Country Kuwait Type Navy | Branch Military of Kuwait Part of Kuwait Armed Forces | |
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Active 1961; 56 years ago (1961) Size Approx. 2,200 personnel | ||
The Kuwait Naval Force (Arabic: القوة البحرية الكويتية), is the sea-based component of the Kuwait Armed Forces. The headquarters and sole naval base is Mohammed Al-Ahmad Kuwait Naval Base. The Kuwait Naval Force consists of over 2,200 officers and enlisted personnel, excluding approximately 500 coast guard; which are part of the General Department of the Coast Guard, a Border Security Directorate of the Kuwait Ministry of Interior.
Contents
History
Kuwait's Navy was established in 1961 shortly after Britain ended the country's protectorate status following Operation Vantage.
During the Invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm, Kuwait's navy was almost completely destroyed. At the start of the invasion, the Iraqi Navy captured and sank five Kuwaiti Lurssen TNC 45 type fast attack craft (missile) and one Lurssen FPB 57 type fast attack craft (missile) and Kuwait Naval Forces also lost 20 other ships to Iraq during the war.
On 11 November 2008, Kuwait Naval Base was the location of the historic signing of the non-legally binding maritime Khawr Abd Allah Protocols otherwise known as the KAA Protocols. The signing of the KAA Protocols by the then respective heads of the Kuwaiti Naval Force and the Iraqi Navy was the first formal and successful maritime bilateral military agreement for the co-ordinated and de-conflicted use of the Khawr Abd Allah waterway since before the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The protocols were developed and mediated by Major David Hammond RM, a British Royal Navy barrister in 2008 and they were subsequently ratified by both the Kuwaiti and Iraqi governments before the 11 November 2008 signing. They were subsequently reported to the US Congress within the December 2008 'Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq' report and the text of which have since become public knowledge following leaks in US diplomatic notes.
Structure and Orgnanization
Future ships
Landing craft, the procurement programme for the Kuwait Navy included the acquisition of two 64 m landing craft, one 42 m landing craft and five 16 m composite landing craft; all will be built at ADSB’s facilities in the Mussafah industrial area(UAE)