History
While the Netherlands Coastguard was officially established on 26 February 1987, [7] a less formal Dutch coastguard had been active since 1883. In 1882 the gunboat HNLMS Adder sunk off Scheveningen with the death of all 65 aboard. The public outcry that followed led to reforms, including an improved system of observing, reporting and assisting ships in distress off the coast, with better cooperation between lighthouses and government agencies. [7]
After World War II the area that could be covered off-coast became larger with new technologies such as radar and better means of communication. At the same time, government desire to protect Dutch interests in the North Sea, such as fishery, and extraction of oil, gas, sand and gravel, led to each ministry establishing its own department with, at one point, over twenty government organisations at work off the Dutch coast. To stop this fragmentation, in 1984 Minister Smit-Kroes of Traffic and water management ordered a review to examine how to make guarding the coast of the Netherlands more efficient and effective. The results of this review were published in 1986 and led to the creation of a single coastguard agency, namely the Netherlands Coastguard. [7]
Initially, the Coast Guard headquarters was housed in a building belonging to the coast radio station Scheveningen Radio [ nl ] in IJmuiden. In 1995 the Coast Guard was assigned to the Ministry of Defense and on 23 November 2001 the headquarters moved to the national Navy HQ in Den Helder.
The Netherlands Armed Forces are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Netherlands Army, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. The service branches are supplemented by various joint support organisations. In addition, local conscript forces exist on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba (AruMil) and Curaçao (CurMil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Netherlands Marine Corps. The armed forces are organisationally part of the Ministry of Defence.
A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with search and rescue without law enforcement authority. In most countries, a typical coast guard's functions are distinct from those of the navy and the transit police, while in certain countries they have similarities to both.
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search is conducted over. These include mountain rescue; ground search and rescue, including the use of search and rescue dogs ; urban search and rescue in cities; combat search and rescue on the battlefield and air-sea rescue over water.
The Royal Netherlands Navy is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is one of the four Netherlands Armed Forces. It was founded on 8 January 1488, making it the third oldest naval force in the world.
Defense on Aruba is the responsibility of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Military forces that protect Aruba include the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Netherlands Marine Corps and the Netherlands Coastguard. There is also a small indigenous "Arubaanse Militie" of about platoon strength, and a shared Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard consisting of three Damen Stan 4100 patrol boats.
His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is the section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the UK Maritime Search and Rescue Region. This includes the mobilisation, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons either in distress at sea, or to persons at risk of injury or death on the cliffs or shoreline of the United Kingdom. Since 2015 it has also been responsible for land-based search and rescue helicopter operations.
HNLMS De Ruyter is a De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy. She was laid down in 2000, launched in 2002, and commissioned in 2004, the third ship of her class to enter service. The frigate is named after Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter (1607–1676).
Vietnam Coast Guard is the coast guard and officially a uniformed people's armed force of Vietnam. It is purposed to perform search and rescue duties, along with their duties of combating and preventing smuggling, piracy, and trade fraud in Vietnamese waters.
The Bangladesh Coast Guard is the maritime law enforcement force of Bangladesh. It is a paramilitary force which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Its officers and sailors are transferred from the Bangladesh Navy, and most of the medical officers are transferred from the Bangladesh Army. The Bangladesh Coast Guard also performs the duty of maritime border security of Bangladesh. The headquarters is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The coast guard has 3,339 personnel and 63 ships. A modernisation plan named Coast Guard Goal 2030 was undertaken to enhance its capabilities.
An emergency tow vessel, also called emergency towing vessel, (ETV) is a multi purpose boat used by state authorities to tow disabled vessels on high seas in order to prevent dangers to man and environment. The disabled vessel is either towed to a safe haven or kept in place against wind and current until commercial assistance by tug boats has arrived on site or until it has been repaired to the extent of being able to manoeuvre on its own. The need for ETVs as a preventive measure has arisen since the number of available commercial salvage tugs was reduced while potential dangers from individual vessels have increased. E.g. Spain has fourteen, Turkey has eleven, Germany operates eight, Norway has seven, France has five, Sweden three and the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Iceland and Finland each have one official emergency tug boat. Australia also operates emergency response vessels. The United Kingdom's four strong ETV fleet was to be disbanded in September 2011 due to budget cuts but the two vessels operating in Scottish waters received an extension of contract until the end of 2011.
The Sri Lanka Coast Guard (SLCG) is a Sri Lankan non-ministerial government department tasked with coast guard duties within the territorial waters of Sri Lanka. It comes under the purview of the Ministry of Defence and its members are all naval personnel. The current Director General of the SLCG is Rear Admiral Pujitha Vithana
The Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (DCCG) is the coast guard of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Dutch Caribbean. The unit is a joint effort between all constituent countries within the Kingdom. Prior to the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, it was known as the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Coast Guard and was a division of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
The Caribbean Netherlands is a geographic region of the Netherlands located outside of Europe, in the Caribbean, consisting of three so-called special municipalities. These are the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, as they are also known in legislation, or the BES islands for short. The islands are officially classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas territories of the European Union; as such, European Union law does not automatically apply to them.
The Admiral Benelux (ABNL) is the Commanding Officer of the combined military staff of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Naval Component of the Belgian Armed Forces.
The Joint Arctic Command is a direct Level II authority in the Danish Defence. Joint Arctic Command's primary mission in peacetime is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The command also handles tasks such as fisheries inspection, search and rescue (SAR), patient transport and other tasks that support the civil society. In short, the Joint Arctic Command handles military tasks, coast guard duties and disaster response - all in one organisation.
The Albanian Coast Guard is the maritime law enforcement force of Albania. It is a paramilitary force which is under the authority of the Ministry of Defence and its operational duties in peacetime are organized and commanded by the Inter-Institutional Operational Maritime Center (QNOD). The Coast Guard has the responsibility for the security of Albanian territorial waters, maritime surveillance and law enforcement, as well as search and rescue. In operational combat situations in peacetime or wartime, the direction and command of the Albanian Coast Guard passes to military authorities and Albanian Naval Force.
The Kenya Coast Guard Service is a specialized maritime force of the Republic of Kenya, responsible for law enforcement on national waters, including on the oceans, lakes and rivers. The force is mandated to maintain maritime safety, security, pollution control and sanitation. It is also responsible for apprehending and prosecuting offenders.
In April 2018, the Dutch Government approved a multi-year investment program for the Dutch Navy and allocated funds for the 2018–2030 period. The Dutch Defence Materiel Administration (DMO) is in charge of the procurement of these new ships.
Iliria-class patrol vessels is an Albanian Coast Guard class of patrol vessels, that is based on the Damen Stan 4207 patrol vessel design. The first ship of this class Iliria, from which the class takes its name, was produced in Gorinchem, Netherlands by Damen Group and was commissioned in 2008. The other three vessels were built locally starting from 2009 to 2014 in Albania by the state-owned Pashaliman Shipyard. Over a dozen navies, coast guards and other government agencies operate vessels based on this design. While some of those vessels are equipped for purely civilian patrols, the Albanian ships are armed with a remote-controlled 20mm Nexter M621 NARWHAL cannon.
The Myanmar Coast Guard is a maritime law enforcement agency formed to safeguard Myanmar's ocean-based blue economy including marine tourism, maritime trade, deep seaport services, offshore oil and natural gas production and marine fishing, to prevent illegal trespassing in the seas, and to maintain the rule of law at sea. The Myanmar Coast Guard has a constabulary role in the protection of maritime interests, provides search and rescue for victims in the sea, and works toward sea environmental conservation, monitoring a wide range of activities underwater and above water in Myanmar's water territory.
