Kaspiyskaya flotiliya , image = Great emblem of the Caspian Flotilla.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Caspian Flotilla , dates = November 1722 – present , country = , allegiance =
(1722–1917)
(1917–1922)

(1922–1991)
(1991–1992)

(1992–present) , branch = , type = , role = Naval warfare
Amphibious warfare , size = c. 13 surface combatants
8 landing craft
8 minesweepers
3 anti-saboteur boats , command_structure = Russian Armed Forces , garrison =

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

(HQ)

Makhachkala Makhachkala ( rus, Махачкала, , məxətɕkɐˈla, links=yes),; av, Махӏачхъала, Maħaçqala; ce, ХӀинжа-ГӀала, Hinƶa-Ġala; az, Маһачгала, Mahaçqala; nog, Махачкала; lbe, Махачкъала; ...

Kaspiysk Kaspiysk (russian: Каспи́йск; lbe, Ккасппи; av, Каспиялъухъ) is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea, southeast of Makhachkala. The 2010 Russian census recorded the city as being the ...

Baku (historical) , garrison_label = , nickname = , patron = , motto = , colors = , colors_label = , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles =

Russo-Persian War (1722–23) The Russo-Persian Wars or Russo-Iranian Wars were a series of conflicts between 1651 and 1828, concerning Persia (Iran) and the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia fought these wars over disputed governance of territories and countries in the Cau ...

Persian Expedition of 1796

Russo-Persian War (1804–13) The Russo-Persian Wars or Russo-Iranian Wars were a series of conflicts between 1651 and 1828, concerning Iran, Persia (Iran) and the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia fought these wars over disputed governance of territories and countries in th ...

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

* Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran * Battle of Stalingrad

Russian military intervention in Syria {{Infobox military conflict , partof = the foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war, and the military intervention against ISIL , image = , image_size = , border = , caption = To ...

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, anniversaries = , decorations = Order of Red Banner

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of t ...

, battle_honours = , battle_honours_label = , disbanded = , flying_hours = , website = , commander1 = Rear Admiral Aleksandr Peshkov , commander1_label = , notable_commanders =

Fyodor Apraksin Count Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin (also ''Apraxin''; russian: Фёдор Матве́евич Апра́ксин; 27 October 1661 10 November 1728, Moscow) was one of the first Russian admirals, governed Estonia and Karelia from 1712 to 1723, was ...

Arseniy Golovko Arseny Grigoryevich Golovko (; 10 June 1906 – 17 May 1962) was a Soviet admiral, whose naval service extended from the 1920s through the early Cold War. Service He entered the Soviet Navy in 1925 and graduated in 1928 from the M.V. Frunze ...

Fyodor Zozulya Fyodor Vladimirovich Zozulya (russian: Фёдор Владимирович Зозуля; – 21 April 1964) was an admiral of the Soviet Navy. Zozulya spent most of his career as a staff officer, serving as deputy chief of the Baltic Flee ...

Vladimir Masorin Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Vasilyevich Masorin (russian: Владимир Васильевич Масорин; born August 24, 1947) is a retired Russian admiral who commanded the Caspian Flotilla in 1996–2002 and the Black Sea Fleet in ...

Igor Osipov Igor Vladimirovich Osipov (russian: Игорь Владимирович Осипов; born 6 March 1973) is an officer of the Russian Navy. He has held the rank of admiral since 2021. Born 1973 in the Kazakh SSR, part of the Soviet Union, Osipo ...

Sergey Pinchuk Sergei Mikhailovich Pinchuk (russian: Сергей Михайлович Пинчук; born 26 July 1971) is an officer of the Russian Navy. He currently holds the rank of vice-admiral, and is deputy commander in chief of the Black Sea Fleet. ...

, identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = , identification_symbol_2 = , identification_symbol_2_label = Caspian Sea from orbit

The Caspian Flotilla ( rus, Каспийская флотилия, r=Kaspiyskaya flotiliya) is the

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same clas ...

of the Russian Navy in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

. Established in November 1722 by the order of Tsar Peter the Great as part of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

, the Caspian Flotilla is the oldest

brown-water navy The term brown-water navy or riverine navy refers in its broadest sense to any naval force capable of military operations in littoral zone waters. The term originated in the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it referred t ...

flotilla in the Russian Navy. In 1918, the fleet was inherited by the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

then the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1922, where it formed part of the Soviet Navy and was awarded the

in 1945. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Caspian Flotilla and most of its vessels were inherited by the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. The Caspian Flotilla's headquarters are located in

, but were historically in Baku (now in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

) from 1867 until 1991, with additional facilities in

(HQ being moved there) and

. The current commander is Rear Admiral Aleksandr Peshkov.

Establishment

The Caspian Flotilla (CF) was created in November 1722 in

by the order of Peter the Great. Led by the admiral

, it participated in Peter's Persian campaign of 1722–1723 and the

Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) The 1804–1813 Russo-Persian War was one of the many wars between the Persian Empire and Imperial Russia, and began like many of their wars as a territorial dispute. The new Persian king, Fath Ali Shah Qajar, wanted to consolidate the north ...

