Hungary organized a warship group in 1919 and transferred its ships to the Royal Hungarian River Guard under the Interior Ministry in 1929. In 1939 it became the Royal Hungarian Army River Forces under the Defence Ministry, although it retained naval ranks until July 1944. Its wartime organization paired a Budapest patrol-boat regiment, divided into two groups, with a river-security regiment at Novi Sad containing three battalions. The force supported the invasion of Yugoslavia and helped the Kriegsmarine clear aerial mines from the Danube. Keeping the river open sustained trade, supplies and military logistics. Hungary later proved difficult to persuade to disband its river force during the Warsaw Pact era because it regarded national minesweeping capability as indispensable.
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Hungary moves its flotilla between police and military control
Hungary repeatedly reassigned its river force while preserving the minesweeping and security work that made the flotilla difficult to abolish.