Naval forces of the Republic of Abkhazia

The invasion of Abkhazia by Georgian troops was the beginning of a long war that led to the proclamation of independence of Abkhazia from Georgia.

On August 15, 1992, the marine tugboat MB-7028 of Project 8059 Sadko was taken off by the crew in Novorossiysk. He was in Ochamchire and was supposed to tow the border ship "PSKR-616" decommissioned for metal to Turkey. On the first day of the war, when Georgian troops occupied Ochamchire , representatives of the Georgian authorities arrived in tow in the evening and stated that they included a tugboat in the Georgian Navy . After they left, the captain and several sailors left the bay at night and left for Novorossiysk. The tug was returned to Abkhazia after the war of 1992-1993 . "PSKR-616" remained in place, it was gradually torn off the mooring lines and carried to the middle of the port water area, it was moored to the south coast where it sank. After a while, he was lifted by a floating crane and, cut into fragments, was again sold to Turkey for metal.

On August 17, 1992, a group organized by long-distance navigation navigator Levan Aleksandrovich Katiba brought a number of vessels underway from Sukhum beyond the Gumista River. As it was, L. A. Katiba recalled: “These days I had an idea with which I came to headquarters. There S.P.Dbar sat in front of the doors for two days, but since Sergei Platonovich was very busy, he sent me to Vova Arshba, who immediately supported my idea of ​​Abkhazia's watercraft, which I decided to overtake in Gudauta. Vova asked me what kind of boats are concentrated on Mayak, how they can be used for military purposes. After questioning, he gave me a truck with ten armed regiment employees. We went to Verkhnyaya Escher, where I chose motorized sailors from the militia. Among them, the glide motorist Slavik Agrba. There were sixteen of us all together in a truck. Since there was a truce, although the Georgian armored personnel carriers traveled in the city, they did not stop anyone. There, on Mayak, in the workshops we met the captain-mechanic of the pleasure boat “Komsomolets of Abkhazia”, who also connected to us. I let go of the truck. In general, we got everything that was afloat there. All watercraft I sent for the river. Gumista. And in the end, the last one sailed in the port tugboat “Dolphin”. We hijacked up to nine units of watercraft: Komsomolets of Abkhazia, Gumista, Rainbow-5, Rainbow-7, etc. On Gumista they took 60 tons of diesel fuel with them, and they took a pontoon-thousand-ton. They drove all the boats to New Athos, and at two in the morning I reported to S. Dbar about the fitted boats. Then he gave me a certificate of authorization in these cases. I dispersed the boats to Gudauta, Pitsunda and New Athos, so that they would not stand in one place in the event of a bombing. I drove part of the boats to the cottage of M. Gorbachev, in the area of ​​Musser. ” ^[3]

Among the boats removed from Sukhumi were three hydrofoil boats of Project 1432 Nevka, built at the Batumi Shipyard.

In Gudauta, the work on the formation of the fleet was organized by Enik Kuchkan Vladimirovich, from August 29, 1992 he was appointed head of the coast guard of the Republic of Armenia. By order of Colonel S. A. Sosnaliev, Chief of Staff of the State Committee for Defense of the Republic of Abkhazia, K. V. Yenik was given the right to select the necessary specialists and attract sea boats throughout the Gudauta District, and the heads of institutions and unit commanders had to provide the necessary assistance and allocate disposal of specialists and marine equipment ^[3] .

In September 1992, Lev Katiba began to form the Navy of the Republic of Abkhazia (Navy of the Republic of Armenia) in the city of Pitsunda from floating craft, which at that time were in the hands of militias. There were up to 25 people in the group. Among them are Morozov Jura, Kalendzhi Vova, Voronov Igor, Kandelaki Besik, Agrba Slavik, Tsimtsba Pasha, Pichugin Valery, Gitsba Sultan, Chepia Irakli, Gena Bebia, Aslan Tsvizhba, Daut Zarandiya (Tukin) and others. Katiba Levan Alexandrovich became the first commander ^[3] .
The first ships of the Navy of the Republic of Armenia were pleasure craft of project 1430 Komsomolets of Abkhazia and Sukhum; motor ships of project 485M "Rainbow-5" and "Rainbow-7"; passenger ship of the project 10110 "Ritsa"; Project 14100 Chibis rescue boat. On ships pr. 485 and pr. 10110, small arms and artillery weapons were installed, as well as launchers of the NURS. Three tugboats: MB-28, Dolphin, MB-7028; MDK project 106 called "Guma", which at the time of the outbreak of the war was on a slip near the Eastern Wall ^[4] . In September-October, 7 hydrofoil boats of Project 343ME Volga were transferred from Ritsa Lake to Pitsunda. In autumn and winter, the project 1400 “Vulture” boat entered, which had previously been withdrawn from the fleet due to the poor condition of the hull, disarmed and sold to the “Orlyonok” pioneer camp, which had been under repair and armament until early 1993.

