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50-886: The Maritime Squadron was established in November 1970 as the Maritime Troop of the Malta Land Force. Its name changed a number of times: Malta's first navy was built when it was under the Order of Saint John . It was a powerful navy with ships such as the Santa Anna . The Order participated in various naval exploits against the Ottoman Empire while based in Malta, most notably the Battle of Lepanto of 1571 and

100-510: A dispute started with the Kingdom of Sicily under King Charles V . The dispute eventually ended a year later on 26 November 1754 when Sicily and the Order returned to normal relations. Despite this Sicily no longer had any control over the Maltese islands and Malta under the Order effectively became a sovereign state. In the last three decades of the eighteenth century, the Order experienced

150-729: A fight. The French then occupied Malta until 1800, when they were ousted by Maltese revolutionaries aided by Great Britain. Malta became a British protectorate and although the Treaty of Amiens stated that they should be handed back to the Order, nothing materialized. When the new Grandmaster Giovanni Tommasi demanded that the British Civil Commissioner Alexander Ball hand back the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta , Ball replied that Britain

200-519: A new capital city, Valletta . For the next two centuries, Malta went through a Golden Age , characterized by a flourishing of the arts, architecture, and an overall improvement in Maltese society. In the mid-17th century, the Order was the de jure proprietor over some islands in the Caribbean, making it the smallest state to colonize the Americas . The Order began to decline in the 1770s, and

250-584: A single Maltese falcon , which they were to send on All Souls' Day to the King's representative, the Viceroy of Sicily . The Order settled in the town of Birgu and made it their capital. The ancient fortress known as Castrum Maris was rebuilt as Fort Saint Angelo , the town's defences were strengthened, and many new buildings were constructed. The Order soon began to mint its own coins as it settled in Malta. The Hospitallers continued their actions against

300-526: A steady decline. This was a result of a number of factors, including the bankruptcy that was a result of Pinto's lavish rule, which drained the finances of the Order. Due to this, the Order also became unpopular with the Maltese. In 1775, during the reign of Francisco Ximénez de Tejada , a revolt known as the Rising of the Priests occurred. Rebels managed to capture Fort St Elmo and Saint James Cavalier , but

350-719: A vessel built at the Malta Drydocks for the Customs Department was taken over by the Maritime Battery. In 1977, the Battery moved to its present base at Hay Wharf , or Xatt it-Tiben . In 1978, the British gave Malta two search and rescue launches, and in 1979 they left Malta completely, handing over all their former responsibilities to the Battery. On 1 April 1980 it was renamed Maritime Squadron of

400-463: The Battle of the Dardanelles of 1656. In the 17th and early 18th centuries Maltese vessels also went for corsairing expeditions against Muslim ships. Eventually corsairing decreased and the Order was weak and bankrupt, so there was little resistance when Napoleon landed on Malta in 1798. The Order's navy, including the ships of the line San Zaccharia and San Giovanni , was integrated into

450-476: The Bremse -class patrol boat P32 around Mġarr Harbour. P32 was decommissioned in 2012 and now the G Command operates a single Melita Class SAR Launch and a Defender Class CPB. Support Command is responsible for the upkeep of the maritime craft and equipment. It also incorporates equipment and supply management. These vessels are in active service as of 2015: The European commission voted €110 million in funds for

500-667: The Duke of Savoy , becoming the new sovereign of Malta until seven years later, when Treaty of The Hague reunited Naples and Sicily to the Emperor Charles VI . In 1735, during the War of the Polish Succession , Charles, Duke of Parma , defeated the occupying Austrians and became Charles VII of Naples and V of Sicily. From 1714 onwards, about 52 batteries and redoubts , along with several entrenchments, were built around

550-549: The action of 28 September 1644 , or the Battle of the Dardanelles in 1656. They had also participated in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 under the command of John of Austria . Corsairing also became an important part of the Maltese economy until the early 1700s. From 1530 to 1798 the Order of Malta waged a long-standing naval operation harassing Ottoman ships in the Mediterranean, reaching its peak from 1660 to 1675. It

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600-470: The 700 knights and 8,000 soldiers and expel them from Malta and gain a new base from which to possibly launch another assault on Europe. At first the battle went as badly for the Hospitallers as Rhodes had: most of the cities were destroyed and about half the knights killed. On 18 August the position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily in numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold

650-654: The AFM. The government used these funds to purchase the four P21 (Austal) class patrol vessels and has bought 2 new Beechcraft Super King Air offshore maritime surveillance aircraft for the Air Wing of the Armed Forces of Malta . A list of vessels since retired by the AFM. C28 is now a ferry boat named Seahawk by Captain Morgan Cruises. P29 and P31 were sunk as diving sites in 2007 and 2009. As of 2013, ex-P30

