German Federal Coast Guard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The coast guard of Germany (German: Koordinierungsverbund Küstenwache) is an association of a number of federal agencies. It is not a single entity, like the coast guards of other countries, for instance the United States Coast Guard. Its prime tasks are border protection, maritime environmental protection, shipping safety, fishery protection and customs enforcement.
The agencies that comprise the Küstenwache have a common plan of action and direct their operations from two Coast Guard Centers (German: Küstenwachzentren), Neustadt (Holstein) for the Baltic Sea and Cuxhaven for the North Sea.
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[edit] Structure and responsibilities
Units and personnel from these federal ministries and agencies form the coast guard:
- Bundespolizei / Federal Police (Ministry of the Interior)
- Waterways and Shipping Offices (Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration [WSV] / Federal Ministry for Traffic, Construction and City Development)
- Wasserzoll / Waterways Customs Office (Federal Customs Administration / Federal Ministry of Finance)
- Federal Agency for Agriculture and Nutrition [BLE] (Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food, and Agriculture)
[edit] Coast guard personnel
The personnel serving with the Küstenwache are policemen (in case of the Bundespolizei and Wasserzoll) as well as civilians from the Waterways and Shipping Offices and the federal agencies. They do not have combatant status like United States Coast Guard personnel. However, police officers serving with the coast guard retain their usual powers, adjusted to the maritime nature of their job.
[edit] Ships and other vehicles of the German Coast Guard
Numerous ships and boats from the afore-mentioned institutions (Bundespolizei: six ships; Wasserzoll: eight coustoms cutters, four customs cruisers; WSV: three seafit multi-purpose ships; BLE: three fishery protection boats, three fisphery research ships) are in use, 27 ships in total.
The ships are all marked with the letting "Küstenwache" as well as a black-red-gold signet on the hull and the coast guard's coat-of-arms; however, the hull colour differs from agency to agency: blue for the Bundespolizei, green for the Wasserzoll and black for the WSV.
A number of helicopters and planes are in use as well.
Ships include the following:
- BP17 Bayreuth
- BP21 Bredstedt
- BP22 Neustrelitz
- MS Hiddensee
- MS Priwall
- MS Kalkgrund
- FSB Seeadler
- Hamburg
- Meerkatze
- SUBS Mellum