After the liberation of Gagra on October 7, 1992, the Abkhaz crew (commander - Agrba Alik Mikhailovich, crane operator - Kutelia Ramiz, sailor - Avidzba Tamil, sailor - Khojava Alik and mechanic - Kapba Valery Nurievich) overtook the MSB-12 barge from Novorossiysk to Pitsunda on command Head of the Plavstroyotryad trust "Novorossiysk-Morstroy" (PSO - 9) Pinchuk Yuri Valerivich. In the Abkhazian fleet, “MSB-12”, performed the function of a landing ship, participating in many landing operations ^[3] .

On November 12, 1992, the personnel of the Gudauta Coast Guard Base began to be redeployed to the central base of the Navy of the Republic of Abkhazia with the personnel transferring a project 1390 Strizh boat and a Project 343Me Volga glider.

In 1992, three Georgian seiners were captured (one of them, the Paleostomi), which began to play a watchdog role.

The leadership of Abkhazia continued to strengthen its fleet, in particular due to the ships that were assigned to the port of Sukhumi but who left the war in Ukraine and Russia. Organized repair of boats and motor ships. So, for example, the Ritsa marine passenger ship, after participating in the evacuation of refugees from Sukhum in October 1992, went to Odessa (Ukraine) for repairs, and was returned to Abkhazia after the 1992-1993 war .

On December 19, 1992, the former commander of the Navy of the Republic of Armenia, and now the representative for the purchase of equipment and weapons for the Navy of Abkhazia, L. A. Katiba, began to address issues related to re-equipment, staffing, documentation and operation of ships and boats. He started the work on the purchase of boats for the needs of the Republic, acting through the established trade and transport company Katiba. The interim acting commander of the Navy of the Republic of Armenia was Raul Nanba, who until that time had served as midshipman in the Russian Navy.

In January 1993, Raul Nanba resigned from his duties as acting commander of the RA Navy; 1st rank captain Alexander Alexandrovich Voinsky was appointed to this position. Yuri Grigorievich Achba, after he managed to get out of occupied Sukhum in January 1993 , became chief of staff of the Navy of the Republic of Armenia. Before being discharged in 1985, he was promoted to captain of the 2nd rank in the USSR Navy and commanded the military unit of the Northern Fleet's nuclear submarine.

The second boat of the project 1400 “Vulture” ^[5] appeared in the RA Navy in the spring of 1993. Previously, the boat was withdrawn from the Russian fleet, disarmed and sold to a private company, the new name of the boat - PSK "Victoria". Raul Nanba drove him from Novorossiysk to Gudauta, where he was armed and received tactical number “A-02”. Two more service boats were also included, project 371 Admiralsky.

On April 24, 1993, PSK A-02 captured the Georgian barge MSB-24 and delivered to the Gudauta Seaport. Her captain was Gitsba Sultan Shaitovich, who had previously served on the ship "Komsomolets of Abkhazia". The crew consisted of twelve sailors and a combat crew of the Grad installation under the command of the head of the jet artillery of the RA Ministry of Defense, Tsvinaria Ruslan.

In April-June 1993, Abkhazian boats intercepted the R / V “Modul” when he was going to Poti with a cargo of Romanian assault rifles on board for the Georgian side. NIS "Module" began to be used as a tanker.

In July 1993, a retired Dagestani captain of the 1st rank Ali Minkailovich Aliyev, vice president of the KNK from the Lak people, was appointed chief of staff of the Navy of the Republic of Armenia. In 1960 he graduated from the Caspian Higher Naval School in Baku. From 1960 to 1988 served on ships and in parts of the navy, commanded ships of the 1st and 2nd rank. For many years of conscientious service in the Armed Forces, he was awarded more than 10 orders and medals. From 1988 to 1992 worked as a captain, mentor on research vessels in the Caspian Sea, as his own correspondent in the newspaper "North Caucasus" in Dagestan, editor-in-chief of the publishing company "Slovo". From 1990 to 1993, Vice-President of the Confederations of the Peoples of the Caucasus ^[3] .

