Revenue Cutter Service

The United States Revenue Cutter Service was a uniformed armed service of the United States government. Its first vessels were commissioned late in the eighteenth century, shortly after the founding of the republic. In 1915 it was merged into what is now the United States Coast Guard.

Based on its roots in the Revenue Cutter Service, the Coast Guard is sometimes described as an older service than the United States Navy. The Continental Congress had a navy, composed largely of former merchant vessels. Initially the United States Congress did not create a Navy for the new republic.

Some vessels of the Revenue Cutter Service were very successful commerce raiders during the War of 1812.

The Revenue Cutter Service had its own School of Instruction, and its own training vessels, such as the USRC Itasco.