Royal Saudi Navy

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This article is about the Royal Saudi Navy. For other Royal Navies, see Royal Navy (disambiguation).
Royal Saudi Naval Forces
القوات البحرية الملكية السعودية
Royal Saudi Navy Logo.svg
Royal Saudi Naval Forces emblem
Active 1960–present
Country  Saudi Arabia
Allegiance Saudi Arabia
Branch Navy
Type Naval Force
Role Maritime warfare
Size 13,500 (including 3,000 Marines)[citation needed]
Part of Saudi Arabian Armed Forces
Nickname(s) RSNF
Engagements Indo-Pakistani War of 1971[citation needed]
Gulf War
Operation Restore Hope[1]
Anti-piracy operations[2][3][4]
Shia insurgency in Yemen[5][6]
Commanders
Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Abdullah bin Sultan al-Sultan
Insignia
Ensign 200px
Jack 200px
Naval base flag Naval base flag of the Royal Saudi Navy.svg
Air Royal Navy emblem 120px

The Royal Saudi Navy is the Naval force of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Royal Saudi Navy is sometimes referred to as the RSNF (Royal Saudi Naval Forces). The Navy has about 13,500 officers and men, including 3,000 Marines.[citation needed] The Naval headquarters is in Riyadh. The Western Fleet is based in the Red Sea with the main base at Jeddah. The Eastern Fleet is based in the Persian Gulf with the headquarters at Jubail. Other naval facilities were located at Yanbu, Dammam, and Ras Mishab.

History

The Navy was founded in 1960 and began a significant expansion with United States assistance in 1972 aiming to match the Imperial Iranian Navy. Following the Iranian Revolution a further expansion programme was initiated with French assistance, this was the Sawari programme. Further vessels were purchased from Britain and France in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1980, U.S. defense contractor Science Applications International Corporation began work with the Royal Saudi Navy to design and integrate the country's own command, control, and communications (C3) centers.[7]

Ships

The navy is a modern force with foreign built ships:

File:Frigate Al Makkah.jpg
HMS Makkah
King Abdul-Aziz Naval Base in Jubail, home to the eastern fleet of the Royal Saudi Navy

Frigates

  • Three Al Riyadh-class frigates are modified versions of the La Fayette-class frigate (built by DCN, Lorient), have a fully loaded displacement of 4,725 tons, are armed with eight MBDA Exocet MM40 Block II surface-to-surface missiles (SSM), two eight-cell Sylver vertical launch systems for the Eurosam (MBDA and Thales) Aster 15 surface-to-air missile (SAM), the main gun is the Oto Melara 76 mm/62 Super Rapid, there are four 533 mm aft torpedo tubes. The ships are armed with the DCNS F17 heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo.

The helicopter deck at the stern has a single landing spot for a medium size helicopter, such as the Eurocopter AS 365 Dauphin or the larger AS 532 Cougar or NH90 helicopters.

  • Four Al Madinah-class frigates based in the Red Sea, built in France (Arsenal de Marine, Lorient (French Government Dockyard) and CNIM, La Seyne) in the mid-1980s. Their full load displacement is 2,610 tons and they are armed with eight Otomat surface-to-surface missiles, one 8-cell Crotale surface-to-air missile launcher (26 missiles total), one 100 mm/44 dual purpose gun, two 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, four torpedo tubes, an aft helicopter deck and hangar; one Dauphin helicopter.

It was believed the Saudis intended to order two new British-built Type 45 destroyers,[8] however production of the destroyers came to an end with no order made. Another destroyer that the Saudis are considering is the American built Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, having been briefed by the US Navy in May 2011 on the acquisition of two destroyers in a package that also includes an unknown number of Littoral Combat Ships.[9]

  • 812 Al Riyadh (2002)
  • 814 Makkah (2003)
  • 816 Dammam (2004)
  • 702 Al Madinah (1985)
  • 704 Hofouf (1985)
  • 706 Abha (1986)
  • 708 Taif (1986)

Corvettes

  • 4 Badr-class corvettes built in the United States in 1981–83, based in the Persian Gulf, full load displacement of 1,038 tons, armament of eight Harpoon SSM, one 76 mm OTO DP gun, one 20 mm Phalanx CIWS, two 20 mm guns, one 81 mm mortar, two 40 mm grenade launchers, two triple 12.75 inch torpedo tubes
  • 612 Badr (1981)
  • 614 Al-Yarmook (1982)
  • 616 Hitteen (1982)
  • 618 Tabuk (1983)

