The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an act of Congress on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine upon the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to serve as an armed customs enforcement service. As time passed, the service gradually gained missions either voluntarily or by legislation, including those of a military nature. It was generally referred to as the Revenue-Marine until 31 July 1894, when it was officially renamed the Revenue Cutter Service. The Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. On 28 January 1915, the service was merged by an act of Congress with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.
SS Bear was a dual steam-powered and sailing ship built with six-inch (15.2 cm)-thick sides which had a long life in various cold-water and ice-filled environs. She was a forerunner of modern icebreakers and had a diverse service life. According to the United States Coast Guard official website, Bear is described as "probably the most famous ship in the history of the Coast Guard."
USS Bancroft was a United States Navy steel gunboat in commission from 1893 to 1898 and again from 1902 to 1905. She saw service during the Spanish–American War. After her U.S. Navy career, she was in commission in the United States Revenue Cutter Service from 1907 to 1915 as the revenue cutter USRC Itasca, and in the Revenue Cutter Service′s successor service, the United States Coast Guard, as the cutter USCGC Itasca from 1915 to 1922. During her Coast Guard career, she saw service during World War I.
USRC Levi Woodbury was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War. Built in 1863–64, she became one of the longest-serving revenue cutters in the Service's history, and was the oldest active-duty ship in U.S. government service by the end of her 51-year career.
USRC Seminole was a 188 ft (57 m), 845-ton United States Revenue Cutter Service steamer constructed by the Columbian Iron Works in Baltimore, Maryland for $141,000. She was commissioned in 1900 and saw service through 1934, when she was transferred to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
USRC Manning was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service that served from 1898 to 1930, and saw service in the U.S. Navy in the Spanish–American War and World War I.
USRC Onondaga was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 she became USCGC Onondaga. She served as a patrol vessel at various Atlantic coast ports before World War I and unlike most Coast Guard cutters during World War I, she remained under the control of the Commandant of the Coast Guard. After the war she patrolled for a brief time based at New London, Connecticut before being decommissioned in 1923.
Dallas has been the name of more than one ship of the United States Revenue Cutter Service and United States Coast Guard, and may refer to:
The second USS Ossipee (WPG-50) was a United States Coast Guard cutter that served in the Coast Guard from 1915 to 1917, in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919, in the Coast Guard again from 1919 to 1941, and in the Navy again from 1941 to 1945.
USRC Mohawk, was a steel steam powered revenue cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service by William R. Trigg Company at Richmond, Virginia. Her primary duties in the Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard were assisting vessels in distress and enforcing navigational laws as well as a derelict destroyer. Mohawk was sunk after a collision with another vessel in October 1917.
USRC Dexter was a Dexter-class cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service in commission from 1874 to 1908. She was the second ship of the Revenue Cutter Service to bear the name. The other Dexter-class cutters, all commissioned in 1874, were Dallas and Rush. Dexter was built by the Atlantic Works Company at Boston, Massachusetts. Captain John A. Henriques accepted her for service on 6 June 1874, and she was commissioned into the Revenue Cutter Service on 18 June 1874. Her role in the rescue of passengers from a sinking passenger ship under winter gale winds brought her nationwide popular acclaim.
USCGC Dexter, was a steel-hulled patrol boat of the United States Coast Guard in commission from 1925 to 1936. She was the third ship of the United States Revenue Cutter Service and United States Coast Guard to bear the name.
USRC Gallatin, was a Gallatin Class revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service in commission from 1874 to 1892. She was the fourth ship of the Revenue Cutter Service to bear the name, and was also known as Albert Gallatin.
USRC Mackinac, later USCGC Mackinac, was a patrol boat that served in the United States Revenue Cutter Service from 1903 to 1915 and in the United States Coast Guard from 1915 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1939.
The Thomas Corwin was a United States revenue cutter and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea. In 1912, Frank Willard Kimball wrote: "The Corwin has probably had a more varied and interesting career than any other vessel which plies the Alaskan waters."
USRC Forward was a revenue cutter constructed for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in 1882 by Pusey & Jones shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the second Revenue Cutter Service vessel named Forward and was named for Walter Forward, the fifteenth United States Secretary of the Treasury. The iron-hulled vessel originally cost US$72,750 and was powered by a two-cylinder steam engine with a topsail schooner brigantine sail pattern. Although Forward was considered a model ship at the time of its construction, it was severely underpowered and had unreliable machinery. The cost of repairs in the first fifteen years of operation was US$52,000.
USRC Grant was a rare, three-masted revenue cutter built in 1870 and 1871 by Pusey & Jones Corporation in Wilmington, Delaware. She served the United States Revenue Cutter Service in both the Atlantic and Pacific preventing smuggling and protecting shipping. At the outbreak of the War with Spain, she was ordered to cooperate with the Navy 11 April 1898. Throughout the conflict, she patrolled the Pacific coast and was returned to the Treasury Department 15 August 1898. Grant continued to serve the Revenue Cutter Service in the Pacific until sold to A. A. Cragin of Seattle, Washington on 28 November 1906.
United States Revenue Cutter Commodore Perry (1884) was an iron-hulled revenue cutter built in 1884 for revenue service on the Great Lakes, where she served for nine years. In December 1893, she was transferred to the West Coast of the United States, for service in the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan waters, where she served until wrecked near the Pribilof Islands on 27 July 1910.
USRC Gresham was a cruising cutter and auxiliary gunboat built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service to patrol the Great Lakes. She was one of a series of cutters named for former U.S. Secretaries of the Treasury. Her namesake Walter Q. Gresham served as the 35th Secretary of the Treasury in 1884 and died in 1895 while serving as the 33rd U.S. Secretary of State. She became part of the newly created United States Coast Guard in 1915, and also served as a coastal convoy escort and patrol boat under United States Navy control during both World War I and World War II. After being decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1944, she eventually came under Israeli control in 1947. She carried Jewish refugees from Italy to Palestine and later served in the fledgling Israeli Navy until 1951.
USRC George S. Boutwell was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service that served from 1873 to 1907 designed for cruising the southern coasts. She was named for George S. Boutwell, the 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury.
United States