document_title: United States Coast Guard

question_text: when does the coast guard fall under dod

question_tokens: when does the coast guard fall under dod

text: United States Coast Guard

text: Mission[edit]

text: Role[edit]

text: The Coast Guard has roles in maritime homeland security, maritime law enforcement (MLE), maritime patrol, search and rescue (SAR), marine environmental protection (MEP), and the maintenance of river, intracoastal and offshore aids to navigation (ATON).

text: With a decentralized organization and much responsibility placed on even the most junior personnel, the Coast Guard is frequently lauded for its quick responsiveness and adaptability in a broad range of emergencies. In a 2005 article in Time magazine following Hurricane Katrina, the author wrote, "the Coast Guard's most valuable contribution to [a military effort when catastrophe hits] may be as a model of flexibility, and most of all, spirit." Wil Milam, a rescue swimmer from Alaska told the magazine, "In the Navy, it was all about the mission. Practicing for war, training for war. In the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself."[15]

text: Missions[edit]

text: The Coast Guard carries out three basic roles, which are further subdivided into eleven statutory missions. The three roles are:

text:
Maritime safety
Maritime security
Maritime stewardship

text: The eleven statutory missions as defined by law are divided into homeland security missions and non-homeland security missions:[16]

text: Non-homeland security missions[edit]

text:
Ice operations, including the International Ice Patrol
Living marine resources (fisheries law enforcement)
Marine environmental protection
Marine safety
Aids to navigation
Search and rescue

text: Homeland security missions[edit]

text:
Defense readiness
Maritime law enforcement
Migrant interdiction
Ports, waterways and coastal security (PWCS)
Drug interdiction

text: Search and Rescue[edit]

text: While the U. S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue (CG-SAR)[2] is not the oldest search and rescue organization in the world it is one of the Coast Guard's best-known operations. The National Search and Rescue Plan[18] designates the Coast Guard as the federal agency responsible for maritime SAR operations, and the United States Air Force as the federal agency responsible for inland SAR. Both agencies maintain rescue coordination centers to coordinate this effort, and have responsibility for both military and civilian search and rescue.[19] The two services jointly provide instructor staff for the National Search and Rescue School that trains SAR mission planners and coordinators. Previously located on Governors Island, New York, the school is now located at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown at Yorktown, Virginia.

text: National Response Center[edit]

text: Operated by the Coast Guard, the National Response Center (NRC) is the sole U.S. Government point of contact for reporting all oil, chemical, radiological, and biological spills into the environment anywhere in the United States and its territories.[20] In addition to gathering and distributing spill/incident information for Federal On Scene Coordinators and serving as the communications and operations center for the National Response Team, the NRC maintains agreements with a variety of federal entities to make additional notifications regarding incidents meeting established trigger criteria. The NRC also takes Maritime Suspicious Activity and Security Breach Reports. Details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan.[21] The Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) database system is managed and used by the Coast Guard for tracking pollution and safety incidents in the nation's ports.

text: National Maritime Center[edit]

text: The National Maritime Center (NMC) is the merchant mariner credentialing authority for the USCG under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security. To ensure a safe, secure, and environmentally sound marine transportation system, the mission of the NMC is to issue credentials to fully qualified mariners in the United States maritime jurisdiction.[22]

text: Authority as an armed service[edit]

text: The five uniformed services that make up the U.S. Armed Forces are defined in Title 10 of the U.S. Code:

text: The term "armed forces" means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.[23]

text: The Coast Guard is further defined by Title 14 of the United States Code:

text: The Coast Guard as established January 28, 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times. The Coast Guard shall be a service in the Department of Homeland Security, except when operating as a service in the Navy.[24]

text: Coast Guard organization and operation is as set forth in Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

text: On 25 November 2002, the Homeland Security Act was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush, designating the Coast Guard to be placed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The transfer of administrative control from the U.S. Department of Transportation to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was completed the following year, on 1 March 2003.[25][26][27]

text: The U.S. Coast Guard reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. However, under 14 U.S.C. § 3 as amended by section 211 of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, upon the declaration of war and when Congress so directs in the declaration, or when the President directs, the Coast Guard operates under the Department of Defense as a service in the Department of the Navy.

text: As members of the military, Coast Guardsmen on active and reserve service are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and receive the same pay and allowances as members of the same pay grades in the other uniformed services.

text: The service has participated in every major U.S. conflict from 1790 through today, including landing troops on D-Day and on the Pacific Islands in World War II, in extensive patrols and shore bombardment during the Vietnam War, and multiple roles in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Maritime interception operations, coastal security, transportation security, and law enforcement detachments have been its major roles in recent conflicts in Iraq.

text: On 17 October 2007, the Coast Guard joined with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to adopt a new maritime strategy called A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower that raised the notion of prevention of war to the same philosophical level as the conduct of war.[28] This new strategy charted a course for the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps to work collectively with each other and international partners to prevent regional crises, man-made or natural, from occurring, or reacting quickly should one occur to avoid negative impacts to the United States. During the launch of the new U.S. maritime strategy at the International Seapower Symposium at the U.S. Naval War College in 2007, Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen said the new maritime strategy reinforced the time-honored missions the service has carried out in the United States since 1790. "It reinforces the Coast Guard maritime strategy of safety, security and stewardship, and it reflects not only the global reach of our maritime services but the need to integrate and synchronize and act with our coalition and international partners to not only win wars ... but to prevent wars," Allen said.[28]

text: Authority as a law enforcement agency[edit]

text: Title 14 USC, section 2 authorizes the Coast Guard to enforce U.S. federal laws.[29] This authority is further defined in 14 U.S.C. § 89, which gives law enforcement powers to all Coast Guard commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers.[30] Unlike the other branches of the United States Armed Forces, which are prevented from acting in a law enforcement capacity by 18 U.S.C. § 1385, the Posse Comitatus Act, and Department of Defense policy, the Coast Guard is exempt from and not subject to the restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act.[31]

text: Further law enforcement authority is given by 14 U.S.C. § 143 and 9 U.S.C. § 1401, which empower U.S. Coast Guard active and reserve commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers as federal customs officers.[32][33] This places them under 19 U.S.C. § 1589a, which grants customs officers general federal law enforcement authority, including the authority to:

text:
(1) carry a firearm;
(2) execute and serve any order, warrant, subpoena, summons, or other process issued under the authority of the United States;
(3) make an arrest without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the officer's presence or for a felony, cognizable under the laws of the United States committed outside the officer's presence if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing a felony; and
(4) perform any other law enforcement duty that the Secretary of Homeland Security may designate.

text: The U.S. Government Accountability Office Report to the House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary on its 2006 Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement Functions and Authorities, identified the Coast Guard as one of 104 federal components that employed law enforcement officers.[35] The report also included a summary table of the authorities of the Coast Guard's 192 special agents and 3,780 maritime law enforcement boarding officers.[36]

text: Coast Guardsmen have the legal authority to carry their service-issued firearms on and off base. This is rarely done in practice, however; at many Coast Guard stations, commanders prefer to have all service-issued weapons in armories when not in use. Still, one court has held that Coast Guard boarding officers are qualified law enforcement officers authorized to carry personal firearms off-duty for self-defense.[37]

text: A typical day[edit]

text: The Coast Guard occasionally publishes a list of statistics that summarizes their activities.  Based on 2013 statistics, on an average day the United States Coast Guard will:[38]

text:
Conduct 109 search and rescue cases
Save 10 lives
Assist 192 people in distress
Protect US$2.8 million in property
Seize 169 pounds (77 kg) of marijuana and 306 pounds (139 kg) of cocaine with a street value of US$9.5 million
Process 238 mariner licenses and documents
Investigate 6 vessel casualties involving collisions or groundings
Have underway small boats for 396 sorties/missions
Fly 164 aircraft missions logging 324 hours
Board 144 vessels of law enforcement interest
Interdict and rescue 14 illegal immigrants at sea
Open 8 new cases for marine violation of federal statutes
Board 100 large vessels for port safety checks
Conduct 20 commercial fishing vessel safety exams
Respond to 20 oil or hazardous chemical spills totaling 2,800 US gal (11,000 l)
Service 135 aids to navigation
Monitor the transit of 2,509 commercial ships through U.S. ports
Conduct 377 vessel safety checks
Teach boating safety courses to 550 boaters

text: History[edit]

text: The Coast Guard traced its roots to the small fleet of vessels maintained by the United States Department of the Treasury beginning in the 1790s to enforce tariffs (an important source of revenue for the new nation), which eventually evolved into the United States Revenue Cutter Service. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton lobbied Congress to fund the construction of ten cutters, which it did on 4 August 1790 (now celebrated as the Coast Guard's official birthday). Until the re-establishment of the Navy in 1798, these "revenue cutters" were the only naval force of the early United States. As such, the cutters and their crews frequently took on additional duties, including combating piracy, rescuing mariners in distress, ferrying government officials, and even carrying mail.[40]

text: "First Fleet" is a term occasionally used as an informal reference to the Coast Guard, although there is no indication that the United States has ever officially used this designation with reference either to the Coast Guard or any element of the Navy. The informal appellation honors the fact that between 1790 and 1798, there was no United States Navy and the cutters that were the predecessors of the Coast Guard were the only warships protecting the coast, trade, and maritime interests of the new republic.[41]

text:
The modern Coast Guard was created in 1915, when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the U.S. Life-Saving Service.[42] In 1939, the Lighthouse Service was brought under the Coast Guard's purview. In 1942, the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation was transferred to the Coast Guard.[43]
In 1967, the Coast Guard moved from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to the newly formed U.S. Department of Transportation, an arrangement that lasted until it was placed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003 as part of legislation designed to more efficiently protect American interests following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

text: In times of war, the Coast Guard or individual components of it can operate as a service of the Department of the Navy. This arrangement has a broad historical basis, as the Coast Guard has been involved in wars as diverse as the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, and the American Civil War, in which the cutter Harriet Lane fired the first naval shots attempting to relieve besieged Fort Sumter. The last time the Coast Guard operated as a whole within the Navy was in World War II.