700-642: The American Islands which had just been dissolved. The Order controlled the islands under the governorship of Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy until his death, and in 1665 the four islands were sold to the French West India Company . This marked the end of the Order's influence outside the Mediterranean. At the end of the War of the Spanish Succession , the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 granted Sicily from Spain to

750-516: The Armed Forces of Malta, as it is today. In the 1980s and 1990s, Yugoslavia , the United States , Italy gave more vessels to Malta. Malta purchased patrol boats for the first time in 1992, when former East German minesweepers and patrol boats were bought from Germany . The Swift , Kondor and Bremse classes from the 1960s and 1970s were all decommissioned between 2004 and 2012 as new vessels replaced them. The worst peacetime incident of

800-652: The Baroque style was still going strong. Typical buildings from this era include Auberge de Castille and the Valletta Waterfront . In 1749, there was the Conspiracy of the Slaves , in which Turkish slaves were planning to revolt and assassinate Pinto, but this was suppressed before it started due to their plans leaking out to the Order. In 1753, Pinto proclaimed the sovereignty of the Order on Malta and

850-728: The French navy and Malta no longer had its own naval force. Soon after the British occupied the island, the Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy transferred its base to Malta. Malta became a hub of naval activity due to its harbours and strategic position, and it remained so during the Second World War and until the 1960s. The Mediterranean Fleet was disbanded in 1967, and three years later Malta's first naval force appeared after over 150 years. The Maritime Troop of

900-551: The Inshore Command vessels, the fast interceptors such as P01 or using aircraft from the Air Wing . G Command is responsible for military activity on the island of Gozo . The Land Component consists of a platoon strong element which provide assistance to the Malta Police and various Government departments, as well as securing the territorial integrity of Gozo. The Maritime Component consisted of three crews operating

950-591: The Malta Land Force was established in November 1970 and two Swift boats were transferred to Malta from the United States Coast Guard in January 1971. In July 1971 the force was renamed 1st (Maritime) Battery of the Malta Land Force and was based in Senglea . In the 1970s, the number of patrol boats increased as West Germany and Libya gave Malta some of their former customs launches. In 1973

1000-645: The Maritime Squadron was the C23 tragedy on 7 September 1984. Illegal fireworks which were to be dumped from a patrol boat exploded, killing five soldiers and two policemen. On 18 February 2015 it was announced that the Emer class offshore patrol vessel LÉ  Aoife  (P22) would be transferred from the Irish Naval Service as a short term measure pending Malta's purchase of a new OPV. It

1050-639: The Muslims and especially the Barbary pirates . Although they had only a few ships, they quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans , who were unhappy to see the order resettled. In July 1551, Ottoman forces attempted to take over Fort Saint Angelo and later Mdina but saw that they were outnumbered and invaded Gozo several days later. They sailed to Tripoli and captured the city in August. Following these attacks,

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1100-485: The Order tried to repopulate Gozo and strengthen the Grand Harbour fortifications. Several forts including Saint Elmo and Saint Michael were built, and the city of Senglea began to develop around the latter fort. Sometime between 1551 and 1556, a tornado hit Malta, destroyed at least four of the Order's galleys, and killed 600 people. This is the worst natural disaster that ever occurred on Malta and one of

1150-536: The Ottoman fleet, was a serious blow. The Turkish commanders, Piyale Pasha and Mustafa Pasha , were careless. They had a huge fleet which they used with effect on only one occasion. They neglected their communications with the African coast and made no attempt to watch and intercept Sicilian reinforcements. On 1 September they made their last effort, but the morale of the Ottoman troops had deteriorated seriously and

1200-592: The Ottomans departed, the Hospitallers had but 600 men able to bear arms. The most reliable estimate puts the number of the Ottoman army at its height at some 40,000 men, of whom 15,000 eventually returned to Constantinople. The siege is portrayed vividly in the frescoes of Matteo Perez d'Aleccio in the Hall of St. Michael and St. George, also known as the Throne Room, in the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta ; four of

1250-472: The attack was feeble, to the great encouragement of the besieged who now began to see hopes of deliverance. The perplexed and indecisive Ottomans heard of the arrival of Sicilian reinforcements in Mellieħa Bay. Unaware that the force was very small, they broke off the siege and left on 8 September. The Great Siege of Malta may have been the last action in which a force of knights won a decisive victory. When

