Military experts: Azerbaijan has demonstrated a serious strengthening of its naval forces. Military experts: Azerbaijan has demonstrated a serious strengthening of its naval forces Submarines for the Azerbaijani Navy
İlham Əliyev Qaradağ rayonunda Hərbi Dəniz Qüvvələrinin yeni bazasının və “N” saylı hərbi hissənin açılışında iştirak edib. Ilham Aliyev attended the opening of a naval base.
The opening of a new base and the N-th military unit of the Naval Forces of Azerbaijan took place in the Puta settlement of the Garadagh region of Baku. The opening was attended by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev.
Defense Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev.
The head of state laid flowers at the monument to national leader Heydar Aliyev.
Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov informed the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President Ilham Aliyev about the work done. It was noted that the construction of administrative, service buildings, structures of the new base of the Naval Forces, which is the largest and most modern military facility in the Caspian basin, and the N-th military unit began in October 2010. Large-scale work has been done here for the worthy performance of official duties by the personnel and the improvement of the social and living conditions of their families.
The President of Azerbaijan cut the ribbon as a sign of opening.
In the building of the headquarters of the Naval Forces of Azerbaijan, there are rooms for duty, for classes, for receiving citizens, a guest room, a conference hall, departments for completing, maritime surveillance, etc., as well as a courier post office, a buffet.
President Ilham Aliyev was informed about the command post of the Naval Forces. This point controls the Naval Forces, creates all the possibilities for exercising control over the surface situation in the sector of the Caspian Sea belonging to the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Operational data on the surface situation are received at the point by means of radar stations installed at coastal and island radio technical posts belonging to the Naval Forces. All detected targets are displayed on the monitors in real time.
The data received from the coast guard of the State Border Service and the State Maritime Administration in connection with the surface situation in the sector of the Caspian Sea belonging to Azerbaijan is also collected at the command post of the Naval Forces, analyzed and an appropriate decision is made.
Then the head of state met with the servicemen. Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces Shahin Mammadov gave a report to the head of state. President Ilham Aliyev greeted the soldiers.
The national anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan was played. President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev delivered a speech at the ceremony.
Then I took a photo for memory.
After that, the head of state visited the soldiers' dormitory of the military unit.
Dormitories were built for the personnel of the military unit. In three-story buildings, all the necessary conditions for the accommodation of soldiers and officers, their recreation, effective organization of leisure.
Soldiers' dormitories also have classrooms equipped with the necessary military equipment. technical means. The conditions created here once again confirm that with the growth of the economic power of the Azerbaijani state, important projects are being implemented aimed at further modernizing the military sphere, improving the conditions of service of soldiers and officers.
The Supreme Commander-in-Chief was informed about the Leopard-2 armored personnel carrier. This armored vehicle, equipped with an automatic transmission and hydraulic steering mechanism, was produced in Azerbaijan. An armored personnel carrier that easily overcomes natural and artificial obstacles during combat.
The head of state got acquainted with the conditions created in the polyclinic of the Naval Forces. In the foyer of the polyclinic building, there are photos reflecting the meetings of Heydar Aliyev and Ilham Aliyev with soldiers and officers. Here you can carry out both treatment and examination of soldiers and officers.
The polyclinic has 11 functional departments and 4 functional rooms. The rooms of ophthalmology, physiotherapy, neurology, ENT, dentistry, surgery, therapy, ultrasound, dermatology and X-ray rooms operating here are equipped with modern medical technical equipment.
The polyclinic also has a laboratory where biochemical, chemical and serological examinations, procedural examinations, a pharmacy, and a canteen will be carried out. This medical facility also has 7 wards with 32 beds. The conditions created in the wards make it possible to treat military personnel at a high level.
Headquarters buildings, 2 service residential buildings, 10 coastal sailor hostels, soldiers' canteens, checkpoints, a boiler house and a bath-laundry complex, moorings for ships, hangar-type parking lots for the Navy and the military unit.
Having visited the berth, President Ilham Aliyev got acquainted with the command ship of the Naval Forces ARG T710 (Polish-built project 888, the former Oka). The ship has the necessary conditions for living, recreation of personnel and service. The devices available on the ship make it possible to achieve high results in the performance of the combat and operational tasks assigned to the personnel.
The head of state was informed about the main command post on the ship.
It was noted that the main command post ensures the control of the ship, its safety in navigation and limited visibility at sea. From here, all weapons and technical means are also controlled, and combat and fire missions are carried out.
The latest technological equipment is installed here to control the main engines and the steering wheel in order to power the ship and regulate its direction. The indicators indicated by all devices are reflected on the electronic map.
At the second stage of the construction of the military unit, it is planned to create sites Maintenance and repair of ships and vehicles, additional berths, warehouses, officers' houses, kindergarten and school, club and sports town.
