Soviet Navy

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"[lower-alpha 3] 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.

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 older 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.

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

In the strategic planning laid by the Soviet strategists, the aircraft carriers had little importance and received little attention in a view of supporting the naval strategy of disrupting sea lines of communication – nonetheless, the program of aircraft carriers pursued as way of keeping up the 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 of these 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.

It was during the 1980s that the Soviet Navy acquired 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, and 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]

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

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]

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:

• Baltic Sea: Estonian Navy, Latvian Navy and Lithuanian Navy. All three countries joined NATO in 2004.
• Black Sea: Ukrainian Navy and Georgian Navy. The Georgian Navy was defeated by the Russian Navy at the battle off Abkhazia in 2008. Most of the Ukrainian Navy ships were captured back during the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014.
• Caspian Sea: Azerbaijani Navy, Kazakh Navy and Turkmen Navy.

The Typhoon-class submarine is the largest class of submarine ever built

In 1990, the Soviet Navy had:

• 63 ballistic missile submarines:

6 Project 941 (Typhoon-class) submarines

40 Project 667B (Delta-class) submarines

12 Project 667A (Yankee-class) submarines

5 Project 658 (Hotel-class) submarines

• 72 cruise missile submarines:

6 Oscar-class submarines

6 Yankee Notch submarines

14 Charlie-class submarines

30 Echo-class submarines

16 Juliett-class submarines

• 68 nuclear attack 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

• 63 conventional attack submarines:

18 Kilo-class submarines

20 Tango-class submarines

25 Foxtrot-class submarines

• 9 auxiliary submarines

1 Beluga-class submarine

1 Lima-class submarine

2 India-class submarines

4 Bravo-class submarines

1 Losos-class submarine

• 7 aircraft carriers / helicopter carriers:

1 Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier

4 Kiev-class aircraft carriers

2 Moskva-class helicopter carriers

• 3 battlecruisers:

Kirov-class battlecruiser is a class of nuclear-powered warship

3 Kirov-class battlecruisers

• 30 cruisers:

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

• 45 destroyers:

11 Sovremennyy-class destroyers

11 Udaloy-class destroyers

18 Kashin-class destroyers

3 Kanin-class destroyers

2 Kildin-class destroyers

• 113 frigates:

32 Krivak-class frigates

1 Koni-class frigates

18 Mirka-class frigates

31 Petya-class frigates

31 Riga-class frigates

• 124 corvettes:

10 Parchim-class corvettes

36 Nanuchka-class corvettes

78 Grisha-class corvettes

• 42 amphibious warfare ships:

3 Ivan Rogov-class landing ships

19 Ropucha-class landing ships

14 Alligator-class landing ships

6 Polnocny-class landing ships

• ≈425 patrol boats

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.

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:

• 6 naval infantry regiments (650 marines in two battalions)
• 40 naval infantry brigades of 5–10 battalions, formed from surplus ships' crews. Five brigades were awarded Gvardy (Guards) status.
• Numerous smaller units
• 1 division – the 55th Naval Infantry Division, formerly a Red Army formation

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 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;

• 55th Naval Infantry Division, at Vladivostok (Pacific Fleet)
• 61st Kirkenes Naval Infantry Brigade at Pechenga (Northern Fleet)
• 175th Naval Infantry Brigade, at Tumanny (Northern Fleet)
• 336th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade at Baltiysk (Baltic Fleet)
• 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, at Sevastopol (Black Sea Fleet)

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.

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

• Vasili Mikhailovich Altfater[22] (15 October 1918 – 22 April 1919),
• Yevgeny Andreyevich Berens (24 April 1919 – 5 February 1920),
• Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Nemits (5 February 1920 – 22 November 1921).

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)

• Eduard Samoilovich Pantserzhansky (22 November 1921 – 9 December 1924),
• Vyacheslav Ivanovich Zof (9 December 1924 – 23 August 1926),
• Romuald Adamovich Muklevich (23 August 1926 – 11 June 1931),
• Fleet Flag-officer 1st Rank[23] Vladimir Mitrofanovich Orlov (11 June 1931 – 15 August 1937),
• Fleet Flag-officer 2nd Rank[23] Lev Mikhailovich Galler (10 July – 15 August 1937) Acting,
• Fleet Flag-officer 1st Rank Mikhail Vladimirovich Viktorov (15 August 1937 – 30 December 1937).

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

• Army Commissar 1st Rank Pyotr Alexandrovich Smirnov (30 December 1937 – 5 November 1938),
• Army Commander 1st Rank Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky (5 November 1938 – 20 March 1939),
• Admiral[24] Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (from 27 April 1939).

