Romanian Naval Forces

The Romanian Naval Forces (Romanian: Forțele Navale Române) is the main naval branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. They work in the Black Sea and on the Danube.

The naval forces have a long history, starting in 1860. Today, they help keep the waters safe and support the country in many ways. Their work is important for protecting Romania's coastline and helping other parts of the military.

History

See also: List of battles of the Romanian Navy

The Romanian Navy began in 1860 as a small river group on the Danube. After Wallachia and Moldavia joined together, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the leader of the Romanian Principalities, decided to combine their navies into one group, the Danube Flotilla Corps. The navy trained and worked using methods from France. Officers first went to learn in Brest Naval Training Centre in France because the school in Bucharest did not have a navy part. The first leader was Colonel Nicolae Steriade. The navy’s base started in 1861 at Izmail but moved in 1864 to Brăila and in 1867 to Galați. They had only a few ships and 275 sailors. The navy’s job was to grow and train this small group.

The first school for sailors opened in 1872 at Galați to train officers and sailors. The Romanian Navy’s first ship was the paddle steamboat "Prințul Nicolae Conache Vogoride". They bought it in 1861 and changed it into a warship at a shipyard in Linz. They named it "România [ro]" when it launched at Galați harbor. In 1867, the royal yacht "Ștefan cel Mare" (Stephen the Great) joined the navy. In October 1873, the Fulgerul gunboat, the Romanian Navy’s first ship built only as a warship, finished in a shipyard in France. It did not have guns so it could pass through Turkish waters. After it arrived in Romania in April 1874, they added a gun in a tower at the Galați shipyard. The next ship to join was the spar torpedo boat NMS Rândunica in 1875. These ships were part of the Romanian group during the War of Independence.

During the War of Independence, which was also called the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish war, the Romanian Navy sailed under the Russian flag. Their job was to carry Russian soldiers, supplies, and to protect bridges over the Danube using mines. One big success was sinking a Turkish ship near Măcin using spar torpedo boats including "Rândunica".

After the war, the navy took Romanian soldiers back over the Danube. The small navy showed that Romania needed a strong Danube group to keep its southern border safe. They made three plans to add new weapons between 1883 and 1908. In 1896, the group changed into two parts: the Danube Division and the Sea Division. The river base was at Galați, and the sea base was at Constanța.

The Romanian Black Sea Fleet started in the summer of 1890, ten years after Romania got its first sea ship: the gunboat NMS Grivița. This new group had the small protected cruiser NMS Elisabeta, the training ship NMS Mircea, three Smeul-class torpedo boats, and the Grivița.

On 2 July 1905, during a problem on the Russian battleship Potemkin, the Romanian protected cruiser NMS Elisabeta stopped the Russian torpedo boat Ismail as it tried to enter the Romanian port of Constanța. Elisabeta fired two warning shots, making the torpedo boat leave. Later that day, Potemkin and Ismail left Romania. But on the night of 7 July, Potemkin came back to the Romanian port to give up to Romanian leaders in return for safety for its crew. On 8 July, Captain Negru raised the Romanian flag on Potemkin and let it enter the harbor. On 10 July, after talking with Romanian leaders, Potemkin went back to Russian leaders and left for Sevastopol.

After the War of Independence, Romania made two plans for the Black Sea group. The 1899 plan wanted six coastal battleships, four destroyers and twelve torpedo boats. None of these were built, and the battleship Potemkin was sent back one day after Romania got it. The 1912 plan wanted six cruisers, twelve destroyers and a submarine. Italy built four destroyers and possibly a submarine, but Italy took them back in 1914. Romania also ordered three submarines from France in 1917, but France took them back and used them for its own navy. The biggest Romanian ship in the Black Sea was the old cruiser Elisabeta. It helped guard the Danube River during the Second Balkan War but had its weapons removed when World War I started. They put the weapons on land to guard against attacks. The Romanian Black Sea group also had four old gunboats and three old torpedo boats. Romania used merchant ships for help. The ships Regele Carol I, România, Împăratul Traian and Dacia were changed into auxiliary cruisers.

The Danube Flotilla was newer and had four river monitors and eight British-built torpedo boats. The four river monitors were built in 1907 at Galați. They each had three cannons. In 1918, Mihail Kogălniceanu was changed to work far from shore. The British torpedo boats were built between 1906 and 1907 and each weighed 50 tons. There were also about six older gunboats for watching borders and laying mines, plus other ships for carrying supplies. The Romanian Navy had a smaller job during World War I and lost only a few ships. The river monitors helped protect Turtucaia and later helped Romanian and Russian soldiers in Dobruja. Their big win was sinking an enemy river monitor.