text: Coast Guard Squadron One, was a combat unit formed by the United States Coast Guard in 1965 for service during the Vietnam War. Placed under the operational control of the United States Navy, it was assigned duties in Operation Market Time. Its formation marked the first time since World War II that Coast Guard personnel were used extensively in a combat environment. The squadron operated divisions in three separate areas during the period of 1965 to 1970. Twenty-six Point-class cutters with their crews and a squadron support staff were assigned to the U.S. Navy with the mission of interdicting the movement of arms and supplies from the South China Sea into South Vietnam by Viet Cong and North Vietnam junk and trawler operators. The squadron also provided 81mm mortar naval gunfire support to nearby friendly units operating along the South Vietnamese coastline and assisted the U.S. Navy during Operation Sealords.

text: Coast Guard Squadron Three, was a combat unit formed by the United States Coast Guard in 1967 for service during the Vietnam War.[44] Placed under the operational control of the United States Navy and based in Pearl Harbor. It consisted of five USCG High Endurance Cutters operating on revolving six month deployments. A total of 35 High Endurance Cutters took part in operations from May 1967 to December 1971, most notably using their 5" guns to provide naval gunfire support missions.

text: Often units within the Coast Guard operate under Department of the Navy operational control while other Coast Guard units remain under the Department of Homeland Security.

text: Organization[edit]

text: The new Department of Homeland Security headquarters complex is on the grounds of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital in the Anacostia section of Southeast Washington, across the Anacostia River from former Coast Guard headquarters.[45]

text: The fiscal year 2016 budget request for the US Coast Guard was $9.96 billion.[46]

text: Districts and units[edit]

text: The Coast Guard's current district organization is divided into 9 districts. Their designations, district office and area of responsibility are as follows:

text:
U.S. Coast Guard Districts

District

Area

District Office

Area of Responsibility

 First District

 Atlantic

 Boston, Massachusetts

 New England states, eastern New York, and northern New Jersey

 Fifth District

 Atlantic

 Portsmouth, Virginia

 Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina

 Seventh District

 Atlantic

 Miami, Florida

 South Carolina, Georgia, eastern Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

 Eighth District

 Atlantic

 New Orleans, Louisiana

 Western Rivers of the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico

 Ninth District

 Atlantic

 Cleveland, Ohio

 Great Lakes

 Eleventh District

  Pacific

 Alameda, California

 California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah

 Thirteenth District

  Pacific

 Seattle, Washington

 Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana

 Fourteenth District

  Pacific

 Honolulu, Hawaii

 Hawaii and Pacific territories

 Seventeenth District

  Pacific

 Juneau, Alaska

 Alaska

text: Shore establishments[edit]

text: Shore establishment commands exist to support and facilitate the mission of the sea and air assets and Coastal Defense. U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters is located in Southeast Washington, DC. Other shore establishments are Coast Guard Sectors (which may include Coast Guard Bases), Coast Guard Stations, Coast Guard Air Stations, and the United States Coast Guard Yard. Training centers include the United States Coast Guard Academy, Training Center Petaluma, Training Center Cape May, Coast Guard Aviation Technical Training Center, Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile, and Training Center Yorktown.

text: Personnel[edit]

text: The Coast Guard has 40,992 men and women on active duty.[2] The formal name for a uniformed member of the Coast Guard is "Coast Guardsman", irrespective of gender. "Coastie" is an informal term commonly used to refer to current or former Coast Guard personnel. In 2008, the term "Guardian" was introduced as an alternative but was later dropped. Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr. stated that it was his belief that no Commandant had the authority to change what members of the Coast Guard are called as the term Coast Guardsman is found in Title 14 USC which established the Coast Guard in 1915.[47][Note 3] "Team Coast Guard" refers to the four components of the Coast Guard as a whole: Regular, Reserve, Auxiliary, and Coast Guard civilian employees.

text: Commissioned officers[edit]

text: Commissioned officers in the Coast Guard hold pay grades ranging from O-1 to O-10 and have the same rank structure as the Navy.[49][50] Officers holding the rank of ensign (O-1) through lieutenant commander (O-4) are considered junior officers, commanders (O-5) and captains (O-6) are considered senior officers, and rear admirals (O-7) through admirals (O-10) are considered flag officers. The Commandant of the Coast Guard and the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard are the only members of the Coast Guard authorized to hold the rank of admiral.[51]

text: The Coast Guard does not have medical officers or chaplains of its own. Instead, chaplains from the U.S. Navy, as well as officers from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps are assigned to the Coast Guard to perform chaplain-related functions and medical-related functions, respectively. These officers wear Coast Guard uniforms but replace the Coast Guard insignia with that of their own service.[52]

text: The Navy and Coast Guard share identical officer rank insignia, except that Coast Guard officers wear a gold Coast Guard Shield in lieu of a line star or staff corps officer insignia.

text:
Commissioned Officer grade structure of the United States Coast Guard

Ensign
(ENS)

Lieutenant(junior grade)
(LTJG)

Lieutenant
(LT)

LieutenantCommander
(LCDR)

Commander
(CDR)

Captain
(CAPT)

Rear Admiral(lower half)
(RDML)

Rear Admiral
(RADM)

Vice Admiral
(VADM)

Admiral
(ADM)

O-1

O-2

O-3

O-4

O-5

O-6

O-7

O-8

O-9

O-10

text: Warrant officers[edit]

text: Highly qualified enlisted personnel in pay grades E-6 through E-9 with a minimum of eight years experience can compete each year for appointment as warrant officers (WO). Successful candidates are chosen by a board and then commissioned as chief warrant officers (CWO-2) in one of sixteen specialties. Over time, chief warrant officers may be promoted to CWO-3 and CWO-4. The ranks of warrant officer (WO-1) and chief warrant officer (CWO-5) are not currently used in the Coast Guard. Chief warrant officers may also compete for the Chief Warrant Officer to Lieutenant Program. If selected, the warrant officer will be promoted to lieutenant (O-3E). The "E" designates over four years active duty service as a warrant officer or enlisted member and entitles the member to a higher rate of pay than other lieutenants.

text:
Warrant Officer grade structure of the United States Coast Guard

Chief Warrant Officer 2

Chief Warrant Officer 3

Chief Warrant Officer 4

W-2

W-3

W-4

text: Enlisted personnel[edit]

text: Enlisted members of the Coast Guard have pay grades from E-1 to E-9 and also follow the same rank structure as the Navy. Enlisted members in pay grades of E-4 and higher are considered petty officers and follow career development paths very similar to those of Navy petty officers.

text: Petty officers in pay grade E-7 and higher are chief petty officers and must attend the Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Academy, or an equivalent Department of Defense school, in order to be advanced to pay grade E-8. The basic themes of the school are:

text:
Professionalism
Leadership
Communications
Systems thinking and lifelong learning

text: Enlisted rank insignia is also nearly identical to Navy enlisted insignia. The Coast Guard shield replacing the petty officer's eagle on collar and cap devices for petty officers or enlisted rating insignia for seamen qualified as a "designated striker". Group Rate marks (stripes) for junior enlisted members (E-3 and below) also follow Navy convention with white for seaman, red for fireman, and green for the airman. In a departure from the Navy conventions, all petty officers E-6 and below wear red chevrons and all chief petty officers wear gold

text:
Non-commissioned officer grade structure of the United States Coast GuardNote: Crossed anchors in the graphics indicate a rating of Boatswain's Mate

Petty Officer Third Class
(PO3)

Petty Officer Second Class
(PO2)

Petty Officer First Class
(PO1)

Chief Petty Officer
(CPO)

Senior Chief Petty Officer
(SCPO)

Master Chief Petty Officer
(MCPO)

Command Master Chief Petty Officer
(CMC)

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Reserve Force or Area/DCO/DCMS Command Master Chief Petty Officer

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard
(MCPOCG)

E-4

E-5

E-6

E-7

E-8

E-9

E-9 with special pay

Enlisted grade structure of the United States Coast Guard

Seaman Recruit
(SR)

Seaman Apprentice
(SA)

Seaman
(SN)

E-1

E-2

E-3

text: Training[edit]

text: Officer training[edit]

text: The U.S. Coast Guard Academy is a four-year service academy located in New London, Connecticut. Approximately 200 cadets graduate each year, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as an ensign in the Coast Guard. Graduates are obligated to serve a minimum of five years on active duty. Most graduates are assigned to duty aboard Coast Guard cutters immediately after graduation, either as Deck Watch Officers (DWOs) or as Engineer Officers in Training (EOITs). Smaller numbers are assigned directly to flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida or to shore duty at Coast Guard Sector, District, or Area headquarters units.

text: In addition to the Academy, prospective officers, who already hold a college degree, may enter the Coast Guard through Officer Candidate School (OCS), also located at the Coast Guard Academy. OCS is a 17-week course of instruction that prepares candidates to serve effectively as officers in the Coast Guard. In addition to indoctrinating students into a military lifestyle, OCS provides a wide range of highly technical information necessary to perform the duties of a Coast Guard officer.

text: Graduates of OCS are usually commissioned as ensigns, but some with advanced graduate degrees may enter as lieutenants (junior grade) or lieutenants. Graduating OCS officers entering active duty are required to serve a minimum of three years, while graduating reserve officers are required to serve four years. Graduates may be assigned to a cutter, flight training, a staff job, or an operations ashore billet.

