The Norwegian Coast Guard ( no, Kystvakten) is a maritime military force which is part of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The coast guard's responsibility are for

fisheries inspection Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

enforcement,

border control Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

, law enforcement, shipping inspection, environmental protection, and

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 ...

. It operates throughout Norway's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), internal waters and territorial waters. It is headquartered at Sortland Naval Base. In 2013 the Coast Guard had 370 employees, including conscripts, and a budget of 1.0 billion

Norwegian krone The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''� ...

. The force is subdivided into three main divisions. The Outer Coast Guard covers the EEZ and consists of three ''Nordkapp''-class offshore patrol vessels, three ''Barentshav''-class offshore patrol vessels as well as ''Ålesund'', ''Svalbard'' and ''Harstad''. The Inner Coast Guard consists of five ''Nornen''-class patrol vessels. The Coast Guard has air support of the

P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.Gulf War and the 2014 destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.

Jurisdiction and capabilities

The Coast Guard's main task is to assert and uphold Norwegian sovereignty over its inland waters, territorial waters and exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Its structure is centered around a peace-time role, with judicial basis in the ''Coast Guard Act'' (''Kystvaktloven'') of 1997. It states that the authority of the Coast Guard lies with the primary agency responsible for a situation and that the Coast Guard's powers supplement these. However, the Coast Guard also holds a series of independent capabilities in which it can take action without external instruction. The act also grants the Coast Guard law enforcement jurisdiction in given circumstances. KV Nordkapp in Bodø 3

The Coast Guard is centered around providing services to a range of public agencies. These include the Coastal Administration, the Customs and Excise Authorities, the Directorate of Fisheries, the Environmental Agency, the

Institute of Marine Research The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research ( no, Havforskningsinstituttet) is a national consultative research institute which is owned by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. The institute performs research and provides advisory services ...

, the Mapping Authority, the Navy and the

Police Service The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...

. This grants the Coast Guard a series of control rights including

and

for the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

. The most extensive work is carried out in relation to fisheries. This involves both inspection and assistance. Assistance duties to fishing vessels and other vessels at sea include

firefighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...

, including the use of water cannons and smoke divers; removing foreign objects at sea; and mechanical help, diver assistance and towing for vessels which have experienced motor breakdown. Offshore vessels also feature equipment to contain oil spills. The Coast Guard is one of many agencies which can be called upon for

(SAR) missions. All such activity is either coordinated by the operations center of the respective police district, or by the

Joint Rescue Coordination Centers A rescue co-ordination centre (RCC) is a primary search and rescue facility in a country that is staffed by supervisory personnel and equipped for co-ordinating and controlling search and rescue operations. RCCs are responsible for a geographic ar ...

in Southern Norway and

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...

, respectively.

Structure

The Norwegian Coast Guard is a formation within the Royal Norwegian Navy. It is led by the Inspector of the Norwegian Coast Guard, who is subordinate to the Inspector General of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The Coast Guard is one of two seaborne formations of the Navy, the other being the Norwegian Fleet. These share land-based support functions, such as naval bases and academies. Sortland Hafen Militär

The Coast Guard had its command and operative headquarters at Sortland Naval Base in downtown Sortland. It has a secondary base at

Haakonsvern Haakonsvern is the main base of the Royal Norwegian Navy and the largest naval base in the Nordic area. The base is located at Mathopen within Bergen municipality, about 15 km south-west of the city centre. Around 5,400 people work at the base ...

in Bergen, which is the primary base of the Navy. The Coast Guard uses four shared naval schools, the

Norwegian Naval Academy The Royal Norwegian Naval Academy (RNoNA, ''Sjøkrigsskolen'' in Norwegian) is located at Laksevåg in Bergen. It was formally established 27 October 1817 in Frederiksvern. The institution educates officers for the Royal Norwegian Navy. History ...

