Naval personnel have been deployed on
shore patrol duties on many occasions since the formation of the
Royal Ceylon Navy in 1950. Regularly naval personnel were deployed to support the police to control civil disobedience along with the Army during many harthals and riots during the 1950s and 1960s. During the
1962 coup d'état attempt the internal security personnel of the navy were detailed to guard
Prime Minister's House (Temple Trees). In 1971 navy personnel were deployed in various parts of the island to suppress communist insurgents during the
1971 JVP Insurrection. Since the 1970s up until the late 1980s the navy personnel guarded the
Broadcasting Corporation station in Colombo. With the escalation of the
Sri Lankan Civil War and increased threat to naval bases that were launching pads for naval operations to curb
LTTE sea movements, the
Vice Admiral Ananda Silva, the
Commander of the Navy instituted the formation of the
Naval Patrolmen Branch in 1987 to carry out operations on land. This unit was formed primary as a protective force for base and port security, but increased its numbers and scope for amphibious and land combat operations. To achieve its objectives the patrolmen are equipped with light arms and have
mortars,
Unibuffel light
armored vehicles. Naval Patrolmen have taken part in several major combat operations alongside Army units, these include
Operation Sea Breeze,
Operation Balavegaya,
Operation Riviresa and
Operation Jayasikurui having raised to the strength of 3 battalions by 1997. Its personnel fought till the bitter end during the
Battle of Pooneryn. During the last part of the civil war known as the
Eelam War IV Naval Patrolmen garrisoned and defended the government controlled islands around the
Jaffna Peninsula such as
Delft Island and
Kayts. Since 1987, the Naval Patrolmen frequently mounts guard at the
Presidents House, and carry out other ceremonial duties. ==Marine battalion==