harbor cutters, and 280 lifeboat stations. The law placed it under 

 the Secretary of the Treasury during peacetime and under the Navy 

 in time of war. 



In 1917 the Coast Guard was given part of the responsibility of 

 enforcing the Espionage Act and the Neutrality Laws. Our neu- 

 trality was at an end. During "World War I the Coast Guard main- 

 tained a port security force of more than 41,000 officers and men, 

 and performed sea patrol and vessel escort duty. 



After the war the Coast Guard returned to peacetime duties ever 

 more complex and extensive. Prohibition plunged the service into 

 perhaps as dramatic and frustrating a large-scale law enforcement 

 effort as any major nation ever attempted. New functions such as 

 icebreaking, new scientific developments for the study of ocean cur- 

 rents, new responsibilities in conservation, new techniques such as 

 search and rescue patrol by aircraft demanded more trained personnel, 

 more equipment, and more liaison with other Government and non- 

 Government agencies. In 1939 the Bureau of Lighthouses with its 

 5,200 officers and men, 30,000 aids to navigation, and other facilities 

 was transferred to the Coast Guard. Two years later the Navy 

 transferred its radio-direction-finding stations to the Coast Guard. 



Pearl Harbor put the Service back into the Navy for the duration, 

 and Coast Guard cutters and planes hunted the Nazi submarine 

 "wolf-packs," patrolled the icy coasts of Greenland and Newfound- 

 land, rescued thousands of survivors from torpedoed ships, and par- 

 ticipated in invasions from Salerno to the Philippines. Victory won, 

 the Coast Guard once more returned to Treasuiy jurisdiction. 



PostAvar developments dealt with materials and techniques un- 



670544 0—63- 