Navy of the Republic of Abkhazia during the war of 1992-1993 (35 ships and boats):
Gudauta Division:
Voinsky Alexander Alexandrovich - division commander
Jopua Tariel - Division Chief of Staff

• 2 PSKR type "Vulture" pr.1400M: "A-01" (commander - Avidzba Zurik), "A-02" (commander - Nanba Raul)
• 2 marine pleasure boats, project 1430: “Sukhum” (captain - Malia Lavrik Bedzugovich), “Komsomolets of Abkhazia” (captain - Yessebua Arthur Nestorovich)
• Until the end of 1992 - 1 motor ship SPK pr.342M: "Comet-50" (commander - Khishba Leva Kazimirovich)
• 2 barges served as landing boats: “MSB-12” (commander - Agrba Alik Mikhailovich), “MSB-24” (commander - Gitsba Sultan Shaitovich)
• 3 small crew boats of the Strizh type, pr.1390
• 1 oil loading floating bunker project 1582U: "Gumista"
• 1 soil scrub type S-201 project 1526: "Bazby"
• 1 tugboat: MB-28

Pitsunda Division:
Levachev Alexander Ivanovich - division commander
Bganba Lev Ladikovich - deputy weapons commander
Inal-ipa Adgur Shalvovich - head of the scientific group, creator of radio-controlled torpedo tubes

• 2 service boats of the Admiralsky type pr 371: SK-08 (commander - Bganba Lev Ladikovich), SK-09 (commander - Bganba Lev Ladikovich)
• 1 passenger ship Project 10110: “Ritsa”
• 2 motor ships pr. 485M: "Rainbow-5" and "Rainbow-7" ^[6]
• 3 hydrofoil boats Nevka Project 1432: SK-01 (commander Agrba Slavik Yankovich), SK-02 (commander Butba Daur), SK-03
• 8 hydrofoil boats of the Volga type pr.343ME
• 1 port tugboat type RBT pr. 378: "Dolphin"

(Vitaliy Sashenko - SK-04 commander, Bganba Guram - SK-05 commander, Symsym Astamur Viktorovich - SK-08 commander, Hagush Slavik - SK-25 commander, Sulava Timur - SK-26 commander)

New Athos Division:

• 1 rescue boat of the Chibis type, pr.14100 (commander - Hibba Yuri Azizovich)
• 3 IFA

• 1 MDK of project 106 : Guma (did not participate in the hostilities - it was on a slip near the eastern wall of the Ochamchira naval base)
• 1 tugboat: "MB-7028" (during the war he was in Novorossiysk)

In 1994, the RA Navy was supposed to include two disarmed PSKR Project 205P Tarantul, former PSKR-633 and PSKR-634, but they were crushed by ice in the winter from 1993 to 1994 at Almaz in St. Petersburg.
Bzyb was transferred to the Sukhumi Sea Port ^[7] , it was repaired and converted into a dry cargo ship, and navigation equipment was installed.

In 2001, Alexander Alexandrovich Voinsky resigned. During his service in the Navy of Abkhazia, he became the author of a number of developments in the field of equipping armaments of small vessels, including the installation of multiple launch rocket systems, organized a special unit “Fighting swimmers”, and was awarded the title Hero of Abkhazia .
Until 2001, there were 9 IFAs in the Sukhumi division.

Further development of the Navy of Abkhazia is associated with the purchase of disarmed or decommissioned boats from the countries of the former USSR. In June-August 2004, the Navy of Abkhazia replenished four artillery boats pr.1204 "Bumblebee" (former AK-248, AK-582, AK-599) from the 116th Red Banner brigade of river ships of the Black Sea Fleet ^[8] , purchased with funds Abkhazian diaspora with full full-time armament, one (AK-527) was disassembled for parts to repair the other three ^[4] . Also this year included three boats of the project 1400 "Vulture" : two PSKA-502 and PSKA-504 from the Ochamchira group of training boats, and one PSKA-543 of the Sochi division ^[9] , which were armed with trophies taken from those shot down in 1992-1993 years of Georgian helicopters and SU-25 , which led to the overload of boats, reducing their driving characteristics ^[10] .

