Marines

For other uses, see Marine.
Peruvian Naval Infantry conducting exercises on the Amazon River.
Spanish and U.S. Marines march together in a change of command ceremony at Naval Station Rota, Spain in July 2002.

Marines, also known as a marine corps and naval infantry, are an infantry force that specializes in the support of naval and army operations on land and at sea, as well as the execution of their own operations. In the majority of countries, the marine force is part of the navy, but it can also be under the army like the Troupes de marine (French Marines) and Givati Brigade (Israeli Marines), or form an independent armed service branch like the United States Marine Corps and Royal Marines.

Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included providing protection from war while at sea, reflecting the pressed nature of the ships' company and the risk of mutiny. Other tasks would include boarding of vessels during combat or capture of prize ships and providing manpower for raiding ashore in support of the naval objectives.

With the industrialization of warfare in the 20th century the scale of landing operations increased; this brought with it an increased likelihood of opposition and a need for co-ordination of various military elements. Marine forces evolved to specialize in the skills and capabilities required for amphibious warfare.

History

In the earliest day of naval warfare, there was little distinction between sailors and soldiers on a warship. In ancient China, the first well-known naval battles took place during the Warring States period (481–221 BC), where kings ruling regional states battled against one another. Chinese naval warfare in this ancient period featured grapple-and-hook, as well as ramming tactics with ships called "stomach strikers" and "colliding swoopers". It was written in the subsequent Han dynasty that the Warring States Era Chinese had employed ge chuan ships (dagger-axe ships, or halberd ships), thought to have been a simple description of a ship manned by marines carrying dagger-axe halberds as personal weapons to defend their ship. In the west the oarsmen of Ancient Greek and Roman ships had to be capable of fighting the rowers of opposing ships hand-to-hand;[1] though hoplites began appearing on Greek ships specifically for the boarding of enemy ships.[2][3] The Roman Navy's two fleet legions, I Adiutrix and II Adiutrix, were among the first distinct naval infantry units.[4][5]

The first organized corps of marines was created when the Spanish king, Carlos I, first assigned the naval infantry of the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles (Naples Sea Old Companies) to the Escuadras de Galeras del Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Galley Squadrons) in 1537, progenitors of the current Spanish Navy Marines (Infantería de Marina) corps.[6][7] Marines of Italy was created as Fanti da Mar in 1550 in the Republic of Venice. The third oldest marine corps in the world was founded as the Terço of the Navy of the Crown of Portugal in 1618, predecessor to the modern Portuguese Marine Corps.

Etymology

The word marine is from the English adjective marine, meaning of the sea, via French marin(e), of the sea from Latin marinus ("of the sea") itself from mare (“sea”), from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“body of water, lake”) (cognate with Old English mere (“sea, lake, pool, pond”), Dutch meer, German Meer, all from Proto-Germanic *mari).

The word marine was originally used for the forces of England and exact one-word translations for the term do not exist in many other languages except for the Dutch word marinier. Typically, foreign equivalents are called naval infantry or coastal infantry. In French-speaking countries, two phrases exist which could be translated as marine, troupes de marine and fusiliers-marins; similar pseudo-translations exist elsewhere, e.g., Fuzileiros Navais in Portuguese. The word marine/marina means "navy" in many European languages such as Dutch, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish and Norwegian.

Roles

U.S. Marines conducting a live fire training exercise aboard an amphibious assault ship.

The principal role of marine troops is military operations in the littoral zone, operating from ships they are trained to land on and secure key points to around 50 miles inland, or as far as ship borne logistics can provide.

Marine units primarily deploy from warships using boats, landing craft, hovercraft, amphibious vehicles or helicopters.

As well as amphibious operations, marine troops are also used in a variety of other, naval roles. Stationed at naval bases or forming marine detachments onboard naval ships, they also conduct small scale raiding, maritime boarding operations, security of naval vessels and bases, riverine and coastal missions, mess duty, and field day operations.

In addition to their primary roles, they also perform other tasks, including special operations and land warfare, separate from naval operations.

By country

Argentina

Australia

The marine and naval infantry designations are not, officially, applied to Australian Defence Force units, although some Australian Army units specialise in amphibious warfare, including

Bolivia

Brazil

Brazilian marines demonstrate lane training.

