Chapter 742. To readjust the commissioned personnel of the Coast Guard, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 742.— An Act To readjust the commissioned personnel of the Coast Guard, and for other purposes.July 3, 1926.[[H. R. 10973](/us/bill/69/hr/10973).][[Public. No. 463](/us/pl/69/463).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Coast Guard.Grades and numbers of commissioned officers.Vol. 43, p. 1130, amended. That on and after July 1, 1926, the number of regular commissioned officers, other than chief warrant officers, authorized in the Coast Guard shall be three hundred and forty, distributed in grades as follows:
One commandant, fifteen captains, thirty-five commanders, seventy-one lieutenant commanders, sixty-six lieutenants, and eighty-five lieutenants (junior grade) and ensigns, one engineer in chief, eight captains (engineering), eleven commanders (engineering), and twenty-eight lieutenant commanders (engineering), five constructors, and fourteen district commanders. Sec. 2. That on and after July 1, 1926, the number of temporaryTemporary commissioned officers. commissioned officers authorized in the Coast Guard shall be one hundred and fifteen, distributed in grades as follows:
Fifty lieutenants and sixty-five lieutenants (junior grade) and ensigns of the line, and after that date no more temporary officers shall be appointed in the grade of lieutenant commander or above. Sec. 3. That all lieutenants (engineering) not holding temporaryEngineering officers transferred to the line July 1, 1926. appointments as lieutenant commanders (engineering), all lieu816 tenants (junior grade) (engineering) and all ensigns (engineering), both regular and temporary, who are in the Coast Guard on July 1, 1926, shall be transferred to the line of the Coast Guard and shall be commissioned accordingly, the regular engineer officers to become regular line officers and temporary engineer officers to become Precedence accorded.temporary line officers, respectively.
Engineer officers thus transferred shall take precedence with line officers in the grades to which transferred in accordance with total lengths of continuous Cadet engineers made line cadets.commissioned service in the Coast Guard. All cadet engineers who are in the service on July 1, 1926, shall be appointed cadets of the line as of that date and service as cadet engineer shall be counted as cadet service. Sec. 4. Vacancies at bottom of list of commissioned engineer officers July 1, l926, may or may not be filled.Promotion to, if filled.
That a vacancy occurring at the bottom of the list of commissioned engineer officers after July 1, 1926, may or may not be filled, in the discretion of the President, in accordance with the existing needs of the service for engineer officers. If such a vacancy is filled, it shall be filled by promotion of the senior regular officer of the next lower grade of the line who applies for such promotion and who demonstrates his entire fitness therefor in the manner provided in section 3 of the Act approved January 12, 1923.
If such Vacancy to accrue to same grade in line, if not filled in six months.a vacancy is not filled within a period of six months after its occurrence, it shall accrue to the corresponding grade of the line and shall increase the number of officers of such corresponding grade of the line as authorized in section 1 of this Act accordingly, but shall not increase the total number of commissioned line and engineer officers combined as authorized by this Act. Sec. 5. Temporary officers may be appointed.
That the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, temporary commissioned officers to be commissioned officers in the regular Coast Guard in grades *Provisos*.Fitness for, to be established.not above lieutenant: *Provided*, That no temporary officer shall be appointed a regular commissioned officer until his entire fitness for such appointment has been established to the satisfaction of a board of commissioned officers of the Coast Guard appointed by the President. and until he has been pronounced physically qualified by a Rank In grade.board of medical officers: *Provided further*, That temporary officers who may be thus commissioned in the regular Coast Guard shall take rank in the grades in which they are appointed in accordance with the dates of their commissions as regular officers.
Sec. 6. Cadets.Number authorized. That on and after the date of the passage of this Act the number of cadets in the Coast Guard shad be such as the Secretary of the Treasury may from time to time determine as necessary for Appointments.the needs of the service. Appointments to cadetships shall be made under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall determine age limits, methods of selection of applicants, and Years of service required before commissioned as ensigns.all other matters affecting such appointments.
