The Caspian Flotilla's headquarters are in Astrakhan, but were historically in Baku (now in Azerbaijan) from 1867 until 1991, with additional facilities in Makhachkala (HQ being moved there)[1] and Kaspiysk.

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.

On May 1, 1920, the Soviets established the Caspian Fleet, which comprised three auxiliary cruisers, ten torpedo boats, four submarines and other ships.

However, the idea did not materialize, and on 16 April 1992, the countries agreed in Baku to divide the flotilla with its 50 small and medium-size vessels, bases, a navy school and buildings, which was in sharp contrast to protracted dispute between Russia and Ukraine over splitting the Black Sea Fleet.

[7] On November 13 and 23, 2009, there were two separate sets of explosions at the 31st Arsenal of the Caspian Sea Flotilla, an ammunition depot, in Ulyanovsk.

[9] On October 7, 2015, Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that four Russian Navy warships in the Caspian Sea had fired a total of 26 Kalibr-class cruise missiles at the positions of the terrorist group ISIL in Syria.

[14] In Dagestan, a regiment of the marine infantry was formed on December 1, 2018, as part of the Caspian Flotilla of the Southern Military District (YuVO).

To date, the new formation is fully staffed with modern weapons and military equipment, including BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, 120-mm self-propelled mortars 2S9 Nona, 122-mm howitzers D-30, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) "Eleron" and "Orlan".

[17][18] On November 6, 2024, Ukraine launched a drone attack on the Caspian Flotilla with an A-22 reportedly damaging the Gepard-class frigates Tatarstan and Dagestan and one Buyan-class corvette in the Kaspiysk naval base.