Cambodia

Chile

Chilean Navy special forces seen here using the MP5N

China, People's Republic of

China, Republic of (Taiwan)

Colombia

Croatia

Cuba

Ecuador

Egypt

Egyptian marines aim a SG43 machine-gun during an amphibious during Exercise Bright Star '85

El Salvador

Finland

Finnish coastal jaegers in a landfall exercise

France

Group of naval fusiliers of Toulon, France
French Troupes de marine with Task Force Korrigan in Afghanistan, 2009

Germany

A German Navy boarding team member provides security for the remainder of his team as they board a local cargo dhow by fast rope to conduct a search of the vessel.

Greece

Honduras

India

Indonesia

Iran

IRGCN Marine corps conducting an amphibious assault exercise during Great Prophet IX war games exercise.

Iraq

The Iraqi Navy is a small force with 1,500 sailors and 800 marines designed to protect the shoreline and inland waterways from insurgent infiltration. The navy is also responsible for the security of offshore oil platforms. The navy will have coastal patrol squadrons, assault boat squadrons and a marine battalion.[14] The force will consist of 2,000 to 2,500 sailors by 2010.[15]

Israel

Italy

An Italian Marine sets security for his team to safely board a cargo ship to conduct a search of the vessel.

Italian Navy

Italian Army

Japan

The JSDF has three units similar to marines:

Korea, South

Republic of Korea Marine Corps

Korea, North

Lebanon

Lebanon maintains an elite but very small in number "Navy Commando" regiment. Trained internationally and armed with mostly American and French made equipment, the Lebanese Navy Commandos maintain elite but seldom recognized status as some of the most skilled and well-trained special forces (alongside the Lebanese Maghaweer) in the Levant and Middle East.[19]

Malaysia

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said in a statement on 10 October 2013, Malaysia is planning on establishing a marines corps for amphibious operation.[20] The marine will be drawn from all three services and the bulk of it is from one of the three parachute battalions of the 10 Paratrooper Brigade which will be re-designated as a marine battalion. The 9th Royal Malay Regiment (para) and 8th Royal Ranger Regiment (para) have both conducted amphibious warfare training as a secondary mission and most recently in June 2013 during the CARAT exercise with the US Marine Corps (USMC) and subsequently in an amphibious landing exercise with French troops and the landing platform dock FNS Tonnerre. Malaysian government has yet to decide whether the marines will fall under Malaysian Army or Royal Malaysian Navy.

Mexico

Mexican Naval Infantry

Myanmar

Netherlands

Norway

Pakistan

Pakistani and U.S. Marines come ashore during a training exercise.

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Philippine Marines push forward during an amphibious assault training exercise.

Poland

Portugal

The Portuguese Corpo de Fuzileiros

Romania

Russia

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Spain

Spanish Navy Marines deploying from an AAV-7.

Sri Lanka

Sweden

Thailand

Tonga

Turkey

Ukraine

A Ukrainian Marine displaying an AKS-74U

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

British Royal Marines disembark from their Rigid Raider assault craft onto a beach during an exercise.

United States

A U.S. Marine scaling the seawall at Inchon, 15 September 1950, during the Korean War.

Uruguay

Venezuela

Vietnam

Historical marine forces

Ancient Greece

The ancient Greek states did not possess specialized marine infantry, instead they used hoplites and archers as an onboard contingent (epibatai).

Ancient Rome

The Roman Navy used regular infantry as marines. Naval personnel were trained for raiding and also provided the troops for at least two legions (I Adiutrix and II Adiutrix) for service on land. The various provincial fleets were usually provided with marines from the adjacent legions.

Australia

Several of the Colonial navies of Australia raised volunteer naval infantry and naval militia brigades in the second half of the 19th century. The Victorian Naval Brigade was formed in 1859, the Sydney Naval Brigade in 1864 (later supplemented by the Naval Artillery Volunteers in 1897) and the Queensland Naval Brigade in 1873. Following the Federation of Australia they were combined into the Commonwealth Naval Militia. With the formation of the Royal Australian Navy in 1911 they were renamed the Royal Australian Naval Brigade. At its peak in 1915 it numbered 2,817 officers and men. The Naval Brigade was disbanded in 1920 and volunteers were absorbed into the Royal Australian Naval Reserve.

