Vietnam People's Navy

Vietnam People's Navy Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam
Active	1955 - Present
Country	Vietnam(North Vietnam in the past)
Branch	Branches Surface Ships Naval Marine Corps Naval Air Forces Coastal Defense Missiles Submarines
Size	42,000 officers and sailors
Part of	Vietnam People's Army
Headquarters	Hai Phong, Vietnam
Motto	Đảo là nhà, Biển cả là quê hương (Island is home, Sea is country)
Color	Purple, White
March	Lướt sóng ra khơi (Surfing to the sea)
Anniversaries	5 August (defeat Operation Pierce Arrow of United States Navy in Vietnam war)
Engagements	Vietnam War Cambodian-Vietnamese War Johnson South Reef Skirmish
Decorations
Battle honours	Gulf of Tonkin incident Battle of Đồng Hới
Commanders
Commander	Admiral Nguyen Van Hien
Secretary	Vice Admiral Tran Thanh Huyen
Chief of Staff	Rear Admiral Pham Ngoc Minh
Insignia
Navy Flag
Naval Ensign
Emblem
Awards
Aircraft flown
Attack	Ka-27
Patrol	C-212, DHC-6, EC225

The Vietnam People's Navy (commonly, Vietnamese Navy - Vietnamese: Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam) is part of the Vietnam People's Army 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.

History

Origins

Vietnamese Navy defeated Southern Han state of China in 938

Vietnamese Navy was built very early in the 10th century. The largest battles recorded were three naval battles (all three are called Battle of Bạch Đằng): Ngô Quyền against the ChineseSouthern Han forces in 938 (killed over 100,000 and captured a thousands Chinese sailors, killed Chinese Prince Liu Hongcao); Lê Hoàn against Song Dynasty in 981; and Trần Quốc Tuấn against Yuan Dynasty (Mongol) in 1288 (killed over 80,000 Yuan Mongol sailors, destroyed more than 400 Yuan ships, killed Sogetu, and captured Yuan Admiral Omar).

In 1077, the Vietnamese Navy fought the Battle of Cầu River against the Chinese Song Dynasty forces. This was the final battle China's Song Dynasty would fight on Vietnamese land or waters. The battle lasted for several months, and ended with the victory of the Vietnamese Navy and the loss of many Song's (Chinese) sailors. Modern researchers assess this as the biggest win and most fierce battle since the Battle of Bạch Đằng in 938 against China's invasions. This victory demonstrated the successful tactics of war and active defense of the famous Admiral Lý Thường Kiệt who faced a naval force several times larger than his own. The Chinese Song Dynasty lost a total of 80,000 soldiers/sailors and 5,19 million ounces of gold, including all costs of the war.

One of the greatest victories in Vietnamese Naval history was the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút, during which Nguyễn Huệ (Emperor Quang Trung) defeated the Siamese (Thai) naval force. The battle occurred in present-day Tiền Giang Province on January 19, 1785. Nguyễn Huệ's forces completely destroyed over 50,000 Siamese sailors and 300 warships.

Vietnamese Navy has great developed in Nguyễn Dynasty with 26,800 naval soldiers and copper ships

In the Nguyễn Dynasty period, 19th century Emperor Gia Long used his new base to improve the Vietnamese Navy. Gia Long had first attempted to acquire modern naval vessels in 1781, when on the advice of Pigneau de Behaine, he had chartered Portuguese vessels of European design, complete with crew and artillery. This initial experience proved to be disastrous. For reasons that remain unclear, two of the vessels fled in the midst of battle against the Tay Son, while angry Vietnamese soldiers killed the third crew. In 1789, Pigneau de Behaine returned to Vietnam from Pondicherry with two vessels, which stayed in the Nguyễn Dynasty service long-term. Over time, Vietnamese sailors replaced the original French and Indian crew under the command of French officers. These vessels became the foundation for an expanded military and merchant Nguyễn Dynasty naval force, with Gia Long chartering and purchasing more European vessels to reinforce Vietnamese-built ships. However, traditional Vietnamese-style galleys and small sailing ships remained the majority of the fleet. In 1799, a British trader by the name of Berry reported that the Nguyễn Dynasty's fleet had departed Saigon along the Saigon River with 100 galleys, 40 junks, 200 smaller boats and 800 carriers, accompanied by three European sloops. In 1801, one naval division was reported to have included nine European vessels armed with 60 guns, five vessels with 50 guns, 40 with 16 guns, 100 junks, 119 galleys and 365 smaller boats.

