l.
Germany's Federal Police, or Bundespolizei, uses the national colors in its stripe against a light blue hull (above). The Search and Rescue (SAR) unit is considered part of the Kiistenwache but is p rimarily a non-p rofit organization. Its vessels are clearly marked in red against white (right). N ot shown are the green-hulled vessels ofthe customs service. ofTransportacion; ics history can be craced back to 192 1 when che Tran sportacion M inimy was established. This age ncy is respo nsible fo r m aintaining inland and coastal wa terways, including aids to naviga tion and icebreaking. This service most closely resembles the old US Lighthouse Service in structure and mission . A selection of its seago ing fleet operates under Ge rman coas t guard control and displays the "Ki.istenwach e" livery. The Wa ter and Shipping Administration had begun to paint the slash on the hulls of their seagoing vessels as early as in 1986. T he Ge rm a n marin e sea rc h a nd resc ue-using che internacional standard abbrevia tio n "SAR" -is operated o nly partly by the state in Germany. The navy fu lfi lls som e coordinated tas ks and operates the SAR Sea King helicopters, but the primary sea rescue agency is a donationfund ed chari ty o rganization. This model is no t unusual in Europe. Followi ng the standards of the Royal Natio nal Lifeboat Institutio n (RNLI) in the UK, the G erm an Life-Boat Institution (G LI) was fo unded in 1865. It is h eadquartered in Brem en and is fund ed by donatio ns. After
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the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue was conve ned in Hamburg in 1979, part of the agreem ent thac was ratified in 1985 included an obligation to provide a mo re distincti ve m arking
of SAR craft. I n 1987, the GLI vessels received chei r slash symbol togech er with che charac ters SAR p ainted o n che hull. Afcer che fall of communism in Eascern Europe, m any countries chere began to escablish coas c guard services . Rising individualism and tourism, toge ther with slowly bu t gradually growing wealth, resulted in increased recreational boa t traffic in their offshore wate rs. The coast guards of che fo rmer communist nacions were ei cher set up as new institutions-Al bania or the Baltic states we re examples-or they were derived fro m the former communist-era bo rder guards, such as in Poland and Russia. The latter inherited from their Soviet pas t the fo rmer m aritime border guard, having operated under the N KVD and later KG B. Ac that rime, this fleet consisced of a large number of grey-hulled wa rships only to be discinguished from che regular navy by another service Bag, guarding the long sea border of che USSR and served primarily to prevent refugees and other opponents of the sys tem fro m leaving che Soviet Uni o n. After the dissolution of che Soviec Union in 199 1, the Russian government under President Yeltsin tried to fo rm a more m odern coas t guard from che remains of the fo rmer KG B maricime border guard. The service moved to che Ministry of che Interior, but President Putin, in power since 2000, placed it again under the control of che secrecservice (FSB), and it has acquired combat capability. N evertheless, arrempcs ac m odernization continue, including the adop tio n of an identifying slash paint schem e o n Russian coas t guard vessels.
Russian Coast Guard
SEA HISTORY 139, SUMMER 201 2