Byzantine Empire

For several centuries, the Byzantine navy used the descendants of the Mardaites, who were settled in southern Anatolia and Greece, as marines and rowers for its ships. Emperor Basil I also established a separate marine regiment, 4,000 strong, for the central Imperial Fleet based at Constantinople. These were professional troops, and were counted among the elite tagmata.

In the 1260s, when emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos rebuilt the navy, he recruited the Tzakones (settlers from Laconia) and the Gasmouloi (men of mixed Greek-Latin descent) as special marine troops. Despite the progressive decline and virtual disappearance of the navy, they remained active until the late Palaiologan period.

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States Marine Corps (CSMC), a branch of the Confederate States Navy, was established by the Confederate Congress on 16 March 1861 and were mainly (80%) defectors from the U.S. Marines.

Denmark-Norway

Marineregimentet (The Marine Regiment) was the naval infantry of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy.

Estonia

The Meredessantpataljon, was a short lived infantry battalion of the Estonian Navy. The battalion was created in 1919 from the crews of the Estonian surface warships and was based in Tallinn. The unit was mainly used on the Southern Front during the Estonian War of Independence. The unit was operational from March to June in 1919.

France

Main article: Troupes de marine
Late 19th century French Marines (officer and private)

The Troupes de marine were founded in 1622 (as compagnies ordinaires de la mer) as land forces under the control of the Secretary of State of the Navy, notably for operations in French Canada. The Compagnies de la Mer were transformed in line infantry regiments by Napoleon, but became once more marine forces in 1822 (for the artillery) and 1831 (for the infantry). These Troupes de marines were in the 19th century the main overseas and colonial forces of the French military. In 1900 they were put under the orders of the War Ministry and took the name of Troupes Coloniales (Colonial Forces). In 1958 the designation of Troupes Coloniales was changed to Troupes d'Outre-Mer (Overseas Forces) but in 1961 it reverted to the original Troupes de marine. Throughout these changes in title these troops continued to be part of the French Army.

Gran Colombia

The Confederation of Gran Colombia Marines were formed in 1822 and were disbanded in 1829, Personnel were mostly from Venezuela.

Germany

Iran

Iraq

Italy

The Blackshirt militia maintained an independent Marine Group with four MVSN battalions (24th, 25th, 50th and 60th).

Japan

The landing of the Japanese Marines from the Unyo at Ganghwa Island, Korea, in the 1875 Ganghwa Island incident

During feudal Japan the Japanese also used Ashigaru soldier or regular Yumi archer as soldier to protect ships from pirates. Both the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army maintained marine-type units. Both were dissolved at the end of World War II and Japan does not currently have marines as such.

The Netherlands

The Corps was founded on 10 December 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War by the unofficial leader of the republic Johan de Witt and Admiral Michiel de Ruyter as the Regiment de Marine. Its leader was Willem Joseph Baron van Ghent. The Dutch had successfully used ordinary soldiers in ships at sea in the First Anglo-Dutch War. It was the fifth European marine unit formed, being preceded by the Spanish Marines (1537), the Portuguese Marines (1610), the French Marines (1622) and the English Royal Marines (1664). Like Britain, the Netherlands has had several periods when its Marines were disbanded. The Netherlands itself was under French occupation or control from 1810 until 1813. A new marine unit was raised on 20 March 1801 during the time of the Batavian Republic and on 14 August 1806 the Korps Koninklijke Grenadiers van de Marine was raised under King Louis Bonaparte. The modern Korps Mariniers dates from 1814, receiving its current name in 1817.

The battle honors on the Korps Mariniers' colors are: Raid on the Medway (1667), Kijkduin (1673), Sennefe (1674), Spain, Dogger Bank (1781), West Indies, Algiers (1816), Atjeh, Bali, Rotterdam (1940), Java Sea (1942), Java and Madoera (1947–1948), New Guinea (1962) and Cambodia (1992-1993).

Ottoman Empire

The role of Ottoman naval infantry originated in Orhan's conquest of the Karasi Beylik and the capture of its fleet. From then on Janissaries and Azaps were sometimes deployed as marines during the 14th Century. The Deniz azaps were used during the 16th Century; while troops called Levend (Bahriyeli) were raised on and off over the centuries - over 50,000 of them by the late 18th century. The last raised units were the Ta'ifat al Ru'sa (corsair captains militia) recruited from among the North African Arabs and indigenous Berbers. Ottoman marines were part of the Ottoman navy.

