Soviet Navy

Last updated

Soviet Navy
Военно-морской флот СССР
Naval Ensign of the Soviet Union (1950-1991).svg
Naval ensign of the Soviet Union
Founded1918 (1918)
Disbanded14 February 1992 (1992-02-14)
Country
Allegiance
Type Navy
Size
Part of Soviet Armed Forces
Nickname(s)Red Fleet
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Insignia
Naval jack Naval Jack of the Soviet Union.svg
Guards Red Banner naval ensign USSR, Naval 1950 redban guards.svg

The Soviet Navy [a] was the naval warfare uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, [b] the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with the opposing superpower, the United States, during the Cold War (1945–1991). [2] The Soviet Navy played a large role during the Cold War, either confronting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in western Europe or power projection to maintain its sphere of influence in eastern Europe. [3]

Contents

The Soviet Navy was divided into four major fleets: the Northern, Pacific, Black Sea, and Baltic Fleets, in addition to the Leningrad Naval Base, which was commanded separately. It also had a smaller force, the Caspian Flotilla, which operated in the Caspian Sea and was followed by a larger fleet, the 5th Squadron, in the Mediterranean Sea. The Soviet Navy included Naval Aviation, Naval Infantry, and the Coastal Artillery.

The Soviet Navy was formed from the remnants of the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russian Civil War. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation inherited the largest part of the Soviet Navy and reformed it into the Russian Navy, with smaller parts becoming the basis for navies of the newly independent post-Soviet states.

Early history

Russian Civil War (1917–1922)

Aurora was unofficially the first Soviet Navy vessel, after it mutinied against the provisional democratic Russian government of Alexander Kerensky in the second 1917 Russian Revolution in October/November. Aurora 1903.jpg
Aurora was unofficially the first Soviet Navy vessel, after it mutinied against the provisional democratic Russian government of Alexander Kerensky in the second 1917 Russian Revolution in October/November.

The Soviet Navy was based on a republican naval force formed from the remnants of the Imperial Russian Navy, which had been almost completely destroyed in the two Revolutions of 1917 (February and October/November) during World War I (1914–1918), the following Russian Civil War (1917–1922), and the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921. During the revolutionary period, Russian sailors deserted their ships at will and generally neglected their duties. The officers were dispersed (some were killed by the Red Terror, some joined the "White" (anti-communist) opposing armies, and others simply resigned) and most of the sailors walked off and left their ships. Work stopped in the shipyards, where uncompleted ships deteriorated rapidly.

The Black Sea Fleet fared no better than the Baltic. The Bolshevik (Communist) revolution entirely disrupted its personnel, with mass murders of officers; the ships were allowed to decay to unserviceability. At the end of April 1918, Imperial German troops moved along the Black Sea coast and entered Crimea and started to advance towards the Sevastopol naval base. The more effective ships were moved from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk where, after an ultimatum from Germany, they were scuttled by Vladimir Lenin's order.

The ships remaining in Sevastopol were captured by the Germans and then, after the later Armistice of 11 November 1918 on the Western Front which ended the War, additional Russian ships were confiscated by the British. On 1 April 1919, during the ensuing Russian Civil War when Red Army forces captured Crimea, the British Royal Navy squadron had to withdraw, but before leaving they damaged all the remaining battleships and sank thirteen new submarines.

When the opposing Czarist White Army captured Crimea in 1919, it rescued and reconditioned a few units. At the end of the civil war, Wrangel's fleet, a White flotilla, moved south through the Black Sea, Dardanelles straits and the Aegean Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to Bizerta in French Tunisia on the North Africa coast, where it was interned.

The first ship of the revolutionary navy could be considered the rebellious Imperial Russian cruiser Aurora, built 1900, whose crew joined the communist Bolsheviks. Sailors of the Baltic fleet supplied the fighting force of the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky during the October Revolution of November 1917 against the democratic provisional government of Alexander Kerensky established after the earlier first revolution of February against the Czar. Some imperial vessels continued to serve after the revolution, albeit with different names.

The Soviet Navy, established as the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet" [c] by a 1918 decree of the new Council of People's Commissars, installed as a temporary Russian revolutionary government, was less than service-ready during the interwar years of 1918 to 1941.

As the country's attentions were largely directed internally, the Navy did not have much funding or training. An indicator of its reputation was that the Soviets were not invited to participate in negotiations for the Washington Naval Treaty of 1921–1922, which limited the size and capabilities of the most powerful navies – British, American, Japanese, French, Italian. The greater part of the old fleet was sold by the Soviet government to post-war Germany for scrap.

