The Vietnam People's Navy (VPN; vi, Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam), or the Naval Service (), also known as the Vietnamese People's Navy or simply Vietnam/Vietnamese Navy (), is the naval branch of the
Vietnam People's Army
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
and is responsible for the protection of the country's national waters, islands, and interests of the maritime economy, as well as for the co-ordination of maritime police, customs service and the border defence force.
History
Pre–Modern Period
Vietnam War
On 19 July 1946, Acting President of
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
(DRV)
Huỳnh Thúc Kháng signed into law a decree establishing the modern Vietnamese navy. Then, on 10 September of that year, General
Võ Nguyên Giáp
Võ Nguyên Giáp (; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general and communist politician who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as interior minister in President ...
started to build a flotilla as the core of the new navy. On 8 March 1949, Vietnam established the Department of Naval Research under the General Staff. This department has performed both research and training to prepare for combat missions.
Following the
Geneva Conference in 1954, the DRV went about creating its own naval forces. On 7 May 1955 the Vietnam People's Navy was created with the establishment of the General Directorate of Coastal Defence, it formed the basis for the Navy Operational Command (based on the
Vietnamese Ministry of Defence decree No. 284/ND signed by General Võ Nguyên Giáp to established Naval Research Board, under the General Staff, on 8 March 1949). The primary mission of the Navy was to patrol the coastal areas and the inland waterways.
Throughout the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
the role played by the Vietnam People's Navy (or North Vietnamese Navy) was largely unknown to the public. However, on 2 August 1964, three North Vietnamese
Swatow-class patrol boats attacked the
destroyer in what became known as the
Gulf of Tonkin Incident. The second attack, which the United States claimed to have occurred on 4 August, was dismissed by the North Vietnamese as a fabrication.
The North Vietnamese, however, had maintained their own version of the events which took place. According to official VPN accounts ''Maddox'' penetrated North Vietnamese waters on 31 July 1964, and provoked a battle with the North Vietnamese. In response to American provocation, three 123K-class torpedo boats from the 135th Torpedo Boat Battalion were dispatched to intercept the American destroyer. The resulting clash became known as the 'Battle of Thanh Hóa' in which North Vietnamese "torpedo boats succeeded in driving the Maddox out of Vietnam's territorial waters, shooting down a U.S. aircraft and damaging another".
Apart from patrolling territorial waters, the Navy also had the mission of transporting military supplies to support the
People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the
Vietcong
,
, war = the Vietnam War
, image = FNL Flag.svg
, caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green.
, active ...
during the Vietnam War. On 31 October 1961, a sea route version of the
Ho Chi Minh trail was established by the Navy, with the 759th Transport Unit responsible for carrying military supplies and other goods for the Communist ground forces in
South Vietnam. To avoid detection by the South Vietnamese and U.S navies, North Vietnamese transport ships were often disguised as fishing trawlers. On 16 February 1965, a 100-ton North Vietnamese trawler from the Transportation Group 125 was
discovered at Vung Ro Bay. This led to the creation of
Operation Market Time
Operation Market Time was the United States Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy and Royal Australian Navy operation begun in 1965 to stop the flow of troops, war material, and supplies by sea, coast, and rivers, from North Vietnam into parts of Sout ...
by the US Navy to intercept disguised enemy ships.
On 19 April 1972, the Navy and
Vietnam People's Air Force
The Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF, ), formally refers itself as the Air Defence - Air Force (ADAF, ) or the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF, ), is the aerial warfare service branch of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North Vietnamese ...
(VPAF) participated in the
Battle of Đồng Hới off the coast of North Vietnam. During this battle it was believed that the U.S Navy destroyed a Soviet-made
cruise missile for the first time. The destroyer was damaged after a VPAF
MiG-17
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...
dropped a bomb, destroying a aft gun mount.
