Philip F. Smith was the second Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, serving as the enlisted advisor to the Commandant of the Coast Guard, from 1973 to 1977. Smith became the Master Chief Petty Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard on August 1, 1973, succeeding Charles Calhoun. He enlisted in the Coast Guard on September 20, 1949, and after recruit training served on board the buoy tender USCGC Rhododendron, based at Seattle, Washington. After attending Yeoman School at the Coast Guard Training Center at Groton, Connecticut in 1950, he returned to Seattle to serve in the Operations Division, 13th Coast Guard District. Following a tour of sea duty on board the USCGC Bering Strait in the Pacific out of Honolulu from September 1952 to May 1954, he returned again to Seattle to serve as Yeom