text: OCS is the primary channel through which the Coast Guard enlisted grades ascend to the commissioned officer corps.

text: Lawyers, engineers, intelligence officers, military aviators holding commissions in other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces requesting interservice transfers to the Coast Guard, graduates of maritime academies, and certain other individuals may also receive an officer's commission in the Coast Guard through the Direct Commission Officer (DCO) program. Depending on the specific program and the background of the individual, the course is three, four or five weeks long. The first week of the five-week course is an indoctrination week. The DCO program is designed to commission officers with highly specialized professional training or certain kinds of previous military experience.

text: Unlike the other military services, the Coast Guard does not have a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program.

text: Recruit training[edit]

text: Newly enlisted personnel are sent to eight weeks of recruit training at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May in Cape May, New Jersey. New recruits arrive at Sexton Hall and remain there for three days of initial processing which includes haircuts, vaccinations, uniform issue, and other necessary entrance procedures. During this initial processing period, the new recruits are led by temporary company commanders. These temporary company commanders are tasked with teaching the new recruits how to march and preparing them to enter into their designated company. The temporary company commanders typically do not enforce any physical activity such as push ups or crunches. When the initial processing is complete, the new seaman recruits are introduced to their permanent company commanders who will remain with them until the end of training. There is typically a designated lead company commander and two support company commanders. The balance of the eight-week boot camp is spent in learning teamwork and developing physical skills. An introduction of how the Coast Guard operates with special emphasis on the Coast Guard's core values is an important part of the training.

text: The current nine Recruit Training Objectives are:

text:
Self-discipline
Military skills
Marksmanship
Vocational skills and academics
Military bearing
Physical fitness and wellness
Water survival and swim qualifications
Esprit de corps
Core values (Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty)

text: Service schools[edit]

text: Following graduation from recruit training, most members are sent to their first unit while they await orders to attend advanced training in Class "A" Schools. At "A" schools, Coast Guard enlisted personnel are trained in their chosen rating; rating is a Coast Guard and Navy term for enlisted skills synonymous with the Army's and Marine Corps' military occupation codes (MOS) and Air Force's Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC). Members who earned high ASVAB scores or who were otherwise guaranteed an "A" School of choice while enlisting may go directly to their "A" School upon graduation from Boot Camp.

text: Civilian personnel[edit]

text: The Coast Guard employs over 8,577 civilians in over two hundred different job types including Coast Guard Investigative Service special agents, lawyers, engineers, technicians, administrative personnel, tradesmen, and federal firefighters.[2][53] Civilian employees work at various levels in the Coast Guard to support its various missions.

text: Equipment[edit]

text: Cutters[edit]

text: The Coast Guard operates 243 Cutters,[12] defined as any vessel  more than 65 feet (20 m) long, that has a permanently assigned crew and accommodations for the extended support of that crew.[54]

text:
Polar-class icebreaker (WAGB): There are three WAGB's used for icebreaking and research though only two, the heavy 399-foot (122 m) Polar Star and the newer medium class 420-foot (130 m) Healy, are active.[55][56][57][58] Polar Sea is located in Seattle, Washington but is not currently in active service. The icebreakers are being replaced with new heavy icebreakers under the Polar icebreaker program.
National Security Cutter (WMSL): These are a new class of 418-foot (127 m) military defense, maritime ship, also known as the Legend-class cutter. At 418 ft. these are the largest USCG military cutters in active service. One-for-one Legend-class ships are replacing individually decommissioned 1960s Hamilton-class high endurance cutters. A total of eight were authorized and budgeted; as of 2015 three are in service, and three are under construction.  In 2016 a ninth National Security Cutter was authorized by Congress.
High Endurance Cutter (WHEC): These are 12 378-foot (115 m) Hamilton-class cutters commissioned in the late 1960s. Missions include law enforcement, search and rescue, and military defense. These aged cutters are individually being decommissioned and replaced by the new 418 ft. National Security Cutters.
Medium Endurance Cutter (WMEC): These are mostly the 210-foot (64 m) Reliance class, and the 270-foot (82 m) Famous class cutters, although the 283-foot (86 m) Alex Haley also falls into this category. Primary missions are law enforcement, search and rescue, and military defense.
USCGC Mackinaw: A 240-foot (73 m) heavy icebreaker built for operations on the Great Lakes.
USCGC Eagle: A 295-foot (90 m) sailing barque used as a training ship for Coast Guard Academy cadets and Coast Guard officer candidates. She was originally built in Germany as Horst Wessel, and was seized by the United States as a prize of war in 1945.[59][60]
Seagoing Buoy Tender (WLB): These 225-foot (69 m) ships are used to maintain aids to navigation and also assist with law enforcement and search and rescue.
Coastal Buoy Tender (WLM): The 175-foot (53 m) Keeper-class coastal buoy tenders are used to maintain coastal aids to navigation.
Sentinel class cutter (WPC): The 154-foot (47 m) Sentinel class was previously known as the "Fast Response Cutter" class and is used for search and rescue work and law enforcement.
Bay-class icebreaking tug (WTGB): 140-foot (43 m) icebreakers used primarily for domestic icebreaking missions. Other missions include search and rescue, law enforcement, and aids to navigation maintenance.[61]
Patrol Boats (WPB): There are two classes of WPBs currently in service; the 110-foot (34 m) Island-class patrol boats and the 87-foot (27 m) Marine Protector-class patrol boats[62][63]

text: Boats[edit]

text: The Coast Guard operates about 1,650 boats,[12] defined as any vessel less than 65 feet (20 m) long, which generally operate near shore and on inland waterways.

text: The Coast Guard boat fleet includes:

text:
Motor Life Boat (MLB): The Coast Guard's 47-foot (14 m) primary heavy-weather boat used for search and rescue as well as law enforcement and homeland security.
Response Boat – Medium (RB-M): A new multi-mission 45-foot (14 m) vessel intended to replace the 41-foot (12 m) utility boat. 170 planned
Special Purpose Craft – Near Shore Lifeboat: Only 2 built. Shallow draft, 42-foot (13 m) lifeboat substituted for the 47-foot (14 m) Motor Life Boat, based at Chatham, Massachusetts[64]
Long Range Interceptor (LRI): A 36-foot (11 m) high-speed launch that can be launched from the stern ramps of the larger Deepwater cutters.
Aids to Navigation Boats (TANB/BUSL/ANB/ANB): Various designs ranging from 26 to 55 feet (7.9 to 16.8 m) used to maintain aids to navigation.
Special Purpose Craft – Law Enforcement (SPC-LE): Intended to operate in support of specialized law enforcement missions, utilizing three 300 horsepower (220 kW) Mercury Marine engines. The SPC-LE is 33 feet (10 m) long and capable of speeds in excess of 50 knots (93 km/h; 58 mph) and operations more than 30 miles (48 km) from shore.
Response Boat – Small (RB-S): A 25-foot (7.6 m) high-speed boat, for a variety of missions, including search and rescue, port security and law enforcement duties.
Transportable Port Security Boat (TPSB): A 25-foot (7.6 m) well-armed boat used by Port Security Units for force protection.
SPC-SW Special Purpose Craft, Shallow-water: 24 feet (7.3 m)[clarification needed]
Over-the-Horizon (OTH) boat: A 23-foot (7.0 m) rigid hull inflatable boat used by medium and high endurance cutters and specialized units.
Short Range Prosecutor (SRP): A 23-foot (7.0 m) rigid hull inflatable boat that can be launched from a stern launching ramp on the National Security Cutters.

text: Aircraft[edit]

text: The Coast Guard operates approximately 201 fixed and rotary wing aircraft[12] from 24 Coast Guard Air Stations throughout the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Most of these air stations are tenant activities at civilian airports, several of which are former Air Force Bases and Naval Air Stations, although several are also independent military facilities. Coast Guard Air Stations are also located on active Naval Air Stations, Air National Guard bases, and Army Air Fields.

text: Coast Guard aviators receive Primary (fixed-wing) and Advanced (fixed or rotary-wing) flight training with their Navy and Marine Corps counterparts at NAS Whiting Field, Florida, and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, and are considered Naval Aviators. After receiving Naval Aviator Wings, Coast Guard pilots, with the exception of those slated to fly the HC-130, report to U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Training Center, Mobile, Alabama to receive 6–12 weeks of specialized training in the Coast Guard fleet aircraft they will operate. HC-130 pilots report to Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, for joint C-130 training under the auspices of the 314th Airlift Wing of the U.S. Air Force.

text: Fixed-wing aircraft operate from Air Stations on long-duration missions. Helicopters operate from Air Stations and can deploy on a number of different cutters. Helicopters can rescue people or intercept vessels smuggling migrants or narcotics. Since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the Coast Guard has developed a more prominent role in national security and now has armed helicopters operating in high-risk areas for the purpose of maritime law enforcement and anti-terrorism.

text: The Coast Guard is now developing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program that will utilize the MQ-9 Reaper platform for homeland security and search/rescue operations. To support this endeavor, the Coast Guard has partnered with the Navy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to study existing/emerging unmanned aerial system (UAS) capabilities within their respective organizations. As these systems mature, research and operational experience gleaned from this joint effort will enable the Coast Guard to develop its own cutter and land-based UAS capabilities.

