Royal Naval Force

Royal Navy Force القوة البحرية الاردنية
Founded	October 1920
Current form	March 1956
Service branches	Royal Jordanian Land Force Royal Naval Force Royal Jordanian Air Force Royal Special Forces His Majesty's Special Security Royal Maintenance Corps General Intelligence Department Public Security Directorate King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau
Leadership
Commander	King Abdullah II
Related articles
History	Desert Force Arab Legion Transjordan Frontier Force
Ranks	Jordanian military ranks

The Royal Naval Force is the Naval entity of the Jordanian Armed Forces. As Jordan is landlocked except at its southern extremity, with only 26 kilometres (16 mi) of shoreline along the Gulf of Aqaba providing access to the Red Sea, its Naval Force comprises only 17 patrol boats, and has a total complement of about 300. The Naval Force is organizationally part of the army.^[1]

The Naval Force was established at Aqaba in 1951 as the Royal Coast Guard. In 1952, Coast Guard Headquarters were moved to the Dead Sea area and remained there until 1967. In 1974, the Coast Guard was provided with four Bertram class medium patrol boats and equipment for divers and frogmen. In 1991, the Coast Guard acquired three Hawk class heavy patrol boats. On 13 November 1991 the Royal Coast Guard was renamed the Royal Naval Force.^[2]

As of July 2010 the Commander of the Navy is Major General Dari al-Zaben.^[3]

Patrol boats

• 3 × Al-Hussein class (VT Hawk) (2 × 30 mm guns, 1 × 20 mm gun, 2 × 12.7 mm machine guns)^[3]
• 2 × Al-Hashim class (Type 412) (1 × 12.7 mm MGs)
• 12 × Abdullah class (2 × 12.5 mm MGs)
• 4 × Faysal class (Bertram) (1 × 12.7 mm MGs)
• 4 × Faysal class (Commander) (2 × 12.5 mm MGs)
• 2 × Falcon class ( Rafaiel remote controlled ) (1 × 7.62 mm MGs)

Special Maritime Forces

• 4 × 17 foot launch
• 4 × 19 foot GRP
• 1 × Light craft SRB

Naval infrastructure

• Naval bases : 2 (Aqaba, Dead Sea )

References

1. ^ "Jordan Armed Forces". country-data.com. http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-7470.html. Retrieved 19 September 2010. 
2. ^ "Embassy of Jordan Military Office". jordanmil.org. 29 July 2010. http://jordanmil.org/. Retrieved 19 September 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)". inss.org.il. http://www.inss.org.il/upload/(FILE)1280404162.pdf. Retrieved 19 September 2010.