In the years following the complete withdrawal of U.S and other allied forces, the North Vietnamese went back on the offensive. As part of the
Ho Chi Minh Campaign
The 1975 spring offensive ( vi, chiến dịch mùa Xuân 1975), officially known as the general offensive and uprising of spring 1975 ( vi, Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy mùa Xuân 1975) was the final North Vietnamese campaign in the Vie ...
, the Navy increased the transportation of military supplies, food and uniform to the Communist forces in the South. When the PAVN occupied the northern provinces of South Vietnam in 1975, captured
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats fro ...
(RVNN) vessels were pressed into service with the Navy. In April 1975, ex-RVNN vessels carried North Vietnamese troops to capture the
Spratly Islands
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 ...
. Opening battle in the island
Southwest Cay
Southwest Cay, also known as vi, Đảo Song Tử Tây; Pugad Island ( fil, Pulo ng Pugad, lit=Island of Nest); Mandarin , is an islet on the northwestern edge of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It is part of the atoll North Dang ...
''(Vietnamese: Song Tử tây)'' on 4 April 1975, amphibious raid by sea of the Naval Marine corps number 1 (precursor of the 126th Brigade Naval Marine corps) and three vessels of the 125 corps coordinated with the commandos of the
5th Military Region
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a contagious rash that ...
, after 30 minutes, the Navy controlled the main battle area, facilitating the capture of the other islands. The Navy gained control of Sand Cay island (26 April),
Namyit Island
Namyit Island, also known as vi, Đảo Nam Yết; Binago Island ( tl, Pulo ng Binago, lit=Island of Changed); Mandarin , is the third-largest island on Tizard Bank in the northwest of the Spratly Islands in South China Sea. With an area of , i ...
(27 April),
Sin Cowe Island
Sin Cowe Island , also known as Sinh Ton Island ( vi, Đảo Sinh Tồn); Rurok Island ( tl, Pulo ng Rurok, lit=Island of Peak ); Mandarin , is an island in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. With an area of , it is the seventh largest ...
(28 April) and
Spratly Island
Spratly Island, also known as Storm Island ( vi, Đảo Trường Sa Lớn; ; ), is the fourth largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea with an area of , and the largest of the Vietnamese-administered Spratly isl ...
(29 April). The Chinese
People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) had
captured the Paracel Islands from the South Vietnamese in January 1974. These islands are also claimed by Vietnam, however they have no current presence there.
Prior to 1975, the Navy operated fewer than forty patrol boats along with the coastal junk force. With the collapse of South Vietnam on 30 April 1975, the Navy was expanded with ships from the defunct RVNN. Captured vessels included two patrol frigates, over one hundred patrol craft, and about fifty amphibious warfare ships. Consequently, the navy ballooned in size to become the largest Southeast Asian navy by the mid-1980s, with 1,300 out of its 1,500 vessels captured from the
South Vietnamese Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats fro ...
or
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
.
In the late 1970s the naval infantry (or marines) was formed to be stationed on the areas claimed by the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
in the Spratly Islands. The naval infantry is equipped with
PT-76
The PT-76 is a Soviet Union, Soviet amphibious vehicle, amphibious light tank that was introduced in the early 1950s and soon became the standard reconnaissance tank of the Soviet Army and the other Warsaw Pact armed forces. It was widely exported ...
light tanks,
BTR-60
The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR stands for ''Brone ...
personnel carriers and naval infantrymen are armed with
AK-74
The AK-74 ( Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974) is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974. While primarily associated with the Soviet ...
rifle,
AKM
The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior.
Introduc ...
-47 assault rifles,
Makarov PM
The Makarov pistol or PM ( rus, Пистоле́т Мака́рова, r=Pistolét Makárova, p=pʲɪstɐˈlʲet mɐˈkarəvə, t=Makarov's Pistol) is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it ...
pistol (Officers), and PKM machinegun infantry weapons, and more.
In March 1988, the Navy
fought against the PLAN at Johnson Reef, causing the losses to the Vietnamese of several transport ships and up to 64 deaths. The battle was won by the PLAN who outgunned and outnumbered them, using a fleet of frigates against Vietnamese lightly armed transport ships. This prompted the Navy to modernise its weapons and its overall naval capabilities.
