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U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area Overview
The California Gold rush brought a large influx of people west and with it came abandoned ships, smugglers, and general lawlessness in the seaport villages and cities along the west coast of the United States.
The Revenue Cutter Lawrence was dispatched as the federal government's representative and made San Francisco its homeport in 1848 beginning the Coast Guard's presence in the Pacific. Lawrence and its crew arrived on the coast and began their assignment as: judge, customs agent, and whatever else was necessary to maintain order during the chaotic period.
Today the Coast Guard's Pacific Area headquarters for operations is not run from the deck of a cutter but from Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California, just east across the bay from San Francisco.
The area of responsibility of PACAREA is 74 million square miles ranging from South America, north to the Arctic Circle and west to the Far East.
Streamlining measures have incorporated the staff and units of the 11th District (Arizona, California, Utah, and Nevada), with Pacific Area staff.
Coast Guard Island is also the home of, Maritime Defense Zone Pacific, Maintenance & Logistics Command Pacific, Joint Interagency Task Force West, MSO San Francisco Bay, ISC Alameda, and four High Endurance Cutters.
The area's cache of resources include 27,000 people, active, reserve, civilian and auxiliary members, Ten high endurance cutters, 2 polar icebreakers, 6 medium endurance cutters, 27 HH-65A Dolphin helicopters, 14 HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters, 29 WPB's, and 12 buoy tenders.
The Coast Guard's Pacific Area active duty men and women, reservists, civilian employees and auxiliarists all continue to participate together as a team working daily on diverse missions.
The responsibilities and mission effectiveness of PACAREA ensures that our nation's resources, people, and environment will be protected and managed well into the next century.
Our people and equipment can be on patrol in the Persian Gulf, breaking a path through heavy ice at either pole escorting supply vessels to scientific research bases, participating in the exchange of training and information with some of the 50 maritime nations located throughout the Pacific. These are only a few of the vast array of operations that the men and women of the Pacific Area perform on a daily basis.
The Pacific is immense, covering 35 percent of the earth's surface. Challenges are diverse. Environmental issues cross borders and oceans. Law Enforcement is a significant effort due to lack of natural choke points. Budgetary pressures add to the need for intense adaptability for PACAREA to meet the expectations of not only United States citizens, but also the citizens of the Pacific.