List of equipment of the United States Coast Guard

• Main articles: United States Coast Guard Cutter and List of United States Coast Guard cutters

Originally, the Coast Guard used the term cutter in its traditional sense, as a type of small sailing ship. Today it officially uses the term for any vessel which has a permanently assigned crew and accommodations for the extended support of that crew, and includes any and all vessels of 65-foot (20 m) or more in length.[1]

Larger cutters (over 181 feet (55 m) in length) are controlled by Area Commands (Atlantic Area or Pacific Area). Smaller cutters come under control of district commands. Cutters usually carry a motor surf boat and/or a rigid-hulled inflatable boat. Polar-class icebreakers (WAGB) carry an Arctic survey boat (ASB) and landing craft.

Any Coast Guard crew with officers or petty officers assigned has law-enforcement authority (14 USC Sec. 89) and can conduct armed boardings.

• Polar Security Cutter: The Polar Security Cutter Program is the program to replace the United States Coast Guard's aging fleet of icebreakers.
• Polar-class icebreaker (WAGB): There are three WAGB's used for icebreaking and research though only two, the heavy 399-foot (122 m) Polar Star and the newer medium class 420-foot (130 m) Healy, are active.[2][3][4][5] Polar Sea is located in Seattle, Washington but is not currently in active service. The icebreakers are being replaced with new heavy icebreakers under the Polar icebreaker program.

USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750), the first Legend-class national security cutters

The Coast Guard operates 243 Cutters,[6] defined as any vessel more than 65 feet (20 m) long, that has a permanently assigned crew and accommodations for the extended support of that crew.[7]

378-foot High Endurance Cutter (WHEC) USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715), commissioned in 1967 (U.S. Coast Guard Photo)

• USCGC Mackinaw (WLBB-30): Mackinaw is a 240-foot (73 m) heavy icebreaker built for operations on the North American Great Lakes and home ported at Cheboygan, Michigan.
• USCGC Eagle (WIX-327): Eagle is home ported at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. It is used for training voyages for Coast Guard Academy cadets and Coast Guard officer candidates. USCGC Eagle was built in Germany as the Horst Wessel, and was taken by the United States as a war reparation in 1945.
• Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter (Still in development)
• Medium Endurance Cutter (WMEC): These include fourteen 210-foot (64 m) Reliance-class cutters, thirteen 270-foot (82 m) Famous-class cutters, and the 282-foot (86 m) Alex Haley.
• Seagoing Buoy Tender (WLB): There are 16 Juniper-class buoy tenders being commissioned.
• Coastal buoy tender
• Katmai Bay class icebreaking tug
• Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (156-foot)
• Island Class Cutter (WPB): There are currently 41 110-foot patrol boats in active duty service in the U.S. Coast Guard. Eight additional 110-foot patrol boats were extended to 123 feet (37 m) but structural issues developed shortly after these conversions and the cutters were deemed unsafe to operate. The Coast Guard as of 2007 the USCG was seeking a $50 million refund from Bollinger Shipyards. Six of the WPB fleet are assigned to the Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) in the Persian Gulf to assist guarding Iraq's waters.[8]
• Marine Protector Class Cutter (WPB): This is a class of 87-foot (27 m) patrol boats.
• Small Harbor Tug (WYTL): This is a class of fifteen 65-foot tugs used by the United States Coast Guard for search and rescue, law enforcement, aids-to-navigation work and light icebreaking.

The Coast Guard operates about 1,402 boats, defined as any vessel less than 65 feet (20 meters) in length, which generally operate near shore and on inland waterways. The most common is 25 feet (7.62 m) long, of which the Guard has more than 350;[9] the shortest is 12 feet (4 m).

The Coast Guard boat fleet includes

• Arctic Survey Boat (ASB): Only one of these vessels is used by the Coast Guard. It is kept on the USCGC Healy and is used for arctic studies.
• Motor Life Boat (MLB): The Coast Guard currently has four of the 52-foot motor life boats, a craft designed from the ground up to serve in challenging surf conditions. All four craft are currently assigned to surf stations in the Pacific Northwest. Also known as "Special Purpose Craft - Heavy Weather (SPC-HWX)"

USCG 47-foot Motor Lifeboat escorting Spirit of Ontario I Fast Ferry into the port of Rochester, New York on 2004-08-08

• Motor Life Boat (MLB): The Coast Guard's 47-foot primary heavy-weather boat used for search and rescue as well as law enforcement and homeland security.[10]
• Aids to Navigation Boats (TANB/BUSL/ANB/ANB)
• Transportable Port Security Boat (TPSB): 25-foot (7.6 m) boat, based on the commercial version of the 25-foot (8 m) center-console Boston Whaler, suitable for work in inland waters, easily transportable by trailer. These are primarily used by Port Security Units for force protection in naval support areas abroad, as well as, ports of embarkation/debarkation in expeditionary areas. Most recently these boats and units were deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The durability, versatility, and mobility of these boats make them ideal for this type of operation.[11]
• Long Range Interceptor (LRI): An 11-meter (36 ft) high-speed launch that can be launched from the rear ramps of the National Security Cutters.[12]

A Coast Guard 25-foot (8 m) Defender-class boat from Station Seattle enforces a security zone around a Washington State Ferry in Elliott Bay December 22, 2003.

• Response Boat-Small (Defender-Class): A high-speed boat, for a variety of missions, including search and rescue, port security and law enforcement duties. The original 25-foot boats built by SAFE Boats International (Secure All-around Flotation Equipped) of Port Orchard, Washington are being replaced by 29-foot boats built by Metal Shark Boats of Jeanerette, LA.[13][14]
• Response boat - Small II: A 29 foot replacement for the Defender Class, built by Metal Shark Boats

A U.S. Coast Guard RB-M underway during testing

• Response Boat – Medium: The Coast Guard has signed a multi-year contract for 180 Response Boat – Medium (RB-M) boats that were delivered starting in 2008 to replace the 41′ UTB boats. These aluminum boats are 45 feet (13.7 m) in length, with twin diesel engines (total 1650 hp), are self-righting, have a four crew, six passenger capacity, are equippable with two .50 caliber machine guns, have an excellent fendering system, can achieve a top speed of 42 knots (78 km/h), and are capable of towing a 100-ton vessel in eight-foot seas. The boats were built by Kvichak Marine Industries of Kent, Washington and Marinette Marine of Manitowoc, Wisconsin.[15][16]
• There are a number of Special Purpose Crafts (SPC), ranging from 18 to 64 feet in length;[17]
  18, 20 and 22-foot airboats (SPC-AIR & SPC-Airboat)[18],
  24-foot Shallow Water (SPC-SW),[19] ,
  33-foot Law Enforcement (SPC-LE),[20],
  36-foot Boarding Team Delivery (SPC-BTD),
  38-foot Training Boat (SPC-TB),[21]
  39-foot Tactical Training Boat (SPC-TTR),
  42-foot Near Shore Lifeboat (SPC-NSB),
  52-foot Heavy Weather (SPC-HWX),
  64-foot Screening Vessel (SPC-SV)

USCG Auxiliary

• Auxiliary Operational Facilities: The Coast Guard surface fleet is augmented by privately owned vessels operated by the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.