THE FRIDAY FOTO (March 10, 2023)

THE ONE WITH THE RED STRIPE

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Diolanda Caballero) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Terrapin makes its way surrounded by U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) response boats and Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) response boats near Vancouver, British Columbia on February 28, 2023.

The MSRT is an elite Coast Guard unit that specializes in maritime counter-terrorism operations and high risk law enforcement. MSRTs are trained to board from small boats or helicopters and secure vessels including those controll by terrorists holding hostages.

During this joint exercise, MSRT West and the RCMP practiced tactical maneuvering such as defensive approaches, coming alongside a vessel and helicopter operations. The crew of the Terrapin, an 87-foot long patrol boat, noted on their Facebook page that “In typical PNW (Pacific North West) fashion, it snowed as well, making it slightly more challenging!”

We thought the colors, or lack thereof, in this photo were quite arresting. No pun intended. Everything in this photo, the sky, trees, water — even the snow appears gray — except for the white boat with the red slash on its hull. The iconic blue, white and red slash racing stripe emblem was created in the 1960s by the design firm of Raymond Loewy/William Snaith, Inc., which had just redesigned the interior and exterior of President John F. Kennedy’s aircraft, Air Force One.

Loewy was a legendary industrial designer credited with the white logo on Coca-Cola bottles, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, the supersonic Concorde jetliner’s interiors, NASA’s Skylab, as well as logos for Lucky Strike cigarettes, Shell and Exxon oil companies and the Art Deco-styled Pennsylvania Railroad’s S1 steam locomotive.

Loewy also redesigned Nabisco’s red corner logo that’s still in use today. (Photo Raymond Loewy/Facebook via allthatsinteresting.com)

The president was so pleased with the design outcome that he suggested the firm look into improving the visual image of the federal government.  Kennedy suggested starting with the Coast Guard.  “The firm recommended the Coast Guard adopt an identification device similar to a commercial trademark. The firm believed the symbol should be easily identifiable from a distance, easily differentiated from other government or commercial emblems or logos, and easily adapted to a wide variety of air and sea assets,” according to a 2012 article in Sea History.

The company presented its findings to Coast Guard leadership in January 1964. After four years of study, testing and tweaking some of the design firm’s ideas, Coast Guard Commandant Edwin Roland issued Instructions on April 6, 1967 ordering servicewide implementation of the Integrated Visual Identification System.