Then the Supreme Commander got acquainted with the conditions created at the headquarters and the sailor's hostel of the military unit of the Naval Forces. This building is intended for the activities of the headquarters of the military unit and the residence of sailors. There are 4 rooms for 8 people each.
The rooms have all the conditions for living, recreation of military personnel and effective leisure time. Service rooms and classrooms, a computer room will be placed at the disposal of the soldiers.
President Ilham Aliyev was also informed about residential buildings built for the personnel of the Naval Forces. Two five-story buildings were built on the territory. Each of the five-block buildings has 50 three-room apartments.
The total area of each apartment, equipped with all necessary equipment, exceeds 110 square meters. Both buildings are equipped with a centralized ventilation system. Large-scale landscaping work has been done on the adjacent territory, landscaping has been carried out, and recreation areas have been created.
Then the head of state got acquainted with the conditions created in the boiler house and bath and laundry complex. This complex is also created at the modern level.
In the course of familiarization with the canteen of the military unit, the Supreme Commander was informed about the kitchen for cooking in the field, special utensils for boiling water, cooking and bread in the field, refrigerators for transporting ready-made food, as well as additives included in recent times in the diet of military personnel. It was noted that three thousand people can eat at the same time in the dining room.
President Ilham Aliyev also toured the bakery shop. It was noted that this shop allows you to fully meet the needs of the personnel of the military unit in bread.
More-
The current stage in the Azerbaijani Navy.
On June 25, 2015, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev took part in the opening of a new base of the Naval Forces in the village of Puta, Garadagh district of Baku, a new base and the N-th military unit of the Naval Forces were opened.
The current view of the base, it is clear that its construction has not yet been completed.
Another kind of base
The construction of administrative, service buildings, structures of the new base of the Naval Forces, which is the largest and most modern military facility in the Caspian basin, and the N-th military unit began in October 2010.
Base schema.
The personnel of the Navy on the parade ground.
The command post of the base manages the Naval Forces, creates all the possibilities for exercising control over the surface situation in the sector of the Caspian Sea belonging to the Republic of Azerbaijan. Operational data on the surface situation are received at the point by means of radar stations installed at coastal and island radio technical posts belonging to the Naval Forces. All detected targets are displayed on the monitors in real time. The data received from the coast guard of the State Border Service and the State Maritime Administration in connection with the surface situation in the sector of the Caspian Sea belonging to Azerbaijan is also collected at the command post of the Naval Forces, analyzed and an appropriate decision is made. The installation here of equipment based on the most modern technological innovations makes it possible to build the operation of the point at a high level.
Headquarters buildings, 2 service residential buildings, 10 coastal sailor hostels, soldiers' canteens, checkpoints, a boiler house and a bath-laundry complex, moorings for ships, hangar-type parking lots for the Navy and the military unit.
There is also a well-equipped clinic. In which it is possible to carry out both treatment and examination of soldiers and officers. The polyclinic has 11 functional departments and 4 functional rooms. The rooms of ophthalmology, physiotherapy, neurology, ENT, dentistry, surgery, therapy, ultrasound, dermatology and X-ray rooms operating here are equipped with modern medical technical equipment. The polyclinic also has a laboratory where biochemical, chemical and serological examinations, procedural examinations, a pharmacy, and a canteen will be carried out. This medical facility also has 7 wards with 32 beds. The conditions created in the wards make it possible to treat military personnel at a high level.
Two five-story buildings for the personnel of the country's Naval Forces were built on the territory of the base. Each of the five-block buildings has 50 three-room apartments. The total area of each apartment, equipped with all necessary equipment, exceeds 110 square meters. Both buildings are equipped with a centralized ventilation system. Large-scale landscaping work has been done on the adjacent territory, landscaping has been carried out, and recreation areas have been created.
At the second stage of the construction of the military unit, it is planned to create areas for the maintenance and repair of ships and vehicles, additional berths, warehouses, an officer's house, a kindergarten and a school, a club and a sports town.
Navy ships
SKR G121 - former patrol ship SKR-16 "Bakinets"
Command ship T710 - former training ship "Oka"
Another view of the ships.
Last week, the Naval Forces (Navy) of Azerbaijan held command and staff exercises in the national sector of the Caspian Sea. According to experts, the exercises have become the most ambitious for last years and demonstrated a noticeable strengthening of the naval forces of the republic.
The main goal of the exercises was the planning of joint actions to protect the energy infrastructure in the operational zone of the sea. As the website of the Ministry of Defense clarified, about 3,000 military sailors, more than 30 warships, boats, up to 20 combat aircraft, helicopters and more than 20 rocket and artillery installations were involved in the maneuvers.
At the first stage of the exercises, also conducted with the involvement of the Air Force, missile troops, artillery, and special forces, groups of ships, units and subunits went to the specified concentration areas. The tasks of staffing and combat coordination were also successfully completed.
