Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: from Soviet heritage to modern standards
To be or not to be in the Ukrainian fleet?
One of the most important tests of the country on the way to the formation of the Armed Forces was the process of formation of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In April 1992, President Kravchuk signed a decree establishing his own navy, and since then more than five years of competition between Kyiv and Moscow for a fair division of the Black Sea Fleet and for real, not formal, control over its main base, Sevastopol. In 1992-1997, a number of meetings took place between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, other heads of state, at which negotiations were held and agreements were signed on the division of the Black Sea Fleet, the city of Sevastopol, and the terms and conditions of temporary change of the Russian Navy in Crimea. And, as a result, under the “naval agreements” Ukraine lost about 16% of the total ship’s composition in arithmetic proportions. Of course, without taking into account the real needs of the fleet. Of the 525 warships, boats, vessels and vessels, Ukraine received 137, with no 1st-class warship. Yes, and large ships and ships that were transferred, were still reasonably brought to a state of unusability and immediately after the transfer were written off.
However, despite the sad statistics, the first decade of the national fleet was rich in other events that determined its future. Let’s try to remember the brightest moments.
1992−1993: the first steps in the formation of the Ukrainian fleet
It is known that after the formal collapse of the USSR in December 1991, almost immediately sailors of Ukrainian origin began to spontaneously take an oath of allegiance to Ukraine. Of course, on January 18, 1992, a special staff of the 3rd school of divers of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol under the leadership of Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Klyuye took an oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people. It was the first former Soviet Army to swear allegiance to the Ukrainian Navy. In January 1992, the crew of the patrol ship SKR-112 was sworn in to the people of Ukraine. However, he was admitted to the combat unit of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a result of an open revolt of Lieutenant Captain Serhiy Nastenko. On July 21, 1992, raising the Ukrainian flag, he overtook the patrol ship SKR-112 from a base on Lake Donuzlav in Odessa. To intercept and return the ship to the command of the Black Sea Fleet, which is actually controlled from Moscow, were sent warships (SKR “Razitelny”, MDK-184, MPK-93, RK-260) and aircraft (2 Be-12) Black Sea Fleet, against SKR- 112 weapons were used, but stopping a Ukrainian ship is not varied. This case in those days almost provoked a real armed Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
On July 28, 1992 in Nikolaev the State flag of Ukraine on the big reconnaissance ship “Slavutych” was solemnly raised. Captain 3rd Rank Valery Mandich was appointed the first commander of the ship. And on November 19, 1992, after the completion of crew training and factory and state tests, the ship arrived at the Sevastopol raid. It became the first Ukrainian ship in Sevastopol at that time. For eight days, the Black Sea Fleet command did not determine his parking place and did not allow him to enter the bay. Then in Ukrainian Sevastopol for the first time from all slogans that the Navy of Ukraine is occupiers of “Gorodar’s glory”. Therefore, the place of its first berth was the civilian berth of the sea station, and then the ship was moored to a certain berth on the North side of Sevastopol Bay. On December 17, 1992, SKR-112 was moored next to Slavutych and returned to Sevastopol from Odessa. On the basis of these ships the formation of the 1st brigade of surface ships of the Ukrainian Navy began, the commander of which was Captain 2nd Rank Mykola Zhibarev.
The year 199 was no less important for the Ukrainian navy. After all, on June 26, in Feodosia, for the first time in the history of the modern Navy, the Naval Flag of Ukraine was hoisted on the masts of a landing craft on the Donetsk hovercraft. It is followed on July 4 by the same flag of the Zayomars on the frigate “Hetman Sagaidachny”. The protean date was July 1, 1993, when the 1st Separate Marine Battalion was created and the formation of the Marines as a force began.
Entering the international arena
It is safe to say that the entry of the Ukrainian Navy into the international arena began in 1994. Because in June of that year, the flagship “Hetman Sagaydachny” took an official visit to France, the French city of Rouen to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landing of Allied troops in Normandy “Armada of Freedom”. There it became one of the most popular ships, it was visited by more than 10 thousand people. After the “Armada of Freedom” holiday on the way back to the shores of the Motherland, “Hetman Sagaidachny” conducted a successful training with the French helicopter carrier “Jeanne d’Arc”. And already in March 1995, the frigate “Hetman Sagaidachny” began the first in the recent history of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine campaign in the Indian Ocean. Then he successfully promotes navigation in difficult navigational conditions associated with the passage of universities and intensive navigation. During the campaign, Ukrainian sailors crossed the Suez Canal and turned west into the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. It was there that the Idex-95 armaments exhibition took place, at which Ukraine took the first step in the world market of arms and military equipment trade. On July 25-28 of the same year, the first joint Ukrainian-American exercise “Marine Peacekeeping Mission – 95” was held at the Shiroky Lan general training ground in the Mykolayiv region.
