Royal Thai Navy Day Date in the current year: November 20, 2024

The Royal Thai Navy is one of the branches of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, alongside the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Air Force, and paramilitary forces, such as Thahan Phran (a border patrol force). It was originally created in 1875, when the Kingdom of Siam acquired a Royal Navy with the help of Denmark. Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu, a Danish naval officer and businessmen, was in charge of the Royal Navy until 1902.

Royal Thai Navy Day, however, commemorates another event in the history of the Royal Thai Navy. On November 20, 1906, the Royal Thai Naval Academy was officially opened by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). This date is considered as the official birthday of the Royal Thai Navy. The mission of the academy is to train naval officers, combining naval professional training with undergraduate programs in science and engineering.

Since its inception, the Royal Thai Navy has participated in the Franco-Siamese War of 1893, the First World War (as part of a volunteer expeditionary force), the Franco-Thai War of 1940–41, the Second World War (on the side of Japan), the Manhattan Rebellion of 1951 (a failed coup attempt against Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsonggram) and the Vietnam War (supporting South Vietnam).

Today, the Royal Thai Navy consists of the Navy Fleet, the Marine Corps (established in 1932 with the assistance of the United States Marine Corps), the Naval Special Warfare Command (the Royal Thai Navy SEALs), the Air and Coastal Defense Command, and other divisions. The navy’s mission space includes the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean.

The equipment of the Royal Thai Navy includes submarines, aircraft carriers, amphibious warfare ships, frigates, corvettes, offshore patrol vessels, fast attack craft, training ships, landing craft utilities, replenishment ships, minesweepers, research and survey vessels, tugboats, riverine patrol boats, aircraft, armaments, infantry weapons, land vehicles, and field artillery. The active personnel of the Royal Thai Navy is 86,000, of which 53,000 serve in the Naval Fleet, 18,000 serve in the Marine Corps, and 15,000 serve in the Air and Coastal Defense Command.