Background Woodlands Naval Base in Singapore has served as the Malaysian navy's headquarters since before
Malaysia gained independence from the
United Kingdom. Even after
Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia in 1963, the base that serves as the home of
KD Malaya is still operational under Malaysia. The Malaysian government planned to move the Royal Malaysia Navy's headquarters to Malaysia in 1969, but they couldn't agree on a location.
Upgraded to Navy Headquarters On 5 July 1975, Malaysia's then-
Prime Minister,
Abdul Razak Hussein, visited the Woodlands Naval Base and expressed concern that the existing
jetty was insufficient for the Royal Malaysia Navy's future plans, and that it was also unsuitable for a Royal Malaysia Navy headquarters located outside of Malaysia. Following his visit, the Royal Malaysian Navy agenda was incorporated into the
Third Malaysia Plan, which includes upgrading Woodlands Naval Base, fleet modernization, and the construction of two new Royal Malaysian Navy military bases (later to become Lumut Naval Base and
Kuantan Naval Base). The Royal Malaysian Navy formed a team called the Naval Study Team, led by
Commander V. Ramachandran, as the Head of Operations and Planning, and
Lieutenant Commander T.A. Scully, as the Head of Engineering, and the team collaborated with , a
West Germany civil engineering firm that had already built a small naval base in Lumut, and they began looking for a suitable location to build a naval base. Initially,
Klang was chosen as the location for the base. However, after a thorough examination of the geography of Klang, they decided on Lumut as the location for the Royal Malaysian Navy headquarters.
Shipyard The Royal Malaysian Navy planned to build a shipyard for ship maintenance at Lumut Naval Base in 1977, and two German firms,
Blohm & Voss and
Thyssen AG, were selected to build the shipyard. The shipyard is now known as the
Boustead Naval Shipyard.
Training centre In 1977, the Royal Malaysian Navy sent officers to three nations' navy forces, the
United Kingdom,
France, and
West Germany, to visit naval training centres. During their visits, the Royal Malaysian Navy expressed interest in the maritime tactics training and plans to build one in Lumut. Aside from the tactics centre, the Royal Malaysian Navy is also constructing a basic boot camp here. The training centre received its first batch of recruits for basic training on 14 January 1980.
1980–1990s The RMN headquarters are relocating to Lumut and
KD Mahawangsa were docked at the Lumut Naval Base's jetty. On 9 September 1984, the Royal Malaysian Navy HQ in Woodlands Naval Base began relocating to Lumut Naval Base after 9 years of construction. The relocations were marked by a ceremony in accordance with
Royal Navy customs.
Captain Khoo Tee Chuan, then Commander of Navy Fleet Material Support, led the ceremony by boarding the
KD Hang Tuah, which was decked out in all Royal Malaysian Navy unit colours.
Heliport The Royal Malaysian Navy purchased six used
Westland Wasp helicopters from the Royal Navy in May 1986. As part of the agreement, the Royal Navy will loan two pilots, one aviation engineer, and five aviation technicians to the Royal Malaysian Navy. As a result, the Royal Malaysian Navy constructed a
heliport at the Lumut Naval Base, thereby establishing the
Naval Air Unit. == Tenant units ==