Historical Perspective
From the Quasi-War to CVBGs
Two Hundred Years of USN-USCG Teamwork
By DAVID F. WINKLER
Dr. David F. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical
Foundation.
Close cooperation between the Navy and the Coast Guard has increased
significantly in recent years, with Coast Guard cutters deploying overseas
with Navy aircraft carrier battle groups (CVBGs) and Navy ships and
aircraft assisting the Coast Guard in the war on drugs. This cooperation
has historic antecedents dating back to the founding of the Republic.
Among the organizations to which the Coast Guard traces its roots is
the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (RCS). As the first Secretary of the
Treasury in 1789, Alexander Hamilton saw the need to "employ boats
for the security of Revenue against contraband." Between 1790 and
1791, 10 schooners--36 to 40 feet in length at their keels--were fitted
out with swivel guns and assigned to ports along the eastern seaboard.
These schooners proved too small, however, to carry out their
antismuggling assignments so, as the decade progressed, they were replaced
by larger and more seaworthy vessels.
The arrival of these ships proved fortuitous. With war ongoing in
Europe, French privateers had begun attacking American commercial vessels
as part of a strategy to discourage American trade with France's enemies.
In response, the newly established Department of the Navy commissioned six
new frigates, acquired other ships for service, and looked elsewhere to
augment its embryonic fleet.
The revenue cutters, manned by experienced seamen, proved invaluable
and were placed into naval service. On 10 July 1798, the RCS schooner
Governor Jay and sloop General Greene joined up with Commodore John
Barry's Navy fleet patrolling between Nantucket, Mass., and Cape Henry,
Va. A month later, four revenue cutters joined to screen USS Constitution
on her maiden voyage to the Caribbean.
By the spring of 1799, the U.S. naval forces in the Caribbean included
two Navy frigates, four Navy sloops of war, the RCS brigs Eagle and
Pickering, and the RCS schooners Scammel and Diligence. They later were
joined by Commodore Thomas Truxtun in USS Constellation, three additional
Navy frigates, and four more Navy sloops of war plus the RCS schooner
Virginia. Elsewhere in the region the schooner South Carolina teamed with
the USS Ganges to guard the windward passage between Cuba and San Domingo
and to patrol off Havana, and the USS Delaware was augmented by the
aforementioned Governor Jay and General Greene.
Notable in the Quasi-War with France were victories by the
Constellation over L'Insurgente on 9 February 1799 and over La Vengeance
on 1 February 1800. However, what really convinced the French of the
futility of their effort was the capture of over 80 of their vessels to
the loss of just one American ship.
The Revenue Cutter Service vessels played a major role in clearing the
seas of the threat to American commerce. For example, the Eagle, under the
command of Hugh G. Campbell, captured or assisted in the capture of 22
French vessels that had been preying on American commerce. The Eagle's
triumph over the Bon Pere was particularly noteworthy. Because the French
ship was a superior vessel, the Treasury Department placed her in
commission under the American flag.
Meanwhile, the Pickering, commanded by Edward Preble, captured four
French vessels; the legendary Preble also gained fame for his defeat of
the French privateer L'Egypte Conquise. Outgunned and outmanned--the
French ship carried a crew of 250 to his 70--Preble fought a nine-hour
duel that forced his French counterpart to strike his colors.
By the time the treaty of peace was ratified with France on 3 February
1801 there were 17 RCS vessels in service. Thanks to its performance
against smugglers and against enemy forces hostile to American commerce,
the Revenue Cutter Service established an impressive reputation that
continues today in the U.S. Coast Guard. *
Material from Captain Commandant Horatio Davis Smith's Early History of
the United States Revenue Cutter Service, Elliot Snow, editor. (Naval
Historical Foundation, 1932).
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