By the way, the Ukrainian Marines themselves took part in the first international exercise outside Ukraine “Cooperative Osprey-96”. They marched on August 2-30 at the US Naval Base at Camp Lejun. Marines from 19 countries joined them. At the time, the training of Ukrainian Marines was highly praised by NATO Allied Commander in the Atlantic John Sheehan.
Another striking episode in 1996 was the first operational and tactical exercises of the Ukrainian Navy “Sea-96”, which took place from July 29 to August 1. They were attended by 10 ships, more than 2.5 thousand sailors, pilots, marines and other military personnel of the Armed Forces. And two weeks ago, on August 15, a detachment of Ukrainian Navy warships consisting of the Hetman Sagaidachny frigate and the large Konstantin Olshansky landing ship with two companies of marines on board set out on the first transatlantic campaign to the US coast. Volodymyr Kuzmin, the first deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian Navy, was appointed commander of the campaign.
Of course, it is necessary to mention the international training “Classic-96”, which lasted from August 30 to September 11, 1996. The training took place in the western Black Sea and in Constanta (Romania) in the spirit of NATO’s Partnership for Peace. Corvettes “Vinnytsia” and “Chernihiv” for the first time as part of a tactical group of warships of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine took part in international exercises.
By the way, it was in 996 that the professional holiday of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was created for the first time.
What happened to Ukraine after the “fraternal” division?
Sailors took an equally active part in international exercises in 1997. By the way, since then the Ukrainian-American naval exercises have been taking place with the involvement of the Sea Breeze partner countries. Also in October 1997, joint exercises of the Ukrainian Navy and the Russian Black Sea Fleet “Peace Fairway – 97” took place.
But that year was remembered by the fact that on June 1, 1997 the 3rd stage of distribution of the Black Sea Fleet objects which are a part of Navy of Ukraine began, the big submarine “Zaporizhzhya” (B-435), three frigates – “Sevastopol” was accepted. “(” Razitelny “),” Dnepropetrovsk “(” Bezzavetny “),” Nikolaev “(” Immaculate “), corvettes” Odessa “and” Sumy “, sea minesweepers” Cherkasy “and” Yellow Waters “, three rocket boats – all 11 warships, 39 support vessels, 4 command posts, 2 communications universities, 2 hospitals, etc. In total, 43 ships, 132 ships and boats, 12 helicopters, 30 helicopters, 227 coastal facilities, as well as other equipment, weapons and ammunition were accepted in the process of distribution of the Black Sea Fleet in accordance with the Ukrainian Navy. Particularly neglected were warships, which were completely destroyed, none of them have the opportunity to go to sea on their own…
At the beginning of the path of integration into NATO standards
Despite this state of affairs, the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine moved on. events, in 1999 in the history of the national fleet were performed the first combat exercises – firing cruise missiles at a naval target from a stationary coastal missile system, torpedo firing, the decision of mine barriers, search and destruction of mines. The Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine took part in the preparation and conduct of comprehensive research educational institutions “Duel-99”, during which more than 40 combat exercises were performed. In October 1999, the Partnership for Peace program successfully hosted a computer training “Cooperative Support – 99” with the participation of experts from NATO countries.
In the period from 2000 to 2002, ships and units of the Ukrainian Navy took part in the multinational exercises “Cooperative Partner”, “Cossack Steppe”, “Sea Breeze”, as part of a ship connection in the regular activations of the Black Sea Naval Cooperation BLACKSIFOR.
In subsequent years, the integration of the fleet to the standards of naval formations of the world’s leading countries developed. There was an active foreign policy activity. The format of cooperation between the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and NATO member states has been significantly expanded. Representatives of the Ukrainian Navy have become regular participants in international and peacekeeping initiatives. But about this in the next article.
Prepared by Natalia Zadvernyak