USS Welborn C. Wood (DD-195) - As USCGD Wood

As USCGD Wood

During the 1920s Prohibition gave rise to smuggling of illicit liquor into the United States. In an attempt to deal with this problem, 25 older destroyers were transferred by the Navy to the Treasury Department for service with the Coast Guard to try to enforce a complete Prohibition. Some began to show signs of wear and tear after the often arduous pace of operations on the Rum Patrol and required replacement. Accordingly, five of the newer "flush deck" destroyers were transferred to the Treasury Department in 1930 and 1931.

Welborn C. Wood was transferred to the Coast Guard on 1 October 1930 and was simultaneously struck from the Navy list. Reconditioned and commissioned, on 15 April 1931, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the destroyer was renumbered CG-19. She arrived at her permanent station, New London, Connecticut, a week later to operate on the Rum Patrol. Shifting south to Florida waters for target practice soon thereafter, she returned to New London upon the conclusion of her exercises and operated out of that port into the autumn of 1932.

After another period of routine patrols off the eastern seaboard, she operated with the Navy in Cuban waters, off Nueva Gerona, in September and October 1933, interrupting her scheduled target practices. Released from this duty on 6 November, she sailed north for New York that day, followed by a brief period in New London. The repeal of Prohibition in late 1933 obviated the need for the destroyer's law enforcement duty, and Welborn C. Wood was decommissioned once more at Philadelphia on 21 May 1934.