The Caspian Military Flotilla is a formation of the Russian Navy, created by decree of Emperor Peter I in 1722 and intended for operations on the Caspian Sea and in the Volga River delta.
The formation of the flotilla was preceded by a long struggle for the mastery of the Caspian coast, which finally ended in 1556, after the accession of the Astrakhan Khanate to the Russian state.
The first attempt to create a permanent formation of naval forces in the Caspian Sea was made in the reign (1645-1676) of Alexei Mikhailovich, father of Peter I. It was caused by the expansion of trade relations between Russia and Persia (now Iran) and the need to ensure and protect trade routes along the Volga Route. The ships built by the decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich arrived in Astrakhan in 1669, but the following year during the uprising led by Stepan Razin they were captured and burned.
After the end of the Northern War (1700-1721), Emperor Peter I, wishing to establish direct economic ties with the countries of Central Asia and India, set a goal – to conquer the coast of the Caspian Sea, which is in the possession of Persia. For this purpose, 200 river boats and 45 flipper ships were built – small wooden vessels intended for servicing military ports. In July 1722, a flotilla (274 ships) with a landing party went on a Persian campaign (1722-1723), which resulted in the conquest of the cities of Derbent, Baku and the surrounding areas.
After the annexation of these territories, there was a need for the permanent presence of naval forces in the Caspian Sea. On November 15 (November 4, old style), 1722, by decree of the emperor, a military port was founded in Astrakhan and a military flotilla was formed. This date is the founding day of the Caspian Flotilla.
After the death of Peter I, the Russian conquests in the Caspian were lost. There were limited forces in Astrakhan that ensured the safety of commercial shipping on the Caspian Sea. It was only during the reign of Catherine II that Russia's attempts to gain a solid foothold in the Caspian Sea were resumed. According to her instructions, a detachment of warships arrived in Astrakhan in 1781. From that moment on, a military flotilla was maintained on the Caspian Sea "... for the protection of our commerce." At the end of the XVIII – early XIX centuries, she took an active part in the wars and campaigns of Russian troops in the Caspian region, landed naval landings, assisted the troops in the capture of coastal fortresses with the fire of naval artillery. In 1796, the actions of the ships of the Caspian Flotilla contributed to the occupation of the cities of Derbent and Baku by Russian troops. After the Russo-Persian War of 1804-1813, the Russian Empire acquired the monopoly right to maintain a military fleet in the Caspian Sea. Since 1867, the main base of the flotilla was transferred to Baku, a non–freezing port.
In the subsequent time, the Caspian Flotilla protected trade and fisheries in the Caspian Sea, as well as Russian commercial and industrial interests in Iran. As the situation in the region stabilized, its composition gradually decreased, and by the beginning of the XX century the flotilla consisted of two gunboats and several armed steamers. In November 1917, the personnel of the Caspian Military Flotilla defected to the Soviet government, participated in hostilities against Turkish troops and detachments of Azerbaijani nationalists, in battles to capture the cities of Petrovsk-Port (now Makhachkala), Lenkoran and Derbent.
With the arrival of the British in Baku in 1918, some of the flotilla's ships were disarmed, and the rest went to Petrovsk Port, where in 1919 the White Guards formed a formation that fought against the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
In Astrakhan, to assist the troops of the Red Army, in April – June 1918, the Military Fleet of the Astrakhan Region was created, reinforced by ships delivered from the Baltic, which in October was renamed the Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla. In July 1919, after unification with the Volga Military Flotilla, it received the name of the Volga-Caspian Military Flotilla. Her ships fought on the Volga and Kama and directly on the Caspian Sea.
In May 1920, the Volga-Caspian Military Flotilla participated in the Enzeli operation (1920), as a result of which Russian ships and military equipment taken to the Iranian port of Enzeli by the White Guards and interventionists were returned to their homeland.
In July 1920, the Volga-Caspian Military Flotilla was renamed the Caspian Fleet, and then the Caspian Sea Naval Forces, on the basis of which, in June 1931, the formation of the Soviet Navy (Navy) was created - the Caspian Military Flotilla, which had its main base in Baku.
Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the flotilla has provided economic and military sea transportation. In August 1941, Soviet troops were transferred to Iran on her ships (in accordance with the Soviet-Iranian treaty of 1921), which removed the threat of its involvement in the war against the Soviet Union. The Red Army occupied the northern part of Iran throughout the war, and the ships of the Caspian Flotilla carried stationary service in the Iranian ports of Pahlavi, Nowshahr, Bandar Shah. Starting in 1942, the flotilla was declared operational and performed the tasks of providing communications, directly covering transports at the crossings from the impact of enemy aircraft with its ships, and organized mine defense. Formations from the personnel of the flotilla fought near Moscow, Sevastopol, Kerch and other sectors of the Soviet-German front. In 1945, the Caspian Flotilla was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its military merits.
In the post-war years, the Caspian Military Flotilla continued to play the role of a stabilizing factor in the region.
After the collapse of the USSR and the transformation of the former republics into sovereign states, the flotilla ships, other military equipment, military property and coastal infrastructure were divided between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan.
In May 1992, the Caspian Flotilla was formed as part of the Russian Navy. Astrakhan became its main base.
Due to the fact that the ships' access to the Caspian Sea from the Astrakhan base was difficult due to the freezing of the Volga fairway and shallow depths in winter, in 2017 it was decided to transfer the Caspian Flotilla to the cities of Kaspiysk and Makhachkala located in Dagestan. By 2021, its main and auxiliary forces were relocated to Kaspiysk. The relocation to a new base in Dagestan, which has direct access to the central part of the Caspian Sea, provided year-round navigation and considerable advantages for the organization of combat training of the flotilla compared to the conditions in which the ships were located in the old base in the Astrakhan region at the mouth of the Volga River.
The Caspian Flotilla is the naval component of the Southern Military District. It ensures the national and state interests of Russia in the Caspian Sea region: it conducts anti-terrorist measures, is engaged in the protection of trade, the protection of state interests in the area of oil fields. The Caspian Flotilla is not only the southern outpost of Russia, but also a guarantee of the inviolability of the sea borders, the most important instrument of the state's foreign policy in the Caspian.
It consists of several brigades and divisions of ships, parts of coastal troops (marines, coastal rocket and artillery troops, and others).
Although the Caspian Flotilla ranks below the fleets, it is the most important component of the Russian Navy. In recent years, a systematic and effective modernization has been carried out, which has made it possible to seriously increase all the main indicators of the flotilla. It included more than two dozen new ships and auxiliary vessels, including modern amphibious boats of project 11770 "Serna". The Caspian also has small missile ships "Grad Sviyazhsk", "Uglich" and "Veliky Ustyug", armed with a universal missile system "Caliber". It is also equipped with the flagship of the Caspian Flotilla – the rocket ship "Tatarstan".
The commander of the Caspian Flotilla since 2021 is Rear Admiral Alexander Peshkov.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