In the middle of the 19th century, the Vietnamese Navy fought against the French in many battles. Due to disadvantages in technology, the Vietnamese Navy could not defeat the French Navy, but there were still several battles during which the Vietnamese Navy caused damage to the French. The Vietnamese were especially successful in the Battle of Nhat Tao canal held by Nguyen Trung Truc on December 10, 1861. Nguyen Trung Truc's naval forces ambushed the French battleship L'Esperancein at the Vam Co River, Mekong Delta. Truc's 150 men were grouped into three columns. The first group of 61 men under Hoang Khac Nhuong was to attack a nearby pro-French village in order to provoke an incident and lure the French forces into an ambush. Truc commanded the second group of 59 partisans along with Vo Van Quang, and was assigned to burn and sink the vessel. A third force of 30 men was commanded by Ho Quang and Nguyen Van Hoc. Due to the surprise attack, the French Navy suffered major damage: L'Esperance was sunk, 17 soldiers and 20 Vietnamese colleagues were killed, only eight people escaped, including two French soldiers and six soldiers Tagal.

Vietnam War

A North Vietnamese P-4 engaging USS Maddox in Gulf of Tonkin incident 1964

Following the Geneva Conference in 1954, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam went about creating its own naval forces. On May 7, 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 March 8, 1949). The primary mission of the Navy was to patrol the coastal areas and the inland waterways.

Sailors of the Vietnam People's Navy in June 2007

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 (DD-731) 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 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 Vietnam 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 led to the creation of Operation 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 (DD-806) was damaged after an VPAF MiG-17 dropped a 250 lb (110 kg) bomb, destroying a 5" 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 North Vietnamese Navy increased the transportation of military supplies, food and uniform to the Communist forces in the South. When the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) 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. At around the same time the Chinese Navy took over control of the Paracel Islands from the South Vietnamese Navy. These islands are also claimed by Vietnam, however they have no current presence there.

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 craft, 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.

In 1988, Vietnam People's Navy fought against Chinese Navy at Johnson Reef of Spratly islands.

Organizational structure

Naval Regions

Naval Regions are inter-military campaign of naval tactics, territorial division, comprising the regions, fleets, naval air forces, marines, defense island soldiers, coastal artillery and combat units to ensure (radar, information technology, logistics ...).

October 26, 1975, Ministry of Defence (Vietnam) issued Decision No.141/QD-QP established five Coastal Areas of Naval Command and jurisdiction provisions of the five regions. In 1978, renamed become Naval Regions.

• 1st Regional Command (A Regional Command): Gulf of Tonkin, manage north coast from Quang Ninh to Ha Tinh and the islands in Gulf of Tonkin. Command Headquarters: Hai Phong.

• 3rd Regional Command (C Regional Command): manage north central coast, from Quang Binh to Binh Dinh, including the islands of Con Co, Ly Son,... Command Headquarters: Da Nang.

• 4th Regional Command (D Regional Command): manage sorth central coast including Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, Phu Quy island and the south central coast, from Phu Yen to Binh Thuan. Headquarters Command: Cam Ranh military port, Khanh Hoa.

• 2nd Regional Command (B Regional Command): manage south coast from Binh Thuan to Bac Lieu, southern continental shelf, including the key areas are economic science service areas (called are DK1, DK2). Command Headquarters: Nhon Trach, Dong Nai.

