The 5th Squadron (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: пятая эскадра,

translit Informal or ''ad hoc'' romanizations of Cyrillic have been in use since the early days of electronic communications, starting from early e-mail and bulletin board systems.

. ''pyataya eskadra'', was a squadron of the Soviet Navy. The squadron was first established in 1963–64 during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. The

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(NATO) generally referred to it as the Soviet Mediterranean Fleet (Russian: Средиземноморский флот), as it was the primary adversary to the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

's Sixth Fleet. Attached to the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, the 5th Squadron was deactivated amid the downsizing of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

on 31 December 1992. Since 2013, the Russian

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

has operated the permanent task force of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea.

History

The Soviet Navy in the first half of the 1960s had not yet been able to create a force that could effectively cripple the Sixth Fleet. The

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

force deployed in the Mediterranean, did not have the required strength, and the attention of the Soviet Navy's leaders was drawn to the potential of first

diesel electric Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

, and then

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...

s to stealthily track and, with nuclear weapons, subsequently destroy aircraft carriers. Up to May 1965, the Soviet Navy attempted to carry out its task in the Mediterranean Sea by creating a so-called mixed

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formed from ships of the

Northern Fleet Severnyy flot , image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem , start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...

and the

Baltic Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg , image_size = 150 , caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign , dates = 18 May 1703 – present , country = , allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present) ...

under the command of Captain 1st Rank E.I. Volobuyev and O.P. Grumbkov. This force included

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destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

s and

supply vessel Supply may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers ** Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as in confiden ...

s. In May 1965, the first mixed squadron was formed from the hydrographic, support vessels, attack cruisers and submarines of the Black Sea Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, under the command of 20th Water Region Division Captain 1st Rank Igor N. Molodtsov. The question of creating staff and a temporary operational squadron in the Mediterranean was raised repeatedly by Admiral

Sergei Gorshkov Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (russian: Серге́й Гео́ргиевич Горшко́в; 26 February 1910 – 13 May 1988) was an admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union. Twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, he oversaw the exp ...

, Chief of the Navy. However, the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

did not approve the idea. Contrary to custom, Gorshkov continued to harass the Ministry of Defence with persistent requests for the creation of "... the organization that can hardly be found", not bothered by the fact that it caused irritation to the

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Af ...

. The Commander used to do that every suitable occasion, but "up to a certain time the requests of the Commander for the establishment of regular Mediterranean squadron to officers of the General Staff met with failure, or silence." The

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

of 1967 was a factor in accelerating the creation of the Mediterranean squadron. In June 1967, the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contracti ...

decided to create a Mediterranean squadron. In accordance with this decision, the establishment of the squadron was ordered by the Order of the Navy Commander No. 0195, dated 14 June 1967.

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Boris Petrov took command, and took over command of all the forces that were present on 14 July 1967 in the Mediterranean. Attached to the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the

, the 5th Squadron was deactivated amid the downsizing of the

on 31 December 1992.Дубягин, П. Р. На Средиземноморской эскадре. – М.: Андреевский флаг, 2006. – 344 с. – , 337.

Commanders

Boris Petrov (14 July 1967 – 1969) *

Vladimir Leonenkov (1969–1971) *

Evgeniy Volobuev (1971–1974) *

Vladimir Akimov (1974–1977) *

Nikolai Ryabinskiy (1977–1981) *

Valentin Selivanov (1981–1985) *

Vladimir Kalabin (1985–1986) *

Vladimir Yegorov (1986–1988) *

Alexandr Gorbunov (1988–1990) *

Pyotr Svyatashov (1992–1992) *

Yuriy Sysuyev (1992–1993)

References

External links

* * {{cite web, author=Заборский В. В. , date=13 October 2006 , url=http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2006-10-13///5_eskadra.html , title=Советская Средиземноморская эскадра , publisher= Independent Military Review/Независимое военное обозрение , access-date=6 October 2009 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406063301/http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2006-10-13/5_eskadra.html , archive-date=6 April 2011 , url-status=live , df=dmy * Michael Holm
5th Operational Squadron
accessed January 2013 Naval units and formations of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1967 1967 establishments in the Soviet Union Soviet Union–Syria relations Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 1992 disestablishments in Russia