The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger - DGzRS, ; lit. ''German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons'') is responsible for

Search and Rescue 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 ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

territorial waters in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

and the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, including the Exclusive Economic Zone. The headquarters and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of the Society are located in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

. It was founded in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

on 29 May 1865. It owns 60

lifeboats Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

at 55 stations which are operated by 185 employed crew members and 800 volunteers. The society has about 2000 engagements every year. Up to 2019, it rescued approximately 85,000 persons. In 2019 it saved 81 lives, rescued 270 persons from critical situations and carried out 373 medical transports. The ''DGzRS'' is entirely financed by membership fees, private donations and legacies. Writer and honorary member Nikolai von Michalewsky has immortalized the ''DGzRS'' in his series of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novels by taking it as the model for his "Independent Society for Saving Spacewrecked".

Fleet

The ''DGzRS'' operates 59 vessels on 55 stations in the North Sea and Baltic. 20 of which are seagoing cruisers (German: ''Seenotrettungskreuzer'') between 20 m and 46 m of length and 39 vessels are classified as inshore lifeboats (German: ''Seenotrettungsboote''). A feature of the cruisers is that all but the 20-m class carry a fully equipped small lifeboat on deck which can quickly be released through a gate in the aft for conducting operations in shallow waters. This principle was developed by ''DGzRS'' in the 1950s. The 20-m class uses a

rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are ...

instead.

Lifeboats

Voluntary Lifeboats

Gallery

File:SK John T Essberger 2.jpg, SK ''John T. Essberger'', one of the large 44m-class cruisers of the DGzRS File:SAR.Hermann.Marwede.Helgoland.wmt.jpg, SK ''Hermann Marwede'', the only one of the large 46m-class cruisers of the DGzRS File:Hermann Marwede.jpg, The ''Marwede'' at sea File:Harro Koebke-P1190970.JPG, SK ''Harro Koebke'' the large 36,5m-class for the Baltic Sea in Sassnitz File:"Anneliese Kramer".jpg, SK ''Anneliese Kramer'' the new 28m-class for Cuxhaven File:20110813 Theodor Storm klein.jpg, SK ''Theodor Storm'' a 20m-class criuser File:050625-Kiel-x42-600.jpg, SK ''Berlin'', a 27m-class cruiser of the DGzRS, and a SeaKing helicopter of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

File:HermannHelms3.JPG, SK ''Herman Helms'', a cruiser of the 27m-class File:Vormann Jantzen.jpg, SK ''Vormann Jantzen'' File:SRB Eltje in Husum.JPG, S&R boat ''Eltje'' File:Dgzrs minden-hafen-list-sylt-germany.jpg, SK ''Minden'' in the port of

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

island File:DGzRS - Seenotkreuzer Bernhard Gruben mit Tochterboot Johann Fidi im Einsatz - 2013.jpg, SK ''Bernhard Gruben'' with daughter boat during an exercise in the North Sea off

Juist Juist () ( nds, Juist) is an island and municipality in the district of Aurich in Lower Saxony in Germany. The island is one of seven East Frisian Islands at the edge of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea. It is located between B ...

island File:DBP 1965 478 Dt Ges zur Rettung Schiffbruechiger.jpg, Commemorative stamp honoring the DGzRS's 100th anniversary (issued in 1965)

References

External links