks, liferafts at the ready to snag floating survivors, and the O1 Division guys trying to stay out of the wash. USCG photo. NARA 26-G-11-25-42(5)
Seagoing East Coast-based cutters were assigned to augment the Navy’s Neutrality Patrol in September 1939 and, by November 1941, the entire branch was transferred to the Navy in toto. While squadrons of brand-new U.S. Navy patrol frigates and destroyer escorts were crewed by Coasties later in the war, in 1942 the USCG had six of seven 327-foot Treasury-class cutters, four 240-foot Tampa-class cutters, the 216-foot USCGC Northland, and 12 165-foot Thetis/Argo class cutters operating in the EASTSEAFRON and North Atlantic.
One, USCGC Alexander Hamilton (WPG-34) was sunk on 29 January1942 by U-132 while patrolling the Icelandic coast. However, the service quickly avenged her death as USCGC Icarus (WPC-110) bagged U-352 off North Carolina’s “Torpedo Junction” in May while sistership USCGC Thetis (WPC-115) depth charged U-157 to the bottom of the Florida Straits in June.
During WWII, the Coast Guard bloomed from under 20,000 to more than a quarter million at its height in June 1944. At that time, the service contained 9,874 commissioned officers, 3,291 warrant officers and 164,560 enlisted personnel, augmented by another 125,000 Temporary Members of the Coast Guard Reserve who were conducting beach and harbor patrols back in the U.S. which in turn were augmented further by nearly 70,000 volunteers of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Coast Guard crew dressed to keep warm while on patrol aboard aboard a USCG schooner in 1943 while on coastal patrol in the U.S.
Dog Beach Patrol’, (possibly on Parramore Beach, Virginia, US. October 1943). (Source – United States Coast Guard – Photo No.726. Colorized by Royston Leonard from the UK)
With so many men and (over 13,000 women) under arms and in uniform, what was the service doing in 1944?
Well, a little known fact is that a tremendous number of small naval surface combatants on the Naval List were manned entirely by USCG/USCGR crews to include a number of patrol craft and submarine chasers (PC/SC) and at least 75 303-foot/1,300-ton Tacoma-class patrol frigates (PF) while a legion of the Coast Guard’s own cutters also served the same duty in ASW and amphibious warfare support.
Coast Guard cutter USS Spencer on convoy duty in the North Atlantic, March 1943
Speaking of the ‘phibs, when FDR gave away 10 250-foot Lake-class cutters to the Brits as Lend Lease in 1940, this left over 3,000 Coasties without a ship– and the Navy promptly took them to man 53 cargo ships and attack transports (APs & APAs)– armed freighters stuffed with bunks for troops.
As the war expanded, the Navy, acknowledging the Coasties’ knowledge of working in the shallows and surfline, soon tasked them with other assignments closer to enemy beaches. As such many of the landing craft taking troops ashore from Guadalcanal to Normandy and Iwo Jima, were manned by Coastguardsmen.
Marines crouched in a Coast Guard-manned LCVP on the way in on the first wave to hit the beach at Iwo Jima, 19 Feb 1945
US Coast Guard LCVP landing craft carried invasion troops toward Luzon in Lingayen Gulf, 9 Jan 1945
United States Coast Guard-manned LST beaching at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Bismarck Islands, Dec 1943
Famous picture of an LCVP from the USCG-manned USS Samuel Chase disembarking troops of the 29th Infantry Division at Omaha Beach June 6, 1944. Clic to big up
USCG-six US Coast Guard patrol boat near the coasts of Normandy, D-day 1944. Dig the M1 steel pots…
US Coast Guardsmen assisting a wounded Marine into an LCVP after the Marine’s LVT sustained a direct hit while heading to the landing beaches on Iwo Jima, Feb 18, 1945.
LCI landing craft in the wake of a USCG-manned LST en route to Cape Sansapor, New Guinea, mid-1944
U.S. Navy/USCG invasion fleet off Iwo Jima, with LVTs and LCIs maneuvering near the battleship USS Tennessee (BB-43). 1945
Charles Tyner, Fireman First Class (USCG), inspects his helmet hit by shrapnel during the Allied landings in southern France. 1944.