In 2004, 4 boats of Project 1415P Kulik were purchased, former PSKA from the Baltic (one of them PSK-011), one boat was dismantled for spare parts. From this period, civilian ships were demobilized ^[11] . Arms were dismantled from passenger ships, and the ships were transferred to the management of the Abkhaz shipping company. In the event of hostilities, they can again be armed and used as light landing or transport ships ^[12] . The largest acquisition was PSKR pr.205P Tarantul , built in the 60s in Leningrad. Purchased unarmed. Armed in Abkhazia: 1 x 2-23 mm ZU-23 -2, MANPADS "Strela-2M" . Perhaps 1 × 122 mm x 40 MLRS BM-21 Grad was re-equipped. For 2015, there is no official confirmation of its presence in the ranks of the Navy of the Republic of Armenia.

Zurab Gitsba, according to a personal report, left the post of commander of the Naval Forces of the Ministry of Defense of Abkhazia. On July 7, 2005, President Sergei Bagapsh signed a Decree appointing the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Abkhazia, Captain 1st Rank Alexander Voinsky, to the post of commander of the Naval Forces of the Ministry of Defense of Abkhazia ^[13] .

In 2006, 2 boats of Flamingo Ave. RV-1415 were purchased unarmed with funds from the Abkhaz diaspora in Greece.

On July 4, 2006, the Emergencies Ministry of Abkhazia was established. A rescue boat of the Chibis type pr.14100 was transferred from the Navy.

3 boats of Project 1415P Kulik and 2 boats of Project RV-1415 Flamingo by 2007 were transferred to the coast guard unit of the border service of Abkhazia. Also, 4 hydrofoil boats Project 343ME Volga were handed over to the Bohr.
A division of border boats is commanded by a captain of the 2nd rank Zurab Gitsba, who in the Soviet years graduated from the Naval Academy named after M.V. Frunze. In the division along with contract soldiers are military servicemen ^[15] .

1992

On the night of August 14-15, by order of V. Arshba, 14 Abkhazian soldiers of the Agudzar battalion, after the battle with the Tbilisi OMON, were taken by sea from Aguzara by boat. The commander of the boat M. Hvarkiya.

Yuri Azizovich Hibba on a rescue boat of project 14100 Chibis on August 17 transported a group of 8 people from New Athos to the village of Tamysh, Ochamchira district.

On August 21, in Pitsunda, the Comet 50 hydrofoil boat with a Georgian crew was captured and escorted to Gudauta. After the transfer of the Georgian military to the headquarters in Gudauta, the Comet 50 was abandoned in Abkhazia and armed.

On August 26, in the Gagra region, Abkhazians fired at a Georgian floating crane transporting military equipment. The press service of the Armed Forces of Abkhazia in Moscow reported this as a major battle. On the morning of August 26 in the Gagra region during a naval battle, troops of the State Council attempted to land troops and armored vehicles. However, the attempt failed, the barge and boat were fired upon and incapacitated by the Abkhaz side. This was the first naval battle of the nascent Abkhazian fleet, in which the Comet 50 captured earlier by L. A. Katiba participated.

At the end of September, as the commander of Nevka SK-01, Agrba Vladimir Yankovich, recalled: “The command set the task of destroying the T-17 tanker and the research vessel Vector, where, according to intelligence, the headquarters of the Georgian command were located. A sabotage group led by Igor Voronin prepared an underwater mine with a clockwork. This was the first operation behind enemy lines. The mine was supposed to be installed by divers - saboteurs Igor Voronin and Vladimir Kalendzhi, and the boat commander was to lead them into the bay and visually show the target. But during the operation in the bay, the boat was discovered and was forced to interrupt the operation. On the night of September 26-27, 1992, they decided to repeat the operation, delivering a missile strike on ships. At that moment, two single-barrel NURS installations were installed on SK-01, and the Alazan installation was installed on the bow of the boat. Near the cargo berth there was a barge fully loaded with cars. And our goal was not visible. A tanker was standing near the pier. At my request to attack the ship, everyone began to object. Then, in order to determine the exact location of the target, I had to go to the shore at a distance of fifty meters and from there go down to the bay. When I started to approach the beginning of the pier, I visually saw a tanker. This was the first use of military weapons in our fleet. Having warned the team, I fired two missiles one by one. One shell hit the shield - damaged lighting, and the second hit the tanker. While the Georgian coast guard understood what was happening, we managed to reload and on the second approach at point-blank range I shot a ship and saw how a shell exploded on board the Kodor barge. After the second approach, the enemy opened dense fire. To save the boat from powerful enemy fire, I had to hide behind the hull of the vessel, which still stands at the entrance to the bay. The operation was successful. "

The next combat operation of the Abkhaz Navy was the participation in October in the liberation of Gagra and its environs, the converted ships “Rainbow-5” and “Rainbow-7” took part in it.

