| Vietnam People's Navy | |
|---|---|
| Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam | |
 The insignia used on the ensign | |
| Founded | 7 May 1955 |
| Country |  Socialist Republic of Vietnam(since 1976) North Vietnam(1955-1976) |
| Allegiance |  Communist Party of Vietnam |
| Type | Naval force |
| Role | Naval warfare andamphibious warfare |
| Size | 50,000 officers and sailors 129 ships (including auxiliaries) |
| Part of |  People's Army of Vietnam |
| Headquarters | VPN Command HQ, 27 Điện Biên Phủ, Minh Khai,Hồng Bàng District,Haiphong |
| Nicknames |
|
| Mottos | Đảo là nhà, Biển cả là quê hương (Our Home are the Islands, Our Homeland is the Sea) |
| Colour | Purple, White |
| March | Lướt sóng ra khơi (Surfing to the sea) |
| Anniversaries | 7 May 1955 |
| Fleet | |
| Engagements | Vietnam War Cambodian–Vietnamese War Johnson South Reef Skirmish MT Zafirah hijacking |
| Decorations | |
| Commanders | |
| Commander of the Navy | Vice admiralTrần Thanh Nghiêm |
| Political Commissar | Vice admiralNguyễn An Phong[1] |
| Chief of Staff | Rear admiral Nguyễn Văn Bách |
| Insignia | |
| Flag of the Service |  |
| Naval ensign |  |
| Symbol |  |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Helicopter | Kamov Ka-28 Helix-A |
| Utility helicopter | Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma,Kamov Ka-32T Helix-C |
| Patrol | Viking Air DHC-6 Series 400 |
TheVietnam People's Navy (VPN;Vietnamese:Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam), internally theNaval Service (Vietnamese:Quân chủng Hải quân (QCHQ)), also known as theVietnamese People's Navy or theVietnamese Navy (Vietnamese:Hải quân Việt Nam), is the naval branch of theVietnam People's Army 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.
The VPN also maintains anaval infantry arm, theVietnam People's Navy Naval Infantry, which, according to theInternational Institute of Strategic Studies, in 2025 constituted the majority of the VPN, with 27,000 naval infantrymen.[2]
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On 19 July 1946, Acting President ofDemocratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)Huỳnh Thúc Kháng signed into law a decree establishing the modern Vietnamese navy. Then, on 10 September of that year, GeneralVõ Nguyên Giáp 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 theGeneva 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 theVietnamese 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 theVietnam War 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 VietnameseSwatow-class patrol boats attacked thedestroyerUSS Maddox in what became known as theGulf 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 accountsMaddox 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 thePeople's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and theViet Cong during the Vietnam War. On 31 October 1961, a sea route version of theHo 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 inSouth 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 wasdiscovered at Vung Ro Bay. This led to the creation ofOperation Market Time by the US Navy to intercept disguised enemy ships.
On 19 April 1972, the Navy andVietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) participated in theBattle of Đồng Hới off the coast of North Vietnam. The U.S. Navy claimed to have destroyed a Soviet-madecruise missile for the first time. The destroyerUSS Higbee was damaged after a VPAFMiG-17 dropped a 250 lb (110 kg) bomb, destroying a 5-inch (127 mm) 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 theHo Chi Minh Campaign, 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, capturedRepublic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN) vessels were pressed into service with the Navy. In April 1975, ex-RVNN vessels carried North Vietnamese troops to capture theSpratly Islands. Opening battle in the islandSouthwest Cay(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 the5th Military Region, after 30 minutes, the Navy controlled the main battle area, facilitating the capture of the other islands.[3] The Navy gained control of Sand Cay island (26 April),Namyit Island (27 April),Sin Cowe Island (28 April) andSpratly Island (29 April).[4] The ChinesePeople's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) hadcaptured 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 theSouth Vietnamese Navy orUS Navy.[5]
In the late 1970s a naval infantry (or marine) force was formed for service on the areas claimed by theSocialist Republic of Vietnam in the Spratly Islands. They are equipped withPT-76 light tanks,BTR-60 personnel carriers. Naval infantrymen are armed with theAK-74 rifle,AKM-47 assault rifle,Makarov PM pistol (Officers), and PKM machinegun infantry weapons, among other equipment.
In March 1988, the Navywas attacked by the PLAN at Johnson Reef, resulting in loss several Vietnamese transport ships and up to 64 deaths. The PLAN outgunned and outnumbered the Vietnamese, using a fleet of frigates against lightly armed transport ships. This prompted the Navy to modernise its weapons and its overall naval capabilities.
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The VPN began modernizing with its contract purchasing twoGepard-class frigates from Russia in 2006. From that point until 2016, a series of changes were implemented to transform the VPN from a purelybrown-water navy to one capable of safeguarding its territorial interests in the South China Sea. Its most modern ships in 2011 were its 5Petya-class frigates (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 theSevernoye Design Bureau designed a KBO-2000 which was constructed inBa 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.[6]
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Organisational levels of Vietnam People's Navy, from highest to lowest are:
On 26 October 1975, theMinistry 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:
| Surface Ships | Naval Special Operation Force | Naval Infantry | Naval Air Force | Missile – Coastal Artillery | Submarine Force |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  | |
The following are the rank insignia ofcommissioned officers. Beginning in the 2010s, Navy officers were given gold sleeve and cuff insignia following the practice of most international navies, which are worn on the cuff in the full dress with theexecutive curl.
| Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vietnam People's Navy[7] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||
| Đô đốc | Phó đô đốc | Chuẩn đô đốc | Đại tá | Thượng tá | Trung tá | Thiếu tá | Đại úy | Thượng úy | Trung úy | Thiếu úy | ||||||||||||||
The rank insignia ofnon-commissioned officers andenlisted personnel.
| Rank group | Senior NCOs | Junior NCOs | Enlisted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vietnam People's Navy[7] |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thượng sĩ | Trung sĩ | Hạ sĩ | Binh nhất | Binh nhì | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TheVietnamese naval academy, with its headquarters inNha Trang, 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 theVietnam Naval Academy, the Coastal Training School, was established on 26 April 1955 by theGeneral 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, thenaval academy has trained officers for both theRoyal Cambodian Navy and theLao People's Navy.
The current total manpower of the navy is around 50,000 officers and enlisted personnel, including naval infantry and other specialised units.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reported in February that the Vietnamese navy currently has around 40,000 personnel, including 27,000 naval infantry troops.
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