THE SOVIET–ISRAELI WAR, 1967–1973command of the “combined eskadra.” He personally delivered sealed orders for the
operation to several of the captains involved.^61 Only on 14 June, after the war had
ended, did Navy Commander Gorshkov promulgate a formal decree to create the
permanent, independent Fifth Eskadra, subordinate directly to his headquarters.^62
On 27 June, operational orders were issued to implement the squadron’s formation;
it was to be inaugurated on 14 July, when the designated commander, Rear-Admiral
Boris Petrov, was to be saluted by a regatta at the squadron’s main anchorage,
Antikythera off Crete.
However, the renewed fighting at the northern end of the canal changed the plan
even before Petrov, along with Gorshkov’s first deputy, Fleet Admiral Vladimir
Kasatonov, sailed from Sevastopol on 9 July. Sysoev had already been recalled to
Sevastopol, where he would take command of the Black Sea Fleet in December 1968.
Now the squadron’s interim commander, Rear-Admiral Igor’ Molodtsov, was dis-
patched to Eg ypt, with its flagship and ten other vessels. The regatta had to be can-
celled, but the operational mission fulfilled its purpose even better—to lift spirits in
the squadron, after the frustration that most of its crews felt when their landings in
Israel were aborted. In Kiev, Shelest noted: “our Black Sea Fleet was almost entirely
gone to the Mediterranean. A combative attitude permeates all units, with many
offering to volunteer for desant formations.”^63
And so, on 9 July, the day after the trap set for its forces at Ras el-Ish led Israel to
send its warplanes across the canal, an imminent “visit” of Soviet warships to Port
Said and Alexandria was announced in Moscow—rather unusually for a Sunday.^64
While this was reported in Monday papers in the eastern United States, the actual
arrival of eight ships in Port Said and four in Alexandria was announced early enough
the same day to make the late editions of West Coast papers. Molodtsov made head-
lines around the world by declaring, in an extraordinary press conference with the
governor of Alexandria, that “among units of the visiting fleet are missile carriers
ready to cooperate with your forces to repel any aggression.” The visiting ships were
led by two missile cruisers, including the Dzerzhinsky, now Molodtsov’s flagship and
the Eskadra’s forward command post.
How meager foreign, and especially American, press representation in Eg ypt was at
this point is illustrated by the almost universal, identical misspelling of the officer’s
name as “Molochov,” which traces back to a single AP item.^65 Only agencies catering
mainly to Australia and Europe, where the event came too late for the same day’s papers,
noticed on the following morning that Molodtsov’s statement went unreported in the
Eg yptian press, and quoted “informed sources” whereby the Soviet consulate in
Alexandria had asked to suppress it.^66 Nonetheless, AP’s follow-up story related that
many Eg yptians interpreted the promise of help from Adm. Igor’ Molochov as a major
change. ... There has been no sign in Moscow, however, of any change in the Soviet Union’s
policy of confining its aid to the Arabs to political moves and replacement of some of the
arms lost.^67