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Marianas Section

The first Coast Guard activity on Guam began in 1905 when the Guam aids to navigation became the responsibility of the Lighthouse Service. Aids were operated and maintained under the supervision of the Naval Commandant and supported under allotments made to the Lighthouse Service. When the Service became part of the Coast Guard in 1939, the 14th Coast Guard District took over Aids to Navigation in this part of the Pacific.

Pursuing established policy in World War II during the American occupation of Guam, the Coast Guard surveyed possible Long Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN) sites. LORAN became the navigational aid that bombers depended most during the war.

After the war in 1946, all Coast Guard activities were consolidated under a command called Western Pacific Section. 1947 brought a Coast Guard Air Detachment to Guam. Six years later in 1953, Western Pacific Section became the Marianas Section located in Cabras Island.

The Coast Guard in Guam underwent many changes through the years. The Air Station was disestablished in 1972. Marianas Section and the Marine Safety Office formed a consolidated command located at the Naval Forces Marianas Operations Base Guam. In 1977 the Loran Station was decommissioned.

Since 1952 a succession of buoy tenders have called Guam home including the Nettle, Mallow and the Basswood. The Basswood remained the longest until Sept. 5, 1998, when she was decommissioned. The Sassafras, a sister cutter previously homeported in Honolulu, has taken her place. In 1990, 110-foot patrol boat Galveston Island joined the Marianas Section family.

Marianas Section's search and rescue area of responsibility encompasses the Marianas and Caroline Islands which includes Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia (Kosrae, Pohnper, Chuuk, and Yap). Other primary missions include: law enforcement, marine inspection, mariner's licensing and documentation, port safety and marine environmental protection

About 28 Coast Guard and civilian personnel provide administrative support to Coast Guard units in and around Guam and Micronesia. Marianas Section also has about 35 Coast Guard Reservists and about 25 Coast Guard Auxiliarists, who support the Coast Guard's missions on Guam.