Modernization
![HQ 011 converted](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/HQ_011_converted.jpg)
The VPN began modernizing with its contract purchasing two
Gepard-class frigate
The Russian Gepard-class frigates, Russian designation Project 11661, is a class of frigates that were intended as successors to the earlier s and , and corvettes. The first unit of the class, ''Yastreb'' (''Hawk''), was laid down at the Zelen ...
s from Russia in 2006. From that point until 2016, a series of changes were implemented to transform the VPN from a purely
brown-water navy
The term brown-water navy or riverine navy refers in its broadest sense to any naval force capable of military operations in littoral zone waters. The term originated in the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it referred t ...
to one capable of safeguarding its territorial interests in the South China Sea. Its most modern ships in 2011 were its 5
Petya-class frigate
The Petya class was the NATO reporting name for a class of light frigates designed in the 1950s and built for the Soviet Navy in the 1960s. The Soviet designation was "Storozhevoi Korabl`" (Сторожевой Корабль - Sentry Ship) '' ...
s (2 Petya-III's from the late 70s, and 3 Petya-III's from the 80s) and a KBO-2000 fast attack craft. The navy attempted a KBO-2000 project with Russia in which the
Severnoye Design Bureau designed a KBO-2000 which was constructed in
Ba Son Shipyard in Ho Chi Minh City. Only one ship of this class was built by Vietnam, designated HQ-381, but it did not meet the Navy's expectations and so the project was canceled.
Organisational structure
![Vietnam Naval Regions](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Vietnam_Naval_Regions.jpg)
Organisational levels of Vietnam People's Navy, from highest to lowest are:
*Naval Headquarters ''(Bộ tư lệnh Hải quân)'' takes command of the entire Navy
*Naval Regions (V''ùng Hải quân'')
1st,
2nd
A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI).
Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to:
Mathematics
* 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'')
* Second of arc, an angular measurement unit, ...
,
3rd,
4th,
5th
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...
*Naval Brigade (''Lữ đoàn Hải quân'')
* Naval Regiment (''Trung đoàn Hải quân'')
* Naval Battalion (''Hải đoàn'')
* Squadron (''Hải đội'')
Naval Regions
On 26 October 1975, the
Ministry of Defence issued Decision No.141/QD-QP which established five Coastal Areas of Naval Command and jurisdiction provisions of the five regions. In 1978, they were renamed as the following naval regions:
*
1st Regional Command (A Regional Command):
Gulf of Tonkin, north coast from
Quảng Ninh to
Hà Tĩnh and the islands in
Gulf of Tonkin. Command Headquarters:
Haiphong
Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta.
Haiphong wa ...
.
**Commander: Rear Admiral Phạm Văn Điển.
**Political Commissar: Rear Admiral Phạm Văn Vững.
*
2nd Regional Command (B Regional Command):
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...
and south coast from
Bình Thuận to
Bạc Liêu
Bạc Liêu () is a provincial city and capital of the Bạc Liêu Province in the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country i ...
, southern continental shelf, including the key areas are economic science service areas (called are DK1, DK2). Command Headquarters:
Nhơn Trạch,
Đồng Nai.
**Commander: Rear Admiral Phạm Khắc Lượng.
**Political Commissar: Rear Admiral Nguyễn Phong Cảnh.
*
3rd Regional Command (C Regional Command): North central coast, from
Quảng Bình to
Bình Định, including the islands of
Cồn Cỏ,
Lý Sơn
LY or ly may refer to:
Government and politics
* Libya (ISO 3166-1 country code LY)
* Lý dynasty, a Vietnamese dynasty
* Labour Youth of Ireland
* Legislative Yuan, the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Science and te ...
,... and
Paracel Islands
The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...
. Command Headquarters:
Da Nang.
