Republic of Singapore Navy


The Republic of Singapore Navy is the maritime service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces responsible for defending the country against any seaborne threats and as a guarantor of its sea lines of communications. The RSN traces its origins to the Royal Navy when Singapore was still a crown colony of the British Empire. The service was formally established in 1967, two years after its independence from Malaysia in 1965, and had undergone a substantial modernisation ever since – which has led them into becoming the most powerful navy in Southeast Asia.
The RSN also regularly conducts operations with the navies of its neighbouring countries to combat piracy and terrorist threats in the congested littoral waters of the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. It also jointly operates the Fokker 50 maritime patrol aircraft with its counterparts from the Republic of Singapore Air Force to provide air surveillance of the seaward approaches to Singapore, which is one of the busiest sealanes in the world. The RSN has engaged in international anti-piracy operations further abroad, partaking in the multinational Combined Task Force 151 off the Gulf of Aden.
Though numerically small in comparison to its much larger neighbours in terms of tonnage and manpower reserves, the RSN counteracts by continuously seeking to maintain a qualitative superiority over any adversary through the implementation of new technologies, fostering of alliances with extra-regional navies, and increased reliance on automation and unmanned assets. This has made the RSN one of the most sophisticated and well trained navies in the region. In addition, bilateral exercises with foreign navies are also held regularly.
All commissioned ships of the RSN have the ship prefix RSS standing for Republic of Singapore Ship.

Mission

As an island nation, the RSN forms part of Singapore's first line of defence. Its stated mission objectives are to:
  • Protect Singapore's sealine of communications and contribute to regional peace and security.
  • Maintain continuous surveillance on the Singapore Strait to prevent sea robberies, piracy, terrorism and unwanted incursions during peacetime.
  • Work to secure a swift and decisive victory over any enemy at sea during war.
  • Conduct diplomacy by exercising with foreign navies and taking part in international operations for peace support, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

    History

Colonial and pre-independence era

The Republic of Singapore Navy traces its origins to the Royal Navy in the 1930s with only two patrol craft. The Straits Settlements Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was established on 27 April 1934, and in 1941 became the Singaporean division of the Malayan Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II. The service received several 75' motor launches built locally by John I. Thornycroft & Company Shipyard in Tanjong Rhu: HMS Pahlawan and the first HMS Panglima in 1937; the latter would later be sunk during the fall of Singapore in February 1942. A new 90' motor vessel bearing the name Panglima was launched in 1944, but upon its transfer to the MRNVR in 1948, proved unsuited for tropical waters and began deteriorating rapidly.
In 1948, the Malayan Force was raised by the Singaporean government, and was later granted the title of the Royal Malayan Navy in 1952 in recognition of its services in action during the Malayan Emergency. The third and final Panglima was launched in January 1956 to replace the second vessel. Being more technologically advanced than her predecessors, she became an indispensable part of the local fleet.
On 16 September 1963, Singapore was admitted as a state of Malaysia under the terms of confederation and the Royal Malayan Navy was renamed the Royal Malaysian Navy. The Singapore division of the MRNVR was formally transferred from the command of the Royal Navy to the Royal Malaysian Navy on 22 September 1963, becoming the Singapore Volunteer Force. During the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, Singapore-based ships were charged with defending the southern border against infiltrators and saboteurs, and also undertook local minor engagements against the Indonesian Navy.

Independence of Singapore

On 9 August 1965, Singapore seceded from Malaysia to form an independent republic inside the Commonwealth. The SVF became the de facto naval force of the new state, though it remained under the command of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Three ships remained in Singapore after separation: KD Singapura, a captured Japanese minelayer; KD Bedok, a patrol boat from Malaysia; and KD Panglima, the former Royal Navy inshore patrol boat built in 1956. Panglima was recommissioned as a Singaporean ship on 1 January 1966. On 1 February, the service ceased to be under Malaysia and became the Singapore Naval Volunteer Force ; Bedok and Singapura were also recommissioned and the latter became a floating headquarters.
File:A port bow view of the Singapore training ship RSS PANGLIMA underway.jpg|thumb|RSS Panglima, first ship of the RSN, underway in 1988 as a training ship; she was decommissioned in 1991.
A new naval ensign was hoisted at the Telok Ayer Basin for the first time on 5 May 1967 and is marked as the day of the Navy's official establishment. In September, the service was renamed the People's Defence Force – Sea and placed under the Sea Defence Command, with the command being thereafter renamed the Maritime Command in December. The name changes reflected the internal restructuring within the Singapore Armed Forces and the growing realisation that maritime security was a crucial element to national security. Headquarters was shifted ashore to Pulau Belakang Mati in 1968. In order to develop local expertise in seamanship and naval engineering, 160 naval recruits underwent training by Royal New Zealand Navy instructors in 1969. At the same time, aspiring officers were sent overseas to learn from established navies in Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
The Maritime Command launched an expansion program with the objectives of combating sea robberies and smuggling, and improving seaward power projection. In June 1968, six Independence-class patrol crafts were purchased and commissioned between 1970 and 1972, marking the first purpose-built ships the Navy possessed. Part of the urgency stemmed from British prime minister Harold Wilson's intention to withdraw British troops East of Suez by 1971, which would leave a security vacuum, though a smaller British presence eventually remained under the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Growing constraints and strategic need for a base located nearer to the strait was solved by the opening of Brani Naval Base in December 1974. The foresight was validated a few weeks later when terrorists from the Japanese Red Army attacked an oil complex on Pulau Bukom and hijacked the Laju ferry. Four vessels, RSS Sea Hawk, RSS Independence, RSS Sovereignty and RSS Daring together with the Marine Police, were able to surround the fleeing ferry and prevent it from escaping.
Colonel James Aeria would be the final commander of the Maritime Command. On 1 April 1975, the Maritime Command was renamed the Republic of Singapore Navy as part of the reorganisation of the Singapore Armed Forces into three distinct services, and has kept the name ever since.

