The Norwegian Coast Guard () is a maritime military force which is part of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The coast guard's responsibility are for fisheries inspection, customs enforcement, border control, law enforcement, shipping inspection, environmental protection, and search and rescue. It operates throughout Norway's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), internal waters and territorial waters. It is headquartered at Sortland Naval Base. In 2023 the Coast Guard had 900 employees, including conscripts, and a budget of 1.3 billion Norwegian krone.
The force is subdivided into three main divisions. The Outer Coast Guard covers the EEZ and consists of three Jan Mayen 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-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force.
The Coast Guard has its basis in the defunct Fisheries Surveillance Service, which was established in 1908. It was a jointly military and civilian operation; it leased fishing vessels during the season to supplement larger navy vessels. This was converted into the Military Fisheries Surveillance in 1961. The Coast Guard was established on 1 April 1977, the same year as Norway delineated its EEZ. The restructuring led to the delivery of the Nordkapp-class and the Lynx helicopters. The Inner Coast Guard was established in 1996. The Coast Guard has participated in the 1990–91 Gulf War and the 2014 destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.
Coast Guard vessels bear the prefix KV, for "Kystvakt"; in English, these vessels are identified by the prefix NoCGV, for "Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel".
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.
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 Mapping Authority, the Navy and the Police Service. This grants the Coast Guard a series of control rights including customs and border control for the Schengen Area.
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, 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 search and rescue (SAR) missions. All such activity is either coordinated by the operations center of the respective police district, or by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centers in Southern Norway and Northern Norway, respectively.Ministry of Justice and the Police: 13
Structure The Norwegian Coast Guard is a formation within the Royal Norwegian Navy. It is led by the Chief of the Norwegian Coast Guard, who is subordinate to the Chief of the 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.
The Coast Guard had its command and operative headquarters at Sortland Naval Base in downtown Sortland. It has a secondary base at Haakonsvern in Bergen Municipality, which is the primary base of the Navy. The Coast Guard uses four shared naval schools, the Norwegian Naval Academy in Bergen, RNoMS Tordenskjold at Haakonsvern, RNoMS Harald Hårfagre in Stavanger 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 Norwegian krone 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 . It had 829 employees that year, consisting of 382 military, 18 civilian employees and 429 conscripts. It performed 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 has replaced the Nordkapp-class offshore patrol vessels with the significantly larger ice-capable Jan Mayen-class, 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 for completion. She was christened into service in November 2022, having started builder's sea trials in October. The ship was delivered 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. She was delivered to the Coast Guard in November 2023. The third and final ship, KV Hopen, was transferred to Norway for final fit out in January 2023. She was christened into service in June 2024, and was delivered to the Coast Guard in September 2024.
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 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 had a displacement of 3,200 tonnes and an overall length of . They operated at and had a crew of 50. They were armed with a Bofors 57 mm gun and four 20 mm guns. They had space for one helicopter and were 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 and Andenes in 2023.
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 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 vehicles. It is equipped with a Bofors 40 mm gun. 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) was a general-purpose offshore patrol vessel. It operated in Southern Norway and was 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 was armed with a Bofors 40 mm gun. The vessel has since retired.
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 of and a length overall of . They have a compartment of 20 crew and are armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun. Their diesel-electric engines provide a top speed of .
Aircraft Prior to 2022, 333 Squadron operated six Lockheed P-3N Orion anti-submarine 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 was that they could cover a very large area; some missions allowed it to monitor . During wartime they would be used for anti-submarine warfare and intelligence. The Orions had a range of and were based at Andøya Air Station. From 2022, the squadron re-equipped with the Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft.
Lufttransport 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.
The 337 Squadron operated six Westland Lynx Mk 86 helicopters for the Coast Guard. These could be stationed on the Nordkapp-class, the Barentshav-class and on Svalbard. They were used to extend the mobility and efficiency of the vessel's operation. At any given time at least two Coast Guard vessels had a Lynx on board, which remained on two-week cycles. They were predominantly used to patrol the coast off Troms, Finnmark and the Barents Sea, including the seas off Svalbard. The Lynxes were plagued with technical problems causing them often to be out of service. The helicopters had a range of , are long and have a cruising speed of .
Norway was in the process of replacing the Lynx with the NHIndustries NH90. Fourteen units were ordered, of which eight were to be used with Coast Guard vessels. Six more were 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 Defence 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.
In 2023, Norway announced the acquisition of 6 MH-60R helicopters. The helicopters were initially to be deployed with the Coast Guard, though they would be prepared to be equipped for anti-submarine operations.
In 2025, Norway settled its disputes with NHIndustries, the manufacturer of NHIndustries NH90, bringing an end to NH90 helicopters in Norwegian service.
History Predecessors