| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | SVG Coast Guard |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 2 December 1980 |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Specialist jurisdiction |
|
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Kingstown, Grenadines |
| Parent agency | Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force |
| Facilities | |
| Vessels | |
The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard (abbreviated as the SVG Coast Guard) is the maritime security and search and rescue element of the Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force. It was founded on 2 December 1980, when eight Police Force officers underwent training at the Royal Naval Engineering College in the United Kingdom.
On 14 October 2022, a patrol boat of the SVG Coast Guard intercepted and boarded a pirogue west of the island of Canouan. The coast guard vessel detained four Trinidad and Tobago nationals who were smuggling approximately 300 grams (11 oz) of cocaine and carrying small arms ammunition. [1] [2]
The SVG Coast Guard consists of approximately 55 servicemembers trained in Barbados, Antigua, the United States, or the United Kingdom. [3]
On 1 April 1984, the SVG Coast Guard adopted the blue uniforms of the SVG Police Force, but differentiated its rank structure to follow a naval system similar to that of the Royal Navy. Its headquarters and main docks is in Kingstown on Saint Vincent, but it also operates several other bases on Calliaqua, Union Island, Bequia, and Canouan. [3] [4]
| SVG Coast Guard Ranks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Officer | Rank | Commander | Lieutenant Commander | Lieutenant | Sub Lieutenant |
| Epaulette Insignia |  |  |  |  | |
| Enlisted | Rank | Chief Petty Officer | Petty Officer | Leading Seaman | Able Seaman |
| Epaulette Insignia | |||||
The George McIntosh was the first patrol boat in the SVG Coast Guard, built in and funded by the United Kingdom. It was accepted on 21 November 1981, and immediately began search and rescue operations, saving the crew of the sinking motor vessel Simone V in January 1982. The Canadian government funded two additional 27-foot (8.2 m) patrol boats in October 1982, which were built domestically in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and were called Larakai and Brighton. The Captain Hugh Mulzac, a 120-foot (37 m) patrol boat, arrived in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 1987 after sailing from the United States, which funded and upkeeps the vessel. [3] The Captain Hugh Mulzac became the new flagship of the Coast Guard, and is operates in both maritime security and search and rescue roles. [5] In more recent years, the small boats Larakai and Brighton were decommissioned, and were replaced by several rigid hull inflatable boats and the larger patrol boat Hairoun. [3] [6] The need for a sea ambulance was filled in October 2019, when the Balliceaux arrived as a new ship in the fleet. [7]
| Ship Name | Image | Type | Commissioned | Origin | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrol Boats | |||||
| SVG 04 Hairoun | 40-foot patrol boat | 2012 |  United States | In service | |
| SVG 05 George McIntosh | 75-foot patrol boat | 21 November 1981 |  United Kingdom | Decommissioned in 2012 | |
| SVG 07 Larakai | 27-foot patrol boat | October 1982 |  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Decommissioned | |
| SVG 08 Brighton | 27-foot patrol boat | October 1982 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Decommissioned | |
| SVG 08 Chatham Bay | 24-foot Boston Whaler boat | In service | |||
| SVG 09 |  | 33-foot Defender-class safe boat | 25 May 2018 | United States | In service |
| SVG Captain Mulzac | 120-foot patrol boat | 13 June 1987 | United States | Decommissioned | |
| SVG 01 Captain Hugh Mulzac |  | 140-foot patrol boat | 21 January 2019 |  Jamaica | In service; flagship of the Coast Guard |
| Rigid hull inflatable boats | |||||
| SVG 02 | Rigid hull inflatable boat | ||||
| SVG 03 | Rigid hull inflatable boat | ||||
| Other ships | |||||
| SVG 05 Balliceaux | Sea ambulance | 15 October 2019 |  The Netherlands (Funded by United States) | In service | |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean.
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 has similarities to both.
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:
The Police Coast Guard (PCG) is a division of the Singapore Police Force that combines the functions of marine police and coast guard in Singapore. Its duties include the law enforcement and search and rescue operations in collaboration with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority. It is headquartered at Brani Regional Base on Pulau Brani.
