Montenegrin Navy (Mornarica Crne Gore, MCG)
Mornarice Vojske Crne Gore

With the separation from Serbia in 2006, Montenegro inherited trained and disciplined in-place ground and naval forces. Their goal is to transform these units into a NATO-compatible force consisting of a light infantry brigade, a helicopter-based air force and a navy capable of coastal patrolling, search and rescue (SAR), and counter-terror operations. Major equipment projects include the replacement of its JNA (Yugoslav Army) soviet-era aircraft with modern helicopters, and the conversion of its existing blue water frigates to patrol craft. The navy's Kotor/Koni class frigates were disarmed, the Styx missiles and some other components were removed. A well-planned development of the sea and air surveillance, and of respective operational centers, will enhance the command andresource management capacities with a view of enhancing security and safety.

One of Serbia's primary aims during the Balkan wars prior to the Great War had been to gain an Adriatic port, preferably Durrës. Austria-Hungary and Italy opposed giving Serbia an outlet to the Adriatic, which they feared wouldbecome a Russian port. They instead supported the creation of an autonomous Albania. Russia backed Serbia's and Montenegro's claims to Albanian-inhabited lands. Britain and Germany remained neutral.

From June 15, 1993, to October 1, 1996, the Western European Union (WEU)and NATO mounted a joint naval embargo - Operation Sharp Guard - against Montenegro and Serbia, the two republics forming the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), to enforce the UN’s arms embargo and economic sanctions. The operationtook place in the Strait of Otranto and the Adriatic Sea. Over 74,000 ships were challenged; 6,000, inspected at sea; and more than 1,400, directed to port for inspection.

As of February 2003, the national name of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has been changed to Serbia and Montenegro. As successor government, maritime boundary agreements entered into by Yugoslavia were considered to be still in force for Serbia and Montenegro, unless repudiated or amended. In June 2006 Montenegro became the sixth Balkan country generated fromthe collapse of the SFRY, leaving Serbia again land-locked.

By mid-2010 a former Communist-era naval base was poised to become the most important new European superyacht hub in decades. Porto Montenegro marina is being developed in the Bay of Kotor in southern Montenegro, the tiny former-Yugoslav nation, a region with the lowest GDP in Europe. It is the brainchild of multi-millionaire gold miner Peter Munk who hopes his plans will turn this area into a glamorous and economically thriving hotspot to rival the likes of Monaco, Cannes and Portofino. To this end, the bay, with its picturesque mountains, was undergoing a transformation that would leave it decorated with luxury penthouses, upmarket shopping boulevards and the capacity to hold 600 yachts in its harbor. This huge, mountain-fringed harbor had been hidden from view for decades, during its time housing the Tivat naval base, home of the Yugoslav navy.

As of September 2011 a total of 19 watercraft were in surplus. The possibility of replacing 7 (2 formation and 5 surplus) watercraft for smaller ones, to respond to the missions and tasks of the Navy of Montenegro, was being considered. Other watercraft will be attempted to be sold in the market. To date 4 watercrafts had been sold. If in the time envisaged the sale is not effectuated, they will be sold as scrap metal.

On 23 October 2006 the American Guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68) pulled into port at Tivat, Montenegro. Anzio's visit was one step the Navy was taking to strengthen the emerging partnership with Montenegro and the Montenegrin navy. Anzio is the first ship to visit Tivat since 1975. Anzio is a member of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) Carrier Strike Group, which is currently on a routine deployment in support of the global war on terrorism. The ships of the strike group are coordinating theater security cooperation engagements and maritime security operations with the armed forces of Montenegro, Italy, Cyprus, Bosnia, Greece, Croatia and Romania while operating in the Mediterranean Sea.

Adm. Harry Ulrich, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe (CNE), was in Tivat May 21 to meet with President Filip Vujanovic to discus the strengthening relationship between the two countries maritime forces. While in Montenegro, Ulrich attended a ceremony aboard USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) with members of the Montenegrin government and the crew of Emory S. Land to celebrate the country’s first year as an independent nation. Emory S. Land visited Tivat to provide training and assistance for the Montenegrin Navy and to strengthen the relationship between the two navies. The ship visit allowed Emory S. Land Sailors to help their Montenegrin counterparts in improving their maritime security and safety by capability.

