Maldivian Coast Guard
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The Maldivian Coast Guard is the naval arm of the Maldivian National Defence Force. The main duties of the unit include general Coast Guard duties as well as naval defence function. It's capabilities was increased and modernised mainly after the November 3rd attack of 1988 by PLOTE terrorists.
After the 1988 incident 6 british patrol crafts were acquired. These were 4 Tracker II class, 1 Dagger class and 1 Cheverton class crafts. The next major change was in the period of 1998 when 3 vessels were built and purchased from the Colombo Dockyard. These include 2 Coastal Surveillance Vessels of 24 meters which were commissioned as Ghazee and Iskandhar. Also 1 Fast Landing Craft of 20m in length was acquired along with a 17 meter fire fighting vessel.
More recently with the 2004 Tsunami disaster and such the need for larger vessels with off-shore patrol capability were given priority. And as such the Indian Navy gifted a Trinkat Class Fast Attack Craft of 46m length in April 2006, this was commissioned as Huravee. Maldives Coast Guard is also currently in the process of having 2 additional large patrol crafts constructed at the Colombo Dockyard. These vessels are of 40m and 35m in length and the construction of the 35m vessel was started in May 2006. In addition to these the Coast Guard operates a number of small in-shore patrol crafts.
The current Director General (Commanding Officer) of the Maldivian Coast Guard is Colonel Zakariyya Mansoor
