The Maritime Gendarmerie is a component of French gendarmerie under operational control of the chief of staff of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

. It employs 1,100 soldiers and it has about thirty patrol craft and high-speed motorboats distributed on all the littoral waterways as well.

Missions

Commanded by a colonel for action at sea, under the coordination of the Préfet Maritime:

• maritime safety and of general police force duties in the territorial waters and EEZ, under the authority of maritime prefect ;
• Criminal Investigation Department
  Criminal Investigation Department
  The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
  
   under the authority of public prosecutor ;
• protection of the naval shore establishments.
• some missions in assisting people at risk

Organisation

Commanded by a colonel who is assisted by a staff located in Paris, the coastguard is articulated in 3 groupings, 8 companies and 75 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:

• Metropolis:
  • 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 state major);
  • national instruction center of the GM (C.N.I.G.M) in Toulon.
• Overseas:
  • Guadeloupe: 1 patrol craft;
  • French Guyana: 2 high-speed 20-metre motorboats;
  • Mayote: 1 patrol craft (20 metre high-speed motorboat);
  • French Polynesia: 1 patrol craft and a brigade;
  • New Caledonia: 1 high-speed motorboat of 20 meters and 2 brigades;
  • Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon: 1 patrol craft;
  • Martinique: 1 patrol craft;

Groupings

• Grouping of the English Channel and the North Sea (Cherbourg)
• Grouping of the Atlantic (Brest)
• Grouping of the Mediterranean (Toulon)

Companies

• 2 companies for the English Channel and the North Sea (Cherbourg and Le Havre)
• 4 companies for the Atlantic (Brest, Brest Arsenal, Ile-Longue and Lorient)
• 2 companies for the grouping of the Mediterranean (Toulon and Toulon-Arsenal)
• The company in Paris is based in Carrières-sur-Seine. Depending directly on staffing.
• 4 high-speed motorboats for maritime surveillance of 20 meters (Le Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne, Dunkirk)
• The National Center of Instruction of the GM (CNIGM) is located at Toulon

Means are also implemented in DOM and them TOM.

See also

• Hong Kong Marine Police
  Hong Kong Marine Police
  The Marine Region is a branch of the Hong Kong Police Force, more widely known as the Marine Police. The marine police patrol of waters within the territory of Hong Kong, including 263 islands. The Marine Region with about 3,000 officers, and a fleet of 142 in total, made up of 70 launches and 72...
  
  , an equivalent police force in Hong Kong
  Hong Kong
  Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
  
  
• Water Police
  Water police
  Water police, also called harbour patrols, port police, marine/maritime police, nautical patrols, bay constables or river police, are police officers, usually a department of a larger police organisation, who patrol in water craft...
  
  
• United States Coast Guard
  United States Coast Guard
  The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
  
  

External links

• Official Site of the Gendarmerie Maritime French only
• Forum anciens Gendarmes Maritimes French only