The Navy I Love (eBook)

This is the authors second and a combined book, after writing and publishing in 2011 Dha-Byet-See: The Gun that Saved Rangoon. This book is not intended to be a historical account of his naval service but reflects his experiences during his service in both navies, afloat and ashore, in various capacities while he himself was growing up in maturity from a teenage youth of seventeen to an ambitious young man of twenty-five.

Myanmar Navy was sixty-eight years old when its last official birthday was celebrated on December 24, 2015. The small force, named Burma RNVR was disbanded to make way for the new Burma Navy, which was to be formed as an arm of the three defense services of the Independent Union of Burma on January 4, 1948.

Little is however known or officially recorded of the various actions and accomplishments of this elite volunteer naval force during the withdrawal campaign when Japan invaded Burma nor its active participation in subsequent amphibious operations and landings to reoccupy the Arakan Coast as a fighting unit in the Southeast Asia Allied Forces Operation Dracula invasion to reoccupy Rangoon and in the final mopping-up operations of the enemy in the Irrawaddy Delta. When the Japanese war was over in August 1945, the Burma RNVR and the new fledging Burma Navy became responsible for internal security and anti-rice smuggling operations while closely supporting the Tatmadaws fight against multicolored insurgents who were in revolt, attempting to bring down the government.

The author fully appreciates the opportunities availed to him by the navy he loves, which trained him to be a confident, self-respected, capable administrator and a professional seaman, without which qualities he could not have achieved further success in his later civilian life and a career in commercial shipping in his own country and overseas.