During the second phase of the exercises, combat aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force, forces Missile troops and artillery deployed along the coast, as well as special forces, in conjunction with each other, completed combat training tasks to free an oil platform and a merchant ship, captured according to legend by a terrorist and sabotage group, as well as to destroy ships that illegally entered the operational zone. As a result, the goals were destroyed, the tasks set were completed.
Summing up the results of the exercises, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov highly appreciated the professionalism, the level of practical and moral-psychological training of the personnel, as well as the combat readiness of the units involved in the exercises.
Recall that the new naval base at Cape Puta in the Garadagh region of Baku was opened in June last year. The base is equipped with the most modern equipment. Operational data on the surface situation in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea are received here through radar stations installed at coastal and island radio posts
The exercises in the Caspian Sea were also monitored by Russian military experts. “The navy of Azerbaijan is designed to solve the problems of protecting the interests of Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea, primarily its economic zone. It consists mainly of light forces: these are boats, patrol ships and border patrol ships, providing the task of covering the indicated areas. The composition of the fleet fully corresponds to the solution of these tasks, ”said the portal "Moscow - Baku" First Vice-President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, Doctor of Military Sciences, captain of the first rank of the reserve Konstantin Sivkov.
“To solve the problems of combating various terrorist organizations, banditry, poaching, Navy Azerbaijan and his border ships quite capable. If necessary, the fleet can also interact with the Russian Caspian flotilla, taking into account the fact that there is friendly to Russia Iranian fleet. Fortunately, he has no serious opponents there. There are agreements on the distribution of spheres of influence - and there, without the consent of the countries of the Caspian region, the appearance of warships of other states is unlikely," summed up Mr. Sivkov.
Ilgar Velizade, the head of the political scientists' club "South Caucasus", believes that the maneuvers on August 22-25 turned out to be the largest in recent times and "proved the growth of Azerbaijan's military power" in the Caspian.
“Comprehensive interaction between the naval and air fleets was worked out. The task was to identify groups of terrorists and prevent possible sabotage on the main pipelines or attacks on oil and gas fields," Mr. Velizade, an expert at the Moscow-Baku portal, said.
As you know, after the collapse Soviet Union in the summer of 1992, the Caspian flotilla was divided, as a result of which 30% of the floating and 100% of the coastal base of the Caspian flotilla passed to Azerbaijan. “The main backbone of the Navy is still made up of equipment left over from the Soviet era. But she's in to a large extent The Navy is being modernized, not least thanks to the assistance of the Russian side. For example, ships are equipped with long-range warning systems and Uran-E anti-ship missiles, which began to arrive from Russia in 2014. The fleet is being brought into line with the solution of the current tasks - in particular, to protect against attacks by mobile terrorist groups that can use boats. At the maneuvers, the Navy proved that they can effectively deal not only with large military facilities, but with small and inconspicuous ones,” Mr. Velizade emphasized.
“Judging by the scale and objectives of the exercises, it can be said that the Navy also acts as an important resource that could, if necessary, support both the ground forces and combat aviation and in the expected offensive operations in the depths of the territory of the republic - in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the expert added.
According to the military expert captain of the third rank of the reserve Dmitry Litovkin, the coast guard of the State Border Service remains an important component of the naval power of Azerbaijan.
“Seriously, the coast guard of Azerbaijan should be strengthened by high-speed (developing a speed of 32 knots, that is, 60 km per hour) patrol ships of the coast guard, which are now being built in Israel by Israel Shipyards. As far as is known from open sources, six such ships will be purchased. In the foreseeable future, construction for the coast guard of Azerbaijan and Israeli-made corvettes is not ruled out. The commissioning of Israeli ships and boats will firmly provide Azerbaijan with the status of a third force in the Caspian Sea,” Mr. Litovkin told the Moscow-Baku portal.
Some Baku historians argue that a semblance of a military fleet appeared in the feudal state of Shirvan, located on the territory of modern Azerbaijan, in the 12th century - during the reign of Shirvanshah Akhsitan I. Having warships and relying on the walls of the Baku fortress, Akhsitan I was able to repel the attack the boats of the Rus, who were trying to take over the city.
With the collapse in the middle of the 18th century of the Persian empire of Nadir Shah, which included the lands of Azerbaijan, several petty khanates appeared at enmity with each other, including Baku, whose ruler from 1747 to 1768 was Mirza Muhammad Khan - a man who did not alien to maritime affairs. Under him, the construction of ships began in Baku, not only commercial, but also military ones.Little is known about the ancient Azerbaijani navigators. It is unlikely that their ships were masterpieces of shipbuilding, but the fact remains that attempts to create their own navy in Azerbaijan go back centuries.
