Black Sea Fleet

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The Black Sea Fleet is a large sub-unit of the Russian (and formerly Soviet) Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbours of Black Sea and Sea of Azov coast.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Partition of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet 1.2.1 Joint Fleet and its partition 1.2.2 Georgia in the Fleet partition 1.3 Recent developments 2 List of Black Sea Fleet ships 2.1 30th Surface Warship Division 2.2 247th Submarine Battalion 2.3 68th Coastal Defence Warship Brigade 2.4 41st Missile Boat Brigade 2.5 184th Novorossiysk Coastal Defence Brigade 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

The Black Sea Fleet is considered to be founded by Prince Potemkin on May 13, 1783, together with its principal base, Sevastopol. Formerly commanded by such legendary^{[citation needed]} admirals as Dmitry Senyavin and Pavel Nakhimov, it is a fleet of enormous historical and political importance for Russia. However, its military importance is degrading since the collapse of the Soviet Union, mainly due to significant funding cuts.

Earlier, Turkey's decision to join NATO (putting the Bosporus Strait under Western control) and invention of long-range nuclear weapons have dramatically decreased the strategic value of any naval activity in the Black Sea. The fleet has been free of nuclear weapons since the early 1990s.

However, recent local conflicts in the Caucasus region (particularly in Georgia) and the development of oil transit in the region are forcing Russia to support the fleet as much as possible.

The aviation, marines and landing vessels of Black Sea fleet took part in the First Chechen War by means of both auxiliary support and direct involvement.

[edit] Partition of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet

In 1992, the most part of personnel, armament and coast facilities of the Fleet felt under formal jurisdiction of the newly-independent Ukraine because situated on the Ukrainian territory. Later Ukrainian government ordered establishment of its own Ukrainian Navy on the basis of the Black Sea Fleet; several ships and ground formations declared themselves Ukrainian.

However, this immediately lead to conflicts with the majority of officers who appeared to be loyal to Russia. Simultaneously, pro-Russian separatist groups became active in the local politics of the Ukraine's Crimean autonomy and Sevastopol municipality where the major naval bases were situated, and started coordinating their efforts with pro-Moscow seamen.

[edit] Joint Fleet and its partition

To ease the tentions, two governments signed interim treaty, establishing a joint Russo-Ukrainian Black Sea Fleet under bilateral command (and Soviet Navy flag) until a full-scale partition agreement is reached. Formally, the Fleet's Commander was to be appointed by a joint order of the two countries' Presidents. However, Russia still dominated the Fleet unofficially, and only Russian admirals were appointed as Commanders; the majority of the personnel adopted Russian citizenship. Minor tensions between the Fleet and the new Ukrainian Navy (such as electricity cut-offs and sailors' streetfighting) continued.

In 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the Partition Treaty, establishing two independent national fleets and dividing the armament and bases between them. Ukraine also agreed to lease major parts of its new bases to the Russian Black Sea Fleet until 2017. However, the treaty appeared to be far from perfect: permanent tensions on the lease details (mostly regarding lighthouses) continue to this day.

The Fleet's main base is still situated in the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol.

[edit] Georgia in the Fleet partition

Newly-independent Georgia, that also hosted several bases of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, declared its own rights in the partition as well. This issue became less controversial because Russia was reconciled to abandoning bases on Georgian cost from the very beginning of the partition. Additionally, some low-importance bases were situated in the break-away autonomy of Abkhazia and soon ran out of any Georgian control.

As part of the 1997 Russo-Ukrainian partition treaty, the new Georgian Navy received several small ships.

[edit] Recent developments

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Although Novorossiysk has always been regarded as the fleet's second most important base, it has recently been reported that Russia "has started dredging at a Syrian port (specifically, Tartus) where it maintains a logistical supply point with a possible eye to turning it into a full-fledged naval base." [1]

[edit] List of Black Sea Fleet ships

[edit] 30th Surface Warship Division

11th Anti-submarine Ship Brigade

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
121	Guided Missile Cruiser	Moskva	Slava	1983
713	ASW Destroyer	Kerch	Kara	1974
707	ASW Destroyer	Ochakov	Kara	1973
810	ASW Destroyer	Smetlivy	Kashin	1966
801	Guided Missile Frigate	Ladny	Krivak I	1978
808	Guided Missile Frigate	Pitlivy	Krivak II	1979

197th Amphibious Ship Brigade

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
152	Landing Ship	Nikolay Filchenkov	Alligator	1975
148	Landing Ship	Orsk	Alligator	1968
150	Landing Ship	Saratov	Alligator	1966
151	Landing Ship	Azov	Ropucha-II	?
142	Landing Ship	Novocherkassk	Ropucha-I	?
158	Landing Ship	Tsezar Kunikov	Ropucha-I	?
156	Landing Ship	Yamal	Ropucha-I	?

[edit] 247th Submarine Battalion

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
554	Attack Submarine	Alrosa (ex-B-871)	Kilo	1990
572	Attack Submarine	B-380 (Under Repair)	Tango	1980

[edit] 68th Coastal Defence Warship Brigade

400th Antisubmarine Ship Battalion

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
059	ASW Corvette	Alexandrovetc	?	?
053	ASW Corvette	Povorino	?	?
071	ASW Corvette	Suzdaletc	?	?
064	ASW Corvette	Murometc	Grisha III	1983
060	ASW Corvette	Vladimirec	?	?

418th Minesweeper Battalion

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
913	Seagoing Minesweeper	Kovrovetc	Natya	?
911	Seagoing Minesweeper	Ivan Golubetc	Natya	?
912	Seagoing Minesweeper	Turbinist	Natya	1972
909	Seagoing Minesweeper	Vice Admiral Zhukov	Natya	1977

[edit] 41st Missile Boat Brigade

166th Novorossiysky Small Missile Boat Battalion

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
615	Guided Missile Corvette	Bora	Bora	1988
616	Guided Missile Corvette	Samum	Bora	1991
620	Guided Missile Corvette	Shtil'	Nanuchka-III	1976
617	Guided Missile Corvette	Mirazh	Nanuchka-III	1983

295th Sulinsky Missile Boat Battalion

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
966	Missile Boat	R-44	Matka Mod	1978
955	Missile Boat	R-60	Tarantul-III Mod	1985
962	Missile Boat	R-71	Tarantul-II Mod	1985
952	Missile Boat	R-109	Tarantul-III	1991
953	Missile Boat	R-239	Tarantul-III	1991
954	Missile Boat	Ivanovetc	Tarantul-III	1988

[edit] 184th Novorossiysk Coastal Defence Brigade

#	Type	Name	Class	Year
054	Small Antisubmarine Ship	Eysk	Grisha-III	1987
055	Small Antisubmarine Ship	Kasimov	Grisha-III	1984
901	Seagoing Minesweeper	Zheleznyakov	?	1988
770	Seagoing Minesweeper	Valentin Pikul'	?	2001
426	Base Minesweeper	Mineralnie Vodi	?	1990
438	Base Minesweeper	Leytenant Ilyin	?	1982

[edit] See also

• Russian battleship Potemkin — possibly the most famous Black Sea Fleet ship ever.
• Crimean anti-NATO protests of 2006

[edit] External links

• Russia - Ukraine Lease agreement)
• Unofficial site (English version)
• History of the Black Sea Fleet during WWII (in Russian)
• Narodny Oglyadach reports on morale situation in Russian naval base in Sevastopol