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By: CDR (Ret) John D. Hooper, USCG

In the spring of 1940, when asked by the United States Navy to identify a distinguished Coast Guard officer who could provide the namesake for a new warship, Coast Guard commandant, Vice-Admiral Russell Waesche, unequivocally nominated Commodore Frank Hamilton Newcomb for the honor. The only American warship named for a member of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, USS Newcomb (DD-586) proved a hard fighter during World War II. The feisty Fletcher-class destroyer sank a Japanese submarine at Saipan; provided fire support at Saipan, Tinian, the Palaus and Iwo Jima. Newcomb is also credited with torpedoing the Japanese battleship Yamashiro in the momentous Battle of Surigao Strait, and sustained five kamikaze hits at Okinawa, killing or wounding dozens of her crew. Continue Reading