Talk:Commandant of the Coast Guard

Previously unsectioned

Please explain "Unlike the Commandant of the Marine Corps, The Coast Guard Commandant is Chief of the Coast Guard IAW Title 18 USC 40."--67.164.231.139 21:16, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

SecDef Report?

Unless objected to, I would like to remove the reference to also reporting to the Secretary of Defense. The Coast Guard reports to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Briefing/meeting with the DoD Secretary is probably common, but the Commandant is not a direct report. I understand the USCG would fall within the Navy in a period of "declared war", but this hasn't happened since WWII and the changeover is unlikely to happen again. --Pesco 22:56, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I'd agree with that. I'd agree so much, I took it out and left a very nice edit summary. And it is also mentioned over in the USCG article. I know, cuz I put it there. :) — MrDolomite | Talk 01:17, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Term created revert

User:TommyBoy reverted this, but I think it should be included, as it's useful information. Thoughts?

"The term "Commandant" was created in 1908. Until that point, the commanders were commanders of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and other similar earlier agencies."

--Awiseman 19:03, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

My reversion of that particular info was unintentional. I apologize if I have offended anyone. --TommyBoy 19:41, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Template

I have noticed that one of the other language versions of Wikipedia has a template for articles on the U.S. Coast Guard Commandants, and I would like to know if the same thing could be created in the English version of Wikipedia. --TommyBoy 07:54, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Commandant lineage

It looks like the USCG traces the lineage of Commandant back to Capt Shepard of the Revenue Cutter Service in 1898.[1] This is confirmed at the site of current Commandant Allen [2] citing him as the 23rd commandant. This numerical listing makes sense if one starts counting at Capt Shepard in 1898.--G1076 06:16, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Further confirmation: "Forty years later in 1883, Captain Leonard G. Shepard became Chief of the "Revenue Marine Division" and is considered to be our first Commandant." USCG Factfile - click History, then Past Commandants The date in Capt Shepard's Bio [3] has his appointment year in 1889.--G1076 14:15, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Unknown insigne of the

I would like to illustrate the article with this image^text from the USCG website. In order to describe the image file and afterwards choose a caption for the image in the article, I need to know how this insigne is called. --Scriberius (talk) 21:48, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

It is called the Commandant's Staff Badge. Eric J. Hebert (talk) 06:39, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Infobox

@Thewolfchild: So please there I am, what's the issue? Colonestarrice (talk) 19:47, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

As I stated previously, there is no "Department of the Coast Guard" and there wasn't a ref supporting the honorific "Mr. Commandant". But then, has it been established that should even be added? I would suggest looking to another infobox for guidance, such as; Commandant of the Marine Corps, or some of the other Joint Chiefs of Staff infoboxes. As for your current 'suggestions', I don't agree they are an improvement, and it seems another regular contributor here doesn't approve as well, though I wouldn't presume to speak for them, Cuprum17 can speak for themselves. Perhaps propose your changes here, along with their rationale, and we can all discuss it. - wolf 04:52, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

(Just to make this clear for possible new participants, these are my proposed changes).

I’m sorry that you see my revision as a disimprovement, the intent behind it was of clear opposite nature. Yes, you’re right, the honorific part was unsourced this is why I did not reinstate it upon your request. And as I mentioned in one of the edit summaries, the department parameter is not necessarily used for U.S. departments only (see POTUS for example) but rather for the official’s area/scope of responsibility in general. As Infobox official post’s template documentation states itself: “The organizational entity this official either heads, or is otherwise part of.” Colonestarrice (talk) 16:03, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

Waesche vs. Shoemaker

I know it's good to "be bold" but I want to discuss this first. It's been a long while since I made any edits. Notice also I count the first day of tenure as a full day: enddate - startdate + 1.

First, I propose we correct ADM Waesche's tenure as CCG. He began 14 June 1936 according to both his wiki bio and USCG's official bio page for him.

Second, I propose we identify CAPT Shoemaker as the longest-serving Commandant. Waesche served 3,489 days vice Shoemaker's 3,661 days. I believe our mistake stems from Waesche's official bio page that designates he served the longest tenure. The math just doesn't agree -- so I feel we must recognize the Coast Guard historian made a mistake on their website.

Please observe that even if Waesche's tenure started 1 January 1936, he would've only served 3,654 days vice Shoemaker's 3,661. RADM Billard comes in third with 3,050 days as CCG.

I'll make these changes if no one objects. Thanks! --Rob — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rsnbrgr (talk • contribs) 00:33, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Well, you are correct if you count Shoemaker's time as commandant time. Shoemaker was a senior captain in actual rank and was never referred to as commandant. Also, he was never in the Coast Guard, but rather the Revenue Cutter Service. Shoemaker was promoted to captain-commandant on the retired list of the RCS in 1908. Today he is recognized as the second commandant. My guess is that whoever works in the Coast Guard Historian's Office either can't count or discounted the service of the RMS when counting the various commandants time served. Author C. Douglas Kroll in his book describes Ellsworth P. Bertholf as the first commandant of the Coast Guard Perhaps the Historian's office was influenced by the title of the book. If you look at the military billet of the senior officer or leader of the RMS, you must count Shepard, Shoemaker, Ross and then Bertholf. This counting makes Bertholf the fourth commandant and not the first as Kroll stipulates. Perhaps the service tenure count was made from Bertholf and not from Shepard; this would have eliminated Shoemaker' time. In any event the current Coast Guard commandant, Admiral Shultz, is recognized as the 26th commandant by the Coast Guard itself. If you want to make the changes, then go ahead and make them but please cite your changes by using the official bio on the Historian's Office page. Good catch! Full disclosure: I constructed the table on the Commandant of the Coast Guard article several years ago and probably botched the dates for the Hamlet and Waesche service dates. My bad and I'm glad you found it. Cuprum17 (talk) 01:45, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Citations

References

• Kroll, C. Douglas (2002). Commodore Ellsworth P. Bertholf: First Commandant of the Coast Guard. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-1-55750-474-6.

Done! Feel free to fix my work as needed. Like I said: it's been a long time since I edited a page. :-) FYI, I decided not to credit Shoemaker for the longest tenure as (1) the USCG page still cites Waesche and (2) we can mod the table to denote days of tenure if & when we choose. Rob Rosenberger (talk) 18:24, 20 February 2021 (UTC)