P a ge 32 t o pside V olume 120 , I s s u e 2
A History of the Coast Guard Corsair Fleet by COMO Joseph Giannattasio
During the first desperate months of 1942 , German submarines were wreaking havoc on American ships with little opposition , leaving the Navy with a shortage of small craft to protect coastal shipping . In the summer of 1941 , Alfred Stanford , the commodore of the Cruising Club of America , began convincing the Navy that private boats and their owners could help meet this need . On March 5 , 1942 , the cruising club offered the Navy ’ s Eastern Sea Frontier Command the loan of 30 auxiliary sailing yachts , between 50 and 90 feet long , with skippers and skeleton crews . The vessels had sails and gasoline or diesel engines for auxiliary propulsion .
By April , the offer had grown to 70 seagoing yachts and 100 smaller craft , but the Navy initially refused . However , a large flow of letters and editorials to those in command caused the Navy to change its policy . On May 4 , 1942 , ADM Ernest J . King , chief of naval operations and commander in chief of the US Fleet , requested that the Coast Guard Reserve organize the Coastal Picket Patrol .
In 1939 , the Coast Guard reported that over 300,000 boats were operating in federal waters , but the boaters needed better training in seamanship and federal law . Civilian yachtsmen also pressed the Coast Guard to establish a volunteer arm of the service , leading to the establishment of the Coast Guard Reserve on June 23 , 1939 . Members initially conducted safety and security patrols and helped enforce the provisions of the 1940 Federal Boating and Espionage Acts . By 1941 , the Reserve had 7,000-8,000 members and 2,000- 3,000 boats , most of which were unsuitable for offshore work .
The Coastal Picket Force ’ s sailing ships , known as the Corsair Fleet . USCG Auxiliary Archive / East Carolina University
A 1941 Coast Guard Reserve class in Signaling Instruction . 3rd . Coast Guard District , USCG Auxiliary flotilla 308 , New Brunswick , NJ .
USCG Auxiliary Archive / East Carolina University
To establish a new reserve that could be called to active duty , legislation was passed , and in February 1941 , a military reserve was created , and the volunteer Reserve was renamed the U . S . Coast Guard Auxiliary . Congress amended the U . S . Coast Guard Auxiliary Act by authorizing suitable men to serve for as short a period as 30 days , even if regularly disqualified for service in the Navy or Coast Guard because of age or minor physical problems .