in Bergen, RNoMS Tordenskjold at Haakonsvern, RNoMS Harald Hårfagre in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

and the Navy Officer Candidate Schools in Bergen. Unlike the rest of the Navy, the Coast Guard has some of its ships owned and partially operated by private contractors. Four vessels, those in the ''Barentshav''-class and the ''Reine''-class, are owned by Remøy Management. The Fosnavåg-based company leases the ships for a reported 160 million

per year to the Coast Guard. This includes all responsibility for maintenance and running of the galley and machine room. ''Ålesund'' is owned by Fosnavåg Shipping, while the ''Nornen''-class is jointly owned by Remøy Management and Remøy Shipping. In 2012 the Coast Guard carried out about 1,700 inspections and issued warnings to about a quarter of these. It also participated in 171 search and rescue missions. In 2013 it had a revenue of NOK 1,027 million. It had 829 employees that year, consisting of 382 military, 18 civilian employees and 429 conscripts. It produced 3,812 patrol-days and flew 599 helicopter-hours. Coast Guard vessels have two crews, which alternate between being at sea and are on leave. This allows for high utilization of the fleet.

Equipment

The fleet consists of fourteen vessels; nine are part of the Outer Coast Guard and five are part of the Inner Coast Guard. The Coast Guard does not itself operate any aircraft; these are instead operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) or by private contractors.

Outer Coast Guard vessels

The Coast Guard is replacing its existing ''Nordkapp''-class vessels with significantly larger ice-capable ships, each displacing just under 10,000 tonnes. The three new ''Jan Mayen''-class ships are armed with a 57mm main gun and capable of operating up to two medium-sized helicopters. The ships have an overall length of 446 feet with a beam of 72 feet and a draft of 20 feet. The maximum speed is 22 knots with more than 60 days endurance and the complement is up to 100 people. The first ship, ''KV Jan Mayen'', was launched by the Vard Tulcea shipyard in Romania in 2021 and towed to the Vard Langsten shipyard in

Tomrefjord Tomra or Tomrefjord is a village located in Vestnes Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located just south of the village of Vik at the end of the Tomrefjorden. The village of Fiksdal lies to the northwest. The village ha ...

for completion. She was christened into service in November 2022, having started builder's sea trials in October. Delivery was anticipated in early 2023. The second ship of the class, KV ''Bjørnøya'', was transferred to Norway for her final fit out at the Vard Langsten yard in February/March 2022. NoCGV ''Svalbard'' (W303) has a displacement of 6,375 tonnes and an overall length of . It has a complement of 48, is armed with a Bofors 57 mm gun and can carry two helicopters. It predominantly serves

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

and the surrounding waters. The Coast Guard operated three ''Nordkapp''-class offshore patrol vessels, ''Nordkapp'' (W320), ''Senja'' (W321) and ''Andenes'' (W322). They were predominantly used in the Barents Sea. They have a displacement of 3,200&tonnes and an overall length of . They operate at and have a crew of 50. They are armed with a Bofors 57 mm gun and four

20 mm 20 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. It is typically used to distinguish smaller-caliber weapons, commonly called "guns", from larger-caliber "cannons" (e.g. machine gun vs. autocannon). All 20 mm cartridges ha ...

guns. They have space for one helicopter and are equipped with two torpedo tubes. In 2022, it was indicated that ''Nordkapp'' would be transferred to the navy to operate in a mine countermeasures command role while ''Senja'' was decommissioned in 2021. The ''Barentshav''-class is made up of three vessels, ''Barentshav'' (W340), ''Bergen'' (W341) and ''Sortland'' (W342). Compared to older models they have been equipped with more extensive oil spill protection equipment. Supplemented with extensive firefighting and towing capabilities, they are built for expedient response for shipwrecking. They have a displacement of 4,000 tonnes, a length overall of and a speed of . Powered by liquefied natural gas, they have a crew of 40. NoCGV Ålesund in Bergen

NoCGV ''Harstad'' (W318) is primarily designed as a tow boat. It is well equipped to handle oil spills and is designed to handle both deep-submergence rescue vehicle and

remotely controlled vehicle A remote-control vehicle is defined as any vehicle that is teleoperated by a means that does not restrict its motion with an origin external to the device. This is often a radio-control device, a cable between the controller and the vehicle, ...

