August 5 marks Azerbaijan Navy Day

August 5 marks Azerbaijan Navy Day, Report informs.

The Azerbaijan Navy was established in 1919 during the period of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

In the summer of 1919, as the British were leaving Baku, they handed over the management of the city port and part of the military vessels to the Azerbaijani government. The Azerbaijan Caspian Naval Fleet was formed on the basis of these vessels. This step by the Azerbaijani government became an important measure in protecting the country's maritime borders.

In late 1919, an Azerbaijani military mission led by General Ibrahim agha Usubov purchased six single-gun destroyer boats, 12 destroyer boats, six submarines, 92 naval guns, 10 coastal guns, wireless telegraph devices and other equipment from abroad for the fleet.

In the summer of 1919, the Azerbaijani government invited Admiral Islamov of the Russian fleet, a participant in an expedition to the North Pole and an ethnic Turk, to Azerbaijan to assist in the creation of the national fleet. Azerbaijani captains were assigned to command the warships Astrabad, Kars and Ardahan.

Plans to strengthen the navy's material and technical base and staffing were left unrealized as a result of the April occupation. Soon after the arrival of the Bolsheviks, Azerbaijan's navy was abolished.

After the collapse of the USSR, conditions emerged for the establishment of a naval force in Azerbaijan.

On April 7, 1992, the headquarters of the Naval Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as a guard and support company, were established. Twenty-five percent of the Caspian Naval Fleet and the Higher Naval School were placed at the disposal of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On June 26, 1992, the state flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan was raised on the patrol ship Bakili.

By a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers dated July 15, 1996, the Azerbaijan State Marine Academy was established on the basis of the Baku Maritime School as a new branch of Azerbaijani education to train specialists with higher maritime education.

Under a decree signed by National Leader Heydar Aliyev in 1996, August 5 is marked every year in Azerbaijan as Navy Day.