How Albania seized 4 SUBMARINES from the USSR

By the early 1960s, the once warm relations between the two socialist countries had completely deteriorated. Albanian leader Enver Hoxha criticized Nikita Khrushchev for de-Stalinization and the course of peaceful coexistence with the West. He also supported China in its conflict with the USSR.

On this basis, in 1961, 12 Soviet submarines were preparing to leave the naval base in Vlora, where they had been stationed for a long time. But, a problem arose. Earlier, the USSR had handed over four of them to the Albanian fleet as a sign of friendship. Albanian flags had already been raised on two of them and Soviet sailors had been replaced by local ones. The others, meanwhile, still had mixed crews.

When the conflict broke out, Tirana declared all four submarines its property. Moscow, however, declared that Albania was to blame for the deterioration of interstate relations and “not only cannot claim ownership of the submarines and ships, but also deprives itself of the right to use them”.

“The submarines are not yours, the presence of the Albanian flag on them and their transfer by us to the government of the PRA (People's Republic of Albania), according to official documents at the time of arrival at the Vlora base, is only a formal political act on our part,” Rear Admiral Sergei Egorov told his Albanian colleagues.

But, the disputes about ownership led to nothing. So, Hoxha ordered the military to take them under their control by force, but without spilling “a drop of Soviet blood”. Which was done.

The Soviet Union decided not to escalate the conflict, since it had just normalized relations with neighboring Yugoslavia. On May 26, 1961, the remaining eight submarines left Albania and, in December, the countries broke off diplomatic relations.

They were only restored in 1990.