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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
Sailors of Libya's growing navy
The navy has always been the stepchild of the Libyan armed
forces, although its Soviet-supplied submarines and fast-attack
craft with missiles have endowed it with the potential for
inflicting damage on other naval powers in the Mediterranean. The
enormous firepower available to small vessels armed with missiles
and sophisticated electronic guidance systems has enabled Qadhafi
to assemble a modern flotilla at relatively low cost and with few
personnel. The navy consisted of no more than 200 officers and men
when the first warship was delivered to the Idris regime in 1966.
Under Qadhafi, naval personnel had increased to 6,500 by 1986 and
was expected to rise still further to meet the staffing needs of
additional ships on order.
Traditionally, the navy's primary mission has been to defend
the coast and to assist the other services in maintaining internal
security and public order. After the previously separate customs
and harbor police were joined with the navy in a single command
under the Ministry of Defense in 1970, the mission was extended to
include responsibilities for curbing smuggling and for enforcing
customs laws. The rapid naval buildup that occurred during the
1970s was intended to enforce Qadhafi's claim of sovereignty over
the Gulf of Sidra with its sponging and fishing grounds as well as
potential unexploited mineral wealth. The navy could also deter
landings or raids aimed against the country's oil fields and
vulnerable oil transport network. The purpose of acquiring
amphibious ships for landing infantry and tanks was less obvious.
One explanation might be to present a threat to Egyptian forces
near the border with Libya. The Egyptians' sole land supply route
is the coastal road from Alexandria.
The navy has always been dependent on foreign sources for
equipment, spare parts, and training. In 1972 a British naval
advisory mission that had assisted in the development of the Libyan
navy since its founding was terminated. Training was shifted to
Greece and to Egypt and later to the Soviet Union. The initial ship
orders, placed with British yards, were for patrol boats and
corvettes. The largest surface ship in the Libyan navy, a frigate
of about 1,500 tons with a crew of 130, was ordered just before the
1969 coup and delivered in 1973. Later, high-speed patrol boats and
corvettes equipped with surface-to-surface missiles were purchased
from France, Italy, and the Soviet Union. Between 1976 and 1983,
six Soviet Foxtrot-class submarines were delivered. Each required
a crew of seventy-five; in addition, twelve Soviet advisers were
reportedly assigned to each vessel. (For an inventory of ships of
the Libyan fleet, see;
table 11, Appendix).
Little information was available on the navy's organizational
structure, but Tripoli was known to be the site of the naval
command headquarters and of the principal naval base. Other bases
were located in the ports of Benghazi, Darnah, Tobruk, and Marsa al
Burayqah. A repair base was located at Al Khums east of Tripoli,
and a submarine base was under construction at Ras al Hilal.
As of early 1987, the Libyan navy had faced no hostile actions
except for the encounter with the American fleet in March 1986 in
which one missile boat and a corvette were destroyed and others
possibly damaged. Earlier, it was reported that the small Libyan
vessels were experiencing difficulty in obeying Qadhafi's order to
remain at sea to avoid the risk of being bombed in port by American
planes. The fleet reported breakdowns of engines and electronic
failures as well as shortages of food and fuel.
By early 1987 it was considered probable that the Libyan navy
was overextended, having carried out a rapid buildup without
sufficient trained personnel. More than one-third of the entire
naval complement of 6,500 would be required to supply a single crew
for each of the ships in commission in 1986. In addition, personnel
would have to be found to staff a number of other vessels on order.
Aggravating the problem of reaching a satisfactory level of
operation, training, and maintenance was the need to become
familiar with a variety of modern weapons systems from numerous
supplier countries, among them Britain, France, Italy, Yugoslavia,
and the Soviet Union.
Data as of 1987
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