Coast Guard

Coast Guard is currently a subtheme of the City theme. From 1976 to 2008, Coast Guard vessels and personnel were released in several specific coast guard themed sets. It was not until 2008 that the theme officially became a subtheme of City. In reality, the Coast Guard is considered to be a branch of the armed forces, but since its function is rescue and law enforcement rather than warfare, the LEGO company's refusal to produce models of military vehicles does not extend to it. 
== History ==
The first LEGO sets to feature the Coast Guard were the LEGOLAND set 369 Coast Guard Station from 1976, and two very similar Town sets, 575 Canada Coast Guard Station and 575 U.S. Coast Guard Station from 1978. The first set to sport the current Coast Guard logo of a red and white life ring in a blue coat of arms was 6387 Coastal Rescue Base from 1989. The minifigures from this set wore bright red overalls and caps. 1991 was the first time the Coast Guard was equipped with a ship, 6353 Coastal Cutter. The ship was coloured in white and blue, which were already the established base colours for the 1989 set. The Minifigures wore black and had torso pieces that were common for policemen of that era. In 1992, the Coast Guard logo made an appearance next to a lifeguard in a Paradisa set. One year later, the Coast Guard was given a rather large helicopter: the 6342 Beach Rescue Chopper included Minifigures in the same red colours as in the 1989 set.
In 1995, a new Coast Guard building was released. 6338 Hurricane Harbor used the same color scheme as the previous building, though the colors were inverted. The walls were now white and the window frames were blue. The set featured specialized coast guard minifigures with grey torso pieces and blue caps, both emblazoned with the established Coast Guard logo. One year later the Coast Guard got a new ship. The 4022 C26 Sea Cutter was released as part of the Boats line. It had a similar color scheme to the Coastal Cutter from four years previous, and included minifigures with the same design as in the Hurricane Harbor set. That same year, a Coast Guard Minifigure appeared next to a lifeguard tower sporting the life ring logo in the 6334 Wave Jump Racers set.
With the release of the new Res-Q theme in 1998, which covered most typical rescue tasks, the classic Coast Guard was temporarily replaced. However, the next release came one year later with some changes. The set 6435 Coast Guard HQ included minifigures with a new uniform that had blue torso pieces and the Coast Guard logo swapped the blue coat of arms with a triangle. The building reintroduced the color scheme of the Coastal Rescue Base from 1989, and was the last Coast Guard set to feature the classic blue and white colors for buildings and ships.
In 2003, some World City sets sported the familiar life ring logo, this time enclosed in a diamond shape. The buildings and vessels also sported a new color scheme. Instead of blue and white, they were now yellow and black, as in the Res-Q line. The new headquarters was labeled "Coast Watch".
The next Coast Guard release came in 2008, the first year in which the theme was officially recognized as a Subtheme of the still relatively new City theme. The theme came with 8 new sets. The new Coast Guard logo resembled the diamond shaped logo from 2003, but this time the color Orange was prominently featured on both vessels and buildings. The new uniform consisted of yellow torso pieces sporting the Coast Guard logo and blue arms and legs with blue helmets or caps.
Another wave, this time with five more sets, of Coast Guard sets was released in June 2013, with new vehicles including a jet ski, a truck and small boat, two helicopters, a plane, a large boat, and a small robotic submersible.
== Logo ==
Almost all of the incarnations of the Coast Guard possessed a similar logo. It featured a life ring with white and red segments, that based on either a blue coat of arms, a triangle, or, later, a diamond shape.
== Vehicles and facilities ==
Buildings:
Since the introduction of the first Coast Guard logo in 1989, a total of five Coast Guard bases were released. The 6387 Coastal Rescue Base from 1989 was a relatively ordinary building with no relation to water and, but for its blue coloring, could just as well be a Police or Fire station. A new base did not appear until 6338 Hurricane Harbor was released in 1995. This was built on quay platforms like previous harbor themed sets and was situated directly at the shore, an attribute it would share with all later Coast Guard stations. The Coast Guard HQ from 1999 was more juniorized but retained the established white and blue color scheme and included a large boat, along with other vehicles.
7047 Coast Watch HQ from 2003 was a more complex set with more details and was mainly yellow and black. The 2008 set 7739 Coast Guard Patrol Boat & Tower consists of a tower with a large jetty, and served as a supplement to the large Coast Guard ship that was the main feature of that particular set. The second base from that year was 4210 Coast Guard Platform, a large offshore platform on support struts with a helipad, crane and control tower. With no new bases released in 2013, this was the last base to be released so far in the theme.
Ships:
The first major boat in the Coast Guard theme was the 6353 Coastal Cutter from 1991. It featured a mechanism to tow a small dinghy, which could be stored in the ship's aft. The 4022 C26 Sea Cutter was a floating boat from 1996. It was quite large, but didn't have any special features. Next, a smaller ship was released in 6338 Hurricane Harbor. Another large boat, which also possessed a watertight hull, was included in the 6435 Coast Guard HQ from 1999. After this year, no more major Coast Guard ships were released until 2008, when 7739 Coast Guard Patrol Boat & Tower brought the largest Coast Guard ship to date. The vessel had an emergency room and a crane as well as a watertight hull. In the same year, another boat was included in 7726 Coast Guard Truck with Speed Boat. Although it was just a rigid-hull, "inflatable" boat, it was the largest and most realistic vessel of its kind and was bigger than most of the earlier ships.
Helicopters:
Although most Coast Guard base sets also included rescue helicopters, these were usually small, one-man choppers with a winch. Larger helicopters included 6342 Beach Rescue Chopper from 1993, an amphibious helicopter with pontoons, and 7044 Rescue Chopper from 2003, which was one the few helicopters that could fit two minifigures at once in the cockpit. Both helicopters were equipped with small rescue cranes and had enough room for additional minifigures besides the pilots.
Both 7738 Coast Guard Helicopter & Life Raft and 60013 Coast Guard Helicopter are equipped with a motorized winch.
The 2008 7738 Coast Guard Helicopter & Life Raft contained the largest helicopter, until it was surpassed by the 2017 60166 Heavy-duty Rescue Helicopter. Despite it's bigger size, the latter does not have a motorized winch.
== Sets ==
=== 1976 to 2003 ===
=== World City (2003) ===
=== City (2008) ===
=== City (2013) ===
=== City (2017) ===
== See also ==
* Rescue helicopter
* Rescue
* Res-Q
Category:Themes
Category:Town
Category:City subthemes