One of only two submarine tenders left in the Navy, USS Emory S. Land (AS-39) (ESL), was the third U.S. Navy ship to visit Montenegro since the United States began diplomatic relations with the country in August 2006. During the seven-day May 2007 visit the crew met with their Montenegrin Navy counterparts and participated in a series of community-related events with citizens of Tivat and other coastal municipalities. The crew conducted tours on board ESL, cleaned up a soccer stadium, visited an orphanage and local churches, participated in sporting events against local nationals, and hosted dignitaries such as Montenegrin Minister of Defense Boro Vucinic. Speaking through an interpreter at an evening reception held on board ESL, Vucinic stressed the importance of building a solid relationship with the United States and other European allies. The visit by ESL was an important step in building such a friendship and the minister expressed his desire for Montenegro to have the opportunity to host other such vessels in the near future.

The symbolic beginning of cooperation between the Defence Ministries of Montenegro and the Republic of France began with a visit of a French ship “Plutin”, in April 2008. It was announced in May 2011 that the French Navy ship "Lyre" would stay in Montenegro in the second half of June 2011.

Based on of the Agreement signed in July 2010, Italian Navy would train members of Montenegrin Navy to participate in the mission "Atalanta" in Somalia. Four Montenegrin troops participated in the EU's NAVFOR ATALANTA operation, under the Italian command. In May 2011 Minister Vucinic initiated the possibility that the officers of the Armed Forces of Montenegro participate in the ATALANTA mission on board French ship.

Montenegro accession to the ADRION Initiative (a navy cooperation program under the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative) resulted in an ADRION LIVEX exercise taking place in Montenegro. A series of exercises at sea began in early June 2011 with departure of ships participating in exercise “ADRION 11 LIVEX". Procedures at sea, on the basis of EXOPLAN (Exercise Operational Plan) were developed at a certain level of procedure-exercise. Tactical maneuvering exercises presented procedures of joint group of seven sailing ships.

The ships performed a few basic formations. Through implementation of these exercises a high level of interoperability of the navy ships of the Armed Forces of Montenegro with NATO member countries was confirmed, and that level is upgraded every year through the implementation of these exercises. Performance of MIO operations simulated a situation of naval blockade of a part of the coast, on the basis of international UN authorization, to prevent smuggling of drugs, weapons and trafficking of people. Members of the Montenegrin Navy shown that they know and fully apply the procedures set in this most complex naval operations, and they can successfully perform tasks with other NATO partners. Within the MIO operation boarding was conducted on a target of interest (TOI). Boarding procedures were performed by three boarding teams - Greek, Italian and Montenegrin Navy boarding team. Upon completion of the planned content of training, all ships that took part in the exercise, conducted a tour of the Bay of Kotor in formation.

PR-41 "ORADA" is a ship designed and equipped to save lives and material possessions at sea. The ship performs the following tasks: Rescue crews of sunken, overturned or damaged ships and vessels; Cutting off stranded and towing damaged ships; Maintaining airworthiness of a sinking ship; Assistance in fire fighting on ships and in the coastal area of the territory. Construction of the tugboat was completed on 19.04. 1989 at the TITO Shipyard in Belgrade. It was added to the Fleet List on 21.04. 1989 when he sailed from Belgrade via the Danube and the Black Sea to Divulje (Split) for his first port of call. Since 1992 he has been based at the Sava Kovacevic MTRZ Tivat, and in 2006 he transferred to the port of Kumbor.

On three occasions, the ship performed tasks in foreign waters in 2005 in a joint naval exercise from the Italian Republic of Italy called "Common Horizon" in the Brindisi port area of Italy, in 2009 under the flag of Montenegro within the group "ADRION" in the area of the port of Durres, R.Albania and in 2010, also within the group "ADRION" in the area of Taranto Bay, R. Italy.

The school boat "Jadran" is a motor sailboat of type "barkantin". Displacement is 787 tons, and the length over all is 60 meters. The ship has 12 sails, 9 longitudinal and 3 cross, with a total area of 930 m2. There are six single, two double and three four-berth cabins on the sailboat, then one twelve-bed and two thirty-bed spaces each. "Jadran" is a school sailboat currently in the service of the Montenegrin Navy, which was taken from the mother port of Split in 1990 to repair in a shipyard in Tivat where it was caught by the war devastation of Croatia and alienated and Croatia now wants Montenegro to return it.

Tivat’s trademark is the school ship «Jadran» (meaning Adriatic) and you can see it moored at the town’s pier. It was built in German shipyard «H. C. Stülcken Sohn» in Hamburg in 1930. This ship has traveled more than 400,000 nautical miles, visited nearly every port in Europe, from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The most interesting and longest trip was on the route Dubrovnik-New York-Boston-Dubrovnik in the period 20 April 1938 to 21 June 1938.

