A question of how many ships are there in the U S coast guard is often asked by many people interested in the industry but there is much more involved in the us coast guard equipment besides ships that must be accounted for since each piece of equipment plays a major role towards safety and rescue missions that are undertaken by the US Coast Guard.

It would be unfair just to mention only the ships

that the us coast guard has since there are many other equipment that are integrated to work together with the ships to make any missions successful. Ships (cutters), air craft, boats, small arms, communications and personnel all contribute immensely towards smooth operation during any mission. With one of the biggest coast guard fleets in the world the US coast guard was a huge fleet of vessels as well as equipment that patrols its 88,633 miles of tidal shore lines on a daily basis.

 

The nation’s cutter fleet of is made up of a staggering 560 ships with the biggest measuring 420’ where as the smallest 65’. Different cutter types as integrated in to the fleets making up of  ice breakers, small harbor tugs, inland buoy tenders, inland construction tenders, patrol boats, surface effect ships, auxiliary tugs among many other vessels that are used for different operations during coast guard patrols and rescue missions on inland water ways as well as coastal waters.

The arsenal of different vessels caters for different and sometimes specialized operations such as the de-silting of inland water ways that must be kept keep enough to be safe for inland marine vessels such as barges to continue operating without danger of running aground on shallow waters. This operation is undertaken by the U S coast guard who ensures the depth of the inland water ways as maintained at a certain depth and buoy markers changed to alert the vessels using the waters of any impending dangers.

Smaller boats also play a critical role to the coast guard since they are faster and can be used to immobilize situations that are at short distances. Most of the larger vessels also have a smaller boat assigned to the vessel since they can be used to make direct contact during hostile situations where it is unsafe for the bigger vessels to approach distressed vessels thus maintaining distance while the boats conduct the rescue or inspection of the distressed vessel.

Air craft are used by the coast guard due to their speed, speed plays an important part when trying to save lives, warn or intercept smugglers. For this reason the coast guard has invested heavily in air craft that are usually the first to reach a distressed vessel or intercept hostile vessels due to the capability to move fast over vast distances where marine vessel could not cover as quickly. As mentioned above the U S coast guard must neutralize or handle even hostile situations where they may come in to contact with individuals that are armed and ready to bring down air craft, boats and ship. To be able to protect the U S coast guard equipment and personnel, they are armed and ready to combat hostile fire with deadly force if required.

So for those who ask how many ships are there in the U S coast guard, one should be able to do research on all aspects and equipment that are involved or work together with the ships to keep the inland and open seas around the United States safe for all citizens to enjoy their freedom.

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