Ukrainian Navy (1991-Today)

Ukraine c50 ships, 80,000 personal (1991-2025) c120 ships

Personal note: For long i did not considered making a page about the Ukrainian Navy, partly for historical reasons, and even back in 2014 due to events unfolding there, notably because the site focused on the cold war and rarely ventured afterwards. However from 2022 given the current war in Ukraine, and given that all navies receives a coverage up to modern days, now it’s time. There are in addition many aspects of modern naval warfare which are important for future doctrines and already had consequences on the global stage.

A short bit about Ukrainian History

Long associated with the Russian sphere of Influence, the ancient land of the Scythians is now the second largest country in Europe. Already in antiquity the region was famous for its fertile plains, especially in Crimea, were ancient emporions (greek settlers) flourished in what became the Kingdom of Bosprorus and Chersonese, part of the Sarmatian Empire. It was the second largest provider of cereals after Egypt under the Roman Empire, and from the 6th century BC under Roman, and later Byzantine colonies. Goth, then Huns also settled in the region. It became the centre of Old Great Bulgaria and when Bulgar tribes migrated westwards notably, the Khazars settled there, just as the Sarmatians replaced the Scythians almost a millenia before.

Colonized by the Slavic Antes people, the Ilmen Slavs and Krivichs also dwelled there in the early medieval era, but there was no established kingdom, only separate pastoralist tribes. It’s the rise of the Kievan Rus’ which put this region politically on the map, thanks to former vikings settling on what became Kiev, a rich trade network on a river connecting the Baltic and black sea. The Golden Age of Kyiv (largest and most powerful state in Europe 10-11th AD) whereas Vladimir the Great (980–1015) introduced Christianity in these lands. The cross was featured ever since on national emblems. However this golden age was ended by Mongol Invasions in the 13th cent. BC.

Already the Kievan Rus had a sizeable fleet composed of Lodyas, brought by the Rus, and inspired by nordic trade ships, relatively small to be carried on land and at ease on rivers. After a brief revival under Vladimir II Monomakh and his son Mstislav Kievan Rus disintegrated for good into separate principalities, paying tributes to the Cumans and Kipchaks. The rest was a succession of foreign occupation, under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and at last Russian Empire.

The Don Cossacks capital in 1800

If Ukraine had a prominent figure, these were the famous Cossacks, legendary horsemen, which fought wars in between Russian, Polish and Ottoman influences. The 1600s Cossack Hetmanate was a return of Ukrainian sovereignty but the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 1783, now called Novorossiya, sealed the fate of the country up to 1991. The country became a serie of semi-autonomous regions called successively the Southwestern Krai, Kharkov Governorate, and Chernigov Governorate. Ukrainian fought in WWI, troops fought on the Galician front.

But western Ukrainian people situated between Austria-Hungary and Russia suffered much with villages regularly destroyed and Ukrainians participatied on both sides. Some 20,000 ended in Austrian concentration camps. The 1917 revolution was not accepted by the majority of the population, and the region became a center od operation and later last refuge for “white russians” during the civil war. The wartime era even saw a short lived independent state created by Ukrainian nationalists until the Bolsheviks occupied the region again. Under Stalin, Ukraine was sanctioned for its ambiguous past by the Holodomor, a clear-cut genocide.

In WW2 Ukraine was one objective of Operation Barbarossa, invaded by Army group South and axis co-belligerents, Romanians, Bulgarians, Italians and even Spanish troops. In 1942, Stalingrad was the gateway to Baku and rich petrol fields which Hitler needed in his war of attrition. The Germans hoped to return Galicia and Ukraine as a whole as a puppet state but brutality caused the population to gradually turn against the occupants. Only a fraction of Ukrainians joined the axis like the Ukrainian Liberation Army. About 4.5 to 7 million fought with the Red Army. Marshal Semyon Timoshenko was from this region. Postwar Ukraine was in dire state: 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed and a famine crippled once again the ravaged lands until 1947. On the internaitonal sphere, the Ukrainian SSR was accepted by UN and later under Nikita Khrushchev Crimea was given to the Ukrainian SSR, despite being the host for the Russian Black sea fleet, as a gift.
Under him, Ukraine quickly recovered and soon reached high level of productions in all areas, especially food. Industry rebirth was accompanied by the construction of military plants and full integration of Ukrainian plants into the land army that was maintained during the cold war. Iconic models such as the T-64 were born here.
Apart the shadow of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion, Ukraine economically resisted better than other states of the USSR, although still poor.

