Navy Component
Marinecomponent (Dutch) Composante marine (French) Marinekomponente (German)
Founded	15 January 1831
Country	Belgium
Type	Navy
Role	Maritime warfare
Size	1,300
Part of	Belgian Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Zeebrugge, Bruges, Ostend
Ship classes	Karel Doorman-class frigate Tripartite-class minehunter
Commanders
Commander	Divisional admiral Tanguy Botman
Admiral Benelux	Vice admiral René Tas
Insignia
Naval ensign
Naval jack

The Belgian Navy, officially the Naval Component (Dutch: Marinecomponent, pronounced [maːˈriːnəkɔmpoːˌnɛnt]; French: Composante marine, pronounced [kɔ̃pozɑ̃t maʁin]; German: Marinekomponente, pronounced [maˈʁiːnəkɔmpoˌnɛntə]) of the Belgian Armed Forces,^[1][2][3][4] is the naval service of Belgium.

History

Early history

The Belgian Navy was created as the Marine Royale (English: Royal Navy) on 15 January 1831.^[5] This 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.^[6]

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I, Belgium had no navy (an impromptu force was assembled at the Battle for Lake Tanganyika) 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.^[7]

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, (Buttercup and Godetia), a squadron of MMS minesweepers and three patrol boats (Phrontis [fr], Electra and Kernot). 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 Algerine-class minesweepers from the United Kingdom. They also received the Agile and Adjutant minesweepers from the United States. Later developments occurred in the 1970s, when the natively designed Belgian Wielingen-class frigates were built, and in the 1980s when Belgium, France, and the Netherlands launched the Tripartite-class minehunters.^[8]

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 Wielingen-class frigate was taken out of service and that three Tripartite-class minehunters 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 (COMOPSNAV) 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 (Wielingen and Westdiep) 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 (F827) and Willem Van Der Zaan (F829) 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 Bolds'). 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 Naval Component is Rear Admiral Jan De Beurme (since September 2020).

In February 2013 it was announced that Belgium had ordered two 52-metre (171 ft) 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.^[9]

Mission

In times of crisis and war the Belgian Naval Component 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 Naval Component 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 Naval Component 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

NATO code	OF-10		OF-9		OF-8		OF-7		OF-6		OF-5		OF-4		OF-3		OF-2		OF-1						OF(D)						Student officer
Belgian Navy[10] v t e
			Admiraal		Vice-admiraal		Divisieadmiraal		Flottieljeadmiraal		Kapitein-ter-zee		Fregatkapitein		Korvetkapitein	Luitenant-ter-zee 1ste klasse	Luitenant-ter-zee		Vaandrig-ter-zee			Vaandrig-ter-zee 2de klasse
			Amiral		Vice-amiral		Amiral de division		Amiral de flottille		Capitaine de vaisseau		Capitaine de frégate		Capitaine de corvette	Lieutenant de vaisseau de 1re classe	Lieutenant de vaisseau		Enseigne de vaisseau			Enseigne de vaisseau de 2e classe
			Admiral		Vizeadmiral		Divisionsadmiral		Flotillenadmiral		Kapitän zur See		Fregattenkapitän		Korvettenkapitän	Linienschiffsleutnant 1. klasse	Linienschiffsleutnant		Seefahnrich			Seefahnrich 2. klasse

Other ranks

NATO code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4				OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
Belgian Navy[10] v t e
	Oppermeester-chef			Oppermeester			Eerste meesterchef		Eerste meester		Meester-chef			Meester			Tweede meester						Eerste kwartiermeester-chef		Kwartiermeester-chef		Kwartiermeester		Eerste matroos						Matroos
	Maître principal-chef			Maître-principal			Premier-maître chef		Premier maître		Maître-chef			Maître			Second-maître						1er quartier-maître-chef		Quartier-maître-chef		Quartier maître		Premier matelot						Matelot
	Chefhauptmeister			Hauptmeister			Erster chefmeister		Erster meister		Meister-chef			Meister			Zweiter meister						Erster oberquartiermeister		Oberquartiermeister		Quartiermeister		Erster matrose						Matrose

Current equipment

Fleet of ships

Frigates

Class	Ship	No.	Commissioned	Builder	Origin	Displacement (tonnes)	Speed (knots)	Photo	Notes
Karel Doorman class	Leopold I	F930	31 May 1991 (Netherlands) 29 March 2007 (Belgium)	Schelde Naval Shipbuilding	Netherlands	2,800	30		Second-hand purchase from the Dutch navy on 20 July 2005 to replace 2 remaining Wielingen class. Modernised in 2012-15.[11] To be replaced with 2 Future Surface Combatant frigates.
	Louise-Marie	F931	28 November 1991 (Netherlands) 8 April 2008 (Belgium)

Minesweepers and minehunters

Class	Ship	No.	Commissioned	Builder	Origin	Displacement (tonnes)	Speed (knots)	Photo	Notes
Tripartite class	Bellis	M916	13 Aug. 1986	Mercantile-Belyard Shipyard	Belgium Netherlands France	536	12		6 City-class mine countermeasures vessel to replace this class from 2024.[12] 3 Tripartite ships to be (as of 2024) donated to Ukraine. One of them will be the Narcis, which will undergo full maintenance before being donated. Belgium providing basic training and the Netherlands offering on-the-job training for the crews.[13]
	Crocus	M917	3 Sept. 1986
	Lobelia	M921	3 Feb. 1988
	Narcis	M923	30 Mar. 1990
	Primula	M924	20 Dec. 1990

Patrol boats