FIRST FLEET- The Story of the U. S. Coast Guard at War by REG INGRAHAM. Originally published in 1844. Introduction: THE STORY of the Coast Guards role in this war is well known to those of us who have followed the course of the war at sea closely. But those who associate the Coast Guard mainly with its peacetime functions of safeguarding Ameri can lives and property at sea and protecting legitimate ship ping along our coasts and inland waterways might wonder what the activities of the service are in time of war. For those people this book will supply the answer. An operating part of the Navy since the Presidents decla ration of a national emergency in November, 1941, the Coast Guard fought hard and effectively in the Battle of the At lantic. The loss of ships and men suffered in this battle is sad, mute evidence of the force of its fight. More heartening evidence lies at the bottom of the sea in the battered hulls of German U-boats. Again the Coast Guard has been highly valuable in land ing operations. With their traditional knowledge of the handling of small boats in all kinds of surf and under all sorts of conditions. Coast Guardsmen were with the first Marines that landed in the Solomons and they were an equally essential factor in the success of the Navy task forces that have since effected landings in North Africa, in Sicily, in Italy and in the islands of the Pacific. The story of their work in these operations is one that deserves to be told in the permanent form of a book. But there are other things than these things for which the nation at war has been dependent upon the Coast Guard. The security of our all-important ports, the protection of our thousands of miles of coast line, the manning of many of our troop transports, the rescue of mariners at sea, the test ing and regulation of lifesaving equipment aboard our mer chant ships and the maintenance of necessary aids to navi gation all these are functions and responsibilities of the Coast Guard. They are jobs that have to be done and done well, and they are eminently worth reading about. FRANK KNOX. Contents include: CHAPTER PAGE I. THE FIRST BLOW 17 II. THE FIRST FLEET 28 III. THE TURNING POINT 53 IV. COMBAT CUTTERS 90 V. THE INVADERS 119 VI. BLUIE WEST ONE 154 VII. PORT SECURITY 190 VIII. SAND-POUNDERS 215 IX. THE PICKET FENCE 234 X. SEARCH FOR SAFETY 257 XL COAST GUARD ALOFT 282 XII. SEAGOING SURGEONS 301 XIII. EIGHT BELLS . 3 10
