On January 28, 1915, the U.S. Coast Guard was formed by combining the Revenue Cutter Service with the Life-Saving Service. The law provided retirement of Kimball and many of the services' older employees. During its 44 year existence, the Life-Saving Service provided help to 28,121 ships and 178,741 people. During this time only 1,455 people lost their lives in rescues or attempted rescues by the USLSS.