text: Fixed-wing aircraft:

text:
Lockheed HC-130H Hercules[65]
Lockheed HC-130J Super Hercules[66]
Alenia C-27J Spartan
CASA HC-144A Ocean Sentry[67]

text: Rotary-wing aircraft:

text:
Sikorsky HH / MH-60 J/T Jayhawk[68]
Aérospatiale MH-65 C/D/E Dolphin[69]

text: Fixed-wing VIP transport aircraft assigned to CGAS Washington D.C:

text: VC-37A Long Range Command and Control Aircraft (2 airframes as of December 2011: CG-01, S/N 653 and CG-02, S/N 638)[70]

text: Weapons[edit]

text: Naval guns[edit]

text: Most Coast Guard Cutters have one or more Naval gun systems installed. Including:

text: The Oto Melara 76 mm a radar-guided computer controlled gun system that is used on both Medium and High Endurance Cutters. The 3 inch gun's high rate of fire and availability of specialized ammunition make it multi-purpose gun capable of anti-shipping, anti-aircraft, ground support and short-range anti-missile defense.

text: The MK 110 57mm gun a radar-guided computer controlled variant of the Bofors 57 mm gun. It is used on the Legend-class cutter, also known as the National Security Cutter (NSC). It's a multi-purpose gun capable of anti-shipping, anti-aircraft, and short-range anti-missile defense. The stealth mount has a reduced radar profile. Also, the gun has a small radar mounted on the gun barrel to measure muzzle velocity for fire control purposes and can change ammunition types instantly due to a dual-feed system. It can also be operated/fired manually using a joystick and video camera (mounted on gun).

text: The Mk 38 Mod 0 weapons system consists of an M242 Bushmaster 25mm chain gun and the Mk 88 Mod 0 machine gun mount. A manned system, it's gyro-stabilization compensates for the pitching deck. It provides ships with defensive and offensive gunfire capability for the engagement of a variety of surface targets. Designed primarily as a close-range defensive measure, it provides protection against patrol boats, floating mines, and various shore-based targets.

text: The Mk 38 Mod 2 weapons system is a remotely operated Mk 38 with an Electronic Optical Sight, Laser Range-Finder, FLIR, a more reliable feeding system, all of which enhance the weapon systems capabilities and accuracy.

text: The Phalanx CIWS (pronounced "sea-whiz") is a close-in weapon system for defense against aircraft and anti-ship missiles. it can also be used against a variety of surface targets. Consisting of a radar-guided 20 mm 6-barreled M61 Vulcan cannon mounted on a swiveling base. It's used on the Coast Guards High Endurance Cutters. This system can operate autonomously against airborne threats or may be manually operated with the use of Electronic Optical Sight, Laser Range-Finder and FLIR systems against surface targets.

text: The Sea PROTECTOR MK50 is a remotely controlled gyro-stabilized M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun. The sight package includes a daylight video camera, a thermal camera and an eye-safe laser rangefinder operated by a joystick. It is also furnished with a fully integrated fire control system that provides ballistic correction. The Mk50s are used on only four Marine Protector-class Cutters, the USCGC Sea Fox, USCGC Sea Devil, USCGC Sea Dragon and USCGC Sea Dog.

text: Small arms and light weapons[edit]

text: The U.S. Coast Guard uses a wide variety of small arms and light weapons. Handguns, shotguns, and rifles are used to arm boat crew and boarding team members and machine guns are mounted aboard cutters, boats, and helicopters.

text: Small arms and light weapons arms include:

text:
SIG Sauer P229R DAK .40 S&W pistol
Remington M870P 12 gauge shotgun
M16A2 rifle
M4 carbine
Mk 18 carbine
M14 Tactical rifle
Mk 11 Mod 2 precision rifle
FN M240 machine gun
M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun
Mk 19 40mm grenade launcher[71]
Barrett M107 .50-caliber rifle is used by marksmen from the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron and Law Enforcement Detachments to disable the engines on fleeing boats.

text: Symbols[edit]

text: Core values[edit]

text: The Coast Guard, like the other armed services of the United States, has a set of core values that serve as basic ethical guidelines for all Coast Guard active duty, reservists, auxiliarists, and civilians. The Coast Guard Core Values are:

text:
Honor: Integrity is our standard. We demonstrate uncompromising ethical conduct and moral behavior in all of our personal actions. We are loyal and accountable to the public trust.
Respect: We value our diverse workforce. We treat each other with fairness, dignity, and compassion. We encourage individual opportunity and growth. We encourage creativity through empowerment. We work as a team.
Devotion to Duty: We are professionals, military and civilian, who seek responsibility, accept accountability, and are committed to the successful achievement of our organizational goals. We exist to serve. We serve with pride.

text: The Guardian Ethos[edit]

text: In 2008, the Coast Guard introduced the Guardian Ethos. As the Commandant, Admiral Allen noted in a message to all members of the Coast Guard: [The Ethos] "defines the essence of the Coast Guard," and is the "contract the Coast Guard and its members make with the nation and its citizens."[73]

text: The Coast Guard Ethos[edit]

text: In an ALCOAST message effective 1 December 2011 the Commandant, Admiral Papp, directed that the language of Guardian Ethos be superseded by the Coast Guard Ethos in an effort to use terminology that would help with the identity of personnel serving in the Coast Guard.[74] The term Coast Guardsman is the correct form of address used in Title 14 USC and is the form that has been used historically. This changed the line in the Guardian Ethos "I am a Guardian." to become "I am a Coast Guardsman."[75]

text: The Ethos is:

text:
I am a Coast Guardsman.
I serve the people of the United States.
I will protect them.
I will defend them.
I will save them.
I am their shield.
For them I am Semper Paratus.
I live the Coast Guard core values.
I am proud to be a Coast Guardsman.
We are the United States Coast Guard.

text: Creed of the United States Coast Guardsman[edit]

text: The "Creed of the United States Coast Guardsman" was written by Vice Admiral Harry G. Hamlet, who served as Commandant of the Coast Guard from 1932 to 1936.[76]

text:
I am proud to be a United States Coast Guardsman.
I revere that long line of expert seamen who by their devotion to duty and sacrifice of self have made it possible for me to be a member of a service honored and respected, in peace and in war, throughout the world.
I never, by word or deed, will bring reproach upon the fair name of my service, nor permit others to do so unchallenged.
I will cheerfully and willingly obey all lawful orders.
I will always be on time to relieve, and shall endeavor to do more, rather than less, than my share.
I will always be at my station, alert and attending to my duties.
I shall, so far as I am able, bring to my seniors solutions, not problems.
I shall live joyously, but always with due regard for the rights and privileges of others.
I shall endeavor to be a model citizen in the community in which I live.
I shall sell life dearly to an enemy of my country, but give it freely to rescue those in peril.
With God's help, I shall endeavor to be one of His noblest Works...
A UNITED STATES COAST GUARDSMAN.

text: "You have to go out, but you don't have to come back!"[edit]

text: This unofficial motto of the Coast Guard dates to an 1899 United States Lifesaving Service regulation, which states in part: "In attempting a rescue, ... he will not desist from his efforts until by actual trial, the impossibility of effecting a rescue is demonstrated. The statement of the keeper that he did not try to use the boat because the sea or surf was too heavy will not be accepted, unless attempts to launch it were actually made and failed."[78]

text: Coast Guard Ensign[edit]

text: The Coast Guard Ensign (flag) was first flown by the Revenue Cutter Service in 1799 to distinguish revenue cutters from merchant ships. A 1 August 1799 order issued by Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, Jr. specified that the Ensign would be "sixteen perpendicular stripes (for the number of states in the United States at the time), alternate red and white, the union of the ensign to be the arms of the United States in a dark blue on a white field."[79]

text: This ensign became familiar in American waters and served as the sign of authority for the Revenue Cutter Service until the early 20th century. The ensign was originally intended to be flown only on revenue cutters and boats connected with the Customs Service but over the years it was found flying atop custom houses as well, and the practice became a requirement in 1874. On 7 June 1910, President William Howard Taft issued an Executive Order adding an emblem to (or "defacing") the ensign flown by the Revenue cutters to distinguish it from what is now called the Customs Ensign flown from the custom houses. The emblem was changed to the official seal of the Coast Guard in 1927.[80][81]

text: The purpose of the ensign is to allow ship captains to easily recognize those vessels having legal authority to stop and board them. It is flown only as a symbol of law enforcement authority and is never carried as a parade standard.[82]

text: Coast Guard Standard[edit]

text: The Coast Guard Standard is used in parades and carries the battle honors of the Coast Guard. It was derived from the jack of the Coast Guard ensign which was flown by revenue cutters. The emblem is a blue eagle from the coat of arms of the United States on a white field. Above the eagle are the words "UNITED STATES COAST GUARD" below the eagle is the motto, "SEMPER PARATUS" and the inscription "1790."

text: Service Mark ("Racing Stripe")[edit]

text: The racing stripe is borne by Coast Guard cutters, aircraft, and many boats. First used and placed into official usage as of April 6, 1967, it consists of a narrow blue stripe, a narrow white stripe between, and a broad CG red bar with the Coast Guard shield centered.[4][83] Red-hulled icebreaker cutters and most HH-65/MH-65 helicopters (i.e., those with a red fuselage) bear a narrow blue stripe, a narrow empty stripe the color of the fuselage (an implied red stripe), and broad white bar, with the Coast Guard shield centered. Conversely, black-hulled cutters (such as buoy tenders and inland construction tenders) use the standard racing stripe. Auxiliary vessels maintained by the Coast Guard also carry the Racing Stripe, but in inverted colors (i.e., broad blue stripe with narrow white and CG red stripes) and the Auxiliary shield.