s. It is equipped with a

Bofors 40 mm gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

. ''Harstad'' has a displacement of 3,130 tonnes, a length and a crew of 22. It has an exceptional range and is used to refuel the outposts on Jan Mayen, Bjørnøya and Hopen. NoCGV ''Ålesund'' (W312) is a general-purpose offshore patrol vessel. It operates in Southern Norway and is mostly used for fisheries inspection in the Norwegian Sea. It has a displacement of 1,357 tonnes, is long has a crew of 20 to 25. It is armed with a Bofors 40 mm gun.

Inner Coast Guard vessels

The Inner Coast Guard operates five ''Nornen''-class patrol vessels, ''Nornen'' (W33), ''Farm'' (W331), ''Heimdal'' (W332), ''Njord'' (W333) and ''Tor'' (W334). They have a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of and a

length overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

of . They have a compartment of 20 crew and are armed with a

12.7 mm This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge case length. *''OAL'' refers to the overall length of the cartridge. *''Bullet'' refers to the diameter of the bullet. Some me ...

machine gun. Their diesel-electric engines provide a top speed of .

Aircraft

The 333 Squadron operates six Lockheed P-3N Orion

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

and maritime patrol aircraft. During peacetime their main role is intelligence and surveillance through a range of data sensing equipment. The major advantage of the Orions is that they can cover a very large area; some missions allow it to monitor . During wartime they would be used for anti-submarine warfare and intelligence. The Orions have a range of and are based at

Andøya Air Station Andøya Air Station ( no, Andøya Flystasjon) is a military air station in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The station is located near the village of Andenes at the northern end of the island of Andøya in the Vesterålen archip ...

Lufttransport Lufttransport is a Norwegian helicopter and fixed-wing airline that operates primarily air ambulance helicopters and planes for the Norwegian and Swedish governments. In addition the airline offers services including surveillance for the Norwegian ...

operates two Dornier 228 aircraft out of Svalbard Airport, Longyear. These fly a combined 400 hours per year for the Coast Guard for aerial surveillance of Svalbard. NCGV Helicopter landing CG Senja off north of Norway

NCGV Helicopter landing CG Senja off north of Norway

The 337 Squadron operate six Westland Lynx Mk 86 helicopters for the Coast Guard. These can be stationed on the ''Nordkapp''-class, the ''Barentshav''-class and on ''Svalbard''. They are used to extend the mobility and efficiency of the vessel's operation. At any given time at least two Coast Guard vessels have a Lynx on board, which remain on two-week cycles. They are predominantly used to patrol the coast off Troms, Finnmark and the Barents Sea, including the seas off Svalbard. The Lynxes have been plagued with technical problems causing them often to be out of service. The helicopters have a range of , are long and have a cruising speed of . Norway was in the process of replacing the Lynx with the

NHIndustries NH90 The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium-sized, twin-engine, multi-role military helicopter. It was developed in response to NATO requirements for a battlefield helicopter which would also be capable of being operated in naval environments. The NH90 ...

. Fourteen units were ordered, of which eight were to be used with Coast Guard vessels. Six more was to be used by the ''Fridtjof Nansen''-class frigates. Operationally the helicopters were larger, with a length of , have a higher cruising speed of and have an improved range of . In June 2022 the Norwegian Minister of Defense announced the Norwegian Defence Material Agency was given the task to terminate the NH90 contract due to NHI not meeting contractual obligations, and announced that the NH90 is taken out of operation with immediate effect.

