The 5th Squadron (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: пятая эскадра, translit. ''pyataya eskadra'', was a squadron of the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

. The squadron was first established in 1963–64 during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

(NATO) generally referred to it as the Soviet Mediterranean Fleet (Russian: Средиземноморский флот), as it was the primary adversary to the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

Sixth Fleet The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe and Africa. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixt ...

. Attached to the

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

after the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the 5th Squadron was deactivated amid the downsizing of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

on 31 December 1992. Since 2013, the Russian

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

has operated the permanent

Mediterranean Sea Task Force The permanent task force of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea () is a task force of the Russian Navy responsible for projecting Russian power in the Middle East through the Mediterranean Sea. The Soviet Navy's 5th Operational Squadron ...

of the Russian Navy.

History

The Soviet Navy in the first half of the 1960s had not yet been able to create a force that could effectively cripple the Sixth Fleet. The

Black Sea Fleet The Black Sea Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet, along with other Russian ground and air forces on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, are subordin ...

force deployed in the Mediterranean, did not have the required strength, and the attention of the Soviet Navy's leaders was drawn to the potential of first

diesel electric Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

, and then

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...

s to stealthily track and, with nuclear weapons, subsequently destroy aircraft carriers. Up to May 1965, the Soviet Navy attempted to carry out its task in the Mediterranean Sea by creating a so-called mixed

subdivisions Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rus ...

formed from ships of the

Northern Fleet The Northern Fleet (, ''Severnyy flot'') is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic. According to the Russian ministry of defence: "The Northern Fleet dates its history back to a squadron created in 1733 to protect the terri ...

and the

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

under the command of

Captain 1st Rank Captain 1st rank () is a rank used by the Russian Navy and a number of List of communist states#Former communist states, former communist states. The rank is the most senior rank in the staff officers' career group. The rank is equivalent to Colone ...

E.I. Volobuyev and O.P. Grumbkov. This force included

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s and supply vessels. In May 1965, the first mixed squadron was formed from the hydrographic, support vessels, attack cruisers and submarines of the Black Sea Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, under the command of 20th Water Region Division Captain 1st Rank Igor N. Molodtsov. The question of creating staff and a temporary operational squadron in the Mediterranean was raised repeatedly by Admiral

Sergei Gorshkov Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (; 26 February 1910 – 13 May 1988) was an admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union. Twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, he oversaw the expansion of the Soviet Navy into a global force during the Cold ...

, Chief of the Navy. However, the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

did not approve the idea. Contrary to custom, Gorshkov continued to harass the Ministry of Defence with persistent requests for the creation of "... the organization that can hardly be found", not bothered by the fact that it caused irritation to the

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. The Commander used to do that every suitable occasion, but "up to a certain time the requests of the Commander for the establishment of regular Mediterranean squadron to officers of the General Staff met with failure, or silence." The

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

of 1967 was a factor in accelerating the creation of the Mediterranean squadron. In June 1967, the

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decided to create a Mediterranean squadron. In accordance with this decision, the establishment of the squadron was ordered by the Order of the Navy Commander No. 0195, dated 14 June 1967.

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Boris Petrov took command, and took over command of all the forces that were present on 14 July 1967 in the Mediterranean. Attached to the

after the dissolution of the

, the 5th Squadron was deactivated amid the downsizing of the

on 31 December 1992.Дубягин, П. Р. На Средиземноморской эскадре. – М.: Андреевский флаг, 2006. – 344 с. – , 337.

Commanders

Boris Petrov (14 July 1967 – 1969) *

Vladimir Leonenkov (1969–1971) *

Evgeniy Volobuev (1971–1974) *

Vladimir Akimov (1974–1977) *

Nikolai Ryabinskiy (1977–1981) *

Valentin Selivanov (1981–1985) *

Vladimir Kalabin (1985–1986) *

Vladimir Yegorov (1986–1988) *

Alexandr Gorbunov (1988–1990) *

Pyotr Svyatashov (1992–1992) *

Yuri Sysuyev Yuri Nikolayevich Sysuyev (; born 6 February 1949) is a retired officer of the Russian Navy. He holds the rank of admiral, and served as commander of the 5th Operational Squadron between 1992 and 1993, the from 1993 to 1994, the Higher Special O ...

(1992–1993)

References

External links

* * {{cite web, author=Заборский В. В. , date=13 October 2006 , url=http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2006-10-13///5_eskadra.html , title=Советская Средиземноморская эскадра , publisher= Independent Military Review/Независимое военное обозрение , access-date=6 October 2009 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406063301/http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2006-10-13/5_eskadra.html , archive-date=6 April 2011 , url-status=live , df=dmy * Michael Holm
5th Operational Squadron
accessed January 2013 Naval units and formations of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1967 1967 establishments in the Soviet Union Soviet Union–Syria relations Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 1992 disestablishments in Russia