Azerbaijan celebrates Navy Day

On August 5, Azerbaijan celebrates the Day of the Navy.

The formation of the Azerbaijani Navy began after the British left Azerbaijan in August 1919, according to Caliber.Az.

Until that time, the protection of the western shores of the Caspian Sea was provided by English warships. And the ships of the Caspian Navy were hijacked to Port-Petrovsk during the liberation of Baku and returned only after the arrival of the British in Baku in November 1918.

In the newly created Azerbaijani navy, there were only two Azerbaijanis among high-ranking officers - captain of the naval service Hasan Chilingarzade, who served on the Ardahan ship, and 1st-rank captain Gitanchizade, who served on the Astrabad ship. Since the Ministry of War did not have a department dealing with fleet issues, the Ministry of Transport dealt with the Caspian Navy.

At the end of 1919, a special naval department with 6 staff members was created at the General Staff. In general, the Azerbaijani Caspian Navy included two gunboats equipped with 75, 100 and 120 mm guns - "Ardahan" and "Kars", service and auxiliary vessels "Astrabad", "Goytepe", "Araz", "Nargin ", the transport ship "Eagle", the military steamer "Pushkin", as well as boats in the required quantity.

In order to train personnel for the navy, a Special Naval Aviation School was established on the basis of the Baku Naval Aviation School, and on October 14, 1919, a naval aviation unit was created.

In order to improve the technical equipment in the memorandum presented at the Paris Peace Conference, there was an appeal for assistance in equipping the fleet with submarines, ammunition in the required quantity and other necessary means, and an application was submitted for the supply of 6 submarines, combat boats of various types, naval artillery weapons. Due to the fall of the Azerbaijan People's Republic in 1920, the creation of a strong navy proved impossible.

After the restoration of independence, the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted the Law "On the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan" on October 9, 1991, which established the legal basis for the creation of the Naval Forces as part of the Armed Forces.

According to the agreement between the former Soviet republics of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, which gained independence as Caspian littoral states, Azerbaijan took over all bases of the Caspian Naval Fleet located on its territory, as well as 25 per cent of the fleet's warships.

On July 26, 1992, the tricolour State Flag of independent Azerbaijan was hoisted on the Bakili patrol ship for the first time, and the country began to create its own Naval Forces. At the initial stage, the Naval Forces included five divisions, equipped with various types of ships, and ground units. The activity of observation posts and lighthouses located in the Caspian basin began to recover.

In order to participate in the battles for Karabakh, a Marine Regiment was formed from the personnel of the naval and land units of the Naval Forces in the shortest possible time. The regiment was sent to the front on April 19, 1994, in order to prevent an enemy offensive in the Aghdam-Tartar direction, and on July 25, 1994, upon the successful completion of the combat mission, the regiment returned to the location of its unit.

According to the decree signed by national leader Heydar Aliyev in 1996, each year August 5 is celebrated as the Day of the Azerbaijani Navy.