Naval History Blog

Air Station Savannah by Ken Smith

The Coast Guard Art Program has a corps of volunteer, professional artists who donate their talents to help tell the Coast Guard’s story. 

The artists capture the daily missions the 41,500 men and women of the Coast Guard perform including homeland security, search and rescue, marine environmental protection, drug interdiction, military readiness, and natural resource management. 

The collection also recounts the Coast Guard’s history from the early beginnings of our great nation into World War II, through the perils of Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Today, the collection contains some 1,850 works and is displayed prominently in other majopr government locations such as the Department of Defense and congressional offices.

The Coast Guard is honored to have original artwork available for temporary loan, free of charge for public display at patriotic events, museums, libraries, and many other venues.

For information on the Coast Guard Art Program, please contact Mary Ann Bader by phone at 202-372-4643 or email. Mary.A. Bader[@]uscg.mil

Hopefully the next 220 years are as good as the first 220 years.  Enjoy this video about the Coast Guard Historian’s office and Coast Guard Museum.  Semper Paratus!

In response to the sinking of the White Star ocean liner Titanic after colliding with an iceberg the previous month, on 15 May 1912 the Hydrographic Office recommended that the Navy establish an ice patrol in the vicinity of the steamer lanes in the North Atlantic. The Navy designated USS Birmingham (CL 2) and USS Chester (CL 1) to alternate on the patrol.

Birmingham departed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 19 May 1912, marking the first American ice patrol. An International Ice Patrol was established in 1914, with the Coast Guard assuming the responsibility for the United Sates.