text: The Racing Stripe, officially known as the Service Mark, was designed in 1964 by the industrial design office of Raymond Loewy Associates to give the Coast Guard a distinctive, modern image. Loewy had designed the colors for the Air Force One fleet for Jackie Kennedy. President Kennedy was so impressed with his work, he suggested that the entire Federal Government needed his make-over and suggested that he start with the Coast Guard.[84][85] The stripes are canted at a 64 degree angle, coincidentally the year the Racing Stripe was designed.[86]

text: Similar Racing Stripe designs have been adopted for the use of other coast guards and maritime authorities and many other law enforcement and rescue agencies.

text: Uniforms[edit]

text: Prior to 1974, Coast Guard personnel wore essentially the same uniforms as the Navy (although some unique uniform items did exist) with distinctive Coast Guard insignia.  These were minor, primarily consisting of distinctive cap devices for officers and chief petty officers, incorporation of the Coast Guard shield in lieu of line or staff corps insignia for officers, and different buttons on dress uniforms.

text: In 1974, the current Coast Guard Service Dress Blue "Bravo" uniform was introduced for wear by both officers and enlisted personnel; the transition was completed during 1974. The uniform consists of a blue four-pocket single breasted jacket and trousers, a light-blue button-up shirt with a pointed collar, two front button-flap pockets, and shoulder loops, along with a tie of the same shade as the jacket are worn with the uniform. Either the garrison cap or combination cap may be worn. Officer and enlisted rank insignia are sewn onto the jacket sleeve in the same manner as Navy uniforms.[87]

text: The Service Dress Blue "Bravo" uniform may be worn year-round for business within the Coast Guard and for social occasions where the civilian equivalent is coat and tie.[88]

text: The slightly more formal Service Dress Blue "Alpha" variant substitutes a white shirt for the blue, and mandates the combination cap. Enlisted personnel do not wear collar devices with the white shirt.

text: Full Dress Blue is essentially the same as Service Dress Blue "Alpha," except that it is worn with a full-size medals instead of ribbons. Additionally, a sword may be prescribed for officers, and white gloves may be required. A white belt may be worn for honor guards.

text: The Tropical Blue uniform, worn in warm weather, omits the jacket and tie, and features a short-sleeved, light blue shirt (identical to that worn by the U.S. Air Force) with rank insignia on shoulder boards for officers, and pin-on collar insignia for petty officers. The Tropical Blue uniform may be worn year-round for general office wear and for visits between commands. It may be worn in lieu of the SDB uniform, but not to functions where civilian dress is coat and tie.[88]

text: Despite the transition to distinctive "Bender's blues" uniforms in the 1970s, some Navy-style dress uniforms were retained. The Service Dress White and Full Dress White "choker" uniforms for officers are identical to those worn by U.S. Navy officers (aside from service-specific buttons, insignia and sword design). These are typically used for formal parade and change-of-command ceremonies. For similar occasions the enlisted members wear Tropical Blue, Service Dress Blue or Full Dress Blue. The mess dress uniforms worn for formal (black tie) evening ceremonies are also identical to those of the Navy, aside from Coast Guard-specific insignia. As in the Navy, these uniforms are required for officers, but optional for enlisted members. Due to the expense of these uniforms and the fact that they are rarely called-for, few junior enlisted members purchase them.

text: The current working uniform of the Coast Guard is the Operational Dress Uniform (ODU). The ODU may be worn year-round primarily as a field utility and watchstanding uniform, but may also be worn in an office environment where appropriate. The ODU is similar to the Battle Dress Uniform of other armed services, both in function and style. However, the ODU is in a solid dark blue with no camouflage pattern and does not have lower pockets on the blouse. The first generation ODU, in service from 2004 to 2012, was worn tucked in. The second generation ODU is worn untucked and has black Coast Guard insignia embroidered on the left shirt pocket as well as the side pockets of the trousers. The ODU is worn with composite-toed boots in most circumstances, but low-cut brown boat shoes may be prescribed for certain vessel boarding operations. A standard baseball-style ball cap is worn, embroidered in gold block lettering with "U.S. Coast Guard." Units may also additionally authorize ball caps with the unit name embroidered for wear while on the unit. A foul weather parka is the outerwear worn with the ODU. The ODU's success and practicality as a working uniform has led the U.S. Public Health Service and the NOAA Corps to adopt ODU variants as standard working uniforms. Some Navy personnel also advocated adoption of the ODU as a standard shipboard uniform for the Navy, rather than the unpopular Navy Working Uniform Type I.

text: Coast Guard personnel serving in expeditionary combat units such as Port Security Units or Law Enforcement Detachments, and Coast Guard personnel deployed overseas (e.g. PATFORSWA) wear the Navy Working Uniform Type III with distinctive Coast Guard insignia, and generally follow Navy Uniform Regulations.

text: All Coast Guardsmen wear the combination cap with all uniforms except the ODU and CUU. Company commanders (the Coast Guard's equivalent of drill sergeants) at Training Center Cape May wear the traditional Smokey Bear-style campaign hat.

text: The Coast Guard Pipe Band, a special musical unit composed of active, reserve and auxiliary members, wears a modified form of highland dress, including kilt and sporran. It is, along with the Band of the Air Force Reserve Pipe Band, one of only two kilted units in the United States military, excluding those maintained by state defense forces and service academies. The band's kilt is patterned in the official U.S. Coast Guard tartan, which is registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans and based on the Hamilton tartan (in honor of the founder of the Revenue-Marine, Alexander Hamilton).[89]

text: Cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy wear standard Coast Guard uniforms, but also wear two different styles of parade dress uniforms, similar to those worn by Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. Full Dress Blue (B) consists of black blouses with banded collars and double rows of buttons, worn with matching black trousers and a white peaked hat. Full Dress Blue (A) substitutes white trousers in lieu of black.[90]

text: Coast Guard Reserve[edit]

text: The United States Coast Guard Reserve is the reserve military force of the Coast Guard.[91] The Coast Guard Reserve was founded on 19 February 1941. The Coast Guard has 8700 reservists[2] who normally drill two days a month and an additional 12 days of active duty each year, although many perform additional drill and active duty periods, to include those mobilized to extended active duty. Coast Guard reservists possess the same training and qualifications as their active duty counterparts, and as such, can be found augmenting active duty Coast Guard units every day.

text: During the Vietnam War and shortly thereafter, the Coast Guard considered abandoning the reserve program, but the force was instead reoriented into force augmentation, where its principal focus was not just reserve operations, but to add to the readiness and mission execution of every-day active duty personnel.

text: Since 11 September 2001, reservists have been activated and served on tours of active duty, to include deployments to the Persian Gulf and also as parts of Department of Defense combatant commands such as the U.S. Northern and Central Commands. Coast Guard Port Security Units are entirely staffed with reservists, except for five to seven active duty personnel. Additionally, most of the staffing the Coast Guard provides to the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command are reservists.

text: The Reserve is managed by the Director of Reserve and Military Personnel Directorate, Rear Admiral Kurt B. Hinrichs, USCGR.

text: Women in the Coast Guard[edit]

text: In 1918, twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker of the Naval Coastal Defense Reserve became the first uniformed women to serve in the Coast Guard.[92] Later, United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve (SPARS) was created on 23 November 1942 with the signing of Public Law 773 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[93] The name is a contraction of the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus, meaning "Always Ready" in Latin. The name also refers to a spar in nautical usage. Like the other women's reserves such as the Women's Army Corps and the WAVES, it was created to free men from stateside service in order to fight overseas. Its first director was Captain Dorothy C. Stratton who is credited with creating the name for the organization.[94] The cutter USCGC Spar is named for the SPARS.

text: Coast Guard Auxiliary[edit]

text: The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed volunteer component of the Coast Guard, established on 23 June 1939 by an act of Congress as the United States Coast Guard Reserve, it was re-designated as the Auxiliary on 19 February 1941. It works within the Coast Guard in carrying out its noncombatant and non-law enforcement missions.[95] Auxiliarists are subject to direction from the Commandant of the Coast Guard making them unique among all federal volunteers (e.g. Air Force's Civil Air Patrol and FBI's InfraGard); they are not a separate organization, but an integral part of the Coast Guard. There are approximately 31,000 active Auxiliarists.[2]

text: The Coast Guard has assigned primary responsibility for many recreational boating safety tasks to the Auxiliary, including public boating safety education and voluntary Vessel Safety Checks (formerly called Courtesy Examinations).[96] Additionally, Auxiliarists use their own vessels boats and aircraft (once registered as Coast Guard facilities) to conduct safety patrols, aid in search and rescue missions, and perform other tasks on behalf of the Coast Guard.

text: Prior to 1997, Auxiliarists were largely limited to activities supporting recreational boating safety. In 1997, however, new legislation authorized the Auxiliary to participate in any and all Coast Guard missions except direct military and direct law enforcement.[97] Auxiliarists may directly augment active duty Coast Guard personnel in non-combat, non-law enforcement roles (e.g. radio communications watch stander, interpreter, cook, etc.) and may assist active duty personnel in inspecting commercial vessels and maintaining aids-to-navigation. Auxiliarists may support the law enforcement and homeland security missions of the Coast Guard but may not directly participate (make arrests, etc.), and Auxiliarists are not permitted to carry a weapon while serving in any Auxiliary capacity.

text: Deployable Operations Group[edit]

text: The Deployable Operations Group (DOG) was a Coast Guard command established in July 2007. The DOG established a single command authority to rapidly provide the Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of Justice and other interagency operational commanders adaptive force packages drawn from the Coast Guard's deployable specialized force units. The DOG was disestablished on 22 April 2013 and its deployable specialized forces (DSF) units were placed under the control of the Atlantic and Pacific Area Commanders.[98]

text: The planning for the unit began after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and culminated with its formation on 20 July 2007. Its missions included maritime law enforcement, anti-terrorism, port security, pollution response, and diving operations.

