President: Navy needs to promote tradition of mastering the sea, determined to fight, determined to win

Attending the ceremony were: Senior Lieutenant General Trinh Van Quyet, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Director of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army; members of the Party Central Committee: Director of the Office of the President Le Khanh Hai, President of the Vietnam Women's Union Nguyen Thi Tuyen, Senior Lieutenant General Pham Hoai Nam (Deputy Minister of National Defense), Secretary of the Hai Phong City Party Committee Le Tien Chau, and Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thanh Nghi.

Also attending were leaders of central and local departments, ministries and branches; representatives of agencies and units in the army; leaders and commanders of the Navy through the periods; generals, Heroes of the People's Armed Forces, Heroes of Labor, veterans and a large number of officers and soldiers of the Navy.

At the ceremony, Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Tran Thanh Nghiem read a speech stating that 70 years ago today, in response to the urgent need to manage and protect the sacred sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland; implementing the Resolution of the General Military Commission, on May 7, 1955, the Ministry of National Defense issued a Decree to establish the Coastal Defense Department - the predecessor of today's Vietnam People's Navy. From the first two units, the Coastal Training School and Workshop 46 with 141 officers and soldiers, to the birth of the two flotillas Song Lo and Bach Dang, the Vietnam People's Navy has gradually formed a regular force, overcoming countless difficulties and shortages, gradually maturing, worthy of the responsibility assigned by the Party, State and people.

After nearly a decade of building up its forces, the Vietnamese Navy entered the resistance war against the US imperialists to save the country, marking its historic first victory on August 2 and 5, 1964, driving away the destroyer Maddox, shooting down aircraft and capturing American pilots right in the northern sea. During the two wars of destruction by air force and blockade of the rivers and seas of the North, the Vietnamese People's Navy, together with the army and people of the whole country, fought back steadfastly, firmly protecting the vital sea route.

President Luong Cuong presents the Ho Chi Minh Order to the Vietnam People's Navy. Photo: VPCTN

With the spirit of "All for the beloved South", the Navy was intelligent and creative, opening the legendary strategic transport route - the Ho Chi Minh Trail at sea, transporting hundreds of thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition, bringing thousands of officers and soldiers to the South, contributing to the victories of Ba Gia, Van Tuong, the Mau Than Campaign and the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign.

After the country's reunification, the Vietnam People's Navy continued to promote the spirit of "pure internationalism", together with the armed forces, helping Cambodia escape the genocide; helping Laos build a naval force to form a defense capacity on the river, contributing to strengthening the special friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Laos.

In the current stage of national construction and development, in response to the requirement of building a Navy that is moving straight towards modernity, the Navy has focused on improving the quality of training, exploiting and mastering many types of new-generation, modern weapons and technical equipment; successfully organizing large-scale exercises, with the participation of all components of the force: surface ships, submarines, air force, shore missiles, and marines. Along with building a regular, elite force, the Navy always attaches importance to building and consolidating the national defense posture at sea, and a solid defense posture of the coast - sea - islands.

Over 70 years of building, fighting, winning and growing, generations of Navy officers and soldiers have built a glorious tradition and the Navy has been honored by the Party and State with the title "Heroic Unit of the People's Armed Forces" twice, and has been awarded 2 Gold Star Orders, 2 Ho Chi Minh Orders, 2 Independence Orders, 3 Military Exploit Orders, 4 Fatherland Protection Orders, and 1 Labor Order. In addition, 82 groups and 58 individuals have been awarded the titles of Hero of the People's Armed Forces, Hero of Labor and many other noble awards.

In particular, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of its founding, the Vietnam People's Navy was honored to receive the Ho Chi Minh Medal for the third time - a noble award from the Party and State in recognition of the Navy's great and outstanding contributions in the new era.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, presenting the Ho Chi Minh Medal to the Navy and speaking at the ceremony, President Luong Cuong warmly congratulated and commended the achievements and great contributions of the Vietnam People's Navy to the glorious revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation over the past 70 years.

President Luong Cuong speaks at the ceremony. Photo: VPCTN

Reviewing the process of building, fighting, winning and growing up of the Navy since its establishment, the President pointed out that over the past 70 years, under the absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Party, the centralized and unified management and administration of the State and President Ho Chi Minh, the regular and direct Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defense, the close and effective coordination and cooperation of agencies, units and forces inside and outside the army, the love, care and support of the people of the whole country and international friends, the Vietnam People's Navy has increasingly matured and grown stronger, always successfully completing all tasks; achieving many outstanding and especially outstanding achievements in combat, training, combat readiness, production, work and international missions.

