Georgian Navy

The Georgian Navy (Georgian Naval Forces; _ka. საქართველოს სამხედრო საზღვაო ძალები, "sak'art'velos samkhedro-sazghvao dzalebi") is a branch of the Georgian Defense Ministry armed forces. It is responsible for the security of the entire coastline of Georgia, 310 km, as well as the Georgian territorial waters.

The headquarters and a principal naval base are located at the Black Sea port of Poti. The other, smaller naval base is in Batumi, Adjara. Besides the Poti-based naval force, the Georgian navy also includes a Special Counter-terrorist Detachment.

Before the 2008 South Ossetia war, the Georgian Navy consisted of 19 boats and 531 personnel of which 181 are officers, 200 NCOs, 114 conscripts and 36 civilians. [http://www.mod.gov.ge/?l=E&m=5&sm=6 Georgian Navy] . Ministry of Defense of Georgia. Accessed on August 13, 2007.] The current commander is Captain Besik Shengelia.

History

Despite Georgia's location at the Black Sea coast and historical association with maritime commerce, it has never actually possessed any sizable fleet. The first attempt to build a modern navy dates to the country's short-lived independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921. The Georgian navy at that time consisted of a flagship, several sailing-boats, and a few tugs commandeered from Russian owners during the Russian Civil War. The 1921 Red Army invasion brought the nation-building to an end and Georgia became part of the Soviet Union. By 1990, Georgia’s coastal waters had been controlled by the Poti-based 184th Coast Guard Brigade of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Smaller bases were located at Ochamchire, Batumi, Anaklia, and Sukhumi. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Poti brigade was completely withdrawn from Georgia in 1992, having left behind only six vessels. However, the Russian frontier guards continued to patrol Georgia’s coastline until the mid-1990s. In February 1990, the Cabinet of Ministers of Georgia decreed an ad hoc commission for the army-building problems. One of its groups, led by Captain Alexander Javakhishvili, the former commander of a Soviet nuclear submarine, was responsible for building up a navy. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Georgia, not a CIS member at that time, was not included in the initial Russian-Ukrainian Black Sea Fleet partition negotiations in January 1992. Thus, when the separatist war in Abkhazia broke out in 1992, Georgia was without an effective naval force and defense system. The only two significant naval operations during the war included the August 1992 evacuation of 173 women and children from Bichvinta (Pitsunda) and the April 1993 destruction of a pro-Abkhaz Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev’s camp at Gudauta.Georgia set out to build a navy on July 7, 1993 (Georgia’s Navy Day). The navy-building began with equipping fishing vessels by small caliber anti-aircraft guns and machine guns. In 1996, Georgia resumed its demands on its portion of the ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet, and the Russian refusal to allot Georgia a portion of the ex-Soviet navy became another bone of contention in the progressively deteriorating Georgian-Russian relations. This time, Ukraine endorsed Tbilisi’s claims, turning over several patrol boats to the Georgian Navy and starting to train Georgian crews, but was unable to include in the final fleet deal a transfer of the formerly Poti-based vessels to Georgia. [Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's [http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/news/omri/1997/05/970530I.html(opt,mozilla,unix,english,,new) Newsline] . Vol. 1, No. 42, Part I, 30 May 1997] Later, the rest of the Georgian share was decided to be ceded to Russia in return for diminution of debt.

Later in the 1990s, Georgia, with the help of the NATO member states, chiefly the United States, Turkey and Greece, managed to build up a small naval force. Yet, until recently, the Georgian Navy had, in many ways, been the most inferior component of the armed forces without any clear operational doctrine and lacking resources necessary to maintain seaworthy ships or conduct training missions. In contrast, the Georgian Coast Guard, which is part of the Border Guard Department and subordinate to the Interior Ministry, is the most effective force in Georgia today. Responsible for border security, the coast guard polices Georgia's coastline (with the exception of a portion of breakaway Abkhazia's waters), manages the convert|12|nmi|km|0 of territorial water and secures the country's two principal ports, Poti and Batumi. [ [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2006/02/364ca127-7c2f-4249-81ff-943099cf1b90.html Georgia: Gas Cutoff Highlights National Security Flaws] . Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. February 2, 2006.]

Georgia is one of the founding members and a participant of the Black Sea Naval Co-operation Task Group.

Georgian Navy vessels

The Georgian Navy consists of 19 boats. Until 19 August 2008, when it was destroyed by Russian forces, the most powerful combat unit was the missile boat "Dioskuria". The other surface combat vessel, the missile boat "Tbilisi", was found on fire in the Georgian naval base of Poti. The remaining are chiefly patrol boats of various sizes, although there is one larger patrol ship, the "Aeti" (აეტი), formerly the German minesweeper M-1085 "Minden". The navy may have suffered extensive losses in the 2008 South Ossetian Conflict, so the figures are not possibly up to date. On 9 August 2008 one Georgian warship was reported to have been hit by gunfire and sunk by units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet off the Abkhazian coast when allegedly entered a Russia imposed 'security zone' along with three other vessels. [ru icon [http://lenta.ru/news/2008/08/10/destroy1/index.htm Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo confirms sinking of a Georgian boat"] , Lenta.Ru, August 10, 2008] Other units were set on fire or sunk by Russian forces at Poti naval pier on 13 August. [ [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/2008813153517926662.html Russian forces sink Georgian ships] ]

Missile boats

*The "Tbilisi" (თბილისი) is a Soviet 206MR project boat, obtained in 1999 from Ukraine. It is equipped with two Termite missile launchers, a 76 mm AK-176 dual purpose gun and a six-barreled 30 mm AK-630M Gatling gun. The ship was discovered on fire in the Georgian naval base of Poti on August 13 2008. [ [http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6235/12186421371218163121bf8.jpgPicture of The Tbilisi on fire] ]

*The "Dioskuria" (დიოსკურია) is a French-built "La Combattante II" (1971), obtained in 2004 from Greece, formerly the PG "Ypoploiarchos Batsis" (P 17). Equipped with the four MM38 Exocet missile system , two Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannons and two 533 mm torpedo-launchers, she was the most powerful combat craft in the Georgian Navy. [ru icon cite web |url=http://www.abkhaziya.org/server-articles/article-511a62b09f51007d2368eee87ec2f70f.html |title=Secrets of the Georgian military Russian reporter: It is damaged |accessdate=2008-01-18] She too was severely damaged in the 2008 South Ossetia war [ [http://s52.radikal.ru/i135/0808/a2/da3ae349a5ed.jpgPicture of MFAC Dioskuria in Poti with damage behind the bridge] ] and sunk in Poti. [Viz [http://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinsblog/2909813989/] - Photos were tahen on 25. September. Therefore it's not true that "Dioskuria" should be scuttled at sea by Russians…]

References

* [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/slavic/pdfs/army798.pdf Army & Society in Georgia (1998)] . "Slavic & East European Collections at UC Berkeley". Accessed on August 13, 1992.
*ge icon [http://www.geoarmy.info/sazgvao.htm The Georgian Naval Forces]
*ge icon [http://www.geoarmy.info/katerebi.htm Vessels of the Georgian Navy]