After the early 1970s, the Soviet Union curtailed transfers of naval vessels, and licenses to construct them, to Romania, forcing it to turn to other potential suppliers and develop a domestic program of naval construction. China allowed Romania to build units of two classes of fast attack craft under license. In the late 1970s, Romania began constructing the first of nineteen Huchuanclass boats in the Drobeta-Turnu Severin shipyard and several Shanghai II-class boats in the Mangalia shipyard. At the same time, Romania developed some more original units. It built eighteen eighty-five-ton VB-class armored riverine patrol boats beginning in 1973. Based on their experience in building Chinese boats, Romanian shipbuilders designed and constructed fourteen Epitrop-class hydrofoil fast attack craft in the early 1980s. Romania built thirty VD-class riverine minesweeping boats and several units of the heavily armed Brutar-class riverine patrol boat (see Naval Forces , this ch.).

The Soviet Union began to reestablish its earlier role in Romanian shipbuilding in the 1980s, granting licenses to build copies of the Kashin-class guided missile destroyer and Koni-class frigates--the Romanian Muntenia- and Tetal-classes, respectively. Although Romania built the hulls for ships of these classes, the Soviet Union supplied all armament and electronic equipment needed to outfit them.

Data as of July 1989