Joseph F. Farley

Because Farley had been assigned to Coast Guard Headquarters in a senior position in both operations and personnel, Admiral Waesche suggested him as a candidate to succeed him as Commandant. Farley's first nomination was rejected by President Harry S. Truman and Waesche concerned that the Coast Guard would be left without leadership, petitioned Secretary of the Treasury Fred Vinson and Comptroller General Lindsay Warren to speak to the President about the importance of Farley's nomination. Waesche realized that the Coast Guard would have many problems associated with personnel and missions in the post-war period. President Truman announced Farley's nomination 20 December 1945.[7] After the war many of the top leadership retired because of age, leaving Farley to appoint an almost entirely new headquarters staff.[8]

One of the first problems confronting Farley was that of personnel. Most of the officers and men who had joined the service during the war wished to leave as soon as possible after the war's end. Since much of the build-up of personnel numbers during the war were reservists, they were released from active duty quickly. This problem was helped somewhat by Waesche's plan to keep most permanent ranks one grade below the temporary wartime promotion ranks; this left the service with enough officers and petty officers but few men in the lower enlisted grades. Efforts to enlist new men into the lower ranks had to be made.[8] With increased the responsibilities acquired during the war and a reduced number of personnel available, some missions had to be cut back severely or almost eliminated. Lifeboat stations were operated at bare minimum staffing levels, several cutters had to be put into the reserve fleet, and the Bering Sea Patrol was not operated in 1946 and 1947.[9]

The Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation had been put in temporary Coast Guard Control during the war. Despite some maritime labor unions and Congressional opposition to the plan to permanently transfer the Bureau to Coast Guard control, Farley, with a terminally ill Waesche helping, successfully petitioned President Truman to approve permanent transfer of the bureau. Congress passed the required legislation effective 16 July 1946.[10]

By the time that the 1948 Federal budget was being reviewed by Congress, the public was calling for economy measures to be adopted. This led to Congress looking at the Coast Guard budget and questioning why the amount requested was five times more than the 1940 appropriation. They also noted that the Coast Guard had only three rear admirals before the war and now wished for eighteen to hold that rank and a proportional expansion in the numbers in the lower ranks. It was also pointed out by some members of Congress that the Coast Guard had assumed many responsibilities during the war without the statutory authority to do so. Congress ordered an investigation of the situation and the Coast Guard was required to cooperate. The report mandated by Congress was known as the "Ebasco Report" and was a study conducted by private contractor Ebasco Services, Inc. that began an investigation into Coast Guard operating practices in September 1947 and presented the finished report to Congress 21 January 1948. The report listed 193 recommendations for improving operations, some of which could be handled internally within the Coast Guard or the Treasury Department. Some of the recommendations required changes in laws that only Congress had the authority to modify. This resulted in Congress recognizing the need for the Coast Guard to have statutory authority for the many missions it had accumulated during the war years. The laws were enacted in a re-codified organic act in 1949[11]

With the end of the war, many of the oldest vessels that the Coast Guard operated were decommissioned in 1946 or 1947 and others were laid up in the reserve moorings the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland or at Kennydale, Washington. The Army and the Navy provided some newer replacement ships which were being decommissioned and they became patrol cutters and buoy tenders.[12] In 1946 the International Ice Patrol was re-instituted after being suspended during the war years and additional cutters and aircraft had to be reserved for this mission.[13] Congressional concerns about the Coast Guard's lack of interest in aviation led to sub-committee hearings on whether the Coast Guard should turn over the search and rescue mission aircraft assets to the Navy. Farley and Treasury Secretary Snyder pointed out that the Coast Guard was interested in aviation used for search and rescue but didn't have the funds to expand the service. The situation was not completely resolved until after Farley left office.[14]

As a result of increased air traffic after the war and heavier commercial shipping traffic the Ebasco Study recommended that the Coast Guard retain the responsibilities for LORAN stations and ocean stations that had been assumed during the war. The chains of LORAN stations maintained by the Coast Guard were modernized and the utilized by both aircraft and ships for navigation purposes. The ocean station program provided up-to-date weather information and search and rescue for both aircraft and ships in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The initial attempt by the Coast Guard to operate enough stations to satisfy the demands of the airlines and shipping industry failed because of manpower limitations required in the Coast Guard budgets. The situation changed with the USCGC Bibb rescue of the Bermuda Sky Queen, in September 1947. The Queen was a flying boat that was caught in gale-force winds that caused her to increase fuel consumption and as a result she could not reach her destination. The captain of the aircraft turned around and flew to the Bibb and successfully landed near the cutter. After a rescue lasting for several hours, all aboard the Queen were rescued without injury and Bibb was received in Boston to a hero's welcome. This demonstrated to Congress that the ocean station program was valuable to the fledgling trans-oceanic airline industry and funds were added to the Coast Guard budget to acquire the cutters and manpower needed to operate the program. At Farley's request, the Navy loaned a total of eighteen moth-balled 311 ft (95 m) Casco–class seaplane tenders that would serve as ocean station cutters as well as two 339 ft (103 m) cargo ships for supply of LORAN stations.[15] The Army supplied three FS-class cargo ships for the same purpose.[16] Farley was instrumental in establishing and maintaining both post-war plans for LORAN and ocean stations.[17] Development of helicopters as a rescue vehicle continued during Farley's term as Commandant with the establishment of the Rotary Wing Development Unit at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina.[18]