Coast Guard motto is ‘Semper Paratus’ (Always Ready)

Coast Guard memories filled the hall at the inaugural “Coast Guard Appreciation Dinner” held on July 27 in Morehead City, N.C.

Presented by the newly formed Carteret County Coast Guard Community Association, the event underscored the Coast Guard’s service motto of “Semper Paratus” (Always Ready) and “honored the service and sacrifice of the men and women who wear and have worn the Coast Guard uniform” in Carteret County.

Several of the speakers noted that America’s first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton is regarded as the “father of the Coast Guard.” (In 1790, Hamilton authorized 10 vessels, known as “revenue cutters,” for use to patrol the U.S. coast to combat smuggling and enforce tariff laws.)

Mention of Hamilton triggered discussion around the table sponsored by Styron & Styron Insurance of Morehead City. Owners Thom and Valerie Styron (shown below) shared the story of the first Coast Guard ship to be lost during World War II.

 

It was the 327-foot cutter named the Alexander Hamilton. Built for the Coast Guard in 1937 at the New York Navy Yard, the vessel was sponsored by Mary Schuyler Hamilton, the great-great-granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton.

 

The cutter Alexander Hamilton was one of the first Coast Guard ships to be assigned to “convoy duty” in the North Atlantic Ocean, reporting for duty on Dec. 27, 1941, just three weeks after the Japanese air assault on Pearl Harbor.

The Alexander Hamilton was attacked about 28 miles off the coast of Iceland on Jan. 29, 1942. A torpedo fired by the German submarine U-132 struck the Coast Guard vessel on the starboard side between the fireroom and the engine room.

Dr. Robert Browning Jr., former Coast Guard chief historian, said: “The wounds were fatal. The explosion wrecked both the engine room and the fire room, initially killing seven men and burning and injuring many others. Afraid that the submarine might fire another torpedo, Cmdr. Arthur Graham Hall ordered the crew to abandon ship.”

Among those who died in the blast was Livingston Ward Brooks of Harkers Island. He was responsible for tending to the boilers in the ship’s engine room.

Brooks was the first man from Carteret County killed during World War II, Thom Styron said.

According to a communique sent in 2018 from Thelma Pittman to the Styrons, there were multiple Coast Guardsmen from Carteret County who were part of the 113-member crew aboard the Alexander Hamilton.

A U.S. Navy destroyer (the Gwin) and three Icelandic fishing trawlers responded to the distress signals.

Thirty-two Coast Guardsmen perished during the attack of the Alexander Hamilton by the U-132, but 81 were rescued and survived. Among them were three Down East residents – Dennis Pittman, Hugh Salter and Nathan Robinson.

Efforts to salvage the ship were unsuccessful. As many as 14 destroyers from the nearby British Royal Naval Base near Reykjavík, Iceland, searched for the U-132, but the German sub slithered away.

The Icelandic Coast Guard found the shipwreck of the Alexander Hamilton in 2009, located in Iceland’s Faxaflói Bay at a depth of about 300 feet.

 

This plaque appears on a simple monument that is displayed in New London, Conn., site of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Livingston W. Brooks is listed at the top of the second row of Coast Guardsmen killed in action.

In 2011, the Coast Guard Eagle – “America’s Tall Ship” – was the first Coast Guard vessel to visit and pay respects to the final resting place of the Alexander Hamilton. A wreath was laid in memory of the crew members.

 

(The Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only active square-rigger in U.S. government service. The Eagle has served as a “floating classroom to future Coast Guard officers since 1946.”)

The Coast Guard celebration continues….