The naval force operates from multiple bases along the country's nearly 1,440 km (890 mi) coastline, fulfilling its primary role of monitoring and defending Algeria's territorial waters against all foreign military or economic intrusion.

[2][3] As with other Algerian military branches, the naval force was built and structured with assistance from the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but has also relied on other sources for equipment in some areas.

Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has remained an important partner, but Algeria has increasingly sought additional sources for equipment as well as building its own shipbuilding capacity.

In the area of civil support, the purchase of seagoing rescue tugs will mark the first ability of an African nation to provide valuable services to economic and commercial operators in the Western Mediterranean.

The Algerian military has long maintained a strong veil of secrecy over its organization and equipment, making an exact accounting of operational vessels difficult to ascertain.