Document: U.S. Coast Guard Message on its 227th Birthday

August 4, 2017 8:52 AM - Updated: August 4, 2017 9:19 AM

The following is the Aug. 4, 2017 ALCOAST message on the occasion of the 227th anniversary of the founding of the revenue cutter service.

ALCOAST 231/17 – AUG 2017 TODAY’S OFFSHORE PATROL CUTTERS AND THE FIRST FLEET

U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 08/04/2017 07:37 AM EDT

R 040728 AUG 17
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-092//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS//N05700
ALCOAST 231/17
COMDTNOTE 5700
SUBJ: TODAY’S OFFSHORE PATROL CUTTERS AND THE FIRST FLEET 
1. In 1790, one visionary saw the need for a federally funded fleet of 
vessels to enforce laws and protect commerce. That visionary was 32-year-old 
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who advocated the establishment of a 
U.S. sea service. On August 4th, 1790, President George Washington signed 
legislation establishing a maritime force referred to as “the cutters” or 
“the system of cutters.”
2. The ten cutters received a schooner rig carrying topsails on each mast
and an armament of four swivel guns, muskets, cutlasses, and small arms.
With an eye to domestic manufacture, Hamilton required all cutter materials
be produced in the U.S. He specified the number of tools, weapons and 
instruments issued to each cutter, even the kind and amount of sailcloth.
3. It was during the early years, that the cutter fleet adopted many missions 
performed by the Coast Guard today. The cutters defended American shipping 
against piracy and enforced quarantine restrictions established by federal, 
state and local governments. A long-standing tradition of the sea compelled 
cutter captains to rescue mariners in distress even before Congress assigned 
this mission to the Service. The cutters marked hazards to navigation and 
carried supplies to remotely located lighthouses. They also proved effective 
in sounding and surveying the shores of the new republic, so Secretary 
Hamilton tasked them with charting navigable waterways in their region. And, 
as the new republic engaged in military conflicts, the revenue cutters 
adopted defense missions and served under the Navy in time of war.
4. Today, the Coast Guard will build a new class of cutters designed to
serve a multi-mission role just like the Service’s First Fleet of 10. This
class of Offshore Patrol Cutters will fill the Service’s medium-endurance
demands alongside the Service’s smaller Fast Response Cutters and the larger
National Security Cutters. The OPCs will have the endurance to operate on
the high seas to carry out all of the Coast Guard’s maritime security and
safety missions.
5. The first eleven OPCs will bear names made famous by their service in the 
Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard. OPCs Active, Argus, Diligence and 
Vigilant will be named for cutters of the First Fleet of 10 and subsequent 
cutters with the same names. The OPC Pickering will pay homage to the
distinguished combat record of the Quasi-War cutter Pickering. OPCs Chase 
and Ingham will carry the names of two, 327-foot cutters, that served with 
distinction in World War II. OPC Rush will bear the name of the Bering Sea 
cutter that helped open the Alaskan frontier for generations of American
settlers. OPC Icarus will be named for a cutter that sank one of the first
U-boats after US entry into World War II and captured her crew. OPCs Alert
and Reliance bear the names of famed workhorses of the medium-endurance
cutter fleet.
6. The Offshore Patrol Cutters will become the mainstay of the Coast Guard’s 
ocean-going fleet, providing multi-mission capabilities and interagency 
interoperability. For more information, check the Coast Guard Acquisition 
Directorate’s OPC web page at: http://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/
Assistant-Commandant-for-Acquisitions-CG-9/Programs/Surface-Programs/
Offshore-Patrol-Cutter/.
7. Ms. Ellen Engleman Conners, Acting Director of Governmental and Public 
Affairs, sends.
8. Internet release authorized.

Sam LaGrone

Sam LaGrone

Sam LaGrone is the editor of USNI News. He has covered legislation, acquisition and operations for the Sea Services since 2009 and spent time underway with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the Canadian Navy.
Follow @samlagrone

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