The Navy is responsible for security and defence in the Colombian zones of both the Atlantic (Caribbean) and Pacific oceans, the extensive network of rivers inside the country, and a few small land areas under its direct jurisdiction.

The history of the Colombian Navy is closely tied to, and somewhat reflects the history of Colombia itself: from its birth at the Declaration of Independence from Spain, the subsequent ups and downs throughout a later 19th century rife with civil wars, a 20th-century where it slowly starts asserting itself only to be challenged by the internal conflict and drug traffic of the later decades, to a Navy that is now reaching a more mature and modern shape, much like the country it protects.

The small independent navy was impotent against the large fleet commanded by Morillo, but nevertheless managed some daring actions, in particular that of Luis Brión, who attempted to run the blockade with his corvette Dard with a load of guns and powder to the city before fleeing again to Haiti.

In 1816, Simón Bolívar attempted his first campaign, the Cayos expedition, sailing from Haiti with seven schooners and corvettes: Bolivar, Mariño, Piar, Constitución, Brión, Fénix, and Conejo.

It was only after the Liberation Campaign of 1819 that General Francisco de Paula Santander created the Naval School on June 28, 1822, and issued additional decrees for the provision of the navy.

Admiral José Prudencio Padilla would go on reorganizing and building the fleet, to support Bolívar's plans for the campaign of Zulia and the complete liberation of the east.

Rayo was the largest, carrying four 9 inch guns, two smaller 30-pounders, and six torpedo launches,[7] and was incorporated into the Colombian fleet after accusations she was due to be delivered to Chile or Peru for the war against Spain.

[13] By 1907, when President Rafael Reyes Prieto created the Naval Academy, through decree 783 of July 6, 1907, only to be closed off yet again by his successor, Ramón González Valencia on December 28, 1909.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 changed things somewhat and prompted Colombia to break diplomatic relations with the Axis countries, but not to formally declare war.

[19] Rubby's sinking led to Colombia formally declaring a 'belligerent status' against Germany and the other Axis powers on November 23, 1943[20] and as a result the Colombian Navy significantly stepped up its presence in the Caribbean after this date and throughout the rest of the war.

Perhaps the most well-known engagement of the Colombian Navy during the war occurred on March 29, 1944, as the tanker MC Cabimas was en route from Cartagena to Panama City escorted by the destroyer ARC Caldas, the latter under the command of Captain Federico Diago Díaz.

Perhaps not surprisingly, there were multiple opinions in the US about accepting this help: On the one side, the State Department wanted to make sure the UN-sponsored operation had indeed the collaboration of multiple countries, the Treasury viewed it with disbelief and worried about the underlying extra cost that such 'help' would likely represent and might need to be paid by the US in the end, and the Defense Department wanted as much external help as possible, while also losing sleep about the logistics nightmare of integrating foreign units with little knowledge of its standards and even the language.

[25] The frigate ARC Almirante Padilla[n 4] took to sea on November 1, 1950[26] under command of CC Julio Cesar Reyes Canal, stopping at San Diego, California, for fitting and then at Hawaii for operations training with the US Navy, finally reaching its destination at the Korean coast on May 14, 1951.

The frigate ARC Capitán Tono,[n 5] under command of CC Hernando Berón Victoria replaced Almirante Padilla in January, and performed patrol and coast operations also around Wonsan and Seongjin, and submarine patrol around the Sasebo naval base; it received the Republic of Korea Merit medal for its support to the naval operations in the area; it finished its first tour on November 12, 1952.

The frigate ARC Almirante Brión,[n 6] under command of CC Carlos Prieto Silva formally relieved Capitán Tono in November 1952.

In more recent years, the Colombian Navy has seen two major periods of upgrading and modernization of its equipment: The first period, as a result of the rise of the drug trade in the late 1970s and 1980s as well as, at the time, increased political tensions in the Caribbean due to territorial disputes with some of its neighbors -with Nicaragua over the San Andres archipelago and with Venezuela over the Los Monjes Archipelago- saw the need for a stronger Caribbean patrol force, and resulted in the acquisition of its biggest vessels to date, four missile corvettes (later upgraded to light frigates) in 1983 as well as some additional patrol craft.

The second period, as a consequence of the deepening in the internal Colombian conflict, started in the late 1990s and extended over to 2005–2006, provided strengthening of its riverine and littoral capabilities, involving research and development for new indigenous designs in collaboration with the state-owned Cotecmar shipyards that resulted in new types of vessels such as the state-of-the-art Riverine Support Patrol Boats (Spanish: Patrullera de Apoyo Fluvial, "PAF"), also called "riverine mothership" (Spanish: Nodriza Fluvial) like ARC Juan Ricardo Oyola Vera (NF-613) which have drawn the eye of other navies with similar requirements.

[49][50] In September 2022, the Colombian Navy signed a contract for the design & construction of 5 new frigates as part of the PES programma with Cotecmar shipyard and Damen Shipyards based on the SIGMA10514 design for delivery from 2026 onwards [51] The Navy Aviation Command operates approximately 17 fixed and rotary wing aircraft for naval surveillance and patrol, Search and Rescue (SAR), and logistical support of naval facilities and operations.