, assisting the Russian army in capturing

Derbent Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It i ...

and Baku during the Persian Expedition of 1796. As a result of the

Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (russian: Гюлистанский договор; fa, عهدنامه گلستان) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan (now in the Goranboy Distr ...

of 1813, the CF remained the only military flotilla in the Caspian Sea. Baku became its main base in 1867.

Revolution

As the situation on the Caspian Sea stabilized in due course, the number of ships in the CF began to decrease. By the beginning of the 20th century, it had two

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

s and a few armed steamers. The

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s of the CF were actively engaged in the revolutionary movement in Baku in 1903–1905 and establishment of the

Soviet 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 nation ...

authority in 1917 in that region. In order to provide assistance to the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

, they formed the Military Fleet of the Astrakhan Region (''Военный флот Астраханского края'', or Voyenniy flot Astrakhanskogo kraya) in April – June 1918, reinforced with

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

s and submarines from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

in the fall of 1918. On October 13, the Soviets renamed it to the

Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla The Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla (russian: Астрахано-Каспийская военная флотилия) was formed by the Bolsheviks in October 1918 for the purpose of defending the Lower Volga and northern parts of the Caspian ...

(''Астрахано-Каспийская военная флотилия'', or Astrakhano-Kaspiyskaya voennaya flotiliya). The ships of the flotilla were captured by the

counterrevolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...

Centrocaspian Dictatorship The Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, also known as the Central-Caspian Dictatorship (russian: Диктатура Центрокаспия, ''Diktatura Tsentrokaspiya'') (Azerbaijani: Sentrokaspi Diktaturası), was a short-lived anti-Soviet administr ...

in August 1918 and later regained by the Soviets after the overthrow of the

Musavat The Müsavat Party ( az, Müsavat Partiyası, from ar, مساواة ''musāwāt'', ) is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat. Early Musa ...

government.

Soviet era

In July 1919, the Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla was combined with the

Volga Military Flotilla The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

(Волжская военная флотилия, or Volzhskaya voyennaya flotiliya) and renamed to the Volga-Caspian Military Flotilla (Волжско-Каспийская военная флотилия). On May 1, 1920, the Soviets established the Caspian

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach ...

, which comprised three

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in ...

s, ten torpedo boats, four submarines and other ships. Together with the Caspian Fleet, there was the Red Fleet of the Soviet

, stationed in Baku, as well. Both fleets completed the conquest of the Caspian Sea from the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

. In July 1920, Caspian and Azerbaijani fleets were combined into the Naval Forces of the Caspian Sea (''Морские Силы Каспийского моря'', or Morskiye Sily Kaspiyskogo morya) and would later be renamed to the Caspian Flotilla on June 27, 1931. During the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

of 1941–1945, the Caspian Flotilla secured vital sea shipping of army units, military equipment and different cargo, especially during the Battle of Stalingrad and the battle for the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. (During the war, some of the

Lend Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

were shipped to the USSR via the

Persian Corridor The Persian Corridor was a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II. Of the 17.5 million long tons of U.S. Lend-Lease aid pro ...

and the Caspian Sea). During the Cold War the Caspian Flotilla was used to test missile armed ekranoplanes.

Post-Soviet era

Following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the fleet shrank, and the Kazakh contingent was removed to serve as a basis for Kazakhstan's naval service. For several years, Russia continued to lead a joint Turkmen-Russian force based at

. Among the Flotilla's units, from 2000, has been a new Naval Infantry brigade, the 77th, based at

. The headquarters and two battalions of the brigade were scheduled to be established by August 1, 2000. It was reported in June 2000 that the new brigade, which had inherited the lineage of the disbanded 77th Guards Motor Rifle Division, formerly with 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 ...

, was to have its troops housed in Kaspiysk and Astrakhan and have as many as 195 combat vehicles and one Gepard class frigate sent to it from Chukotka and the Northern Fleet, respectively. The brigade was to have helicopters added to it, according to the June 2000 report. The Brigade's full name was the 77th Detached Guards Moscow-Chernigov Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Marine Brigade. It was disbanded in 2009. The brigade comprised a headquarters at Kaspiysk; the 414th Detached Naval Infantry Battalion (Kaspiysk); the 725th Detached Naval Infantry Battalion (Kaspiysk); the 727th Detached Naval Infantry Battalion (Astrakhan); the 1200th Detached Reconnaissance Battalion (Kaspiysk); the 1408th Independent Howitzer Artillery Battalion; the 1409th Independent Howitzer Artillery Battalion; the 975th Detached Naval Infantry Battalion (Kaspiysk); the 1387th Detached Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion; and the 530th Detached Electronic Countermeasures Company. Also, the flotilla has received 3 new ''Buyan''-class stealth type river gunboats built by the St. Petersburg Almaz shipyard. On 13 and 23 November 2009, there were two separate sets of explosions at the 31st Arsenal of the Caspian Sea Flotilla, an ammunition depot, in

Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population: The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...

