Chapter 20. To create the Coast Guard by combining therein the existing Life-Saving Service and Revenue-Cutter Service
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CHAP. 20.— An Act To create the Coast Guard by combining therein the existing Life-Saving Service and Revenue-Cutter Service.January 28, 1915.[[S. 2337](/us/bill/63/s/2337).][[Public, No. 239](/us/pl/63/239).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Coast Guard.Revenue-Cutter and Life-Saving Service, to compose.That there shall be established in lieu of the existing Revenue-Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service, to be composed of those two existing organizations, with the existing offices and positions and the incumbent officers and men of those two services, the Coast Guard, which shall constitute a part of the military forces of the United States and which shall operate under the Treasury Department in time of peace and operate as 801 a part of the Navy, subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Service in Navy.Navy, in time of war or when the President shall so direct.
When subject to the Secretary of the Navy in time of war the expense of the Coast Guard shall be paid by the Navy Department: *Provided*, *Proviso*.Separate control of officers.That no provision of this Act shall be construed as giving any officer of either the Coast Guard or the Navy, military or other control at any time over any vessel, officer, or man of the other service except by direction of the President. Sec. 2. That in the Coast Guard there shall be a captain commandant, Personnel.Officers and enlisted men from Revenue-Cutter Service.Vol 35, p. 61.senior captains, captains, first lieutenants, second lieutenants, third lieutenants, engineer in chief, captains of engineers, first lieutenants of engineers, second lieutenants of engineers, third lieutenants of engineers and constructors, cadet and cadet engineers, warrant officers, petty officers, and other enlisted men, all of said offices, respectively, corresponding to the present offices of the Revenue-Cutter Service, which are transferred to the Coast Guard, and all the present incumbents, officers and enlisted men, are also transferred to corresponding positions in the Coast Guard; a general From Life-Saving Service.Vol. 20, p. 163;
Vol. 22, p. 56; Vol. 35, p. 46.superintendent, assistant general superintendent, district superintendents, keepers, and surfmen, which offices and positions shall be transferred from the corresponding positions in the existing Life-Saving Service and be made like positions in the Coast Guard, and Rank, etc.all the incumbent officers and surfmen shall be transferred to such corresponding positions in the Coast Guard, in which the superintendents shall be commissioned as such, keepers shall be warrant officers, and surfmen shall be enlisted men, of which enlisted men the number one surfmen shall be petty officers.
There shall be in the administrative service of the Coast Guard Administrative divisions.two chiefs of division, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, with annual salary of $3,000 each, together with such clerical and technical positions and the incumbents therein as it may be necessary to transfer from the two existing organizations to the Coast Guard. There may be such other clerical and technical assistance as may from time to time be authorized by Congress. Except as herein modified all existing laws relating either to the Continuation of existing laws.present Life-Saving Service or the present Revenue-Gutter Service shall remain of force as far as applicable to the Coast Guard and the offices, positions, operations, and duties shall in all respects be held and construed to impose the same duties upon the positions and their incumbents in the Coast Guard as are now imposed upon the corresponding positions and incumbents in the said two existing organizations.
The provisions of the Act entitled “An Act to regulate Enlistments and punishments.VoL 34, p. 200.enlistments and punishments in the United States Revenue-Cutter Service,” approved May twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and six, shall apply to and govern the Coast Guard. All duties now performed by the Revenue-Cutter Service and Life-Saving Captain commandant.Duties to be administered by.Service shall continue to be performed by the Coast Guard, and all such duties, together with all duties that may hereafter be imposed upon the Coast Guard, shall be administered by the captain commandant, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, Appropriations made available.and all funds and appropriations now provided by law for the Revenue-Cutter Service and all funds and appropriations now provided by law for the Life-Saving Service shall be available for like purposes under the Coast Guard hereby created.
Sec. 3. That all existing laws affecting rank, pay, and allowances Rank, pay, and allowances.in the present Life-Saving Service and Die present Revenue-Cutter Service shall apply to the corresponding positions in the Coast Guard and the officers and men transferred thereto and their successors. This shall include all laws and regulations which now give to the Longevity pay, etc., enlisted men.enlisted men of the existing Revenue-Cutter Service increased pay 802of $1 per month for each three years’ service, allowances for uniforms, and all other allowances or gratuities due to enlisted men, which are hereby made applicable to the enlisted men of the Coast Guard who were formerly surfmen in the Life-Saving Service.
Retirement pay, etc.Vol. 32, p. 100.The provisions of sections three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine of the Act of April twelfth, nineteen hundred and two, in so far as they provide for the retirement of officers of the Revenue-Cutter Service, are hereby extended to include commissioned officers, warrant After thirty years’ service.officers, and enlisted men of the Coast Guard. A commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man who has served thirty years, upon suitable application and as to commissioned officers upon approval by the Secretary of the Treasury, may be retired from active service and receive seventy-five per centum of the duty pay, salary Provisos.Assignment to duties.and increase of his grade or rating: *Provided*, That such commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man may be assigned to Longevity pay.such duties as he may be able to perform.
The commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers of the Coast Guard shall receive ten per centum increase of pay for every five years of service, such increase not to exceed forty per centum of the pay of their grade or rating subject to the limitations of existing laws governing longevity Credit of former serv-ice.pay: *Provided further*, That in computing length of service for any purpose all creditable service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Revenue-Cutter Service, and Life-Saving Service shall be included, counting part of a year as a whole year where stations were operated Disability allowance restricted.Vol. 22, p. 57.only part of a year: *And provided further*, That no person shall receive for the same time retired pay and the extra pay allowed under section seven of the Act of May fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.
Allowance for death.Vol. 35, p. 46.The provisions of section three of the Act of March twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and eight, increasing the efficiency of the personnel of the Life-Saving Service shall apply to the death of any officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man on the active list in the Coast Guard: No pensions allowed.*Provided*, That no pension shall be allowed or paid to any commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man in the Coast Guard either on the active or retired list.
Sec. 4. Promotions in life-saving service.That hereafter, whenever a vacancy occurs in the grade of keeper of a life-saving station or house of refuge, it shall be filled by promotion and appointment from the grade of surfman, and when-ever a vacancy shall occur in the grade of district superintendent the vacancy shall be filled by promotion and appointment from the *Proviso*.Authority of district superintendents.grade of keeper: *Provided*, That the district superintendents shall e the chief officers and first in authority in their respective districts, subject to the authority of the captain commandant.
Retirement of general superintendent.When the organization of the Coast Guard shall have been perfected the President is authorized to retire the general superintendent on Offices abolished.seventy-five per centum of his present salary, and no further appointment shall be made to such office. At the same time the office of assistant general superintendent shall be abolished. Sec. 5. Annual reports.That the captain commandant of the Coast Guard shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury, for transmission to Congress, an annual report of the expenditures of the moneys appropriated for the maintenance of the Coast Guard and of the operations of the Coast Guard during the year.
Sec. 6. Penalty for private use of vessels.That any person using any vessel in the Coast-Guard Service for private purposes, in violation of law, shall upon conviction thereof be fined $1,000. Sec. 7. Conflicting laws repealed,That all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Approved, January 28, 1915.