In many territories and countries worldwide the Chief Coastguard is the highest-ranking officer of the

Coastguard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

Service. Chief Coastguards are responsible for the policy, planning and execution of a Coastguard Service. In some countries this means that the Chief Coastguard is '' de facto'' Chief Executive officer of the Coastguard Service, although more commonly the Chief Coastguard reports to a government minister or executive agency, board or committee.

HM Chief Coastguard (United Kingdom)

Function

In the United Kingdom, the head of the operational Coastguard service bears the title "His Majesty's Chief Coastguard", usually shortened to simply "Chief Coastguard". When in uniform he or she wears rank markings similar to those of a

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. The Chief Coastguard is the most senior member of the Coastguard service; he or she reports to the Chief Executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (who is a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, and not an operational coastguard), who in turn reports direct to the United Kingdom Government through the

Secretary of State for Transport The secretary of state for transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Departm ...

. According to the official website of the UK

Maritime and Coastguard Agency The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom that is responsible for implementing British and international maritime law and safety policy. It works to prevent the loss of lives at sea and to prevent mar ...

, the functions of the Chief Coastguard are to co-ordinate five main tasks: *to initiate and co-ordinate civil maritime search and rescue within the UK Search and Rescue Region *to initiate and co-ordinate counter-pollution measures to minimise the impact of pollution on the sea and shoreline *to ensure the public interest is fully taken into account when an accident to a ship might require salvage or other emergency action *to maintain contingency plans for dealing with major maritime incidents within UK waters *to develop and promote a sea safety and SAR Prevention strategy

Recent office holders

John Astbury became Chief Coastguard in 1996 and combined this post with that of Director of Operations for the newly formed MCA in 1998. He retained this post until he became Chief Executive of the MCA in 2007: he was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 2005. He was succeeded by Peter Dymond in 2007. Peter Dymond retired from the office of Chief Coastguard in 2009, and was appointed

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for his meritorious service. He was replaced by Chief Coastguard Rod Johnson, who served until 2013. Pending the appointment of a new Chief Coastguard, Mr Dymond returned to the role as Acting Chief Coastguard until he retired in and was succeeded by Richard Martin, OBE, JP.

Chief Coastguard's Commendation (award)

Members of HM Coastguard are entitled to receive long service awards after stated periods of continuous service, but the Chief Coastguard is empowered to award the additional "Chief Coastguard's Commendation" as an award for bravery, or for exceptionally meritorious service. There are usually several annual awards of such commendations. During 2009, for example, a total of six awards were made.

References

{{Department for Transport (United Kingdom) Coast guards