Was reading about the Russian tanker that is adrift without propulsion
off the Canadian coast. The article included a picture of a Canadian
Coast Guard ship that had been towing it away from the rocky shoreline.

I became curious as to the origin of the "racing stripe" that appears on
many nation's Coast Guard ships, including those of the USA. Never
thought about it before. It has an interesting history (to me anyway).

The stripe was added to US Coast Guard ships in the early 1960's by
direction of John F. Kennedy. Before then there was no stripe and the
US Navy was often erroneously given credit by the general public for
rescue missions that were actually performed by the USCG.

Kennedy had commissioned an industrial designer by the name of Raymond
Loewy to come up with a new paint scheme and cosmetic design for Air
Force ONE. Kennedy was delighted with the new look of the aircraft and
had Loewy come up with a unique design for USCG vessels that would make
them unique and distinguishable. Thus, the "Racing Stripe" was born.

It has since been adopted by many other nations to identify their Coast
Guard ships.