National holiday in Russia
Navy Day
|
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|
Official name
| День Военно-Морского Флота
|
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Also called
| Day of the VMF
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Observed by
|
Russia
|
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Type
| National
|
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Celebrations
| Parades, Fireworks, Rallies (mostly in the naval capital of
St. Petersburg
)
|
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Date
| July 30
|
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Frequency
| annual
|
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Day of the Russian Navy
(
Russian
:
День Военно-Морского Флота России
) is national holiday in the
Russian Federation
and a senior holiday in the
Russian Armed Forces
. The day honors the sailors in units of the
Russian Navy
and its specialized arms (
Naval Aviation
and the
Coastal Troops
consisting of the
Naval Infantry
and the Coastal Missile and Artillery Troops). It is celebrated annually, on the last Sunday of July.
[1]
History
[
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]
The original version of the Russian Navy was founded in 1696 for the
Tsardom of Russia
. In the Soviet Union, Navy Day was established by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the VKPB of June 22, 1939 in June 1939; in connection with the
Battle of Gangut
. The holiday was canceled on October 1, 1980 by the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
. By the Decree of the President of Russia
Vladimir Putin
, Navy Day was reestablished.
[2]
Main Naval Parade
[
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]
Overview
[
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]
Russia celebrates Navy Day with a 2-hour fleet review in
St. Petersburg
near the
Neva River
and the Port of
Kronstadt
, commonly known as the
Main Naval Parade
(
Russian
:
Главный военно-морской парад
). It was established by order of President
Vladimir Putin
on July 27, 2017 as the principal anniversary event in connection with Navy Day celebrations.
[3]
According to Putin, the idea was conceived while he was reading historical literature on his
Ilyushin
presidential plane
, during which he came across an article about a naval parade in Kronstadt during the
Imperial era
, after which he called Defense Minister
Sergey Shoygu
to order him to organize a similar type of event.
[4]
The parade features ships and marine air force units from the
Baltic
,
Black Sea
,
Northern
and
Pacific Fleets
as well as the
Caspian Flotilla
. The naval parade starts at 11:00 AM, with the Commander-in-Chief of the
Russian Navy
(currently Admiral
Nikolai Yevmenov
) being the ceremonial commander of the fleet review formation.
[5]
Holiday commemorative naval parades by ground units and fleet reviews are also held at naval bases all over the country, such as
Sevastopol
,
Kaliningrad
,
Vladivostok
,
Severomorsk
and
Astrakhan
.
[6]
In 2020, a Naval Parade was held in the
Dagestani
city of
Kaspiysk
.
[7]
The
Royal Danish Navy
often monitors Russian ships moving through Danish territorial waters to get to the parade to prevent incidents at sea.
[8]
Order of ceremony
[
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]
The fleet inspection segment begins when the President leaves the Peter and Paul Fortress aboard a presidential review yacht following the inspection of a guard of honor platoon and the Admiralty Navy Band, together with the Commander in Chief of the Navy and the Minister of Defense, to review a number of stationed vessels representing each of the fleets and the surface and submarine forces of the Navy as a whole docked on the Neva River.
A separate ceremony on
Senate Square
in the presence of the
President of Russia
then follows. The ceremony also includes a flag raising ceremony and the presidential holiday address to the nation and the service personnel of the Navy, following which the National Anthem of Russia is played with the firing of a
21-gun salute
. The fleet review segment follows, ending with a flypast of naval aviation and in 2021 a marchpast of naval personnel.
Previous parades
[
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]
In 2019, the holiday's national fleet review was for the first time in many years attended by naval combat ships from
China
,
India
,
Vietnam
and the
Philippines
as well as
military bands
from
Thailand
and Vietnam that performed with the
Central Navy Band of Russia
.
[9]
[10]
Foreign ships such as the Chinese missile destroyer
Xi'an
and the
BRP Davao del Sur (LD-602)
took part. In Sevastopol, the raising of the flag of the
Russian Imperial Navy
battleship
Imperatritsa Mariya
took place during the parade in the presence of Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev
.
[11]
This was done to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Day of the
Soviet Navy
.
[
citation needed
]
The 2020 celebrations marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the
Second World War
and the
bicentennial
of the
First Russian Antarctic Expedition
. In honor of the former, the parade was closed out with the
Alexey Barinov
and D-178 landing boats with
Katyusha rocket launchers
and a
T-34
tank aboard, along soldiers dressed in
Red Army
uniforms and a Soviet naval flag.
[12]
In the parade speech, President Putin announced that the navy would be armed with hypersonic nuclear strike weapons.
[13]
The
Ukrainian government
sent a letter to
Antonio Guterres
, the
Secretary General of the United Nations
, in protest of the organization of a naval parade in Sevastopol, which is located in a region that
Ukraine
says is occupied. On the eve of this letter, the
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
sent a similar note of protest to their Russian counterparts.
[14]
In 2023, the parade saw the highest level of participation by foreign delegations with
Commander of the Iranian Navy
Admiral
Shahram Irani
,
[15]
as well as the heads of four African states (including the
Republic of the Congo
,
[16]
Burkina Faso
,
Eritrea
, and
Mali
, who were in the city for the
Russia?Africa Summit
[17]
) participating.
Navy Day reception
[
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]
An official reception is held after the parade at the
Admiralty building
near the
Admiralty Embankment
.
Other celebrations
[
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]
In 2020, as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
and the postponement of the
2020 Moscow Victory Day Parade
, the
Immortal Regiment march
, which was supposed to be held on 9 May, was also postponed
[18]
and was announced to be held on Navy Day in a videoconference with President Putin and Minister of Defence
Sergey Shoygu
.
[19]
[20]
These plans were later scrapped and the march was postponed until 2021.
[21]
[22]
[23]
Gallery
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]
See also
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]
References
[
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]
External links
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]