The Icelandic Coast Guard (, or simply ) is the Icelandic defence service responsible for search and rescue, maritime safety and security surveillance, and law enforcement in the seas surrounding Iceland. The Coast Guard maintains the Iceland Air Defence System which conducts ground-based surveillance of Iceland's air space and operate Keflavik airbase. It is also responsible for hydrographic surveying and nautical charting.

History

Its origins can be traced to 1859, when the corvette ''Ørnen'' started patrolling Icelandic waters. In 1906, Iceland's first purposely built guard-ship, ''Islands Falk'', began operation. Iceland's own defense of its territorial waters began around 1920 and the Icelandic Coast Guard was formally founded on 1 July 1926. The first cannon was put on the trawler ''Þór'' in 1924 and on 23 June 1926 the first ship built for the Coast Guard, named ''

Óðinn Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

'', arrived in Iceland. Three years later, on 14 July 1929 the coastal defence ship ''Ægir'' was added to the Coast Guard fleet.

Cod Wars

The Icelandic Coast Guard played its largest role during the fishing rights dispute known as the

Cod War The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each o ...

s, between 1972 and 1976, when the Coast Guard ships would cut the trawl wires of British and West German trawlers, resulting in confrontations with

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

warships and tugs from the British

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 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 ...

(MAFF). The Icelandic Coast Guard goal was to enforce a disputed expansion of Iceland's exclusive economic zone. Engagements between Icelandic gunboats and British warships involving

ramming In warfare, ramming is a technique used in air, sea, and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram's momentum, and ultimately from male sheep. Thus, ...

became the tactic of choice during this conflict. At least 15 British frigates, five Icelandic patrol boats and one British supply ship were damaged by ramming between 1975 and 1976. In the end, Iceland achieved its overall ambition of expanding its exclusive fishery zone to by June 1976.

Operations

10 Arrival of Thor - Icelandic Coast Guard 2011-10-27 Reykjavik

The Icelandic Coast Guard's (ICG) primary mission as stipulated in Section 1 of Act on Icelandic Coast Guard is conduct search and rescue, maritime safety and security surveillance, and law enforcement inside the -wide economic zone. The Coast Guard operates Joint Rescue and Coordination Centre (JRCC) Iceland which is responsible for search and rescue of vessels and aircraft in Iceland's search and rescue region (SRR) according to International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual. Additionally the ICG is in the charge of defusing

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s, most of which were laid during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, and monitoring fisheries in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

outside of the Icelandic economic zone in order to

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...

any vessel partaking in

unregulated fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes p ...

and thus bar them from receiving services from any member of the

North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) is a general regional fishery management organisation that maintains controls over fishing and fishing-related acts in the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the Nordic Seas, the Barents Sea, the White ...

in order to make unregulated fishing unprofitable. The Icelandic Coast Guard also occasionally operates within Greenlandic and Faeroese waters, following a bilateral agreement with

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

regarding mutual aid in security, rescue and defence matters. The Coast Guard accomplishes these tasks with the use of offshore patrol vessels (OPV),

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s, surveillance

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

s and a network of land based surface scanning

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

. The Icelandic Coast Guard is also in charge of the Iceland Air Defence System, which operates four ground-based AN-FPS(V)5 air surveillance radars and a control and command centre. In the 1990s the Coast Guard started hosting exercises such as "Northern Challenge" which had military units from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, Sweden and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, among others, participating along with the Icelandic Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has also taken part in peacekeeping operations on behalf of the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit, although while usually using their own rank insignia, uniforms and weapons. The fleet also takes part in

Frontex The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex (from French: ''Frontières extérieures'' for "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, exercising in coordination with the borde ...

operations, and in that role played a major part in the rescue of over 300 Syrian refugees in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in January 2015.

Fleet

, the Icelandic Coast Guard fleet consists of two OPVs, one coastal hydrographic and patrol vessel and an independent fast

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 i ...

