The Coast Guard in World War I: An Untold Story

Military Review, March-April, 2005 by Douglass P. Bacon

THE COAST GUARD IN WORLD WAR I: An Untold Story, Alex R. Larzelere, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2003, 240 pages, $32.95.

The role of the U.S. Coast Guard in World War I has faded from memory because most people alive today were born after the war concluded. The Coast Guard in World War I: An Untold Story solves the information deficit by detailing the significant service the Coast Guard gave to the war effort. One of the many amazing facts is that the Coast Guard suffered the highest percentage of casualties of any of the U.S. services during World War I.

The book contains riveting accounts of incidents and actions from first-person reports. Among these are explosions in a burning ammunition factory in New Jersey during which the Coast Guard's heroic efforts saved hundreds (probably thousands) of civilian lives. After that disaster, a Coast Guard officer was appointed captain of the port of New York. Under his direction, no munitions incident of any kind occurred during the remainder of the war.

Author Alex R. Larzelere also describes the German submarine attack at Cape Cod and antisubmarine operations off the East Coast and overseas. While under Coast Guard escort, no U.S. troop ship en route to France was successfully attacked by German submarines. Lazelere points out that Coast Guard vessels performed escort services and many of their officers and crew held principal positions aboard U.S. Navy ships. The skills they displayed during such cross-service assignments were among the many factors that led high-ranking navy officers and administration officials to attempt to merge the Coast Guard into the Navy at war's end. Larzelere explains why this would have been a career bonanza for Coast Guard officers and a personal disaster for its enlisted personnel that would have resulted in the decimation of the Coast Guard's traditional capabilities.

On balance, this book is a mix between a reference book and nonfiction designed to familiarize the reader with the Coast Guard's support of U.S. military efforts. The book contains thorough, well-constructed factual accounts; superb notes and bibliography; appropriate illustrations; and an excellent index. I recommend it to anyone interested in the Coast Guard and World War I.

LTC Douglass P. Bacon, USA, Retired, Niceville, Florida