In the Baltic Sea there remained only three much-neglected battleships, two cruisers, some ten destroyers, and a few submarines. Despite this state of affairs, the Baltic Fleet remained a significant naval formation, and the Black Sea Fleet also provided a basis for expansion. There also existed some thirty minor-waterways combat flotillas.

Interwar period (1922–1941)

During the 1930s, as the industrialization of the Soviet Union proceeded, plans were made to expand the Soviet Navy into one of the most powerful in the world. Approved by the Labour and Defence Council in 1926, the Naval Shipbuilding Program included plans to construct twelve submarines; the first six were to become known as the Dekabrist class. [4] Beginning 4 November 1926, Technical Bureau Nº 4 (formerly the Submarine Department, and still secret), under the leadership of B.M. Malinin, managed the submarine construction works at the Baltic Shipyard. [4]

In subsequent years, 133 submarines were built to designs developed during Malinin's management. Additional developments included the formation of the Pacific Fleet in 1932 and the Northern Fleet in 1933. [5] The forces were to be built around a core of powerful Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleships. This building program was only in its initial stages by the time the German invasion forced its suspension in 1941.

By the end of 1937, the biggest fleet was the Baltic Fleet based at Leningrad, with two battleships, one training cruiser, eight destroyers including one destroyer leader, five patrol ships, two minesweepers, and some more old minesweepers. [6] The Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol included one battleship, three cruisers, one training cruiser, five destroyers, two patrol ships, and four minesweepers. The Northern Fleet operating from the shores of Kola Bay and Polyarny was made up of three destroyers and three patrol ships, while the Pacific Fleet had two destroyers, transferred east in 1936, and six patrol ships assembled in the Far East.

The Soviet Navy had some minor action in the Winter War against Finland in 1939–1940, on the Baltic Sea. It was limited mainly to cruisers and battleships fighting artillery duels with Finnish forts.[ citation needed ]

World War II: The Great Patriotic War (1941–1945)

Building a Soviet fleet was a national priority, but many senior officers were killed in the Great Purge in the late 1930s. [7] The naval share of the national armaments budget fell from 11.5% in 1941 to 6.6% in 1944. [8]

When the Soviet Union entered the Second World War, during Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, initially millions of soldiers were captured, many sailors and naval guns were detached to reinforce the Red Army; these reassigned naval forces had especially significant roles on land in the battles for Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad, Novorossiysk, Tuapse, and Leningrad. The Baltic fleet was blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by minefields, but the submarines escaped. The surface fleet fought with the anti-aircraft defence of the city and bombarded German positions. [9]

Soviet souvenir naval cap Marinaurss cappello.jpg
Soviet souvenir naval cap

The composition of the Soviet fleets in 1941 included: [10]

In various stages of completion were another 219 vessels including 3 battleships, 2 heavy and 7 light cruisers, 45 destroyers, and 91 submarines.

Included in the totals above are some pre-World War I ships (Novik-class destroyers, some of the cruisers, and all the battleships), some modern ships built in the USSR and Europe (like the Italian-built destroyer Tashkent [11] and the partially completed German cruiser Lützow). During the war, many of the vessels on the slips in Leningrad and Nikolayev were destroyed (mainly by aircraft and mines), but the Soviet Navy received captured Romanian destroyers and Lend-Lease small craft from the U.S., as well as the old Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Sovereign (renamed Arkhangelsk) and the United States Navy cruiser USS Milwaukee (renamed Murmansk) in exchange for the Soviet part of the captured Italian navy.

Pacific Fleet marines of the Soviet Navy hoisting the Soviet naval ensign in Port Arthur, on 1 October 1945 RIAN archive 834147 Hoisting the banner in Port-Artur. WWII (1941-1945).jpg
Pacific Fleet marines of the Soviet Navy hoisting the Soviet naval ensign in Port Arthur, on 1 October 1945

In the Baltic Sea, after Tallinn's capture, surface ships were blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by minefields, where they participated with the anti-aircraft defence of the city and bombarded German positions. One example of Soviet resourcefulness was the battleship Marat, an ageing pre-World War I ship sunk at anchor in Kronstadt's harbour by German Junkers Ju 87 aircraft in 1941. For the rest of the war, the non-submerged part of the ship remained in use as a grounded battery. Submarines, although suffering great losses due to German and Finnish anti-submarine actions, had a major role in the war at sea by disrupting Axis navigation in the Baltic Sea.