(RHIB), as well as numerous smaller boats assigned to the larger units. In 2011 the Coast Guard received ICGV ''Þór'' , built by the Asmar shipyard in

Talcahuano Talcahuano () (From Mapudungun ''Tralkawenu'', "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile. Geo ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. ICGV ''Týr'', an , the second youngest, built by Århus Flydedok a/s and launched in 1975. ,

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the ''Ægir'' class, is ICGV ''Týr''s sister ship, built by Ålborg Værft a/s and launched in 1968. Each ship is equipped with two or more RHIBs of various sizes and armed with a

40 mm Bofors 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 ...

cannon. Various kinds of small arms as well as other man-portable weapons are also carried on board each of the ships. ''Týr'' and ''Þór'' are also equipped with

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

systems and the ''Ægir''-class vessels have

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...

s and a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

for a small

. While the Coast Guard doesn't operate small enough helicopters to use the hangars, the flight decks are often used by the helicopters of the Aeronautical Division on various missions. The coastguard has as well a 73-ton patrol and hydrographic survey vessel, named ''Baldur'', built by Vélsmiðja Seyðisfjarðar shipyard in 1991. This vessel has no mounted weaponry but it has nonetheless been used for port security and fishery inspection. The newest ship of the fleet, , was bought in September 2021 to replace the 46-year old ICGV ''Týr''. It arrived for retrofit at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam in Schiedam on 11 October and was formally delivered to the Coast Guard on 1 November 2021. She departed for Siglufjordur on 2 November.

Aeronautical division

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the Coast Guard occasionally leased civilian aircraft for short term monitoring of shipping and fishing in the territorial waters, first in 1948 when a

Grumman Goose The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious flying boat designed by Grumman to serve as an eight-seat "commuter" aircraft for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman's first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and i ...

was leased from

Loftleiðir Loftleiðir HF, internationally known as Icelandic Airlines (abbreviated IAL) or Loftleiðir Icelandic, was a private Icelandic airline headquartered on the grounds of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík, which operated mostly trans-atlantic flig ...

. On 10 December 1955, the Coast Guard acquired its first aircraft when a Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina flying boat was acquired from the Civil Aviation Administration. It was originally from the

Iceland Defense Force The Iceland Defense Force ( is, Varnarlið Íslands; IDF) was a military command of the United States Armed Forces from 1951 to 2006. The IDF, created at the request of NATO, came into existence when the United States signed an agreement to p ...

but was damaged near

Langanes Langanes () is a peninsula in northeast Iceland. The name literally means "long peninsula". It is long from southwest to northeast, ending in a thin strip of land called Fontur (regionally also ) where there is also a suggestive lighthouse calle ...

in 1954. It was named ''Rán'' and registered as TF-RAN. In 1972, the ICG, along with the National Life-saving Association of Iceland, bought its first specialized search and rescue helicopter, a

Sikorsky S-62 The Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard (company designation S-62) was an early amphibious helicopter designed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It was the first of the company's amphibious rotorcraft to fly. The S-62 ...

that was named ''Gná'', from the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

. Three years later, ''Gná'' crashed in Skálafell, with no injuries, after a shaft in the tail propeller broke. It took five years for another SAR helicopter to arrive but in 1980, the Coast Guard bought a new Sikorsky S-76 which was given the name ''

Rán In Norse mythology, Rán (Old Norse: ) is a goddess and a personification of the sea. Rán and her husband Ægir, a jötunn who also personifies the sea, have nine daughters, who personify waves. The goddess is frequently associated with a net, w ...

''. The helicopter performed admirably, including in March 1983, when ''Rán'', along with a French

Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma The Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma is a four-bladed, twin-engined medium transport/utility helicopter that was designed and originally produced by the French aerospace manufacturer Sud Aviation. It is capable of carrying up to 20 passengers as well as ...

, one of two temporarily deployed in the country, rescued 11 people from ''Hafrún ÍS-400'' after it ran aground at Stigahlíð in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coas ...

. However, inn November 1983, ''Rán'' crashed in Jökulfirðir in the

of Iceland during a training mission, killing its four man crew, in what remains the deadliest accident in the ICG history. The loss of ''Rán'' and some of the Coast Guards most experienced flight members nearly caused the shutdown of its helicopter program. After some deliberation, the decision was made in 1984 to continue the program and buy a new Aérospatiale SA 365N Dauphin II and rent another until the new one would arrive. In 1985, the new ''

Sif In Norse mythology, Sif (Old Norse: ) is a golden-haired goddess associated with earth. Sif is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century ...

