- Navy:
- East Timor Navy, 1975
- Name:
- Marinha de Timor-Leste
- Career:
In August 1975, civil war broke out in the Portuguese colony of East Timor between the rightist UDT movement and the pro-independence FRETILIN. The FRETILIN were backed by most of the local armed forces and won the war in September. During the fighting FRETILIN commandeered the harbour launch at Dili and turned it into a gunboat by the simple method of lashing a 75 mm gun onto the roof of the vessel. This gunboat, christened Mau Bulac, was later used to chase UDT forces down the north coast. It was lost when Indonesian troops invaded the country in December 1975. After 24 years of resistance against Indonesian occupation, East Timor gained its independence in 1999 and set up its new navy in 2001.
