The United States Coast Guard is the coastal defense, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement branch of the United States Armed Forces and is one of the country's eight uniformed services. It carries out three basic roles, which are further subdivided into eleven statutory missions. The three roles are: Maritime safety Maritime security Maritime stewardship
The eleven statutory missions as defined by law are divided into homeland security missions and non-homeland security missions. Non-homeland security missions include: Marine safety, search and rescue, aids to navigation, living marine resources (fisheries law enforcement), marine environmental protection, and ice operations Homeland security missions include: Ports, waterways, and coastal security (PWCS); drug interdiction; migrant interdiction; defense readiness; and other law enforcement.
A given unit within the Coast Guard may be carrying out several missions at once. For example, a RHIB assigned to maritime security may also watch for out-of-place or missing aids to navigation, pollution, and unsafe boating practices.
Maritime safety
Search and rescue See National Search and Rescue Committee
Search and Rescue (SAR) is one of the Coast Guard's oldest missions. The National Search and Rescue Plan designates the United States Coast Guard as the federal agency responsible for maritime SAR operations in U.S. and international waters, and the United States Air Force as the federal agency responsible for inland SAR. Both agencies maintain Rescue Coordination Centers to coordinate this effort.
Inshore rescues are usually performed by 25-foot, 29-foot, 45-foot, and 47-foot boats. HH-60 and HH-65 helicopters serve on both the high seas and inshore. Any Coast Guard asset in the vicinity of a case may respond.
Search and rescue operations are numerous and varied. A sample of operations in February 2005 included: Coast Guard Station Chetco River, Oregon, dispatched its rigid-hull inflatable boat with a crew and an emergency medical technician on board to evacuate a fisherman whose hand was nearly amputated in an accident. The fisherman's hand was reattached. A helicopter rescued two recreational snowmobilers in Anchor Bay, Michigan, whose vehicle crashed through the ice. Boats from Coast Guard Station Point Allerton in Hull came to the assistance of the fishing vessel Lady Lorraine, which was on fire off Scituate, Massachusetts. Aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay, California, searched waters off Oregon for a missing light aircraft.
Large-scale search and rescue operations occur less frequently, but often involve many Coast Guard vessels and aircraft from a large area. Helicopters and rescue swimmers participated in the 36-hour rescue of six crew members from the tanker Bow Mariner, which exploded and sank off of Chincoteague, Virginia, on February 28, 2004. Two rescue swimmers were awarded the Coast Guard Medal for their efforts to keep the rescued mariners alive.
Another large-scale operation took place in December 2004 in the Aleutian Islands, when the cargo ship Selendang Ayu, of Malaysian registry, broke in two in heavy seas. The Selendang Ayu carried soybeans, 424,000 gallons (1,600 m³) of fuel oil, and 18,000 gallons (68 m³) of diesel. The operation saved 12 of the ship's 18 crew members and prevented harm to nearby wildlife. Six of the ship's crew members died when a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crashed during the rescue.
Occasionally, Coast Guard rescuers are used in non-maritime situations. On January 11, 2007, the Toledo Blade reported that a worker who was dangling from a 110-foot (33 m) grain elevator in Ottawa Lake, Michigan, was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter."Coast Guard helicopter rescues man dangling from grain elevator." Toledo Blade. 11 January 2007.
Marine safety
Coast Guard personnel inspect commercial vessels, respond to pollution, investigate marine casualties and merchant mariners, manage waterways, and license merchant mariners. Coast Guard officials also draft recommendations for the transit of hazardous cargo by ship, such as liquid natural gas. The Coast Guard carries out investigations to determine the cause of accidents on American-flagged (Flag State) ships or foreign ships in American waters (Port State).
Among the activities of the Coast Guard is inspection of commercial boats carrying passengers for hire. Vessels carrying more than six passengers must show a Certificate of Inspection; this indicates the crews of such vessels have undergone drug testing, that the vessel's firefighting and lifesaving equipment is adequate and in good condition, and machinery, hull construction, wiring, stability, safety railings, and navigation equipment meet Federal standards."Coast Guard to be on alert for illegal charter boats during pony swim." Norfolk Daily Times, July 25, 2007. accessed 7-25-2007
The Coast Guard performs its marine safety mission by conducting the following activities: Marine inspection: The Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection has field level responsibilities of the marine inspection mission. The two main components are Flag State responsibility and Port State responsibility. The four basic categories of vessels subject to inspection are Passenger, Tanker, Cargo and Special use vessels. There are two kinds of inspections: Safety and Security. Marine investigation: Marine casualty investigation and personnel actions. Waterways Management: Provides marine safety information to the public, and conducts marine event permitting, bridge administration and marine transportation system services. Port safety: Prevent accidental damage to ports. Merchant mariner credentialing: The Coast Guard is responsible for evaluating, certifying, and credentialing mariners that work on U.S. merchant ships.
