One thing I like about the USCG is that they ditch a lot of the political rhetoric when it comes to cutter naming conventions, and make sure they salute their heroes and storied past vessels.
For instance, the first flight of 11 new 360-foot Offshore Patrol Cutters, large OPVs that will surely be sent into harm’s way several times at some point in their likely 50-year careers, all will carry the recycled names of traditional cutters that fought in the War of 1812, the Quasi-War, WWII, Vietnam, and the Great War.
One of the pending OPCs will honor USCGC Icarus (WPC-110) the famed 165-foot “B”-Class cutter that sank one of the first Nazi U-boats, U-352, in 1942 just after U.S. entry into World War II.
A great retelling of that lopsided David v Goliath sea clash, in which the German submarine had superior speed, surface and subsurface armament, is retold in Hickam’s Torpedo Junction.
In the book, Hickam spends a whole chapter on the humble Icarus— a gunboat that didn’t even have a sonar range finder– commanded by 52-year-old LT Maurice David Jester, a life-long Coastie enlisted in the service as a surfman in 1917, and its epic combat against Kptln. Helmutt Rathke’s U-352.
In the end, it came down to a surface action in which the cutter used all of its weapons, including Tommy guns, against the German, sending the sub to the bottom.
Then, in typical Coast Guard fashion, they saved 33 of her crew, including Rathke, and took them ashore to POW captivity for the duration.
Before steaming for Charleston, Jester transmitted:
“Contacted submarine Destroyed same. Lat 34°12 ½” Long 76° 35″. Have 33 of her crew members on board. Proceeding Charleston with survivors.”
Man, she looks short! USS Icarus, CG arriving at Charleston Navy Yard after its epic battle with U-352, photo dated 10 May 1942.
Coast Guard Cutter Icarus drawn in profile. (Coast Guard Collection) 
The wreck site of the U-352 as it appears today. (Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Jester was the first Coast Guardsman to receive the Navy Cross and one of only six service members to receive it during the war.
He retired in 1944 with the rank of full commander, capping 27 years of service that spanned the First World War, Prohibition, and the Second World War.
He is interred at Arlington.
In a fitting salute to the hard-charging commander of the Icarus, the Coast Guard late last week commissioned USCGC Maurice Jester (WPC-1152), a new 154-foot Sentinel-class fast response cutter. Fittingly, she also carries the WPC designation as Icarus and is only 11 feet shorter.
The fast response cutter’s motto is “Against All Odds”.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Maurice Jester (WPC 1152), dressed overall during its commissioning ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, June 2, 2023. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Lyric Jackson) . (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Lyric Jackson)
Farewell, Bayberry
As Jester comes to life, the Coast Guard is putting one of its longest-serving cutters to pasture.
Originally commissioned in 1954 just as Buoy Boat CG-65400-D, the USCGC Bayberry (WLI 65400) picked up her name a few years later when the service authorized naming vessels 65 feet long or larger.
Captained by a senior chief petty officer and crewed by seven other enlisted, she had been working hard from San Francisco to Washington to Oak Island where she has been stationed since 2009. The “Keeper of Cape Fear” was just decommissioned after 69 years of service.
The Cutter Bayberry sits at a pier at Station Oak Island, N.C. Jun. 7, 2023, before its special status ceremony to signify the beginning of it being decommissioned after 69 years of active Coast Guard service. The Bayberry was built by Reliable Welding Works in Olympia, Washington. U.S. Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer 2nd class Katie Lipe.
As noted by the USCG:
The Bayberry’s recent accomplishments include post-hurricane Dorian operations, where the crew led a waterways reconstitution mission, completed a complex voyage correcting 40 aids to navigation discrepancies, enabling the rapid resumption of ferry service, and facilitating the delivery of emergency supplies to 700 residents stranded on Ocracoke Island.
In typical Coast Guard fashion, Bayberry is to be replaced by the rather stalled 35-vessel Waterways Commerce Cutter program, which is far from its first delivery.