• 5th Regional Command (E Regional Command): manage south coast in Gulf of Thailand from Ca Mau to Kien Giang. Command Headquarters: Phu Quoc, Kien Giang.

Service branches

Surface Ships	Naval Marine Corps	Naval Air Forces	Coastal Defense Missiles	Submarines

Ranks in Vietnam People's Navy

See also: Vietnamese military ranks and insignia

In the Vietnam People's Navy system has no ranks of Fleet Admiral. Vietnam People's Navy ranks are divided into four basic steps: Commissioned Officer, Non-commissioned Officer, and Soldiers/Sailors.

Level	Ranks	Translation	Insignia	Lapel	Sleeve
General Officers	Đô đốc	Admiral
	Phó Đô đốc	Vice Admiral
	Chuẩn Đô đốc	Rear Admiral
Field Grade Officers	Đại tá	Commodore
	Thượng tá	Captain
	Trung tá	Commander
	Thiếu tá	Lieutenant Commander
Company Grade Officers	Đại úy	Senior Lieutenant
	Thượng úy	Lieutenant
	Trung úy	Sublieutenant
	Thiếu úy	Ensign
Non-Commissioned officers	Thượng sĩ	Senior Chief Petty Officer		None	None
	Trung sĩ	Chief Petty Officer		None	None
	Hạ sĩ	Petty Officer		None	None
Seaman	Binh nhất	Seaman		None	None
	Binh nhì	Seaman Recruit		None	None
Naval Officer Student	Học viên Sĩ quân Hải quân	Naval Student Officer		None	None

Naval Academy

Vietnam Naval Academy's symbol

See also: Vietnamese military academies

Vietnam Naval Academy, with its headquarters in Nha Trang, is a military institute belongs to Vietnam People's Navy for training naval commanding officers in division level and commanding staffs in tactical/campaign level, include undergraduates and postgraduates of military.

The forerunner of Vietnam Naval Academy is Coastal Training School, was established in April 26, 1955 by the General Staff. The school has changed name in several times such as the Naval Training School in 1959, the Naval School of Vietnam in 1961, the Naval Officers School in 1967, School of Commander Naval engineering in 1980. Finally, the school has named Naval Academy in 1993.

After 55 years of construction, combat and growth, Vietnam Naval Academy has trained thousands of officers and technical staffs for major specialized fields such as: control vessel; mines - anti-mine; missile anti-submarine; gunship; information; radar - sonar; coastal radar; ship factory and power; the commander of the Marine Police and Border Defense Force.

In addition, Vietnam Naval Academy has trained officers for Royal Cambodian Navy and Lao People's Navy.

Modernization

Today, the Vietnam People's Navy is responsible for protecting the nation's sovereignty and economic activities at sea, and to repulse unauthorized foreign vessells intruding into Vietnamese waters. In general, Vietnam's policy has considered the modernization the Navy a priority task in the overall military modernization plan. The Vietnam People's Navy and the Vietnam People's Air Force are the branches with the fatest modernization rates, constantly upgrading weapons, ammunition and combat capacity, the ability to master the equipment. As stated on August 5, 2011 by Minister of Defense Phung Quang Thanh: “The direction of building up the armed forces is one to follow the revolutionary spirit, regularization and effectiveness and gradual modernization. Within this context, the Navy, the Air Force, the Signal Corps and Electronic Warfare will proceed directly into modernization to protect the country”.