Main base of the Caspian flotilla
The Baku military port is located in the western part of the Baku Bay (Bayil district). In 1867, the main base of the Russian Caspian flotilla was transferred to Baku from Astrakhan. February Revolution and october coup 1917 also had a corrupting effect on the Caspian flotilla - so, at the request of the sailor lads, the commander Rear Admiral E.V. Klyupfel was expelled.The revolutionary sailors supported the Bolshevik Baku Commune. Then the dashing brothers with the same ease supported the Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary Central Caspian (Central Committee of the Caspian Flotilla). After the fall of the Baku commune, and after it - the short-lived dictatorship of the Central Caspian, almost the entire Caspian flotilla of the former Russian Empire came under the jurisdiction of the Musavat Republic of Azerbaijan.
At first, during the occupation of Azerbaijan by the Turks, who took Baku in September 1918, bringing the government of the Musavatists here, Azerbaijan did not have a navy. In November of the same year, the Turks, who were defeated in the First World War, were replaced in Baku by the British - a 5,000-strong garrison led by General Thomson. The British handed over to the government of Azerbaijan the ships and vessels of the Russian Caspian flotilla, which had been taken away by order of the Central Caspian Sea to Petrovsk (now Makhachkala), but returned to Baku after the departure of the Turks.
At the end of August 1919, the evacuation of British troops from Baku began. The forces of the English navy (Royal Navy Caspian Flotilla), headed by Commodore Norris, who had been operating in the Caspian Sea since 1918, completed their mission at the theater. The British Navy handed over to the Azerbaijani Navy part of its warships and auxiliary watercraft - ships of the Russian commercial fleet, captured and armed by the British. Among them, in particular, were the auxiliary cruiser Pushkin, the gunboat Gretsia, the messenger ships Kursk and Oryol, and the hospital ship Alesgerie.
Ultimately, in the spring of 1920, the Azerbaijani Navy in full strength went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. They were headed by the Azerbaijani Bolshevik, engineer, ethnic Kurd Chingiz Ildrym. After the victory of the Bolsheviks, Ildrym became the People's Commissar of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic for military and naval affairs and the commander of the Red Fleet of Soviet Azerbaijan - this is how the national Navy was now called.
In the summer of 1920, the Red Fleet of Soviet Azerbaijan was merged with the Caspian Navy of the RSFSR into the Naval Forces of the Caspian Sea (since 1931 - the Caspian Flotilla). On this, the history of the actual national Azerbaijani military fleet was interrupted for 72 years.
The collapse of the USSR also affected the Caspian Flotilla. In the summer of 1992, its main forces, based in Baku, were divided between Russia and Azerbaijan. In addition to warships and vessels of almost all classes and auxiliary vessels available to the flotilla, Azerbaijan received at its disposal a well-equipped Baku naval base with large stocks of ammunition and materiel, a military shipyard No. 23 and other elements of the naval infrastructure.The first ship to raise the state flag of Azerbaijan was the Bakunets patrol ship. It happened on July 26, 1992. This date marked the revival of the national Navy of Azerbaijan. The captain of the 1st rank Rafik Askerov, who did not particularly show himself in this post, became the commander, and in 1999 the Azerbaijani Navy was headed by a graduate of the navigational faculty of the Caspian Higher Naval red banner school named after S. M. Kirov, now Vice Admiral Shahin Sultanov.
In the early years of independence, the Azerbaijani leadership, mired in internal political and economic turmoil and an inglorious war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, had no time for the national navy and maintaining its ships in proper order. And military sailors were sent to the land front.
Baku craftsmen, having found several old 130-mm B-13 naval artillery mounts in the warehouses of the Caspian flotilla, placed them on railway platforms and sent them to shell Armenian positions from the site railway Yevlakh - Stepanakert. The ships of the Azerbaijani Navy were involved in suppressing the rebellion of the separatists in the south of the country, where they tried to proclaim the Talysh Mugan Republic.
In 1994, at the initiative of the then President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, which saved this country from a national catastrophe. At the same time, Aliyev, a talented politician and experienced statesman, made energetic efforts to restore order in the armed forces, and it was under him that Azerbaijan began systematic military construction.
It is noteworthy that in 1997, the Milli Majlis (parliament) of Azerbaijan approved a system of naval flags and pennants, in the design concept of which there is a clear influence Soviet system. From an aesthetic point of view, the blue and white with an anchor and a red crescent, the stern ensign of the Azerbaijani Navy can be classified as one of the most beautiful in the world. For ships and vessels of the naval units of the border troops, a flag of a traditional Soviet design has also been adopted today (a green field with naval ensign in the roof).
With the appointment of energetic Shahin Sultanov to the post of commander of the Navy, a qualitatively new stage in their history began. Vice-Admiral Sultanov turned out to be an intelligent organizer: under him, the combat capability of the ships inherited by Azerbaijan was restored and, in addition, some auxiliary ships were turned into combat units.
