page_title: Mexican Armed Forces
section_title: The Navy
hierarchical_section_title: Mexican Armed Forces / Organization / The Navy
caption_attribution_description: Fotografía antigua de la Ciudad de México resguardadas por el Museo Archivo de la Fotografía (MAF) de la Ciudad de México.
context_page_description: The Mexican Armed Forces are composed of two independent entities: the Mexican Army and the Mexican Navy. The Mexican Army includes the Mexican Air Force. The
  Special Forces are part of the Army while the Presidential Guard and Military Police fall under the National Guard, but have their own chain of command. The Mexican Navy includes the Naval Infantry Force and the Naval Aviation.
  The Army and Navy are controlled by two separate government departments, the National Defense Secretariat and the Naval Secretariat, and maintain two independent chains of command, with no joint command except the President of Mexico.
context_section_description: The Secretariat of the Navy, the Navy's national headquarters, is located in Mexico City, and is smaller than the Army's headquarters. The "Junta (or Council) of Admirals" plays a unique consultative and advisory role within the headquarters, an indication of the institutional importance placed on seniority and "year groups" that go back to the admirals’ days as cadets in the naval college. They are a very tightly knit group, and great importance is placed on consultation among the factions within these year groups.
  The Navy's operational forces are organized as two independent groups: the Gulf Force and the Pacific (West) Force. Each group has its own headquarters, a destroyer group, an auxiliary vessel group, a Marine Infantry Group, and a Special Forces group. The Gulf and Pacific Forces are not mirror images of each other, as independence of organization is permitted. Both are subdivided into regions, with Regions 1, 3, and 5 on the Gulf, and 2, 4, and 6 on the Pacific. Each region is further divided into sectors and zones, so a proliferation of headquarters and senior officers exists. The Navy also has an air arm with troop transport, reconnaissance, and surveillance aircraft.
  The Navy maintains significant infrastructure, including naval dockyards that have the capability of building ships, such as the Holzinger class offshore patrol vessel. These dockyards have a significant employment and economic impact in the country.
caption: Photo of the Independence Day parade (September 16) in Mexico City at the Museo Archivo de la Fotografía (Museum of the Photographic Archive).
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