Before you start reading, please click "Follow", which can not only discuss and share, but also bring a different experienceThank you for your support!
Text: Broken Boat Cold
Edited by Broken Boat Cold
Preface
Mongolian Navy, as soon as I heard this, I thought of Deyun Club, which said cross talk, and there is a paragraph in it that doesn't mean that the commander of the Mongolian Navy, after all, we all know that Mongolia is a landlocked country, and this country has no sea.
In fact, on the contrary, although it is said that people have no sea, it does not delay that people have their own naval forces, and thus the smallest naval force in the world was born, with more than a dozen people in the whole army.
They don't have a sea, but they have a lake, and there are lakes between neighboring countries, and you can sail in the lake, and that's not all, there are three boats, and only one of them can be driven.
But there is a worse country in the world, that is, the State of Uzbekistan, which is a double landlocked country, which means that the country does not have a sea or a river connected to the sea, although there is no sea but there is a lake called the "Aral Sea".
It is such a country that wants to develop its own navy, and after a painstaking process, it finally has about 40 warships, and when it looks back, it finds that its sea is gone.
"Navy" of Uzbekistan
The country has a land area of about 448,000 square kilometers, and the plains alone account for two-thirds, of which mineral resources and gold resources are relatively rich, and it is a large producer in this regard.
Uzbekistan itself is a "double landlocked country" without a sea, only need to send an army and an air force, without a sea there is no need to develop a navy, why develop a navy, in fact, in their country there is a lake called the "Aral Sea", the area of the lake in the 60s of the last century, the total area of this lake reached more than 68,000 square kilometers.
The lake is already very large, you must know that the total area of the Bohai Sea on the mainland is only 777,000 square kilometers, and this inland lake is larger than our Bohai Sea, just by virtue of such a large area, it is called the "Aral Sea", although it is a lake is indeed larger than the inland sea of the mainland.
The Aral Sea is not considered to be inland, in fact, the geographical location is very important, in the period of Tsarist Russia, this place has been recognized as a strategic place in Central Asia, because of the good location, if Tsarist Russia wants to expand its power, this place is a very important point.
In order to occupy this place, Tsarist Russia began to build a "Caspian Fleet" around the Aral Sea, and this place became the source of Tsarist Russia's naval power.
In the subsequent development, time passed, and the Soviet Union soon replaced the position of Tsarist Russia and became the hegemon of Central Asia, and the Caspian Sea Fleet gradually became an important support for this region of the Soviet Union with the gradual strengthening of the Soviet Union.
At this time, the Caspian Flotilla was no longer a simple military force, but a powerful political, economic and security guarantee of the Soviet Union in Central Asia, and the existence of this fleet laid the foundation for the Soviet Union to have an unshakable political power in this place.
In the days that followed, the Soviet Union also established a special ship unit for this purpose, which was specially created for support and supply.
This unit was actually the predecessor of the Navy of the State of Uzbekistan, which was not only tasked with the Soviet Union, but also a testament to the history of Central Asia during this period.
Later, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the State of Uzbekistan took over the Soviet Union's naval power there, and was also preparing to develop its own inland navy.
But at that time he simply could not produce advanced warships on his own, this situation was very difficult, as a landlocked country, lacking experience and industry in the sea, and the naval industry was even more miserable, it can be said that it was the same as nothing.
In order to gain control and better management in the Aral Sea, they began to look for some advanced fleets and began to build their own naval forces.
How did the equipment of the naval forces come from
In the beginning, Uzbekistan had only some small patrol boats, and there was no other strong fleet, which was too weak, and its own naval industry was too poor, so it decided to think from the outside and decided to buy more advanced naval fleets from other countries, but another problem arose, that is, the funds were not enough.
At a time when Uzbekistan did not know what to do, the United States took the initiative to come to the door.
At that time, after the 911 incident, the United States was going all out to fight against terrorism, especially the war against Afghanistan, because the distance between the United States and Afghanistan was very long, and the distance in a straight line exceeded more than 10,000 kilometers.
It is very difficult to transport their own weapons and equipment to the battlefield, and it is very unlucky, so it is said that the known transportation routes can only reach Pakistan across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Indian Ocean, etc., which is the sea journey, and then the land transportation is even more difficult, they have to load the equipment on the truck and then go to the mountains, and then they can get to Afghanistan.
