Due to new requirements for the defense of our maritime sovereignty and the implementation of Central Party Committee Resolution 04 (tenure X) on “Vietnam maritime strategy by 2020”, on March 19, 2009, the then Minister of National Defense ratified the establishment of 2nd Naval Region. Since its foundation 10 years ago, units of the Region have always effectively completed their assigned tasks. As a result, the Region was awarded with 3 State medals, 3 governmental emulation banners and 1 governmental certificates of merit, and 2 emulation banners and 05 certificates of merit from the Ministry of National Defense. In addition, 3 of the Region’s units were decorated with the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, and many other units and individuals were also honored with various commendations.
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| An exercise conducted by the 2nd Naval Region |
At present, 2nd Naval Region is tasked with the following missions: training, maintaining combat readiness and conducting combat operations; and patrolling and monitoring assigned territorial waters, islands and continental shelves. The primary focuses of the Region are: protecting and monitoring the critical water around DK1, maintaining anti-submarine duty, protecting Cam Ranh base, protecting Vietnam natural resource exploration and extraction activities, and providing support for the defense of Spratly Islands and Southern continental shelf. Under the policy of building a “revolutionary, standardized, elite and modern” Navy, 2nd Naval Region is equipped with various types of advanced equipment and weapons, capable of operating independently or in a combined arms formation. In fact, these hardware investments have greatly contributed to the success of the Region in improving its overall strength and completing its assigned tasks.
However, in the new period, the work of defending our maritime sovereignty has posed many new demanding requirements, therefore, 2nd Naval Region Command and Party Committee decided to focus on political and ideological education to enhance its personnel’s commitment and determination to complete their assigned tasks. Accordingly, the Region’s contingents regularly organized propaganda sessions and briefings to create correct situation awareness for their members, especially in light of new developments occurred in assigned areas of operation; and expose adversary forces’ sabotaging stratagem. At the same time, sailors and officers of 2nd Naval Region were educated about the Party’s national defense and military policies, especially those were identified in Central Party Committee Resolution 04 (Tenure X) on “Vietnam maritime strategy by 2020”, Central Party Committee Resolution 08 (Tenure XI) on “Homeland Defense Strategy in the New Situation”; and primary tasks of the Navy in general and their parent unit in particular. Also, the Region leadership pushed ahead the work of studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and way of life and the implementation of “Uphold tradition, devote talents, be worthy of the title Uncle Ho’s soldiers – Navy’s members” Campaign. In addition, units and administrative branches of 2nd Naval Region enhanced measures to monitor and address their members’ mentality problem to prevent “self-evolution”, “self-transformation” and maintain their internal political stability. Accordingly, leadership at all levels regularly monitor and apply necessary methods to boost the morale of their subordinates, especially those who were deployed on offshore service stations and ships that operated offshore for a long period of time. Besides, sailors and officers were educated to create strong affection to their rigs and islands, thinking about them as their own home, treating their comrades as their own family. Therefore, even in the most difficult situations, 2nd Naval Region’s sailors and officers had always stayed true to their commitment, demonstrating their unwavering determination and strict discipline to defend our national sovereignty and territorial waters.
To respond in a timely manner to every incident, especially complex ones which occur at sea, 2nd Naval Region Command and Party Committee have always emphasized on improving their units’ training quality. Based on its assigned area of operation and missions, 2nd Naval Region leadership actively reformed its training activities, holding training management in higher regard, clearly identifying training directions, objectives and requirements and designated specific tasks for each unit under its command. To achieve higher performance, commands and party committees at all levels in the Region were required to develop unified systems of training plans, documents and instructions for their contingents, especially those who were equipped with new weapons and equipments. Units of 2nd Naval Region strictly applied the motto of “Basics, Practicality, and Thorough Grasp” to their training activities; also, training contents were developed on the basis of each unit’s combat targets, combat environment and their own weapons and equipment. In addition, all these training activities were aimed at achieving breakthroughs in “Fundamental Training, Weapons and Equipment Familiarization, and Safety Maintenance”; and the task of monitoring and defending maritime sovereignty and building a “revolutionary, standardized, elite, modern” Navy was always the primary objective in every training program. That said, combat units were mainly trained to be adept in tactics at all levels; night combat training, training under harsh conditions, and training for blue water operations were also increasingly conducted. In addition, commands and administrative contingents at all levels were trained to improve their leadership and management capabilities.
At the same time, onshore officers, especially young ones, were detached to ships to take part in offshore training, patrols and other duties to gain more experience. Because naval combat requires quick responses and close coordination between forces, 2nd Naval Region Command regularly conducted combined arms exercises with the participation of its own subordinate units, and joint training exercises with Air Defense - Air Force contingents, etc. During these exercises, there was close combination between military training and political combination, combat training and discipline maintenance; physical training for sailors and officers was also focused to improve their survivability in harsh conditions.
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| A training session on specialized weapons |
In addition, 2nd Naval Region leadership regularly combined training with the work of monitoring and patrol duties on assigned waters, and implemented various methods to improve its combat readiness. The Region’s subordinate contingents maintained regular training based on pre-determined battle plans; also actively reviewed and adjusted these plans to further improve their practicality. To maintain the presence of assigned forces at critical areas, designated units simultaneously maintained the following tasks: regular operations, patrol, training, and reconnaissance to ensure appropriate response in any situation. Since 2013, 2nd Naval Region has conducted 13000 naval patrols, search and rescues missions and other activities. Vessels of the Region which were responsible for offshore patrolling and monitoring successfully overcame difficulties caused by harsh weather to detect and drive out thousands of foreign vessels which violated our waters. In these missions, 2nd Naval Region’s units have always demonstrated strong commitment to their duty and strictly followed our Party and State’s policies in resolving maritime disputes to defend our maritime sovereignty and maintain stability in our territorial waters.
To realize the goal of building a “revolutionary, standardized, elite and modern” unit, 2nd Naval Region Command and Party Committee pushed ahead the work of strengthening their organization, structure and equipment and developing logistical and technical infrastructure. Accordingly, the Region’s logistical work mainly focused on the demand of units which were responsible for offshore patrol and combat duties. Due to the requirement of their task, many of the Region’s vessels had to operate under harsh conditions for a long period of time, subordinate levels was increasingly granted authority in logistics activities; at the same time, combat reserves were maintained appropriately to meet the requirement of each specific task, allowing vessels to set sail quickly, safely and secretly with sufficient supply.
At present, 2nd Naval Region’s units are focusing on realizing 2 major breakthroughs issued by Naval Technical Department: “Building technical standardization and Being proficient in employing weapons and equipment”. Accordingly, besides ensuring sufficient number for its technical teams, the Region leadership is increasingly implementing training programs to strengthen technical capability of its subordinate units. Also, technical regulations and standards are reviewed and adjusted appropriately to each unit’s condition. Besides, technical standardization and discipline are strictly exercised; the work of maintaining, preserving and expanding service life for weapons and equipments is conducted closely to pre-determined regulations and procedures. As a result, technical rating of 2nd Naval Region’s hardware has always met or even surpassed standard requirements.
“United, disciplined, courageous and unyielding; overcome difficulties to hold control of our sea; determined to fight, determined to win” is the tradition of 2nd Naval Region. Proudly upholding this tradition, the Region’s sailors and officers have constantly strengthened their own commitment and revolutionary nature to firmly defend the Motherland’s maritime sovereignty, territorial waters, islands and continental shelf.
Rear Admiral Pham Khac Luong, 2nd Naval Region Commander