Patrol boats

File:As-Sadiq class missile boat Oqbah (525) of the Royal Saudi Navy.jpg
Missile patrol boat Oqbah (525)
File:DN-SC-82-03990-C.jpg
The gunboat Faisal
  • 9 Al Sadiq-class patrol boats built in the United States (Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin) 1972–1980, full load displacement of 495 tons, armed with four Harpoon SSM, one 76 mm OTO gun, one 20 mm Phalanx CIWS, two 20 mm guns, one 81 mm mortar, two 40 mm grenade launchers, two triple 12.75 inch torpedo tubes
  • 511 As-Siddiq (الصّدّيق) (1980)
  • 513 Al-Farouq (1981) (الفاروق)
  • 515 Abdul-Aziz (1981)
  • 517 Faisal (1981)
  • 519 Khalid (1982)
  • 521 Amr (1982)
  • 523 Tariq (1982)
  • 525 Ouqbah (1982) (عُقبه)
  • 527 Abu Obaidah (1982) (أبو عُبيده)
  • Possible sale of 30 Mark V Special Operations Craft[10]

Minesweepers

Support vessels

Others

Many smaller patrol craft, two Danish-built royal yachts

  • Prince Abdul Aziz (1983–84) – built by Helsingør Værft
  • Al Yamana (Built for Iraq 1981; entered service in Saudi Arabia in 1988)

Naval aviation

Aircraft Origin Type Versions In service Notes
Sikorsky MH-60R  USA ASW/ASuW Helicopter 10 Ordered May 2015 - armed with Hellfire missiles
AS332 Super Puma  FRA ASW helicopter B1, M1, F1S1, F1S2 20
AS565 SA Dauphin  FRA SAR helicopter 24

Future

Saudi Arabia wants to buy five German submarines for around €2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) and more than two dozen more in the future.[11]

In December 2014, the U.S. awarded Lockheed Martin a contract for a Foreign Military Sale of the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System to Saudi Arabia. With no surface ships compatible with the Mk 41 and no plans to acquire a land-based missile defense system, this indicates the country is close to purchasing a VLS-equipped surface combatant. Saudi Arabia has evaluated the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and the Multi-mission Combat Ship version of the Freedom-class littoral combat ship able to carry a VLS.[12] In October 2015, the truth came as the US informed Congress of a possible sale of Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) Ships, a variant of the LCS.[13]

Bases

  • Jeddah – Red Sea base home to the navy's Western fleet for frigates and 2 missile boats, 1 replenishing ship and 1 patrol minesweeper; located north of the King Faisal Naval Base air station and south of the container port area
  • Jubail – Persian Gulf base is home to the navy's Eastern fleet; smaller base home to corvettes, replenishing ship remaining missile boats and minesweepers
  • Dammam – Persian Gulf home port for the Saudi Royal family's two Royal Yachts

Ranks

Officers
  • Ensign (Arabic: ملازم)
  • Lieutenant Junior Grade (Arabic: ملازم أول)
  • Lieutenant (Arabic: نقيب)
  • Lieutenant-Commander (Arabic: رائد)
  • Commander (Arabic: مقدم)
  • Captain (Arabic: عقيد)
  • Commodore (Arabic: عميد)
  • Rear-Admiral (Arabic: لواء)
  • Vice-Admiral (Arabic: فريق)
  • Admiral (Arabic: فريق أول)
Enlisted
  • Private (Arabic: جندي)
  • First Class Private (Arabic: جندي أول)
  • Corporal (Arabic: عريف)
  • Vice Sergeant (Arabic: وكيل رقيب)
  • Sergeant (Arabic: رقيب)
  • First Class Sergeant (Arabic: رقيب أول)
  • Master Sergeant (Arabic: رئيس رقباء)

References

  1. ↑ United Nations Operation In Somalia
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ig6WH4DrES6KdGNhDQ_sDz2aJBxgD9BSNQO82
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Dr. J. Robert Beyster with Peter Economy, The SAIC Solution: How We Built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company, John Wiley & Sons (2007) p. 49
  8. ↑ The Independent, "UK seeks £2bn Saudi destroyer contract" By Michael Harrison, 9 March 2007
  9. ↑ Defense News, "Saudi Arabia Mulling BMD-Capable Destroyers" By Christopher P. Cavas , 13 June 2011
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ FMS of MK 41 Vertical Launch Systems May Indicate Purchase of LCS or DDG by Saudi Arabia - Navyrecognition.com, 18 December 2014
  13. ↑ http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/kingdom-saudi-arabia-multi-mission-surface-combatant-mmsc-ships
  • Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995

External links

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