Menghean Maritime Rescue Service
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The Menghean Maritime Rescue Service (Menghean: 대멩 해양 구조대 / 大孟海洋救助隊, Dae Meng Haeyang Gujodae) was a Menghean government agency tasked with conducting search and rescue operations in Menghe's internal waters, territorial waters, and exclusive economic zone. Its ships were also responsible for firefighting at sea and towing vessels in distress. Throughout its existence, the Maritime Rescue Service was subordinate to the Ministry of Public Security, making it a purely civilian body rather than a military or paramilitary one.
In 2017, the Maritime Rescue Service, the Maritime Traffic Control Agency, and the Maritime Environmental Service were folded into the Menghean Maritime Security Force.
History
The Menghean Maritime Rescue Service was established in 1966 as an umbrella agency under the Ministry of Public Security. Previously, search and rescue operations had been the responsibility of the Coastal Militia.
Missions
Under the division of labor that existed in the 2000s, the Maritime Rescue Service was primarily responsible for search and rescue, at-sea firefighting, and the recovery of vessels in distress. It complemented the Maritime Traffic Control Agency, which was responsible for placing buoys, plotting channels, and marking underwater obstacles; the Maritime Environmental Service, which was responsible for monitoring ecosystem health and enforcing environmental law; and the Maritime Border Security Force (1988-2011) or Maritime Patrol Force (2011-2017), which were responsible for at-sea police operations, especially border police operations.
Though the Maritime Rescue Service was legally and organizationally a civilian organization, its charter allowed the Menghean Navy and Maritime Patrol Force to summon its assets in wartime. Wartime operations of the Maritime Rescue Service would include:
- Finding and recovering downed pilots;
- Recovering personnel from lifeboats and sinking ships;
- Supporting firefighting operations on damaged ships;
- Evacuating sick or wounded personnel from ships at sea;
- Rescuing personnel trapped in shipwrecks and submarines; and
- Towing immobilized ships, including captured enemy ships, to port.
Nevertheless, the Maritime Rescue Service's charter firmly forbade its ships from taking part in combat operations, including patrol and surveillance missions. As a rule, ships of the Maritime Rescue Service did not carry any mounted weapons, and were not fitted with positions for mounting weapons in wartime. Their crews were only permitted a minimal locker of small arms for defense against pirates or criminal vessels. On this basis, the Menghean government maintained that the Maritime Rescue Service was not a military organization and that its assets enjoyed the same protection as civilians and hospital ships under international law.
Legally, the Maritime Rescue Service did not have the authority to arrest and detain individuals against their will, as it was not a police force. However, ships of the Maritime Rescue Service could hold suspects on board and summon ships of the Maritime Border Security Force, Maritime Border Patrol Force, or Maritime Environmental Service to conduct a formal arrest. In general, Maritime Rescue Service ships would call on formal at-sea policing assets if they spotted possible illegal activity, but there were several credible reports of Maritime Rescue personnel detaining suspicious individuals and delivering them to other policing agencies.