History

Predecessors

Following the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 there arose a debate concerning access to fishing in Norwegian territorial waters. The predominant concern was that Swedes were fishing in Norwegian waters. Norway declared a territorial water in 1906 and instructed the navy to take action against any foreign vessels fishing in those waters. The following year British fishing vessels started fishing along the coast of Finnmark. The fisheries inspection had an unarmed ship at the time, but asked for navy support. ''Eidsvold'' and ''Heimdal'' the following year was dispatched to aid. The first arrest of a foreign vessel took place in 1911 of a British trawler outside Varangerfjorden. The work was seasonal and was jointly financed by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and the

Ministry of Fisheries An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

. From 1914 it was entirely a military-funded operation. Later ships to participate were ''Farm'' and ''Valkyrje''. HNoMS Nordkapp (1937)

From 1924 ''Michael Sars'' also participated in this work. The first dedicated coast guard vessel, ''Fridtjof Nansen'', was commissioned in 1930. From 1937 it was supported by two smaller vessels, ''Nordkapp'' and ''Senja''. Meanwhile, an espionage program was established to better locate illegal fisheries. All but ''Nordkapp'' were sunk in 1940 as part of the Second World War, although ''Senja'' was raised and repaired. After the end of the war, the fisheries surveillance services were reorganized. A number of

whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

s which had participated in the Arctic convoys were put into use as surveillance vessels while the navy focused on minesweeping. The surveillance was supplemented with

Flower-class corvette The Flower-class corvetteGardiner and Chesneau 1980, p. 62. (also referred to as the ''Gladiolus'' class after the lead ship) was a British class of 294 corvettes used during World War II by the Allied navies particularly as anti-submarine ...

s. Three used River-class frigates were taken into use in 1956, allowing ''Nordkapp'' to be decommissioned in 1956 and ''Senja'' two years later. The corvettes and later the frigates were used both for fisheries inspection and held in readiness for war. They, therefore, incurred high operational costs, were inefficient and had a large degree of conscripts. KV Nysleppen

The Ministry of Fisheries appointed a committee in 1958 to consider the organization, and it concluded that the inspections should be a military affair. This led to the establishment of the Military Fisheries Surveillance, which consisted of three squadrons. Two were subordinate to the Navy Commands in Northern and Western Norway, respectively, while the third, serving the Oslofjord, was subordinate to the Oslo office. Meanwhile, work started on planning a new class of patrol vessels, which resulted in the commissioning of the ''Farm''-class patrol vessel in 1962 and 1963. They were supplemented in 1964 by the used civilian ''Andenes''-class patrol vessels.

Establishment

Norway extended its fisheries zone to from 1 September 1961, although it kept the old definition of territorial waters. This followed Norway's participation in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, where there was a growing consensus for such an approach. Norway signed the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission in 1959, which took effect from 1970. This established common rules for fisheries within large parts of the European North Atlantic and standardized the inspection regimes. The surveillance ships carried out inspections during the fishing season and regularly caught foreign vessels using too small mesh size. However, few vessels were controlled due to the fleet's lack of suitability for the task. The issue was discussed in Parliament in 1973. After negotiations with the neighboring countries, a series of trawler-free zones were established. Norway continued to work towards international agreements to secure an EEZ, led by Jens Evensen. Territorial waters - Norway

Parallel with this work the government started considering a new organization for the fisheries surveillance. The Stoltenberg Commission, led by Thorvald Stoltenberg, was appointed in April 1974 and published its report in June 1975. In Norway there has traditionally been a strong negative sentiment against allowing military forces to be used against civilians. The Military Fisheries Surveillance represented one of very few exceptions. Several organizational models were discarded, including a civilian agency, a continuation of an integrated model and a virtual coast guard made up of units from various branches. Instead the commission proposed that the coast guard be organized as a separate unit under the navy. An important argument was to avoid duplicating services, such as an operative headquarter and naval bases. Meanwhile, the coast guard could act as a military presence to assert sovereignty. The Coast Guard was originally organized with two squadrons. The location of the garrison for Northern Norway became a heated political debate. A commission led by

Johan Jørgen Holst Johan Jørgen Holst (29 November 1937 – 13 January 1994) was a Norwegian politician representing Labour, best known for his involvement with the Oslo Accords. Holst was Minister of Defence from 1987 to 1989 and from 1990 to April 1993. He t ...

