First District

The harbors of the First District are some of the most strategic ports for the military resupply effort. In addition to New York, the Navy operates critical bases in Groton, Connecticut, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Maine's Bath Iron Works' shipyards in Portland and Bath are key ship repair facilities for both the Coast Guard and Navy.

During times of national emergency, Coast Guard First District is charged with defending these areas from attack and sabotage. To prepare personnel for that job, the Coast Guard trains with Department of Defense forces in realistic war games in the actual ports. Under an agreement between the Department of Transportation and Secretary of the Navy, the First District Commander is also Commander of Maritime Defense Zone Command One and is in charge of all military forces assigned to coastal protection in the region. Command One includes the coast line of the First District waters and 200 miles out to sea.

During national emergencies, Coast Guard port security people provide pier and dockside security at explosive and cargo outload facilities, enforce security zones, conduct waterway patrols and military search and rescue.

Specifically, the First Coast Guard District, with district offices in Boston, Massachusetts, is comprised of: Maine; New Hampshire; Vermont; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut; New York except that part north of latitude 42 degrees North and west of longitude 74-39'West; that part of New Jersey north of 40-18'North latitude, east of 74-27'West longitude, and northeast of a line from 40-18'North, 74-27'West north west to the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania boundaries at Tristate; all U.S. naval reservations on shore at Newfoundland; the ocean area encompassed by the Search and Rescue boundary between Canada and the United States easterly to longitude 63 degrees West; thence due south to latitude 41 degrees North; thence southwesterly along a line bearing 219 degrees True to the point of intersection at 36-43'North latitude, 67-30'West latitude with a line bearing 122 degrees True from the New Jersey shoreline at 40-18'North latitude (in the vicinity of Tom's River, New Jersey); thence northwesterly along this line to the coast.