The U.S. Coast Guard

The Coast Guard traces to 4 August 1790, when Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton persuaded Congress to authorize ten revenue cutters — the Revenue Cutter Service. The modern Coast Guard formed in 1915, merging that service with the U.S. Life-Saving Service. It is at once a military branch and the nation's principal maritime law-enforcement agency.

It has moved among departments — Treasury, then Transportation (1967), and since 2003 the Department of Homeland Security. By statute it is one of the six armed forces at all times (14 U.S.C. §101), yet upon a declaration of war or when the President directs, it can operate as a service in the Navy (14 U.S.C. §103) — as it did in both World Wars. Its motto: "Semper Paratus" ("Always Ready").

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy began in 1876 as the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction — its first cadets trained at sea aboard the topsail schooner J.C. Dobbin. It took its current name in 1915 and today occupies a campus at New London, Connecticut.

It is the only federal service academy that requires no congressional nomination — admission is strictly merit-based. With no large ROTC system, the Coast Guard also relies on OCS, direct commissioning, and the CSPI scholarship (now open to all schools). Full academy process →