Belgian Navy

The Belgian Navy of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium.

History

Early history

The Belgian Navy was created as the Marine Royale on 15 January 1831. The force has operated in various forms throughout Belgian history.
When the country became independent after the Belgian Revolution of 1830, a Dutch squadron blocked the Scheldt estuary. To deal with this threat the Belgian Congress ordered two brigantines to be built, which bore the names Congrès and Les Quatre Journées. After the French Army, led by Marshal Count Gérard, captured the citadel of Antwerp in 1832, the captured Dutch gun boats were pressed into Belgian service. In 1840 the Belgian government bought the schooner Louise Marie and in 1845 the brig Duc de Brabant. Louise Marie participated in the Rio Nuñez Incident in 1849. In 1862, the Belgian government discarded its navy and pursued a minimalistic naval policy.

Disbandment

In April 1862 the existing royal navy was disbanded as an economy measure. The navy's personnel were transferred to a "state navy force" manning small vessels and employed in non-military functions such as the provision of ferry services, inspection of incoming vessels and charting research. The need for a proper naval service to provide coastal and port defence was raised periodically but did not progress beyond the retention as a reserve of four lightly armed gunboats, moored in the Port of Antwerp and crewed by members of the Belgian Army's Engineering Corps.

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I, Belgium had no navy but the war caused this policy to change and a Corps of Destroyers and Sailors was created in 1917. The Belgian naval personnel served onboard French minesweepers and provided the artillerymen for Belgian merchant ships. The Treaty of Versailles allocated Belgium 11 torpedo boats and 26 minesweepers. For budgetary reasons, Belgium again abolished its navy in 1927.

World War II

In 1939, against the looming threat of a new war with Germany, Belgium once again resurrected its navy as the Naval Corps. This new navy, consisting mostly of small patrol vessels and coastal artillery units, lasted barely a year until the German invasion of May 1940. During the 18 days campaign, the trawler A4 evacuated much of the government's gold reserve to Britain, while several others helped at the Allied evacuation at Dunkirk.
During World War II many members of the Naval Corps, together with Belgian fishermen and merchant sailors, escaped to Britain with the explicit wish of fighting the German occupiers. The Royal Navy took advantage of this opportunity to enlist the Belgians into separate groups of more or less entirely Belgian-crewed ships. From 1940 to 1946, the Belgian Section of the British Royal Navy crewed two corvettes,, a squadron of MMS minesweepers and three patrol boats. In 1946, Britain donated the ships to Belgium. These vessels became the backbone of the new Belgian Navy.

Cold War

The Belgian Navy was expanded in the late 1940s and the 1950s with the transfer of former U.S., British, and Commonwealth warships. After Belgium became a member of NATO, the role of the Belgian Navy was to help secure the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Western Approaches in cooperation with other navies in northwestern Europe. The first major surface ships that Belgium received were six s from the United Kingdom. They also received the and minesweepers from the United States. Later developments occurred in the 1970s, when the natively designed Belgian s were built, and in the 1980s when Belgium, France, and the Netherlands launched the s.

Post-Cold War

In the beginning of the nineties, the end of the Cold War caused the Belgian government to restructure the Belgian Armed Forces in order to cope with the changed threats. This led to a reduction in the size of the Armed Forces. With regards to the Belgian navy, these cutbacks meant that one was taken out of service and that three s were sold to France. In 2002, the government decided to impose a "single structure" on the armed forces in which the independent Belgian Marine Royale ceased to exist. The former Navy became the Belgian Naval Component of the Armed Forces; it is also generally referred to as the Belgian Navy.
On 20 July 2005, the Belgian government decided to buy two of the remaining six Dutch M-class frigates to replace the two remaining frigates of the Wielingen class at the time still in service with the Belgian Navy, which in turn were sold to Bulgaria. On 21 December 2005, the Dutch government sold Karel Doorman and Willem Van Der Zaan to Belgium. The two ships were sold for about 250 million Euros. These two M-class frigates entered service with the Belgian Navy where they were renamed Leopold I and Louise-Marie. In October 2005, the Wielingen-class frigate Wandelaar was officially handed over to the Bulgarian Navy, which christened the ship as Drăzki. The remaining ships of the class were transferred to Bulgaria as well, after completing modernization in Belgium. A Tripartite-class minehunter, Myosotis, which was renamed Tsibar was transferred to Bulgaria soon after.
The current Commander of the Belgian Navy is Rear Admiral Jan De Beurme.
In February 2013 it was announced that Belgium had ordered two patrol vessels from the French shipyard SOCARENAM, to be delivered within two years. Both were received, P901 Castor in 2014 and P902 Pollux in early 2015. The two vessels are to remain in service until 2044–2045.

