The Arctic Ocean Flotilla (AOF) (Russian: Флотилия Северного Ледовитого океана, or Flotiliya Severnogo Ledovitogo okeana), was a Russian military flotilla stationed in Aleksandrovsk- today's Polyarnyy at the mouth of the Kola Gulf, Iokanga, and Arkhangelsk.
In July 1916, the formation of the AOF began and by September was dominantly complete. By the end of 1917 the AOF comprised the battleship Chesme, cruisers Askold and Varyag, 6 destroyers, 3 submarines and other ships. The AOF's operational zone included the Barents Sea from the Norwegian border to the Kara Gates and the White Sea. Its mission was to secure uninterrupted the sea lines of communications connecting Russia with its Entente allies.
After Bolshevik Russia's withdrawal from World War I, the flotilla comprised approximately 90 combatant and auxiliary ships. In August 1918, the best ships of the AOF were captured by the interventionists and the White Army. The rest of the ships were intentionally put out of commission or destroyed.
Famous quotes containing the words arctic and/or sea:
“Nature confounds her summer distinctions at this season. The heavens seem to be nearer the earth. The elements are less reserved and distinct. Water turns to ice, rain to snow. The day is but a Scandinavian night. The winter is an arctic summer.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In tremendous extremities human souls are like drowning men; well enough they know they are in peril; well enough they know the causes of that peril;Mnevertheless, the sea is the sea, and these drowning men do drown.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)