Port Security--A Mission Renewed

By DAVID F. WINKLER

Dr. David F. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical Foundation.

At the 2002 Global Strategy Forum of the Naval War College in Newport, R.I, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark said that one of the first phone calls he made on 11 September 2001 was to Coast Guard Commandant Adm. James M. Loy. Under normal wartime circumstances, the CNO said, the Coast Guard comes under the Navy. "However, in this case," Clark told Loy, "we work for you. What do you need?" Clearly, Clark appreciated the important role that the Coast Guard plays in ensuring the security of America's ports and harbors, and understood the potential consequences of terrorist activity within these areas.

Just prior to the U.S. entry into World War I, the U.S. Coast Guard was given the responsibility of governing the movements of ships in port and providing protection to U.S. and allied shipping berthed in U.S. ports. To carry out this mission and oversee munitions handling, the Coast Guard created a "captain of the port" (COTP) billet for each of America's major ports. It was a large operation. The COTP in New York alone, Capt. Godfrey L. Carden, oversaw the activity of 1,400 men and commanded a fleet of nine tugs and cutters.

While defending against sabotage has been an important component of the Coast Guard's port security mission, the horrific explosion of the Mont Blanc in the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 6 December 1917 underscored the need for safety. The blast--resulting from the French ammunition carrier's collision with the Norwegian steamer Imo--killed more than 1,600 Nova Scotians and flattened some 3,000 homes in one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

Because safety is a peacetime as well as wartime concern, the Coast Guard retained a scaled-down port-security organization during the interwar period. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared American neutrality after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Coast Guard COTPs assumed responsibility for securing the radios of belligerent vessels calling at American ports to prevent their use for broadcasting intelligence.

The Coast Guard received additional authority in the wake of an August 1940 coordination conference involving the growing number of local and federal agencies having maritime interests. In November 1941, with an increasing German U-boat menace off the eastern seaboard, the president ordered the Coast Guard to come under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy. However, the Coast Guard commandant would retain responsibility for port security.

Because enemy activity represented an ever-present danger, the COTP organization took charge of protecting the piers and docks in U.S. ports. The job required coordination with other military branches, the FBI, local law enforcement agencies, and commercial establishments. The Coast Guard initiated a rigorous identification card program, and Coast Guard patrols walked the docks and cruised the waterfront to check IDs and watch for unusual activity. Reservists augmented the Coast Guard regulars to secure miles of American waterfront.

Safety again became a major issue in January 1942 after efforts to extinguish a blaze on the Normandie capsized the French liner, which was berthed on Manhattan's west side. With tons of munitions being loaded and shipped daily, the Coast Guard augmented local harbor fire departments with 253 Coast Guard fireboats, and installed water pumps on numerous small patrol craft. The vigilance paid off. On 24 April 1943, a boiler room fire on the El Estero, a Panamanian ammunition carrier docked at Jersey City, N.J., endangered the entire port area. Acting quickly, Coast Guard munitions officer Lt. Cdr. John Stanley took command of the ship, had it cut loose from the pier, radioed for fireboats and tugboats, and directed the onboard struggle to contain the flames. Even as the tugs were pulling the burning ship past the Statue of Liberty, Coast Guard and New York City fireboats were dousing the El Estero with millions of gallons of water. The ship eventually capsized, and harbor waters extinguished the last flames. Stanley received a Legion of Merit for his heroism.

New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia was effusive in his praise for the firefighters who averted what would have been equivalent to a small nuclear detonation off lower Manhattan. When disaster did strike Manhattan 58 years later, the Coast Guard's quick emergency response earned the tributes of another of New York's legendary leaders, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. *

Sources: New York Times and Coast Guard historian Robert M. Browning Jr. For more details about the "Captains of the Port" program see his article at the Coast Guard History Office website www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/collect.html.