The United States Coast Guard is the lifeblood of Elizabeth City. With a support station, air station, aviation logistics center aviation technical training center and small boat station all located just four miles south, the city has a long history steeped in USCG pride.

Officially opened on August 15, 1940, as a seaplane base, the air station was the first of the Coast Guard commands in Elizabeth City. Today, the air station has five long-range aircraft and four helicopters. The unit's missions include search and rescue; law enforcement for fisheries, drug and migrants; aids to navigation logistics flight support; marine environmental protection; the International Ice Patrol; and operational flights for other federal state, and local agencies.

Just how big is the Coast Guard presence? Today, there are about 900 active duty members and 600 civilian employees associated with the USCG in the Elizabeth City area. The annual Coast Guard payroll is about $32 million. The Support Center staff maintains 800 acres of real estate, including more than five miles of runways and taxiways, four miles of roads, 68 buildings, and units of Coast Guard owned family housing.


Thanks to a strong active-duty presence, Elizabeth City aircraft have a far reach: They routinely conduct missions from as far south as South America, as well as along the east coast of the United States and Canada. All Elizabeth City units stepped in to respond to the Gulf Oil Spill disaster in May 2010. Representatives from the Coast Guard’s National Strike Force in Elizabeth City reported to oil spill sites in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana and areas west of the Mississippi River to skim oil from the surface of the water or tracking reports of oil traces found in the Mississippi River.

For more information about the Coast Guard in Elizabeth City, visit www.elizcity.com/chamber.

Telephonics Corporation in Elizabeth City

Between security and surveillance technology, intercommunication systems, combat systems engineering and other businesses related to security and safety, the Coast Guard is the main driving force behind the Elizabeth City economy.

“The Coast Guard presence here is absolutely huge,” says Joe Mihelic, director of operations at Telephonics. “Elizabeth City is 100 percent a Coast Guard city.”

The USCG presence has provided a plethora of work for the Elizabeth City-based branch of Telephonics, which repairs radar systems in aircraft and performs aircraft updates for the Guard.

“We are serving the Coast Guard to make them a stronger unit; we’re trying to streamline operations,” Mihelic says. “The Coast Guard used to ship radar systems to New York when they needed repairs or updates. We’ve eliminated that shipping time by days. We’re providing technical services to new aircraft. Things that used to take days now take hours.”

“We’re proud to serve the Coast Guard,” Mihelic adds. “They make this city a better place to live.”

For more information on Telephonics, visit www.telephonics.com.