Coast guard

A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with search and rescue functions and lacking any law enforcement powers. However, a typical coast guard's functions are distinct from typical functions of both the navy (a pure military force) and a transportation police (a civilian law enforcement agency).

History

The modern Her Majesty's Coastguard of the United Kingdom was established in 1809 as the Waterguard, and was originally devoted to the prevention of smuggling as a department of the HM Customs and Excise authority. It was, however, also responsible for giving assistance to shipwrecks.

Each Water Guard station was issued with Manby's Mortar which was invented by Captain George William Manby in 1808. The mortar fired a shot with a line attached from the shore to the wrecked ship and was used for many years up and down the coastline. This began the process in which the Coastguard assumed a life saving role. In 1821 a committee of inquiry recommended that responsibility for the Preventative Water Guard be transferred to the Board of Customs. The Treasury agreed and in a Minute dated 15 January 1822, directed that the preventative services, which consisted of the Preventative Water Guard, cruisers, and Riding Officers should be placed under the authority of the Board of Customs and in future should be named the Coast Guard. In 1845 the Coastguard was subordinated to the Admiralty.

Swedish Coast Guard

The Swedish Coast Guard (Swedish: Kustbevakningen) is a Swedish civilian government agency tasked with:

The Swedish Coast Guard carries out some of its surveillance by air (from its base at Skavsta Airport south-west of Stockholm), and in the winter-time by hovercraft on the ice-covered waters of the Bothnian Bay from its Luleå station. The Coast Guard also has regular maritime duties in Vänern, Europe's third largest lake, operating out of Vänersborg.

Organization

The Coast Guard has 26 coastal stations, including an aviation coastal station. The stations fall under four regional areas; North (KRN), East (KRO), West (KRV) and South (KRS); with the regional headquarters located in Härnösand, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Karlskrona respectively. Four management centers controls the daily operational activities and there is also at least one duty officer around the clock. The Coast Guard's central headquarters is located in the historic 17th century naval city of Karlskrona, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Coast Guard (Haiti)

The Haitian Coast Guard, officially the Haitian Coast Guard Commission (French: Commissariat des Gardes-Côtes d’Haïti) or G-Cd'H, is an operational unit of the Haitian National Police. It is one of the few law enforcement organisations in the world to combine water policing and coast guard duties while remaining as a policing unit. It operates primarily as a law enforcement agency, with secondary responsibilities in search and rescue.

History

The Haitian Coast Guard was formed in the late 1930s, 20 years after the disbandment of the Haitian Navy, and was equipped with two small picket boats named 1 and 2 and the 161-ton Sans Souci. The latter was formerly the American yacht Captain James Taylor.

During World War II, six 83-foot cutters, named 1 through 6, were transferred from the US Coast Guard in 1942. Three 121-ton SC class submarine chasers, Touissaint L'Ouverture, 16 Aout 1946, and Admiral Killick, were transferred in 1947, along with the 47-ton cutter Savannah and the light transport Vertières. The two picket boats were withdrawn at this time.

Vietnam

Coordinates: 16°10′N 107°50′E / 16.167°N 107.833°E / 16.167; 107.833

Vietnam (UK /ˌvjɛtˈnæm, -ˈnɑːm/, US ⁱ/ˌviːətˈnɑːm, -ˈnæm/;Vietnamese: Việt Nam [viət˨ næm˧]), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV; Vietnamese: Cộng Hòa Xã Hội Chủ Nghĩa Việt Nam ( listen)), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 90.5 million inhabitants as of 2014, it is the world's 14th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "Southern Viet" (synonymous with the much older term Nam Viet); it was first officially adopted in 1802 by Emperor Gia Long, and was adopted again in 1945 with the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and Malaysia across the South China Sea to the southeast. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975.

Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam News Agency (VNA), a governmental agency, is the official state news provider of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

As the only news agency of the whole country, the state-run VNA is responsible for publishing official information and documents of the party and state, providing information in service of the party leadership and state management, while collecting and providing news via various forms to the mass media agencies, the public and readers of all kinds, both at home and abroad.

The VNA is headquartered at 5 Lý Thường Kiệt Street, Hanoi, in the National News Centre. The organisation’s southern and central representative offices are located at 120 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai Street, Hồ Chí Minh City, and 28 Lê Thánh Tông Street, Đà Nẵng .

History

The VNA is a media complex consisting of 32 affiliates, including news units (five editorial departments and two source news centres), various publication and press bodies (one publishing house and nine newspapers), and multi-media units (a television channel and e-portal), together with five news support centres and two printing, trade and services companies.

Vietnam (album)

Vietnam is the third studio album by Shockabilly, released in 1984 by Fundamental Records. It released on CD as Vietnam/Heaven in 1990.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the Vietnam liner notes.

Release history

References

External links