‘A rose by any other name’: The political origins of the Nigerian Navy (1955–1965)

Abstract

Despite a well-established colonial-era maritime culture enabled by large coastal territories and port settlements, and despite a similarly entrenched colonial military tradition on terra firma, solid earth, Nigeria lacked a navy by 1958, just two years before independence from Great Britain in 1960. A flurry of political activity between 1958 and 1963 gradually facilitated the creation of the Nigerian Navy. The new institution's structure, remit and capabilities were influenced by the efforts of Nigeria's parliamentarians, supported by the British Royal Navy, Admiralty and Colonial Office. However, the historiography of the Navy's creation remains underdeveloped. Employing a wealth of archival material, this article interrogates the political origins of the Nigerian Navy. It examines the local and foreign policy determinants of the institution that emerged as the Nigerian Naval Force in 1956, becoming the Royal Nigerian Navy in 1959, before a final redesignation as the Nigerian Navy when Nigeria became a republic in 1963.