After World War I, Romania got three Austro-Hungarian river monitors, renamed Ardeal, Basarabia and Bucovina. In 1921 they bought four Italian patrol boats. These ships, with the ones already in service, made Romania’s Danube group the strongest river group in the world until World War II.

The Romanian Navy focused on the Black Sea fleet during this time. In 1920, they got two of the four Aquila-class scout cruisers from Italy and named them Mărășești and Mărăști. They bought four gunboats from France: Stihi, Dumitrescu, Lepri and Sublocotenent Ghiculescu. They also got seven torpedo boats as payment from Austria-Hungary. One torpedo boat, Fulgerul, sank on the way to Romania in 1922. Năluca, Sborul and Smeul, three older torpedo boats, were used later in World War II. In 1926, Romania ordered two more destroyers from Italy: Regele Ferdinand and Regina Maria, plus Romania’s first submarine, Delfinul, and a submarine support ship, Constanța. These ships joined the navy between 1930 and 1936.

The navy needed more training places and ships, so they opened a naval college at Constanța in 1920. In 1938, they built the sail ship Mircea in Hamburg as a training ship for the navy. Romania also got new merchant ships: the steamer Oituz, ex-German ships Ardeal, Peleș, Alba Iulia and Suceava, passenger ships Basarabia and Transilvania, and four new freighters from Italy before World War II started. In 1940, Romania had 17 merchant ships totaling over 72,000 tons.

In 1937, Romania made a new plan for more weapons. They wanted a cruiser, four small destroyers, three submarines, two mine layers and ten fast boats. These would be built at the Galați shipyard.

The anti-aircraft escort minelayer Amiral Murgescu started being built at the Galați shipyard in August 1938, launched in June 1939 and joined the navy in 1941. It replaced the planned cruiser as the biggest ship from the 1937 plan. It was used for laying mines and protecting ships. Its main guns were 10.5 cm SK C/32 naval guns, like those on German ships Arcona and Niobe. A sister ship, Cetatea Albă, started in 1939 but was stopped early. Its building moved to Germany and Blohm & Voss finished it in Hamburg in 1940. Cetatea Albă may have had only two big guns, two small guns and 135 mines. It may never have been used.

The four planned destroyers were replaced by four German M-class minesweepers. They were built in Romania from German parts in 1943. Each was a 500-ton ship with two 88 mm guns, five anti-aircraft guns and two depth-charge throwers.

Two of the three planned submarines were built at the Galați shipyard in 1938, launched in May 1941 and joined the navy in May 1943. The first was Marsuinul, a 620-ton submarine with one big gun, one small gun and six torpedo tubes. Its sister ship, Rechinul, was a 585-ton submarine for laying mines. It had one small gun, four torpedo tubes and 40 mines. The third planned submarine was replaced by five small Italian CB submarines in late 1943. They got two minelayers in 1941.

Three of the ten planned fast boats were built in the United Kingdom in 1940 and named Viforul, Viscolul and Vijelia. Six more, the Vedenia class, were built in Romania and joined in 1943. They got seven Italian MAS boats in August 1943. Then they got four German S-boats in August 1944, each with two torpedo tubes.

In 1941, Romania had four destroyers, one submarine, two minelayers, three helper minelayers, three fast boats, three gunboats, fifteen small ships and twenty seaplanes. One destroyer, Mărăști, could only go 24 knots so it stayed near the coast. The submarine Delfinul was old and often broke. Romania’s navy was much smaller than the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, so it mostly defended itself during the war.

The two Regele Ferdinand-class destroyers were the strongest ships the Axis powers had in the naval war in the Black Sea but mostly protected ships. The Romanian minelayer/destroyer escort Amiral Murgescu and three helper minelayers helped protect Constanța in 1941 and later protected supply ships to the Bosphorus, Odessa and Sevastopol. Mines were important in making Soviet submarines sink in the Black Sea.

The Romanian Navy helped move Axis forces from Crimea in 1944. The Romanian naval leader, Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu, got a German award after helping plan this move. Until Romania changed sides in 1944, the navy stayed near the coast of Constanța as Soviet planes attacked. After Romania gave up in August 1944, Germany’s ships left. When a Soviet minesweeper was sunk by a German submarine, the Soviet Navy said Romania betrayed them and took all Romanian ships on 5 September 1944. By this time, only one destroyer, one leader, two gunboats, one minelayer and three fast boats still worked. The rest were being fixed after helping leave Crimea or after Soviet air attacks. The Soviet Navy took all Romanian ships to Caucasian ports and did not give them back until after the war. Some ships were never returned.

