P a ge 34 t o pside V olume 120 , I s s u e 2
A History of the Coast Guard Corsair Fleet continued
A sailor in the North Atlantic in the Coastal Picket Force USCG Auxiliary Archive / East Carolina University
By early fall 1942 , the Coastal Picket organization was operating with full effect along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf coast . More and more men enrolled for three months or more duty , at full time and with military pay . By September 18th , there were 480 craft actively engaged in Picket Patrol in the Atlantic and Gulf , working out of more than 30 bases .
The Coast Guard also assigned Auxiliarists and some recruits to the patrol , and by mid-1943 , most of the crews were made up of Coast Guard enlisted men and were officered by former yacht owners .
Normal patrol areas were along the 50-fathom contour line about 100 miles offshore from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts . The craft patrolled in designated squares of about 15 nautical miles . This could be pleasant in summer weather , but in winter or stormy weather , crews needed a good knowledge of seamanship and intestinal fortitude to endure the patrols .
The U-boat threat had lessened by the time the patrol reached a sizable force , never giving the Coastal Picket Patrol force a chance to really test its worth . But a few instances did demonstrate the Hooligan Navy may have helped the war effort if it had been formed in sufficient time . On August 13th , 1942 , a flight of 10 airplanes from a base at Westover , Massachusetts tested the air defense network along the Massachusetts coast . No Navy ship or shore station made visual or radar sightings of the flight . The only units to accurately report the aircraft were four Coastal Picket Patrol vessels .
The Corsair Fleet , a band of ragtag sailors , Reservists , Auxiliarists and adventurers , had proven themselves as formidable foes to the Nazi threat along the Atlantic coast during World War II . From humble beginnings , these small vessels and crews evolved into a force to be reckoned with . Armed with machine guns and steely determination , the Corsairs were not afraid to take on any enemy , even the notorious U-boats that lurked in the depths of the ocean .