The fall of the latter through Belavezha Accords on 8 December 1991 saw the creation of a newly independent state of Ukraine. Outright independence was proclaimed on 24 August 1991, later approved by 92% of the Ukrainian electorate in the 1st December referendum and the country reorganized itsel under its new President, Leonid Kravchuk. Its achille heal however was Crimea, as well as its links with the Russian military in many areas, notably industrials. Agreement were necessary also due to the presence of numerous nuclear weapons withing its border.

At the same time until 1999 the country suffered from a 60% fall of GDP and hyperinflation. In 1996 was introduced a national currency the hryvnia, but economical situation did only improved slowly. Oligarchs soon took hold of everything of value and later Ukraine was hit hard by the 2008 global financial crisis, and after some recovery, the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, and worst of all, the invasion of 2021. And even though the fleet there was still in Russian Hands, agreements granted the new state a small navy “from the heap of the black sea fleet”.

The Ukrainian Navy since 1600

The Cossaks Navy

If the modern Ukrainian Navy dates back 1991, there were various navies operated by ruling powers in Ukraine, the first of which being the Zaporizhian Cossack Fleet. A fleet of small reiveing boats operated by the Zaporizhian Sich Cossacks raided Ottoman settlements along the Black Sea coast. The typical vessel was called a chaika, itself derived from the Lodya. They met great successs, notably the sack of Trabzon. In 1615 a raid was done on Istanbul itself with perhaps 150 ships. The netx year, another Cossack fleet reached the Bosphorus. But a renewed Turkish fleet put an end to this raids in 1617. There was another raid on Istanbul on 1625 however, which this time forced the Sultan to temporarily flee the capital.

Don Cossacks double canoe, 1810

Cossacks positioned their ships in a way to have the sun always at their back, and their ships had a low profile, they were agile and small, offering little as cannons targets. Cossacks however considered their ships as platforms for boarding actions. They carried a wide variety of small arm, muskets, and attacked with grappling hooks, their famous curved sabre, several belt pistols and grenades. They usually tried to capture ships, not to sink them.

Ukrainian People’s Republic navy (1917–1921)

Pamiat Merkuria in 1917, the first Ukrainian Cruiser
The 1917 Russian Revolution saw a revolt on many Russian Imperial Navy’s Black Sea Fleet in the hands of ethnic Ukrainians. These ships were transferred to the newly formed “autonomous Ukrainian People’s Republic”. Mikhail Sablin, commander of the black sea fleet, even raised the colours of the Ukrainian National Republic, on 29 April 1918. However the Ukrainian government soon lost control over coastal territories.

The Ukrainian gunboat Donets

The black sea fleet was under the “Tsentroflot” command, seeing much discussions between Ukrainian, Bolshevik, Menshevik, Social Revolutionaries and Anarchist to its possession. A collection of flags were hoisted hoisted and lowered over changes in the crew’s own political orientation. On 17 October 1917 2nd rank Captain Akimov became representative of the Central Council of Ukraine and a General Secretariat for Naval Affairs was created at Central Rada in Kyiv, then a ministry by January 1918 under D. Antonovich.

The Ukrainian Navy Staff was led by Captain Jerzy Świrski. Blue-yellow flags were hoisted on the masts of the destroyer Zavidniy and Russian cruiser Pamiat Merkuria.
By 22 November 1917 the Black Sea Fleet battleship Imperator Aleksandr III was renamed Volya and joined the new navy as well as several ships and submarines. By December 1917 the Ukrainian Black Seas Fleet squadron also included the Pamiat Merkuria and three destroyers, participating in the evacuation of the 127th Infantry Division from Trabzon to Ukraine. However by 29 December 1917 the Bolsheviks took over the fleet at gunpoint.

Volya, ex. Imperator Aleksander III, the most powerful capital ship of the short-lived Ukrainian Navy

Operation Faustschlag on Sevastopol by the Germans forced Admiral Sablin to negociate and cease hostilities, but terms were rejected and the advance continued. By April 1918 German-Ukrainian troops took back Crimea and by 29 April 1918, RaDM Sablin ordered to hoist Ukrainian national flags on all ships in Sevastopol, becoming the new CiC of the Ukrainian Navy.

