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Soviet Navy
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The Soviet Navy (literally "Naval Fleet of the USSR") was the naval part of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have been instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in an all-out war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to the Western European theatre. Such a conflict never occurred, but the Soviet Navy still saw considerable action during the Cold War.
The Soviet Navy was divided into several major fleets: Northern Fleet, the Pacific Ocean Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, and the Baltic Fleet.
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The Soviet Navy (literally "Naval Fleet of the USSR") was the naval part of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have been instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in an all-out war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to the Western European theatre. Such a conflict never occurred, but the Soviet Navy still saw considerable action during the Cold War.
The Soviet Navy was divided into several major fleets: Northern Fleet, the Pacific Ocean Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, and the Baltic Fleet. The Caspian Flotilla was a semi-independent formation administratively under the Black Sea Fleet command while the Soviet Indian Ocean Squadron drew its units from and was under the jurisdiction of the Pacific Ocean Fleet. Other components included the Naval Aviation, Naval Infantry (the Soviet equivalent of marines), and coastal artillery. The Soviet Navy was reformed into the Russian Navy after the end of the Cold War in 1991.
History
Early history
The Soviet Navy was formed in 1917 out of the remnants of the Imperial Russian Navy. The old Russian Navy was almost completely destroyed during the Revolution of 1917, the Russian civil war and the Kronstadt rebellion. During the revolution sailors deserted their ships at will, and generally neglected their duties. The officers were dispersed ( some were killed in the red terror, some joined white armies and some resigned and left the Navy) and most of the sailors left the ships. Owing to stoppage of the work in the shipyards, uncompleted ships were rapidly becoming scrap iron.
The Black sea fleet fared not better then the Baltic. The Bolshevik revolution entirely decomposed its personnel; the ships were allowed to rot and go to ruin. Owing to mass murders of the officers, the personnel was reduced to helpless insignificance. At the end of April 1918, the German troops entered the Crimea and started to advance towards Sevastopol naval base. All of the more effective ships were moved from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, where after an ultimatum from Germany they were sunk on Lenin's order. Ships remaining in Sevastopol were captured by the Germans and then, after November 1918, by the British. On April 1, 1919, when Red army forces captured the Crimea, the British squadron had to withdraw. Before leaving, the British damaged all the remaining battleships and sunk 13 new submarines. When the White Army captured the Crimea in 1919, it rescued and reconditioned few units. At the end of the civil war, white fleet moved to Bizerta in French Tunisia where it was interned.
Some vessels continued to serve after the October Revolution, albeit under different names. In fact, the first ship of the Soviet Navy could be considered to be the rebellious Imperial Russian cruiser Aurora, whose crew joined the Bolsheviks. Sailors of the Baltic fleet were the fighting force of bolsheviks during the October revolution.
The Soviet Navy, established as the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet" (Russian: ??????-???????????? ??????? ????, Raboche-Krest'yansky Krasny Flot or RKKF) by 1918 Decree of the Soviet government, existed in a less then service-ready state during the interwar years. Greater part of old ships was sold by the Soviet government to Germany for breaking-up. In the Baltic, there remained only 3 much neglected battleships, 2 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 30 minor waterways combat flotillas. As the country's attentions were largely directed internally, the Navy did not see much in the way of funding or training. A telling indicator of the perceived threat of the Navy was that the Soviets were not invited to participate in the Washington Naval Treaty, which served to limit the size and capabilities of the most powerful navies.
However, in 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, a Naval Shipbuilding Program included plans to construct twelve submarines and the first six were to become known as the Dekabrist class.
Since November 4, 1926, the Technical Bureau No.4 under the leadership of B.M. Malinin was managing the submarine construction works at the Baltic Shipyard. The name Technical Bureau No.4 was given to the former Submarine Department and is still a secret department.In subsequent years, 133 submarines were built to the designs developed under Malinin's leadership.
Additional plans included the formation of the Pacific ocean Fleet in 1932 and the Northern Fleet in 1933. This force was to be built around a core of powerful Sovietsky Soyuz class battleships. This building program was in its initial stages by the time the German invasion in 1941 forced its suspension.
The Winter War in 1939–1940 saw some minor action on the Baltic Sea, limited mainly to artillery duels between Finnish forts and Soviet cruisers and battleships.
After the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, many sailors and naval guns were sent to help the Red Army and these reassigned naval forces took part in every major action on the Eastern Front. Soviet naval personnel played especially significant land roles in the battles for Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad, Novorossiysk, Tuapse, and Leningrad.
