[5] Its structure is centered around a peace-time role,[6] with judicial basis in the Coast Guard Act (Kystvaktloven) of 1997.

[12] Unlike the rest of the Navy, the Coast Guard has some of its ships owned and partially operated by private contractors.

The Fosnavåg-based company leases the ships for a reported 160 million Norwegian krone per year to the Coast Guard.

[21] The Coast Guard has replaced the Nordkapp-class offshore patrol vessels with the significantly larger ice-capable Jan Mayen-class, each displacing just under 10,000 tonnes.

The three new Jan Mayen-class ships are armed with a 57mm main gun and capable of operating up to two medium-sized helicopters.

[25][26] The second ship of the class, KV Bjørnøya, was transferred to Norway for her final fit out at the Vard Langsten yard in February/March 2022.

[35] The Coast Guard operated three Nordkapp-class offshore patrol vessels, Nordkapp (W320), Senja (W321) and Andenes (W322).

[20] In 2022, it was indicated that Nordkapp would be transferred to the navy to operate in a mine countermeasures command role[36] while Senja was decommissioned in 2021[37] and Andenes in 2023.

The Inner Coast Guard operates five Nornen-class patrol vessels, Nornen (W33), Farm (W331), Heimdal (W332), Njord (W333) and Tor (W334).

[40] The major advantage of the Orions was that they could cover a very large area; some missions allowed it to monitor 450,000 square kilometers (170,000 sq mi).

[43] The helicopters had a range of 480 kilometers (300 mi), are 14.6 meters (48 ft) long and have a cruising speed of 222 km/h (138 mph).

[45] Operationally the helicopters were larger, with a length of 19.5 meters (64 ft), have a higher cruising speed of 259 km/h (161 mph) and have an improved range of 1,000 kilometers (620 mi).

[48] Following the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 there arose a debate concerning access to fishing in Norwegian territorial waters.

A number of whaling ships which had participated in the Arctic convoys were put into use as surveillance vessels while the navy focused on minesweeping.

[64] Norway extended its fisheries zone to 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from 1 September 1961, although it kept the old definition of territorial waters.

This followed Norway's participation in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, where there was a growing consensus for such an approach.

This established common rules for fisheries within large parts of the European North Atlantic and standardized the inspection regimes.

[66] The surveillance ships carried out inspections during the fishing season and regularly caught foreign vessels using too small mesh size.

A commission led by Johan Jørgen Holst recommended either Ramsund, Sortland, or Harstad, and the former received the majority vote in Parliament.

Two new P-3B Orions were bought for the 333 Squadron and the Coast Guard paid an hourly lease for their use in maritime surveillance.

A government commission recommended the Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk, but the Westland Lynx was eventually preferred due to faster delivery and lower price.

[78] After whaling commenced in 1993, the Coast Guard was involved with in a series of skirmishes with vessels from Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd.

With a diminishing threat from Russia, the navy decided that it would downplay the military role of the Coast Guard.

[79] In line with the trend of new public management, the government was eager to introduce user payment for the Coast Guard.

The Navy argued that a key role of the Coast Guard was a constant presence and that invoicing for use would decrease its efficiency since it had low marginal costs with participating in SAR missions.

They were built based on specifications from the Coast Guard and included equipment for handling oil spills.

This involved a clearer division of roles between the Norwegian Fleet and Coastal Artillery on the one hand, and the Coast Guard on the other.

The goal was to allow for closer integration of the Coast Guard and other civilian search and rescue agencies.

This allows all staff, previously with a command at Akershus Fortress in Oslo and the squadrons at Sortland and Haakonsvern to be co-located.

[87] Due to delays on the new replenishment oiler HNoMS Maud it was decided that both Reine-class patrol vessels would be transferred to the navy as auxiliary ships.