text: There were over 25 specialized units within the Deployable Operations Group including the Maritime Security Response Team, Maritime Safety and Security Teams, Law Enforcement Detachments, Port Security Units, the National Strike Force, and Regional Dive Lockers. The DOG also managed Coast Guard personnel assigned to the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command and was involved in the selection of Coast Guard candidates to attend Navy BUD/S and serve with Navy SEAL Teams.[99]

text: Medals and honors[edit]

text: One Coast Guardsman, Douglas Albert Munro, has earned the Medal of Honor, the highest military award of the United States.[100] Fifty five Coast Guardsmen have earned the Navy Cross and numerous men and women have earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.

text: The highest peacetime decoration awarded within the Coast Guard is the Homeland Security Distinguished Service Medal; prior to the transfer of the Coast Guard to the Department of Homeland Security, the highest peacetime decoration was the Department of Transportation Distinguished Service Medal. The highest unit award available is the Presidential Unit Citation.

text: In wartime, members of the Coast Guard are eligible to receive the Navy version of the Medal of Honor. A Coast Guard Medal of Honor is authorized but has not yet been developed or issued.

text: In May 2006, at the Change of Command ceremony when Admiral Thad Allen took over as Commandant, President George W. Bush awarded the entire Coast Guard, including the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Coast Guard Presidential Unit Citation with hurricane device, for its efforts during and after Hurricane Katrina and Tropical Storm Rita.

text: Notable Coast Guardsmen[edit]

text: Numerous celebrities have served in the Coast Guard including tennis player Jack Kramer, golfer Arnold Palmer, All Star baseball player Sid Gordon, boxer Jack Dempsey; musicians Kai Winding, Rudy Vallee,[101] Derroll Adams, and Tom Waits; actors Buddy Ebsen, Sid Caesar, Victor Mature, Richard Cromwell, Alan Hale, Jr., William Hopper, Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges, Cesar Romero; author Alex Haley; and Senator Claiborne Pell.

text: Vice Admiral Thad Allen in 2005 was named Principal Federal Officer to oversee recovery efforts in the Gulf Region after Hurricane Katrina. After promotion to Admiral, on the eve of his retirement as Commandant, Allen again received national visibility after being named National Incident Commander overseeing the response efforts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

text: Former Coast Guard officers have been appointed to numerous civilian government offices. After retiring as Commandant of the Coast Guard in 2002, Admiral James Loy went on to serve as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and later as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. After their respective Coast Guard careers, Carlton Skinner served as the first Civilian Governor of Guam; G. William Miller, 65th Secretary of the Treasury, and retired Vice Admiral Harvey E. Johnson, Jr. served as Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under President George W. Bush. Rear Admiral Stephen W. Rochon was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the Director of the Executive Residence and White House Chief Usher, beginning service on 12 March 2007, and continued to serve in the same capacity under President Barack Obama.

text: Two Coast Guard aviators, Commander Bruce E. Melnick and Captain Daniel C. Burbank, have served as NASA astronauts.

text: Signalman First Class Douglas Albert Munro was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, and is the only Coast Guardsman to ever receive this honor.[100]

text: Organizations[edit]

text: Coast Guard Aviation Association[edit]

text: Those who have piloted or flown in Coast Guard aircraft under official flight orders may join the Coast Guard Aviation Association which was formerly known as the "Ancient Order of the Pterodactyl" ("Flying Since the World was Flat").

text: The Ancient Albatross Award is presented to the active duty USCG member who qualified as an aviator earlier than any other person who is still serving. Separate enlisted and officer awards are given.[102][103]

text: Coast Guard CW Operators Association[edit]

text: The Coast Guard CW Operators Association (CGCWOA) is a membership organization comprising primarily former members of the United States Coast Guard who held the enlisted rating of Radioman (RM) or Telecommunications Specialist (TC), and who employed International Morse Code (CW) in their routine communications duties on Coast Guard cutters and at shore stations.[104]

text: USCG Chief Petty Officers Association[edit]

text: Members of this organization unite to assist members and dependents in need, assist with Coast Guard recruiting efforts, support the aims and goals of the Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Academy, keep informed on Coast Guard matters, and assemble for social amenities; and include Chief, Senior Chief, and Master Chief Petty Officers, active, reserve and retired. Membership is also open to all Chief Warrant Officers and Officers who have served as a Chief Petty Officer.[105]

text: USCG Chief Warrant and Warrant Officers Association (CWOA)[edit]

text: Established in 1929, the Chief Warrant and Warrant Officers Association, United States Coast Guard (CWOA) represents Coast Guard warrant and chief warrant officers (active, reserve and retired) to the Congress, White House and the Department of Homeland Security. Additionally, the association communicates with the Coast Guard leadership on matters of concern to Coast Guard chief warrant officers.[106]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: This section appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular culture. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, using references to reliable sources, rather than simply listing appearances. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2018)

text: The US Coast Guard maintains a Motion Picture and Television Office (MOPIC) in  Hollywood, California, along with its sister services at the Department of Defense dedicated to enhancing public awareness and understanding of the Coast Guard, its people, and its missions through a cooperative effort with the entertainment industry.[107][108]

text: In film[edit]

text:
Fighting Coast Guard (1951), depicts Coast Guard trained to help win WWII.[108]
The Boatniks (1970), is a light-hearted depiction of a Coast Guard unit tasked with supervising recreational boaters on the California coast.
The Island (1980), latter-day Caribbean pirates capture the (fictional) cutter USCGC New Hope. Filming was done on USCGC Dauntless.[108]
Bad Boys II (2003), depicts counter-drug helicopters from the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON).[108]
The Guardian (2006), depicts the Aviation Survival Technician (AST) program.
Pain & Gain (2013), starring Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, depicted the Coast Guard Deployable Operations Group in action.[108]
The Finest Hours (2016), A film portraying the rescue of the crew of SS Pendleton by coxswain Bernard C. Webber and the three other crewmen of Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG 36500.[108]

text: On television[edit]

text: The Coast Guard has been featured in several television series, including:

text:
Coast Guard was a syndicated television series that aired for three seasons from 1995 to 1997 in the United States as well as overseas, where it was called Sea Rescue. The series followed Coast Guard personnel as they performed their missions.[109][110][111]
Coast Guard Alaska: Search and Rescue, a series on The Weather Channel that features a Coast Guard search-and-rescue unit based in Kodiak, Alaska. Several series have spun off the original to focus on units based in Cape Disappointment and Florida.[112][113][114]
Deadliest Catch, works extensively with Base Kodiak, who cooperates with the film crew to insure safety and has been featured in several rescues.[115][116]
Doll & Em features an CG ANT team member and the Point Vicente Light as the lighthouse Doll & Em escape to do their writing in the Season 2 opener.[117]
Hawaii Five-0, features several episodes in which the Five-0 team worked with Station Honolulu[118] and Air Station Barbers Point.[119]
NCIS, Diane Neal portrays Abigail Borin, CGIS Special Agent in Charge featured in several episodes of both NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans.[120]


document_title: Scurvy

question_text: who showed that poor diet could result in scurvy

root

text: Scurvy

text: Signs and symptoms[edit]

text: Early symptoms are malaise and lethargy. Even earlier might be a pain in a section of the gums which interferes with digestion. After 1–3 months, patients develop shortness of breath and bone pain. Myalgias may occur because of reduced carnitine production. Other symptoms include skin changes with roughness, easy bruising and petechiae, gum disease, loosening of teeth, poor wound healing, and emotional changes (which may appear before any physical changes). Dry mouth and dry eyes similar to Sjögren's syndrome may occur. In the late stages, jaundice, generalized edema, oliguria, neuropathy, fever, convulsions, and eventual death are frequently seen.[8]

tag: p

text:
A child presenting a "scorbutic tongue" due to what proved to be a vitamin C deficiency.

A child with scurvy in flexion posture.

Photo of the chest cage with pectus excavatum and scorbutic rosaries.

tag: ul

text: Cause[edit]

text: Scurvy or subclinical scurvy is caused by a deficiency of vitamin C. In modern Western societies, scurvy is rarely present in adults, although infants and elderly people are affected.[9] Virtually all commercially available baby formulas contain added vitamin C, preventing infantile scurvy. Human breast milk contains sufficient vitamin C, if the mother has an adequate intake. Commercial milk is pasteurized, a heating process that destroys the natural vitamin C content of the milk.

text: Scurvy is one of the accompanying diseases of malnutrition (other such micronutrient deficiencies are beriberi or pellagra) and thus is still widespread in areas of the world depending on external food aid.[10] Although rare, there are also documented cases of scurvy due to poor dietary choices by people living in industrialized nations.[11][12][13][14][15]

text: Pathogenesis[edit]

text: Ascorbic acid is needed for a variety of biosynthetic pathways, by accelerating hydroxylation and amidation reactions. In the synthesis of collagen, ascorbic acid is required as a cofactor for prolyl hydroxylase and lysyl hydroxylase. These two enzymes are responsible for the hydroxylation of the proline and lysine amino acids in collagen. Hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine are important for stabilizing collagen by cross-linking the propeptides in collagen. Defective collagen fibrillogenesis impairs wound healing. Collagen is an important part of bone, so bone formation is affected. Defective connective tissue leads to fragile capillaries, resulting in abnormal bleeding. Untreated scurvy is invariably fatal.[16]

text: Diagnosis[edit]

text: Diagnosis typically is based on physical signs, X-rays, and improvement after treatment.[2]

text: Prevention[edit]

text:
Foods and their Vitamin C content per 100 grams

Item
Vitamin C
contents
(mg)

