U.S. Coast Guard History

The United States Coast Guard, one of the country's five armed services, is a unique agency of the federal government.  We trace our history to 4 August 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling.  Known variously through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, we expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.  

U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear, circa 1890, on patrol off Alaska.

Painting by James A. Mitchell, III

The service received its present name in 1915 under an act of Congress when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the Life-Saving Service.  The nation then had a single maritime service dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws.  The Coast Guard began to maintain the country's aids to maritime navigation, including operating the nation's lighthouses, when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in 1939.  In 1946 Congress permanently transferred the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard, thereby placing merchant marine licensing and merchant vessel safety under our purview. The Coast Guard took over the administration of bridges over navigable waterways in 1967.

The Coast Guard is one of the oldest organizations of the federal government and, until the Navy Department was established in 1798,  we served as the nation's only armed force afloat.  We continued to protect the nation throughout our long history and have served proudly in our nation's conflicts.  Our national defense responsibilities remain one of our most important functions even today.  In times of peace we operate as part of the Department of Homeland Security, serving as the nation's front-line agency for enforcing our laws at sea, protecting the marine environment and our vast coastline and ports, and saving life.  In times of war, or at the direction of the President, we serve under the Navy Department. 

The Coast Guard History Program is charged with collecting, preserving and promoting the history and heritage of the national government's oldest continuously-serving sea service.

The U. S. Coast Guard is simultaneously and at all times a military force and federal law enforcement agency dedicated to maritime safety, security, and stewardship missions. We save lives. We protect the environment. We defend the homeland. We enforce Federal laws on the high seas, the nation's coastal waters and its inland waterways.  We are unique in the Nation and the world.

The Coast Guard's official history began on 4 August 1790 when President George Washington signed the Tariff Act that authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce federal tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling.  Known variously through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the "revenue cutters," the "system of cutters," the Revenue Marine and finally the Revenue Cutter Service, it expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.  

The service received its present name in 1915 under an act of Congress that merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the U. S. Life-Saving Service.  The latter consisted of dozens of stations placed around the nation’s coastlines that were manned by dedicated crews willing to risk their lives to save those in peril on the sea, a role that meshed well with the Revenue Cutter Service’s core missions.  Also, the legislation creating this “new” Coast Guard expressly stated that it "shall constitute a part of the military forces of the United States," thereby codifying the service’s long history of defending the country along side the nation's other armed services.  The Coast Guard began maintaining the country's aids to maritime navigation, including lighthouses, when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in 1939.  In 1946 Congress permanently transferred the Commerce Department's Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard, which placed merchant marine licensing and merchant vessel safety under its purview.  The nation now had a single maritime federal agency dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws. 

The Coast Guard is one of the oldest organizations of the federal government and until Congress established the Navy Department in 1798 it served as the nation's only armed force afloat.  The Coast Guard protected the nation throughout its long history and served proudly in the majority of the nation's conflicts.  The Coast Guard's national defense responsibilities remain one of its most important functions even today.  In times of peace it operates as part of the Department of Homeland Security, serving as the nation's front-line agency for enforcing the nation's laws at sea, protecting the marine environment and the nation's vast coastline and ports, and saving life.  In times of war, or at the direction of the President, the Coast Guard serves as part of the Navy Department.