The composition of the Soviet fleets in 1941 included (Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946):
- 3 battleships
- 7 cruisers (including 4 modern Kirov-class cruisers)
- 59 destroyer-leaders and squadron-destroyers (including 46 modern Type 7 destroyers and Type 7U destroyers)
- 218 submarines
- 269 torpedo boats
- 22 patrol vessels
- 88 minesweepers
- 77 submarine hunters and a range of other smaller vessels
In various stages of completion were another 219 vessels including 3 battleships, 2 heavy and 7 light cruisers, 45 destroyers, and 91 submarines.
The above also included some pre-WWI ships (Novik-class destroyers, some Cruisers, all Battleships), some modern ships built in Soviet Union and Europe (like the Italian-built destroyer Tashkent or 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 also received captured Romanian destroyers and lend-lease small crafts from the U.S., as well as old RN battleship HMS Royal Sovereign named Arkhangelsk and US navy cruiser Milwaukee named Murmansk given in exchange for the Soviet part of the captured Italian navy.
In the Baltic Sea, after Tallinn's capture, surface ships were blockaded in Leningrad - Kronstadt by minefields, where they took part in anti-aircraft defense of the city and bombardment of German positions. One example of Soviet resourcefulness was the battleship Marat, an aging pre-WWI ship sunk at anchor in Kronstadt's harbor by German Stukas 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 heavy losses due to German-Finnish antisubmarine actions, played a major role in the war at sea by disrupting Axis navigation in the Baltic.
In the Black Sea, many ships were damaged by minefields and Axis aviation, but they helped defend naval bases and supply them under siege, as well as later evacuating them. Heavy naval guns and courageous sailors helped defend naval cities long after they were besieged by Axis armies.
In the Arctic Ocean, Soviet Northern Fleet destroyers (Novik-class, Type 7, Type 7U) and smaller craft participated in the anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense 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.
As post war spoils, the Soviets received several Italian warships.
Cold War
In February 1946, the military branch assumed a new name of the Soviet Naval Fleet
After the war, the Soviets concluded that they needed to be able to compete with the West at all costs. They embarked upon a program to match the West. The Soviet shipbuilding program kept yards busy constructing submarines based upon World War II German Kriegsmarine designs, and were launched with great frequency in 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, though they initially and typically lagged a generation behind NATO countries.
The Soviets quickly caught up with their Western counterparts. The Soviets were quick to equip their surface fleet with missiles of various sorts. In fact, it became a hallmark of Soviet design to place gigantic missiles onto relatively small, and fast, missile boats. By contrast, in the West, such a move would never have been considered tactically feasible. Nevertheless the Soviet Navy also possessed several very large guided missile cruisers with awesome firepower, such as those of the Kirov class and the Slava class cruisers. Some of their submarines were considered superior to their American rivals.
Carriers and aviation
The Soviet Navy generally placed less importance on aircraft carriers than their American rivals, perhaps due to the vast geographical stretch and coastline of the USSR. However, it was felt that a carrier force of some form was needed.
In 1968 and 1969 the Soviet Moskva class helicopter carriers appeared, followed by the first of four aircraft carriers of the Kiev class in 1973. Both of these classes were capable only of operating helicopters and V/STOL aircraft (eg. the Yak-38 'Forger'), and are thought to have been designed to operate primarily within range of land-based Soviet Naval Aviation aircraft.
In the 1970s the Soviets undertook Project OREL with the stated purpose of creating a supercarrier capable of competing against American equivalents. However, the project was canceled while still on the drawing board when strategic priorities shifted once more.
In the 1980s the Soviet Navy acquired its first true aircraft carrier, Tbilisi (subsequently renamed Admiral Kuznetsov). A distinctive feature of Soviet carriers is their offensive missile armament (as well as a long-range AAW suite), reflecting an operational concept which placed less emphasis on escort vessels, compared with Western carrier operations.
In the late half of the 1980s, the Soviet Navy again began the construction of a supercarrier, Ulyanovsk, which would have carried such aircraft as the Sukhoi Su-33 'Flanker-D'. Though the vessel was approximately 40% complete, the end of the Cold War and a major funding crunch ended the project. The incomplete Ulyanovsk hulk was later sold for scrap.
In part to fill the role of aircraft carriers, the Soviet Navy deployed large numbers of strategic bombers in a maritime role, as part of Aviatsiya Voenno-Morskogo Flota (AV-MF, or Naval Aviation). Strategic bombers such as the Tupolev Tu-16 'Badger' and Tu-22M 'Backfire' were deployed with high-speed anti-shipping missiles. The primary role of these aircraft was the interception of NATO supply convoys traveling the sea lines of communication between Europe and North America, and thus countering Operation REFORGER.