Guava
228.30

Blackcurrant
181.00

Zespri sungold
kiwifruit
161.30

Chili pepper
144.00

Parsley
133.00

Green kiwifruit
92.70

Broccoli
89.20

Brussels sprout
85.00

Bell pepper
80.40

Papaya
62.00

Strawberry
58.80

Orange
53.20

Lemon
53.00

Cabbage
36.60

Spinach
28.00

Potato
19.70

tag: table

text: Scurvy can be prevented by a diet that includes vitamin C-rich foods such as bell peppers (sweet peppers), blackcurrants, broccoli, chili peppers, guava, kiwifruit, and parsley. Other sources rich in vitamin C are fruits such as lemons, oranges, papaya, and strawberries. It is also found in vegetables, such as brussels sprouts, cabbage, potatoes, and spinach. Some fruits and vegetables not high in vitamin C may be pickled in lemon juice, which is high in vitamin C. Though redundant in the presence of a balanced diet,[17] various nutritional supplements are available that provide ascorbic acid well in excess of that required to prevent scurvy.

text: Some animal products, including liver, Muktuk (whale skin), oysters, and parts of the central nervous system, including the adrenal medulla, brain, and spinal cord, contain large amounts of vitamin C, and can even be used to treat scurvy. Fresh meat from animals which make their own vitamin C (which most animals do) contains enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy, and even partly treat it. In some cases (notably French soldiers eating fresh horse meat), it was discovered that meat alone, even partly cooked meat, could alleviate scurvy. Conversely, in other cases, a meat-only diet could cause scurvy.[18]

text: Scott's 1902 Antarctic expedition used lightly fried seal meat and liver, whereby complete recovery from incipient scurvy was reported to have taken less than two weeks.[19]

text: History[edit]

text: Hippocrates documented scurvy as a disease,[20][21] and Egyptians have recorded its symptoms as early as 1550 BCE.[22] The knowledge that consuming foods containing vitamin C is a cure for scurvy has been repeatedly rediscovered and forgotten into the early 20th century.[23]

text: Early modern era[edit]

text: In the 13th century, the Crusaders frequently suffered from scurvy. In the 1497 expedition of Vasco de Gama, the curative effects of citrus fruit were already known[23][24] and confirmed by Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew in 1507.[25]

text: The Portuguese planted fruit trees and vegetables in Saint Helena, a stopping point for homebound voyages from Asia, and left their sick, suffering from scurvy and other ailments, to be taken home, if they recovered, by the next ship.[26]

text: In 1500, one of the pilots of Cabral's fleet bound for India noted that in Malindi, its king offered the expedition fresh supplies such as lambs, chickens, and ducks, along with lemons and oranges, due to which "some of our ill were cured of scurvy".[27][28]

text: Unfortunately, these travel accounts did not stop further maritime tragedies caused by scurvy, first because of the lack of communication between travelers and those responsible for their health, and because fruits and vegetables could not be kept for long on ships.[29]

text: In 1536, the French explorer Jacques Cartier, exploring the St. Lawrence River, used the local natives' knowledge to save his men who were dying of scurvy. He boiled the needles of the arbor vitae tree (Eastern White Cedar) to make a tea that was later shown to contain 50 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams.[30][31] Such treatments were not available aboard ship, where the disease was most common. In February 1601, Captain James Lancaster, while sailing to Sumatra, landed on the northern coast to specifically obtain lemons and oranges for his crew to stop scurvy.[32] Captain Lancaster conducted an experiment using four ships under his command. One ship's crew received routine doses of lemon juice while the other three ships did not receive any such treatment. As a result, members of the non-treated ships started to become ill, contracting scurvy with many dying as a result.[33]

text: During the Age of Exploration (between 1500 and 1800), it has been estimated that scurvy killed at least two million sailors.[34] Jonathan Lamb wrote: "In 1499, Vasco da Gama lost 116 of his crew of 170; In 1520, Magellan lost 208 out of 230;...all mainly to scurvy."[35]

text: In 1579, the Spanish friar and Medicine Doctor Agustin Farfán published a book on medicine in which he recommended oranges and lemons for scurvy, a remedy that was already known in the Spanish Navy.[36]

text: In 1593, Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins advocated drinking orange and lemon juice as a means of preventing scurvy.[37]

text: In 1614, John Woodall, Surgeon General of the East India Company, published "The Surgion's Mate" as a handbook for apprentice surgeons aboard the company's ships. He repeated the experience of mariners that the cure for scurvy was fresh food or, if not available, oranges, lemons, limes, and tamarinds.[38] He was, however, unable to explain the reason why, and his assertion had no impact on the opinions of the influential physicians who ran the medical establishment that scurvy was a digestive complaint.

text: 18th century[edit]

text: A 1707 handwritten book by Mrs. Ebot Mitchell, discovered in a house in Hasfield, Gloucestershire, contains a "Recp.t for the Scurvy" that consisted of extracts from various plants mixed with a plentiful supply of orange juice, white wine or beer.[39]

text: In 1734, the Leiden-based physician Johann Bachstrom published a book on scurvy in which he stated, "scurvy is solely owing to a total abstinence from fresh vegetable food, and greens; which is alone the primary cause of the disease", and urged the use of fresh fruit and vegetables as a cure.[40][41][42]

text: However, it was not until 1747 that James Lind formally demonstrated that scurvy could be treated by supplementing the diet with citrus fruit, in one of the first ever reported controlled clinical experiments in the history of medicine.[6][43] In 1753, Lind published A Treatise of the Scurvy, in which he explained the details of his clinical trial, but it occupied only a few paragraphs in a work that was long and complex and had little impact. In fact, Lind himself never actively promoted lemon juice as a single ‘cure’. He shared medical opinion at the time that scurvy had multiple causes – notably hard work, bad water, and the consumption of salt meat in a damp atmosphere which inhibited healthful perspiration and normal excretion - and therefore required multiple solutions.[44] He was also sidetracked by the possibilities of producing a concentrated ‘rob’ of lemon juice by boiling it. Unfortunately this process destroyed the vitamin C and was unsuccessful.

text: During the 18th century, disease killed more British sailors than enemy action. It was mainly by scurvy that George Anson, in his celebrated voyage of 1740–1744, lost nearly two-thirds of his crew (1300 out of 2000) within the first 10 months of the voyage.[45] The Royal Navy enlisted 184,899 sailors during the Seven Years' War; 133,708 of these were "missing" or died from disease, and scurvy was the leading cause.[46]

text: Although throughout this period sailors and naval surgeons were increasingly convinced that citrus fruits could cure scurvy, the classically trained physicians who ran the medical establishment dismissed this evidence as mere anecdote which did not conform to current theories of disease. Literature championing the cause of citrus juice, therefore, had no practical impact. Medical theory was based on the assumption that scurvy was a disease of internal putrefaction brought on by faulty digestion caused by the hardships of life at sea and the naval diet. Although this basic idea was given different emphases by successive theorists, the remedies they advocated (and which the navy accepted) amounted to little more than the consumption of ‘fizzy drinks’ to activate the digestive system, the most extreme of which was the regular consumption of ‘elixir of vitriol’ – sulphuric acid taken with spirits and barley water, and laced with spices.

text: In 1764, a new variant appeared. Advocated by Dr David McBride and Sir John Pringle, Surgeon General of the Army and later President of the Royal Society, this idea was that scurvy was the result of a lack of ‘fixed air’ in the tissues which could be prevented by drinking infusions of malt and wort whose fermentation within the body would stimulate digestion and restore the missing gases.[47] These ideas received wide and influential backing, when James Cook set off to circumnavigate the world (1768–1771) in HM Bark Endeavour, malt and wort were top of the list of the remedies he was ordered to investigate. The others were beer, sour crout and Lind's ‘rob’. The list did not include lemons.[48]

text: Cook did not lose a single man to scurvy, and his report came down in favour of malt and wort, although it is now clear that the reason for the health of his crews on this and other voyages was Cook's regime of shipboard cleanliness, enforced by strict discipline, as well as frequent replenishment of fresh food and green stuffs.[49] Another rule implemented by Cook was his prohibition of the consumption of salt fat skimmed from the ship's copper boiling pans, then a common practice in the Navy. In contact with air the copper formed compounds that prevented the absorption of vitamins by the intestines.[50]

text: The first major long distance expedition that experienced virtually no scurvy was that of the Spanish naval officer Alessandro Malaspina, 1789–1794. Malaspina's medical officer, Pedro González, was convinced that fresh oranges and lemons were essential for preventing scurvy. Only one outbreak occurred, during a 56-day trip across the open sea. Five sailors came down with symptoms, one seriously. After three days at Guam all five were healthy again. Spain's large empire and many ports of call made it easier to acquire fresh fruit.[51]

text: Although towards the end of the century MacBride's theories were being challenged, the medical establishment in Britain remained wedded to the notion that scurvy was a disease of internal ‘putrefaction’ and the Sick and Hurt Board, run by administrators, felt obliged to follow its advice. Within the Royal Navy, however, opinion – strengthened by first-hand experience of the use of lemon juice at the siege of Gibraltar and during Admiral Rodney's expedition to the Caribbean – had become increasingly convinced of its efficacy. This was reinforced by the writings of experts like Gilbert Blane[52] and Thomas Trotter[53] and by the reports of up-and-coming naval commanders.