Romania lost its biggest ship, the gunboat Lepri, when it hit a Romanian mine near Sulina in January 1941, before fighting with the Soviet Union began. Romania’s navy lost only a few ships during the war, but its merchant ships were almost all sunk or damaged by Soviet forces because Romania had few ships to protect them.

The Romanian Naval Forces changed during the Soviet occupation of Romania into the Romanian People's Navy. They stopped using the name “His/Her Majesty’s Ship” for their ships.

World War II Romanian Black Sea Fleet warships

Romanian naval forces in the Black Sea had four destroyers, four torpedo boats, eight submarines, three minelayers, one submarine support ship, three gunboats and one training ship.

List of enemy warships sunk by the Royal Romanian Navy during World War II

Command, control and organisation

See also: List of active Romanian Navy ships

The Romanian Navy has one Frigate Flotilla and one Riverine Flotilla. Its equipment includes two Type 22 frigates, one Mărășești class frigate, four corvettes, three Tarantul-I missile corvettes, one minelayer, four minesweepers, one minehunter, three Mihail Kogălniceanu class river monitors, five Smârdan class riverine armored patrol boats, and other small craft and auxiliary ships. The last Osa class-based Epitrop torpedo boats were retired in November 2023.

As of 2022, about 6,800 men and women serve in the Romanian Navy. The main base of the Romanian Navy is located at Constanța. The current chief of the Romanian Navy is Vice Admiral Mihai Panait, appointed on 15 August 2020. The Romanian Naval Forces ordered three IAR 330 Puma Naval helicopters, with the last one being commissioned in December 2008. These helicopters are used for search and rescue, medical evacuation, and maritime surveillance missions.

Structure of the Navy

• Naval Forces General Staff in Bucharest
  • Naval Component Command
• Fleet Command „Viceamiral Vasile Urseanu”, in Constanța
  • 56th Frigate Flotilla „Contraamiral Horia Macellariu” (Mărășești_, Regele Ferdinand_ and Regina Maria_), in Constanța
    • 130th Logistic Support Ship Divizion (Croitor class and Stan Tug 1606 ships), in Constanța
    • Special Unmanned Systems Divizion (Shield AI MQ-35 V-BAT)
  • 256th Naval Helicopter Group (IAR 330 Puma Naval helicopters), in Tuzla
  • 150th Missile Fast Patrol Boat Divizion (Tarantul-I missile boats), in Mangalia
  • 50th Corvette Divizion, in Mangalia
    • Admiral Petre Bărbuneanu-class corvettes (Tetal-I)
    • Rear-Admiral Eustațiu Sebastian-class corvettes (Tetal-II)
  • 146th MCM Divizion (Musca class minesweepers and the Cosar minelayer), in Constanța
  • 508th Coastal Defence Missile Divizion (4K51 Rubezh missile), in Mangalia
    • Coastal Defence Missile Section with 4 launchers
    • 585th CBRN defense company
• River Flotilla Command „Mihail Kogălniceanu”, in Brăila
  • 67th Gunboats Divizion „Comandor Virgil Alexandru Dragalina” (Mihail Kogălniceanu-class and Smârdan-class)
    • River monitors Section I, in Brăila
    • Armored Patrol Boat Section II, in Brăila
  • 88th River Patrol Boat Divizion „Amiral Gheorghe Sandu” (VB 76 class)
    • River Patrol Boat Section I, in Brăila
    • River Patrol Boat Section II, in Tulcea
  • 131st Logistic Support Ship Divizion (Lupeni class River tugboats)
    • Logistic Support Ship Section I, in Brăila
    • Logistic Support Ship Section II, in Tulcea
  • 307th Marine Infantry Regiment „Heracleea” in Babadag
    • Regiment Command
    • Marine Infantry Battalion
    • Combat Support Battalion
    • Logistics Company
• Naval Logistics Base „Pontica", in Constanța
  • Command River Ship „MUREȘ”
  • 129th Special and Logistic Support Ship Divizion, in Mangalia
  • 338th Naval Technical Maintenance Center
  • 335th Logistic Support Group, in Mangalia
    • 305th Mixed Depot, in Mangalia
  • 329th Logistic Section, in Brăila
    • 319th Mixed Sector, in Galați
  • 330th Logistic Support Group, in Constanța
    • 340th Mixed Depot, in Murfatlar
  • 325th Logistic Support Group, in Tulcea
    • 342nd Mixed Depot „Ion Jalea”, in Codru
    • 278th Mixed Sector, in Slava Cercheză
• Distinct Specialised Structures
  • Diving Center, in Constanța
    • 175th Combat Divers Divizion „Comandor Constantin Scarlat”, in Constanța
      • Combat and Incursion Divers
      • EOD divers
      • River divers
    • 176th Deep Sea Divers Divizion, in Constanța
    • Underwater Research Laboratory
    • Hyperbaric Laboratory
    • Combat Diver Logistics Support Ship „Midia”
    • Diving Support Vessel „Grigore Antipa”
    • Diver Support and Intervention Vessel „Grozavul”
    • Diving Patrol Boat „Saturn”
    • Diving Patrol Boat „Venus”
    • S-521 Delfinul Submarine
  • 243rd Radio-Electronics and Surveillance Brigade „Callatis”, in Constanța
  • Naval Forces IT and Cyber Defence Center
  • Naval Forces Training, Simulation, Evaluation and War Games Center, in Constanța
  • Maritime Hydrographic Directorate „Comandor Alexandru Cătuneanu”, in Constanța
    • Mine Warfare Data Center – M.W.D.C.
  • Naval Medical Center, in Constanța
  • 110th Communication and Information Systems Center „Viceamiral ing. Grigore Marteş”, in Mamaia-Sat
  • Naval Forces Support Group „Ovidius”, in Constanța
    • 301st Military Police Company
    • Security Company
    • Support Company
  • National Museum of the Romanian Navy, in Constanța
• Training
  • "Mircea cel Bătrân" Naval Academy, in Constanța
    • 306th Training and Military Operations Support Ship Divizion
    • Training Ship Mircea
    • Training Ship Constanța
  • "Vice Admiral Constantin Bălescu" Naval Interarm Training School, in Mangalia
  • "Admiral Ion Murgescu" Navy Petty Officer School, in Constanța
  • National Military College „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, in Constanța

