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| Coast Guard Of Croatia Obalna straža Republike Hrvatske | |
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| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 2007 |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | Croatia |
| Constituting instrument |
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| Specialist jurisdiction |
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| Operational structure | |
| Parent agency | Croatian Navy |
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TheCroatian Coast Guard (Croatian:Obalna straža Republike Hrvatske) is a division of theCroatian Navy responsible for protecting the interests of theRepublic of Croatia atsea. The Croatian Navy is composed of classical naval forces structured into aflotilla and theCoast Guard that solely consists of ships with peacetime duties, e.g. protection ofecology,fishing, control oftankers,ballast waters, combat againstterrorism,trafficking of people,narcotics, and similar.[2]
On September 13, 2007, the Croatian Parliament passed a bill establishing the Croatian Coast Guard. The Coast Guard's mission is protect sovereign rights and carry out Croatia's jurisdiction in theEcological and Fisheries Protection Zone, thecontinental shelf and thehigh seas. The Coast Guard will also monitor vessels sailing in the Croatianterritorial waters. If vessels are caught violating Croatian or international regulations and disregard warnings by the Coast Guard, Coast Guard ships and airplanes are authorized to pursue them and if necessary open fire, while taking care not to jeopardize the lives of the vessel's crew.
Under the law, the commander of the Coast Guard is a Navy officer who is appointed and relieved of duty by thePresident of the Republic at the government's proposal.[3]
Ships ofCroatian Navy under the Command of Coast Guard:
Croatian part ofAdriatic Sea is also controlled byCroatian Police - Maritime department andHarbormasters' offices (Lučka kapetanija) whose ships are marked similar to Navy ships.
Besides the warships, the Coast Guard has at its disposal twoPilatus PC-9 aircraft and fourMil Mi-171sh helicopters of theCroatian Air Force and Defense.
The cornerstone of the Coast Guard forces are four former YugoslavMirna class patrol boats (OB-01 through 04). They have recently been upgraded with new radars and their stern anti-aircraft guns have been replaced with hoists for a semi-rigid inflatable. These are to be augmented and eventually replaced by an entirely new class. Coast Guard possess one new offshore patrol ship OOB-31 Omiš built inBrodosplit which is lead ship in future class.
| External images | |
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 New patrol boat (project OOB 39/42) under construction in Brodosplit Shipyard, October 2016.[4] | |
| A digital model of a project OOB 39/42 patrol boat as envisaged by the designer, Brodarski institut. It's bearingracing stripes of Croatian Coast Guard. |
Construction of the first out of the projected 5 shore patrol vessels (additional 10 were planned for later) was scheduled to start in 2007, however due to the2008 financial crisis, the international tender for the construction of 1 + 4 vessels was published only on April 24, 2013. The tender calls for the acquisition of a total of 5 inshore patrol ships (Croatianobalni ophodni brod, OOB) which are to be 43.5 meters long, with a displacement of roughly 220 tons and a maximum sustained speed of at least 28 knots. They are to be armed with a 30 mmAselsan SMASH Remote weapon station as their main armament along with two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns and 4 MANPADS launchers.[5] The tender was completed in May 2014 and the construction of the first ship was to start in the last quarter of the same year. As projected, the first vessel was to enter service in 2015, the second one in 2016, the third and the fourth in 2017 and the last one in 2018. Units are projected to cost around 10 million euros respectively (375 million kuna for first 5 ships).[6][7] However, the first ship (prototype) was laid down in September 2015[8] and is expected to be launched and commissioned in the beginning of 2017.[9] In a TV interview in October 2016,Croatian Navy commander,rear-admiralStipanović, stated that Croatian Coast Guard would eventually need additional 10 inshore patrol vessels (on top of five planned and ordered) to be fully operational.[10]
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