E.T. Joshua Airport(ICAO: TVSV), formerly known as Arnos Vale Airport, was an airport located in Arnos Vale, near Kingstown, on the island of Saint Vincent. The airport was named for Ebenezer Theodore Joshua, the first chief minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The airport was a hub for Grenadine Airways, Mustique Airways and SVG Air.
SVG AIR is an airline company located at the Argyle International Airport, Argyle, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines that operates both scheduled and charter flight services within the Eastern Caribbean islands as far north as Jamaica and as far south as Guyana.
Hugh Nathaniel Mulzac was an African-Caribbean member of the United States Merchant Marine. He earned a Master rating in 1918, which should have qualified him to command a ship, but racial discrimination prevented this from occurring until September 29, 1942.
Canouan Airport is the airport located on the island of Canouan in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The airport serves the surrounding tourist areas and environs of the Grenadines and is a major destination during the Caribbean winter leisure season. Aside from facilitating regular passenger flights, the airport is also open for international corporate jet operations and charter flights. Canouan Airport was the main business aviation airport in St. Vincent and the Grenadines before the opening of Argyle International Airport. The terminal has a CIP lounge and other facilities for international passengers and a domestic hub for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is the second largest airport in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, after Argyle International Airport. The airport often served as the alternate airport for E.T. Joshua Airport, now a decommissioned airport in St. Vincent and other Grenadines airports.
Argyle International Airport is an international airport on the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in Argyle, about 5.17 miles (8.32 km) from the capital Kingstown.
J. F. Mitchell Airport, also known as Bequia Airport, is the airport serving Bequia island, Grenadines Parish, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, including Grenadines Parish' capital Port Elizabeth. It is named after Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell, KCMG, PC, MP, former Premier (1972-1974) and Prime Minister (1984-2000) of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In 1990, a land reclamation project was undertaken in Paget Farm for the construction of the island's J.F. Mitchell Airport.
The County class is a class of offshore patrol vessels built for the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard (JDF). Based on the Dutch Damen Stan 4207 patrol vessel, the first vessel entered service in 2005. Three were originally purchased, but only one remains in service with the JDF. In 2017, an additional two vessels were purchased and both remain in service as of 2023. The Jamaican vessels are equipped with a stern launching ramp, capable of deploying and retrieving a small jet boat, for rescue or pursuit. The vessels' bridge electronics were supplied by Alphatron Marine.
USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) was a United States Coast Guard Island class patrol cutter. She was the 26th ship of her class. The second ship of the Coast Guard to bear the name, Monomoy was named after Monomoy Island which lies off the coast of Cape Cod.
USCGC Robert Yered (WPC-1104) is a Sentinel-class cutter based in Miami, Florida. She was launched on November 23, 2012, and was commissioned on February 15, 2012. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Congressional Representative for the district containing the vessel's base, met the ship when she arrived in Miami on January 27, 2013.
USCGC Joseph Napier is a Sentinel-class cutter homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is the fifteenth Sentinel class to be delivered, and the third of six to be assigned to Puerto Rico. she was commissioned on 29 January 2016.
India–Saint Vincent and the Grenadines relations refers to the international relations that exist between India and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Embassy of India in Paramaribo, Suriname is concurrently accredited to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Dame Susan Dilys Dougan is the Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines since 1 August 2019. She is the first woman to hold the office.
General elections were held in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on 5 November 2020. Nomination day was 20 October 2020. The result was a victory for the Unity Labour Party, its fifth in a row; the party won nine of the fifteen seats, gaining one seat. These elections marked the first time since 1998 that the party which received the most votes did not win the most seats and the first time since 1994 that the New Democratic Party won the popular vote.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was confirmed to have reached Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in March 2020. The first confirmed case was discovered on 11 March 2020.
Captain Hugh Mulzac is a County-class offshore patrol vessel of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard. Built for the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard as HMJS Middlesex in 2005, the vessel was purchased in 2019 by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It operates in the territorial waters of the island nation, performing maritime security and search and rescue missions. It is the second ship to be named for Hugh Mulzac, a Vincentian native who was the first African-American commercial ship captain, commanding the SS Booker T. Washington in World War II.
USCGC Reef Shark is the 69th Marine Protector-class coastal patrol boat to be built. Her home port is Juneau, Alaska, where she is moored in Auke Bay.
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