The Libyan Navy () is the

naval warfare Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. The Military, armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be ...

branch of the Libyan Armed Forces. Established in November 1962, Libyan Navy was headed by Admiral Mansour Bader, Chief of Staff of the Libyan Naval Force. Before the

First Libyan Civil War The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

, it was a fairly typical small navy with a few missile

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

s and

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

s to defend the coastline, but with a very limited self-defence capability. The navy has always been the smallest of Libya's

military branch Military branch (also service branch or armed service) is according to common standard a subdivision of the national armed forces of a sovereign nation or state. Types of branches Unified armed forces The Canadian Armed Forces is the unifie ...

es and has always been dependent on foreign sources for equipment, spare parts, and training. Most of the Gaddafi-era fleet was destroyed in 2011. Since the start of the

Second Libyan Civil War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

, the Libyan Navy is aligned with the

Government of National Accord The Government of National Accord (GNA; ) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement was unanimously endors ...

(GNA), led by the Presidential Council in Tripoli, apart from coastal patrol vessels under the control of the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; , ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii''), also known as the Libyan Arab Army (LAA; , ''al-Jaysh al-'Arabiyy al-Lībii'') or the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF; ), is a component of Libyan Armed Forces, Libya's mil ...

History

Its first

warships A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as ...

were delivered in 1966. These were two s from the UK. Initially, the effective force was limited to smaller vessels, but this changed after the rise of Colonel

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

in 1969. From this time, Libya started to buy armaments from Europe and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The

Customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

and Harbour police were amalgamated with the Navy in 1970, extending the Navy's mission to include anti-smuggling and customs duties. The total personnel of the Libyan Navy is about 8,000. During the

2011 Libyan civil war The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

several elements of the Libyan Navy were destroyed by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

forces, including eight warships in the night before 20 May and one on 17 August. Two were also captured by the rebels at

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

. The navy began the process of purchasing new vessels in May 2012, mainly fast patrol boats for surveillance and border protection, including the MRTP-20 fast attack boat. As of June 2012, the Libyan Navy has been headed by Commodore Hassan Ali Bushnak, Chief of Staff of the Libyan Naval Force. The British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

along with the Libyan Navy held joint exercises at Dartmouth Naval College in the UK in June 2012. Libyan Navy ships under the command of Rida Issa, loyal to the internationally recognized

, took part in the operation to liberate the city of

Sirte Sirte (; , ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, almost right in the middle between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups and loyal ...

from ISIL. The Libyan Navy assisted ground forces and blocked off sea escape routes for the militants. On 20 June 2016, the European Union states announced that the naval mission in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, Operation Sophia, was extended until 2017, and helped train the Libyan Navy and

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

. In 2021, the navy (except for Haftar's forces) will be under new leadership of the new Libyan President,

Mohamed al-Menfi Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi (; born 3 March 1976) is a Libyan diplomat and politician. On 5 February 2021, he was chosen as the president of the Libyan Presidential Council at the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum. Previously, he had served as the Lib ...

from the Government of National Unity.

Background

The Navy's primary mission is to defend the coast. A strengthening of the service was made in the 1970s; the Soviet Union sold six s, and though two of them were only averagely serviceable, they became the main threats to the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in the Mediterranean Sea. In the meantime, Libya bought four Russian s, that even in the export versions were well-armed and powerful ships. Another four s were acquired from Italy. These had Otomat long range missiles (in the Mk.I version without datalink for in-flight course correction) and modern artillery. They were less well-armed as anti-aircraft ships than the Nanuchkas but, with a displacement almost twice that of a typical fast attack craft, had

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

(ASW) capabilities, with

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

and light

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es.

Actions

Libya's Navy first saw military action during an encounter with the

United States Sixth Fleet The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe and Africa. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixt ...

in March 1986 in the Action in the Gulf of Sidra, when one

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

and a corvette were destroyed, and other ships were damaged by A-6 Intruder aircraft. Unusually, some of these attacks were performed successfully, with

cluster bomb A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...

s like the Mk.20 Rockeye which were designed as an anti-tank weapon. In July 1984, the

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

''Ghat'' is believed to have mined the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

a few kilometres south of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

. Approximately nineteen ships were damaged, including a Soviet

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

which was the first to be hit on 9 July. The Islamic Jihad Organisation took responsibility for the incident. However, Egypt's President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

did not believe the claims and blamed

and Libya. Other sources agreed after it was learnt that the ship took fifteen days to complete a voyage that normally would take eight days, the head of the Libyan minelaying division was on board, and that, when inspected by French officials in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

the aft door was damaged. Due to concerns about the safety and potential lost revenue from the canal, Egypt asked for assistance in sweeping the mines in a complex operation that involved minehunters from the French, British, Italian, Dutch, and US navies. The British located a Soviet-made mine, which was most likely sold to Libya after 1981 and was laid to cause problems for Egypt. Second Battle of Zawiya. Ships (1985)

Active ships

According to the

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...

, a number of vessels from the Gaddafi era remain intact under GNU control in Tripoli, although serviceability is questionable.

Former ships

Submarines

Six obsolete Foxtrot-class submarines were transferred from the Soviet Union between 1976 and 1982. They were crewed by Soviet-trained Libyans while maintenance was done by Soviet personnel. No routine patrols were conducted since 1984. Four were decommissioned (311−314) prior to the Libyan Civil War. The ''Al Hunain'' (316) was reported to be at Tripoli in dry dock in 2003, while the ''Al Khyber'' (315) was reported as sea-going before 2011. In 2016, both ''Al Khyber'' and ''Al Hunain'' were non-operational.

