Coast Guard celebrates 235th birthday

The U.S. Coast Guard celebrated its birthday on August 4th, marking 235 years of service in 2025.

The initial impetus for the Coast Guard came from Alexander Hamilton, who, as Secretary of the Treasury, recognized the need to enforce customs laws and prevent smuggling. President George Washington signed the Tariff Act that authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce federal tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling.

Those ten cutters, initially under the Treasury Department, were tasked with inspecting ships, collecting duties, and preventing illegal trade. Over time, the service grew in size and responsibility as the nation expanded. The Coast Guard is one of the oldest organizations of the federal government, serving as the young country’s only armed force afloat until the Navy Department was established in 1798.

Known variously through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the "revenue cutters," the "system of cutters," the Revenue Marine and finally the Revenue Cutter Service, it expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.

The service received its present name in 1915 under an act of Congress that merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the U. S. Life-Saving Service, which consisted of dozens of stations around the nation’s coastlines that were manned by dedicated crews willing to risk their lives to save those in peril on the sea, a role that meshed well with the Revenue Cutter Service’s core missions.

The legislation creating this “new” Coast Guard expressly stated that it "shall constitute a part of the military forces of the United States," thereby codifying the service’s long history of defending the country alongside the nation's other armed services.

The Coast Guard began maintaining the country's aids to maritime navigation, including lighthouses, when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in 1939. In 1946 Congress permanently transferred the Commerce Department's Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard, which placed merchant marine licensing and merchant vessel safety under its purview, giving the country a single maritime federal agency dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws.

Today, the USCG, under the banner of the Department of Homeland Security, continues to protect the nation, protecting the marine environment and our vast coastline and ports, and saving life during times of peace operate as part of the serving as the nation's front-line agency for enforcing our laws at sea. In times of war, or at the direction of the President, when they serve under the Navy Department.

“For 235 years, the United States Coast Guard has secured our waterways and defended our homeland as America’s premier maritime law enforcement agency. They never flinch in their mission to patrol and protect. Today, we celebrate the Coast Guard’s enduring legacy and the thousands of Coast Guardsmen who heroically live by the motto: “Semper Paratus”—“Always Ready,”” President Donald Trump wrote.

“As we commemorate the 235th birthday of the United States Coast Guard, we honor the brave patriots who defend our shores—and we remain eternally indebted to their unwavering dedication to preserving American excellence.”