Organization of the United States Coast Guard

The headquarters of the Coast Guard is located at 2703 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue SE in Washington, D.C.

The deputy commandant for mission support is Vice Admiral Thomas G. Allan Jr.

[5] The superintendent of the United States Coast Guard Academy is Rear Admiral Michael J. Johnston.

The title of commodore is occasionally granted to senior officers (typically of pay grade O-6, which is a captain) who are placed in command of a group or squadron of cutters.

It is not a flag rank, but rather a title used to signify command of multiple units afloat.

Coast Guard captains, like their Navy counterparts, rank immediately below rear admiral (lower half).

By maritime tradition, the commanding officer of a ship is also called "captain", regardless of actual rank held.

The proper way to address a chief warrant officer is to refer to their title (CWO, CWO3) or to address them as "Mr." or "Ms." Due to the small and decentralized nature of the service, Coast Guard warrant officers often fill command roles.

Chiefs serve as officers-in-charge of Coast Guard Stations and recruiting offices, command or serve as engineering petty officers on smaller cutters, and act as department heads on larger cutters.

Since most Coast Guard operations are domestic, the service has always been organized along regional lines.

Sectors are the primary organizational unit for many of the duties the public most closely identifies with the Coast Guard, such coordinating search and rescue missions and conducting law enforcement operations.

Individual operational units report at various levels within this three-tiered organizational structure.

Rear Admiral Michael J. Johnston, Assistant Commandant for Acquisition, leads the directorate.

[13] The directorate’s programs include all platforms and mission systems designed to modernize and recapitalize the Coast Guard’s fleet of cutters, boats, aircraft, and information technology assets.

[14] The Curatorial Services Office (CG-92) is located in Forestville, Maryland which includes the U.S. Coast Guard Exhibit Center.