Royal Moroccan Navy

The Royal Navy ( Marine royale french, spanish Marina Real Marroquí ) is part of the Royal Armed Forces of Morocco.

It was founded on 1 April 1960 by the then King Mohammed V to monitor the Moroccan coast and the Straits of Gibraltar and protect.

Structure

The largest naval base is located in Casablanca. Other smaller bases there in Agadir, Al Hoceima, Ad Dakhla, Kenitra, Safi and Tangier. The man strength of the Royal Navy is about 42,000 men.

The naval base at Ksar - Saghir in the north of the country is the first base that serves only the Moroccan military and otherwise one of the most important in the kingdom. The cost of construction amounted to 1.39 billion Moroccan dirhams.

The tasks of the Royal Navy in detail are as follows:

• Logistical support
• Monitoring of water quality
• Coastguard
• Guidance on scientific studies on oceanography, hydrography and meteorology
• Representation abroad
• Enforcement of customs regulations
• Combating trafficking (drugs, plagiarism, etc.)

Marines

The Royal Navy has for transports, sabotage and special operations over a corps consisting of around 7,000 to 8,000 Marines. They are divided into three Marine infantry battalions, which are located in the naval bases, Al- Hoceima, Ad Dakhla and Agadir. Another company is based in Casablanca.

The Marine Corps has anti-tank missiles, heavy machine guns, 23 - mm machine guns ( some mounted on the vehicles ), 120 -mm mortars and recoilless guns. Made mobile it is with light tactical vehicles such as HMMWVs and transport truck.

Each battalion consists of approximately 2300-2500 marines and each consists of three infantry companies and one company for special missions such as transport, Infiltritation, sabotage, reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, etc..