Organized as a coastal defence force with the main task of preventing enemy landings on its long and indented coastline, the navy's inventory reflected its foreign relations as well as the growing capabilities of its domestic shipyards and scientific institutions.
The period immediately after the end of the Second World War was marked by relying on equipment that was captured, salvaged or obtained from the Western Bloc through reparations or lend-lease programs.
The Navy was engaged in imposing a naval blockade of Croatia which culminated in November with the Battle of the Dalmatian Channels.
Having lost the majority of its naval infrastructure which was located in the now independent Croatia, the fleet eventually retreated to Boka Kotorska, Montenegro where it was officially disbanded in early 1992 with the remaining ships being commissioned with the new Navy of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The FR Yugoslav Navy included around 80% of the JRM pre-war fleet, with the remaining 20% being lost or captured by Croatian Forces.
With the start of the Croatian War of Independence all except one Una class were relocated to Montenegro where they were commissioned with the FR Yugoslav Navy.
[15] The JRM operated a large number of fast attack craft, commissioning both torpedo and missile boats of different origin.
Starting with 1951 up to 1960, Yugoslav shipyards, mainly on the island of Korčula, constructed somewhere between 75 and 96 Higgins torpedo boats, with sources being conflicting regarding the exact number.
At the time of the escalation of the Croatian War of Independence, the first ship of a new class of missile boats was being built at the Kraljevica Shipyard.