Vietnam People's Navy

The Vietnam People's Navy (commonly, Vietnamese Navy – 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.

Early period
From the beginning of Vietnam in the 1st millennium BC, the Hùng Vuong period spawned many legends of fighting against seaborne invasions of Quynh Chau from the north and Ho Ton from the south. In Kingdom of Âu Lạc era, when constructed Co Loa Citadel, King An Dương Vương relied on Hoang Giang River as a natural fortification to protect the south flank of the cidatel. In the 6th century, Emperor Lý Nam Đế built naval forces to fend off the invasion of Liang Dynasty's forces in the Tô Lịch River, Dien Triet lake; and then, King Trieu Quang Phuc executed guerrilla tactics on Chinese military at Da Trach lagoon (Khoái Châu, Hải Dương nowadays).

In the 10th century, the national Vietnamese Navy became a regularized force. Naval forces of Khúc Thừa Dụ in Hong Chau (now is Ninh Giang District, Hải Dương), Dương Đình Nghệ in Ai Chau, Thanh Hóa and King Ngô Quyền were raised by enlisting and training the fishermen along rivers and seasides. Those forces became expert and seasoned naval forces, ready to protect the country.

Dynasties period
In Lý–Trần Dynasty era, the dynasties were occupied with raising naval forces and naval bases. Particularly, the Van Don port has an important role in protecting the northeast territorial waters of Vietnam. In 1077, the Imperial Vietnamese Navy fought the Battle of Cầu River against the Chinese Song Dynasty forces. This was the final battle 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 sailors. This victory demonstrated the successful tactics of war and active defense of the famous Admiral Lý Thường Kiệt who faced a naval force numerically superior to his own. The Song Dynasty lost a total of 8,000 soldiers/sailors and 5,19 million ounces of silver, including all costs of the war.

The largest battles (officially recorded in history) were three naval encounters (all three are called Battle of Bạch Đằng): Ngô Quyền against the Chinese Southern Han forces in 938 (killed over 10,000 and captured a hundreds Chinese sailors, killed Chinese Prince Liu Hongcao); Lê Hoàn against Song Dynasty in 981; and Trần Quốc Tuấn against Yuan Dynasty (Mongol) in 1288 (over 8,000 Yuan Mongol sailors killed, more than 4 Yuan ships destroyed, Mongol Commander Sogetu perished, and Yuan Admiral Omar captured).

A large amount of trade between Guangdong and Vietnam happened during the Lê Dynasty. Early accounts recorded that during Emperor Lê Thánh Tông's reign the Vietnamese maritime patrols captured Chinese whose ships had blown off course towards the Vietnamese shores and detained them. Young Chinese men were selected by the Vietnamese for castration to become eunuch slaves to the Vietnamese. It has been speculated by modern historians that the Chinese who were captured and castrated by the Vietnamese were involved in trade between China and Vietnam instead of actually being blown off course by the wind and they were punished as part of a crackdown on foreign trade by Vietnam. Records show that the Vietnamese performed castration in a painful procedure by removing the entire genitalia with both penis and testicles being cut off with a sharp knife or metal blade. The procedure was agonizing since the entire penis was cut off. The young man's thighs and abdomen would be tied and others would pin him down on a table. The genitals would be sterilized with pepper water and then cut off. A tube would be then inserted into the urethra to allow urination during healing. Any facial hair such as the beard would fall off and the eunuch's voice would become like a girl's. The eunuchs served as slaves to the Vietnamese palace women in the harem like the consorts, concubines, maids, Queen, and Princesses, doing most of the work. The only man allowed in the Palace was the Emperor, the only others allowed were his women and the eunuchs since they were not able to have sexual relations with the women. The eunuchs were assigned to do work for the palace women like massaging and applying make up to the women and preparing them for sex with the Emperor.

Several Malay envoys from the Malacca sultanate were attacked and captured in 1469 by the Lê Dynasty of Annam (Vietnam) as they were returning to Malacca from China. The Vietnamese enslaved and castrated the young from among the captured.

A 1472 entry in the Ming Shilu reported that when some Chinese from Nanhai county escaped back to China after their ship had been blown off course into Vietnam, where they had been forced to serve as soldiers in Vietnam's military. The escapees also reported that they found out up to 100 Chinese men remained captives in Vietnam after they were caught and castrated by the Vietnamese after their ships were blown off course into Vietnam. The Chinese Ministry of Revenue responded by ordering Chinese civilians and soldiers to stop going abroad to foreign countries. China's relations with Vietnam during this period were marked by the punishment of prisoners by castration.

A 1499 entry in the Ming Shilu recorded that thirteen Chinese men from Wenchang including a young man named Wu Rui were captured by the Vietnamese maritime patrol after their ship was blown off course while traveling from Hainan to Guangdong's Qin subprefecture (Qinzhou), after which they ended up near the coast of Vietnam, during the Chenghua Emperor's rule (1447–1487). Twelve of them were enslaved to work as agricultural laborers, while the youngest, Wu Rui (吳瑞) was selected for castration since he was the only young man and he became a eunuch attendant at the Vietnamese imperial palace in Thăng Long. After years of service, he was promoted at the death of the Vietnamese ruler in 1497 to a military position in northern Vietnam. A soldier told him of an escape route back to China and Wu Rui escaped to Longzhou. The local chief planned to sell him back to the Vietnamese, but Wu was rescued by the Pingxiang magistrate and then was sent to Beijing to work as a eunuch in the palace.

The Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư records that in 1467 in An Bang province of Dai Viet (now Quảng Ninh Province) a Chinese ship blew off course onto the shore. The Chinese were detained and not allowed to return to China as ordered by Le Thanh Tong. This incident may be the same one where Wu Rui was captured. One of the renown victories in Vietnamese Naval history was the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút in Tây Sơn dynasty, 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.

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 Tây Sơn, 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 heavy damages 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 brig L'Esperance at the Vam Co River, Mekong Delta. Truc's 150 men were grouped into three columns. The first group of 61 sailors 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 sailors was commanded by Ho Quang and Nguyen Van Hoc. Due to the surprise attack, the French Navy suffered major damage: the brig L'Esperance was sunk, 17 French sailors and 20 pro-Vietnamese naval auxiliaries were killed, only eight people escaped, including two French sailors and six sailors of Tagal (Filipino) background employed by the French.

Vietnam War period


On July 19, 1946, Acting President of Democratic Republic of Vietnam Huynh Thuc Khang signed into law a decree establishing the modern Vietnamese Navy. Then, on September 10 of that year, General Vo Nguyen Giap started to build a flotilla as the core of the new navy. On March 8, 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 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.

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, three North Vietnamese Swatow class patrol boats attacked the USS Maddox (DD-731) in what became known as the Tonkin Gulf Incident. 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 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 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 Vietnam. 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 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 USS Higbee (DD-806) was damaged after an VPAF MiG-17 dropped a 250 lb 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 1975, ex-South Vietnamese Navy vessels carried North Vietnamese troops to capture the Spratly Islands. Opening battle in the island Southwest Cay (vietnamese: Song Tử tây) in April 4, 1975, amphibious raid by sea of the Naval Marine corp 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, after 30 minutes, Vietnamese Navy controlled the main battle area, facilitating the solution development process release of the other islands. Then, Vietnamese Navy continue control Sand Cay island (April 26), Namyit Island (April 27), Sin Cowe Island (April 28) and Spratly Island (proper) (April 29). 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 naval infantrymen are armed with AK-74 rifle, AKM-47 assault rifles, Makarov PM pistol (Officers), and PKM machinegun infantry weapons, and more.

In 1988, Vietnam People's Navy fought against the Chinese Navy at Johnson Reef of sovereignty of the Spratly Islands, causing the losses to the Vietnamese of several armed ships and up to 200 deaths. The battle was won by the Chinese Navy who had fewer ships and sailors but had more advanced ships and weapons. This prompted the Vietnamese Navy to modernize its naval weapons and its overall naval capabilities

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 Quảng Ninh to Hà Tĩnh and the islands in Gulf of Tonkin. Command Headquarters: Hai Phong.
 * 3rd Regional Command (C Regional Command): manage north central coast, from Quảng Bình to Bình Định, including the islands of Cồn Cỏ, Lý Sơn,...and Paracel Islands. Command Headquarters: Da Nang.
 * 4th Regional Command (D Regional Command): manage south central coast including Spratly Islands, Phú Quý island and the south central coast, from Phú Yên to Bình Thuận. Headquarters Command: Cam Ranh Bay military port, Khánh Hòa Province.
 * 2nd Regional Command (B Regional Command): manage south coast from Bình Thuận to Bạc Liêu, southern continental shelf, including the key areas are economic science service areas (called are DK1, DK2). Command Headquarters: Nhơn Trạch, Đồng Nai.
 * 5th Regional Command (E Regional Command): manage south coast in Gulf of Thailand from Cà Mau to Kiên Giang. Command Headquarters: Phú Quốc, Kiên Giang.

Ranks in Vietnam People's Navy
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/Seamen. Officer ranks use the executive curl on the sleeves of their service and full dress blue uniforms, similar to those used in various navies worldwide.

Naval Academy


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.123

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: Vietnam has built the first submarine flotilla name 182 on June 1, 1982. This flotilla was trained in Cam Ranh Bay under guidance of Soviet submarine officers and used North Korea's Yugo class submarine. 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, the first to be delivered in 2012 and the last one to be delivered by 2016, Vietnam will own the largest and most modern submarines team 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 the 954th Naval Air Force Regiment of 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 (the 679th Coastal missile Regiment) 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, in fact, Vietnam was the only customer that USSR export this missile system. 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. The Vietnamese are now starting to locally produce the anti ship missile Kh-35 Uran-E after received 33 missiles in 2010.

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

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

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

Small Arms
 * AK-74 Standard Issue Assault rifle.
 * AKM-47 Standard Issue Assault Rifle being supplemented by AK-74.
 * PKM machinegun
 * Makarov PM Standard issue pistol for all Vietnamese Military services.
 * 🇮🇱 IMI Tavor TAR-21 Marines and Special Forces Only.
 * 🇮🇱 Uzi Submachinegun Marines and Special Forces Only.
 * 🇮🇱 IMI Negev Light Machine Gun Marines and Special Forces Only.

Manpower
The current total manpower of the navy is around 50,000 officers and enlisted personnel including naval infantry [i.e. marines] and other specialised units.