In the Black Sea, many ships were damaged by minefields and Axis aviation, but they helped defend naval bases and supply them while besieged, as well as later evacuating them. Heavy naval guns and sailors helped defend port cities during long sieges by Axis armies. In the Arctic Ocean, Soviet Northern Fleet destroyers (Novik class, Type 7, and Type 7U) and smaller craft participated with the anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defence of Allied convoys conducting Lend-Lease cargo shipping. In the Pacific Ocean, the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan before 1945, so some destroyers were transferred to the Northern Fleet. [9]

From the beginning of hostilities, Soviet Naval Aviation provided air support to naval and land operations involving the Soviet Navy. This service was responsible for the operation of shore-based floatplanes, long-range flying boats, catapult-launched and vessel-based planes, and land-based aircraft designated for naval use.

As post-war spoils, the Soviets received several Italian and Japanese warships and much German naval engineering and architectural documentation.

Cold War (1945–1991)

Soviet Navy enlisted personnel stand at attention (1982) Soviet navy personnel (1982).JPEG
Soviet Navy enlisted personnel stand at attention (1982)

In February 1946, the Red Fleet was renamed and became known as the Soviet Navy (Russian : Советский Военно-Морской Флот, romanized: Sovyetsky Voyenno-Morskoy Flot, lit. 'Soviet Military Maritime Fleet'). [12] After the war, the Soviets concluded that they needed a navy that could disrupt supply lines, and display a small naval presence to the developing world. [13] As the natural resources the Soviet Union needed were available on the Eurasian landmass, it did not need a navy to protect a large commercial fleet, as the western navies were configured to do. [13] Later, countering seaborne nuclear delivery systems became another significant objective of the navy, and an impetus for expansion. [13]

The Soviet Navy was structured around submarines and small, maneuverable, tactical vessels. [13] The Soviet shipbuilding program kept yards busy constructing submarines based upon World War II German Kriegsmarine designs, which were launched with great frequency during the immediate post-war years. Afterwards, through a combination of indigenous research and technology obtained through espionage from Nazi Germany and the Western nations, the Soviets gradually improved their submarine designs.

The Soviets were quick to equip their surface fleet with missiles of various sorts. Indeed, it became a feature of Soviet design to place large missiles onto relatively small, but fast, missile boats, while in the West such an approach would never have been considered tactically feasible. The Soviet Navy did also possess several very large and well-armed guided-missile cruisers, like those of the Kirov and Slava classes. By the 1970s, Soviet submarine technology was in some respects more advanced than in the West, and several of their submarine types were considered superior to their American rivals. [14]

The 5th Operational Squadron (ru:5-я Средиземноморская эскадра кораблей ВМФ) [15] operated in the Mediterranean Sea. The squadron's main function was to prevent largescale naval ingress into the Black Sea, which could bypass the need for any invasion to be over the Eurasian land mass. [13] The flagship of the squadron was for a long period the Sverdlov-class cruiser Zhdanov.

Carriers and aviation

Kiev, an aviation cruiser, and the rest of her class constituted an important component of the Soviet anti-submarine warfare system Kiev 1985 DN-SN-86-00684r.jpg
Kiev, an aviation cruiser, and the rest of her class constituted an important component of the Soviet anti-submarine warfare system
The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov deployed off the coast of Italy, as seen patrolling with USS Deyo in 1991 USS Deyo with Admiral Kuznetsov.jpg
The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov deployed off the coast of Italy, as seen patrolling with USS Deyo in 1991

In the strategic planning laid by the Soviet strategists, the aircraft carriers were seen as relatively unimportant and received little attention, as Moscow focused on a naval strategy designed to disrupt sea lines of communication. Nonetheless, the Soviet navy pursued an aircraft carrier program as a way of matching stoking competition with the U.S. Navy. [13]

The Soviet Navy still had the mission of confronting Western submarines, creating a need for large surface vessels to carry anti-submarine helicopters. During 1968 and 1969 the Moskva-class helicopter carriers were first deployed, succeeded by the first of four aircraft-carrying cruisers of the Kiev class, in 1973. Both types were capable of operating ASW helicopters, and the Kiev class also operated V/STOL aircraft (e.g., the Yak-38 'Forger'); they were designed to operate for fleet defense, primarily within range of land-based Soviet Naval Aviation aircraft.

During the 1970s the Soviets began Project 1153 Orel (Eagle), whose stated purpose was to create an aircraft carrier capable of basing fixed-wing fighter aircraft in defense of the deployed fleet. The project was canceled during the planning stages when strategic priorities shifted once more.

