Kenya Navy

The Kenya Navy is the maritime service of the Kenya Defence Forces, headquartered at Mtongwe Naval Base in Mombasa. It is commanded by a major general, with the President as Commander-in-Chief. The force is organised around two fighting squadrons, 66 and 76 Squadron, a logistics squadron, a special operations element, and the Fleet Maintenance Unit; a Marine Ranger Regiment was raised more recently for shore and littoral security tasks. Beyond Mtongwe, the second principal facility is Manda Bay in the Lamu Archipelago, close to the Somali border, with smaller stations at Shimoni, Msambweni, Malindi and Kilifi. A Special Boat Unit, stood up with United States Navy assistance, operates from Manda Bay on counterterrorism and interdiction tasks.

The fleet is built around patrol and offshore patrol tonnage; there are no submarines, frigates or corvettes in service. The largest unit is KNS Jasiri, an 85 metre, roughly 1,400 tonne offshore patrol vessel built by Astilleros Gondán in Spain following a protracted contractual dispute with Euromarine Industries, and delivered in 2012. Jasiri displaces the fleet's command-and-control role and carries a hydrographic survey capability. Two Shupavu-class large patrol boats, KNS Shupavu and KNS Shujaa, form the next tier, armed with 76 mm and 30 mm guns; both underwent midlife refits, Shujaa in the Netherlands with Damen Shipyards and Shupavu at Kenya Shipyards Limited in Mombasa. The two Nyayo-class fast attack craft, KNS Nyayo and KNS Umoja, built by Vosper Thornycroft and in service since 1987, were refitted at Fincantieri's Muggiano yard and returned without their Otomat surface-to-surface missile armament, leaving them in a patrol configuration. The Galana-class logistic landing ships KNS Galana and KNS Tana, commissioned in 1994, have been withdrawn from service, removing the navy's sealift and amphibious lift. Inshore work is handled by inflatable and rigid-hulled craft, including Archangel and Defender types transferred by the United States.

Kenya Shipyards Limited, a Ministry of Defence corporation established in 2020, operates the Mombasa yard at Mtongwe, developed with Damen assistance and including a 4,000-tonne slipway, and a second facility at Kisumu on Lake Victoria. Work to date has centred on overhaul and refit rather than new naval construction; the Kisumu yard delivered the wagon ferry MV Uhuru II.

Tasking centres on the Kenyan exclusive economic zone, the Somali border approaches and the wider Western Indian Ocean, covering counter-piracy, counter-narcotics, fisheries protection and support to operations in southern Somalia. In October 2025, during Operation Bahari Safi 2025.01, KNS Shupavu intercepted a stateless dhow some 630 kilometres east of Mombasa and seized 1,024 kilograms of methamphetamine, detaining six Iranian nationals. From February 2026, Jasiri and Shupavu deployed on a three-leg circuit encompassing Operation Bahari Moja 03, calling at Port Victoria, Port Louis and Diego Suarez before returning to Mkunguni Jetty, Mombasa, on 11 March 2026.