Note: I’m away on vacation biking around Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido with family. The posts in this series are autoposted. Hope you enjoy.

Central Asia is the region in the world furthest from the ocean. One of its few bodies of water, the Aral sea, is running dry. But that hasn’t stopped Kazakhstan from creating a real and functioning navy.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Much of Kazakhstan’s oil wealth lies around and in the Caspian sea, which also borders Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. The country connects via canals to both the Black and the Baltic Seas, from where it is connected to international shipping. The country’s authorities say they want to protect western investments and keep smuggling and other shady activities in check.

Azerbaijian and Turkmenistan also operate small navies in the Caspian. And all these Turkic nations face the same problem—that the peoples of Central Asia have little experience exploring the open sea, so the overwhelming majority of the Kazakh navy is made up of local Russians or persons with training from Soviet times.

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