• Frigates and Corvettes: Laid down two Gepard class frigate in 2011 by Zelenodolsk shipyard-Russia, named HQ-011 Dinh Tien Hoang and HQ-012 Ly Thai To; and two more order. Contract with Schelde Naval Shipbuilding-Netherlands to built two Sigma class corvette. Especially, Vietnam People's Navy has built itself many Tarantul class corvette (Molniya class) with Russia supervision; besides, Vietnam People's Navy has designed and built the first warship names TT-400TP gunboat.
• Submarines: In April 2011, Vietnam has ordered six Kilo class submarine, worth about 1.8 billion dollars, the contract is said to occupy the entire defense budget of Vietnam in 2009. With six submarines, to be delivered in 2014, Vietnam will own more modern submarines than any countries in Southeast Asia.
• Naval Air Force: Vietnam People's Navy prepared to build Naval Air Force to increase the capacity of coastal defense. On February 27, 2010, the General Staff (Vietnam People's Army) decides to build and make regular member a 954 Regiment Naval Air Force of the Vietnamese Navy. Vietnam has purchased three CASA C-212 Aviocar aircraft Series 400 professional beach patrol and tracking. The aircraft equipped with radar MSS 6000 and Naval Air Force will use for general patrol purposes. Vietnamese Navy received two Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma to offshore patrol and search and rescue missions. Viking Air Company of Canada has contracted to sell to Vietnam six Seaplane DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400 from 2012 to 2014. And 7 Kamov Ka-27 helicopters will be transferred to naval air force.
• Coastal defense missile force: Vietnam People's Navy is building Coastal defense missile force become the core force in maritime security strategy by equip Russian and Indian missile systems. Vietnamese Navy has already produced itself P-5 Pyatyorka/Shaddock anti-ships missile, range upgraded to 550 km. Russia has delivered two K-300P Bastion-P coastal defense system to Vietnam. The Bastion system uses the P-800 Oniks/Yakhont supersonic anti-ship missile, primarily used to attack targets on land and sea, attack range is 300 km, can be used to protect a coastline of over 600 km. Joint venture company Russia-India BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited will sold Vietnam 15 BrahMos stealth supersonic cruise missile, and become the first military in the world imports Brahmos defense missile, if compared with other types of missiles being used in the world, BrahMos missile has the advantages of speed faster 3 times, range longer 2.5 times, respond shorter time 3-4 times.

Fleet

Ships of the Vietnamese Navy are typically preceded with HQ (an abbreviation of the Vietnamese words: Hải Quân, meaning Navy).

Ships
Photo	Class	Origin	Type	Quantity	In service	Ships
	Gepard 3.9 class	Russia Yantar/Zelenodolsk Design Bureau	Frigate	5	2 in active duty (3 more under construction)	HQ-011 Dinh Tien Hoang HQ-012 Ly Thai To
	Petya class	Russia Yantar	Frigate	6	active duty
	Molniya class	Russia Almaz Central Design Bureau Vietnam	Corvette	5	active duty Built under license in Vietnam
	Tarantul-I class	Russia Almaz Central Design Bureau	Corvette	5	active duty
	BPS-500 Pauk class	Russia Almaz Central Design Bureau Vietnam Ba Son Company	Corvette	1	active duty
	Sigma class corvette	Netherlands Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding	Corvette	4 order.	Contract still under discussion
	Svetlyak class	Russia	Patrol	5	active duty
	TT-400TP class	Vietnam Hong ha company	Patrol	1	active duty
	Osa class	Russia	Patrol	10	active duty
	Turya class	Russia	Patrol	10	active duty
	Shershen class	Russia	Patrol	5	active duty	(coast guard vessel)
		Netherlands Damen Group Vietnam Song Thu company	Ocean surveillance	1	active duty	Giao su Vien si Tran Dai Nghia
	K-122 class	Vietnam 189 Shipbuilding company	Transport/ Logistics support ship	1	active duty
	Vietnam 189 Shipbuilding company	Transport/ Logistics support ship	1	active duty
		Vietnam 189 Shipbuilding company	Transport/ Logistics support ship	1	active duty
	Trường Sa class	Vietnam 189 Shipbuilding company	Transport/ Logistics support ship	10	active duty
	Amphibious class	Russia	Amphibious warfare	10	active duty
Submarine
Photo	Submarine	Origin	Type	Quantity	In service	Notes
	Improved Kilo class	Russia Admiralty Shipyard	Submarine	6	scheduled for delivery in 2013
Aircraft
Photo	Aircraft	Origin	Type	Quantity	In service	Notes
	DHC-6 Twin Otter	Canada Viking Air	Patrol	10	scheduled for delivery in 2012 - 2014
	Kamov Ka-28	Russia Kamov	ASW Helicopter	10	active duty	to serve in frigates and patrol around Spratly islands
	Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma	France Eurocopter Group	Patrol	5	active duty
Coastal Defense Missile
Photo	Missile	Origin	Type	Quantity	In service	Notes
	Yakhont (P-800 Oniks)	Russia NPO Mashinostroyeniya	Anti-ship missile/ Coastal defense	10 launcher/ at least 20 missiles	5 K-300P Bastion-P systems in active	to negotiate that Vietnam will self-produced
	Brahmos	Russia/India BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited	Anti-ship missile/ Coastal defense	15 missiles	contract still under discussion
	Shaddock (P-5 Pyatyorka)	Russia Chelomey design bureau	Anti-ship missile/ Coastal defense		active duty	Vietnam has ready self-produced
	Styx (P-15 Termit)	Russia MKB Raduga	Anti-ship missile/ Coastal defense		active duty	Vietnam has ready self-produced

