page_title: Belgian Navy
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Belgian Navy / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: This painting of the Battle of 1849 in the Boké Museum was made by P. J. Clays. It depicts the French and Belgian warships and the landing of the marines. The original is in the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels, Belgium
context_page_description: The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Marine Component of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium.
context_section_description: The Belgian Navy was created as the Marine Royale (English: Royal Navy) in 1831. This force has operated in various forms throughout Belgian history.
  When the country became independent after the Belgian Revolution of 1830, a Dutch squadron blocked the Scheldt estuary. To deal with this threat the Belgian Congress ordered two brigantines to be built, which bore the names Congrès and Les Quatre Journées. After the French Army, led by Marshal Count Gérard, captured the citadel of Antwerp in 1832, the captured Dutch gun boats were pressed into Belgian service. In 1840 the Belgian government bought the schooner Louise Marie and in 1845 the brig Duc de Brabant. Louise Marie participated in the Rio Nuñez Incident in 1849. In 1862, the Belgian government discarded its navy and pursued a minimalistic naval policy.
caption: French and Belgian warships during the Rio Nuñez Incident in West Africa, 1849
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