USCG 14th District

The Revenue Cutter Lawrence sailed into Honolulu Harbor Sept. 4, 1849, escorted by Native Hawaiians in outrigger canoes. This marked the beginning of the U. S. Coast Guard presence in the Pacific. For the next 90 years, cutters from the West Coast routinely plied Hawaii’s waters on patrols. In 1939, the Fourteenth Coast Guard District was established ashore in Honolulu with 230 personnel.

Today, more than 1,150 active duty, 150 reserve, 80 civilian, and 400 Auxiliary men and women make up the Fourteenth District, which boasts the Coast Guard’s largest area of responsibility. The district covers more than 12.2 million square miles of land and sea, with units on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, the Big Island, and in American Samoa, Saipan, Guam, Singapore and Japan.

The US Coast Guard Fourteenth District’s boundaries of responsibility stretch from the Hawaiian Islands and across most of the Central and Western Pacific. The District Commander oversees 25 operational units ashore and afloat throughout the Pacific, which regularly perform missions in maritime safety, protection of natural resources, maritime security, homeland security, and national defense.

In 1939, the Fourteenth District was comprised of one 327-foot cutter, two 125-foot patrol boats, two buoy tenders, five small boats and 64 aids to navigation. Today, the district boasts three 225-foot buoy tenders, four 110-foot patrol boats, two 87-foot coastal patrol boats, four small boat stations, two sector commands, an air station, a Far East command, five detachments and over 400 aids to navigation.