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The Egyptian Navy is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the Middle East and Africa, and is the seventh largest in the world measured by the number of vessels.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Navy Ship Strength by Country )〕 The navy's missions include protection of more than 2,000 kilometers of coastline of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, defense of approaches to the Suez Canal, and support for army operations. The majority of the Egyptian Navy was created with the help of the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The navy received ships in the 1980s from China and other, western, sources. In 1989, the Egyptian Navy had 18,000 personnel as well as 2,000 personnel in the Coast Guard. ==History== Egypt has had a Navy since Ancient Egyptian times. The Ancient Egyptian Navy was a vital part of the Military of ancient Egypt, helping to transport troops along the Nile River and fighting many battles such as the Battle of the Delta against the Sea Peoples. The Ancient Egyptian Navy imported many of their ships from countries such as the Kingdom of Cyprus.〔Kostas (2001)〕 Several Ancient Egyptian solar ships are still present today. In the early 1800s, Egypt under Muhammad Ali Pasha developed a modern European-style army and navy. After intervening in the Greek War of Independence at Ottoman Turkey's request, the Egyptian navy was destroyed in 1827 at the Battle of Navarino by the fleets of Great Britain, France and Russia. With the Egyptian army in Greece now isolated, Muhammad Ali was forced to make terms with the British and withdraw a year later. A replacement fleet was built for the First Egyptian-Ottoman War in 1831, and landed troops at Jaffa in support of the main Egyptian army marching into Syria. In the Second Egyptian–Ottoman War in 1839, following Egyptian victory in the Battle of Nezib, the Ottoman fleet sailed to Alexandria and defected to the Egyptian side. However, these victories provoked decisive European intervention to support the Turks, and while Muhammad Ali's dynasty continued to reign, Egypt ended up effectively a British colony until the 1950s. The Egyptian navy was only peripherally involved in the series of conflicts with Israel. During the Suez Crisis, Egypt dispatched the ''Ibrahim el Awal'', an ex-British Hunt class destroyer, to Haifa with the aim of shelling that city's coastal oil installations. On 31 October the ''Ibrahim el Awal'' reached Haifa and began bombarding the city but was driven off by a French warship and then pursued by the Israeli destroyers INS ''Eilat'' and INS ''Yaffo'' which, with the help of the Israeli Air Force, captured the ship.〔Max Wurmbrand, The Valiant of Israel, p. 80, Massada Press Ltd (1967)〕 Egyptian destroyers and torpedo boats engaged larger British vessels in a move aimed at undermining the amphibious operations of the British and French. On the night of 31 October in the northern Red Sea, the British light cruiser HMS ''Newfoundland'' challenged and engaged the Egyptian frigate ''Domiat'', reducing it to a burning hulk in a brief gun battle. The Egyptian warship was then sunk by escorting destroyer HMS ''Diana'', with 69 surviving Egyptian sailors rescued.〔Pimlott – editor ''British Military Operations, 1945–1984'' London: Guild Publishing 1984 p. 78〕 The Egyptian Navies blockade of Israeli ships in the Strait of Tiran that were headed toward the Israeli port of Eilat was on of the main causes of the Six-Day War. During the war, the Israeli Navy landed six combat divers from the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit to infiltrate Alexandria harbor. The divers sank an Egyptian minesweeper before being taken prisoner. Both Egyptian and Israeli warships made movements at sea to intimidate the other side throughout the war, but did not engage each other. However, Israeli warships and aircraft did hunt for Egyptian submarines throughout the war. In October 1967, a few months after the cease-fire, the Egyptian Navy was the first navy in history to sink a ship using anti-ship missiles, when an Egyptian Komar class fast-attack craft sank the Israeli destroyer ''INS Eilat'' with two direct hits.〔Saad El Shazly ''The Crossing of the Suez'' p.23〕 This was a milestone of modern naval warfare, and for the first time anti-ship missiles showed their potential, sinking the destroyer 17 km off Port Said. On the night of 15–16 November 1969, Egyptian Navy frogmen attacked the port of Eilat and caused severe damages to the armed transport ship "Bat Yam".〔http://www.mmc.gov.eg/branches/Navy/t4.htm〕 On 5–6 February 1970, the Frogmen attacked the Israeli landing ships at the same port and same piers causing severe damages to the landing ships "Bait Shivaa" and transport armed ships "Hydroma".〔 On 8 March 1970, the Frogmen attacked the Israeli oil drill "Keting" at the port of Abidjan in Ivory Coast believing that Israel had bought this oil drill from the Netherlands for the purposes of oil exploration in the Suez Gulf.〔 In the Yom Kippur War, Egypt blocked commercial traffic to Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba by laying mines; it also attempted to blockade Israeli ports on the Mediterranean.〔 The navy also used the coastal artillery to the east of Port Fouad to support the Egyptian Army in order to prepare for the assault on the Suez Canal.〔 In the Battle of Baltim, three Egyptian Osa-class missile boats were sunk. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Egyptian Navy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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