By the end of the war, the service manned at least 77 LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank), 28 LCIs (Landing Craft Infantry, Large) and an amazing 288 vessels for the Army Transportation Corps that consisted of AMRS (Army Marine Repair Ship), TY (tankers), LT (large tugs), FS (freight and supply vessels), and F (Freight vessels) that shuttled around and carried the logistics of war that are so often overlooked.
83 foot patrol boat CG-624, later renamed CG-14 as part of Rescue Flotilla One, Normandy
On Normandy Beach during D-Day, a fleet of 60 USCG 83-foot patrol boats, dubbed Rescue Flotilla One, pulled over 400 soldiers from the water on June 6th alone. This “Matchbox Fleet” lost four of their own vessels that day to submerged German mines and coastal artillery. Four LCI(L)’s manned by the USCG were also lost at Normandy.
USCGC Alexander Hamilton (WPG-34) remains 28 miles off the coast of Iceland where she was sunk by German Type VIIC submarine U-132, just seven weeks into the war.
In all some 37 USCG vessels or USCG-manned Naval vessels were lost during the war including the Treasury-class cutter Alexander Hamilton who was torpedoed 29 January 1942 by a U-boat in the North Atlantic.
The highest cost in terms of lives came when the 14,000-ton USS Serpens (AK-97)a USCG-manned Crater-class cargo ship was destroyed by explosion, 29 January 1945 off Laguna Beach in the Solomons.
She was packed full of depth charges and artillery shells.
An eyewitness to the disaster stated:
As we headed our personnel boat shoreward the sound and concussion of the explosion suddenly reached us, and, as we turned, we witnessed the awe-inspiring death drams unfold before us. As the report of screeching shells filled the air and the flash of tracers continued, the water splashed throughout the harbor as the shells hit. We headed our boat in the direction of the smoke and as we came into closer view of what had once been a ship, the water was filled only with floating debris, dead fish, torn life jackets, lumber and other unidentifiable objects. The smell of death, and fire, and gasoline, and oil was evident and nauseating. This was sudden death, and horror, unwanted and unasked for, but complete.”
In all, Serpens lost 198 members of her crew and 57 members of an Army stevedore unit that were on board the ship in an explosion whose cause has never been determined but remains the largest single disaster ever suffered by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard-manned attack cargo vessel USS Serpens (AK-97) exploded off Guadalcanal due to unknown causes. Only two men aboard survived. A memorial service is held every year at Arlington National Cemetery at the Serpens Memorial on Jan 29. Image via USCG
The Coast Guard lost a total of 1,917 persons during the war with 574 losing their life in action, died of wounds received in action, or perishing as a Prisoner of War. Almost 2,000 Coast Guardsmen were decorated, one receiving the Medal of Honor (the only one issued to the Coast Guard), six the Navy Cross, and one the Distinguished Service Cross.
The MOH went to SM1c Douglas A. Munro, USCG, who, appropriately enough, was killed trying to rescue men off the beach as officer-in-charge of a group of landing craft at Point Cruz on September 27, 1942, during the Matanikau action in the Guadalcanal campaign.
Douglas A. Munro Covers the Withdrawal of the 7th Marines at Guadalcanal by Bernard D’Andrea. Click to big up. Note the Lewis guns
Munro’s Citation:
“For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Officer-in-Charge of a group of Higgins boats, engaged in the evacuation of a Battalion of Marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on September 27, 1942. After making preliminary plans for the evacuation of nearly 500 beleaguered Marines, Munro, under constant risk of his life, daringly led five of his small craft toward the shore. As he closed the beach, he signaled the others to land, and then in order to draw the enemy’s fire and protect the heavily loaded boats, he valiantly placed his craft with its two small guns as a shield between the beachhead and the Japanese. When the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed, Munro was killed by enemy fire, but his crew, two of whom were wounded, carried on until the last boat had loaded and cleared the beach. By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved the lives of many who otherwise would have perished. He gallantly gave up his life in defense of his country.”