Fleet modernisation

The RSN was the first navy in the region to successfully fire a live anti-ship missile when RSS Sea Wolf fired two Gabriel missiles in March 1974. From 1975 to 1976, six Sea Wolf-class missile gunboats were commissioned, which proved vital during Operation Thunderstorm when they were deployed to patrol and apprehend the influx of boat people fleeing the fall of South Vietnam. In order to support sealift operations, six County-class tank landing ships were purchased from the United States; these were popularly referred to as dollars ships due to the price paid for each vessel. Two Bluebird-class minesweepers were also transferred from the United States to combat the threat of mine warfare within the narrow and shallow channels of the Singapore Strait. Prior to this, the SAF Diving Center had already been established in 1971 to train the first batch of frogman recruits in conducting underwater mine disposal operations. In 1975, the service was reformed as the Naval Diving Unit and based at Sembawang Camp, where it remains.
During the latter half of the decade, the increased operational demands and rate of patrols led the Navy to seek three additional missile gunboats and an upgrade to the Harpoon missile for the existing fleet under Project Albatross. Due to budgetary constraints in the early 1980s, Defence Minister Howe Yoon Chong decided to allocate more funds to the Air Force for the acquisition of a squadron of F-16s; the fighter jets were deemed to possess a higher strategic strike value and capable of more diverse roles compared to ships. Howe claimed the Navy's function was best relegated to coastal defence and suggested mounting Oerlikon guns on towed barges as a replacement to guard the nation's maritime borders. Nevertheless, the reduced budget was still sufficient to commission twelve coastal patrol craft which freed the missile gunboats from daily patrols for more strategic operations.
With the Navy being the lowest priority among the three services, it saw little hope of an expanded fleet with a larger stake in Singapore's defence and many people left the service. This created a "crisis of confidence" within the RSN in the next few years, which defence planners regarded as lacking a proper doctrine for existence beyond patrols and tackling illegal immigration. It was not until 1984 that naval officials convinced the government of the necessity of a seagoing fleet to secure the nation's sea lines of communication in the Malacca Strait and South China Sea, both of which lead to the Port of Singapore; a major contributor to the economy. To combat the growing technological obsolescence and decline in morale, the government launched the "Navy 2000" program. The service underwent an internal restructuring with the formation of the Coastal Command in 1988 and the Fleet in 1989, formalising the responsibilities of each class of ship. Between 1990 and 2001, the resurgent navy acquired six Victory-class missile corvettes, twelve Fearless-class patrol vessels, four Endurance-class landing ship tanks and also commissioned four secondhand Challenger-class submarines from Sweden to hone its underwater domain skills.
In 1979, Malaysia published a map laying claim to Pedra Branca, an offshore island controlled by Singapore. The resultant Pedra Branca dispute lasted 29 years until 2008 when the island was awarded to Singapore by the International Court of Justice, during which the Navy was heavily involved in patrols and maintained an active presence in the waters surrounding the island. In January 2003, RSS Courageous collided with a merchant vessel within the vicinity of Pedra Branca during a patrol, resulting in four casualties and the first ship to be stricken as a total loss. As a result of the accident, additional safety measures were implemented and the training program enhanced, including the requirement for all officers to better understand the manoeuvring characteristics of their ship and take a COLREGs test every six months.
The RSN had also participated in operations other than war within Southeast Asia and abroad. The Navy deployed its Bedok-class mine-countermeasure vessels to search the Musi River for SilkAir Flight 185; served as part of the Australian-led International Force East Timor to address the humanitarian and security crisis in the aftermath of the territory's referendum for independence in 1999; deployed three ships to provide humanitarian assistance and emergency aid to the Indonesian town of Meulaboh in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; and was part of the Multi-National Force – Iraq coalition force maintaining maritime security around key Iraqi installations in the Persian Gulf.