The Venezuelan Navy was born as a coastal defense force during the beginning of the
Venezuelan War of Independence. In May 1810, Commander Lino de Clemente, a veteran officer of the
Spanish Navy who joined the April 1810 coup against the colonial government, was appointed the first Minister of Defense of the republic and began the building of the armed forces including the formation of the navy. For a long time their vessels, even if obsolete, were maintained properly by its sailors. In 1937 the Navy acquired from Italy two
gunboats of the and rechristened them
General Soublette and
General Urdaneta. These ships remained in service until 1951, other sources state 1948 or 1950,) and were scrapped later.
2000s In September 2008, the
Russian Navy's nuclear-powered
missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, accompanied by three other ships of Russia's
Northern Fleet, sailed from its base in
Severomorsk on a cruise to the
Caribbean Sea for a joint exercise with the Venezuelan Navy. This action represented the first major Russian power projection in the region since the end of the
Cold War. Additional ships included the anti-submarine warship
Admiral Chebanenko, a tug boat, and supply ship.
Crisis in Venezuela During a 2019 crisis in Venezuela, the Venezuelan Navy became engaged in the conflict when it began to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid into the country. A ship departing from Puerto Rico attempted to ship aid into the Venezuelan port city of
Puerto Cabello. The ship, carrying civilians, returned to Puerto Rico after the Venezuelan Navy threatened to "open fire" on the humanitarian ship. On 30 March 2020, the
Venezuelan patrol boat Naiguatá sank after a collision with the polar
ice class cruise liner , while in international waters. According to
RCGS Resolutes owner, the Coast Guard ship had fired shots
Naiguatá sank following the collision, with
RCGS Resolute informing the international
Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) of the incident and offering assistance. After staying in the area for an hour,
RCGS Resolute was informed through MRCC that assistance was not required as
Naiguatás crew had been rescued by the Venezuelan Navy. According to the Portuguese after-incident investigation,
RCGS Resolute had departed Buenos Aires on 5 March and sailed to the
Caribbean Sea. She was contacted by Venezuelan patrol boat
Naiguatá on the night of 30 March. Two hours later, an unexpected change in
Naiguatás heading just before the collision may have been caused by a suction effect between the vessels as the faster patrol boat passed the bow of the cruise ship. Although the collision may have not been intentional ramming, the conclusion was nonetheless that the incident that led to the sinking of
Naiguatá was a deliberate act initiated by the Venezuelan Navy rather than an accidental occurrence.
Naval crises with the U.S. Navy In the fall of 2025, following the 7 August 2025
United States Department of Justice raising the reward for the arrest of Venezuelan president
Nicolás Maduro to , the United States began a series of escalating activities against the maritime sector of Venezuela, including a number of targeted attacks on Venezuelan vessels carrying cargo toward U.S. waters. On 10 December 2025, the
U.S. Coast Guard seized the Venezuelan oil tanker
Skipper in international waters, off the Venezuelan coast; but the Bolivarian Navy did not intervene. The vessel was boarded by armed Coast Guard personnel who descended from a helicopter. The operation was executed after a U.S. Federal judge authorized the seizure due to the tankers role in transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. Maduro had previously been indicted by a
US federal court in 2020 and is accused of
narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import
cocaine to the
United States. No clear statement of what the Bolivarian Navy would do in response followed. ==Organization of the Navy==