The old battleship Georgiy Pobedonosets became its floating HQ. Meanwhile the Bolshevik held ships were forced to be moved under orders by Centroflot to Novorossiysk. By 30 April 1918, Sablin, which trusted the Bolsheviks also sailed to Novorossiysk under the St. Andrew flag and a few ships while the greater part of the Ukrainian fleet remained in Sevastopol (30 destroyers and torpedo boats, 25 auxiliaries, 7 battleships, 15 submarines among others) under RaDM Admiral Myhaylo Ostrogradskiy.

However this fleet was captured by the Germans on 1 May 1918 Germans considering the Bolsheviks violated the peace agreement. On 17 June the fleet was reinforced by one dreadnought and 6 destroyers from Novorossiysk, also captured. Those in Novorossiysk were scuttled under Lenin’s command. By July–November 1918 the Germans retransferred ships under Ukrainian command, now under Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi.

Sevastopol in 1918

Between Odessa and Mykolaiv were also anchored 20 minesweepers, 7 small cruisers, one dreadnought, 30 auxiliaries. In Sevastopol two pre-dreadnoughts remained. By 18 July the Naval Ministry established new naval ensigns, rank flags but kept the old Russian jack and tried to make the old glory of the Black Sea Fleet properly Ukrainian. On 17 September Ukraine also received 17 U-boats from Germany to bosler the fleet.

Ukrainian Marine Corps officers interned in Poland 1919-20.

By December 1918, after the German capitulation, the Entente fleet approached Sevastopol. Ukrainian Rear-admiral V. Klokhkovskyy asked to hoist Russian St. Andrew ensigns to reassure them. Still, the Entente captured the Black Sea Fleet and transferred ships to the Russian “White” forces. Marines corps however were constituted with Ukrainians under Kiev authority until 1921.

This ephemeral Ukrainian fleet was made of the bulk of the black sea fleet, existing From October 1917 to March 1918. It was even larger than the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1914 with nine battleships, seven cruisers, 18 destroyers, 14 submarines, 16 patrol ships, 11 military transports and many other auxiliaries. All facilities and command structure were Ukrainian.
Some notablt came from the Baltic Fleet like the cruiser Krasnyi Krym, the the destroyer Ukraina and Gaidamak. But the core of the Sevastopol fleet comprised the recent dreanought battleships Volya and Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya as well as the old Georgii Pobedonosets used as HQ and barracks ship, the cruiser Pamiat Merkuria, destroyer Zorkiy and Zvonkiy.

Ukrainians in the black sea fleet (1922-1990)

Despite the fall not only of the Russian Whites but also of an independent republic, the new RKKA thought on how best to reconstitute the old Black sea fleet. For more check the interwar history of the Soviet Navy. From then on, until the fall of USSR in 1991, Ukrainian sailors were integrated into the Russian Navy without any preferrence or regime. The situation is very much like the same as in the Austro-Hungarian navy of old between Austrians and Croats. Tensions were real but the Russian grip on Ukrainians was such that no revolt was possible at least until 1990. By then, the rapidly changing political situation started to rise nationalist sentiments among Ukrainian crews, with some ships being mostly crewed by Ukrainians. This led to a serie of defections soon in the Black sea fleet:

Ukraine’s motley fleet (1991-1997)

The first ship to change flag as her captain and crew were Ukrainian, was the Petya class Frigate SKR-112 (see the nomenclature). Her “career” was very short however due to her age and lack of funds. Soon other ships, mostly minor auxiliaries ir coastal units of the Black Sea Fleet managed to left for Odessa as well, this time more peacefully, but it would take until 1997 for the Black Sea Fleet to be officially divided between the two countries. Russian athorized the use of bases in the Crimea Peninsula based on a renewable ten-year lease basis until 2017. Of course it was not renewed and the annexation of Crimea ended the lease.

The motley fleet assembled was however of little use. Most were obsolete and/or inoperative socviet legacy vessels in poor general conditions due to the lack of maintenance already in Russian service. The new Ukrainian naval staff also lacked proper shore-based infrastructure to care for them. Still, Ukraine gained NITKA, the “Scientific testing simulator for shipborne aviation” which was a naval aviation training facility in Saky, and the special forces base in Ochakiv. However since the share was under-regulated, tensions rose from 2014.

