The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාවික හමුදාව, romanized: Śrī Laṃkā nāvika hamudāva; Tamil: இலங்கை கடற்படை, romanized: Ilaṅkai kaṭaṟpaṭai) is the naval arm of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is classed as the country's most vital defence force due to its island geography.

[3] Sri Lanka, situated in the middle of major sea lanes passing through the Indian Ocean, was always a magnet for seafarers and has a long history of naval campaigns.

It played a key role in the Sri Lankan Civil War, conducting surveillance and patrol, amphibious and supply operations.

During the war, the navy moved from a small force focused on coastal patrols to a large combat force concentrating on asymmetric naval warfare capable of amphibious and land operations in support of counter-insurgency operations that progressed into engagements of a new form of littoral zone warfare.

It carried out expeditionary deployments in the Indian Ocean in order to intercept rogue arm shipments on the high seas.

Cutting its teeth on the Port Commission tugs Samson and Goliath, it later manned and operated trawlers and Antarctic whalers converted as minesweepers and fitted out with guns, submarine detection equipment and anti-submarine weaponry.

In the course of these operations, the ships came under enemy fire, recovered essential information from Imperial Japanese aircraft that were shot down, sailed to Akyab (modern Sittwe) after the Burma front was opened in two FMVs for harbour duties, and were called upon to accept the surrender of the Italian sloop Eritrea and escort her to the Colombo port with a prize crew on board.

The CRNVR served as a source of officers and sailors for the newly established RCyN as one hundred were selected and transferred to the regular naval force.

The first warship of the RCyN was commissioned in 1951 as HMCyS Vijaya, an Algerine-class minesweeper, ex-HMS Flying Fish along with other patrol boats and tugs.

[7][8] In the aftermath of the attempted coup, the armed forces saw major budget cuts that dramatically halted the expansion it enjoyed in the 1950s.

Joint operations among armed services were stopped, with the army to focused on internal security and the role of the navy was scaled down.

RCyN had only one warship, HMCyS Gajabahu which was not put to sea as its crew were dispatched with other naval personnel for shore duty.

During the insurrection navy suffered its first combat casualties and went on to man detention centres to rehabilitate surrendered insurgents after it was crushed in a few months.

Due to the threat posed by the Sea Tigers, the navy had to undertake convoy duty to escort shipping to the Jaffna peninsula to which all land routes were controlled by the LTTE.

[13] In the early 1980s a land combat force named Naval Patrolmen was created which at first limited itself to base defence and, as its numbers increased, took part in offensive operations against the LTTE along with the Sri Lankan Army.

This has led to force redeployment, training exercises and transfer of certain duties to the newly formed Sri Lanka Coast Guard.

In the post war years the navy has expanded its maritime operations to fisheries control and to counter human trafficking.

[16][17] Australia transferred two Bay-class patrol boats to the Sri Lanka Navy, following its Prime Minister's visit to the island for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2013.

[27] On 26 October 2021, the navy formally took over the second Hamilton-class high endurance cutter transferred from the United States at the USCG Station Seattle under the EDA program.

[28] In March 2022, the Government of Sri Lanka signed several defence agreements with the Government of India which included the establishment of a Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre on an Indian grant as well as the acquisition of Dornier 228 maritime reconnaissance aircraft to the Sri Lanka Air Force to operate with naval personnel.

[30] The navy has decided to deploy one of its five Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels to the Red Sea as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Due to the Sri Lankan Civil War the navy has been on a constant mobilized (including reservist) state since the 1980s (except for a brief period from 2002 to 2005).

With the rapid expansion of the Sri Lankan armed forces in the 1980s and 1990s saw the establishment of local specialist and trade schools in the navy, along with staff colleges and a defence university.

The Naval & Maritime Academy also has specialist schools for training areas such as ASW, diving, medicine, combat, NBCD and sniper.

Senior officers destined for flag rank attend the prestigious National Defence College (NDC) in Colombo which is the highest level of training leading to a Master of Philosophy from the KDU.

The Sri Lankan Naval fleet consists of above 250 combat, support ships and inshore patrol craft, with most originating from the United States, China, India, Israel.

[52][53][54][55] The first group consisting of 164 Marines, consisting of 6 officers and 158 sailors, passed out on 27 February 2017 from Naval Base SLNS Barana in Mullikulam in a ceremony attended by the President Maithripala Sirisena, and the Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne alongside the tri-force Commanders and other senior officers.

[64] According to the Maritime Doctrine of Sri Lanka (MDSL) published in 2020, the establishment of Naval Aviation consisting of helicopters and drones have been proposed and initial steps have been taken.

[66][67] The Navy planned to purchase a locally constructed 110m OPV and 10 45m Fast Patrol Boats from the Colombo Dockyard PLC, alongside a 95.6m corvette from China.

However, the plans were suspended in 2022 due to the lack of funds and instead the navy decided to obtain similar vessels for free from friendly countries.