The Mexican Navy is one of the two independent armed forces of Mexico. The actual naval forces are called the Armada de México. The Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR) includes both the Armada itself and the attached ministerial and civil service. The commander of the Navy is the Secretary of the Navy, who is both a cabinet minister and a career naval officer.
Depiction of Mexican Navy Lieutenant José Azueta firing a French Hotchkiss machine gun in the defense of Veracruz during the Second U.S. intervention of the Mexican Revolution, painting at the Naval Historical Museum in Mexico City
Mexican Navy gunboat Libertad in the 1870s
Mexican Navy training ship Cuauhtemoc in 2005
Mexican marines displaying three different camouflage patterns used by the Mexican marine corps.
The Mexican Armed Forces are the military forces of the United Mexican States. The Spanish crown established a standing military in colonial Mexico in the eighteenth century. After Mexican independence in 1821, the military played an important political role, with army generals serving as heads of state. Following the collapse of the Federal Army during the 1910–1920 Mexican Revolution, former revolutionary generals systematically downsized the size and power of the military. The Mexican military forces are composed of two independent entities: the Mexican Army and the Mexican Navy. The Mexican Army includes the Mexican Air Force, while the Mexican Navy includes the Naval Infantry Force and the Naval Aviation (FAN). 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.
Monument to the Boy Heroes also known as Los Niños Héroes at the Heroic Military Academy/Mexican Military Academy for sacrificing themselves in battle during the Mexican-American war.
General Antonio López de Santa Anna
Federal Army General Victoriano Huerta
Constitutionalist Army General Alvaro Obregón