The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service ( - DGzRS, ; lit. ''German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons'') is a membership organisation in Germany. It is responsible for

Search and Rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

territorial waters in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

and the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, including the

Exclusive Economic Zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

. The headquarters and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of the Society are located in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

. It was founded in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

on 29 May 1865. It owns 60

lifeboats Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

at 55 stations which are operated by 185 employed crew members and 800 volunteers. The society has about 2000 engagements every year. Up to 2019, it rescued approximately 85,000 persons. In 2019 it saved 81 lives, rescued 270 persons from critical situations and carried out 373 medical transports. The ''DGzRS'' is entirely financed by membership fees, private donations and legacies. Writer and honorary member Nikolai von Michalewsky has immortalized the ''DGzRS'' in his series of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novels by taking it as the model for his "Independent Society for Saving Spacewrecked". A different organisation is the

German Life Saving Association The German Life Saving Association ( or DLRG) is a relief organization for life saving in Germany. The DLRG is the largest voluntary lifesaving organization in the world. With around 560,000 members, organised in approximately 2,100 local g ...

which primarily wants to prevent swimmers from drowning. It gives swimming lessons and provides lifesavers for the coast and inland waters. The ''DGzRS'' concentrates on maritime emergencies that usually involve shipwrecking or other maritime incidents.

Fleet

The ''DGzRS'' operates 59 vessels on 55 stations in the North Sea and Baltic, 20 of which are seagoing cruisers (German: ''Seenotrettungskreuzer'') between 20 m and 46 m of length, and 39 vessels are classified as inshore lifeboats (German: ''Seenotrettungsboote''). A feature of the cruisers is that all but the 20-m class carry a fully equipped small lifeboat on deck which can quickly be released through a gate in the aft for conducting operations in shallow waters. This principle was developed by ''DGzRS'' in the 1950s. The 20-m class uses a

rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull (watercraft), hull bottom joined to side-forming a ...

instead.

Lifeboats

Voluntary Lifeboats

Gallery

File:SK John T Essberger 2.jpg, SK ''John T. Essberger'', one of the large 44m-class cruisers of the DGzRS File:SAR.Hermann.Marwede.Helgoland.wmt.jpg, SK ''Hermann Marwede'', the only one of the large 46m-class cruisers of the DGzRS File:Hermann Marwede.jpg, The ''Marwede'' at sea File:Harro Koebke-P1190970.JPG, SK ''Harro Koebke'' the large 36,5m-class for the Baltic Sea in Sassnitz File:"Anneliese Kramer".jpg, SK ''Anneliese Kramer'' the new 28m-class for Cuxhaven File:20110813 Theodor Storm klein.jpg, SK ''Theodor Storm'' a 20m-class cruiser File:050625-Kiel-x42-600.jpg, SK ''Berlin'', a 27m-class cruiser of the DGzRS, and a SeaKing helicopter of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

File:HermannHelms3.JPG, SK ''Herman Helms'', a cruiser of the 27m-class File:Vormann Jantzen.jpg, SK ''Vormann Jantzen'' File:SRB Eltje in Husum.JPG, S&R boat ''Eltje'' File:Dgzrs minden-hafen-list-sylt-germany.jpg, SK ''Minden'' in the port of

Sylt Sylt (; ; Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, with a distinctively shaped shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Fris ...

island File:DGzRS - Seenotkreuzer Bernhard Gruben mit Tochterboot Johann Fidi im Einsatz - 2013.jpg, SK ''Bernhard Gruben'' with daughter boat during an exercise in the North Sea off

Juist Juist (; ) is an island and municipality in the district of Aurich (district), Aurich in Lower Saxony in Germany. The island is one of seven East Frisian Islands at the edge of the Lower Saxony, Lower Saxon Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea. It ...

island

References

External links