Gendarmerie Navale

The Maritime Gendarmerie () is a component of the French National Gendarmerie under operational control of the chief of staff of the French Navy. It employs 1,157 personnel and operates around thirty patrol boats and high-speed motorboats distributed on the littoral waterways of France. Like their land-based colleagues the Gendarmes Maritime are military personnel who carry out policing operations in addition to their primary role as a coast guard service. They also carry out Provost (military police), provost duties within the French Navy.

The uniforms and insignia of the Gendarmerie Maritime are very similar to those of the French Navy, but the ranks used are those of the rest of the Gendarmerie (which are the same as the traditional ranks of the French Cavalry).

Mission

The mission of the Maritime Gendarmerie is as follows:
* Maritime safety and of general police force duties in the territorial waters and EEZ, under the authority of the maritime prefect.
* Criminal Investigation Department under the authority of public prosecutor.
* Protection of the naval shore establishments.
* Search and rescue.

Organisation

The Maritime Gendarmerie is commanded by a colonel who is assisted by a staff located in Paris. The coastguard is divided into 3 groupings, 7 companies and 64 units (brigades of research, brigades of monitoring of the littoral, group of safety of the protected zones, group of monitoring of intervention and reinforcement, patrol craft, coastal high-speed motorboats of maritime surveillance) whose geographical distribution is as follows:

* Metropolitan France :
** grouping of the English Channel and the North Sea in Cherbourg (2 companies)
** grouping of the Atlantic in Brest (4 companies);
** grouping of the Mediterranean in Toulon (2 companies);
**company from Paris to the Career-on-Seine (under the authority of the headquarters);
** national instruction center of the GM (C.N.I.G.M) in Toulon.
* Overseas:
** Guadeloupe: 1 patrol craft (''Violette'');
** French Guiana: 2 high-speed 20-metre motorboats (''Charente'' and ''Organabo'');
** Mayotte: 2 high-speed 20-metre patrol boats ''Verdon'' and ''Odet'' (both reportedly in need of replacement due to being "beyond repair" as the result of Cyclone Chido in December 2024)
** French Polynesia: 1 patrol craft (''Jasmin'') and a brigade;
** New Caledonia: 1 high-speed motorboat of 20 meters (''Dumbéa'') and 2 brigades;

Personnel

Commissioned officers are recruited from holders of a master's degree; non-commissioned officers from holders of a high school diploma giving access to university studies; auxiliary gendarmes are recruited without any specific educational prerequisite. Members of the maritime gendarmerie are recruited among officers, nco's and auxiliary gendarmes with a few years of general gendarmerie service. Certificate of competency for sea or inland water navigation and training in scuba diving is a merit for those who wants to join. Within the maritime gendarmerie there exists further specializations such as coxswain, mechanic, diver, underwater investigation technician, maritime and port security operative and watch-keeping officer."Gendarme en unité nautique et maritime." ''La gendarmerie recrute.''
Retrieved March 26, 2023."Pelotons de sûreté maritime et portuaire : intervention renforcée."
Retrieved March 26, 2023.

Patrol boats

See also

*Coastguard Service of the French Customs
*Directorate general for Maritime affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture
*Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer

References

External links

Official Site of the Gendarmerie Maritime on Ministry of Defense
French only
Official Site of the Gendarmerie Maritime on Ministry of Interior
French only

French only

{{Coast guards

Coast guards
French Gendarmerie
French naval components, Gendarmerie
Maritime safety in France
Port law enforcement agencies
Maritime law enforcement agencies
Maritime organisations based in France
1832 establishments in France