The boat in the background is a typical Coast Guard boat. Indications
are that craft of this type soon will be declared obsolete.
The Postwar
Coast Guard
llikli<*o|>fers, se:i|»ljiinvs. radar anti
oilier technological devices will
play important roles in lifesaving
work from now on.
Iff/ HEITII !
F)R many years prior to the
war, one of the fascinations of
visiting the North Carolina
coastland. or “banks," as the sec¬
tion is known, was the opportunity
of dropping in at one of the nu¬
merous Coast Guard stations,
climbing into the lookout tower,
watching the crew go through their
life-saving drill, and perhaps cn-
Eing the vicarious experience of
ring a veteran surfman tell of
some sea rescue involving feats of
extraordinary strength and cour¬
age.
Now things are going to be dif¬
ferent. Many of the Coast Guard
stations will be deactivated in the
next year or so, and those retain¬
ing an active status will be as dif¬
ferent from the old life-saving sta¬
tions as the Ryan "Fireball” plane
is from Lindbergh's “Spirit of St.
Louis.”
For Rear Admiral L. T. Chalker,
assistant commandant of the Coast
Guard, says the transition of the
service from its wartime role as a
part of the fighting Navy to its
peacetime role as saver of life and
iUINDEKS
property is going to be marked by
modernization, mechanization and
streamlining.
Helicopters, seaplanes, fast res¬
cue boats, amphibious vehicles, ra¬
dar and other technological devices
which helped forge the victory won
by American armed forces and
their Allies in World War II are
now slated to play an important
peacetime role in the traditional
life-saving work of the oldest of
our military branches.
"The new Coast Guard will not
return to pre-war methods and im¬
plements in any instance where,
in the interests of efficiency and
economy, they can be replaced by
something better." said Admiral
Chalker.
As an example, he described an
exciting new sea-air rescue tech¬
nique developed by the Navy dur¬
ing the lost months of the war and
which undoubtedly will be adapted
to Coast Guard life-saving opera¬
tions in the not-distant future. This
type of rescue entails the use of a
helicopter, which will fly out to a
capsized boat or a floating man.
hover almost motionless over the
spot, drop a rope ladder and pull
the person safely aboard.
Where distances are too great
to make the use of a helicopter
practicable, or where a number of
persons must be rescued quickly,
a large seaplane from the Coast
Guard air base at Elizabeth City,
or some comparable base, can fly
far out to sea, land within a few
yards of a lifeboat, a raft or a sink¬
ing craft, take all the personnel
aboard and then take off again
from the water. Numerous rescues
of this nature were made during
the war, and many more will be
made in the future, particularly as
the aircraft industry develops im¬
proved rough-water amphibians.
The aviation branch of the Coast
Guard was just getting off to a
good start (nine Coast Guard air
stations were put into operation
between 1932 and 1941) when war
came. It switched without too
much difficulty from its peacetime
operations to convoy coverage, anti¬
submarine patrols and other war¬
time duties. Several hundred sur¬
vivors of torpedoed vessels and air¬
craft downed at sea were rescued
by Coast Guard planes, and more
than 1.500 others were located by
Coast Guard planes so that surface
ships could rescue them.
With improved types of sea¬
planes and amphibians, as well as
helicopters, available for its use,
Coast Guard aviation may now be
expected to make lifesaving opera¬
tions more efficient than ever be¬
fore. Probably no more will the
Coast Guard, in rescuing person¬
nel from grounded or sinking ves¬
sels not far offshore, have to em¬
ploy the old-time technique of set¬
ting up a Lyle gun on the beach,
shooting a line across a spar of the
distressed vessel, and then rigging
up a breeches buoy by means of
which crewmen and passengers
could be hauled safely ashore.
Nor is aviation the only field in
which the Coast Guard is going to
increase its efficiency through tech¬
nology. Fast rescue boats developed
in connection with wartime rescues
of flyers whose planes crashed at
sea. as well as amphibious vehicles
developed for use by assault troops
in island warfare, will now replace
the sturdy old wooden lifeboats
and surfboats used by the Coast
Guard before the war. Brawny
surfmen for many years launched
these oldtime boats through thun¬
dering surf and rowed them
through howling winds and moun¬
tainous waves to effect heroic and
seemingly impossible rescues. Soon
12
THE STATE. FrBRUARY 23. 1946