Forces, means, strength
The personnel of the Azerbaijani Navy today is about 2500-3000 people. The training of officers of the fleet and naval units of the border troops is carried out in Naval Academy Azerbaijan (former KVVMKU named after S. M. Kirov) and military educational institutions Turkey, and midshipmen and chavushs (foremen) of contract service - in training center Navy.The flagship of the Azerbaijani Navy is the 1040-ton patrol ship "Bakinets" ("SKR-16") of project 159A, built in 1967, renamed G121 "Kusar" (after the name of the Azerbaijani city of Kusar, in Soviet times - Kusary). During a lengthy repair, two 400-mm PTA-40-159 five-tube anti-submarine torpedo tubes were removed from the ship (some time later, two torpedo tubes were installed in the stern), a pair of RBU-6000 rocket launchers were retained, and artillery armament was strengthened - in addition In addition to two full-time two-gun 76-mm AK-726 artillery mounts, the Azerbaijanis installed a pair of double-barreled 30-mm AK-230 anti-aircraft guns on it.
The Azerbaijanis removed container launchers of P-15U anti-ship missiles from the R-173 project 205U "Tsunami" missile boat, renamed it S-008 and transferred it to the coast guard of the maritime units of the border troops. A pair of project 205P "Tarantula" artillery boats (former AK-234 and AK-374) were also transferred there. 400-mm anti-submarine torpedo tubes were removed from Project 205P boats.
In order to replenish the composition of the combat ship forces, the Azerbaijanis converted the former project 1388R radiation-chemical reconnaissance ship (former KRKh-1) into patrol boats, installing two 14.5-mm twin 2M7 anti-aircraft machine gun mounts (it received tail number P212), and a former project 368U rescue boat (tail number P219). The latter was armed more seriously: twin 25-mm 2M3M anti-aircraft guns and 14.5-mm 2M7 anti-aircraft machine guns, as well as two RBU-1200 rocket launchers. It turned out to be a kind of small hunter of the level of the 50s.
Three former training boats of the Caspian flotilla of the Polish project UK-3 also received 2M7 anti-aircraft machine-gun "sparks" - now they also belong to the patrol class and carry tail numbers P213, P214 and P215. There are also two patrol boats R217 and R218 of project 722 of Polish construction (former Soviet messenger boats, after being accepted into the Azerbaijani Navy, each also armed with a 2M7 installation).
There is also a patrol boat P222 in the Azerbaijani fleet, well known in many countries of the world Soviet project 1400M "Vulture" with a 12.7-mm coaxial machine gun "Utes-M".
The only foreign acquisition of the Azerbaijani Navy was the old, built in 1949 anti-submarine boat P223 "Araz" - the former Turkish AB-34 of the "Turk" type.
The mine-sweeping forces of the Azerbaijani Navy are represented by more or less responsible modern requirements ships: three project 12650 Yakhont base minesweepers (M325, M326 and M327) and two project 1258 Korund raid minesweepers (M237 and M328).
The group of amphibious forces of the fleet includes small landing ships - four Polish-built (project 771A - D433, projects 770MA and 770T - D431, D432 and D434) and two projects 106K (D435 and D436). There is also a Project 1785 landing craft D437.
The auxiliary fleet of the Azerbaijani Navy is represented by more than two dozen different vessels, of which the project 10470 deep-sea diving support vessel A671 (formerly Sviyaga), project 1844 offshore tanker T752, two small hydrographic vessels of projects 871 (tail number H561) and 872 can be noted (both Polish-built), two fire-fighting vessels (former PZhS-551 and PZhS-552) of project 1893, two fire-fighting boats A643 and A644 of project 364, a small cable ship T750 (former "Emba") of the Finnish project 1172, diving boats of project 1896 ( A641) and project 1415 (A648), hospital boat A649 of the Polish project SK-620, road tugs of project 737 (T757) and project 9.8057 (built by the GDR - T758), etc. There is also a 106-meter non-self-propelled repair floating dock .
Swimmers, submarines, aircraft
Almost all ships and vessels are based in Baku (the historical naval region of Bailov). The Navy also includes a battalion marines and naval sabotage and reconnaissance center for special purposes - Military Unit 641 (a detachment of combat swimmers), stationed on the seashore, in the Zykh area on the outskirts of Baku (not far from the Naval Academy). In some sources, this unit is called a brigade. It was created on the material basis of the former naval reconnaissance point of the Caspian Flotilla of the USSR Navy.Military unit 641 is armed with ultra-small submarines left to Azerbaijan (group carriers of combat swimmers) of the Triton-1M and Triton-2 types, as well as individual underwater means of propulsion for reconnaissance divers - torpedo-shaped carriers of the Siren type and others. Now instructors from NATO countries, in particular " seals"sabotage and reconnaissance units of the US Navy SEAL and instructors of the private American company Blackwater USA.
