165th Surface Ship Brigade
Identification
Michael Holm’s order-of-battle history identifies the formation as the 165th Surface Ship Brigade, based at Uliss Bay, Vladivostok, and records its renaming on 1 May 1998 from the 165th Missile Ship Brigade. TASS biographical entries also place the 2nd Guards missile-boat divizion and the 11th water-area-protection divizion in Malyy Uliss/Vladivostok, so the supplied coordinates are best assessed as the brigade’s berthing area in the Malyy Uliss sector of the Pacific Fleet base. ([ww2.dk](https://www.ww2.dk/new/navy/165brrk.htm?utm_source=openai))
Subunits
TASS biographies place the 2nd Guards missile-boat divizion in Malyy Uliss in 1991-1992 and the 11th water-area-protection divizion there under the 165th brigade by 1998-2000; currently accessible public fleet rosters continue to list both under the 165th brigade. Those rosters associate the site with Project 12411/12411M missile boats, Project 1124M small anti-submarine ships, and Project 1265 coastal minesweepers, but exact day-to-day hull presence at these piers is not officially confirmed. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/encyclopedia/person/vitko-aleksandr-viktorovich?utm_source=openai))
Strike role
The missile-boat element is used for short-range sea-control and base-defense tasks in the Sea of Japan approaches. TASS reported that TOF missile boats R-11, R-14, R-18 and R-19 carried out a coordinated Moskit anti-ship strike drill during Vostok-2022, and in May 2024 TOF missile boats rehearsed defending Vladivostok basing points against a surface threat and unmanned boats. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/15642099?utm_source=openai))
OVR role
The water-area-protection element supports harbor and near-coast anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties. TASS/TOF reporting showed MPK Ust-Ilimsk in anti-submarine exercises in 2023-2024, while special exercises in Vladivostok in August 2024 included convoy formation, passage behind trawls, mine destruction, foreign-submarine search with Ka-27PL support, and deployment of a temporary basing point—an activity set closely matching an OVR formation. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/20368001?utm_source=openai))
Support zone
The location sits inside an active Primorskaya Flotilla support zone in Uliss Bay. TASS said in September 2024 that Putin would visit the flotilla’s basing point in Uliss Bay, and in May 2025 the fleet held a public ceremony at the same Vladivostok basing area; TASS separately notes that Vostochnaya Verf is on the shore of Malyy Uliss, and a 2020 drifting-dock incident showed fleet tugs responding directly inside Uliss to protect flotilla piers. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/politika/21761731?utm_source=openai))