10th Coast Artillery (United States)


The 10th Coast Artillery Regiment was a Coast Artillery regiment in the United States Army. It primarily served as the Regular Army coast artillery component of the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island from 1924 through 1944, when it was relieved and disbanded as part of an Army-wide reorganization.

Lineage

Constituted in the Regular Army 27 February 1924 as 10th Coast Artillery, and organized 1 July 1924 at Fort Adams by redesignating the following companies of the Coast Artillery Corps : 173rd, 52nd, 97th, 102nd, 110th, 129th, 147th, and 174th.. Only Headquarters and Headquarters Battery activated; provided caretaker detachments for HD Narragansett Bay and HD New Bedford. The 243rd Coast Artillery was the Rhode Island National Guard component of HD Narragansett Bay.
Unit lineage resumed as follows:
A Gold color and metal enamel device 1 inch in height overall blazoned: On a wreath Or and Gules, a triton torque drawing a bow and arrow aimed bendwise Or, above a sea wave Vert in front of a Latin cross couped Azure.
The blue cross indicates the Civil War service of Battery E, 5th Artillery. It served in the 3rd Division, 6th Army Corps during this conflict. The triton with bow and arrow symbolizes danger rising from the sea, against which the Coast Artillery in its forts must guard.
The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 10th Coast Artillery Regiment on 27 February 1926. It was redesignated for the 10th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 13 June 1952.

Coat of arms

Blazon

Gules, four cannons saltirewise base to base Or above an anchor paleways Azure fimbriated Argent; augmented of a canton per bend sinister, paly of fifteen of the field and of the fourth, base of the second.
On a wreath Or and Gules, a triton torque drawing a bow and arrow aimed bendwise Or, above a sea wave Vert in front of a Latin cross couped Azure. Motto VAILLANT ET VEILLANT.

Symbolism

The red of the shield signifies Artillery; the blue anchor is taken from the coat of arms of the old Coast Defenses of Narragansett Bay; the four cannons form the Roman numeral ten. Battery D, 10th Coast Artillery claims parentage from Battery C, 2nd Coast Artillery. As the 14th Company, CAC, this company was in the Coast Defenses of Narragansett Bay from 1907 through 1924. The latter has no coat of arms but the addition of a canton is made to indicate this parentage, but divided since one battery can claim this parentage. Battery C, 2nd Coast Artillery was part of the garrison of Fort McHenry and commanded by Captain Frederic Evans during its bombardment, 13 September 1814, and this event is taken from the coat of arms of the 2nd Coast Artillery and depicted in the fifteen stripes in the canton.
The blue cross indicates the Civil War service of Battery E, 5th Artillery. It served in the 3rd Division, 6th Army Corps during this conflict. The triton with bow and arrow symbolizes danger rising from the sea, against which the Coast Artillery in its forts must guard.

Background

The coat of arms was originally approved for the 10th Coast Artillery on 27 February 1926. It was redesignated for the 10th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 13 June 1952.

Campaign streamers

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Decorations

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