1300-403: The breaches, and the capture of Malta seemed more and more impossible. Many of the Ottoman troops in crowded quarters had fallen ill over the terrible summer months. Ammunition and food were beginning to run short, and the Ottoman troops were becoming increasingly dispirited by the failure of their attacks and their losses. The death on 23 June of skilled commander Dragut , a corsair and admiral of

1350-600: The city of Mdina was significantly remodelled in the Baroque style. Other significant Baroque structures built during de Vilhena's reign include Fort Manoel and the Manoel Theatre . The town of Floriana also began to be developed around this era between the Floriana Lines and Valletta, and it was given the title of Borgo Vilhena by the Grandmaster. During Pinto's reign, which lasted from 1741 to 1773,

1400-581: The city, and prohibited exportation of wheat to the island. To combat this, Grandmaster Sengle brought the engineer Vincenzo Vogo to Malta to upgrade the mills so the population would not starve. Authors such as Giovanni Francesco Abela claim that, following the Battle of Verbia in 1561, the Order may have gained a puppet state in Moldavia , which was ruled by the Malta native Iacob Heraclid until 1563; their assessment remains disputed. In 1565 Suleiman sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege

1450-517: The coastal fortifications by building the Wignacourt towers , a series of six bastioned watch towers. During Grandmaster Lascaris ' reign, a number of smaller towers were also built. His successor de Redin once again built a series of similar towers . The last coastal tower to be built was Isopu Tower , which was constructed in 1667 during the reign of Nicolas Cotoner . In 1693, an earthquake damaged many buildings in Malta, particularly in

1500-611: The coasts of Malta and Gozo. Other major fortifications of the 18th century include Fort Chambray on Gozo, which was built between 1749 and the 1760s, and Fort Tigné in Marsamxett, which was built between 1792 and 1795. Throughout the eighteenth century, Baroque architecture was popular in Malta. This is mostly associated with the Grandmasters António Manoel de Vilhena and Manuel Pinto da Fonseca , both of whom were Portuguese. During de Vilhena's reign,

1550-536: The deadliest tornadoes in recorded history. In 1553, Charles V offered a third possession to the Order, the city of Mahdia in modern Tunisia . However, the Order refused to take control of the city since the commission that was set up decided that it would be too expensive to maintain. Therefore, the emperor ordered the Viceroy of Sicily, Juan de Vega , to destroy Mehdia to prevent Muslim occupation. De Vega burnt Mehdia, but retaliated against Malta for not accepting

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1600-455: The expense of his own defences. A wrong decision could mean defeat and exposing Sicily and Naples to the Ottomans. He had left his own son with de Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to the fate of the fortress. Whatever may have been the cause of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated until the battle had almost been decided by the unaided efforts of the Knights, before being forced to move by

1650-452: The former capital of Mdina . The cathedral , which had been built during the Norman occupation of Malta, was subsequently demolished and a new Baroque cathedral was built in its place starting from 1697. In the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Order's navy was at its peak. The Order, usually along with other European navies, engaged in naval battles against the Ottomans such as

1700-478: The indignation of his own officers. On 23 August came yet another grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the besiegers. It was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the wounded taking part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces, however, was now desperate. With the exception of Fort Saint Elmo , the fortifications were still intact. Working night and day the garrison had repaired

1750-664: The islands formally became a British colony by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. The Order of Saint John was expelled from its base in Rhodes during the Ottoman siege of 1522 . After seven years of moving from place to place in Europe, the Knights became established in 1530 when Emperor Charles V , as King of Sicily, gave them Malta, Gozo and the North African port of Tripoli in perpetual fiefdom in exchange for an annual fee of

1800-539: The knight Mathurin Romegas was elected Grandmaster. Pope Gregory XIII sent the envoy Gaspare Visconti to settle the dispute, and la Cassière and Romegas were summoned to Rome to explain and plead the case. Romegas died within a week of arriving in Rome, and la Cassière was restored to his position as Grandmaster. However, he too died within a month in Rome thus ending the dispute. In January 1582, Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle

1850-512: The late seventeenth century, Fort Ricasoli was also built to protect the entrance to the Grand Harbour, while Fort Saint Elmo and Fort Saint Angelo were strengthened. Despite the significant fortifications in the harbour area, by the early seventeenth century, most of the remaining coastline was still largely undefended. In 1605, Garzes Tower was built on the island of Gozo. In the following years, Alof de Wignacourt continued upgrading