Bases

As of 2011, the naval bases are in:

• Constanța – home of the frigate flotilla.
• Mangalia – home of the corvette squadron.
• Tulcea – home of the Smârdan (Brutar-II) class river patrol monitors.
• Brăila – home of the Mihail Kogălniceanu class river patrol monitors and the VB 141 class small river patrol boats.

Naval infantry

The 307th Marine Infantry Regiment (Regimentul 307 Infanterie Marină) is the coastal defence unit of the Romanian Navy. The unit was formed in the mid-1970s for the defence of the Danube Delta and Romanian Black Sea shore. It was initially located at 2 Mai village near Mangalia, but since 1975 the Marine Battalion was moved to Babadag, Tulcea County. The battalion is organized into infantry, reconnaissance, sniper, mortars, anti-tank artillery, engineers, communications, logistic and naval support units. Standard equipment includes PA md. 86 assault rifles, PM md. 64 light machine guns, Md. 66 machine guns, 60/82/120 mm mortars, AG-7 and AG-9 launchers, 76 mm Md. 82 mountain howitzers, 11 ABC-79M and 3 TABC-79M armoured personnel carriers. The 307th Marine Infantry Regiment was involved in military exercises with similar troops from United States, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ukraine that were organized locally or abroad. Since June 1, 2018, the 307th Marine Battalion has been redesignated as 307th Marine Infantry Regiment.

Equipment

Sea Fleet

For the river fleet and auxiliary vessels see List of active Romanian Navy ships.

Naval Aviation

See also: Romanian Naval Aviation

Future equipment

The Romanian government plans to get new ships to update its navy.

• Romania planned to buy 4 new ships based on the Sigma 10514 design from Damen Group. These ships were to be built in Romania, but the plan changed in 2017.
• In 2022, Romania agreed to buy Scorpène-class submarines from France.
• In July 2019, Naval Group won a big contract to build four new Gowind ships. This plan was cancelled in July 2023.
• In March 2025, Romania chose to buy a new light ship called a Hisar-class Corvette from Turkey (TCG Akhisar). The ship is expected to arrive in about 6 months.

Ranks and insignia

Main article: Romanian Armed Forces ranks and insignia

The Romanian Naval Forces use special signs to show the jobs of their leaders and team members. These signs help everyone know who is in charge and who works together.

Team members who help lead and everyday workers also have their own signs to show their jobs.