An obvious shortcoming of the Azerbaijani Navy is the lack of its own specialized aviation: several Ka-27PS helicopters and three Be-12 amphibious seaplanes that Baku got at one time have already exhausted their resources. However, to support and air cover the fleet, Azerbaijan can use combat aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force (for example, Su-24M front-line bombers, Su-25 attack aircraft, L-39 combat training aircraft, MiG-29 front-line fighters, Mi-8 and Mi- 24). The mobilization reserve of naval aviation is the Mi-8, Sikorsky S-76, Eurocopter "Super Puma" and "Dofen" helicopters of the Azalgelikopter civil airline, which actively uses them to supply the Caspian oil platforms. In the interests of the Navy, the newest Be-200ChS amphibious rescue seaplane of the Ministry of emergencies Azerbaijan.
The current reserve of the Azerbaijani Navy is the coast guard of the maritime units of the country's border troops. In addition to three patrol boats (according to the Soviet classification - border patrol ships of the 3rd rank, in the Navy - artillery boats) of project 205P (now S-005, S-006 and S-007), inherited from the Caspian Flotilla and the 17th separate brigade patrol ships Border Troops USSR, as well as the former Project 205U S-008 missile boat mentioned above, it includes the 1969-built S-201 patrol boat decommissioned by the US Coast Guard (the former Point Brower of the Point type D series).
In addition, two small patrol boats of the "Silver Ship 48-foot" type (S-11 and S-12) and smaller watercraft, including inflatable motor boats with a rigid frame S-09 and S-10 of the RIB type, were received from the United States -36.
Large ocean tugs and supply vessels that previously belonged to the Caspian Oil Fleet have been accepted into the Azerbaijan Coast Guard. These are four Polish-built vessels: the Vikhr type (V-99 project) - S-703 and the Neftegaz type (V-92 project) - S-701, S-002 and S-003. A feature of the supply vessel for offshore oil platforms of the "Neftegaz" type is the possibility of using it as an auxiliary landing transport. On the deck of Naftogaz, 13 armored personnel carriers BTR-60/70/80 can be placed, while landing of such armored vehicles by descending into the water from the stern is not ruled out. One of the Naftogaz of the coast guard has a helipad for a Mi-8 helicopter, the other is equipped with a powerful antenna system, which allows us to make an assumption that it performs the functions of a radio and electronic intelligence and control ship.
The most powerful economic potential in the post-Soviet Transcaucasia, which is based on oil production, fully allows Azerbaijan to have a small, but significant military fleet as a factor of strength in the Caspian Sea.
| Photo gallery | |
In particular - to repel the attack of the Russians who arrived on numerous boats and tried to capture the city.
With the collapse in the middle of the 18th century of the Persian empire of Nadir Shah, which included the lands of Azerbaijan, several petty khanates appeared at enmity with each other, including Baku, whose ruler from 1747 to 1768 was Mirza Muhammad Khan - a man who did not alien to maritime affairs. Under him, the construction of ships began in Baku, not only commercial, but also military ones.
Little is known about the ancient Azerbaijani navigators. It is unlikely that their ships were masterpieces of shipbuilding, but the fact remains that attempts to create their own navy in Azerbaijan go back centuries.
MAIN BASE OF THE CASPIAN FLEET
The Baku military port is located in the western part of the Baku Bay (Bayil district). In 1867, the main base of the Russian Caspian flotilla was transferred to Baku from Astrakhan. The February Revolution and the October Revolution of 1917 also had a corrupting effect on the Caspian Flotilla - thus, at the request of the sailor lads, the commander Rear Admiral E.V. Klyupfel was expelled.
The revolutionary sailors supported the Bolshevik Baku Commune. Then the dashing brothers with the same ease supported the Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary Central Caspian (Central Committee of the Caspian Flotilla). After the fall of the Baku commune, followed by the short-lived dictatorship of the Central Caspian, almost the entire Caspian flotilla of the former Russian Empire came under the jurisdiction of the Musavatist Republic of Azerbaijan.
At first, during the occupation of Azerbaijan by the Turks, who took Baku in September 1918, bringing the government of the Musavatists here, Azerbaijan did not have a navy. In November of the same year, the Turks, who were defeated in the First World War, were replaced in Baku by the British - a 5,000-strong garrison led by General Thomson. The British handed over to the government of Azerbaijan the ships and vessels of the Russian Caspian flotilla, which had been taken away by order of the Central Caspian Sea to Petrovsk (now Makhachkala), but returned to Baku after the departure of the Turks.
At the end of August 1919, the evacuation of British troops from Baku began. The forces of the English navy (Royal Navy Caspian Flotilla), headed by Commodore Norris, who had been operating in the Caspian Sea since 1918, completed their mission at the theater. The British Navy handed over to the Azerbaijani Navy part of its warships and auxiliary watercraft - ships of the Russian commercial fleet, captured and armed by the British. Among them, in particular, were the auxiliary cruiser Pushkin, the gunboat Gretsia, the messenger ships Kursk and Oryol, and the hospital ship Alesgerie.