. Ten servicemen died. The depot was to be closed. The first Russian warship equipped with the Caliber missile system entered service with Caspian Flotilla in 2012. On 7 October 2015, Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that four Russian Navy warships in the Caspian Sea had fired a total of 26

Kalibr The 3M-54 Kalibr, (Калибр, caliber), also referred to it as 3M54-1 Kalibr, 3M14 Biryuza (Бирюза, turquoise), ( NATO reporting name SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A) is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by the Novator Design ...

-class cruise missiles at the positions of the terrorist group

ISIL An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

in Syria. Up to 2020, further enhancements in the capabilities of the Caspian Flotilla were announced. In 2019, it was announced that an aviation component would be added to its capabilities involving the deployment of Be-200 aircraft and Mi-14PB helicopters with the Flotilla. Further air support is drawn from

4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army The 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army () is an air army of the Russian Air Force, part of the Southern Military District and headquartered in Rostov-on-Don. The 4th Air Army (''4 Vozdushnaya Armiya'') was a Soviet Air Force formation and from ...

(HQ: Rostov-on-Don) in the Southern Military District. In 2020, the deployment of the Bal coastal defence missile system with the Flotilla was also announced. Caspian Flotilla Parade

As of 2016, 85 percent of Caspian Flotilla consists of modern ships and vessels. In 2014–2015, Flotilla received 3 Buyan-M missile corvettes, one modernized frigate and auxiliary vessels. On 20 September 2016, Rear Admiral

was replaced by Rear Admiral

. In Dagestan, a regiment of the marine infantry was formed on 1 December 2018 as part of the Caspian Flotilla (CFL) of the Southern Military District (YuVO). To date, the new formation is fully staffed with modern weapons and military equipment, including

BTR-82A The BTR-80 (russian: бронетранспортёр, bronyetransportyor, literally "armoured transporter") is an 8×8 wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in the USSR. It was adopted in 1985 and replaced the previous v ...

armored personnel carriers, 120-mm self-propelled mortars

2S9 Nona S9 may refer to: Transportation * SIAI S.9, a 1918 Italian flying boat * Aircraft registration prefix of São Tomé and Príncipe * USS ''S-9'' (SS-114), a 1920 S-class submarine of the United States Navy * County Route S9 (California) * Ran ...

, 122-mm howitzers D-30, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) "Eleron" and "Orlan". On 20 March 2022 the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that ships of the CFL had fired Kalibr-class cruise missiles at a Ukrainian fuel and lubricant depot in Kostiantynivka, Mykolaiv Oblast, supported by air-launched

Kh-47M2 Kinzhal The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (in Russian: Х-47М2 Кинжал, "Dagger", NATO reporting name Killjoy) is a Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic aero-ballistic air-to-surface missile. It has a claimed range of more than , Mach 12 speed (2.5 mi/s), and ...

hypersonic missiles.

Ships in service

*Frigates **2 ''Gepard''-class frigates, ''Tatarstan'', ''Dagestan'' (active as of 2021) Caspian Frigate Dagestan

*Corvettes **3 ''Buyan''-class corvettes, ''Astrakhan'', ''Volgodonsk'', ''Mahachkala'' «Волгодонск»

**3 ''Buyan M''-class corvettes, ''Grad Sviyazhsk'', ''Uglich'', ''Veliky Ustyug'' (all active as of 2021) Град Свияжск

**1 ''Tarantul''-class corvette ''R-101 Stupinets'' Caspian_MRK_700

*Artillery boat **4 Gunboats Project 1204 Shmel ''Ak-209'', ''Ak-223'', ''Ak-201'', ''Ak-248'' АртКатер

*Minesweepers **3 ''Sonya''-class minesweepers ''German Ugryumov'' (former ''BT-244''; in refit, returning to the fleet 2021), ''Astrakhanets'' (former ''BT-705''), ''Magomed Gadzhiev'' (former ''BT-116'') «Герман Угрюмов»1

**2 ''Lida''-class minesweepers ''RT-233'', ''RT-234'' RT-57 in Kronstadt 2014-06-09

**3 ''Yevgenya''-class small minesweepers ''RT-71'', ''RT-302'', ''RT-373'' Caspian boat 207

*Patrol boats **3

Grachonok-class anti-saboteur ship The Grachonok class, Russian designation Project 21980 ''Grachonok'', is a class of anti-saboteur and large guard boats being built for the Russian Navy. The class is designed to combat sabotage and terrorist forces and means in the waters off b ...

**1

Raptor-class patrol boat The Raptor-class patrol boat, formally identified as Project 03160, is a series of Russian high-speed coastal patrol boats. Boats of the class belong to the 4th rank ships in the Russian Navy. This project was developed by the design bureau of JS ...

(''P-434'') *Landing ship **1 ''Dyugon''-class landing craft «Мичман Лермонтов»

**1 Akula-class landing boats **6 ''Serna''-class landing craft

References

External links

The Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea: a new chapter
via eurasian-research.org {{Russian fleet Military units and formations established in 1722 Naval units and formations of the Soviet Union Russian Navy Russian fleets Naval forces in the Caspian Sea 1722 establishments in the Russian Empire