The Black Sea Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and the Mediterranean Sea, formed by Prince Grigory Potemkin on 13 May 1783 with Sevastopol, Crimea as its base. The fleet fought against the Ottoman Turks in the Black Sea during the 1790s and participated in Russia's naval intervention against France in the Mediterranean during the War of the Second Coalition, and this fleet would once again return to the Mediterranean to assist the Greek independence cause during the Greek War of Independence. From the Crimean War to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Black Sea Fleet was forcibly downsized due to the demilitarization of the Black Sea, but it was revived due to war with Turkey. The fleet battled with the Ottoman Navy in the Black Sea during World War I, and most of its ships were captured at harbor in Sevastopol by the German Empire following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The fleet sided with the White movement during the Russian Civil War and escaped to Tunisia on the defeat of the White Russian cause, with some ships being transferred to the French Navy and others being sold for scrap. The Soviet Union built a new Black Sea Fleet in the 1930s, building over 500 new ships. The fleet helped in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol during World War II, and, after the war's end, the Black Sea Fleet ensured Soviet domination of the Black Sea. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Black Sea Fleet was degraded due to significant funding cuts, the loss of territory and former Warsaw Pact allies, and, most importantly, the loss of Crimea to a newly independent Ukraine. In 2014, the Black Sea Fleet was modernized and re-established Russian hegemony over the Black Sea due to Russia's annexation of Crimea, and it also projected its power in the Mediterranean during the Syrian Civil War. In 2022, the Black Sea Fleet played a major role in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.