The Public Council under the Ministry of Defense visited the Caspian sailors

Responsible for stability

Why was it necessary to relocate the flotilla from the Volga delta to the middle part of the Caspian Sea, to Kaspiysk? Everything is simple. The capricious bed of the Volga in the Astrakhan region kept getting shallow, which created difficulties for warships to enter the Caspian expanse. They first had to walk fifty miles along the river before they were on the sea surface. And this is additional time for the combat deployment of the fleet forces. Not order.

Of course, those who planned to relocate to Dagestan were aware of all the risks: there was no port infrastructure for basing all the ships of the flotilla in Kaspiysk. It had to be created. Today, the key elements of the base are ready, convenient piers and breakwaters have been built to protect the harbor from waves and winds, and a system of defense and control of the surface and underwater situation has been created.

The volume of construction work is comparable to the construction of a powerful hydroelectric power station. A huge coastal wetland has been drained. Dredging has been carried out in the harbor. Now, at reinforced concrete piers, the depth allows any ships with a large draft that are in the Caspian to be based.

The most modern building of the headquarters of the Caspian flotilla is in the final stage of construction. Just a little more tweaking left. The money, as the builders said, was allocated by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the builders expect their receipt from day to day.

Flagship “Dagestan”

The events of the Syrian military campaign are still fresh in my memory, when the missile ships and boats of the Caspian flotilla launched Caliber missile attacks on terrorist bases in Syria. And this, by the way, is hundreds of kilometers from the launch point.

Members of the Public Council visited the flagship of the Caspian Flotilla – the missile ship “Dagestan”. The main purpose is to strike at critical enemy targets. The main armament is the same “Caliber”.

The project 11161K ship “Gepard” became part of the Navy in 2012. This is our first ship to receive the Caliber. It was from him that the first test launches were carried out. Today, there are already several stars on the hatches of each of the launchers – this is how sailors traditionally indicate the number of combat launches.

The ship can be in autonomous navigation for several months. The power of two gas turbine engines is up to 30 thousand “horses”. That is, not one cavalry army. Speed ​​up to 30 knots – 55 kilometers per hour. Hydroacoustic and radar equipment allows you to reliably control the surface, underwater and air situation. Powerful means of destruction are complemented by a whole range of “tricks” – installations for launching decoys and imitators.

Public activists asked how the ship is protected from new means of attack – unmanned kamikaze boats. The commander of the ship, Captain 3rd Rank Sukhoverkhov, said that there is such protection.

– Unmanned boats have a speed of up to 45 knots, – he said. – Such targets are easily fixed by a radar station. The reflective surface of the drones allows radar to detect them. Well, then there are standards – from the time of detection of a high-speed target to its destruction. One of the effective means is the 30-m double-barreled gun with a rate of fire up to ten thousand rounds per minute. It hits targets at a distance of up to 8.5 kilometers.

As the commander said, “Dagestan” successfully coped with the storm up to 5.5 points. In general, as the sailors say, hydrometeorological conditions in the Caspian Sea are similar to those that are typical for the Bay of Biscay. This bay is located in the eastern part of the Atlantic, off the Iberian Peninsula. A distinctive feature is that the wind blows in one direction, and the wave goes in the other.

Another seaworthy feature of the Caspian Sea is a short wave, unlike, for example, a long ocean wave. For small boats, going on a short wave is like moving on a washboard. Delegations of the Public Council showed one of these boats in action – an anti-sabotage boat of the Grachonok project. It is intended for military service in internal raids.

A modern, efficient 4th rank combat boat has modern sonar stations that allow you to inspect the underwater environment. To destroy the detected underwater saboteurs, there is a rocket launcher that works like a multi-barreled mortar. There is also a 14 mm heavy machine gun. The boat is operated by a crew of eight.

“Cut off everything else!”

The personnel on all ships of the flotilla are contract soldiers, there are no conscripts. Mostly all natives of Dagestan. People are strong, courageous and, by the way for naval discipline, indifferent to alcohol. There are practically no smokers. But there are many athletes.

An electronic scoreboard was placed at one of the barracks in the main naval base of the Caspian Flotilla. It contains useful weather information. For example, on the day of the arrival of the delegation of the Public Council, the electronic screen stubbornly showed a temperature of +40 degrees Celsius. And the “creeping line” broadcast a very useful motto: “Sailors need to be trained only in what is useful in the war: everything else overloads the sailors in vain and this must be cut off. On the other hand, a sailor must learn to perfection what is necessary.

The motto was definitely not chosen by chance. This became clear after Rear Admiral Alexander Peshkov, Commander of the Caspian Flotilla, and Captain 1st Rank Sergey Rakauskas, his Deputy for Military-Political Affairs, spoke about the participation of the Caspians in the NVO.

