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PEACETIME MISSION - 14325_577
Figure 20-4.U.S. Coast Guardan element of sea power.

Basic Military Requirements (BMR) Revised Edition
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Increase combatant naval forces by being armed to  carry  out  convoy,  antiaircraft,  or antisubmarine duties In wartime or a national emergency short of war, our government can get much-needed ships to perform merchant  marine  tasks  from  several  sources.  These sources include merchant ships flying the U.S. flag or a foreign flag, the National Defense Reserve Fleet, and the Military Sealift Command (MSC). REVIEW 3 QUESTIONS Q1.   Describe  the  peacetime  mission  of  the  U.S. Merchant Marines. Q2.   List the wartime mission of the U.S. Merchant Marines. a. b. c. d. THE U.S. COAST GUARD RESPONSIBILITY IN SEA POWER Learning Objective: When you finish this chapter, you will be able to— Identify the missions and functions of the U.S. Coast Guard in wartime and peacetime. The multimission nature of the Coast Guard makes it unique among the armed services of the United States. It has an operational peacetime role and is the only U.S. military service outside the Department of Defense. The Coast Guard is the nation’s oldest continuous seagoing service. It was set up in 1790 as the United States  Revenue  Marine  (later  renamed  the  Revenue Cutter Service). The United States Revenue Marine was an  arm  of  the  Treasury  Department,  under  then Secretary  Alexander  Hamilton.  The  Revenue  Marine was   primarily   a   law   enforcement   agency.   Its responsibility was to collect custom duties from ships entering United States waters. Although the original role of the service was law enforcement, revenue cutters took part in almost every conflict   involving   the   United   States.   These involvements  showed  the  military  readiness  of  the service. In  the  mid-1800s,  Congress  set  up  the  U.S. Lifesaving  Service,  consisting  of  stations  scattered along U.S. coasts. Shortly after the turn of the century, the Lifesaving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service merged  to  form  the  U.S.  Coast  Guard.  That  merger provided   the   Coast   Guard   with   its   traditional image—the lifesavers. In  1939,  the  Coast  Guard  joined  the  Lighthouse Service and assumed responsibility for setting up and maintaining  aids  to  navigation  in  U.S.  waters.  That responsibility has grown to such an extent that today the Coast Guard maintains nearly 50,000 navigational aids, including worldwide electronic navigation systems. PEACETIME MISSION The modern-day mission of the Coast Guard is an interesting mixture of duties, including the following: Enforcement of maritime laws and treaties Search and rescue operations Enforcement of U.S. drug and contraband laws Installation   and   maintenance   of   aids   to navigation Icebreaking  operations  that  keep  commercial vessel  traffic  moving  in  domestic  waters  and support  scientific  research  in  the  Arctic  and Antarctica As the primary maritime law enforcement agency of  the  United  States,  the  Coast  Guard  enforces  the following maritime regulatory laws: 20-10 Student Notes:







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