recommended either Ramsund, Sortland or Harstad, and the former received the majority vote in Parliament. The government followed up on the commission's report and established the Norwegian Coast Guard on 1 April 1977. At this time the Coast Guard had ten vessels in Northern Norway in addition to a seasonal fleet of up to thirty smaller, civilian vessels. Four vessels, all rented, were used in Southern Norway. The government funded the establishment with 1.4 billion

(NOK), of which 1.2 billion was to be used for new ships. Two new P-3B Orions were bought for the 333 Squadron and the Coast Guard paid an hourly lease for their use in maritime surveillance. The new agency received three new helicopter-capable offshore patrol vessels, the ''Nordkapp''-class. These were delivered in 1981 and 1982. During the second half of the 1970s there was a discussion as to which helicopter should be procured. A government commission recommended the Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk, but the Westland Lynx was eventually preferred due to faster delivery and lower price. To operate the six Lynxes, the 337 Squadron was established and became operational in 1983. The ''Andenes''-class was retired, while the ''Farm''-class vessels were rebuilt and remained in service.

Early operations

During the 1980s the Coast Guard's concentrated its work on fisheries surveillance. A major part of this involved inspection of the fisheries protection zones around Jan Mayen and

. Here Soviet and later Spanish fishing vessels were a major participant. The Coast Guard played a major role in assessing the amount of caught fish. In most cases where it found non-conformities the agency would issue warnings. In 1988 it carried out 1,273 inspections, of which 21 involved seizure and 16 were reported. However, written warnings were issued in 268 cases, and 106 oral warnings were given. ''Andenes'' carried out two research expeditions to the Antarctic, in 1984–85 and 1989–90 as part of the Pro Mare research program. It was also used to signal the

territorial claim A land claim is defined as "the pursuit of recognized territorial ownership by a group or individual". The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims. Some types of land claims include aboriginal land claims, A ...

to Dronning Maud Land and the Weddell Sea. Andenes also participated in the Gulf War as Norway's participation. It acted as a support ship of the Royal Danish Navy's ''Olfert Fischer'' frigate. KV Åhav

Decreased fish stock during the 1990s resulted in more strict handling of violations. At the same time cooperation with neighboring countries improved. Greenlandic fishermen started fishing in the fisheries protection zones in 1991. In exchange for a Greenlandic acceptance of Norwegian and Russian management of the Barents Sea stocks, Greenland was issued quotas. This simply escalated the conflict, with Iceland joining fisheries from 1993. They claimed the protection zone was not valid in accordance with the

Svalbard Treaty The Svalbard Treaty (originally the Spitsbergen Treaty) recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, and n ...

. The issue peaked on 5 August 1994, when ''Senja'' seized an Icelandic trawler. In 1997 the Coast Guard carried out 2,192 inspections, issued 566 warnings and seized 18 vessels. After whaling commenced in 1993, the Coast Guard was involved with in a series of skirmishes with vessels from

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

and Sea Shepherd. The conflict with the latter peaked in 1994 with a collision between ''Andenes'' and ''Whales Forever''. After this incident, the forceful threat from anti-whaling activists diminished.

Change of scope

Following the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

there arose a debate regarding the Coast Guards scope. With a diminishing threat from Russia, the navy decided that it would downplay the military role of the Coast Guard. This would allow the Norwegian Fleet and the Coastal Artillery to focus on training while the Coast Guard would focus entirely on its core tasks. In line with the trend of new public management, the government was eager to introduce user payment for the Coast Guard. This would have involved the various civilian agencies, such as the JCRRs, having to pay for Coast Guard services. The Navy argued that a key role of the Coast Guard was a constant presence and that invoicing for use would decrease its efficiency since it had low

marginal cost In economics, the marginal cost is the change in the total cost that arises when the quantity produced is incremented, the cost of producing additional quantity. In some contexts, it refers to an increment of one unit of output, and in others it r ...

