The History of the U.S.C.G.C. Half Moon
A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST
HALF MOON began her history as a Navy sea plane tender. She was launched on July 12, 1942, commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served for the duration of World War II in the western Pacific. HALF MOON's gun crew first saw action on October 24, 1944 when a Japanese plane bombed
and straffed the ship off Mindinac, Philippines.
In that week HALF MOON was attacked by a total of ten enemy aircraft. She was able to shoot down two and drive off the attackers without serious damage to herself. For two years HALF MOON tended the seaplanes in her squadrons and accounted for three more enemy aircraft destroyed. In December, 1945 she returned to Seattle, Washington for decommissioning having earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon with two battle stars, the American Theatre Campaign Ribbon, the Victory Ribbon, Philippines Liberation Ribbon with two stars and the Philippines Presidential Citation.
THE MOON JOINS THE GUARD
In 1948 the twenty six hundred ton HALF MOON was commissioned as a Coast Guard Cutter and assigned to Ocean Station patrol duties in the North Atlantic. The Ship's new home port was Staten Island, New York, and an extensive reconditioning program undertaken. Oceanographic equipment was installed, living spaces were made more comfortable and Naval communications
and radar equipment was installed. Large aviation gasoline storage tanks were modified to accommodate diesel fuel for her four, sixteen hundred horse-power engines so that she would be
able to remain at sea for long periods without refueling. This high endurance feature plus her fine sea worthiness, proven in two Pacific typhoons and many Atlantic hurricanes, makes HALF MOON an ideal Ocean Station patrol vessel.
SEMPER PARATUS
HALF MOON's primary duties were to make long patrols on various ocean stations in the North Atlantic ready to render assistance and medical care to ships or aircraft in distress. The ship also worked actively in Oceanographic and Meteorological projects. In the midst of her many peace
time duties the HALF MOON remained militarily ready to join the fleet, if the need were to arise, by training with the Navy at Guantanamo Bay Navel Base, Cuba. Early, in 1967, the need did arise and HALF MOON received orders to deploy with the Seventh Fleet off the coast of Vietnam. Eighteen days after receipt of orders HALF MOON sailed from New York to Southeast Asia, as one of the first five cutters of the Coast Guard's newly formed Squadron Three. The
cutters of 'ron three are assigned the task of preventing arms smugglers from gaining access to South Vietnam by sea. The mission is reminiscent of the prohibition era when the Coast Guard patrolled the coast of the United States watching for Rum Runners.
The business end of the HALF MOON was well suited to discourage any infiltrator. She bristled with heavy machine guns and two large mortars mounted forward. The main armament, though, was her five inch gun which could fire a fifty eight pound steel projectile, filled with high explosive at targets nine miles away. HALF MOON, working with Army aircraft, pounded Viet Cong fortification along the Vietnam Coast. The deadly accuracy of HALF MOON's Gunners
undoubtedly caused consternation in the ranks of the Viet Cong. The long patrols were, however, primarily concerned with careful round the clock surveillance of all coastal shipping. This was a
most difficult and patience taxing job but, the seventeen officers and one hundred-forty five enlisted men remained determined to help halt the flow of arms into South Vietnam.
HALF MOON returned to her New York City home for a brief rest before resuming duties in the North Atlantic. Old hands left, new ones came aboard: and eventually HALF MOON was replaced. She will live on in the tradition of the service and in the hearts of the men who served aboard her.
This document courtesy of H. Russell Worthington who served as a Radioman aboard HALF MOON before, during and after her deployment to Viet Nam.
