Black Sea Fleet
Russia had planned a fleet in the Black Sea since 1753.
In 1783, Tsar Catherine the Great ordered the creation of the Black Sea Fleet, based in Sevastopol, Crimea. The basis of the fleet was the ships established by Peter the Great in 1695, and the strength of the fleet has been continuously expanded since then. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Black Sea Fleet fought mainly against the Turkish and French fleets.
In 1853, the Crimean War broke out, and the Black Sea Fleet appeared in the "first modernization war" in world history. The war ended in the defeat of Tsarist Russia, which was forced to sign the Treaty of Paris, the Black Sea was neutralized, and Russia was not allowed to have more ships than Turkey on the Black Sea. But the European landscape was changing, and it wasn't long before the restriction was lifted at a conference in London in 1871.
During World War I, the "October Revolution" broke out in Russia, and the Black Sea Fleet entered the Soviet period. At this time the fleet raised the red flag of the Bolsheviks. However, in the ensuing civil war, in order to prevent the Black Sea Fleet from falling into the hands of the enemy, Lenin ordered the fleet to sink itself on June 18, 1918.
After the end of the Soviet Civil War, the Black Sea Fleet was rebuilt. Ships that had been sunk in the past were salvaged and repaired, and new ships were built and launched. During World War II, the Black Sea Fleet played an important role, in addition to naval battles, the Black Sea Fleet's naval forces also heroically killed the enemy on land.
After World War II, the Black Sea Fleet was expanded into a modern strategic fleet. In addition to the black overseas, its scope of action also extended southward to the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet gradually became an irreplaceable force for the Soviet Union to develop and consolidate maritime hegemony.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fate of the Black Sea Fleet became uncertain, and the question of its ownership remained a difficult problem that plagued Russian-Ukrainian relations, and the struggle between the two sides continued until 1997.
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