Submarines
In some respects, including speed and reactor technology Soviet submarines were, and remain, some of the world's best. In addition to their relatively high speeds and deep operating depths they were difficult ASW targets because of their multiple compartments, large reserve buoyancy, and especially their double-hull design.
Their primary shortcomings were insufficient noise dampening (American boats were quieter) and sonar technology. It is in the area of acoustics as well as production methods the Soviets had sought the West's submarine-related technology. It is in acoustics that the long-active Walker spy ring may have made a major contribution to Soviet knowledge.
The Soviets possessed numerous purpose-built guided missile submarines, such as the Oscar class, as well as many ballistic missile submarines and attack submarines. The Soviet navy's Typhoon class boats are the world's largest submarines. The Soviet attack submarine force was, like the rest of the navy, geared towards the interception of NATO convoys, but also targeted American aircraft carrier battle groups.
Over the years, Soviet submarines suffered a number of accidents, most notably on several nuclear boats. The most famous incidents include the K-219, and Komsomolets, both lost to fire; and the far more menacing nuclear reactor leak on the K-19 narrowly averted by her captain. Inadequate nuclear safety, poor damage control and quality control issues during construction (particularly on earlier submarines) were typical causes for accidents. On several occasions, mishaps were alleged to have stemmed from collisions with American submarines. This however has not been confirmed officially by the United States Navy, which maintains a policy of secrecy regarding nuclear incidents.
Because of its "safety in numbers" philosophy, the Soviet Navy continued to operate many first-generation missile submarines, until the end of the Cold War in 1991.
Transition and the future
After the dissolution of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Navy was, like other branches of Armed Forces, eventually divided among several former Soviet republics, and left bereft of funding. The Black Sea Fleet, in particular, spent several years in limbo before an agreement was reached to divide it between Russia, Ukraine and Georgia . The resulting lack of naval presence, particularly in the Western Pacific, is blamed as one factor contributing to the rise of piracy since the 1990s..
Heads of the Soviet Naval Forces
Commanders of Naval Forces of Respublica ("KoMorSi")
- Vasili Mikhailovich Altfater (October 15, 191815.10.1918 — April 22, 1919),
- Yevgeny Andreyevich Berens (April 24, 1919— February 5, 1920),
- Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Nemits (Februrary 5, 1920 — November 22, 1921),
Commander-in-chief's Assistant for Naval Affairs (since August 27, 1921)
Chiefs of Naval Forces of U.S.S.R. ("NaMorSi") (since January 1, 1924)
- Eduard Samoilovich Pantserzhansky (December 22, 1921 — December 9, 1924),
- Vyacheslav Ivanovich Zof (December 9, 1924 — August 23, 1926),
- Romuald Adamovich Muklevich (August 23, 1926 — June 11, 1931),
- Fleet's Flag-officer of 1st Rank Vladimir Mitrofanovich Orlov (June 11, 1931 — August 15, 1937),
- Fleet's Flag-officer of 1st Rank Mikhail Vladimirovich Viktorov (August 15, 1937 — December 30, 1937),
People's Commissars for U.S.S.R. Navy ("NarKom VMF") (since 1938)
- Army Commissar of 1st Rank Pyotr Andreyevich Smirnov (December 30, 1937 — November 5, 1938),
- Commander of Army of 1st Rank Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky (November 5, 1938 — March 20, 1939),
- Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (since April 27, 1939)
Commanders-in-Chief of the U.S.S.R. Navy ("GlavKom VMF") (since 1943)
- Admiral of the Fleet Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (to January, 1947),
- Admiral Ivan Stepanovich Yumashev (January 17, 1947 — July, 1951),
- Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (July 20, 1951 — January 5, 1956), second term,
- Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (January 5, 1956 — December 8, 1985). Considered the officer most responsible for reforming the Soviet Navy
- Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Nikolayevich Chernavin (December 8, 1985 — August, 1992)
See also
Bibliography
- Sontag, Sherry; Drew, Christopher; Drew, Annette Lawrence (1998). Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage. Harper. ISBN 0-06-103004-X.
- Nilsen, Thomas; Kudrik, Igor; Nikitin, Aleksandr (1996). . Oslo/St. Petersburg: Bellona Foundation. ISBN 82-993138-5-6. Chapter 8, "Nuclear submarine accidents".
- Oberg, James (1988). . New York, NY: Random House. ISBN 0-394-56095-7.
- Goldstein, Lyle; Zhukov, Yuri (2004). . Naval War College Review.
- Goldstein, Lyle; John Hattendorf; Zhukov, Yuri. (2005) . Journal of Strategic Studies. ISSN 0140-2390
External links
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