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

• Fleet Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (to January 1947),
• Admiral Ivan Stepanovich Yumashev (17 January 1947 – 20 July 1951),
• Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (20 July 1951 – 5 January 1956), second term,
• Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (5 January 1956 – 8 December 1985), considered the officer most responsible for reforming the Soviet Navy,
• Fleet Admiral Vladimir Nikolayevich Chernavin (8 December 1985 – December 1991; CIS Navy through August 1992).

Chief of the Naval General Staff

• Behrens, Evgeny Andreevich (1 November 1917 – 22 May 1919)
• Vecheslov, Vladimir Stepanovich (wreed, 22 May – 11 September 1919)
• Melentyev, Alexander Nikolaevich (11 September 1919 – 27 August 1921)

Chief of Staff of the Commander of the Republic Naval Forces

• Radzievsky, Boris Stepanovich (22 July 1919 – 3 July 1920)

Chief of Staff of All Republic Maritime Forces

• Radzievsky, Boris Stepanovich (3 July 1920 – 11 January 1921)
• Dombrovsky, Alexey Vladimirovich (11 January 1921 – 27 August 1921)

Chief of the Naval Staff of the Republic

• Dombrovsky, Alexey Vladimirovich (27 August 1921 – 23 December 1923)

Chief of Staff of the RKKF

• Dombrovsky, Alexey Vladimirovich (23 December 1923 – 17 December 1924)
• Stepanov, Georgy Andreevich (wreed, 17 December 1924 – 2 January 1925)
• Blinov, Sergei Pavlovich (17 December 1924 – 31 August 1926)

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

• Toshakov, Arkady Alexandrovich (31 August 1926 – 23 August 1927, vred until 29 October 1926)
• Petrov, Mikhail Alexandrovich (23 August 1927 – 12 October 1930)
• Ludry, Ivan Martynovich (28 November 1930 – 9 March 1932)
• Panzerzhansky, Eduard Samuilovich (13 April – 4 October 1932)

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

• Gorsky, Mikhail Emelyanovich (4 October 1932 – 20 January 1935)

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

• Panzerzhansky, Eduard Samuilovich (4 October 1932 – 20 January 1935)

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

• Panzerzhansky, Eduard Samuilovich (20 January 1935 – 5 March 1937), 1st rank flagship

Chief of Staff of the Red Army Naval Forces

• Stasevich, Pavel Grigorievich (20 March – 19 August 1937), Captain 1st Rank
• Kalachev, Vladimir Petrovich (19 August 1937 – 3 February 1938), Captain 1st Rank

Chief of the Main Naval Staff of the Navy

• Haller, Lev Mikhailovich (10 January 1938 – 23 October 1940), flagship of the 2nd rank fleet
• Isakov, Ivan Stepanovich (23 October 1940 – 21 April 1945), Admiral, from 1944 Admiral of the Fleet
• Alafuzov, Vladimir Antonovich (Wreed, July 1942 - March 1943), Rear Admiral
• Stepanov, Georgy Andreevich (Wreed, March 1943 - July 1944), Vice Admiral
• Alafuzov, Vladimir Antonovich (Wreed, July 1944 - April 1945), Vice Admiral, from 1944 Admiral
• Kucherov, Stepan Grigorievich (21 April 1945 – 18 February 1946), Admiral

Chief of the Main Staff of the Navy

• Isakov, Ivan Stepanovich (18 February 1946 – 19 February 1947), Admiral of the Fleet
• Golovko, Arseny Grigorievich (19 February 1947 – 10 February 1950), Admiral

Chief of the Naval General Staff

• Golovko, Arseny Grigorievich (10 February 1950 – 6 August 1952), Admiral
• Eliseev, Ivan Dmitrievich (interim, 6 August 1952 – 10 March 1953), Vice Admiral

Chief of the General Staff of the Navy

• Eliseev, Ivan Dmitrievich (interim, 15 March – 11 May 1953), Vice Admiral
• Fokin, Vitaly Alekseevich (11 May 1953 – 16 March 1955), Vice Admiral, from 1953 Admiral

Chief of the Main Staff of the Navy

• Fokin, Vitaly Alekseevich (16 March 1955 – 19 February 1958), Admiral
• Zozulya, Fyodor Vladimirovich (19 February 1958 – 25 May 1964), admiral, died on 21 April 1964.
• Sergeev, Nikolai Dmitrievich (13 June 1964 – 1 July 1977), Vice Admiral, Admiral from 1965, Admiral of the Fleet from 1970
• Egorov, Georgy Mikhailovich (1 July 1977 – 18 November 1981), Admiral of the Fleet
• Chernavin, Vladimir Nikolaevich (16 December 1981 – 29 November 1985), Admiral of the Fleet
• Makarov, Konstantin Valentinovich (30 December 1985 – 12 September 1992), Admiral, since 1989 Admiral of the Fleet