COASTAL PATROL
America entered the war with meager maritime defenses on the East Coast. Gasoline and oil shortages grew and vital war supplies for Europe were nearly choked off as enemy subs operated with impunity? often within sight of the beach. Tankers and freighters were going to the bottom in record numbers. While the American military frantically geared up to meet the threat, ships were torpedoed in the mouth of the Connecticut River and
in the Saint Lawrence. One surfaced sub actually motored right into outer New York harbor on January 15, navigating by reference to a New York City tourist map and visible landmarks like the Ferris wheel at Coney Island. Subs could blast their prey at night as targets became silhouetted against still brightly lit coastal resorts. Usually unopposed, they could attack on the surface using deck guns to conserve torpedoes. Even years later, New Jersey
teens termed their secluded romantic interludes on the beach, ''Watching The Submarine Races.''
As
tankers burned, Philadelphia-based Sun Oil (Sunoco), along with other concerned
companies, established a ''Tanker Protection Fund'' to establish civilian
coastal patrol bases until government financial support caught up. Volunteers
came from everywhere and within months, some 40,000 signed up, ranging from
over-age World War I fliers to aviation heroes and Hollywood celebrities.
CAP pilots provided their own airplanes and equipment, and often couldn't cover expenses on their $8 per flying-day government pay, which often arrived two months late. Civic organizations across the nation chipped in with ''Sink-a-Sub Clubs,'' staging fundraisers for Coastal Patrol. The military required an initial 90-day trial in early 1942 to prove civilians could do the job, so Coastal Patrol began as an experiment at the three ''hot spots'' of the submarine bloodbath: Atlantic City, New Jersey; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; and Lantana, Florida. Flying up to 200 miles offshore were pilots whose previous
over water experience had been crossing the wide part of the Delaware River from below
Wilmington over to the South Jersey side. They wore military uniforms and ''U.S.'' insignia so they would be prisoners of war if captured, not shot as guerrillas.
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