Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet armed forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy was instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in a hot war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to the Western European theatre. However, the Soviet Navy still saw lots of action in the Cold War. The Soviet Navy included the Red Banner Northern Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, the Baltic Fleet, the Caspian Flotilla, Naval Air Force, marines and coastal artillery. The Soviet Navy was reformed into the Russian Navy after the end of the Cold War in 1991.
History
Russians have not had a strong maritime tradition, at least in the same sense that other European powers such as the British and French enjoyed. Largely due to geography, Russia simply did not have the same amount of access to the sea, and what access the nation did have was often constrained by seasonal ice. In addition, Russia's vast size and central placement on Eurasia allowed overland trade routes to many neighbors, thus negating the necessity of a navy to protect seaborne trade.
The Soviet Navy was formed in 1917 out of the ashes of the Imperial Russian Navy. Many vessels continued to serve after the October Revolution, albeit under different names. Arguably, the first ship of the Soviet Navy could be considered to be the rebellious Imperial Russian cruiser Aurora, whose crew joined the bolsheviks.
The Soviet Navy existed in a dilapidated state during the interwar years. As the country's attentions were largely directed internally, the Navy did not see much in the way of fundage or training.
When Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Soviets began to realize that a Navy was more important, after all. Much of the Soviet Navy during World War II was comprised of ex-U.S. Navy Lend-Lease destroyers. They were critical in defending convoys from Kriegsmarine U-boats.
After the war, the Soviets concluded that they must be able to compete with the West at all costs. They embarked upon a program to match the West, if not qualitatively, then at least quantitatively. Boat after boat of submarines based upon Kriegsmarine designs were launched in the immediate post-war years. Afterwards, through a combination of indigenous research and technology "borrowed" from the Germans and Western nations, the Soviets gradually improved their designs, though always staying a generation behind NATO countries, primarily in noise dampening and sonar technology.
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 missiles onto types of vessels where, in the West, such a move would never have been considered. This resulted in such vessels as the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which had a strong offensive component, aside from her organic air arm.
Lacking a large aircraft carrier fleet, as the U.S. Navy possessed, the Soviet Navy was unique in deploying large numbers of strategic bombers in a maritime role. Aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-16 'Badger' and Tu-22M 'Backfire' were deployed with high-speed antishipping missiles. The primary role of these aircraft were to intercept NATO supply convoys, acting as part of Operation REFORGER, en route to Europe from North America.
The large Soviet attack submarine force was geared towards the same role, but also targeted American aircraft carrier battle groups. Guided missile submarines such as the Oscar class, which contained enormous arsenals, were used as well.
The Red Fleet possessed multitudes of ballistic missile submarines, and in 1991 at the end of the Cold War, were still operating many of their first-generation missile subs. The reason for this was that Soviet submarines were less accurate; in addition, it was perceived that many of them were being shadowed by quieter Western attack submarines, and would be picked off at an early stage in any conflict. The Soviets believed in the philosophy of "safety in numbers."
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Commanders-in-Chief of the Soviet Naval Forces
- Vasili Mikhailovich Altfater (October, 1918 — April, 1919)
- Yevgeny Andreyevich Berens (May, 1919 — February, 1920)
- Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Nemits (February, 1920 — December, 1921)
- Eduard Samoilovich Pantserzhansky (December, 1921 — December, 1924)
- Vyacheslav Ivanovich Zof (December, 1924 — August, 1926)
- Romuald Adamovich Muklevich (August, 1926 — July, 1931)
- Vladimir Mitrofanovich Orlov (July, 1931 — July, 1937)
- Mikhail Vladimirovich Viktorov (August, 1937 — January, 1938)
- P.A. Smirnov (January — August, 1938)
- Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky (September, 1938 — April, 1939)
- Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (April, 1939 — January, 1947)
- Ivan Stepanovich Yumashev (January, 1947 — July, 1951)
- Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov - (July, 1951 — January, 1956), second term
- Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov - (January, 1956 - December, 1985). Considered the officer most responsible for reforming the Soviet Navy
- Vladimir Nikolayevich Chernavin - (1985 - 1992)
See also: List of ships of the Soviet Navy
External links
- Admiral Gorshkov and the Soviet Navy (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1982/jul-aug/chipman.html)
- Nikolai G. Kuznetsov (http://admiral.centro.ru/start_e.htm)
- The First Soviet Giants (http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/n87/usw/issue_13/soviets_giants.html)
- Soviet Submarines (http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/const/anatomy/sovietsubs/)
- Aircraft Carriers (http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/russia.htm)
- Dreadnoughts (http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/battleships/russ_dr.htm)
- Red Fleet (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWredN.htm)
- Flags & Streamers (http://www.shiphistory.navy.ru/flagnewe.htm)
Categories: Navies | Soviet Navy | Military of the Soviet Union