KV Bjornoya W311 at anchor in the approaches to Finnsnes, Norway.
Coast Guard vessels bear the prefix KV, for "Kystvakt"; in English, these vessels are identified by the prefix NoCGV, for "Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel"
The Norwegian Coast Guard (Norwegian: Kystvakten) 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 2,385,178-square-kilometer (920,922 sq mi) 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. |