March 4, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Revenue Cutter Hudson and the Battle of Cardenas Bay in the War with Spain

The service’s first minority members honored for heroism in combat in the War with Spain

Feb. 18, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Louis Etheridge—Gun captain and African-American war hero 

Read about the courageous actions resulting in the Coast Guard’s first military medal bestowed on an African American Coast Guardsman for combat heroism.

Feb. 4, 2022

The Long Blue Line: 1942—Coast Guard’s history making year 80 years ago!

Remembering events from 1942

Jan. 28, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Lt. j.g. John Currier–Harmon Trophy honoree and the rescue of Scalloper Terry T

The rescue of 10 from the Terry T.

Jan. 21, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Coast Guard pioneers the marine radio over 100 years ago!

Learn how radio became a basic part of a maritime communications.

Jan. 14, 2022

The Long Blue Line: “Men against the Sea”—anatomy of a Coast Guard cutter lost at sea

[This essay is adapted from the non-fiction book chapter “Men against the Sea,” Sea, Surf and Hell: The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1945), 72-78.]The Coast Guard patrol craft Wilcox was lost off the Mid-Atlantic coast Sept. 30, 1943. The following account is taken from the statement made by its commanding officer, Lt.

Jan. 7, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Captain Handy—savior of the Coast Guard Reserve!

Learn about Capt. Handy's rich career saving the Coast Guard Reserve.

Dec. 31, 2021

The Long Blue Line: Station Nome—saving lives near the top of the world!

Of all the lifesaving stations in Coast Guard history, by far the most remote station was located at Nome, Alaska, on the northern Bering Sea coastline. The Life-Saving Service station at Nome was in operation from 1905 to 1947 and its isolation resulted in a unique history.Established in the summer of 1899, the coastal town of Nome was the

Dec. 24, 2021

The Long Blue Line: Lest we forget—the Triumph-Mermaid tragedy 60 years ago

At approximately 4:15 p.m., on Thursday, Jan. 12, 1961, Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River, received a radio call from Roy Gunnari, skipper of the fishing vessel Jana Jo. Gunnari advised that he was relaying a mayday call from the fishing vessel Mermaid, a 34-foot crab-fishing boat from Ilwaco, Wash., owned

Dec. 17, 2021

The Long Blue Line: The Persian Gulf War—a female officer’s experience 30 years ago

During 1990, I was assigned as the training officer for Reserve Unit Syracuse, New York. One of my responsibilities was to ensure that each member of the unit had committed to an appropriate two-week training period. That year, the district office in Cleveland, Ohio, forwarded a request to fill 25 billets at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., for a