Saudi Navy

The Royal Saudi Navy is the Naval force of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Navy has about 12,000 officers and men, including 1200 Marines. 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 al Mishab.

History

The Navy was founded in 1960 and began a significant expansion with US 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 1990's. 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. [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]

hips

The navy is a modern force with French built frigates, US built corvettes and British built Sandown class minehunters.

Frigates

* Al Riyadh class frigates - Three ships modified versions of the La Fayette class frigate
* Al Medinah class frigates - Four ships based in the Red Sea, built in France in mid 1980s

It is also believed the Saudis intend to order two new British built Type 45 Destroyers in the near future.

Corvettes

* Badr class corvettes - Four ships built in the United States in the 1980s, based in the Persian Gulf
* Al Sadiq class corvettes - Nine ships built in the United States 1972-1980

Minesweepers

* Sandown class minehunters - 6 ships

upport Vessels

* 2 modified Durance type replenishing ships

Others

Many smaller patrol craft

Ranks

Officers (up) Enlisted (down)

Officers

* Lieutenant (Arabic:ملازم) * First Class Lieutenant (Arabic:ملازم أول) * Captain (Arabic:نقيب) * Major (Arabic:رائد) * Lieutenant Colonel (Arabic:مقدم) * Colonel (Arabic:عقيد) * Brigadier General (Arabic:عميد) * General (Arabic:لواء) * First Class General (Arabic:فريق) * Field Marshal (Arabic:فريق أول) * First Class Field Marshal (Arabic:مشير)

Enlisted

* Private (Arabic:جندي) * First Class Private (Arabic:جندي أول) * Corporal (Arabic:عريف) * Vice Sergeant (Arabic:وكيل رقيب) * Sergeant (Arabic:رقيب) * First Class Segeant (Arabic:رقيب أول) * Master Sergeant (Arabic:رئيس رقباء)

References

* Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/gulf/rsnf.htm]