Cadets shall serve two years, three years, or four years, as the Secretary of the Treasury may determine from time to time in accordance with the needs of the service, before being eligible to be commissioned as ensigns. Sec. 7. Promotions.Service requirements for. That hereafter no officer shall be promoted to lieutenant commander or to lieutenant commander (engineering) who has had less than eight years’ commissioned service, regular or temporary, in the Coast Guard. On and after September 1, 1926, no officer shall be promoted in the regular Coast Guard from lieutenant (junior grade) to lieutenant until he shall have served at least two years as a lieutenant (junior grade) in the regular service.
Subsequent to the passage of this Act and continuing until June 30, 1931, an ensign may be promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) after two years’ service as an ensign; on and after July 1, 1931, an ensign shall be required to complete three years’ service in817 his grade, after which he shall be eligible for promotion to the next higher grade, without regard to the number already in that higher grade. Sec. 8. That a constructor, upon original appointment as such,Constructors.Rank, etc., of.Probationary period. shall have the rank, pay, and allowances of a lieutenant.
An original appointment as constructor shall be made under regulations prescribed by the President from the list of commissioned officers of the Coast Guard or from civil life and shall be for a probationary period of two years, and, prior to the expiration of such probationary period of service, the fitness of the officer who has thus served shall be passed upon by a board of commissioned officers of the Coast Guard appointed by the President. If the board finds that theRegular appointment. officer is in all respects fitted to be a constructor in the Coast Guard, he may be regularly appointed a constructor to rank from the date of his original probationary appointment: *Provided*, That no person*Proviso*.Age limitation. shall receive an original probationary appointment as constructor who is more than thirty years of age.
Sec. 9. That the title “ district superintendent ” is hereby changedDistrict commander.Title of district superintendent changed to. to “ district commander, ” and all laws applicable to district superintendents shall apply to district commanders except as modified by tire provisions of this section. A district commander of less thanRank, pay, etc. ten years’ commissioned service shall have the rank, pay, and allowances of a lieutenant, and, after ten years’ commissioned service, shall have the rank, pay, and allowances of a lieutenant commander.
An original appointment as district commander shall be made underOriginal appointment. regulations prescribed by the President from the warrant or chief petty officers of the Coast Guard: *Provided*, That the proviso “ That*Proviso*.Former authority repealed.Vol. 38, p. 802, repealed. the district superintendents shall be chief officers and first in authority in their respective districts, subject to the authority of the captain commandant.” contained in section 4 of the Act approved January 28, 1915, is hereby repealed.
Sec. 10. That all temporary chief warrant officers who are in theChief warrant officers.Temporary, to have regular commissions. Coast Guard on July 1, 1926, shall be transferred to the regular Coast Guard as chief warrant officers as of that date and shall be commissioned accordingly. Under such regulations as he may prescribeAppointment, pay, etc. the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, chief warrant officers of the Coast Guard from the permanent list of warrant officers of the Coast Guard as the needs of the service may require, and such chief warrant officers shall receive the same pay, allowances, and benefits as commissioned warrant officers of the Navy of like length of service: *Provided*,*Proviso*.No pay, etc., reduction.
That no warrant officer shall suffer a reduction in pay or allowances on account of his appointment as a chief warrant officer under the provisions of this section. Sec. 11. That Coast Guard personnel may be trained at navalTraining of personnel. training stations and instructed at schools maintained by the Navy, and the pro rata cost of such training or instruction may be borne by Coast Guard appropriations, and the proper Navy appropriations may be credited accordingly. Sec. 12.
That the provision contained in the Act making appropriationsSurfmen.Pay limitation repealed.Vol. 35, p. 321, repealed. for the sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, and for other purposes, approved May 27, 1908 (Thirty-fifth Statutes at Large, page 321), which reads “ Hereafter the pay of surfmen in the Life Saving Service shall be computed according to the number of days in each month, respectively, and not as required by section 6 of the Act of June 30, 1906, making appropriations for the sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907,” be, and the same is hereby, repealed. 818 Sec. 13.
No rank, pay, etc., reduced. That nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to reduce the rank, pay, or allowances of any commissioned officer of the Coast Guard as now provided by law. Sec. 14. Conflicting laws repealed. That all Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed. Approved, July 3, 1926.