Just thought that I would add a little quiz about how the Coast Guard came to have "Racing Stripes". You "Coasties" out there should not try and answer these questions as you probably already know and should'nt let on to others. There will be several questions so please answer them in the order asked. Let's see if there are any Forum Members that have the knowledge or know how to find this information out.

Question #1: What was the 1st Coast Guard Cutter to have "Racing Stripes?

Question #2: What was the Hull Number and "nickname" of this Coast Guard Cutter?

Question #3: What was the length of this Cutter and why was it this long?

Question #4: When was this Coast Guard Cutter striped this way?

Question #5: What was the reason this Coast Guard Cutter was striped this way?

Question #6: Where was this Coast Guard Cutter homeported at?

Question #7: What was the reason the Coast Guard eventually "striped" all their cutters, boats and aircraft this way?

I found a year, 1967. Would that be the answer to Question #4????

Mombo, Wrong answer. That is when the rest of the Coast Guard's Cutters had the racing stripes put on.

1. ANDROSCOGGIN
2. WPG/WHEC-68 nickname Andy
3. 255' Read why here . Sounds like reason essentially was a typical government Charlie Foxtrot.
4. Guess 1966/ However, pics on the USCG web site show ship with a stripe, and are titled "The Andy on Echo Patrol in the summer of 1965."
5. One explaination is that it was one of the "test models" another version is because of participation in movie "Assualt on a Queen". CG web site contains no real explaination.
6. Miami
7. Most common heory I have read is for identity. A related theory can be found here .

This is excerpt from a post by "USCGCWO" which can be found here

Outstanding research Dave! You are right on all questions except the "real" nickname that the "Andy" crew used. The Andy was lovingly referred to as the "Florida Penal Colony"(if you screwed up and were stationed in the 7th Coast Guard District they sent you to the Andy) or "Galloping Ghost of the Florida Coast"(1967-68 Viet Nam Deployment Insiginia). She was painted with the "Racing Stripe" in 1965 for the Movie "Assault on a Queen" being shot in 1965 and released in 1966. The true scuttlebutt for the reason was the Andy steaming towards the cameras was not highly visable due to the white hull against the white cap waves. The movie people suggested the "Racing Stripes" to make the Andy stand out better. The Andy was designed to be a "355 FT" Cutter, but, scuttlebutt has it because of the war time drain on the budget, they cut(shrunk the actual design) to 255 FT and built the entire 255 FT Class of Cutters this way. The 255 FT Class of cutter was one of the strongest designs because there was a frame every foot because of the design shrinkage and this made the 255 FT Class excellent for light icebreaker work.

This is all "gallery gossip" and spending a year and a half on the Andy during our Viet Nam deployment gave us plenty of time to get this gossip. Buy the way, there were still many crewmembers on board for our 1967-68 Nam deployment that actually participated in the "Assault on a Queen" movie as "extras" so the scuttlebutt about the "racing Stripe" should be gospal.

The CG web site provides some thoughts as to why this ship class was "shrunk". There is also a link to a memo from a somewhat unhappy CO of one of the 255's which may explain part of the Penal Colony concept. From the tone of his letter, any underway time had to be a real treat in this class ship.