Commandant of the Coast Guard

The title of commandant dates to a 1923 act that distributed the commissioned line and engineer officers of the U.S. Coast Guard in grades. Before 1923, the rank and title of the head of the Coast Guard was "captain-commandant." The rank "captain-commandant" originated in the Revenue Cutter Service in 1908. The original holder of that rank was the Chief of the Revenue Cutter Service (also known as the Revenue-Marine). The Coast Guard traces the lineage of commandants back to Captain Leonard G. Shepard, chief of the Revenue Marine-Bureau, even though he never officially received the title of captain-commandant. The captain-commandant position was created in 1908 when Captain Worth G. Ross was the first to actually hold the position. Although he was retired, Ross's predecessor, Captain Charles F. Shoemaker, was elevated to the rank of captain-commandant. Shoemaker's predecessor, Captain Shepard, had already died and was not elevated to the rank. ==Chiefs of the Revenue Marine Bureau==

Chiefs exercised centralized control over the Revenue-Marine Bureau. • Captain Alexander V. Fraser, USRM, 1843–1848 • Captain Richard Evans, USRM, 1848–1849 In 1849 the Revenue-Marine Bureau was dissolved, and the Revenue Marine fell under the control the commissioner of customs until the Revenue-Marine Bureau was again established in 1869. • N. Broughton Devereux, 1869–1871 • Sumner I. Kimball, 1871–1878 • Ezra Clark, 1878–1885 • Peter Bonnett, 1885–1889 ==List of commandants==

There have been 28 commandants of the Coast Guard since the office of chief of the Revenue-Marine Bureau was transferred to a military billet. Timeline ==See also==