About This Stamp
In 2026, the United States Postal Service continues its tradition of honoring American military academies by issuing a stamp commemorating the United States Coast Guard Academy. Founded as the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction in 1876, the United States Coast Guard Academy has educated cadets and prepared them for careers as officers in the U.S. Coast Guard for 150 years.
Rather than attending a traditional campus, the first cadets learned foundational navigation and sailing skills aboard the topsail schooner James C. Dobbin. In 1878, a brand new threemasted barque, the Cutter Salmon P. Chase, replaced the aging Dobbin and went on to serve as the Academy’s primary training vessel for nearly three decades. The Revenue Cutter School of Instruction eventually moved ashore in 1900 and officially became the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1915.
The present-day campus in New London, Connecticut, opened in 1932, and its cadets now choose one of ten available majors, participate in a wide array of extracurricular activities, and like their predecessors aboard the Dobbin and the Chase, gain firsthand knowledge of seamanship aboard “America’s Tall Ship,” the Barque Eagle, sometimes on weeks-long oceancrossing cruises. Each graduate commits to at least five years of service and earns both a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as an ensign in the United States Coast Guard. As officers, they take leadership roles among the Coast Guard’s many essential missions, including protecting the marine transportation system, regulating and safeguarding ports and waterways, leading the Nation in maritime drug interdiction, and securing the maritime border.
Art director and designer Antonio Alcalá drew his inspiration for this stamp from the Coast Guard Academy’s long tradition of training cadets on the ocean and the Coast Guard’s role in protecting the nation. A photograph of the Barque Eagle, the Coast Guard Academy’s primary training vessel since 1946, with its sails unfurled and an American flag billowing in the wind, graces the top half of the stamp. On the bottom half of the stamp is a photograph of USCGC (United States Coast Guard Cutter) Bertholf, a Legend-class National Security Cutter whose missions include maritime drug interdiction and securing the maritime border, at sea with “USA” and “FOREVER” in the bottom left and right corners, respectively. Both cutters are tinted blue to evoke the water and sky. At the stamp’s center is a red block with white text in a sans serif font that reads, across two lines, “U.S. COAST GUARD ACADEMY 1876/150th ANNIVERSARY/2026.”
With this design, Alcalá wanted to honor the past while tying it to the present. “These two ships communicate the old and the new and suggest the way the Coast Guard Academy honors tradition but is a part of our modern joint force,” he explained.
USPS issues this stamp in honor of the Academy and the past, present, and future cadets whose commitment to service fully embodies the Coast Guard motto: Semper Paratus – Always Ready.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.