Harry Gabriel Hamlet (27 August 1874 – 24 January 1954) was the seventh Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, from 1932 to 1936.

[1][3][4] After completion of training, Hamlet was commissioned as a third lieutenant on 27 April 1896 and was assigned to USRC Bear and served aboard her during the Overland Relief Expedition which involved the rescue of whalers trapped in Arctic ice near Point Barrow, Alaska.

[5] [Note 1] Hamlet reported aboard the newly reacquired USRC Thetis at Mare Island Navy Yard in 1899.

[7] In 1900, Hamlet became one of the first Revenue Cutter Service officers to attend the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

While in command of Marietta in the Bay of Biscay on 28 April 1919, Captain Hamlet rescued a crew of 47 persons from the USS James which was sinking at sea.

This rescue was made extremely difficult and hazardous owing to high seas, which threatened to send the two vessels crashing together.

In May 1922 Hamlet assumed command of USCGC Mojave at Honolulu, Hawaii and took her on a cruise through the Far East on the way to her new homeport of Boston, Massachusetts.

From 1928 until his appointment as commandant, he served as superintendent of the United States Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut.

With the support of Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William V. Pratt, however, Hamlet succeeded in persuading President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress from taking such action.

I revere that long line of expert seamen who by their devotion to duty and sacrifice of self have made it possible for me to be a member of a service honored and respected, in peace and war, throughout the world.