States Navy of Pakistan

Pakistan Navy, پاک بحریہ, Pak Bahr'ya, (PN) is the naval warfare/service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It is responsible for Pakistan's 1,046 kilometres (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the defense of important harbors. Navy day is celebrated on September 8 in commemoration of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Organization

The navy has six commands:

COMKAR (Commander Karachi) - Looks after the shore establishments of the Navy which provide services and training facilities for the PN. He also looks after the protocol at Karachi. His responsibilities also include harbour defence.

COMPAK (Commander Pakistan Fleet) - The command heads the surface, sub surface and aviation commands. In fact, this command is the war fighting machine having 4 dimensional components. Previously, it included the 25th Destroyer Squadron (with Gearing class D16O, D164-168).

COMCOAST (Commander COAST) - The special command of SSG(N), Marines and Coastal stations.

COMLOG (Commander Logistics) - This command looks after the repair, maintenance and logistic infrastructure of PN.

FOST (Flag Officer Sea Training) Conducts all types of operational training at Sea

COMNOR (Commander North) - Looks after the Naval installations in the north of Pakistan;

COMWEST (Commander WEST) - Looks after the Naval installations in the west of Pakistan. The naval bases are Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar and Jiwani.

COMNAV (Commander Naval Air Arm) - Looks after the Naval air stations, and is the commander of the Naval Aviation Unit.

Post war Operations

The Pakistan Navy played an integral role to stop the arm smuggled in Balochistan conflict. After the discovery of Arms in the Iraqi Embassy in Pakistan, the Navy made an effort to apply a naval blockade to prevent arms smuggling in the Province. Later, the navy provided logistic support to the Army and the Air Force in the conflict.

From her inception, the Navy sought to diversify its purchases instead of depending solely on the United States, which had placed an arms embargo on both India and Pakistan. It sought more vessels from France and China. The Pakistan Navy thus became the first navy in South Asia to acquire land based missile capable long range reconnaissance aircraft. During the 1980s the Pakistan Navy enjoyed un-preceded growth. It doubled its surface fleet from 8 to 16 surface combatants in 1989. In 1982, the Reagan administration approved US$3.2 billion military and economic aid to Pakistan. Pakistan acquired eight Brooke and Garcia-class frigates from US Navy on a five year lease in 1988. A depot for repairs, ex-USS Hector followed the lease of these ships in April 1989. However after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 US President George Bush was advised to no longer certify that Pakistan was not involved in the development of nuclear weapons and the Pressler’s Amendment was invoked on 1 October 1990. The lease of the first Brooke class frigate expired in March 1993, the remaining in early 1994. This seriously impaired the Pakistan Navy, which was composed almost entirely of former US origin ships. Pakistan began to concentrate on self-reliance for its military equipment needs.

The PN began negotiations with China to lease a Chinese Type 091 Han class nuclear submarine after rival India began leasing a Russian Charlie 1 class nuclear submarine. Negotiations were canceled when the Russian submarine was returned in 1991.

During the Kargil War episode, the Pakistan Navy was deactivated along with the Pakistan Air Force, according to Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Fasih Bokhari. However, when Indian Navy launched Operation Talwar, Pakistan Navy responded by deploying Eastern and Southern Naval Command to keep Indian Navy from Ports of Karachi and Baluchistan. The Naval Air Arm maintained its reconnaissance and patrol operations near at the Arabian sea. During the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan Standoff, the Pakistan Navy was a put on high-alert and more than a dozen warships were deployed near at the Arabian Sea.