The Khmer National Navy (; , MNK) was the naval component of the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK), the official military of the Khmer Republic during the Cambodian Civil War between 1970 and 1975.
History
The Royal Khmer Navy (, MRK) was officially established on 1 March 1954, to provide limited patrolling of Cambodia's maritime coastline and territorial waters, monitoring the security of its main deep-water ports and major waterways. The MRK was formed with an initial strength of just 600 officers and enlisted men placed under the authority of Captain () Pierre Coedes, a naval officer of mixed French-Cambodian origin, who acted as Chief of Naval Operations (). They manned a handful of World War II-vintage ex-French Navy vessels transferred to Cambodia at the end of the First Indochina War: French-made Light Patrol Boats (), US-made Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) and LCM (6) Landing Crafts. Most of the MRK's naval assets and personnel, together with its administrative headquarters, were harboured at the former French colonial riverine station situated in the Chrui Chhangwar Peninsula () across the Tonle Sap river from Phnom Penh. However, the tiny facilities proved so inadequate that the Navy HQ was allocated aboard an old French-made riverine vessel named La Payotte, permanently moored at Chrui Chhangwar base.
Early expansion phase 1955–1964
Closely modelled after the Naval and riverine component of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO), the MRK received training, technical and material assistance primarily from France and the United States. At first, the Cambodian naval service continued to expand rapidly under French auspices between 1955 and 1957 – at this stage, a French Military Mission in Cambodia helped in the renovation or construction of new harbour facilities, provided technical assistance and training programs, and supervised equipment deliveries. The MRK also began to receive additional assistance from the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (US MAAG) aid program, established since June 1955 at Phnom Penh.
The cramped Chrui Chhangwar base was modernized and enlarged to accommodate a new dock designed for large-sized riverine vessels and a Naval Training School (), established in January 1955 to train ship crews and other specialized personnel. The MRK had no naval academy at the time, so Khmer officer candidate students ( – EOM) were sent to France, in order to attend advanced Officer courses at the French Naval Academy in Brest.
A new coastal naval base was constructed at Ream in Kampot Province, near the newly built port city of Sihanoukville (rechristened Kampong Som in 1970), equipped with a floating dock whilst the Cambodian Navy's tiny surface fleet was augmented at the time by the addition of fifteen sea and river crafts of British and US origin donated by the French government. Under the US MAAG aid program, the Cambodian Navy received three LSSLs, four Landing Craft Utility (LCU/YFU), two 63-foot Combat Salvage Boats (CSB) armed with M2 Browning 12.7 mm Heavy Machine Guns, five LCM (8) LCUs, and more LCM (6) landing crafts.
The neutrality years 1964–1970
By November 1963, MRK strength had grown to 1,200 Ratings and seamen under the command of the Chief of Naval Operations Captain Pierre Coedes until August 1969, when he was replaced by then Lieutenant commander () Vong Sarendy. However, its steady expansion came to a halt on 20 November 1963, when Prince Norodom Sihanouk cancelled all American aid in response to the coup against President Ngô Đình Diệm in South Vietnam and on 15 January 1964 the US MAAG aid program was suspended when Cambodia adopted a neutrality policy. Deprived of further American support, the MRK continued to rely on the French military mission to provide both vital basic and technical training for its own naval personnel, receiving thereafter some aid from China and Yugoslavia. Between 1965 and 1969, these latter countries delivered three s and two TC-101 torpedo boats (the latter soon rendered unserviceable due to accidents and natural disasters), whilst France provided an EDIC III-class Landing craft tank (LCT) for coastal transport duties.
As with the other branches of the then FARK, the Cambodian Navy's own military capabilities in the late 1960s remained low and the missions that they performed mirrored those of a peacetime River Police force or Coast Guard rather than a true Navy. Therefore, MRK activities were restricted to inland patrols on the Bassac River, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sap River in the vicinity of the namesake Great Lake whilst high seas operations were limited to routine inshore patrolling in the Gulf of Thailand.