Portuguese Empire

Portugal raised numerous companies of Special Marines (Fuzileiros Especiais) and African Special Marines (Fuzileiros Especiais Africanos), both at home and in the African colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique, for service in Africa during the Portuguese Colonial Wars. The African Special Marines were all-black units.

Russian Empire

The Imperial Russian Navy used several regiments of marine equipage troops that fought as much on land as they served in ship detachments. One battalion was formed within the Guard, and served on the Imperial family's ships.

Soviet Union

Soviet Naval Infantrymen during a demonstration in 1990

The Soviet Navy had a number of small battalion-sized naval infantry and coastal defence units that mostly served in the ports and bases before the Second World War. During the war, and building on the visuals of the mutinied sailors of Petrograd in 1917, the Stavka ordered formation of naval infantry brigades from the surplus to either ship or shore duty sailors, and forty brigades served in mostly ground troops roles until 1944 when they were used for amphibious operations in Norway and along the Black Sea coast.

South Africa

The South Africa Marine Corps was set up as a sub-branch of the South African Navy in 1979, with the primary purpose of protecting harbours. The Marines were disbanded in 1989, following a major restructuring of the Navy at the end of the South African Border War.

United Kingdom

United States

Vietnam

Vietnamese dynasties had a long tradition of utilizing marines. This tradition went back no later than the Annam Protectorate of Tang dynasty when the governors built boats and trained marines to fight off pirates and invaders. The successive Vietnamese dynasties made full use of their marines' superiority at river and sea to launch successful campaigns against their northward and southward neighbours alike.

The forerunner of the Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps (VNMC) was established by Ngo Dinh Diem, then prime minister of what was then the State of Vietnam on October 13, 1954. The Republic of Vietnam was established in October 1955 after Diem used a fraudulent referendum to topple Bao Dai. The VNMC became defunct on 1 May 1975 after the fall of Saigon.

Yugoslavia

The 12th Naval Infantry Brigade (Mornaricka Pesadijska Brigada) of the Yugoslavian Navy consisted of 900 to 2,000 men in three battalions. A multi-ethnic unit, the brigade was broken up during the dissolution of the Yugoslav federation and saw little action.

See also

References

  1. Themistocles, History of the Peloponnesian War XIV
  2. Plutarch, Parallel Lives
  3. Casson, Lionel (1991). The Ancient Mariners (2nd ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01477-9.
  4. Lendering, Jona. "Legio I Adiutrix". Livius.org. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  5. Lendering, Jona. "Legio II Adiutrix". Livius.org. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  6. Handbook for Marine NCOs, Kenneth W. Estes, Robert Debs Heinl, Naval Institute Press, 1995 ISBN 1-55750-238-2
  7. "Historia de La Infanteria de Marina" (in Spanish). Spanish Navy Marines. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  8. "Specialist force trained for East Timor-style operations". Herald Sun. 12 December 2012.
  9. Janes.com
  10. http://www.marinir.mil.id
  11. The IISS estimates the IRGC Naval Forces are 20,000 strong including 5,000 marines (one brigade).
  12. The New Iraqi Security Forces, Article on MNF-I website, 20 April 2006
  13. US Department of State, Iraq Weekly Status Report Mars 21, 2007
  14. http://thediplomat.com/tag/self-defense-force-western-army-infantry-regiment/
  15. http://thediplomat.com/2016/01/japans-elite-amphibious-assault-force-trains-with-us-marines/|"Japan's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade"
  16. North Korea Country Study, LOC
  17. http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/English/GroundForce1.asp
  18. "Malaysia to establish marine corps, naval base close to James Shoal". IHS Jane's 360. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  19. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120307106.html
  20. Handbook for Marine NCOs, Kenneth W. Estes, Robert Debs Heinl, Naval Institute Press, 1995, ISBN 1-55750-238-2
  21. MDE.es
  22. "Royal Marines Recruit Training". Secretary of State for Defence. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  23. "Royal Marines Officer Training". Secretary of State for Defence. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  24. United States Department of the Navy. "Expeditionary Operations" (PDF). United States Government. p. 35. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  25. Marine-Infanterie.de
  26. "Birth of Marines". Recruit Knowledge. MCRD Museum Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2006-05-23. Retrieved 2006-02-03.
  27. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qjr02

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