The Nordkapp class is a Norwegian Coast Guard ship class built in the 1980s, and used for rescue, fishery inspection, research purposes and general EEZ patrol in Norwegian waters until the early 2020s. It is a class of ships purpose-built for the Norwegian Coast Guard with a secondary role as wartime naval escorts. The Norwegian Coast Guard is a part of the Royal Norwegian Navy, and has some police authority.

The Norwegian Coast Guard is a maritime military force which is part of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The coast guard's responsibility are for fisheries inspection, customs enforcement, border control, law enforcement, shipping inspection, environmental protection, and search and rescue. It operates throughout Norway's 2,385,178-square-kilometer (920,922 sq mi) exclusive economic zone (EEZ), internal waters and territorial waters. It is headquartered at Sortland Naval Base. In 2013 the Coast Guard had 370 employees, including conscripts, and a budget of 1.0 billion Norwegian krone.