The President emphasized that in the cause of innovation, construction and protection of the Fatherland, the Navy has focused on building a politically strong Service, as a basis for improving overall quality and combat strength; at the same time, organizing and building a regular, elite, modern Service, truly a core force, always excellently completing the task of protecting the sacred sovereignty of the sea, islands, and continental shelf of the Fatherland and assigned special tasks.

In the context of the world and regional situation forecast to continue to develop in a complex and unpredictable manner, the President assessed that the sea and islands have an extremely important strategic position for socio-economic development and international integration, and are a particularly important strategic space for national defense and security; at the same time, he affirmed that protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland is the will, aspiration and responsibility of the entire Party, people and army, in which the Vietnam People's Navy is the core force.

To perform well the assigned functions and tasks, the President said that officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People's Navy must constantly promote the fine traditions of the nation, the heroic Vietnam People's Army and the glorious traditions of the Service, strengthen solidarity, be proactive, flexible, creative, strive, take advantage of opportunities, overcome difficulties and challenges, and be determined to excellently complete the tasks.

President Luong Cuong and delegates take souvenir photos. Photo: VPCTN

The President requested the Navy to regularly thoroughly grasp and grasp the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's laws and policies; especially the Resolution of the 13th Party Central Committee's 8th Tenure on "Strategy for protecting the Fatherland in the new situation", the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee's Executive Committee on "Strategy for sustainable development of Vietnam's marine economy to 2030, vision to 2045", the viewpoints of our Party and State on the task of protecting sovereignty over seas and islands and resolving disputes at sea. At the same time, the Navy must grasp the situation, advise the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defense on correct, accurate, and timely policies, countermeasures, and solutions, firmly protect the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of the Fatherland's seas and islands "early", "from afar", and maintain a peaceful and stable environment at sea to build and develop the country.

Along with that, the President noted the need to focus on building strong agencies and units in all aspects; in which, special attention should be paid to improving the quality of political and ideological education work in the entire Army; building cadres and soldiers with steadfast and firm political will, firmly grasping the tasks, partners, targets, plots and tricks of hostile forces; uniting and unifying to overcome all difficulties and challenges, striving to excellently complete assigned tasks.

The President pointed out that one of the other important tasks of the Navy is to continue to focus on building a lean, strong, revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and modern Navy; closely and effectively combine national defense - security - foreign affairs - economy; proactively research, advise, and propose solutions for developing the marine economy; and effectively implement economic and defense projects and programs at sea.

The President emphasized that the Navy must always be the core force, a solid support for fishermen to go offshore, stick to the sea, build a national defense posture, and a "people's hearts posture" at sea; do a good job of international cooperation and law enforcement at sea; promptly resolve arising issues, firmly protect sovereignty, sovereign rights, jurisdiction and national interests at sea.

On the other hand, the President requested to continue focusing on building a clean and strong Navy Party Committee in terms of politics, ideology, ethics, organization and cadres; improving the leadership capacity and fighting strength of Party committees and organizations at all levels in conjunction with promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, ethics and lifestyle; resolutely fighting against corruption, waste, negativity, signs of degradation in political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, "self-evolution", "self-transformation" within the Party, "depoliticization" of the army, "civilization" of the military; paying attention to ensuring regimes, policies, material and spiritual life and progress for cadres, soldiers and workers. At the same time, the Navy carefully prepared and successfully organized Party Congresses at all levels in the Navy for the 2025-2030 term according to the Directive of the Politburo and the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission, towards the 12th Army Party Congress and the 14th National Congress of the Party.

Excited and proud of the feats and achievements of the Navy over the past 70 years, the President believes that all officers and soldiers of the Navy will be more deeply aware of their glorious position, role and responsibility on the new journey, continue to uphold and promote the tradition of "fighting bravely; being resourceful and creative; mastering the sea; determined to fight and win", forever being "Uncle Ho's soldiers" in the new era, to join the entire Party, the entire people and the entire army in bringing our country confidently into a new era, an era of strong development and prosperity of the Vietnamese nation.

Source: https://vpctn.gov.vn/tin-tuc-su-kien/hoat-dong-cua-chu-tich-nuoc/chu-tich-nuoc-hai-quan-can-phat-huy-truyen-thong-lam-chu-vung-bien-quyet-chien-quyet-thang.html