page_title: Ukrainian Navy
section_title: Ukrainian division of the Black Sea Fleet (1991–1997)
hierarchical_section_title: Ukrainian Navy / Soviet period / Ukrainian division of the Black Sea Fleet (1991–1997)
caption_attribution_description: English: Ukrainian artillery boat U170 Skadovs'k. Project 1400M Grif-M/Zhuk class boat, known as AK-327 while in the Soviet marine. Sevastopol Bay, Crimea. Русский: Артиллерийский катер U170 Скадовск проекта 1400М. Шифр Гриф-М, Zhuk class по классификации НАТО. Ранее U-120. До 01.11.1997 Гайдамак. В ВМС СССР носил наименование АК-327. Катер специального назначения ВМС Украины. Севастопольская бухта.
context_page_description: The Ukrainian Naval Forces is the navy of Ukraine and part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
  It consists of five branches: surface forces, submarine forces, Navy aviation, coastal rocket-artillery and naval infantry. The Navy numbers 6,500 people. In 2007 and prior to the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea 15,470 people served the Ukrainian Navy.
  The headquarters of the Ukrainian Naval Forces was, until the 2014 Crimean crisis, located at Sevastopol in Crimea. The Naval Forces of Ukraine were highly affected by the Crimea Crisis as majority of their units were stationed there. Ships that did not escape or were not deployed at the time lowered their flags and were interned. Russia began a process of returning the vessels but stopped, citing inability of Ukraine to retake possession and continued violence against Russians in the Donbass. The ships that were returned were the older models of the fleet that were deemed obsolete. For example, Russia chose not to return the corvettes Ternopil and Lutsk, both of which are some of the newest ships of the Ukrainian fleet. However, none of the Ukrainian naval units retained were absorbed into the Russian Navy.
context_section_description: In September 1991, an office of the Society of Ukrainian Officers was opened in Sevastopol on the initiative of Major Volodymyr Kholodyuk and captains-lieutenant Ihor Tenyukh and Mykola Huk. The society become the initiator and nucleus of the organization of the Ukrainian Naval Forces. On 7 April 1992 at 17:00 37 officers of the administration and headquarters of the Crimean Naval Base (an administrative entity and not a physical "base") pledged their allegiance and loyalty to people of Ukraine. Rear Admiral Borys Kozhyn, who was in charge, was not present at that time of the event. He was in the office of Ivan Yermakov accepting a proposition of the First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ukraine to become the commander of the future Ukrainian Naval Forces. On 8 April 1992 the Minister of Defense signed a directive "About creation of the Ukrainian Naval Forces". On 13 April 1992 an organizational group was established on creation of the Ukrainian Naval Forces, which upset the command of the Black Sea Fleet.
  The current history of the Ukrainian Naval Forces began on 1 August 1992, when it was formally established by order of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk. This was followed by a long and controversial partition of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet between newly independent Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
  One of the episodes of this process was the story of SKR-112 – effectively the first Ukrainian Navy ship. On 20 July 1992, the crew of SKR-112 declared itself a Ukrainian ship and raised the Ukrainian flag. The Navy headquarters in Moscow considered this a mutiny and attempted to act accordingly. The ship left its base on the Crimean peninsula bound for Odessa, causing a chase and ramming attempts by ships still loyal to Moscow. Soon several other ships, auxiliary vessels, and coastal units of the Black Sea Fleet followed SKR-112's decision but with less violent outcomes.
  It was only in 1997 that the ships and equipment of the Black Sea Fleet were officially divided between the two countries. The new Russian formation retained its historic name "Black Sea Fleet". Under the terms of a negotiated lease agreement it was also granted rights to use the majority of its bases on the Crimea Peninsula, Ukraine on a renewable ten-year lease basis at least until 2017. The newly established Ukrainian Naval Forces received dozens of vessels (mostly obsolete or inoperative, not unlike some of those retained by Russia) and some shore-based infrastructure. However, the Russian Navy lost several important facilities, most notably the NITKA (Russian acronym for "Scientific testing simulator for shipborne aviation") naval aviation training facility in Saky, and the special forces base in Ochakiv. The process of fleet division remained painful since many aspects of the two navies' co-existence were under-regulated, causing recurring conflicts.
  Since 1997 due to lack of financing and neglect most of the Ukrainian naval units have been scrapped or poorly maintained. By 2009, only the frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy, originally built to be a Soviet Border Guards ship, was capable of long endurance missions.
  Joint exercises of the Ukrainian Naval Forces and the Russian Black Sea Fleet resumed after a seven-year interval in 2010.
  Most of the Ukrainian naval assets, as those of the other branches of the armed forces, comprise mainly Soviet-era equipment; no major plan for modernization has yet emerged, except for a new corvette design completed in 2009 but not built.
  On 19 December 2008, United States Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor, Jr. stated that Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates were discussing the purchase by Ukraine of one to three U.S. Navy frigates.
  In December 2009, the design for a new corvette (designed exclusively by Ukraine and to be built at Ukrainian shipyards) for the Ukrainian Naval Forces was completed. That month the Ukrainian defense ministry and Chernomorsky Shipyard (Mykolaiv) signed a contract upon results of the governmental tender for corvettes. The Shipbu
caption: Ukrainian Navy artillery boat Zhuk class U170 Skadovs'k off the Bay of Sevastopol, Crimea
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