Years of Neglect 1998-2014

From 1997 the lack of budget led to simply decommission and scrap most ships, generall the largest and oldest, with the remaining one poorly maintained. In 2009 the largest Ukrainian ship was the frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy (a Krivak class, former Soviet Border Guards ship) wa sbarely capable of long sorties without issues. Tensions were low enough that in 2010 there were Joint exercises between the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Meanwhile the Ukrainian naval staff planned a new corvette design from 2006 to be built in Odessa and completed FY2009 but nothing came of it.

On 19 December 2008 already, US Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor, Jr. told the press MoD Yuriy Yekhanurov discussed acquisition of one up to three form OH Perry class Frigates. By December 2009, the Corvette design project was resurrected, renamed Volodymyr Velykyi-class, and was ultimately completed against all odds. A tender was aired for more corvettes with the Shipbuilding Research and Design Centerof Mykolaiv being selected as project developer. It had an endurance of 30 days as specified on a displacement of 2,500 ton for Mediterranean Operations. DCNS, MBDA, and EuroTorp were selected to deliver the armament with a Commissioning FY2016, four corvettes FY2021 and by March 2011 the program cost was evaluated to ₴16.22 billion. By the time, as of 2014 Navy personal amounted to 15,470. See below for details.

Full Nomenclature of the Ukrainian Navy

SRK-112: First Ukrainian Navy ship, a Petya class frigate, when her crew on 20 July 1992 led by captain Mykola Zhybarev, raised the Ukrainian flag. The Navy HQ in Moscow considered this a mutiny. She SRK-112 left the Crimean peninsula base for Odessa, the Russian launched a chase, attempting to ram her. She took refuge in Odessa and was renamed provisionally U132 Otaman Bilyi when acquired. But her general state (she was built at Yantar in Kaliningrad and launched on August 15, 1967) and maintenance cost, led to decommission her on December 31, 1993. She was thus sold for scrap afterwards.

Specs:

Displacement: 2,500-2,650 tonnes est.
Dimensions: 112 x 13.5 x 3.5 m ( 367 ft 5 in x 44 ft 3 in x 11 ft 6 in)
Powerplant: Not provided yet. Required speed 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Specified Range: 4,000 mi (6,400 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Crew: 110
Sensors (planned): 3D, medium range 3D, ACS, RWC, AF CSR, Sarmat FCRn, RTO/EW system
Armament: 1 × 76 mm/62 OTO Melara, 2×35 mm Oerlikon Millennium, 2×4 Neptune SSM, VLS 16x Dnipro SAM, 2×4 324 mm MU90 torp. NH90 NFH or Ka-27PL Helicopter, hangar.

Krivak III Frigate acquired after the share with the Black sea fleet. Hetman Sahaydachniy was the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy until 2022.
She was laid down on 5 October 1990 at Zalyv yard for the Soviet Border Troops as Kirov but after December 1991, she was acquired by the Ukrainian as she was already in Kerch, launched on 29 March 1992, completed on 2 April 1993 as Hetman Sahaidachny (U130) with a flag ceremony on 4 July 1993. She became the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy for less than a decade. In 1994 she was in France for the 50th-anniversary of D-Day, and by late 1995 was at Abu Dhabi “Idex-95” exhibition. Her visit to Norfolk was cancelled but she stopped in her career in Algeria, Bulgaria, Egypt, Georgia, Gibraltar, Israel, Portugal, Russia and Turkey. She was in refit and modernization in November 2006-2007 in Mykolaiv and in 2008 took part in “Operation Active Endeavour”.

She joined EUNAVFOR by early January 2014 for “Operation Ocean Shield” off the Horn of Africa. While in Greece the crew learned about the annexation of Crimea. She was back in Odesa on 5 March. On 14 March 2014 she approached a Russian group of ships in Ukrainian waters, which withdrew. In September 2014 she was in Odessa for refit. By May 2017 she had an engine failure. By July 2018 she took part in NATO Sea Breeze 2018. By January 2022 she was scheduled for a refit and upgrade but after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she was scuttled in Mykolaiv, about to fall. On 3 March 2022 she was shown on all medias partially sunk and confoirmed scuttled on 4 March by the Ukrainian MOD, likely it was decided and acted upon on 28 February 2022, to prevent capture. She is still in that conditions today, still emerging in shallow waters, but the immersion damage probably means she is now an irreversible write-off.

