136 articles
Royal Danish Navy
Royal Danish Navy (Søværnet), founded 10 August 1510 under King Hans; Danish naval branch with Navy Command at Karup, squadrons at Frederikshavn and Korsør, Iver Huitfeldt and Thetis-class frigates, no submarines, and a 2025 Navy Plan expansion.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA): UK Ministry of Defence civilian-manned, uniformed fleet, founded 1905, supplying fuel, ammunition and stores to the Royal Navy; 12 vessels in 2026, with three £1.6bn Fleet Solid Support ships under construction.
Royal Malaysian Navy
Royal Malaysian Navy (Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia, TLDM), Malaysia's naval force headquartered in Lumut, Perak; founded 1934 as SSNVR, formed 1948; operates two Scorpène submarines and the delayed five-ship RM11.22 billion Maharaja Lela-class LCS program.
Royal Marines
Royal Marines: UK amphibious commando force within the Naval Service, founded 1664, granted Royal title 1802; 3 Commando Brigade renamed UK Commando Force in 2026; green beret, Arctic specialists in Norway.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy, the United Kingdom's naval warfare service and 'Senior Service', operates 70 surface vessels plus submarines including Vanguard Trident boats, two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, and Astute attack boats, with Dreadnought and Type 26/31 programmes underway.
Royal Navy Submarine Service
Royal Navy Submarine Service: British naval branch operating nuclear submarines since Holland 1 in 1901. Fleet of nine boats, four Vanguard SSBNs and five Astute SSNs at HMNB Clyde, with Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS classes replacing them from the 2030s.
Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine, RNLN), the Netherlands' naval service and oldest armed-forces branch, formally dating to 1488. Operates 6 frigates, 4 Walrus-class submarines, and Caribbean units; entire fleet is being replaced 2024–2036 with Orka-class submarines and ASW frigates.
Royal New Zealand Navy
Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), naval service of New Zealand, established 1 October 1941. Operates nine ships under the NZDF; lost HMNZS Manawanui in 2024; fleet renewal and Anzac frigate replacement underway by the mid-2030s.
Royal Norwegian Navy
Royal Norwegian Navy (Sjøforsvaret, Den kongelige norske marine, KNM): Norway's naval defence branch of Marinen and Kystvakten, based at Haakonsvern, with four Nansen-class frigates, six Ula-class submarines, and a five-frigate, five-submarine replacement plan to 2036.
Royal Saudi Navy
Royal Saudi Naval Forces (القوات البحرية الملكية السعودية), Saudi Arabia's navy under the Ministry of Defense, founded 1957. Two fleets on the Gulf and Red Sea; al-Riyadh first vessel; SNEP, Sawari, and Navantia corvette programs.
Royal Thai Navy (กองทัพเรือไทย)
Royal Thai Navy (กองทัพเรือไทย, RTN, ทร.), Thailand's naval service: ~64,000 personnel, ~77 warships, the carrier Chakri Naruebet without fixed-wing aircraft since 2006, three area commands, marines, and unresolved Chinese S26T submarine purchase.
Russian Navy (Военно-морской флот России)
The Russian Navy (Военно-морской флот России), the naval service of the Russian Armed Forces with Northern, Pacific, Baltic, Black Sea Fleets and Caspian Flotilla, fields about 64 submarines but lost a third of its Black Sea Fleet to Ukrainian strikes after 2022.
Seabee
Seabees: U.S. Navy Naval Construction Force, founded 5 March 1942 by Rear Admiral Ben Moreell; motto "We Build, We Fight"; 325,000 WWII tradesmen, 33 Silver Stars; build and defend advance bases.
SEAL Team Six
SEAL Team Six, officially the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), is the Navy's Tier 1 counterterrorism unit, founded October 1, 1980 by Richard Marcinko after Operation Eagle Claw and known for the 2011 bin Laden raid.
Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force
The Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force (上海海軍特別陸戦隊) was a permanent marine unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy stationed in Shanghai from 1932 to 1945 to protect Japanese residents.