Frigate

(211) delivered by the United Kingdom in 1973. In 2015, it was serving as a training hulk in Tripoli. AlGhardabia2005

1 × (Type 1159) * 213 ''Al Ghardabia'': (struck by NATO in Tripoli Harbour 20 May 2011) Armament: :*4 × SS-N-2C Styx SSMs :*2 × SA-N-4 SAMs :*4 × 76mm guns :*4 × 30mm guns :*4 × 406mm torpedoes :*1 × RBU-6000 A/S mortar :*20 mines Origin:

Corvette

4 × Assad-class corvette * ''Al Tadjier'': (Destroyed by US Navy aircraft) * ''Al Tougour'': (Scrapped in 1993) * ''Al Kalij'': (Scrapped in 1993) * ''Al Hudud'': ( Scrapped in 1993) Armament :*1 × Otobreda 76 mm gun :*2 × 40 mm Breda Dardo guns :*2 × 35mm Oerlikon cannon :*4 × Albatros Selenia Aspide SAMs :*6 × Otomat anti-ship missiles :*6 × ASW torpedo tubes Origin: 3 × Nanuchka-class corvette * ''Ain Zaara'': (Destroyed in NATO airstrike, 19 May 2011) * ''Ain al Gazala'': (Damaged 25 March 1986, Decommissioned and scrapped) * ''Ain Zaquit'': (sunk by US Navy in 1986) * ''Tariq Ibn Ziyad'': (Destroyed in Benghazi, 3 November 2014) Armament :*4 × SS-N-2C Styx SSMs :*2 × SA-N-4 SAMs :*2 × 57mm guns MFBPs Origin:

Fast attack crafts

Received 12 Osa II missile boats from the Soviet Union between October 1976 and July 1980. In 2009, four were operational: ''Al Zuara'' (513), ''Al Ruha'' (515), ''Al Fikah'' (523) and ''Al Mathur'' (525), while eight were non-operational: ''Al Katum'' (511), ''Al Baida'' (517), ''Al Nabha'' (519), ''Al Safhra'' (521), ''Al Mosha'' (527), ''Al Sakab'' (529), ''Al Bitar'' (531) and ''Al Sadad'' (533). All were based at Tobruk. None remained in service after 2011. 9 × La Combattante II type fast attack craft (''Beir Grassa'' class) *518 ''Sharara'' (ex-Beir Grassa): (Non-operational in 2011) *522 ''Shehab'' (ex-Beir Gzir): (Damage in May 2011 and abandoned) *524 ''Wahag'' (ex-Beir Gitfa):(Damage in May 2011 and abandoned) *526 ''Waheed'' (ex-Beir Glulud): (sunk on 24 March 1986 ) *528 ''Shouaiai'' (ex-Beir Algandula): (Damage in May 2011 and abandoned) *532 ''Shoula'' (ex-Beir Ktitat): (Damage in May 2011 and abandoned) *536 ''Bark'' (ex-Beir Alkardmen): (Non-operational in 2011) *538 ''Rad'' (ex-Beir Alkur): (Damage in May 2011 and abandoned) *542 ''Laheeb'' (ex-Beir Alkuesat): (Damage in May 2011 and abandoned) :Armament :*4 × (2×2) Otomat MkI SSMs :*1 × Oto Melara 76mm gun :*1 × Bofors twin 40mm :Origin:

Minesweepers

6 ×

Natya-class minesweeper The Natya class, Soviet designation Project 266M Akvamarin, are a group of minesweepers built for the Soviet Navy and export customers during the 1970s and 1980s. The ships were used for ocean minesweeping. Design The design evolved from the w ...

(Type 266ME) Armament :*4 × 30mm guns :*4 × 25mm guns :*4 × 25mm guns :*10 mines :*Acoustic & Magnetic sweep Origin: 2 × Ham-class minesweeper * Zuara: (sold to Malta in 1973) * Brak: (broken up in 1973) Armament :*1 × Bofors 40mm gun :*1 × Oerlikon 20mm gun Origin:

Oceanographic research ship

1× a former trawler converted in the 1970 called Nour: (Stricken in 2002) Armament unknown Origin: (possibly)

Landing ship

4 × Polnocny-class landing ship Armament :*4 × Strela 2(SA-N-5) surface-to-air missile system :*2 × 30 mm AK-230 air defence gun :*2 × 140 mm Ogon 18-barreled rocket launcher Origin:

Naval infrastructure

Naval bases in the 2011 Libyan civil war

* Khoms *

Misrata Misrata ( ; , Libyan Arabic: ; also spelled Misratah and known by the Italian spelling Misurata) is a city in northwestern Libya located in the Misrata District, situated to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. ...

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

* Tripoli * Derna *

Ship maintenance and repair facilities

Facilities at Tripoli with foreign technicians for repair of vessels of up to ; a 3,200-ton lift floating dock; floating docks at Benghazi and Tobruk.

References

* Levie, Howard. ''Mine Warfare at Sea''. Dordrecht, NL: Martinus Nijhoff, 1992. * ''War machines encliclopedy'', Limited publishing, in Italian version Armi da guerra. * Annati Massimo, ''Al diavolo le mine!'', RID magazine, Coop Riviera Ligure, Italy, June 2005.

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

*
Libyan Navy
{{Navies in Africa Military of Libya Navies by country 1962 establishments in Libya Military units and formations established in 1962