The Long Blue Line

Port security has been one of the longest-running missions of the United States Coast Guard. And, historical events, such as World War I, have brought greater attention to the importance of this service specialty.

In the Great Galveston Hurricane, Harry Claiborne demonstrated great devotion to duty. He manned the light in the worst sea and weather conditions and saved hundreds of storm victims.

From fragile wooden hulls of the Age of Sail to the steel giants of the early 20th century, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service—and later the Coast Guard—evolved to meet the icy challenges of America's northern waterways. As steam power and steel hulls unlocked frozen frontiers, cutters shifted from surviving the winter to breaking its grip. Discover how daring missions, innovative ship design, and a presidential mandate forged the legacy of America’s first icebreakers.

Those familiar with Coast Guard history know that the service’s development has been shaped by the nation’s natural and man-made disasters. Many Coast Guard missions were written in blood. Nowhere is that clearer than the marine safety mission.

After being transferred from the Coast Guard to the Navy in World War II, Poulin saw action in the Atlantic and Pacific while participating in many invasions while assigned the USS Leonard Wood.

In the early “proof of concept” phase, HITRON MH-90 “Enforcer” helicopters stopped all five go-fasts they intercepted, arresting 17 drug traffickers and interdicting over 1.5 tons of cocaine and 5.5 tons of marijuana with an estimated street value of over $131 million. Success continued from there.

Drawing his pistol, Duke stalked toward the bridge. When one of the crew tried to block his access to the pilothouse, Duke immediately clubbed him to the deck.

Almost all smugglers could be expected to try their hardest to outrun the Coast Guard, though if peaceably apprehended and given a small load and a first offense, smugglers could expect to get off easy, but Alderman was by no means a first-time offender.

On the evening of March 8, 1973, Coast Guard cutter Dauntless made the Coast Guard’s first-ever seizure of a marijuana smuggler when it stopped the sport fisherman Big L at the western edge of the Bahamas.

Following a decades-long pause that began soon after the end of Prohibition, the Coast Guard was once again called upon to combat maritime drug smugglers in the early 1970s.