
UPDATE: Paragraph one has been corrected to reflect that the Stratton will be the third of eight planned national security cutters and not the fifth.
President Obama has a special relationship with the Coast Guard. In addition to being our Commander-in-Chief, he shares a birthday with the nation’s oldest continuous naval service and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, is the sponsor of the third of eight planned national security cutters named for Capt. Dorothy Stratton.
We wish President Obama a happy 50th birthday and share with you his birthday letter to the Coast Guard as we celebrate our 221st anniversary.