Royal Brunei Navy

History

The Royal Brunei Navy was formed on 14 June 1965, four years after the formation of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. It was initially known as Boat Section of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. Its strength was only 18 in number, including one officer from the First Battalion who had attended a basic military course in Malaya in 1961 until 1964. This Boat Section was equipped with a number of aluminium boats, known as Temuai in Malay and Fast Assault Boats (FABs). The role of the Boat Section was solely to provide transportation of infantry elements to the interior of Brunei. As the organisation expanded with the aid of stable economic growth, the Boat Section was renamed the Boat Company in 1966.

The Boat Company received 3 river patrol boats in 1966. These boats were named KDB Bendahara, KDB Maharajalela and KDB Kermaindera. All the ships were crewed by Bruneians, led by a qualified commanding officer. In the same year, the strength of the Boat Company was enhanced with hovercraft vessels type SR.N5, followed by SR.N6 in 1968.

The first fast patrol craft was accepted in 1968 and named KDB Pahlawan. It became the first flagship for the Boat Company.

The Boat Company was reorganised as Angkatan Laut Pertama, Askar Melayu DiRaja Brunei (ALP AMDB or the First Sea Battalion, Royal Brunei Malay Regiment in Malay). It was one of the larger branches of Askar Melayu DiRaja Brunei. During that time, the estimated strength of Angkatan Laut Pertama, Askar Melayu DiRaja Brunei was 42 personnel including an officer, while assets consisted of one fast patrol craft, 3 river patrol boats, 2 Hovercraft vessels, fast assault boats, a few long boats and Temuai (aluminium boats).

In 1971, Angkatan Laut Pertama, Askar Melayu DiRaja Brunei received two more coastal patrol craft, KDB Saleha and KDB Masna.

Angkatan Laut Pertama, Askar Melayu DiRaja Brunei was reorganised again on 1 October 1991 as the Royal Brunei Navy due to the growth of the armed forces in Brunei after independence from the United Kingdom.

Roles and organisation

The roles of the Royal Brunei Navy are:

The Royal Brunei Navy is divided into four main components as follows:

Current fleet

The current fleet of the Royal Brunei Navy is as follows:

Others

Fisheries and Industry/Primary Resources ministries also operate 16m patrol boats built by Syarikat Cheoy Lee Shipyards (delivered 2002)

F2000 (Nakhoda Ragam-class) corvettes

The Royal Brunei Navy is a small coastal defence force tasked with patrolling Bruneian waters and defending the offshore oil industry. It is currently undergoing a large-scale modernisation, with the upgrading of the Muara Naval Base and the purchase of 3 British-built corvettes from BAE Systems Naval Ships, Scotland. The contract was awarded to GEC-Marconi in 1995 and the Nakhoda Ragam class OPVs were launched in January 2001, June 2001 and June 2002 at the then BAE Systems Marine yard at Scotstoun. These have been completed but have not been delivered from BAE Systems Naval Ships in Scotstoun due to claims by the Royal Brunei Navy that the ships fail to meet the required specifications.

The ships are armed with MBDA Exocet Block II anti-ship missiles and MBDA Seawolf surface-to-air missiles. The contract dispute is the subject of arbitration. Currently the Sultan of Brunei is intending to sell three corvettes built by BAE Systems for £600 million. When the dispute was settled, the vessels were handed over to Royal Brunei Technical Services in June 2007. In 2007, Brunei contracted the German Lürssen ship yard to find a new customer for the three ships, as of 3 May 2011 the vessels remain unsold and laid up at Barrow-in-Furness. These ships have been purchased by the Indonesian Navy and renamed the Bung Tomo class.

Muara Naval Base

The administration of Angkatan Laut Pertama, Askar Melayu DiRaja Brunei moved to a new base at Jalan Tanjong Pelumpong Muara in 1974. This base is now known as the Muara Naval Base. The Muara Naval Base serves as the headquarters of the Royal Brunei Navy. It was expanded in 1997 to include facilities to support three offshore support vessels.

Muara Naval Base is frequently visited by foreign warships, most notable are the frequent visits by British Royal Navy ships.

Joint exercises and training

The Royal Brunei Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy co-operate with each other through an annual joint exercise, code-named Exercise Pelican.

Officers and soldiers of the Royal Brunei Navy are also sent overseas for advanced training, generally to Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, UK and United States of America.

Exercise SEAGULL 03-07, which was held in Brunei from 2 to 10 September 2007 between the Royal Brunei Navy and their Philippine Navy counterparts. Participating ships include the Philippine Navy corvette BRP Rizal (PS-74) and patrol gunboat BRP Federico Martir (PG-385), and Royal Brunei Navy ships KDB Pejuang P03, KDB Seteria P04, KDB Perwira P14 and KDB Penyerang P16. They conducted series of drills, including Mine Clearance, Under Water Operations, Replenishment at Sea, Night Encounter Exercise, Boarding Exercise and Other Naval Tactical Exercises.

Future orders

De-commissioned landing craft will be replaced by an as-yet-unidentified class of six heavy landing craft.