Kuwaiti Navy - History

History

Kuwait's Navy was established in 1961 shortly after Britain ended the country's protectorate status and Kuwait became fully independent.

During the Invasion of Kuwait, part of the Persian Gulf War, Kuwait's navy was almost completely destroyed. At the start of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Iraqi forces captured 6 Kuwait missile boats armed with Exocet missiles and Kuwait lost 17 ships of other classes during the war.

The capture of the Exocets raised fears that Iraq might use them against coalition forces during the Gulf War. Iraq did not use them and the captured vessels were all heavily damaged or sunk by coalition forces. During the war, the two Lürssen's that evaded Iraqi capture helped retake Kuwaiti coastal islands and oil platforms.

On 11 November 2008, Kuwait Naval Base was the location of the historic signing of the non-legally binding maritime Khawr Abd Allah Protocols otherwise known as the KAA Protocols. The signing of the KAA Protocols by the then respective heads of the Kuwaiti Naval Force and the Iraqi Navy was the first formal and successful maritime bilateral military agreement for the co-ordinated and de-conflicted use of the Khawr Abd Allah waterway since before the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The protocols were developed and mediated by Major David Hammond Royal Marine, a British Royal Navy barrister in 2008 and they were subsequently ratified by both the Kuwaiti and Iraqi governments before the 11 November 2008 signing. They were subsequently reported to the US Congress within the December 2008 'Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq' report and the text of which have since become open source following leaks in US diplomatic notes.