Combat actions of 1964 On 6 August 1964,
Cyprus National Guard forces commenced combat action against the
Turkish Cypriot enclave of
Kokkina, in the north-west of Cyprus. This operation was regarded by both
Cyprus and
Greece as a necessary
interdiction against a threat by Turkish Cypriot
militia, who were using Kokkina as a
beachhead by which to land supplies and weapons shipped from Turkey. The Cyprus National Guard forces were under the command of General
George Grivas, with the blessing of Athens. A combined land and sea attack was launched against Kokkina using two Cyprus Navy R-151 Group
patrol boats, the
Phaethon (
commander - Second Leuthenant Dimitrios Mitsatsos) and the
Arion, manned by Greek navy personnel. Firing 40mm and 20mm shells, the two patrol boats bombarded the enclave for a period of time, in conjunction with land-based 25-pounder
artillery. The battle was well underway on 8 August, when the
Turkish Air Force commenced its own attack with
fighter aircraft, making numerous strafing passes of Greek Cypriot positions. The vessel
Phaethon was struck by rocket fire and burst into flames, forcing the crew to deliberately run it aground near Xeros Harbour. Seven of the crewmembers on
Phaethon were killed and several wounded in the attack, and the ship was unsalvageable and later stricken. The second R-151 Group patrol boat,
Arion, was attacked by the same Turkish fighter jet formations, and was reportedly struck several times by strafing fire, but escaped to Paphos. During the attack on the
Arion, a Turkish
F-100 Super Sabre, piloted by Captain
Cengiz Topel, was struck by 40mm anti-aircraft fire and shot down. The pilot ejected over land but was promptly captured and lynched by members of the Cyprus National Guard.
Naval organization in 1970 MTBs flotilla: • First squadron; base - Boghazi; boats:
T-4,
T-5,
T-6 • Second squadron; base - Kyrenia; boats:
T-1,
T-2,
T-3 • Patrol Boats squadron; base - Boghazi; boats:
Leventis,
Dedalos • Four radar stations (range of detection 45 nautical miles) • Naval stations at Famagusta, Xylophagos, Limassol, Paphos • Underwater Demolitions Unit (Boghazi naval base)
Cypriot naval vessels from 1964 to 1974 Main armament •
40 mm Bofors Mark III L60 gun •
20 mm Oerlikon Mark 10 L70 cannon • 14,5 mm
2M-5 machine guns • 450 mm
type 45-52 torpedoes File:Cyboat3.jpg|Cyprus Navy P-4 "Skinhead" class Motor Torpedo Boat
Combat actions of 1974 On 15 July 1974,
EOKA-B and elements of the
Cyprus National Guard overthrew the legitimate President,
Archbishop Makarios and replaced him with
Nikos Sampson. Makarios escaped an initial attempt to capture him at the Archbishiporic in
Nicosia, and fled to
Paphos. A naval patrol vessel,
Leventis (pennant number 15) was quickly dispatched to Paphos to begin shelling a radio station there which was being operated by pro-Makarios elements. On 20 July 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus in a surprise-attack, without issuing a
declaration of war. A naval force of Turkish vessels was detected by coastal radar at Apostolos Andreas approaching the coast, and a second force of naval vessels was sighted off the coast of Kyrenia during the early hours. The Cyprus National Guard Naval Command quickly ordered its two
motor torpedo boats,
T-1 (
commander - Lieutenant Junior Grade Nicolaos Verikios) and
T-3 (
commander - Lieutenant Elefterios Tsomakis), (based at
Kyrenia) to attack the Turkish flotilla directly. Both vessels were promptly sunk by combined air and sea attack.
Developments from 1975 to 2008 In 1983, the Navy acquired a single Type 32L Esterel fast patrol craft from France. The vessel has been upgraded, and has heavy
armament, including two 2-round Mistral-SIMBAD air-defence missile launchers, 1 40mm .70cal OTO-Breda-Bofors AA cannon and 1 20mm .90cal Rheinmetall AA cannon. Later (circa 2006-2008) 40mm .70cal OTO-Breda-Bofors AA cannon was replaced by 20mm .70cal Oerlikon Mk10 AA cannon. In 1994,
Cyprus acquired 24 Aerospatiale MM40 Exocet Block-II anti-ship missiles (reportedly initially intended for Iran) from
France, along with 3 coastal defence batteries. This vessel was Greek made, of the Dilos-class, previously designated P269. This vessel is armed with one single 20mm .70cal Oerlikon Mk10 AA cannon and one 2-round Mistral-SIMBAD air-defence missile launcher. These vessels were fitted with single 25mm .80cal KBA OTO-Melara automatic cannons and two single 12.7mm machine guns, equipped with radars and Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIRs). The Navy pair were issued the pennant numbers
P03 and
P04.
2011 base disaster On 11 July 2011, the
Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion resulted in the destruction of much of the infrastructure of the nation's main naval port and loss of the Commander of Cypriot Navy Captain
Andreas Ioannides. Reconstruction began immediately on the strength of domestic contracts for buildings and structures.
Acquisition of new warships Following various media reports in 2012 that Cyprus was entertaining offers by
Israel and
Greece to supply two heavy Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), being far larger and more capable than anything previously operated, it was extensively reported in January 2013 that Cyprus signed an agreement with
France to purchase two large, stealthy and well-armed vessels based upon the
GOWIND corvette design. This frenzy of media speculation was bolstered by the otherwise sudden and unexplained visit to Cyprus by the ''L'Adroit'', which some sources interpreted as a demonstration of the ship design, to be held at Limassol port from 24 to 26 January 2013. Further unconfirmed reports by the Cyprus media claim to have it on good authority that a US$120 million down payment for the vessels is factored into the 2013 fiscal budget, justified against the
2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis by emergency defense requirements. On 14 February 2017 a vessel was presented to Cyprus as a gift from the
Sultanate of Oman. It was part of the
Royal Omani Navy fleet, but was decommissioned and refitted for use in the waters off Cyprus. The ship was renamed Alasia. On 15 January 2018 the Cyprus Navy commissioned the Commodore Andreas Ioannides P 61, the ship was built by
Israel Shipyards Limited and is based on the
Saar 4.5 FAC. The navy has an option for an additional vessel which was exercised as of December 2018.
2024 Lebanon Migrant crisis As a result of the
Lebanese government's inability to deal with the migrant crisis, It was decided by the Cypriot government to send
Port and Marine Police and Navy ships to patrol approximately 30 nautical miles off the Lebanese coast in order to prevent illegal immigration into the country.
Turkish Navy incident During the patrol off the coast of Lebanon, a
Turkish Navy ship was spotted by Cypriot coastal radars approaching the two ships that were on patrol in the area and as such, the command center from one of the ships immediately alerted the government in Nicosia, which got into contact with
Athens who immediately sent the
Spetsai frigate to support the Cypriot ships. The Turkish ship later left the area with the Cypriot General Staff and rest of the government were fully informed of all the Turkish military movements that were taking place until it left. == Designation ==