On October 17, 1917, the 2nd rank Captain Ye.Akimov was appointed the representative of the Central Council of Ukraine at the command of the Black Sea Fleet. In November 1917, the Sahaidachny Sea Battalion (kurin) was established in Sevastopol, which, on November 24, 1917, was sent to Kiev and participated in the Kiev Arsenal January Uprising. On December 29, 1917, most of the Black Sea Fleet sided with the Bolsheviks. Earlier, in December 1917, the Ukrainian squadron led by the Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III, including another cruiser and three destroyers, participated in the evacuation of the 127th Infantry Division from Trebizond back to Ukraine.