Recreational boating safety The Coast Guard, through the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, along with the United States Power Squadrons, perform Vessel Safety Checks (VSC) on recreational boaters throughout the country. Qualified Vessel Safety Check inspectors check for proper registration, an adequate number and type of personal flotation devices (PFDs), loaded fire extinguishers, and the ability to send a distress signal, either visibly by flare or flag, or by radio. Although Auxiliarist and United States Power Squadron VSC inspectors do not have law enforcement authority, Coast Guardsmen can issue citations to vessels without adequate equipment, and in extraordinary cases terminate a voyage and order a recreational boat to return to port. Auxiliarists also visit marine dealers and retailers to ensure that an updated schedule of all public education courses and VSC stations with contact phone numbers is displayed at the marine dealer, as well as other Coast Guard publications on recreational boating safety and federal boating laws.Coast Guard's Marine Dealer Visitation Program guidelines retrieved December 30, 2013
Ice operations
United States See National Ice Center
International See International Ice Patrol
Icebergs off the Grand Banks have always posed a problem for shipping. In 1833, the Lady of the Lake struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of 70 lives. Between 1882 and 1890, four more cargo vessels were sunk and 40 more damaged.
Following the sinking of the in April 1912, an international conference of major Atlantic maritime powers agreed to fund USCG patrols to locate and report icebergs in the North Atlantic, in particular off the Grand Banks. The International Ice Patrol was founded as a result of this conference.
The first ships for the International Ice Patrol were the U.S. Navy cruisers and , which were dispatched for the remainder of the 1912 season. The Navy could not spare ships for these patrols in 1913, and the Revenue Cutter Service assigned USRC Seneca and to patrol. The Revenue Cutter Service was tasked with maintaining the IIP on February 7, 1914.
The IIP was continued into 1941, during the World War II, to allow the United States a legal pretext to sail to Greenland. In 1946, the IIP resumed operations flying three modified B-17 bombers and using cutters such as the . Today, this mission is carried out by Coast Guard HC-130 aircraft from CGAS Elizabeth City, North Carolina, forward-deployed to Gander, Newfoundland. These aircraft report sightings to the International Ice Patrol headquarters in Groton, Connecticut. Officers assigned to the IIP are required to hold not only a security clearance, but possess at least a master's degree in Marine science.Enlisted-Professional Military Education Study Guide, Requirement 3-5.02-K
Maritime mobility The Coast Guard maintains the DGPS radio navigation system, as well as buoys, daymarks, and other visual aids to navigation [ATONs] in U.S. waters and in selected foreign waters—a major activity of Coast Guard buoy tenders, and of special Auxiliary patrols. The Coast Guard has three large icebreakers, and many cutters can clear ice-clogged waterways for essential seagoing traffic.
Homeland and maritime security Maritime security missions are coordinated through the Coast Guard Office of Law Enforcement, which is part of the Operations Directorate headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Coast Guard imposed restrictions on traffic in American waters. Vessels over 300 tons displacement must file notice within 96 hours of estimated time of arrival in American waters, or 24 hours for short voyages. Liquefied natural gas carriers are forbidden to enter American waters without escort and to anchor near major cities. Coast Guard and Auxiliary units patrol key harbors and waterfronts and intercept foreign merchant vessels for identification and crew checks. The Coast Guard stepped up patrols in waters near New York City and Washington in 2004 after receiving reports of increased threats.
Maritime security patrols increase in number and intensity around special events, such as the Super Bowl, national political conventions, and Independence Day celebrations. Such patrols were provided during the 2004 Republican Party national convention in New York City; the June 2004 G8 Summit at Sea Island, Georgia near Savannah, Ga.; and the January 20, 2005, presidential inauguration in the Potomac and Anacostia rivers of Washington, D.C.; and the funeral of former President Gerald R. Ford in January, 2007. In addition, following the July 7, 2005 London bombings, Coast Guard units were placed on a higher level of alert.
Coast Guard helicopters enforce temporary flight restriction zones in rotary wing air intercept missions with the North American Air Defense Command, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the United States Secret Service.
As part of the Coast Guard's Deepwater program, cutters will carry 70 unarmed surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles.
Port and waterways security The Coast Guard is responsible for the security of 361 U.S. ports and 95,000 statute miles (150,000 km) of waterways.
The local Coast Guard commander has legal authority over shipping in American waters as Captain of the Port. This role has increased in importance since the Sept. 11 attacks. The Captain of the Port can declare inland waters in his jurisdiction to be "special security zones", wherein commercial vessels must report their movements to the nearest Coast Guard station.