'' arrived and with it, several changes where made to the helicopter program, including to training, expanding crew rosters, addition of helicopter doctors and shift plans to expand its availability. ''Sif'' went on to become one of the ICG most successful aircraft to date. During its 22-year career it took part in several high profile rescue operations around

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and is credited to have been involved in the rescue of around 250 lives. In 1995, the ICG received a second specialised SAR helicopter when it bought an Aérospatiale AS-332L1 Super Puma which was given the name ''Líf''. The new helicopter continued on the success of ''Sif'' and gained national fame when it rescued 39 sailors in three separate incidents during a six-day period in March 1997. As a response to the withdrawal of the

in 2006, the Coast Guard expanded its helicopters to four in 2007. That number was later reduced to three and as of 2022, it operates three Airbus Helicopters H225 helicopters named ''Gná'', ''Gróa'' and ''Eir''. The Coast Guard also operates a single Bombardier DHC-8-Q314, registered as TF-SIF, modified for maritime surveillance and reconnaissance. This plane has been extensively modified by FIELD to carry a modern Mission Management System and suite of surveillance sensors, air operable door and communications/navigation equipment. It is occasionally also used for surveillance of volcanic eruptions, such as the

2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull Between March and June 2010 a series of volcanic events at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland caused enormous disruption to air travel across Western Europe. The disruptions started over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional locali ...

Ships and aircraft

All major vehicles of the Icelandic Coast Guard are named after beings from Norse mythology.

Vessels

2 Arrival of Thor - Icelandic Coast Guard 2011-10-27 Reykjavik

Decommissioned vessels

In addition the Coast Guard has rented or borrowed a number of civilian vessels and aircraft for shorter periods, which are not listed.

Aircraft

Landhelgisgaeslan Helicopter Iceland (cropped)

Retired

Previous notable aircraft operated consisted of the

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wi ...

Douglas C-54 The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilia ...

Fokker F27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

, Bell 47J/ G, MD 500C,

, Sikorsky S-76, Eurocopter AS365,

Eurocopter AS350 Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence Ai ...

Radars

The Iceland Air Defense System monitors

's airspace. Air Defense is provided by fighter jets from

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

allies, which rotate units for the

Icelandic Air Policing Icelandic Air Policing is a NATO operation conducted to patrol Iceland's airspace. As Iceland does not have an air force, in 2006 it requested that its NATO allies periodically deploy fighter aircraft to Keflavik Air Base to provide protection o ...

mission to

Keflavik Air Base Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) was a United States Navy station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilitie ...

. The Iceland Air Defense System's Control and Reporting Centre is at Keflavik Air Base and reports to

's Integrated Air Defense System CAOC Uedem in Germany. * Iceland Air Defense System, at

** Control and Reporting Centre, at Keflavik Air Base ** H1 Radar Station, at Miðnesheiði, with AN/FPS-117(V)5 ** H2 Radar Station, on Mount Gunnolfsvík, with AN/FPS-117(V)5 ** H3 Radar Station, at Stokksnes, with AN/FPS-117(V)5 ** H4 Radar Station, on

Bolafjall Bolafjall is a 638 meter high mountainin the vicinity of Bolungarvík. A road was built to the top in 1986. In 2002 it was opened to civilian traffic. In 2022, an observation deck with a view over the Ísafjarðardjúp was opened on the mountain. ...

, with AN/FPS-117(V)5

Weaponry

The Icelandic Coast Guard possesses over 200 firearms, with more than half of them in storage. In 2014, the Coast Guard received 250

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

from the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces ( no, Forsvaret, , The Defence) is the military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal ...

. The acquisition of the weapons caused an uproar in Iceland due to several facts, including that the mostly unarmed

Icelandic Police In Iceland, the Police () is the national police force of Iceland. It is responsible for law enforcement throughout the country, except in Icelandic territorial waters which fall under the jurisdiction of the Icelandic Coast Guard. Police affair ...

was to receive 150 of them and conflicting statements from Icelandic and Norwegian officials on whether they were a gift or bought. In June 2015, the weapons were returned to Norway.

Currently in use

Currently in storage

Ranks

Officers

Enlisted

References

External links

Official Site in EnglishLandhelgisgæsla Íslands
in Icelandic.
Coast Guard laws
in Icelandic.
Info on Icelandic Coast Guard
{{Authority control 1926 establishments in Iceland Military history of Iceland Transport in Iceland

Coast Guard 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 ...

Coast guards National hydrographic offices