In 1981, the Soviet Navy ordered its first true aircraft carrier, Tbilisi , subsequently renamed Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov, [16] which carries Sukhoi Su-33 'Flanker-D' and MiG-29 fighters, as well as Ka-27 helicopters.

A distinctive feature of Soviet aircraft carriers has been their offensive missile armament (as well as long-range anti-aircraft warfare armament), again representing a fleet-defense operational concept, in distinction to the Western emphasis on shore-strike missions from distant deployment. A second carrier (pre-commissioning name Varyag) was under construction when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Construction stopped and the ship was sold later, incomplete, to the People's Republic of China by Ukraine, which inherited part of the old Soviet fleet after the break-up of the USSR. It was commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy in 2012 as the Liaoning.

Soon after the launch of this second Kuznetsov-class ship, the Soviet Navy began the construction of an improved aircraft carrier design, Ulyanovsk, which was to have been slightly larger than the Kuznetsov class and nuclear-powered. The project was terminated, and what little structure had been initiated in the building ways was scrapped.

In part to perform the functions usual to carrier-borne aircraft, the Soviet Navy deployed large numbers of strategic bombers in a maritime role, with the Aviatsiya Voenno-Morskogo Flota (AV-MF, or Naval Aviation service). Strategic bombers like the Tupolev Tu-16 'Badger' and Tu-22M 'Backfire' were deployed with high-speed anti-shipping missiles. Previously believed to be interceptors of NATO supply convoys traveling the sea lines of communication across the North Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America, the primary role of these aircraft was to protect the Soviet mainland from attacks by U.S. carrier task forces. [17]

Submarines

A Whiskey Twin Cylinder-class guided missile submarine, an important platform for launching anti-ship strikes Whiskey Twin Cylinder submarine.jpg
A Whiskey Twin Cylinder-class guided missile submarine, an important platform for launching anti-ship strikes

Due to the Soviet Union's geographic position, submarines were considered the capital ships of the Navy. Submarines could penetrate attempts at blockade, either in the constrained waters of the Baltic and Black Seas or in the remote reaches of the USSR's western Arctic, while surface ships were clearly much easier to find and attack. The USSR had entered the Second World War with more submarines than Germany, but geography and the speed of the German attack precluded it from effectively using its more numerous fleet to its advantage. Because of its opinion that "quantity had a quality of its own" and at the insistence of Admiral of the Fleet Sergey Gorshkov, the Soviet Navy continued to operate many first-generation missile submarines, built in the early 1960s, until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

In some respects, including speed and reactor technology, Soviet submarines achieved unique successes, but for most of the era lagged their Western counterparts in overall capability. In addition to their relatively high speeds and great operating depths they were difficult anti-submarine warfare (ASW) targets to destroy because of their multiple compartments, their large reserve buoyancy, and especially their double-hulled design. [18]

Overseas Facilities and Anchorages Used by Soviet Naval Forces, mid-1980s Overseas Facilities and Anchorages Used by Soviet Naval Forces.png
Overseas Facilities and Anchorages Used by Soviet Naval Forces, mid-1980s

Their principal shortcomings were insufficient noise-damping (American boats were quieter) and primitive sonar technology. Acoustics was a particularly interesting type of information that the Soviets sought about the West's submarine-production methods, and the long-active John Anthony Walker spy ring may have made a major contribution to their knowledge of such. [18]

The Soviet Navy possessed numerous purpose-built guided missile submarines, such as the Oscar-class submarine, as well as many ballistic missile and attack submarines; their Typhoon class are the world's largest submarines. While Western navies assumed that the Soviet attack submarine force was designed for interception of NATO convoys, the Soviet leadership never prepared their submarines for such a mission. [19] Over the years Soviet submarines suffered a number of accidents, most notably on several nuclear boats. The most famous incidents include the Yankee-class submarine K-219, and the Mike-class submarine Komsomolets , both lost to fire, and the far more menacing nuclear reactor leak on the Hotel-class submarine K-19, narrowly averted by her captain. Inadequate nuclear safety, poor damage control, and quality-control issues during construction (particularly on the earlier submarines) were typical causes of accidents. On several occasions there were alleged collisions with American submarines. None of these, however, has been confirmed officially by the U.S. Navy. On 28 August 1976, K-22 (Echo II) collided with frigate USS Voge in the Mediterranean Sea. [20]

Transition

After the dissolution of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Navy, like other branches of Armed Forces, eventually lost some of its units to former Soviet Republics, and was left without funding. Some ships were transferred to former Soviet states:

Inventory

The Typhoon-class submarine is the largest class of submarine ever built Typhoon3.jpg
The Typhoon-class submarine is the largest class of submarine ever built

In 1990, the Soviet Navy had:[ citation needed ]

6 Project 941 (Typhoon-class) submarines
40 Project 667B (Delta-class) submarines
12 Project 667A (Yankee-class) submarines
5 Project 658 (Hotel-class) submarines
6 Oscar-class submarines
6 Yankee Notch submarines
14 Charlie-class submarines
30 Echo-class submarines
16 Juliett-class submarines
5 Akula-class submarines
2 Sierra-class submarines
6 Alfa-class submarines
46 Victor-class submarines
6 November-class submarines
3 Yankee SSN submarine
18 Kilo-class submarines
20 Tango-class submarines
25 Foxtrot-class submarines
1 Beluga-class submarine
1 Lima-class submarine
2 India-class submarines
4 Bravo-class submarines
1 Losos-class submarine
1 Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier
4 Kiev-class aircraft carriers
2 Moskva-class helicopter carriers
Kirov-class battlecruiser is a class of nuclear-powered warship Kirov-class battlecruiser.jpg
Kirov-class battlecruiser is a class of nuclear-powered warship
3 Kirov-class battlecruisers
3 Slava-class cruisers
7 Kara-class cruisers
4 Kresta I-class cruisers
10 Kresta II-class cruisers
4 Kynda-class cruisers
2 Sverdlov-class cruisers
11 Sovremennyy-class destroyers
11 Udaloy-class destroyers
18 Kashin-class destroyers
3 Kanin-class destroyers
2 Kildin-class destroyers
32 Krivak-class frigates
1 Koni-class frigates
18 Mirka-class frigates
31 Petya-class frigates
31 Riga-class frigates
10 Parchim-class corvettes
36 Nanuchka-class corvettes
78 Grisha-class corvettes
3 Ivan Rogov-class landing ships
19 Ropucha-class landing ships
14 Alligator-class landing ships
6 Polnocny-class landing ships

Soviet Naval Aviation

The regular Soviet naval aviation units were created in 1918. They participated in the Russian Civil War, cooperating with the ships and the army during the combats at Petrograd, on the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Volga, the Kama River, Northern Dvina and on the Lake Onega. The newborn Soviet Naval Air Force consisted of only 76 obsolete hydroplanes. Scanty and technically imperfect, it was mostly used for resupplying the ships and the army.

In the second half of the 1920s, the Naval Aviation order of battle began to grow. It received new reconnaissance hydroplanes, bombers, and fighters. In the mid-1930s, the Soviets created the Naval Air Force in the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet and the Soviet Pacific Fleet. The importance of naval aviation had grown significantly by 1938–1940, to become one of the main components of the Soviet Navy. By this time, the Soviets had created formations and units of the torpedo and bomb aviation.

Soviet Marines

World War II Soviet Marines uniform Soviet naval infantry m43 uniform.JPG
World War II Soviet Marines uniform

During World War II, about 350,000 Soviet sailors fought on land. At the beginning of the war, the navy had only one naval brigade in the Baltic fleet, but began forming and training other battalions. These eventually were:

The military situation demanded the deployment of large numbers of marines on land fronts, so the Naval Infantry contributed to the defense of Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad, Novorossiysk, and Kerch. The Naval Infantry conducted over 114 landings, most of which were carried out by platoons and companies. In general, however, Naval Infantry served as regular infantry, without any amphibious training.

They conducted four major operations: two during the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, one during the Caucasus Campaign and one as part of the Landing at Moonsund, in the Baltic. During the war, five brigades and two battalions of naval infantry were awarded Guards status. Nine brigades and six battalions were awarded decorations, and many were given honorary titles. The title Hero of the Soviet Union was bestowed on 122 members of naval infantry units.

The Soviet experience in amphibious warfare in World War II contributed to the development of Soviet combined arms operations. Many members of the Naval Infantry were parachute trained, conducting more drops and successful parachute operations than the Soviet Airborne Troops (VDV).

The Naval Infantry was disbanded in 1947, with some units being transferred to the Coastal Defence Forces.

Soviet Naval Infantrymen in 1985 Soviet naval infantrymen DN-SN-86-00829.jpg
Soviet Naval Infantrymen in 1985
Soviet Naval Infantrymen during a demonstration in 1990 Soviet naval infantrymen DN-SC-91-02252.jpg
Soviet Naval Infantrymen during a demonstration in 1990

In 1961, the Naval Infantry was re-formed and became one of the active combat services of the Navy. Each Fleet was assigned a Marine unit of regiment (and later brigade) size. The Naval Infantry received amphibious versions of standard Armoured fighting vehicle, including tanks used by the Soviet Army.