1993

Abkhazian sailors landed several times and blocked the enemy’s naval communications in the 1992-1993 war. "Komsomolets of Abkhazia" and "Sukhum" carried out humanitarian flights to Sochi for food, to occupied Sukhum for refugees as part of a prisoner-of-war exchange program. The Komsomolets of Abkhazia made a flight to Ochamchira in early August 1993 and took out from the Eastern Front a group of fighters of the Cossack battalion and a group of volunteers from the North Caucasus who took part in the July landing in the vicinity of the village of Tumysh.
Armed with MANPADS " Strela-2 " 3 Abkhaz boats and a dirt scow "Bzyb" with an installed NURS unit and two S-60s almost paralyzed the operation of Babushar airport . On their account:

• 07/21/93 the pilots were able to land the aircraft from a boat from a Tu-154 MANPADS 2 miles from the coast.
• 09/20/93 Tu-154 (aircraft 4L-369931) was shot down from a boat by the gunner-gunner of the Atar battalion Arthur Tarba ^[16] .
• 09/21/93 at 16:25, a TU-134A passenger plane (Sukhum OJSC, on-board 4L-65893) flying Sochi – Sukhum flight was shot down over the sea, killing 22 civilians and 5 crew members, including several journalists from Russia and European countries ^[17] . Sailor Dmitry Nagimov knocked him aboard the PSK of the Grif project from MANPADS. The plane crashed near the literary newspaper rest house. This tragedy managed to remove the Georgian television.
• 09/22/93. two Tu-154 ^[18] carrying Georgian Special Forces soldiers from Tbilisi to Sukhum were shot down. The first plane killed 150 people; The second Tu-154B (a / k ORBI, onboard 4L-85163) was hit from MANPADS by boat commander Bulat Shulumbekovich Amaev at 18:32, the plane could reach the runway, but when landing, the plane caught fire and broke into two parts, 100 SpN employees burned alive , and 24 people in the bow of the aircraft managed to survive, including 4 crew members ^[19] .
• 09/23/93 fired at taxiing from NURS empty Tu-134.
• 09/24/93 at the time of take-off, a Su-25 was shot down.

The Abkhaz Navy played one of the decisive roles in the capture of Sukhum in 1993.

The fleet played a significant role in protecting the coast from attacks by Georgian boats. Despite the fact that on the Georgian side there was a greater number of boats, it was the Abkhazian sailors who dominated the waters of Abkhazia.

Losses

• 1 Hydrofoil boat pr.343ME “Volga” - When on duty, he jumped on stones, was damaged and put into reserve, the engine was mounted on another boat from it, after the war it was decommissioned.
• 1 Boat pr.1390 ​​"Swift" suffered in battle, decommissioned.

The Navy of Abkhazia is divided into three divisions. The headquarters is located in the Sukhumi lighthouse area . The main fleet bases are Sukhum , Ochamchira , Pitsunda . The number of employees is more than 700 people. The composition of the Navy includes:

• The first division of marine boats (Sukhumi);
• The second division of marine boats (Pitsunda);
• Third Marine Boat Division (Ochamchira);
• A marine battalion of 350-400 people in service: BMP-2 , SPG-9 , KS-19 , AGS-17 , mortars , AK74 , PM .

The Abkhaz naval system also includes coastal defense units and special forces:

• Three coastal defense batteries (85 mm D-44 guns and 100 mm KS-19 guns);
• An armored train with three guns and a NURS installation;
• Special Unit "Night Angels";
• Special Unit “Fighting Swimmers”;
• Three stationary radar installations.

Joint exercises are ongoing to practice the detention of border violators with Russian sailors ^[20] .

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• "Abkhazia: a chronicle of an undeclared war, part 2, September 15 - October 15, 1992" Press Service of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Abkhazia, 1993
• "Abkhazia: a chronicle of an undeclared war, part 3, October 16 - November 16, 1992" Press Service of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Abkhazia, 1993
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• Georgian Navy
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• Pasyakin V., captain of the 2nd rank "Sukhumi tragedy" Magazine "Marine collection" № 2 1994
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• Preliminary materials of a criminal investigation into the facts of mass killings, genocide and other serious crimes committed by the Georgian authorities and its armed groups during the occupation of Abkhazia in 1992-93.
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• “The price of victory. Adgur Inal-Ipa »APSNYPRESS, December 3, 2012
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