The Yemeni Navy is the maritime component of the armed forces of Yemen. Yemen's navy was created in 1990 when North and SouthYemen united. Yemen early on had problems with trying to keep drugs from entering Yemen by sea. In 2006, Yemen purchased 10 Bay-class patrol boats which were very effective at stopping smugglers from entering Yemen. The Bay patrol craft currently under construction are, however, for the Yemeni Coast Guard, not the Yemeni Navy. Likewise, the 10 Austal Patrol Craft belong to the Coast Guard, not the Navy. In the Hanish Islands Crisis, Yemen prepared its navy for an assault on the Hanish Islands and on Eritrea. Eritrea accidentally destroyed a Russian ship, thinking it was a Yemeni ship. The invasion, however, never happened since Eritrea made agreements with Yemen which involved Eritrea taking over the islands. Yemen, however, later took over Zuqar Island, which created further tensions with the Eritrean government but did not lead to another war.
History
1990 Merger
In 1990, the Navy of South Yemen was merged into the Navy of North Yemen. Of the 11,000 sailors/seamen and 2,700 officers in the PDRY Navy, half were forced into compulsory retirement. The South Yemeni Navy also consisted of 5 Osa class missile boats, 8 T43-class minesweepers and 1 Ropucha-class landing ship, all of which were transferred to the Yemeni Navy.
Yemeni Civil War
Since the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen in March 2015, at least some elements of the Navy are known to have sided with the Houthi-dominated Revolutionary Committee and the loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Yemeni Navy issued a statement in October 2016 that any Saudi ships intruding in Yemen's territorial waters would be destroyed. The Yemeni Navy reportedly destroyed two Saudi warships and the Emirati HSV-2 Swift off the Red Sea coast. Because of this, the Royal Saudi Air Force attacked the naval base at Al Hudaydah and destroyed two of Yemen's three Chinese made fast missile craft. The Yemeni response was for the Navy's engineers to repair the C-801 Anti-ship cruise missiles and their launchers and coupled them with maritime radars and after months of testing and training, they were to target coalition ships. They hit one Egyptian warship and another Saudi one. The Yemeni Navy has now begun deploying speedboats and the remaining fast missile craft. After the US Navy deployed several warships to support their Saudi allies, the Yemeni navy fired about a dozen cruise missiles at them and as a result, the US launched several Tomahawk cruise missiles and knocked out three Yemeni maritime radar sites. The Saudi Air force also flew fierce airstrikes and destroyed another Yemeni Radar station. They now have suffered heavy casualties and have been regrouping since to strike back. They have also trained hundreds of marines for operations. The Yemeni navy has released the brand new "AL-MANDAB 1" anti-ship cruise missile, which was designed and built by Yemeni navy engineers. This missile struck the Saudi tanker ship "Boraida".