By 1989, the Naval Infantry numbered 18,000 marines, organized into a Marine Division and 4 independent Marine brigades;

By the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Navy had over eighty landing ships, as well as two Ivan Rogov-class landing ships. The latter could transport one infantry battalion with 40 armoured vehicles and their landing craft. (One of the Rogov ships has since been retired.)

At 75 units, the Soviet Union had the world's largest inventory of combat air-cushion assault craft. In addition, many of the 2,500 vessels of the Soviet merchant fleet (Morflot) could off-load weapons and supplies during amphibious landings.

On 18 November 1990, on the eve of the Paris Summit where the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and the Vienna Document on Confidence and Security-Building Measures (CSBMs) were signed, Soviet data was presented under the so-called initial data exchange. This showed a rather sudden emergence of three so-called coastal defence divisions (including the 3rd at Klaipėda in the Baltic Military District, the 126th in the Odessa Military District and seemingly the 77th Guards Motor Rifle Division with the Northern Fleet), along with three artillery brigades/regiments, subordinate to the Soviet Navy, which had previously been unknown as such to NATO. [21]

Much of the equipment, which was commonly understood to be treaty limited (TLE) was declared to be part of the naval infantry. The Soviet argument was that the CFE excluded all naval forces, including its permanently land-based components. The Soviet Government eventually became convinced that its position could not be maintained.

A proclamation of the Soviet government on 14 July 1991, which was later adopted by its successor states, provided that all "treaty-limited equipment" (tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles) assigned to naval infantry or coastal defense forces, would count against the total treaty entitlement.

Heads of the Soviet Naval Forces

Commanders of the Naval Forces

Commanders of Naval Forces of the RSFSR ("KoMorSi")

Commander-in-Chief's Assistant for Naval Affairs (from 27 August 1921

Commanders-in-Chief of the Naval Forces of the USSR ("NaMorSi") (from 1 January 1924)

People's Commissars for the USSR Navy ("NarKom VMF USSR") (from 1938)

Commanders-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy ("GlavKom VMF") (from 1943)

Chiefs of the General Staff of the Navy

Chief of the Naval General Staff

Chief of Staff of the Commander of the Republic Naval Forces

Chief of Staff of All Republic Maritime Forces

Chief of the Naval Staff of the Republic

Chief of Staff of the RKKF

Head of the Training Directorate of the UVMS of the Red Army

Head of the 1st Directorate of the UVMS of the Red Army

Head of the 2nd Directorate of the UVMS of the Red Army

Head of the 1st Department of the Red Army Naval Forces Directorate

Chief of Staff of the Red Army Naval Forces

Chief of the Main Naval Staff of the Navy

Chief of the Main Staff of the Navy

Chief of the Naval General Staff

Chief of the General Staff of the Navy

Chief of the Main Staff of the Navy

See also

Notes

  1. Russian: Военно-морской флот СССР (ВМФ), romanized: Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR (VMF), lit.'Military Maritime Fleet of the USSR'
  2. Russian:Красный флот, romanized:Krasnyi flot
  3. Russian:Рабоче-крестьянский Ккрасный флотРабо́че (РККФ), romanized:Raboche-krest'yansky krasny flot (RKKF)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cruiser</span> Type of large warships

A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea denial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrier battle group</span> Type of naval fleet with an aircraft carrier

A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The CV in CVBG is the United States Navy hull classification code for an aircraft carrier.

<span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">Kriegsmarine</i></span> Naval warfare branch of Germanys armed forces (1935–1945)

The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe, of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.

<i>Kirov</i>-class battlecruiser Class of Russian battlecruisers

The Kirov class, Soviet designation Project 1144 Orlan, is a class of nuclear-powered guided-missile heavy cruisers of the Soviet Navy and Russian Navy, the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships in operation in the world. Among modern warships, they are second in size only to large aircraft carriers; they are similar in size to a World War I-era battleship. Defence commentators in the West often refer to these ships as battlecruisers – due to their size and general appearance. The Soviet classification of the ship-type is "heavy nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Pacific Fleet</span> US Navy theater-level component command

The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Hawaii, with large secondary facilities at Naval Air Station North Island, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warship</span> Ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare

A warship or combatant ship is a ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are typically faster and more maneuverable than merchant ships. Unlike a merchant ship, which carries cargo, a warship typically carries only weapons, ammunition and supplies for its crew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian Navy</span> Naval arm of the Russian military