s with participating in SAR missions. In the end user payment was abandoned. By the late 1980s the L-3B Orions were becoming obsolete. Five were therefore sold to the

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

. Two were upgraded to the L-3N standard and four more new N-variants were bought. Most Coast Guard ships have been leased instead of owned. This was a continuation of the practice of the Military Fisheries Surveillance. At first, these were issued on short-term contracts, but from 1994 ten-year contracts were used instead. As part of this arrangement two new major ships were built, and . They were built based on specifications from the Coast Guard and included equipment for handling oil spills. Kv Tor

The Coast Guard underwent a major restructuring in the mid-1990s. The former services became the Outer Coast Guard (''Ytre Kysvakt'', YKV) while a new Inner Coast Guard (''Indre Kystvakt'', IKV) was established to patrol the territorial waters. The latter was based on seven patrol areas, each assigned one vessel. A new ''Coast Guard Act'' was passed in 1997 and took effect in 1999. This involved a clearer division of roles between the Norwegian Fleet and Coastal Artillery on the one hand, and the Coast Guard on the other. The goal was to allow for closer integration of the Coast Guard and other civilian search and rescue agencies. The relationship with Russia was complicated. In 1993 the Norwegian and Russian Coast Guard held a common conference in Sortland and since communication has eased and several top-level conferences have been held. Management in the Barents Sea is subordinate to the

Joint Norwegian–Russian Fisheries Commission The Joint Norwegian–Russian Fisheries Commission is a bilateral fisheries management body run by Norway and Russia to control Barents Sea fishing, established in 1976.Hønneland, Geir, 'Norway and Russia in the Barents Sea: Cooperation and Conflic ...

. Issues escalated in the early 2000s. In 2002 Russian inspectors boarded a Russian ship while it was being inspected by Norwegians. Three years later ''Elektron'' ran off with Norwegian inspectors on board. MS Richard With in Trondheim 2009 02

''Svalbard'' was commissioned in 2002 as the first

icebreaking An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

vessel of the Coast Guard. For the Inner Coast Guard, five ''Nornen''-class patrol vessels were commissioned in 2007 and 2008. ''Harstad'' was commissioned in 2009 and was followed up with the tree vessels in the ''Barentshav''-class for the Outer Coast Guard. Norway ordered fourteen NH90s in 2001. Eight of these were designated to the Coast Guard, while six will be used on the ''Fridtjof Nansen''-class frigates. However, the first helicopter was not delivered until November 2011 and as of 2014 no Coast Guard variants have been completed. The Coast Guard was reorganized from 2012. After a controversy regarding the new location, the two squadrons were disbanded. The new structure has its head office at Sortland Naval Base. This allows all staff, previously with a command at Akershus Fortress in Oslo and the squadrons at Sortland and

to be co-located. All ships were subsequently re-registered with Sortland as their home port, although those based in Southern Norway retain use of Haakonsvern as their base. The Naval Home Guard commissioned two

Reine-class patrol vessel The Reine-class patrol vessel is a modified version of the s. It is a Norwegian inshore patrol vessel designed for the specific needs of the Norwegian Sea Home Guard. It has the capacity to carry smaller patrol vessels and containers on board. The ...

s in 2010. One of these were transferred to the Coast Guard in 2013. ''Andenes'' was dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea in May 2014 to participate in the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. Replacing the frigate ''Helge Ingstad'', ''Andenes'' was used to escort the freighter MV ''Taiko''. Due to delays on the new replenishment oiler

HNoMS Maud HNoMS ''Maud'' is a replenishment oiler constructed at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in South Korea. She was built on behalf of the Norwegian Defense Materials Agency ', for service in the Royal Norwegian Navy. Role and specifications ...

it was decided that both Reine-class patrol vessels would be transferred to the navy as auxiliary ships.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Official website

The Barentshav Class (Official website)

The Reine Class (Official website)

NoCGV Harstad (Official website)
{{Portal bar, Transport, War, Norway Coast guards 1977 establishments in Norway Military units and formations established in 1977 Military units and formations of the Gulf War