Maritime History

Black Sea Fleet

The Black Sea Fleet (Russian: Черноморский флот, romanized: Chernomorskiy flot) is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet, along with other Russian ground and air forces on the Crimean Peninsula, are subordinate to the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. The fleet traces its history to its founding by Prince Potemkin on 13 May 1783 as part of the Imperial Russian Navy. The Russian SFSR inherited the fleet in 1918; with the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922, it became part of the Soviet Navy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Black Sea Fleet was partitioned between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in 1997, with Russia receiving title to 82% of the vessels. The Black Sea Fleet has its official primary headquarters and facilities at the Sevastopol Naval Base, Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The rest of the fleet's facilities are based in locations on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, including Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast and Crimea. The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War led to major operations and losses due to Ukrainian missiles and unmanned surface vehicles including the flagship Moskva and several landing vessels. Additionally, there was a 2023 Ukrainian missile strike against the Black Sea Fleet HQ in Sevastopol itself. After another attack on 24 March 2024, a Ukraine spokesperson said that they had disabled or damaged one third of the fleet during the war. In June 2024, Ukraine claimed it was now highly likely that they had destroyed all of the Black Sea Fleet's missile carrier capability based in Crimea. By early 2026, it was reported that, despite no longer having a navy, Ukraine's surface, sub-surface and aerial drone capabilities had effectively driven the Russian fleet from open waters, forcing it to seek shelter in ports on the eastern Black Sea that themselves were no longer fully secure.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Cook Strait
• ▸1929 Barcelona International Exposition
• ▸History of the Royal Australian Navy

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.