Vietnam People's Navy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vietnam People's Navy (or, commonly, Vietnamese Navy) is part of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and is responsible for the protection of national waters, islands, and interests of the maritime economy, as well as for the coordination of maritime police, customs service and the border defense force.
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[edit] History
Following the Geneva Conference in 1954, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam went about creating its own naval forces. In 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. The primary mission of the Navy was to patrol the coastal areas and the inland waterways.
Throughout the Vietnam War the role played by the Vietnam People's Navy (or North Vietnamese Navy) was largely unknown to the public. However on August 2, 1964, two North Vietnamese Swatow class patrol boats attacked the USS Maddox in what became known as the Tonkin Gulf Incident2.The second attack, which the United States claimed to have occurred on August 4, 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 the USS Maddox penetrated North Vietnamese waters on July 31, 1964, and provoked a battle with the North Vietnamese1. 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 Hoa' 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".1
Apart from patrolling territorial waters the Navy also had the mission of transporting military supplies to support the Vietnam People's Army and their NLF ally during the Vietnam War. On October 31, 1961, a sea route version of the Ho Chi Minh Trail was established by the North Vietnamese Navy, with the 759th Transport Unit responsible for carrying military supplies and other goods for the Communist ground forces in South Vietnam3. In order to avoid detection by the South Vietnamese and U.S navies, North Vietnamese transport ships were often disguised as fishing trawlers. On February 16, 1965, a 100-ton North Vietnamese trawler from the Transportation Group 125 was discovered at Vung Ro Bay. This lead to the creation of Market Time by the US Navy to intercept disguised enemy ships.
On April 19, 1972, the North Vietnamese Navy and Air Force participated in the Battle of Dong Hoi 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 USS Higbee was damaged after an VPAF MiG-17 dropped a 250lbs bomb on its deck.
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 North Vietnamese Navy increased the transportation of military supplies, food and uniform to the Communist forces in the South. When the North Vietnamese Army occupied the northern provinces of South Vietnam in 1975, captured South Vietnamese vessels were pressed into service with the Vietnam People's Navy. On April 29, 1975, ex-South Vietnamese Navy vessels carried North Vietnamese troops to capture the Spratly Islands.
Prior to 1975, the North Vietnamese Navy operated fewer than forty patrol boats along with the coastal junk force. With the collapse of the Republic of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, the Vietnam People's Navy was expanded with ships from the defunct South Vietnamese Navy. Captured vessels included two patrol frigates, over one hundred patrol crafts and about fifty amphibious warfare ships. In the late 1970s the naval infantry (or marines) was formed to be stationed on the areas claimed by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the Spratly Islands. The naval infantry is equipped with PT-76 light tanks, BTR-60 personnel carriers and other weapons.
[edit] Fleet
In addition to the VPN Naval Infantry, the Vietnam People's Navy also currently operates:
- 12 missile boats
- 6 Petya class frigates
- 1 Pauk class corvette
- 2 midget submarines Yugo class acquired from North Korea in 2001
- many smaller craft including: torpedo boats, inshore patrol boats, and a number of landing crafts and mine vessels. Larger transport ships of the Navy include the Truong Sa class ship which was built by the state-owned shipbuilding firm, VINASHIN.
All pennant numbers start with the prefix HQ which stands for Hải Quân or Navy in Vietnamese.
The VPN has recently signed a deal for 4 Gepard class frigates from Russia.
[edit] Manpower
The current total manpower of the navy is around 42,000 sailors including naval infantry and other specialised units.
[edit] External links
- 1 -Tonkin Gulf Incident - A decisive battle in the Thanh Hoa Sea
- 2 -Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Reappraisal 40 Years Later
- 1 -Tonkin Gulf Incident – Meeting of heroes (continued)
- 3 -The legendary East Sea trail
- Task Force 115
- Analysis of the Battle of Dong Hoi
- Truong Sa Island celebrates 30th anniversary of liberation
