Just the USCG Enforcing International Naval Blockades, again

The Coast Guard, while on its face tasked with preventing smuggling and maintaining the U.S. maritime border, also has a long history of running maritime blockades off the coasts of other countries. The rundown: The Civil War: Cutters like the USRC Harriet Lane (which fired the first maritime shot of the war at Fort Sumter) were deployed to enforce blockades off Charleston, Wilmington, and New Orleans, with smaller, shallow-draft cutters often tasked with inshore interdiction while the Navy stuck to more blue-water ops. The Spanish-American War saw eight Revenue Cutters join the Navy’s blockade of Cuba and Puerto Rico. This included the USRC McCulloch, Morrill, Windom, Manning, and Hudson enforcing the outer and inner rings of the blockade off Havana and Cienfuegos, directly engaging Spanish shore batteries and gunboats while making turns to capture blockade runners. WWII Neutrality Patrol: The USCG established maritime blockades off Greenland to deny Germany access to cryolite mines…