United States Coast Guard facts for kids
Quick facts for kids United States Coast Guard |
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Seal of the United States Coast Guard U.S. Coast Guard service mark |
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Founded | 28 January 1915 (109 years, 3 months) (As current service) 4 August 1790 |
Country | United States |
Type | Coast guard |
Role | Port and waterway security Drug interdiction Aids to navigation Search and rescue Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Marine safety Defense readiness Migrant interdiction Marine environmental protection Ice operations Law enforcement |
Size | 40,558 active duty personnel 7,724 reserve personnel 21,000 auxiliarists 8,577 civilian personnel (as of 2020) |
Part of | United States Armed Forces Department of Homeland Security |
Headquarters | Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Nickname(s) |
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Motto(s) |
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Colors | CG Red, CG Blue, White |
March | "Semper Paratus" |
Anniversaries | 4 August |
Equipment | List of U.S. Coast Guard equipment |
Engagements |
See list
Quasi-War
War of 1812 Seminole Wars West Indies Anti-Piracy Operations African Anti-Slavery Operations Mexican–American War American Civil War Spanish–American War World War I World War II Korean War Vietnam War Invasion of Grenada Invasion of Panama Persian Gulf War Operation Uphold Democracy Kosovo War War in Afghanistan Iraq War Operation Inherent Resolve |
Commanders | |
Commander-in-Chief | President Joe Biden |
Secretary of Homeland Security | Alejandro Mayorkas |
Commandant | ADM Linda L. Fagan |
Vice Commandant | ADM Steven D. Poulin |
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard | MCPOCG Heath B. Jones |
Insignia | |
Ensign | |
Service Mark | |
Flag | |
Jack |
The United States Coast Guard is one of the 5 branches of the military of the United States. It is a part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard's purpose is to protect the people, environment, industry and security of the United States on seas, lakes and rivers. To do this, the Coast Guard uses boats, ships, helicopters and airplanes to stop smuggling and other crime and terrorism, and to rescue ships and boats in danger.
The Coast Guard traces its roots back to the United States Revenue Cutter Service, which was created by Congress on 4 August 1790. As such, the Coast Guard is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States.
The modern United States Coast Guard was started on January 28, 1915. This is when the U. S. Congress ordered the United States Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Life-Saving Service to merge into a single service. The Coast Guard can become part of the Department of the Navy during war, but it is not now. It became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
History
The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (USRCS) was set up in 1790 when President George Washington signed an act allowing the building of 10 boats called "cutters". The service was first suggested in a letter by Alexander Hamilton as a way to collect tariffs which were being lost to smuggling. They were also tasked with making sure shipments of goods from the United States were getting through to markets in other countries. The first Coast Guard station was in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Until the re-establishment of the Navy in 1798, the Revenue Cutter Service was the only naval force of the early United States.
The modern Coast Guard can be said to date to 1915, when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the U.S. Life-Saving Service when Congress formalized the existence of the new organization. In 1939, the Lighthouse Service was brought under the Coast Guard's purview. In 1942, the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation was transferred to the Coast Guard. In 1967, the Coast Guard moved from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to the newly formed U.S. Department of Transportation, an arrangement that lasted until it was placed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003 as part of legislation designed to more efficiently protect American interests following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.
In times of war, the Coast Guard or individual components of it can operate as a service of the Department of the Navy. This arrangement has a broad historical basis, as the Coast Guard has been involved in wars as diverse as the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, and the American Civil War, in which the cutter Harriet Lane fired the first naval shots attempting to relieve besieged Fort Sumter. The last time the Coast Guard operated as a whole within the Navy was in World War II. More often, military and combat units within the Coast Guard will operate under Navy or joint operational control while other Coast Guard units will remain under the Department of Homeland Security.
Images for kids
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A Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician assisting with the rescue of a pregnant woman during Hurricane Katrina in 2005
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An NRC FEMA First Team truck being loaded onto a Coast Guard plane for flight to Puerto Rico
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Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) hooking and climbing onto a target to show the skills needed to complete a variety of missions dealing with anti-terrorism, protecting local maritime assets, and harbor and inshore security patrols as well as detecting, stopping, and arresting submerged divers, using the Underwater Port Security System
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A member of USCG Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 106 performing a security sweep aboard a tanker ship in the North Persian Gulf in July 2007
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Marine Corps Privates First Class William A. McCoy and Ralph L. Plunkett holding a sign thanking the Coast Guard after the Battle of Guam in 1944
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United States Coast Guard Squadron One unit patch during the Vietnam War
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Recruit companies visiting Arlington National Cemetery for their one day of off-base liberty, which is their only break in an eight-week boot camp at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey
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A United States Coast Guard cutter]]
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The U.S. Coast Guard Pipe Band in New York during the 2010 St. Patrick's Day Parade
See also
In Spanish: Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos para niños