The Naval Infantry are an armed branch of the
Vietnam People's Navy that have the task of stationing
troops to protect
islands and
rocks
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...
, or attacking or landing by sea on the mainland or on the islands occupied by foreign countries, protecting Vietnam's territorial sovereignty and territorial sea.
According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies in 2010, the VPN NI is the second largest marine corp next to the US Marine Corps.
History
Cambodian–Vietnamese War
In the evening of January 6, a group of commandos of 87 people secretly landed and attacked to occupy a Khmer Rouge artillery position protecting the coast, at the same time, 130 mm artillery began to bombard Khmer Rouge positions. Immediately, small patrol boats of the Khmer Rouge departed from Ream military port and small harbors to attack the Vietnam People's Navy. After a battle at sea, due to its superiority in numbers and firepower, the Vietnam People's Navy repelled or sank most of the Khmer Rouge ships, but one Vietnamese ship was also hit. Many sailors were injured.
Training
Every year, the naval infantry brigades send many waves of soldiers to the island, mainly
Spratly Island, to train for months to get used to the
waves, to get used to the island and close to the
battlefield. Each trip is the most elite members when they have been trained together with the forces and passed the final
medical examination.
Current mission
The situation is becoming more and more complicated when
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
makes a claim to all the islands and archipelagoes including the
Spratly
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed o ...
and
Paracel archipelagos (under Vietnam's
sovereignty) in the entire
South China Sea. On May 6, 2009, China submitted a map of the
nine-dash line (also known as the U-shaped line) to the
United Nations Secretary-General, in which it claimed sovereignty over the entire South China Sea. Soon after, on
May 7, 2009, Vietnam,
Malaysia and then
Indonesia protested and
denied
Denial, in ordinary English usage, has at least three meanings: asserting that any particular statement or allegation is not true (which might be accurate or inaccurate); the refusal of a request; and asserting that a true statement is not true. ...
.
Current force
Two Brigades 101 and 147 today are the core force performing the task of defending the islands in the vast waters of the Vietnamese homeland.
*
101st Naval Infantry Brigade in
Vietnam People's Navy Region 4 Command.
*
147th Naval Infantry Brigade belongs to
Vietnam People's Navy Region 1 Command
The 1st Regional Command under the Vietnam People's Navy (VPN) is an independent naval warfare command that manages and protects the waters from Quảng Ninh to Hà Tĩnh and the islands in the Gulf of Tonkin, including the Quảng Ninh provin ...
, established in 1978.
147th Naval Infantry Brigade: Launched for training in 2017
/ref>
Current equipment
Reference
{{Reflist
Vietnam People's Navy
Marines