The
Egyptian Navy is the maritime branch of the
Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the
Middle East and
Africa, and is the seventh largest in the world measured by the number of vessels. The navy's missions include protection of more than 2,000 kilometers of coastline of the
Mediterranean Sea and the
Red Sea, defense of approaches to the Suez Canal, and support for army operations. The majority of the Egyptian Navy was created with the help of the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The navy received ships in the 1980s from
China and other, western, sources. In 1989, the Egyptian Navy had 18,000 personnel as well as 2,000 personnel in the Coast Guard.