Rescue 21

“Installation of Rescue 21 across the nation represents a quantum leap forward in command, control and communications. By closing coastal coverage gaps and capturing more accurate data from radio transmissions, the system offers an essential tool in maritime security, search and rescue and marine environmental protection.”
— Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard

Rescue 21 is standing the watch over 34,912 miles miles of coastline.

Rescue 21 is the United States Coast Guard’s advanced command, control and communications system. Created to improve the ability to assist mariners in distress and save lives and property at sea, the system is currently being installed in stages across the United States.
Learn more about Rescue 21 >>

Status

Rescue 21 formally accepted at Sector Corpus Christi in December 2009. Implementation Schedule >>

Recent News Releases

Coast Guard Compass: Putting the SEARCH in Search and Rescue

Let’s go back in time, to the mid-1800s, on the sparsely populated east coast. You are wearing the uniform of a surfman, assigned to a U.S. Life Saving Service station in New Jersey. It’s about 2 a.m. and winter is loosening its grip on the mid-Atlantic state. Read more>>

Coast Guard's Rescue 21 System Helps Rescue Two Teens

By using the latest in search and rescue technology, the Coast Guard was able to quickly rescue two teenagers after their vessel began taking on water and sank about 30 miles from shore August 10, 2009. Read more>>

Rescue 21’s Disaster Recovery System Ready for Hurricane Season

The Rescue 21 Disaster Recovery System (DRS), a self-sufficient mobile system designed to temporarily restore full Rescue 21 communications in the event regular communications are lost, can now be deployed throughout the continental United States with as little as 24 hours notice. Read more>>

Path to Mayday

In less than a second an electric current containing a three-second message traveled approximately two miles, across the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest. The signal began its journey from a marine radio tuned to emergency channel-16 in Peacock Spit, an ocean bar just off the southernmost tip of Washington State, to the Megler Mountain Tower, an antenna equipped with the Coast Guard’s Rescue 21 technology. Read more>>