Specs:

See KRIVAK class

Ex Matka class hydrofoil (1977), reconverted as the patrol boat P153 Pryluky. Built at Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard, commissioned in 1980. She was returned to the Ukrainian Navy from Crimea in May 2014. She served as Missile boat 1991–2018 with the missiles removed, so she is now a pure patrol boat.

US Help: Three ex-Coast Guard ships transferred pre-invasion, in 2019 for the first, and 2021 for the last two. Built originally at Bollinger Shipyards as Island class Patrol Boats, dating back respectively from 1988, 1986 and 1990.

Specs:

Displacement 164 tons
Dimensions: 110 x 21 x 6.5 ft (34 x 6.4 x 2 m)
Propulsion: 2x Paxman-Valeta 16-CM RP-200M: 30+ knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 9,900 miles, 6 days endurance
Crew: 18 (2 officers)
Armament: 1x 25 mm Mk 38 machine gun, 2 × .50 HMGs, RHI (90 HP outboard engine)

Under Project 58155 Gyurza-M, these are Ukrainian designed and built stealthy armored gunboat. The first two were laid down at the Kuznia na Rybalskomu Yard in October 2012. Nine planned by 2017. “Gyurza” is the Levant viper. The first ships were commissioned in December 2016 and a new contract for twenty vessels was scheduled for completion by 2020, but as for now, the serie stopped at the 8th vessels BK-08 Bucha, completed in May 2023.
On 25 November 2018, Berdyansk and Nikopol were seized by the Russian Navy, captured while trying to cross the Kerch Strait for Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. Three Ukrainian crew members were injured during the attack. They were returned on 18 November 2019 but in “sub-par condition” according to Ukrainian medias.
After the fall of Berdiansk, P 179-Vyshhorod and P 174-Akkerman were captured. After the siege of Mariupol, P-177 Kremenchuk and P-178 Lubny were also captured. By May 2023, 4 were active, incl. three captured by Russia, one sunk and raised, and the two captured and returned in 2018, repaired and reactivated in 2020. On 4 November 2022 one ship was damaged by a Lancet drone, as recorded on video by another UAV, a first.

Specs:

Displacement: 54 tons
Dimensions: 23 x 4.8 x 1m (75 ft 6 in x 15 ft 9 in x 3 ft 3 in)
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) RA 900 miles (12 knots)
Crew: 5, armament 2 × BM-5M.01 Katran-M CIWS.

NAVY 18 WP type patrol boats, Former Estonian Navy ships built in 2021. Transferred to the Ukrainian Navy in 2024. The Estonian Navy keeps Roland and Risto.
16 ships planned by the Estonian Navy, also purchased by the Royal Oman Police.

Specs:

Dimensions: 17.25 x 5.42 x 1.6 m (56 ft 7 in x 17 ft 9 in x 5 ft 3 in)
Propulsion: 2 × Volvo Penta D13-1000 diesels with fixed pitch propellers
Performances: 33 knots (38 mph; 61 km/h), 230 nmi (430 km) at 25 kn (46 km/h) range
Crew: 6. Simrad nav radar, 1× 0.5 in HMG/FN Herstal Sea DeFNder RWS, 2 × 7.62 mm GMPG
Ballistic protection.

Zhuk 1400M type CPV (To come)

PO-2 (project 376). Initially P171 AK-03, P172 Rivne, P173 AK-02 had been built in 1972 at the Yaroslavl Shipyard. They were used as Harbor boat 1991–2015. Two more were mobilised into the Navy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in a new river flotilla announced in June 2022 and destroyed by a Russian ZALA Lancet strike on 17 April 2023 according to some sources.

Six Metal Shark combat patrol boats announced delivered by the US in June 2022 as part of a package of 18 vessels, coastal and riverine patrol boats from US stocks. Metal Shark confirmed in the Ukrainian Sea Guard.

Like above, part of the 18 light patrol boats package, 11 delivered 2022, some numbered 216, 232, 419 and 806.

2 vessels (launched 2004-2005) of the RHIb type delivered in 2022.
(More to come)

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