The Russian Navy is the naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital ship</span> Leading ship of a naval fleet

The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Fleet</span> Military unit of Russia

The Northern Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltic Fleet</span> Russian Navy fleet

The Baltic Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caspian Flotilla</span> Military unit

The Caspian Flotilla is the flotilla of the Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltic Sea campaigns (1939–1945)</span> WWII Axis and Allied campaigns

The Baltic Sea campaigns were conducted by Axis and Allied naval forces in the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the connected lakes Ladoga and Onega on the Eastern Front of World War II. After early fighting between Polish and German forces, the main combatants were the Kriegsmarine and the Soviet Navy, with Finland supporting the Germans until 1944 and the Soviets thereafter. The Swedish Navy and merchant fleet played important roles, and the British Royal Navy planned Operation Catherine for control of the Baltic Sea and its exit choke point into the North Sea.

Russian battlecruiser <i>Pyotr Velikiy</i> Kirov-class battlecruiser

Pyotr Velikiy is the fourth Kirov-class battlecruiser of the Russian Navy. She was initially named Yuri Andropov after Yuri Andropov, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party, but the ship's name was changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. The Russian designation for the type is "heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser", but Western defense commentators have resurrected the term "battlecruiser" to describe them, as they are the largest surface "line of battle" warships in the world. Pyotr Velikiy is the flagship of the Northern Fleet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British campaign in the Baltic (1918–1919)</span> 1918–1919 British naval intervention during Russian Civil War

The British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919 was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of the Royal Navy campaign was Operation Red Trek. The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia. It failed to secure the control of Petrograd by White Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Fleet (Russia)</span> Russian Navy fleet

The Pacific Fleet is the Russian Navy fleet in the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1731 as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the fleet was known as the Okhotsk Military Flotilla (1731–1856) and Siberian Military Flotilla (1856–1918), formed to defend Russian interests in the Russian Far East region along the Pacific coast. In 1918 the fleet was inherited by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, then the Soviet Union in 1922 as part of the Soviet Navy, being reformed several times before being disbanded in 1926. In 1932 it was re-established as the Pacific Fleet, and was known as the Red Banner Pacific Fleet after World War II as it had earned the Order of the Red Banner. In the Soviet years, the fleet was also responsible for the Soviet Navy's operations in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Red Banner Pacific Fleet was inherited by the Russian Federation as part of the Russian Navy and its current name was adopted.

At the start of World War II, the Royal Navy was the strongest navy in the world, with the largest number of warships built and with naval bases across the globe. It had over 15 battleships and battlecruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 164 destroyers and 66 submarines. With a massive merchant navy, about a third of the world total, it also dominated shipping. The Royal Navy fought in every theatre from the Atlantic, Mediterranean, freezing Northern routes to Russia and the Pacific Ocean.

Soviet cruiser <i>Vitse-Admiral Drozd</i> Naval ship commissioned in 1968

Vitse-Admiral Drozd was the third ship of the Project 1134 Berkut Large Anti-submarine Ships built for the Soviet Navy, also known as the 'Kresta I'-class or Admiral Zozulya-class guided missile cruisers. The vessel was commissioned in 1968 and served with the Baltic and Northern Fleets through the 1970s and 1980s. As well as taking part in naval exercises in the Atlantic, the ship assisted in the rescue of the crew of the stricken submarine K-19 in 1972. As a consequence, the ship was named in the Northern Fleet's book of honour. The vessel was reclassified a Large Rocket Ship in 1977 to reflect its multi-purpose capability. After an upgrade in 1981, Vitse-Admiral Drozd continued to operate in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The vessel observed the 1986 United States bombing of Libya and undertook good will visits to Annaba, Algeria, and Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, as well as Tripoli and Tobruk. After being decommissioned in 1990, the ship was sent to India to be broken up in 1992 but sank en route.

Soviet cruiser <i>Admiral Makarov</i> (1970) Soviet Kresta II-class cruiser

Admiral Makarov was a Project 1134A Berkut A class cruiser of the Soviet Navy and briefly of the Russian Navy. The fourth ship of her class, the ship served mostly during the Cold War, from 1972 to 1992. She served with the Northern Fleet for the duration of her career, often operating in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in order to show the flag, and was refitted between 1983 and 1985. She was decommissioned in 1992 due to deteriorating conditions which reduced naval funding prevented from being addressed before being sold for scrap in 1994.