Mission

In times of crisis and war the Belgian Navy will manage, with the support of its allies, the crises rising from the infringements to the principles of International law and from the Humans right and exercise the Belgian sovereignty in the maritime zones where the Belgian Navy is qualified, defend the underwater communication lines, main roads and allied, and protect the ports against any air, surface or underwater attack.
In times of peace the Belgian Navy has the following roles:

To ensure the presence of Belgium at sea.
To give a support for our diplomacy and our foreign trade.
Technical and military collaboration with the allied countries.
Participation in humane actions.
Contribute to the nation in the maritime zones for which Belgium is responsible:
*Contribution to oceanographic search.
*Control of fishing
*Contribution to the control of pollution at sea.
*Participation in the plan of assistance in territorial waters
*Support for the customs and police operations
*Detection of wrecks of boats.
*Participation in rescues at sea.
*Contribution to the training of the commercial naval officers
*Control of territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone.
*If necessary, opening of the centre of hyperbare medicine to the population.
*Destruction of explosive devices at sea
Preparation with the tasks to be carried out in times of crisis and war.
Contribution to dissuasion at sea by the means of permanent allied squadrons.
Organisation

Leadership

Ranks

Officer ranks

Other ranks

Fleet of ships

Active fleet of ships

Note: 1 ship donated to Ukraine in June 2025. The Narcis underwent full maintenance before being donated. Belgium provided basic training and the Netherlands offered on-the-job training for the crews.

Ships on order and future ships

Aircraft

Aircraft operated by 40th Squadron Heli, from the Belgian Air Component.

Current fleet

Future aircraft

Past fleet list

Belgian Navy ships since 1945:

* F910 Victor Billet, Tacoma-class frigate
* F910 Wielingen, Wielingen-class frigate
* F911 Westdiep, Wielingen-class frigate
* F912 Wandelaar, Wielingen-class frigate
* F913 Westhinder, Wielingen-class frigate
* M915 Aster, Tripartite minehunter
* M918 Dianthus, Tripartite minehunter
* M919 Fuchsia, Tripartite minehunter
* M920 Iris, Tripartite minehunter
* M922 Myosotis, Tripartite minehunter
* M923 Narcis, Tripartite minehunter
* M900 Adrien de Gerlache
* M901 Georges Lecointe
* M901 Georges Lecointe
* M902 Van Haverbeke
* M903 Dufour
* F903 Dufour
* M904 De Brouwer
* M905 De Moor
MSO-class minesweeper
* M902 Van Haverbeke
* M903 Dufour
* M904 Debrouwer
* M906 Breydel
* M907 Artevelde
* M908 Truffaut
* M909 Bovesse
* Pico
MSC-class coastal minesweeper
* M910 Diest
* M911 Eeklo
* M912 Lier
* M913 Maaseik
* M914 Roeselare
* M915 Arlon
* M916 Bastogne
* M917 Charleroi
* M918 Sint-Niklaas
* M919 Sint-Truiden
* M920 Diksmuide
* M921 Herve
* M922 Malmedy
* M923 Blankenberge
* M924 Laroche
* M925 De Panne
* M926 Mechelen
* M927 Spa
* M928 Stavelot
* M929 Heist
* M930 Rochefort
* M931 Knokke
* M932 Nieuwpoort
* M933 Koksijde
* M934 Verviers
* M935 Veurne
MSI-class inshore minesweepers
* M470 Temse
* M471 Hasselt
* M472 Kortrijk
* M473 Lokeren
* M474 Turnhout
* M475 Tongeren
* M476 Merksem
* M477 Oudenaarde
* M478 Herstal
* M479 Huy
* M480 Seraing
* M481 Tournai
* M482 Visé
* M483 Ougrée
* M484 Dinant
* M485 Andenne
Motorminesweeper 105 class
* M940
* M941
* M942
* M943
* M944
* M945
* M946
* M947
Miscellaneous combatant vessels
* Barcock
* Bootsman Jonson
* Bootsman Jonson 2
Patrol boats
* P900 Ijzer
* P901 Leie
* P902 Dender
* P902 Liberation
* P903 Meuse
* P904 Sambre
* P905 Schelde
* P906 Semois
* P907 Rupel
* P908 Ourthe
Auxiliary ships
* A950 Sub-Lieutenant Valcke
* A951 Hommel
* A952 Wesp
* A952 Bij
* A955 Eupen
* A956 Krekel
* A957 Kamina
* A959 Mier
* A960 Godetia
* A961 Zinnia
* A962 Mechelen
* A962 Belgica
* A963 Spa
* A963 Stern, Ready Duty Ship
* A964 Heist
* A983 Quatuor
* A996 Albatros
* A999 Barbara, hovercraft
* Avila
* Inga 1
* MTL551
Inland waterways barges
* A998 Ekster
* FN1
* FN2
* FN3
* FN4
* FN5
* FN6