Republic of Vietnam Navy

Republic of Vietnam Navy
Hải quân Việt Nam Cộng hòa
Emblem of the South Vietnamese Navy
Founded1952 (1952)
Disbanded30 April 1975 (30 April 1975)
Country South Vietnam
BranchNavy
RoleSea control
Size42,000 men, 1,400 ships, boats and other vessels (1973)
Part of Vietnamese National Army (1952-1955)
Republic of Vietnam Military Forces
Garrison/HQSaigon, South Vietnam
Nickname(s)"HQVNCH" ("RVNN" in English)
Motto(s)Tổ quốc — Đại dương ("The Fatherland — The Ocean")
MarchHải quân Việt Nam hành khúc
Anniversaries20 August
EngagementsVietnam War
Cambodian Civil War
Battle of the Paracel Islands
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Trần Văn Chơn
Cao Văn Viên
Lâm Nguơn Tánh
Chung Tấn Cang
Insignia
Flag
Naval ensign
Flag of Saint Trần
South Vietnamese navy officers and CPOs board their new ship, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Bering Strait (WHEC-382), which was transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Navy as frigate RVNS Trần Quang Khải.
Commodore Trần Văn Chơn, Chief of Naval Operations, (left) and Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations, (left center) inspect some of the South Vietnamese sailors who will take over river patrol operations from the U.S. Navy, c. September 1969. Note the M1 Garand rifles held by the sailors.

The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; Vietnamese: Hải quân Việt Nam Cộng hòa - 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 from France; after 1955, and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States. With American assistance, in 1972 the VNN became the largest Southeast Asian navy and, by some estimates, the fourth largest navy in the world, just behind the Soviet Union, the United States and the People's Republic of China,[1] with 42,000 personnel, 672 amphibious ships and craft, 20 mine warfare vessels, 450 patrol craft, 56 service craft, and 242 junks. Other sources state that VNN was the ninth largest navy in the world.[2] The Republic of Vietnam Navy was responsible for the protection of the country's national waters, islands, and interests of its maritime economy, as well as for the co-ordination of maritime police, customs service and the maritime border defence force.

The Republic of Vietnam Navy disbanded in 1975 with the collapse of South Vietnam, and North Vietnam's victory in the Vietnam War. Most of its fleet was captured in port, but a small fleet of vessels, led by Captain Đỗ Kiếm and Richard L. Armitage of the Defense Attaché Office, Saigon, escaped to Thailand and surrendered themselves to American naval forces there. Some of these RVNN vessels were scuttled upon reaching the open sea, while others continued their service with the Philippine Navy.

  1. ^ Fiscal Year 1972 Authorization for Military Procurement: Research and Development, Construction and Real Estate Acquisition for the Safeguard ABM, and Reserve Strengths. Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, First Session, on S. 939 (H.R. 8687). U.S. Government Printing Office. 1971.
  2. ^ "All Hands". 1970.