Lithuanian Navy

Lithuanian Naval Forces Karinės jūrų pajėgos
Coat of arms of the Lithuanian naval forces
active	1935-1939 / 40 Realignment in 1992
Country	Lithuania
Armed forces	Lithuanian Army
Type	Armed forces ( navy )
management
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces	Defense Minister (in case of war: President of the Republic of Lithuania )
Military Commander of the Armed Forces	Lieutenant General Valdemaras Rupšys
Commander of the Naval Forces	Sea captain Giedrius Premeneckas
insignia
Naval war flag
Gösch

The Lithuanian Naval Forces ( Lithuanian Karinės jūrų pajėgos ) are part of the Lithuanian Army and are subordinate to the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense . The commander of the naval forces is the sea captain Giedrius Premeneckas. The most important base of the naval forces is Klaipėda .

history

The historic Royal Republic of Poland-Lithuania already had a fleet, the founder of which is Sigismund II August . However, with the decline of the state, this increasingly lost its importance. It was not until 1923 that control over the Memel region and the port city of Klaipėda had been obtained that Lithuania, which had become independent in 1918, began to build up its own naval forces again. For this purpose, a German minesweeper was acquired in 1927 and put into service as the training ship Prezidentas Smetona . On August 1, 1935, the Navy General was Stasys Raštikis into an independent armed force charged. Only a few years later, its temporary end was sealed when the Memel region fell back to Germany in 1939 and the rest of Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union the following year without resistance.

Honor Guard of the Lithuanian Navy

After Lithuania regained independence in 1990/91, the naval forces, like the other branches of the armed forces, were reorganized. The date of the re-establishment of the navy is now July 4th 1992. To build up an own fleet, two former Soviet corvettes were taken over in the following period. In 1993, the Russian Federation handed over the coastal defense of the country to the Lithuanian naval forces. At the end of 1996 a cooperation with the naval forces of Estonia and Latvia began . From this the joint Baltic Sea Squadron BALTRON developed over the next two years .

When Lithuania joined NATO on March 29, 2004, as in the other Baltic states, the fleet was completely modernized. In 2009, a rescue center ( Lithuanian Jūrų Gelbėjimo coordinavimo centras ) was set up within the naval forces , the task of which is to coordinate sea rescue operations and fight oil and hazardous material accidents .

Since the reorganization of the navy in the 1990s, it has become common practice to name the ships after the historical regions of Lithuania.

Commander of the Naval Forces

Since its reconstruction in 1992, the Lithuanian naval forces have been led by the following officers:

Surname	period of service	comment
Juozapas Algis Leisis	1992
Raimundas Saulius Baltuška	1992-1999
Kęstutis Macijauskas	April 28, 1999 - June 4, 2008
Artūras Stankaitis	June 4, 2008 - October 24, 2008	interim
Olegas Mariničius	October 24, 2008 - March 1, 2010
Artūras Stankaitis	March 2, 2010 - April 30, 2010	interim
Kęstutis Macijauskas	April 30, 2010 - July 27, 2015	2. Term of office
Arūnas Mockus	August 2, 2015 - August 11, 2020
Giedrius Premeneckas	since August 11, 2020

organization

structure

The naval forces are divided into six areas:

• Fleet ( Lithuanian Karo laivų flotilė )
• Divers department ( Povandeninių veiksmų komanda )
• Maritime and coastal surveillance ( Jūros ir pakrančių stebėjimo tarnyba )
• Maritime Rescue Coordination Center ( Jūrų Gelbėjimo coordinavimo centras )
• Logistics department ( Logistikos tarnyba )
• Training center ( Mokymo centras )

Ranks and Rank Badges

Rank group	Flag officers			Staff officers			Subaltern officers
Sleeve badge
Rank	Viceadmirolas	Contradirolas	Flotilės admirolas	Jūrų kapitonas	Komandoras	Komandoras guide antas	Kapitonas guiding fantasies	Vyresnysis guiding fantasies	Leadership fantasies
Rank (Bundeswehr)	Vice admiral	Rear admiral	Flotilla admiral	Sea captain	Frigate captain	Corvette Captain	Lieutenant captain	First lieutenant at sea	Lieutenant at sea
NATO rank code	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1

Rank group	NCOs
Sleeve badge
Rank	Vyresnysis laivūnas	Laivūnas	Štabo laivūnas	Štabo laivūnas specialistas	Vyresnysis seržantas	Vyresnysis seržantas specialistas	Seržantas	Seržantas specialistas	Grandinis
Rank (Bundeswehr)	Chief of Staff	Staff Captain	Chief Boatswain		Captain / Boatswain		Chief Mate / Mate		Oberstabsgefreiter / Stabsgefreiter
NATO rank code	OR-9	OR-8	OR-7		OR-6		OR-5		OR-4

Rank group	Teams
Sleeve badge
Rank	Vyresnysis jūreivis	Jūreivis	Jaunesnysis jūreivis
Rank (Bundeswehr)	Hauptgefreiter / Obergefreiter	Private	sailor
NATO rank code	OR-3	OR-2	OR-1

equipment

The ships of the naval flotilla can be assigned to three areas:

• Anti-Mine Squadron ( Lithuanian Priešmininių laivų divizionas )
• Patrol Squadron ( Patrulinių laivų divizionas )
• Auxiliary Ship Squadron ( Pagalbinių laivų divizionas )

Current fleet

Surname	photo	origin	Ship class	use	Built	Commissioning (Lithuania)	Remarks
Anti-Mine Squadron
M52 Sūduvis		Germany	Lindau class	Mine hunting boat	1957	1999	Ex- Koblenz of the German Navy
M53 scalvis		United Kingdom	Hunt class	Mine defense & mine hunting	1982	2011	Ex- Cottesmore of the Royal Navy
M54 courses		United Kingdom	Hunt class	Mine defense & mine hunting	1982	2011	Ex- Dulverton of the Royal Navy
N42 Jotvingis		Norway	Vidar class	Command and supply ship	1977	2006	Ex- Vidar of the Norwegian Navy
Patrol squadron
P11 Žemaitis		Denmark	Flyvefisken class	Multifunctional patrol ship	1986	2008	Ex- Flyvefisken of the Danish Navy
P12 Dzūkas		Denmark	Flyvefisken class	Multifunctional patrol ship	1989	2009	Ex- Hajen of the Danish Navy
P14 aukštaitis		Denmark	Flyvefisken class	Multifunctional patrol ship	1993	2010	Ex- Lommen of the Danish Navy
P15 Sėlis		Denmark	Flyvefisken class	Multifunctional patrol ship	1990	2017	Ex- Havkatten of the Danish Navy
Auxiliary ship squadron
H21		Soviet Union		Harbor cutter	1983	1992
H22		Sweden		tractor	1955	2000
PGL Šakiai		Soviet Union		SAR ship	1986	2009	Taken over from the port of Klaipėda on February 26, 2009 (together with the relevant tasks).

Former fleet

Surname	photo	origin	Ship class	use	Built	Commissioning (Lithuania)	Decommissioning	Remarks
Prezidentas Smetona		The German Imperium	Minesweeper 1916	Training and patrol ship	1917	1935	-	Ex- SMS M 59 of the Imperial Navy , acquired by Lithuania in 1927, taken over by the Soviet Union in 1940 , sunk in 1945 by a German submarine or a mine.
A41 Vėtra		Soviet Union	Valerian Uryvayev class	Supply ship	1977	1992	2007	Ex- Rudolf Samoylovich
F11 Žemaitis		Soviet Union	Grisha III class	Patrol ship	1981	1992	2008	Ex-MPK-108 ( Komsomolets Latviy ) of the Soviet Navy
F12 aukštaitis		Soviet Union	Grisha III class	Patrol ship	1980	1992	2010	Ex-MPK-44 of the Soviet Navy
P31 Dzūkas		Norway	Storm class	Coast Guard & Guard Service	1967	1995	2007	Ex- Kjekk of the Norwegian Navy
M51 courses		Germany	Lindau class	Mine hunting boat	1957	2000	2017	Ex- Marburg of the German Navy . The name Kuršis was given in 2011. A further civil use of the ship failed due to a lack of investors. On August 7, 2018, the decommissioned, demilitarized ship was sent for recycling.
P32 Sėlis		Norway	Storm class	Coast Guard & Guard Service	1966	2001	2017	Ex- Skudd of the Norwegian Navy
P33 scalvis		Norway	Storm class	Coast Guard & Guard Service	1967	2001	2011	Ex- Steil of the Norwegian Navy
H23 ( Lokys )		Denmark		Harbor cutter	1941	2005	2014	Used by the military volunteer association Savanorių pajėgos until 2005 after the handover from Denmark .

See also

• Baltic Naval Squadron

literature

• Karine jūrų PAJĖGOS Istorijos metraštis (publication of the naval forces of the 20th anniversary of the reestablishment) - as a PDF file on the website of the naval forces (Download source) available
• Eric Wertheim: The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems , US Naval Institute Press, 2007, ISBN 1-59114-955-X , pp. 449 ff.

Web links

Commons : Lietuvos karinės jūrų pajėgos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Naval Forces website (English & Lithuanian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Vadovybė (Lithuanian)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Information on the history on the website of the Navy (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Information on the history on the website of the Navy (Lithuanian)
4. ↑ ^{a b} Karo laivų flotilė (Lithuanian)
5. ↑ ^{a b} Press release on the website of the armed forces on the occasion of the takeover of the ship, November 24, 2016, accessed on January 11, 2017 (Lithuanian)
6. ↑ Press release on the occasion of the handover of the ship to the Navy (Lithuanian)
7. ↑ Message from balsas.lt regarding the location of the wreck from December 12, 2007, accessed on July 11, 2014 (Lithuanian).
8. ↑ Press release with a short history of the ship on the website of the naval forces on the occasion of the last flag down (Lithuanian)
9. ↑ Press release with a short history of the ship on the website of the naval forces on the occasion of the last flag down (Lithuanian)
10. ↑ reporting www.alfa.de of 23 July 2018 Retrieved on August 10, 2018 (Lithuanian)
11. ↑ Press release on the website of the armed forces on the occasion of the last voyage of the ship, August 8, 2018, accessed on August 8, 2018 (Lithuanian)
12. ↑ Press release with a short history of the ship on the website of the naval forces on the occasion of the last flag down (Lithuanian)