Tivat is situated in the central area of the Boka Kotorska Bay and with its mild Mediterranean climate (more than 200 sunny days), cristal clear sea, always attracted people. The favorable position of Tivat in the secluded part of the Bay of Kotor, together with the proximity of Tivat Airport, makes it favorable location for a marina. The exceptional climatic conditions in Tivat, made possible the growth of various examples of exotic plants which were brought by seamen from all meridians of the world. With its position in the Bay of Kotor, numerous coves, peninsula Prevlaka, island St Marco, the famous beach Przno, and the Porto Montenegro marina, Tivat is listed on the tourist maps as an exceptionally attractive touristic destination.

Tivat as an urban settlement has began to develop since the end of the 19th century when a military port Arsenal was built in 1889 by Austrians, and was later used as a military base of Army of Yugoslavia. Tivat became the arsenal, naval port and shipyard. An entire century in Tivat were trained craftsmen, machinists and shipbuilders.

The school ship ' Adriatic ' for over 20 years is located in Montenegro, where it arrived in mid-October 1990. Prior to that, he was in Croatia and was educated by generations of Navy officers. Ever since the disintegration of the former state and the initiation of succession between the states created by its disintegration, Croatia has been claiming from Montenegro a school ship "Jadran" because it believes that it has the right over a sailing ship based on the fact that the ship, which was part of the Navy of the former JNA, has its base had at the Lora war port in Split.

However, since after the outbreak of war between all the republics of the former Yugoslavia, an agreement was reached that all armaments and military installations, which at the beginning of the conflict were in the territory of certain republics, could be considered as the property of those republics, so is the school ship "Adriatic". who at that moment found himself overhauled in Tivat's Arsenal, remained in Montenegro's possession.

Croatia is constantly looking for the sailboat 'Adriatic', and Montenegro does not risk entering the Croatian territorial waters. ontenegrin Defense Minister Predrag Boskovic said on 31 October 2017 that the Jadran school ship claiming Croatia's Montenegrin ownership, but would not allow the ship to be an obstacle to good relations with Croatia,

A patrol vessel is a multi-purpose vessel, equipped to carry out tasks in all weather conditions. It may carry out its tasks independently or in cooperation with other units of the Navy and the Army of Montenegro, as well as in cooperation with the navies of the partner countries. As such, it can perform tasks that require a longer stay on the high seas, in the southern Adriatic, Otranto and Mediterranean regions.

Construction of the P-33 patrol vessel was completed on 29.12. In 1986, at the Tito Shipyard in Kraljevica, he then sailed from the shipyard for his first port of call "Lora" in Split, under the name of the large patrol ship VPBR-33 "Kotor". On the same day he was registered in the Fleet List. From 31.05.1992. Based in MTRZ "Sava Kovacevic" Tivat, to 16.01.2008. moved to the Port of Bar. The construction of the P-34 patrol vessel was completed on 28.02.1988. at the Tito Shipyard in Kraljevica, then called the Grand Patrol Ship VPBR-34 "Pula" sailed from the shipyard for its first port of base "Lora" in Split, when it was enlisted in the Fleet List and has been in continuous operation. Since May 31, 1992 to 13.02.2008. based in MTRZ "Sava Kovacevic" in Tivat, when he resettled for the Port of Bar, which was his official port of base.

On two occasions, the ship performed tasks in foreign waters in 2005 in a joint naval exercise from the Italian Republic of Italy called "Common Horizon" in the Port of Brindisi in Italy and in 2007 under the flag of Montenegro within the group "ADRION" in the Corfu Island region, Greece. In 2009, the ship had two joint offshore exercises with US and French navy vessels, and in 2010 with the vessels of the FR Germany and R.Turkey. All exercises were carried out in the territorial waters of Montenegro during the visit of the said vessels to Montenegro.

The Montenegrin government decided in April 2019 to withdraw from the fleet and put up for sale two frigates of the Kotor type. Kotor-type frigates are a series of light frigates, the basis for which were Soviet patrol ships of Project 1159. Their main weapon was four Soviet-made anti-ship missiles of the P-21 or P-22 type. The ships intended for sale were built in 1987 and 1988 at the Kralevitsa shipyard. Proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase weapons for the Montenegrin army. It is reported that Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh and Israel were interested in buying ships. Neighboring Croatia also claims the frigates, where they are considered their own.