Allegiance Royal Albanian Army Type Defence force | Branch Navy Role Coastal protection | |
 | ||
Active 1914-1917
1920-1925
1928–1939 Country Principality of Albania
Kingdom of Albania | ||
The Royal Albanian Navy (Albanian: Forcat Mbreterore e Mbrojtjes Detare Shqipetare) was from 1928 till 1939 and was part of the Royal Albanian Army.
Contents
Background
The Navy in 1939 was comprised by headquarters Durrës and four port captaincies (Shëngjinit, Durrës, Vlorë and Sarandë). Until 1938, the commander of the naval force was the Italian naval officer Capt. E. Taddei, but is unknown if he was still in command on April 7, 1939. At the time of the Italian invasion, the declared strength of the navy was 17 officers and about 140 petty officers and sailors. The Navy comprised a Hqs with a staff of five "bureaus", four captains of the port (Shëngjinit, Durrës, Vlorë and Sarandë), and the "Flotilla":
Part of the crews of the laid-up patrol boats were serving in an under strength naval infantry platoon ("togë i marinës") at Durrës on April 7
Ships
The following list includes all the vessels under Albanian flag since 1914 until 1939:
The gunboats "Shqipnja" ex German FM 16 and "Shkenderbeg" ex FM 23 were damaged during civil unrest in 1935 and not returned to service and the gunboat "Hercegovina" was taken by her owners arguing than the ship was not intended for military use. These vessels were all inactive in 1939; only the port captaincy offices were still operating. The Italians recorded only 10 naval officers at the time of the invasion, and an unknown number of enlisted men. Part of the crews of the laid-up patrol boats were serving in an under strength naval infantry platoon ("togë i marinës") at Durrës on April 7, 1939 during the Italian invasion of Albania.