Colombia The National Navy
ARC Arauca-class river patrol craft, Leticia
Courtesy Lloyd W. Mansfield
In 1988 the National Navy had about 10,600 personnel,
including
approximately 5,000 marines, 1,500 coast guard personnel,
and 500
conscripts. Personnel under the command of the National
Navy
represented 12 percent of the country's total military
forces.
Naval reserve personnel were estimated at 15,000. The
commanding
officer of the National Navy in 1988 was Rear Admiral
Manuel
Fernando Avendano Galvis. Naval headquarters were in
Bogotá. The
naval commander was assisted by a chief of naval
operations, a
superior naval council, and a naval chief of staff. The
navy was
organized into four commands: the Caribbean Command, with
its
headquarters at Cartagena; the Pacific Command, with
headquarters
at Buenaventura; the Western River Forces Command, with
headquarters at Puerto Leguízamo on the Río Putumayo; and
the
Eastern River Forces Command, with headquarters at Orocué
on the
Río Meta. The country's principal naval base was at
Cartagena. In
addition, the navy maintained a minor base at
Barranquilla, the
site of one of Colombia's shipworks. In 1988 a new naval
base was
reported to have been completed at Bahía de Málaga.
From 1978 to 1988, the navy's Corps of Marine Infantry
(Cuerpo
de Infantería de Marina) benefited from a gradual buildup.
The
marine corps was organized into five battalions. Two
battalions
each reported to the Atlantic Marine Brigade and the
Pacific Marine
Brigade, which corresponded to the navy's Caribbean
Command and the
Pacific Command, respectively. A jungle battalion, first
organized
in 1978, was also part of the Western River Forces
Command. Several
independent rifle companies were reportedly subordinate to
the
Eastern River Forces Command. Coordinated marine-army
operations
frequently were carried out during the late 1980s under
the
operational control of the army. In 1988 analysts
anticipated that
the EE-9 Cascavel armored cars and EE-11 Urutu armored
personnel
carriers would be used to form a mechanized element in
each marine
brigade.
In 1979 the navy organized the small Coast Guard Corps
(Cuerpo
de Guardacosta) to carry out coastal patrol duties and
operate some
aircraft. In 1988 a naval air arm was being established to
reduce
the service's dependence on air force support. Two BO-105
helicopters as well as two Aero Commanders and one Piper
Cherokee
airplane made up the air arm's equipment inventory in
1988.
Observers regarded the navy as capable of patrolling
and
defending Colombia's offshore waters in the Pacific and
the
Caribbean but unable to project its seapower on a
subregional
basis. During the 1980s, the incorporation into the fleet
of a
number of ships purchased from West Germany--a decision
spurred by
renewed concern over conflicting maritime territorial
claims with
Venezuela and Nicaragua--appeared to have somewhat
strengthened
this capability
(see Geopolitical Interests
, this ch.).
The major vessels of the Colombian fleet in 1988
included four
submarines, four frigates, four large patrol ships, two
fast attack
craft, three river gunboats, two coastal patrol vessels,
and eight
river patrol craft. The navy also had four survey/research
vessels
(one a former Honduran ship that was confiscated for
smuggling),
five transports, one floating dock, a sail training ship,
and ten
tugs. Two destroyers that had long been part of the fleet
were
decommissioned in 1986.
The submarines included two West German-built Type 1200
diesel-electric patrol submarines equipped with torpedo
tubes and
two Italian-built Type SX-506 midget submarines, each
capable of
carrying up to eight attack swimmers and two tons of
explosives.
The navy commissioned all four submarines during the early
to
mid-1970s. In 1988 the four Type FS 1500 frigates were
among the
newest vessels of the Colombian fleet. Each frigate was
believed to
be armed with eight MM-40 Exocet surface-to-surface
missiles, an
undetermined number of Seasparrow (Albatross) missiles,
six Mk 32
A/S torpedo tubes, one 76mm gun, two 40mm Breda guns, and
four 30mm
Oerlikon guns. The vessels also were equipped with radar,
sonar,
and electronic countermeasures. The navy's BO-105
helicopters were
used on the frigates.
The four large patrol ships were former United States
Cherokeeclass vessels, commissioned in 1943 and sold to Colombia
in 1979.
During the mid-1980s, the navy reportedly planned to
replace these
vessels with four Exocet-armed corvettes. The two fast
attack craft
were former United States Asheville-class craft,
commissioned in
1969 and transferred by lease to Colombia in 1983. The
fleet's
three Arauca-class river gunboats were Colombian built, as
were the
coastal and river patrol craft. Most of these vessels,
however,
were commissioned in the 1950s. By contrast, two of the
survey/research ships were new vessels acquired in the
early 1980s.
One vessel was employed in fishery research and the other
in
geophysical research. The survey/research ships were under
the
authority of the navy's Maritime Division (División
Maritima--Dimar). The Dimar was the principal naval
authority in
charge of hydrography, pilotage, navigational aids, and
port
authorities.
Data as of December 1988
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