On September 13, 2007, the Croatian Parliament passed a bill establishing the Croatian Coast Guard. The Coast Guard's mission is protect sovereign rights and carry out Croatia's jurisdiction in the Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone, the continental shelf and the high seas. The Coast Guard will also monitor vessels sailing in the Croatian territorial waters. If vessels are caught violating Croatian or international regulations and disregard warnings by the Coast Guard, Coast Guard ships and airplanes are authorized to pursue them and if necessary open fire, while taking care not to jeopardize the lives of the vessel's crew. Under the law, the commander of the Coast Guard is a Navy officer who is appointed and relieved of duty by the President of the Republic at the government's proposal.
The cornerstone of the Coast Guard forces are four former Yugoslav Mirna class patrol boats. They have recently been upgraded with new radars and their stern anti-aircraft guns have been replaced with hoists for a semi-rigid inflatable. These are to be augmented and eventually replaced by an entirely new class. Coast Guard possess one new offshore patrol ship OOB-31 Omiš built in Brodosplit which is lead ship in future class.
Future developments
Construction of the first out of the projected 5 shore patrol vessels was scheduled to start in 2007, however due to the onset of the economic crisisthe international tender for the construction of 1 + 4 vessels was published only on April 24, 2013. The tender calls for the acquisition of a total of 5 inshore patrol ships which are to be 43.5 meters long, with a displacement of roughly 220 tons and a maximum sustained speed of at least 28 knots. They are to be armed with a 30 mm Remote weapon station as their main armament along with two 12,7 mm heavy machine guns and 4 MANPADS launchers. The tender was completed in May 2014 and the construction of the first ship was to start in the last quarter of the same year. As projected, the first vessel was to enter service in 2015, the second one in 2016, the third and the fourth in 2017 and the last one in 2018. Units are projected to cost around 10 million euros respectively. However, the first ship was laid downin September 2015 and is expected to be launched and commissioned in the beginning of 2017. In a TV interview in October 2016, Croatian Navy commander, rear-admiralStipanović, stated that Croatian Coast Guard would eventually need additional 10 inshore patrol vessels to be fully operational.