Inshore Patrol:

• Vietnam 10 (+25) HQ-56 class (Stolkraft; 22.5 meter) PB with 1x20mm
• Vietnam 5 HQ-37 class (built by Vinashin)
• Russia 15 Zhuk class patrol boats (Project 1400M)

Riverine Patrol:

• United States 25 PBR Mark II and 10 PCF (Swift Boats). These riverine patrol boats are no longer in service.

Mine Warfare:

• Russia 5 Yurka class fleet minesweepers (Project 266) class MSF
• Russia 5 Sonya base minesweepers (Project 1265E) class MSC
• Russia 5 Yevgenya (Project 1258) class MSI

Amphibious Landing Ships:

• United States 5 amphibious LST-1/542 class LST
• Poland 5 Polnocny-B (Project 771) class LSM
• United States several LCU-1466 class
• Russia 10-15 T-4 (Project 1785) class LCM

Auxiliaries:

• Russia 1 Sorum class logistics tug (Project 745) ATA
• Russia 1 Voda (MTV-6/Project 561) AWT
• Russia 5 Nyrat-2 (Project 376U) diving tenders (YDT)
• 5 floating drydocks (YFDL)
• Russia 5 PO-2 (Project 376) YFL
• United States 5 ex-US 55-meter harbor tankers (YO) - lilely ex-USN YOG-5 Class Gasoline Oiler
• United States 5 Chaolocco tugs (YTM)
• 10 (estimated) harbour tubs (YTL)

Missiles: Air-launched:

• Russia Kh-41 Moskit air-launched
• Russia P-800 Oniks/Yakhont, air-launched version as Yakhont-M
• Russia Kh-35 Uran
• Russia Kh-31 AS-17 'Krypton'
• Russia Kh-59 Kh-59M
• Russia 3M-54 Klub

Manpower

The current total manpower of the navy is around 42,000 officers and enlisted personnel including naval infantry [i.e. marines] and other specialised units.

See also

• Vietnam Marine Police
• Republic of Vietnam Navy
• Tonkin Gulf Incident
• Vung Ro Bay Incident
• 1988 Spratly Islands naval battle

External links

• Tonkin Gulf Incident - A decisive battle in the Thanh Hoa Sea
• Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Reappraisal 40 Years Later
• Tonkin Gulf Incident – Meeting of heroes (continued)
• The legendary East Sea trail
• Task Force 115
• Analysis of the Battle of Dong Hoi
• Truong Sa Island celebrates 30th anniversary of liberation
• World Navies Vietnam

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