Rum Patrol
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The Rum Patrol was a group of United States Coast Guard vessels that were used to try to enforce prohibition.
On 18 December 1917 the 18th (Prohibition) Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states by Congress. On 16 January 1919 the amendment was ratified and the Liquor Prohibition Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, or exportation of intoxicating liquors, came into effect on 16 January 1920.
The establishment of Prohibition gave rise to smuggling of illicit liquor into the United States and, to deal with this problem, 25 older destroyers were transferred by the United States Navy to the Treasury Department for service with the Coast Guard. Some began to show signs of wear and tear after the often arduous pace of operations on the Rum Patrol and required replacement. Accordingly five of the newer flush deck destroyers were transferred to the Treasury Department in 1930 and 1931.
Adapting these vessels to service was thought to be less costly than building new ships. In the end the rehabilitation of the vessels became a saga in itself because of the exceedingly poor condition of many of these war-weary ships. In many instances it took nearly a year to bring the vessels up to seaworthiness. Additionally, these were by far the largest and most sophisticated vessels ever operated by the service and trained personnel were nearly nonexistent. As a result, Congress authorized hundreds of new enlistees. These inexperienced men generally made up the destroyer crews.
Some of the destroyers were pre-World War I 742-ton "flivvers", capable of over 25 knots, an advantage in the rum-chasing business. They, however, were easily outmaneuvered by smaller vessels. The destroyers’ mission, therefore, was to picket the larger supply ships ("mother ships") and prevent them from off-loading their cargo onto the smaller, speedier contact boats that ran the liquor into shore.
On 20 February 1933 the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, the repeal of Amendment 18, was proposed by Congress and ratification was completed on 5 December 1933. This eliminated the need for the Rum Patrol. The remaining destroyers were returned to the Navy and sold for scrap.
Ships in the Rum Patrol
| Coast Guard designation | Navy designation | USCG Commissioning | USCG Decommissioning |
|---|---|---|---|
| USCGD Cassin (CG-1) | USS Cassin (DD-43) | 30 August 1924 | 5 June 1933 |
| USCGD Conyngham (CG-2) | USS Conyngham (DD-58) | 8 March 1925 | 5 June 1933 |
| USCGD Cummings (CG-3) | USS Cummings (DD-44) | 15 May 1925 | 30 April 1932 |
| USCGD Downes (CG-4) | USS Downes (DD-45) | 14 October 1924 | 18 November 1930 |
| USCGD Ericsson (CG-5) | USS Ericsson (DD-56) | 28 May 1925 | 30 April 1932 |
| USCGD Porter (CG-7) | USS Porter (DD-59) | 20 February 1925 | 5 June 1933 |
| USCGD Ammen (CG-8) | USS Ammen (DD-35) | 22 January 1925 | 18 May 1931 |
| USCGD Burrows (CG-10) | USS Burrows (DD-29) | 30 June 1925 | 14 February 1931 |
| USCGD Fanning (CG-11) | USS Fanning (DD-37) | 30 May 1925 | 12 August 1930 |
| USCG Henley (CG-12) | USS Henley (DD-39) | 14 November 1924 | 30 January 1931 |
| USCGD McCall (CG-14) | USS McCall (DD-28) | 17 June 1925 | 12 August 1930 |
| USCGD Monaghan (CG-15) | USS Monaghan (DD-32) | 30 June 1925 | 29 January 1931 |
| USCGD Patterson (CG-16) | USS Patterson (DD-36) | 24 November 1924 | 1 April 1930 |
| USCGD Paulding (CG-17) | USS Paulding (DD-22) | 23 January 1925 | 12 August 1930 |
| USCGD Roe (CG-18) | USS Roe (DD-24) | 30 May 1925 | 4 March 1930 |
| USCGD Hunt (CG-18) | USS Hunt (DD-194) | 5 February 1931 | 28 May 1934 |
| USCGD Terry (CG-19) | USS Terry (DD-25) | 30 June 1925 | 12 August 1930 |
| USCGD Wood (CG-19) | USS Welborn C. Wood (DD-195) | 15 April 1931 | 21 May 1934 |
| USCGD Trippe (CG-20) | USS Trippe (DD-33) | 24 June 1924 | 15 April 1931 |
| USCGD Semmes (CG-20) | USS Semmes (DD-189) | 25 April 1932 | 20 April 1934 |
| USCGD Davis (CG-21) | USS Davis (DD-65) | 4 September 1926 | 5 June 1933 |
| USCGD Shaw (CG-22) | USS Shaw (DD-68) | 13 July 1926 | 5 June 1933 |
| USCGD Tucker (CG-23) | USS Tucker (DD-57) | 29 September 1926 | 5 June 1933 |
| USCGD Wainwright (CG-24) | USS Wainwright (DD-62) | 30 July 1926 | 29 March 1934 |
| USCGD Wilkes (CG-25) | USS Wilkes (DD-67) | 23 August 1926 | 29 March 1934 |