**Commander: Rear Admiral Đỗ Quốc Việt
**Political Commissar: Rear Admiral Nguyễn Tiến Dũng
*
4th Regional Command
The 4th Regional Command under the Vietnam People's Navy (VPN) is the naval operations command that independently manages and protects the Spratly Islands, Phú Quý Island, South China Sea and the South Central Coast, from Phú Yên to the ...
(D Regional Command): South China Sea, south central coast including
Spratly Islands
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 ...
,
Phú Quý
Phú Quý is a small island located about 100 km south-east of the city of Phan Thiết, Vietnam. The island contains three communes, with a population of 20,698 people. The island is home to Phu Quy Lighthouse (Hải đăng Phú Quý) si ...
island and the south central coast, from
Phú Yên to
Bình Thuận. Command Headquarters:
Cam Ranh Bay
Cam Ranh Bay ( vi, Vịnh Cam Ranh) is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in Khánh Hòa Province. It is located at an inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, between Phan Rang and Nha Trang, approximately 290 kil ...
military port,
Khánh Hòa Province.
**Commander: Rear Admiral Phạm Văn Hoành.
**Political Commissar: Rear Admiral Phạm Thanh Hóa.
*
5th Regional Command (E Regional Command): South China Sea and coast in
Gulf of Thailand from
Cà Mau
Cà Mau () is a city in southern Vietnam. It is the capital of Cà Mau Province, a province in the Mekong Delta region, in the southernmost part of Vietnam's inland territory. The city is characterised by its system of transport canals, and m ...
to
Kiên Giang. Command Headquarters:
Phú Quốc
Phú Quốc () is the largest island in Vietnam. Phú Quốc and nearby islands, along with the distant Thổ Chu Islands, are part of Kiên Giang Province as Phú Quốc City, the island has a total area of and a permanent population of appr ...
, Kiên Giang.
**Commander: Rear Admiral Nguyễn Duy Tỷ.
**Political Commissar: Rear Admiral Ngô Văn Phát.
Armed services
Ranks in Vietnam People's Navy
Commissioned officer ranks
The rank insignia of
commissioned officers.
Other ranks
The rank insignia of
non-commissioned officers and
enlisted personnel
An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or warrant officers, except in United States mi ...
.
Naval Academy
The
Vietnamese naval academy, with its headquarters in
Nha Trang
Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city ha ...
, is the main institute for training naval commanding officers for the divisional level, and commanding staffs at tactical/campaign levels. Students include both undergraduates and postgraduates serving in the military.
The forerunner of the
Vietnam Naval Academy, the Coastal Training School, was established on 26 April 1955 by the
General Staff. The school has changed name several times, such as the Naval Training School in 1959, the Naval School of Vietnam in 1961, the Naval Officers School in 1967, and the School of Naval Engineering Command in 1980. The school renamed itself the Naval Academy in 1993.
After 55 years of development, combat and growth,
the academy has trained thousands of officers and technical staff for major specialised fields such as vessel control, mining and anti-mine operations, anti-submarine missiles, gunships, information, radar, sonar, coastal radar, shipyard work, the Coast Guard, and Border Defence Force.
In addition, the
naval academy
A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers.
See also
* Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally pro ...
has trained officers for both the
Royal Cambodian Navy
The Royal Cambodian Navy ( km, កងទ័ពជើងទឹក, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and one of the three uniformed services of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It has an estimated of 4,000 active ...
and the
Lao People's Navy.
Manpower
The current total manpower of the navy is around 50,000 officers and enlisted personnel, including naval infantry and other specialised units.
Equipment
See also
*
Vietnam Coast Guard
Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG, ; formerly Vietnam Marine Police (VMP) prior to October 2013) is the coast guard of Vietnam. Until 2013, it was a branch of Vietnam's military, the Vietnam People's Army, and falls under the management of the Vietname ...
*
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats fro ...
*
Gulf of Tonkin incident
*
Vũng Rô Bay Incident
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Reappraisal 40 Years LaterOfficial website
{{Asia topic, Navy of, title=Navies of Asia
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