Few people know that the landing and artillery ships of the Caspian Flotilla, shortly after the start of the NMD, conducted a unique landing operation on the Azov coast. The passage from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of ​​Azov ships completed in advance through the Volga-Don Canal. During the landing near Genichesk, not a single vehicle and not a single person was lost. The success of the landing was due to the fact that the enemy was misled and was waiting for our ships not at all where they came from.

Today, the Caspian Marines hold the line on several hot sections of the contact line. They stand heroically. Rear Admiral Alexander Peshkov, who himself participated in the NMD, said that after a large offensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one of the flotilla battalions repelled seven enemy attacks in six days in July, destroying a large amount of military equipment and manpower. By presidential decree, the Marines received 50 Orders of Courage, 30 Medals of Courage, 40 St. George’s Crosses, and 26 Medals of Bravery.

The commander, whose service was mainly in the Northern Fleet, has been in command of the Caspian Flotilla since 2021 and, along with combat training, devotes all his efforts to the construction of a naval base. According to him, when all the work is completed, Kaspiysk will have the best naval infrastructure in the entire Caspian.

The priority plans include the commissioning of a new headquarters building, the construction of which was visited by members of the public council. On the site of the drained coastal swamps, a sports cluster will be set up – football fields, volleyball courts, tennis courts. Two temples will be built – an Orthodox church and a mosque.

The members of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense were pleased with these plans, they promised all kinds of support. The main questions of the public, as usual, were related to the social security of military personnel and members of their families, with issues of life and leisure activities. Together with the public, an artistic brigade arrived from Moscow, which performed in front of the servicemen and members of their families.

So far, by the way, there is no modern cultural and leisure center in the garrison. Construction froze in 2011. But the command promises to solve this issue. The community council promised support. But the construction of a naval hospital between the Caspian and Makhachkala is in full swing. The builders promise a quick delivery of this object.

The Public Council also presented a TV set to the family of a Marine Corps sergeant with many children, a member of the NMD Murat Mirzabekov. The track record of the squad commander includes participation in the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, the operation to force Georgia to peace in 2008, and a business trip to Syria in 2017. In the NVO zone, he received a shrapnel wound in the leg, was shell-shocked, but remained in the ranks. In September 2022, he was seriously injured and was treated in the hospital. The sergeant was awarded six departmental medals. He has four children.

The delegation of the Public Council headed by Pavel Gusev visited the military family and thanked them for their service. The marine said that his son wants to enter a cadet school, social activists wished the guy’s dream come true.

Members of the Public Council also met with conscripts called up this spring. Guys from different regions of the country are still taking the course of a young fighter and will serve in the protection of the military garrison, as well as in outfits. Recruits are housed in barracks with cubicles for four people. They do not complain about food, they are satisfied with the issued form, which is designed for a hot climate.

– Thank you for your service and study, – Pavel Gusev addressed the military. – Worthy serve for the good of the Motherland.

Commentary by a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) Ruslana Pukhova:

“Everyone knows about the existence of the Caspian Flotilla in the Russian Navy, but usually it is perceived as some kind of deep rear formation with almost educational tasks. Meanwhile, throughout the entire post-Soviet period, Caspian sailors have been on the “frontier” of Russian statehood, representing in fact the most “belligerent” part of the domestic fleet.

The Caspian flotilla is generally the oldest formation of the Russian fleet. Let me remind you that it was for use in the Caspian that the first Russian “real” ships “Frederik” and “Eagle” were built back in the pre-Petrine period. For 400 years now, Russia’s security interests have constantly demanded the presence of naval power in its southern “underbelly”. During the Great Patriotic War, the flotilla played an important role in ensuring the transportation of oil from the then main oil-producing region of the country – from Baku.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Caspian Flotilla has been solving the most important tasks of protecting not only the Caspian Sea, but also the adjacent regions of the North Caucasus from terrorism. Marines and sailors of the flotilla took an active part in both Chechen campaigns.

The active development of the naval forces of the former Soviet republics in the Caspian Sea, investing significant resources in ensuring their oil and gas interests in this area, for the first time in history created the problem of maintaining a naval balance in the region. This forced to proceed in the 21st century to the renewal of the ship composition of the Caspian flotilla with modern units.

From the very beginning, the Caspians take an active part in the special military operation in Ukraine, having distinguished themselves in many battles. Formed at the end of 2018, the 177th Separate Marine Regiment of the Caspian Flotilla has become one of the most famous units of the Russian Armed Forces involved in defending Russian interests in the southern direction of the operation.”