-
Iceberg Smith and the 1931 Graf Zeppelin Arctic Expedition
—Suspended above uncharted ice in a heated cabin, a young Coast Guard scientist watched the Graf Zeppelin map islands, mountains, and sea ice no one had ever seen from the air—and foresaw how aviation would transform Arctic safety.
-
From Overland Rescue to Polar Security Cutters: The Evolution of U.S. Ice Operations
—From reindeer-driven rescues and wooden “ice resistant” cutters to Northwest Passage breakthroughs and new Polar Security Cutters, this story traces 150 years of operations that turned a frozen frontier into a year round mission set.
-
To Europe and Far East — A brief history of the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area
—From rounding Cape Horn to icebreaking the Northwest Passage, the service built a vast Pacific footprint—cutters, lighthouses, LORAN nets, and air detachments—supporting missions from Manila Bay to Vietnam across 180 years of war and peace.
-
“They periled their lives for others”—The City of Columbus disaster and the dead of winter
—Night surf, shattered boats, and men lashed to frozen masts—volunteers and a cutter crew fought a killing gale to wrench life from a North Atlantic wreck.
-
Phil Eaton—Coast Guard’s Winged Warrior of World War I
—A wrench for a weapon. Haze, shellfire, and the first air‑sea clash in home waters—told through a daring low‑level attack that sent a marauding U‑boat diving for its life.
-
“I saw them hang on with one hand and break ice with the other”—the Coast Guard’s Greenland Patrol
—Whiteouts, razor ice, and lurking U‑boats—inside the little-known Arctic campaign where sled patrols, convoys, and daring rescues kept a vital lifeline alive.
-
Polar icebreaking—The short history of a BIG mission
—Since the late 1800s, the United States Coast Guard and its predecessor agencies have played an essential role in U.S. polar operations. A new kind of ship, the icebreaker, evolved to serve U.S. commercial and strategic interests spread in the Arctic.
-
E.A. Stevens—the service’s Civil War gunboat 160 years ago!
—Drewry’s Bluff put the Revenue Marine’s gunboat E.A. Stevens to the test, marking a leap from wood and sail to iron and steam.
-
Rear Admiral Frederick Billard — commandant, commander, warrior, educator and mastermind of rapid expansion
—Billard oversaw the largest and fastest peacetime expansion in Coast Guard history.
-
Elmer Stone—Coast Guard Aviator #1 set the world record over 100 years ago!
—It should come as no surprise that over 100 years ago a Coast Guard aviator was the first to pilot an aircraft across the Atlantic. Elmer Fowler Stone topped the list of applicants for the Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction class of 1913, a small group that would feature several distinguished graduates in the history of Coast Guard aviation.