1900-404: The long line of fortifications. But when his council suggested the abandonment of Birgu and Senglea and withdrawal to Fort St. Angelo , Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette refused. The Viceroy of Sicily had not sent help; possibly the Viceroy's orders from Philip II of Spain were so obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of the decision whether to help the Knights at

1950-604: The modified Diciotti class vessel P61, the flagship of the Maltese navy. The Offshore command formerly operated the Kondor I -class P29, P30 and P31 vessels until these were decommissioned in 2004. The Inshore Command operates the four P21 -class patrol boats, as well as the Search and Rescue launches Melita I and Melita II . The Command also includes the Rapid Deployment Platoon who operate using any of

2000-648: The original modellos , painted in oils by Perez d'Aleccio between 1576 and 1581, can be found in the Cube Room of the Queen's House at Greenwich, London . After the siege a new city was built, Valletta , which was named in memory of the Grand Master who had withstood the siege. It became the Order's headquarters in 1571 and remains Malta's capital city to this day. In 1574, the Roman Inquisition

2050-591: The revolt was suppressed and some of the leaders were executed while others were imprisoned or exiled. In 1792, the Order's possessions in France were seized by the state due to the French Revolution , which led the already bankrupt Order into an even greater financial crisis. When Napoleon landed in Malta in June 1798, the knights could have withstood a long siege, but they surrendered the island almost without

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2100-544: Was an important source of income for the Order and employment for the local Maltese, profiting from plundered booty and the capture of Muslim slaves. The Order also took part in the colonization of the Americas . On 21 May 1651, it acquired four islands in the Caribbean: Saint Barthélemy , Saint Christopher , Saint Croix and Saint Martin . These were purchased from the French Company of

2150-432: Was authorised to continue basing troops on the island since some powers were still not recognising Malta's independence and that the government palace could not be vacated. Malta eventually became a British colony in 1813 and remained as such until independence in 1964 . The Order itself became dispersed throughout Europe, but in the early 19th century it redirected itself toward humanitarian and religious causes. In 1834,

2200-438: Was commissioned into the AFM on 28 June 2015 as P62 . A new base for the Maritime Squadron is currently being built, also at Hay Wharf. The Headquarters Command is responsible for base security, transportation and anything necessary for sustaining the patrol boats throughout the year. It is therefore responsible for the supply of all the fuel and ammunition. The Offshore Command operates the Protector -class P51 and P52 and

2250-454: Was elected Grandmaster. Between 1610 and 1615, the Wignacourt Aqueduct was built to carry water from Dingli and Rabat to the capital Valletta. This aqueduct remained in use until the early 20th century, and most of its arches still survive. Throughout the course of the seventeenth century, Malta's fortifications were also improved. Large parts of Gozo's Cittadella were completely rebuilt between 1599 and 1622. The Grand Harbour area

2300-433: Was established in Malta when Pope Gregory XIII sent Pietro Dusina as mediator between the Grandmaster and the Bishop. This inquisition replaced the old medieval inquisition in Malta that had been run by the Bishop of Palermo . In 1581, there was a crisis between the General Convent of the Order and the Grandmaster, Jean de la Cassière . This escalated into a mutiny in which la Cassière was confined in Fort St Angelo and

2350-462: Was formally a vassal state of the Kingdom of Sicily , and it came into being when Emperor Charles V granted the islands as well as the city of Tripoli in modern Libya to the Order, following the latter's loss of Rhodes in 1522. Hospitaller Tripoli was lost to the Ottoman Empire in 1551, but an Ottoman attempt to take Malta in 1565 failed. Following the 1565 siege, the Order decided to settle permanently in Malta and began to construct

2400-414: Was laid up at Marsa . History of Malta under the Order of Saint John Hospitaller Malta , known in Maltese history as the Knights' Period ( Maltese : Żmien il-Kavallieri , lit.   ' Time of the Knights ' ), was a de facto state which existed between 1530 and 1798 when the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo were ruled by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem . It

2450-408: Was severely weakened by the French Revolution in 1792. In 1798, French forces under Napoleon invaded Malta and expelled the Order, resulting in the French occupation of Malta . The Maltese eventually rebelled against the French, and the islands became a British protectorate in 1800. Malta was to be returned to the Order by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, but the British remained in control and

2500-414: Was strengthened by the construction of the Floriana Lines and Santa Margherita Lines in the 1630s and 1640s, which encircled the land front of Valletta and that of Birgu and Senglea. Later on, the Cottonera Lines were built around the Santa Margherita Lines between 1670 and 1680. Due to a lack of funds, the Santa Margherita and Cottonera Lines remained unfinished for many years before being completed. In

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