Sevastopol Naval Base

Sevastopol Naval Base
Sevastopol Naval Base
Севастопольская военно-морская база ; Севастопольська військово-морська база
Sevastopol, Crimea (Template:In Crimea).
	Map of the Sevastopol Bay
	Sevastopol Naval Base
Coordinates	44°36′28″N 33°31′48″E / 44.60778°N 33.53000°E
Type	Naval base
Site information
Owner	Disputed: Russia (de facto); Ukraine (de jure);
Operator	Black Sea Fleet
Controlled by	Russia
Condition	Operational
Site history
Built	1772–1783
Built by	Russian Empire
In use	1783–present
Garrison information
Garrison	Black Sea Fleet
Occupants	Russian Navy

The Sevastopol Naval Base (Russian: Севастопольская военно-морская база; Ukrainian: Севастопольська військово-морська база) is a naval base located in Sevastopol, in the disputed Crimean peninsula. The base is used by the Russian Navy, and it is the main base of the Black Sea Fleet.

Geography

The Sevastopol Naval Base is completely located within the administrative territory of Sevastopol. It has several berths located in several bays of Sevastopol – Severnaya (Russian: Северная бухта; Ukrainian: Північна бухта), Yuzhnaya (Russian: Южная бухта; Ukrainian: Південна бухта), Karantinnaya (Russian: Карантинная бухта; Ukrainian: Карантинна бухта) and others.

History

The construction of the port started in 1772, while the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), was still ongoing, and was finished in 1783, following the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire. On 13 May 1783, the first eleven ships of the Imperial Russian Navy reached the Sevastopol Bay.^[1]

During the Crimean War (1853–1856), all large ships were scuttled in the entrance to the bay in 1854 to prevent the entry of enemy ships into the bay. The city defended itself for 349 days against the allied armies of France, United Kingdom, Ottoman Empire and Piedmont-Sardinia. Eventually, the Russians had to abandon Sevastopol on 9 September 1855.^[1]

During World War I, the Imperial German Army occupied Sevastopol on 1 May 1918 despite the ongoing negotiations to reach the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. After further negotiations, the most important ships of the Black Sea Fleet in Tsemes Bay in front of Novorossiysk were sunk by their crews.^[1]

During World War II, the Black Sea Fleet of the Soviet Navy was able to fend off the first air attack by the Nazi German Luftwaffe. However, after the city defended itself for 250 days, Sevastopol fell to the Germans on 4 July 1942.^[1]

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the claim of the now Russian Navy for use of the naval base was initially lost (since Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954, the base was on the soil of the new post-Soviet state Ukraine). From then on, Russia paid an annual lease to Ukraine for the use of the base until 2014, as regulated by the Partition Treaty on the Black Sea Fleet and the Kharkiv Pact.^[2]^[3] Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, the naval base is again under Russian control.^[4]

Gallery

The first map of the Akhtiar (Sevastopol) Bay, created by navigator Ivan Baturin and his team, 1773.
The Russian Squadron on the Sebastopol Roads (1846), by Ivan Aivazovsky.
Map of Sevastopol, 1904.
Color view of part of the port, 1905.
Aerial view of the port, August 1918.
Russian ships in Sevastopol, 2005.
Russian ships in Sevastopol, 2008.
Russian ships in Sevastopol, 2015.