Ultimately, in the spring of 1920, the Azerbaijani Navy in full strength went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. They were headed by the Azerbaijani Bolshevik, engineer, ethnic Kurd Chingiz Ildrym. After the victory of the Bolsheviks, Ildrym became the People's Commissar of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic for military and naval affairs and the commander of the Red Fleet of Soviet Azerbaijan - this is how the national Navy was now called.
In the summer of 1920, the Red Fleet of Soviet Azerbaijan was merged with the Caspian Navy of the RSFSR into the Naval Forces of the Caspian Sea (since 1931 - the Caspian Flotilla). On this, the history of the actual national Azerbaijani military fleet was interrupted for 72 years.
SOVIET HERITAGE
The collapse of the USSR also affected the Caspian Flotilla. In the summer of 1992, its main forces, based in Baku, were divided between Russia and Azerbaijan. In addition to warships and vessels of almost all classes and auxiliary vessels available to the flotilla, Azerbaijan received at its disposal a well-equipped Baku naval base with large stocks of ammunition and materiel, a military shipyard No. 23 and other elements of the naval infrastructure.
The first ship to raise the state flag of Azerbaijan was the Bakunets patrol ship. It happened on July 26, 1992. This date marked the revival of the national Navy of Azerbaijan. The captain of the 1st rank Rafik Askerov, who did not particularly show himself in this post, became the commander, and in 1999 the Azerbaijani Navy was headed by a graduate of the navigation department of the Caspian Higher Naval Red Banner School named after S. M. Kirov, now Vice Admiral Shahin Sultanov.
In the early years of independence, the Azerbaijani leadership, mired in internal political and economic turmoil and an inglorious war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, had no time for the national navy and maintaining its ships in proper order. And military sailors were sent to the land front.
Baku craftsmen, having discovered several old 130-mm B-13 naval artillery mounts in the warehouses of the Caspian flotilla, placed them on railway platforms and sent them to shell Armenian positions from the Yevlakh-Stepanakert railway section. The ships of the Azerbaijani Navy were involved in suppressing the rebellion of the separatists in the south of the country, where they tried to proclaim the Talysh Mugan Republic.
In 1994, on the initiative of the then President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh were stopped, which saved this country from a national catastrophe. At the same time, Aliyev, a talented politician and experienced statesman, made energetic efforts to restore order in the armed forces, and it was under him that Azerbaijan began systematic military construction.
It is noteworthy that in 1997, the Milli Mejlis (parliament) of Azerbaijan approved a system of naval flags and pennants, the design concept of which clearly shows the influence of the Soviet system. From an aesthetic point of view, the blue and white with an anchor and a red crescent, the stern ensign of the Azerbaijani Navy can be classified as one of the most beautiful in the world. For ships and vessels of the naval units of the border troops, a flag of a traditional Soviet design has also been adopted today (a green field with a naval ensign in the roof).
With the appointment of energetic Shahin Sultanov to the post of commander of the Navy, a qualitatively new stage in their history began. Vice-Admiral Sultanov turned out to be an intelligent organizer: under him, the combat capability of the ships inherited by Azerbaijan was restored and, in addition, some auxiliary ships were turned into combat units.
FORCES, MEANS, NUMBERS
The personnel of the Azerbaijani Navy today is about 2500-3000 people. Training of officers of the fleet and naval units of the border troops is carried out at the Naval Academy of Azerbaijan (former KVVMKU named after S. M. Kirov) and military educational institutions of Turkey, and midshipmen and chavushs (foremen) of contract service - at the Naval Training Center.
The flagship of the Azerbaijani Navy is the 1040-ton patrol ship "Bakinets" ("SKR-16") of project 159A, built in 1967, renamed G121 "Kusar" (after the name of the Azerbaijani city of Kusar, in Soviet times - Kusary). During a lengthy repair, two 400-mm PTA-40-159 five-tube anti-submarine torpedo tubes were removed from the ship (some time later, two torpedo tubes were installed in the stern), a pair of RBU-6000 rocket launchers were retained, and artillery armament was strengthened - in addition In addition to two full-time two-gun 76-mm AK-726 artillery mounts, the Azerbaijanis installed a pair of double-barreled 30-mm AK-230 anti-aircraft guns on it.
The Azerbaijanis removed container launchers of P-15U anti-ship missiles from the R-173 project 205U "Tsunami" missile boat, renamed it S-008 and transferred it to the coast guard of the maritime units of the border troops. A pair of project 205P "Tarantula" artillery boats (former AK-234 and AK-374) were also transferred there. 400-mm anti-submarine torpedo tubes were removed from Project 205P boats.