Shayetet 13 (שייטת 13)
Shayetet 13 (שייטת 13, Flotilla 13) is the Israeli Navy's naval commando unit, established 1950 by Yochai Ben-Nun and Yossele Dror, based at Atlit, modeled on Italy's Decima Flottiglia MAS, and active in nearly all of Israel's wars.
South African Navy
The South African Navy (SAN, Suid-Afrikaanse Vloot) is the maritime branch of the SANDF, founded as the SA Naval Service on 1 April 1922, renamed SA Navy in 1951, based at Simon's Town since 1957, and operating Valour-class frigates and Type 209 submarines.
Soviet Naval Aviation
Soviet Naval Aviation (Morskaya Aviatsiya, SNA) was the Soviet Navy's air arm, one of five Soviet air forces, with about 50,000 personnel and 1,200+ aircraft, centered on missile-armed Badger and Backfire bombers, maritime reconnaissance, ASW, and Kiev-class carrier aviation.
Soviet Navy (Военно-морской флот СССР)
Soviet Navy (Военно-морской флот СССР), the USSR's naval service 1918–1991; grew from a WWII-devastated coastal force into the world's second largest navy under Stalin and Admiral Gorshkov, centered on submarines, naval aviation, and missile ships, dissolving into the Russian Navy in 1991.
Spanish Navy
Spanish Navy (Armada Española), Spain's naval force. Royal navy founded by Philip V in the early 18th century; today the Fleet commands from Rota, runs S-80 submarines, F-110 frigates, the Juan Carlos I LHD, and NATO standing-group deployments.
Special Boat Service
The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the Royal Navy's maritime special forces unit within UK Special Forces, formed in 1940 as the Special Boat Section, specialising in littoral operations alongside the SAS.
Special Naval Landing Forces
The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF, Tokubetsu Rikusentai) were Imperial Japanese Navy ground units formed in the late 1920s, used for amphibious landings and garrison duty until 1945.
Special warfare combatant-craft crewmen
Special warfare combatant-craft crewmen, or SWCC, are specially trained US Navy special operations forces who operate combatant craft in maritime, coastal, and riverine environments, descended from Vietnam-era riverine units.
Structure of the United States Navy
Structure of the United States Navy: how the Department of the Navy organizes civilian leadership, the shore establishment, and operating forces into administrative and operational chains of command, with nine component commands and seven active numbered fleets under combatant commanders.
Suyeong
Suyeong (수영, 水營) was a naval camp of Korea's Joseon dynasty where the provincial fleet commander was stationed; one gave Busan's Suyeong District its name.
Swedish Navy
Swedish Navy (Marinen), founded 1522 by Gustav Vasa, is the naval branch of Sweden's Armed Forces: submarine flotilla, surface flotillas, amphibious battalion, Naval Base; NATO member since March 2024, procuring four French FDI frigates and A26 submarines.
Syrian Navy (البحرية السورية)
Syrian Navy (البحرية السورية), the Syrian Arab Navy: small coastal-defense naval branch founded 29 August 1950, based at Tartus and Latakia, Soviet-equipped with Romeo submarines and Osa boats, distinct from Russia's Tartus naval base.
Tailhook Association
The Tailhook Association is an independent fraternal nonprofit supporting US aircraft carrier and sea-based aviation, founded in 1956 and known for its annual Las Vegas symposium and the 1991 scandal that reshaped Navy policy.
Task force
Task force: a temporary military organization, especially a U.S. Navy task force (TF) drawn from different administrative units for a specific mission, organized as task groups, units, and elements; also joint task forces (JTF) and NATO Commander Task Forces.
Turkish Naval Forces
Turkish Naval Forces (Deniz Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı), the navy of Türkiye, NATO member since 1952. Strongest naval power in the eastern Mediterranean; sole major NATO navy in the Black Sea since February 2022 under Montreux; 31 warships under construction in 2025.