In the 9th century, the Kievan Rus' had a powerful naval fleet, as shown by their successful siege of Constantinople in 860. However, the fleet was irregular and primarily used for raids. The Mongol Empire's destructive invasion and weaknesses in the fleet led to its dissolution, except for the Principality of Novgorod, which had access to open seas and avoided Mongol invasions. In the 14th century, Novgorod pirates terrorized nearby regions. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, the first proper Russian state, gained access to open waters and marked the beginning of the Golden Age of the Russian Navy. In 1570, Ivan the Terrible created a flotilla to protect Russian navigation in the Baltic Sea, which lasted for about a year. In the 16th century, Russia fought against the Ottoman Empire to gain free access to the Black Sea. In the 17th century, Russian sailors explored the Arctic Ocean and reached the Pacific Ocean, with Semyon Dezhnev discovering the Bering Strait. Naval operations took place during the Russo-Swedish War.

References

  1. "Soviet Military Power 1984 – Chapter III – Theater Forces". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  2. Polmar, Norman; Brooks, Thomas A. (2019). Admiral Gorshkov: The Man Who Challenged the U.S. Navy (google books). Washington DC: Naval Institute Press. pp. i–iii. ISBN   978-1-68247-332-0 . Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  3. Gottfried, Kurt; Bracken, Paul (2019). Reforging European Security: From Confrontation To Cooperation (google books). Routledge. ISBN   978-1-000-30934-8.
  4. 1 2 Periods of Activities (1926–1941), Online (Accessed 5/24/2008) Archived 8 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine , SOE CDB ME "Rubin" Archived 16 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , Russia, Saint-Petersburg
  5. Hill, Alexander (2007). "The birth of the Soviet Northern Fleet 1937–42". The Journal of Slavic Military Studies. 16 (2): 65–82. doi:10.1080/13518040308430560. S2CID   143506251.
  6. Jürgen Rohwer; Mikhail Monakov (November 1996). "The Soviet Union's Ocean-Going Fleet, 1935–1956". The International History Review. 18 (4): 848. JSTOR   40107569.
  7. Jürgen Rohwer and Mikhail S. Monakov, Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programmes, 1935–1953 (Psychology Press, 2001)
  8. Mark Harrison, "The Volume of Soviet Munitions Output, 1937–1945: A Reevaluation," Journal of Economic History (1990) 50#3 pp. 569–589 at p 582
  9. 1 2 Sergeĭ Georgievich Gorshkov, Red Star Rising at Sea (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1974)
  10. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946
  11. "Лидер "Ташкент" Черноморского Флота". Archived from the original on 16 May 2006. Retrieved 30 September 2006. reference
  12. "Красный Флот (Советский Военно-Морской Флот) 1943–1955 гг". army.armor.kiev.ua. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Congressional Research Service (October 1976). "Soviet Oceans Development". 94th Congress, 2nd session. U.S. Government Printing Office. 69-315 WASHINGTON : 1976. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  14. J.E. Moore, "The Modern Soviet Navy", in: Soviet War Power, ed. R. Bonds (Corgi 1982)
  15. Michael Holm, 5th Operational Squadron Archived 25 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 16 February 2012
  16. "The Self-Designing High-Reliability Organization: Aircraft Carrier Flight Operations at Sea Archived 17 August 2000 at the Wayback Machine ." Rochlin, G. I.; La Porte, T. R.; Roberts, K. H. Footnote 39. Naval War College Review . Autumn, 1987, Vol. LI, No. 3.
  17. Tokarev, Maksim (2014). "Kamikazes: The Soviet Legacy". Naval War College Review. 67 (1): 9.
  18. 1 2 Norman Polmar, Guide to the Soviet Navy, 4th ed., (1986), United States Naval Institute, Annapolis Maryland, ISBN   0-87021-240-0
  19. Polmar, Norman; Whitman, Edward (2016). Hunters and Killers: Volume 2: Anti-Submarine Warfare from 1943. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 85–88. ISBN   978-1-61251-897-8.
  20. "Collision with Soviet submarine". United States Department of State. 29 August 1976. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  21. IISS Military Balance 1991–1992, pp. 30–31
  22. Military ranks were abolished in 1918–1935.
  23. 1 2 A naval rank from 1935.
  24. Fleet Flag-officer 2nd Rank from 17 January 1938, Admiral (June 1940), Admiral of the Fleet (February 1944), Rear Admiral (1948), Admiral of the Fleet (1953), Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union (March 1955), Vice-Admiral (February 1956), Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union (1988, posthumous).

Bibliography