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The Sri Lanka Volunteer Naval Force (SLVNF) is the volunteer reserve force of the Sri Lanka Navy. The present headquarters of the VNF is at SLNS Lanka in Welisara. 95% of the members of the Volunteer Naval Force are now in the active service and deployed across almost all Sri Lankan Naval bases, with a strength of 490 officers and 12,270 sailors. The current Commanding Officer of SLVNF and SLNS Lanka is Commodore I. M. P. Sarath BA (Econ) LL.B.
Contents
Mission statement
The mission statement of the Sri Lanka Volunteer Naval Force is
History
The history of the Sri Lanka Navy lies with the history of the Sri Lanka Volunteer Naval Force, the roots of which go back to the Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force (CNVF) of the colonial days. The Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force (CNVF) was raised subsequent the Volunteer Naval Defense Force Act 1. of 1937 under the command of Commander (Later Captain) W.G. Beauchamp, VRD, CBE with 12 officers and 18 sailors.
The first headquarters of the force was set up only days before the out break of World War II, at Kochchikade. Soon after, the CNVF was mobilized, placed under the command of the Royal Navy and deployed in the defence of Colombo and Trincomalee harbours. On 1 October 1943 it was renamed the Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. In 1946 it was brought back under the command of the Government of Ceylon.
The Royal Ceylon Volunteer Force was sanctioned and formed on 9 January 1951 under the Navy Act 34 of 1950. The officers and sailors the CRNVR who were not on active service on the date immediately preceding Navy act came into operation formed the nucleus of the Royal Ceylon Volunteer Naval Force (RCVNF) with a strength of 12 officers and 121 men. To keep the Port H.M.Cy.S. TISSA safe, Port Commission Officers were commissioned as a separate division of the VNF, with Captain M. Chandrasoma OBE as Commanding Officer. This Division was disbanded in 1956.
In 1972 when Sri Lanka became a republic the, Royal Ceylon Volunteer Naval Force became the Sri Lanka Volunteer Naval Force (SLVNF). Since then officers and sailors of the SLVNF have taken part in many operation carried out by the Sri Lanka Navy during Sri Lanka's War Against Terror