In order to replenish the composition of the combat ship forces, the Azerbaijanis converted the former project 1388R radiation-chemical reconnaissance ship (former KRKh-1) into patrol boats, installing two 14.5-mm twin 2M7 anti-aircraft machine gun mounts (it received tail number P212), and a former project 368U rescue boat (tail number R219). The latter was armed more seriously: twin 25-mm 2M3M anti-aircraft guns and 14.5-mm 2M7 anti-aircraft machine guns, as well as two RBU-1200 rocket launchers. It turned out to be a kind of small hunter of the level of the 50s.
Three former training boats of the Caspian flotilla of the Polish project UK-3 also received 2M7 anti-aircraft machine-gun "sparks" - now they also belong to the patrol class and carry tail numbers P213, P214 and P215. There are also two patrol boats R217 and R218 of project 722 of Polish construction (former Soviet messenger boats, after being accepted into the Azerbaijani Navy, each also armed with a 2M7 installation).
There is also a patrol boat R222 in the Azerbaijani fleet, well-known in many countries of the world of the Soviet project 1400M "Grif" with a 12.7-mm coaxial machine gun "Utes-M".
The only foreign acquisition of the Azerbaijani Navy was the old, built in 1949 anti-submarine boat P223 "Araz" - the former Turkish AB-34 of the "Turk" type.
The mine-sweeping forces of the Azerbaijani Navy are represented by ships that more or less meet modern requirements: three basic minesweepers of project 12650 "Yakhont" (M325, M326 and M327) and two raids of project 1258 "Korund" (M237 and M328).
The group of amphibious forces of the fleet includes small landing ships - four Polish-built (project 771A - D433, projects 770MA and 770T - D431, D432 and D434) and two projects 106K (D435 and D436). There is also a Project 1785 landing craft D437.
The auxiliary fleet of the Azerbaijani Navy is represented by more than two dozen different vessels, of which the project 10470 deep-sea diving support vessel A671 (formerly Sviyaga), project 1844 offshore tanker T752, two small hydrographic vessels of projects 871 (tail number H561) and 872 can be noted (both Polish-built), two fire-fighting vessels (former PZhS-551 and PZhS-552) of project 1893, two fire-fighting boats A643 and A644 of project 364, a small cable ship T750 (former "Emba") of the Finnish project 1172, diving boats of project 1896 ( A641) and project 1415 (A648), hospital boat A649 of the Polish project SK-620, road tugs of project 737 (T757) and project 9.8057 (built by the GDR - T758), etc. There is also a 106-meter non-self-propelled repair floating dock .
SWIMERS, SUBS, AIRCRAFT
Almost all ships and vessels are based in Baku (the historical naval region of Bailov). The Navy also includes a marine battalion and a special-purpose naval sabotage and reconnaissance center - military unit 641 (a detachment of combat swimmers), stationed on the seashore, in the Zykh area on the outskirts of Baku (not far from the Naval Academy). In some sources, this unit is called a brigade. It was created on the material basis of the former naval reconnaissance point of the Caspian Flotilla of the USSR Navy.
Military unit 641 is armed with ultra-small submarines left to Azerbaijan (group carriers of combat swimmers) of the Triton-1M and Triton-2 types, as well as individual underwater means of propulsion for reconnaissance divers - torpedo-shaped carriers of the Siren type and others. Now instructors from NATO countries, in particular SEALs of the US Navy SEAL sabotage and reconnaissance units and instructors from the private American company Blackwater USA, have taken the baton in the training of the special forces of the Azerbaijani Navy from former Soviet officers.
An obvious shortcoming of the Azerbaijani Navy is the lack of its own specialized aviation: several Ka-27PS helicopters and three Be-12 amphibious seaplanes that Baku got at one time have already exhausted their resources. However, to support and air cover the fleet, Azerbaijan can use combat aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force (for example, Su-24M front-line bombers, Su-25 attack aircraft, L-39 combat training aircraft, MiG-29 front-line fighters, Mi-8 and Mi- 24). The mobilization reserve of naval aviation is the Mi-8, Sikorsky S-76, Eurocopter "Super Puma" and "Dofen" helicopters of the Azalgelikopter civil airline, which actively uses them to supply the Caspian oil platforms. In the interests of the Navy, the newest Be-200ES amphibious rescue seaplane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan, recently acquired in Russia, can also be used.
The current reserve of the Azerbaijani Navy is the coast guard of the maritime units of the country's border troops. In addition to three patrol boats (according to the Soviet classification - border patrol ships of the 3rd rank, in the Navy - artillery boats) of project 205P (now S-005, S-006 and S-007), inherited from the Caspian flotilla and the 17th separate brigade patrol boats of the Border Troops of the USSR, as well as the former project 205U S-008 missile boat mentioned above, it includes the S-201 patrol boat built in 1969 decommissioned by the US Coast Guard (the former Point Brower of the Point type D series).