US Coast Guard's fight for surivial after World War 1
The United States Coast Guard has played an integral role in the development, protection, and management of the United States coastal and waterway territories since 1791 when President Alexander Hamilton gave the order to organize the Revenue Cutters. Originally designed to enforce revenue laws in all of the waterways of the United States, the Revenue Cutters became the United States Coast Guard. Over time, the Cutters took on the responsibility of preventing slave ships from unloading their human cargo on U.S. shores. In 1913, with a very broad range of responsibilities that went far beyond revenue enforcement, the service was reformed and renamed as the United States Coast Guard . At the beginning of World War I, control of the Coast Guard was transferred to the Navy Department, but was reverted back to the Treasury Department in 1919 . During this period, and into the early 1920s, the Coast Guard experienced some growing pains that occasionally called its usefulness and effectiveness into question.