text: With the coming of war in 1793, the need to eliminate scurvy acquired a new urgency. But the first initiative came not from the medical establishment but from the admirals. Ordered to lead an expedition against Mauritius, Rear Admiral Gardner was uninterested in the wort, malt and elixir of vitriol which were still being issued to ships of the Royal Navy, and demanded that he be supplied with lemons, to counteract scurvy on the voyage. Members of the Sick and Hurt Board, recently augmented by two practical naval surgeons, supported the request, and the Admiralty ordered that it be done. There was, however, a last minute change of plan. The expedition against Mauritius was cancelled. On 2 May 1794, only HMS Suffolk and two sloops under Commodore Peter Rainier sailed for the east with an outward bound convoy, but the warships were fully supplied with lemon juice and the sugar with which it had to be mixed. Then in March 1795, came astonishing news. Suffolk had arrived in India after a four-month voyage without a trace of scurvy and with a crew that was healthier than when it set out.

text: The effect was immediate. Fleet commanders clamoured also to be supplied with lemon juice, and by June the Admiralty acknowledged the groundswell of demand in the navy had agreed to a proposal from the Sick and Hurt Board that lemon juice and sugar should in future be issued as a daily ration to the crews of all warships.[54]

text: It took a few years before the method of distribution to all ships in the fleet had been perfected and the supply of the huge quantities of lemon juice required to be secured, but by 1800, the system was in place and functioning. This led to a remarkable health improvement among the sailors and consequently played a critical role in gaining the advantage in naval battles against enemies who had yet to introduce the measures.

text: 19th century[edit]

text: The surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's army at the Siege of Alexandria (1801), Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, wrote in his memoirs that the consumption of horse meat helped the French to curb an epidemic of scurvy. The meat was cooked but was freshly obtained from young horses bought from Arabs, and was nevertheless effective. This helped to start the 19th-century tradition of horse meat consumption in France.[55]

text: Lauchlin Rose patented a method used to preserve citrus juice without alcohol in 1867, creating a concentrated drink known as Rose's lime juice. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1867 required all ships of the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy to provide a daily lime ration to sailors to prevent scurvy.[citation needed] The product became nearly ubiquitous, hence the term "limey", first for British sailors, then for English immigrants within the former British colonies (particularly America, New Zealand and South Africa), and finally, in old American slang, all British people.[56]

text: The plant Cochlearia officinalis, also known as "Common Scurvygrass", acquired its common name from the observation that it cured scurvy, and it was taken on board ships in dried bundles or distilled extracts. Its very bitter taste was usually disguised with herbs and spices; however, this did not prevent scurvygrass drinks and sandwiches from becoming a popular fad in the UK until the middle of the nineteenth century, when citrus fruits became more readily available.[57]

text: West Indian limes began to supplement lemons, when Spain's alliance with France against Britain in the Napoleonic Wars made the supply of Mediterranean lemons problematic, and because they were more easily obtained from Britain's Caribbean colonies[23] and were believed to be more effective because they were more acidic. It was the acid, not the (then-unknown) Vitamin C that was believed to cure scurvy. In fact, the West Indian limes were significantly lower in Vitamin C than the previous lemons and further were not served fresh but rather as lime juice, which had been exposed to light and air, and piped through copper tubing, all of which significantly reduced the Vitamin C. Indeed, a 1918 animal experiment using representative samples of the Navy and Merchant Marine's lime juice showed that it had virtually no antiscorbutic power at all.[23]

text: The belief that scurvy was fundamentally a nutritional deficiency, best treated by consumption of fresh food, particularly fresh citrus or fresh meat, was not universal in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and thus sailors and explorers continued to suffer from scurvy into the 20th century. For example, the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 became seriously affected by scurvy when its leader, Adrien de Gerlache, initially discouraged his men from eating penguin and seal meat.

text: In the Royal Navy's Arctic expeditions in the 19th century it was widely believed that scurvy was prevented by good hygiene on board ship, regular exercise, and maintaining the morale of the crew, rather than by a diet of fresh food. Navy expeditions continued to be plagued by scurvy even while fresh (not jerked or tinned) meat was well known as a practical antiscorbutic among civilian whalers and explorers in the Arctic. Even cooking fresh meat did not entirely destroy its antiscorbutic properties, especially as many cooking methods failed to bring all the meat to high temperature.

text: The confusion is attributed to a number of factors:[23]

text:
while fresh citrus (particularly lemons) cured scurvy, lime juice that had been exposed to light, air and copper tubing did not – thus undermining the theory that citrus cured scurvy;
fresh meat (especially organ meat and raw meat, consumed in arctic exploration) also cured scurvy, undermining the theory that fresh vegetable matter was essential to preventing and curing scurvy;
increased marine speed via steam shipping, and improved nutrition on land, reduced the incidence of scurvy – and thus the ineffectiveness of copper-piped lime juice compared to fresh lemons was not immediately revealed.

text: In the resulting confusion, a new hypothesis was proposed, following the new germ theory of disease – that scurvy was caused by ptomaine, a waste product of bacteria, particularly in tainted tinned meat.

text: Infantile scurvy emerged in the late 19th century because children were being fed pasteurized cow's milk, particularly in the urban upper class. While pasteurization killed bacteria, it also destroyed vitamin C. This was eventually resolved by supplementing with onion juice or cooked potatoes.

text: 20th century[edit]

text: By the early 20th century, when Robert Falcon Scott made his first expedition to the Antarctic (1901–1904), the prevailing theory was that scurvy was caused by "ptomaine poisoning", particularly in tinned meat.[58] However, Scott discovered that a diet of fresh meat from Antarctic seals cured scurvy before any fatalities occurred.[59]

text: In 1907, an animal model which would eventually help to isolate and identify the "antiscorbutic factor" was discovered. Axel Holst and Theodor Frølich, two Norwegian physicians studying shipboard beriberi contracted by ship's crews in the Norwegian Fishing Fleet, wanted a small test mammal to substitute for the pigeons then used in beriberi research. They fed guinea pigs their test diet of grains and flour, which had earlier produced beriberi in their pigeons, and were surprised when classic scurvy resulted instead. This was a serendipitous choice of animal. Until that time, scurvy had not been observed in any organism apart from humans and had been considered an exclusively human disease. Certain birds, mammals, and fish are susceptible to scurvy, but pigeons are unaffected, since they can synthesize ascorbic acid internally. Holst and Frølich found they could cure scurvy in guinea pigs with the addition of various fresh foods and extracts. This discovery of an animal experimental model for scurvy, which was made even before the essential idea of "vitamins" in foods had been put forward, has been called the single most important piece of vitamin C research.[60]

text: Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an arctic explorer who had lived among the Inuit, proved that the all-meat diet they consumed did not lead to vitamin deficiencies. He participated in a study in New York's Bellevue Hospital in February 1928, where he and a companion ate only meat for a year while under close medical observation, yet remained in good health.[61]

text: In 1927, Hungarian biochemist Szent-Györgyi isolated a compound he called "hexuronic acid".[62] Szent-Györgyi suspected hexuronic acid, which he had isolated from adrenal glands, to be the antiscorbutic agent, but he could not prove it without an animal-deficiency model. In 1932, the connection between hexuronic acid and scurvy was finally proven by American researcher Charles Glen King of the University of Pittsburgh.[63] King's laboratory was given some hexuronic acid by Szent-Györgyi and soon established that it was the sought-after anti-scorbutic agent. Because of this, hexuronic acid was subsequently renamed ascorbic acid.

text: 21st century[edit]

text: Rates of scurvy in most of the world are low.[64] Those most commonly affected are malnourished people in the developing world and the homeless.[65] There have been outbreaks of the condition in refugee camps.[66] Case reports in the developing world of those with poorly healing wounds have occurred.[67]

text: Human trials[edit]

text: Notable human dietary studies of experimentally induced scurvy have been conducted on conscientious objectors during WWII in Britain and on Iowa state prisoner volunteers in the late 1960s.[68][69] These studies both found that all obvious symptoms of scurvy previously induced by an experimental scorbutic diet with extremely low vitamin C content could be completely reversed by additional vitamin C supplementation of only 10 mg per day. In these experiments, no clinical difference was noted between men given 70 mg vitamin C per day (which produced blood levels of vitamin C of about 0.55 mg/dl, about 1/3 of tissue saturation levels), and those given 10 mg per day (which produced lower blood levels). Men in the prison study developed the first signs of scurvy about 4 weeks after starting the vitamin C-free diet, whereas in the British study, six to eight months were required, possibly because the subjects were pre-loaded with a 70 mg/day supplement for six weeks before the scorbutic diet was fed.[68]

text: Men in both studies, on a diet devoid or nearly devoid of vitamin C, had blood levels of vitamin C too low to be accurately measured when they developed signs of scurvy, and in the Iowa study, at this time were estimated (by labeled vitamin C dilution) to have a body pool of less than 300 mg, with daily turnover of only 2.5 mg/day.[69]

text: Other animals[edit]

text: Almost all plant and animal species synthesize vitamin C. Notable mammalian exceptions include most or all of the order Chiroptera (bats), and one of the two major primate suborders, the "Anthropoidea" (Haplorrhini) which include tarsiers, monkeys, and apes, including human beings. The Strepsirrhini (non-tarsier prosimians) can make their own vitamin C, and these include lemurs, lorises, pottos, and galagos. Ascorbic acid is also not synthesized by at least two species of Caviidae, the capybara[70] and the guinea pig. There are known species of birds and fish that do not synthesize their own Vitamin C. All species that do not synthesize ascorbate require it in the diet. Deficiency causes scurvy in humans, and somewhat similar symptoms in other animals.[71][72][73]

text: Name[edit]

text: In babies, scurvy is sometimes referred to as Barlow's disease, named after Thomas Barlow,[74] a British physician who described it in 1883.[75] However, Barlow's disease or Barlow's syndrome may also refer to mitral valve prolapse, first described by John Brereton Barlow in 1966.[76]