The Christy Collection
Military Stories and Articles
Coast Guard Cutter Smilax, of the Cosmos-class ships, was commissioned in 1944 as the seventh of eight Inland Buoy Tenders. All but one of those cutters have been decommissioned. These ships perform Aid to Navigation (AtoN or ATON) work, inland construction, and Search and Rescue (SAR) if needed. Displacing 175 long tons, the Smilax is 100′ in length, with a crew of fourteen.
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!Long has it waved on high,And many an eye has danced to seeThat banner in the sky;Beneath it rung the battle shout,And burst the cannon's roar;The meteor of ocean airShall sweep the clouds no more! "Old Ironsides" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr (1809-94) The Birth of USS Constitution: Old Ironsides As it turned out, that 1830 poem sparked public concern, and the ship's ensign was not torn down at all then or since. The USS Constitution was designed by Joshua...
In the world of American Naval heroes, few figures loom as large over Navy history as that of Stephen Decatur. He was among the first American military heroes to come to prominence after the American Revolution, the youngest sailor ever promoted to Captain in U.S. Navy history, and a veteran of three wars. With every battle in every war he fought, Stephen Decatur's service exemplified the heroism and bravery of the Navy, no matter what his rank he was at the time. Stephen Decatur Was Brought...
