ABSTRACT
Despite the enormity of works on the Nigerian Civil War by scholars in various disciplines, the role of navies in the conflict has not been adequately investigated. During the war, the tininess of the Biafran Navy made the Nigerian Navy to assume that the former was non-existent. Similarly, given that the bulk of the officers of Nigerian Navy were from the geographical area proclaimed as Biafra and most of them moved to form the nucleus of the Biafran Navy and further emboldened by sabotage of the ships of the Nigerian Navy probably by Biafran sympathizers, the Biafran Navy erroneously believed that the Nigerian Navy lacked the capacity to mount any serious amphibious operation in Biafra. The study argues that both navies found out the true nature of themselves only during the war. Although the Biafran Navy was the underdog, its ability to operate on waters considered uncharted by the Nigerian Navy and to deploy its own brand of improvised warships gave her advantage. The study concludes that the asymmetric nature of the naval campaign, fought by two different types of navies with different methods, contributed to why the war lasted longer than anticipated.
