The Caspian Flotilla () is the flotilla of the Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea. Established in November 1722 by the order of Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Caspian Flotilla is the oldest brown-water navy flotilla in the Russian Navy. In 1918, the fleet was inherited by the Russian SFSR then the Soviet Union in 1922, where it formed part of the Soviet Navy and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1945. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Caspian Flotilla and most of its vessels were inherited by the Russian Federation. The Caspian Flotilla's headquarters are located in Astrakhan, but were historically in Baku (now in Azerbaijan) from 1867 until 1991, with additional facilities in Makhachkala (HQ being moved there) and Kaspiysk. The current commander is Rear Admiral Aleksandr Peshkov. Establishment The Caspian Flotilla (CF) was created in November 1722 in Astrakhan by the order of Peter the Great. Led by the admiral Fyodor Apraksin, it participated in Peter's Persian campaign of 1722–1723 and the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813), assisting the Russian army in capturing Derbent and Baku during the Persian Expedition of 1796. As a result of the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813, the CF remained the only military flotilla in the Caspian Sea. Baku became its main base in 1867. Revolution As the situation on the Caspian Sea stabilized in due course, the number of ships in the CF began to decrease. By the beginning of the 20th century, it had two gunboats and a few armed steamers. The sailors of the CF were actively engaged in the revolutionary movement in Baku in 1903–1905 and establishment of the Soviet authority in 1917 in that region. In order to provide assistance to the Red Army, they formed the Military Fleet of the Astrakhan Region (Военный флот Астраханского края, or Voyenniy flot Astrakhanskogo kraya) in April – June 1918, reinforced with torpedo boats and submarines from the Baltic Sea in the fall of 1918. On October 13, the Soviets renamed it to the Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla (Астрахано-Каспийская военная флотилия, or Astrakhano-Kaspiyskaya voennaya flotiliya). The ships of the flotilla were captured by the counterrevolutionary Centrocaspian Dictatorship in August 1918 and later regained by the Soviets after the overthrow of the Musavat government. Soviet era In July 1919, the Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla was combined with the Volga Military Flotilla