This way down is not only laborious, but also time-consuming, and in the process of transportation, it is easy to be ambushed by the enemy halfway and attacked by the enemy.
Faced with such a problem, the United States decided to woo Afghanistan's neighbors and then set up a US military base on his side to see if Uzbekistan could agree.
In the face of such a request from the United States, Uzbekistan will definitely not let him use it in vain, so it put forward a request for funds, and at the same time let the construction of a military base, it also sent troops to help assist the United States in attacking Afghanistan.
Faced with such conditions, the United States paid him most of the funds, so he solved it in terms of funds, and there was no problem in terms of funds, and he could buy some advanced naval equipment.
With the introduction of these equipment, the navy of Uzbekistan has expanded rapidly and its strength has become much stronger, and by 2003 the naval force had reached 2,500 combat personnel and more than 40 ships, as well as 2 warships and 4 minesweepers.
At the same time, it is also equipped with armed helicopters and aviation weapons, such a military force is already very powerful in Central Asia, advanced equipment, large numbers, at that time it was already the pillar of the Central Asian navy.
When this fleet was completed, it represented the improvement of the country's control over the Aral Sea, and at the same time further enhanced the country's status and strength.
At this time, they already had high hopes for the navy, but what they didn't expect was that their "sea" was gone in a short time, and while the navy was growing, the "Aral Sea" was undergoing a huge change.
The "sea" of the Navy disappeared
After a series of accidents, the "Aral Sea," one of the world's four major lakes, is slowly disappearing, and this disappearance has dealt a huge blow to Uzbekistan's navy, and its own "sea" has disappeared.
In fact, the disappearance of the "Aral Sea" was still foreshadowed in the last century, when the Soviet Union had not yet disintegrated, at that time the "cotton plan" in Central Asia was implemented, and this plan can be said to have a profound impact on the development of the Aral Sea in the future.
At that time, in order to meet the needs of agricultural production in Uzbekistan, especially the cultivation of cotton, the Soviet Union began a huge infrastructure project.
Extensive diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers was carried out, with the main aim of diverting this fresh water to the desert areas for irrigation of farmland.
The response to this plan at the time was really good, especially the local landscape was changed, the original barren land was used, a wide range of vitality was radiated, agricultural production increased greatly, and the local economy was significantly improved.
It was this diversion that affected the direction of the water flow, and a large amount of fresh water flowed elsewhere, which, together with other factors, slowly began to decrease every year, and the area of the water area was also reduced.
As the waters slowly dwindled, the navy of the State of Uzbekistan had lost even the place where the ships could move, and in the nineties of the last century, the Aral Sea had been reduced by a large part and had been divided into the South Aral Sea and the North Aral Sea.
Now the South Aral Sea is almost finished, the previous ships have run aground, and even the purchased fleet has nowhere to be used, and it has been rusted, and Uzbekistan is powerless in the face of such a problem.
In the face of such a problem, he also wanted to solve this problem, and at first he wanted to bring water from the Siberian River here, but found that it was easy to extract and difficult to introduce, and it became extremely difficult, so he had no choice but to give up for such a situation.
epilogue
It is very heart-wrenching for such a situation to happen, a good Aral Sea area is gradually disappearing, and finally Uzbekistan has to accept such a situation, although such a result is not what he wants to see, but it has happened, it is necessary to recognize the reality, and finally the navy of Uzbekistan is also disbanded here, and the days are gone.
In the past, Dongting Lake used to be the largest freshwater lake in the mainland, which could reach more than 6,000 square kilometers at its peak, but later after large-scale development, its area fell to more than 2,000 square kilometers, and it became the second largest freshwater lake in the mainland.
At the end of 2020, the mainland also sent a group of scientists to try to restore the ecological construction of the heavily saline-alkali land in the Aral Sea and help them regain the vitality of this area, hoping that this attempt can be completed as soon as possible.
In the face of such changes, we must protect the surrounding environment, do not let such things continue to happen, and maintain our own living environment is an indispensable responsibility of every citizen.
Resources
Huanqiu.com: On January 14, 2023, the surface area of the Aral Sea has shrunk by less than 10% of its original area