Trespassers in U.S. waters have become so scarce that the Navy is pulling down its picket fence. In the first broad demobilization of equipment since the war began, more than half the 2,200 fishing and pleasure craft converted for emergency antisub patrol early in the war have now been returned to their private owners.
After July only a few will be left in service.
The reserve vessels were taken on chiefly as an eye-and-ear auxiliary for regular Coast Guard ships. Only lightly armed, they sometimes went against orders and engaged in singlehanded scuffles with the enemy, emerging more sorry than successful....
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