A display containing Petty Officer First Class Douglas Munro’s Medal of Honor and accompanying citation hangs in Munro Hall at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, N.J., (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards)
“Upon regaining consciousness his [Munro’s] only question was ‘Did they get off?’, and so died with a smile on his face and the full knowledge that he had successfully accomplished a dangerous mission.”
For more on the USCG in WWII, click here and dig in
The Coast Guard has been neck deep in the fighting in every U.S. war from the 1800s to the Persian Gulf, with WWII being no exception. One of the coasties that served in that conflict was Linwood “Tick” Thumb, the oldest living veteran from that war.
He just had his 100th.
Tick served on a 83-foot “splinter boat” operating out of Hampton Roads (Little Creek) during the height of Operation Drumbeat, the German U-boat campaign on the U.S East Coast.
Having grown up on the water, Thumm figured he would take to the Coast Guard like the Wright brothers took to flying. After joining the Coast Guard and becoming a seaman 1st class, he tested for the Coast Guard Academy. Thumm’s proficiency in math paid off on the exam when he achieved a near perfect score on the celestial navigation portion. Having entered and successfully completed the program, he became an officer and was given command of an 83-foot cutter crew stationed at Naval Base Little Creek in what is now Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Thumm and his crew spent the first part of the war escorting convoys along the Atlantic seaboard, mostly from New Jersey to North Carolina. During one of these escorts, Thumm and the crew spotted a German U-boat, and with the help of a few depth charges, sent the U-boat to its final resting place on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. A naval panel at Fort Story in Virginia Beach investigated the encounter, but only credited them with a possible kill – a categorization Thumm attributes more to jealousy on behalf of the navy than a lack of evidence. In his mind, Thumm didn’t need the Navy to confirm the kill – his crew found half of a German officer’s body in the water and that was good enough for him.
Happy 100th Tick, thank you for your service.
Linwood “Tick” Thumm displays an oar received from the Portsmouth Federal Building’s Chief’s Mess in Portsmouth, Va., March 26, 2015. Thumm, a World War II Coast Guard veteran, had just turned 100 and was celebrating with fellow Coast Guard members and civilians. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert)
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1866-1938 time period and will profile a different ship each week.
– Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, May 23
Here we have the yacht Mystic. Launched in 1936 and finished 1939 at Covacevich Shipyard in Back Bay Biloxi she is a classic of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Covacevich Shipyard was founded in 1896 by J. D. (“Jacky Jack”) Covacevich, an immigrant from Croatia, and was later operated by his three sons, A. W. ( “Tony Jack”) , Oral and Neal. The shipyard stopped building new vessels in 1982 but continued in the repair business until it was destroyed by Katrina in 2005.
As built she was named the Zoric. She was a 59-foot, 39-ton diesel driven fishing yacht that carried its passengers and owners as a yacht running charters to the Chandelier Islands. She has a 18.4-foot beam and a shallow water draft of just four feet.
In 1941 the navy and then the Coast Guard acquired her for coastal patrol for U-boats and as an emergency inshore minesweeper (if needed) in the 8th Coast Guard District. Robert Scheina’s USCG Cutters and Craft of WWII list her as a Coast Guard Reserve list the vessel as pennant number 949 from March 1942 until presumably the end of the war. While information on the ship during this time is sketchy, odds are she carried a couple water cooled machine-guns, a few depth charges, and a 4-6 man crew while in the corsair navy.
By the late 1940s she was used by the Louisiana State Wildlife and Fisheries Commission until at least 1953. The fleet of conservation boats numbered just five vessels to patrol hundreds of miles of coastline, and Zoric was the largest. While a mullet marshal boat she was “manned by a licensed boat captain and a cook, the latter also acting as a deckhand. Each of these, of course, is a fully accredited law enforcement officer.”
By 1991 the Zoric, now dubbed the Mystic, was in disrepair in Ocean Springs Mississippi in the old World War Two-era USAAF Crash Boat harbor. She was bought by maritime conservationist Matthew Hinton in 2009 and after a three year restoration at the Gautier, Mississippi Pitalo Shipyard she is again on the water close to what her 1939 appearance was.
The current owner wants to do eco-tours, sunset cruises, family trips out to the barrier islands and offer kayak trips on the 76-year old beauty.
