The Soviet Navy, an Overview

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We’ve discussed the USN, now its time to turn our attention to the “Bad Boys from the North”, the Soviet Navy.

The armed forces of the Soviet Union consist of five military services under the Ministry of Defense (MOD) plus the border guards of the Committer for State Security (KGB) and the interior troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). The five military services, listed in their normal order of precedence are:

Strategic Rocket Forces
Air Defense Forces
Ground Forces
Air Forces
Navy

The term Army and Navy is widely used by the Soviet leadership to indicate all of the armed forces. For example, the military political directorate is called the Main Political Administration of the Army and Navy (MPA). However, for all practical and operational basis, the MOD organization has five separate military services.

The Soviet Union is founded on the concept of “top-down” control of the population, the Politburo of the Communist Party being on the top. The Party is an entity officially separate from the national government, although in reality, it controls the government.

Party control of the armed forces is exercised through the Defense Council. This is the highest Soviet military-economic-political planning and decision making body, responsible for preparing the country for war. It is chaired by the General Secretary of the Communist Party and consists of selected members of the Politburo, including the Chairman of the Committee for State Security (KGB), and the heads of the Ministry of Defense, Council of Ministers, GOSPLAN (state economic planning agency) and the Chief of the General Staff.

The Defense Council controls the defense budget and makes the decision to develop and deploy each major weapon system and major warship class. The appointments of senior officers and organizational changes must be approved by the Council. The Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff are the only military officers who are members of the Defense Council.

In wartime, the Defense Council becomes the State Committee of Defense (Gosudarstvenny Komitet Oborony-GKO), essentially a war cabinet that oversees all aspects of the nation, including strategic leadership. At that time, the General Secretary assumes the functions of Supreme Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. When it becomes the GKO, others will join the committee, including the Commander in Chief of Warsaw Pact Forces and the Chief of the Military Industrial Commission (VPK).

The Soviet armed forces have both an administrative and an operational chain of command. The senior peacetime body is the Main Military Council (GVS), which is supported by the Collegium of the Ministry of Defense (KMO), which are responsible to the Defense Council for military strategy, operations, training and readiness. The Minister of Defense heads this council. Other members of the GVS are the five military service chiefs and nine senior defense officials. In wartime the council would become the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (Stavka), which would exercise direct operational control of the armed forces, either through the General Staff or directly through the various theater and front commanders.

The General Staff is the executive agency for the GVS in peacetime and for Stavka during wartime. It is responsible for basic military planning for all the services. Together, the Stavka and the General Staff form the Supreme High Command (VGK).

The General Staff differs significantly from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in two respects: The JCS is composed of a chairman and the heads of the four US Military services and it has a working staff of officers drawn form the services, generally individuals with no specialized staff training who are assigned for two year tours. In contrast, the Soviet General Staff is a professional planning staff, which consists mostly of army officers, with the key positions held only by officers who have graduated from the two-year course at the Voroshilov General Staff Academy, the highest professional military school in the USSR. These are professional staff officers, who may spend their entire senior career on the General Staff or other major planning bodies. As representatives of the Soviet military viewpoint, they do not have to divide their loyalties between the staff and their parent service. Although the General Staff is dominated by Army officers, a senior naval officer has served as deputy chief since 1792.

In peacetime, the MOD administers military activities through four groups of forces (located in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland), 16 military districts within the Soviet Union and four naval fleets. In wartime, the Soviets envision there being, in addition to strategic operations, three theaters of war (Western, Southwestern, Southern and Far Eastern). Commanders and staffs are assigned to these four theater commands.

In these major theaters up to 13 theaters of military operations (TVD) would be established for unified direction of operations. The Soviets do not normally assign commanders and staffs to these TVDs, but would from their staffs from the groups of forces, major border military districts and the MOD.

Currently there appears to be planning for five continental Eurasian TVDs, for maritime NVDs and four intercontinental TVDs. The maritime TVDs are the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and northern Arctic oceans. It seems likely that the maritime TVDs would be under a naval commander during wartime, while naval operations in waters such as the Baltic and Black Seas would be part of the continental Eurasian TVDs.

In wartime, headquarters would be established in some or all of the TVDs as required to direct and coordinate combat and support operations. The continental TVDs would direct the fronts, the supporting air and naval units and the military districts within the area.

The Soviet Navy is an administrative organization as well as an operational command organization for forces afloat and related land-based aviation and marine units.

The Commander in Chief of the Soviet Navy is the equivalent of the US Chief of Naval Operations and Secretary of the Navy. He is both a deputy minister of defense and CinC of the Navy. The CinC directs operations primarily through four fleet commands plus the flotilla command on the inland Caspian Sea. The daily operational control of Soviet strategic missile submarines is vested in the Soviet General Staff (as is control of Soviet strategic aviation and the airborne forces).

The Military Council of the Navy consists of the CinC, the Deputy CinC, the Chief of the Main Naval Staff, the Chief of the Political Directorate as well as the other deputy CinCs (Naval Aviation; Naval Infantry; Shipbuilding & Armaments; Combat Training; Engineering; Rear Services; Education and the fleet commanders) It functions as an advisory body to the CinC providing a senior forum for discussion of major policy issues.

The Soviet Union maintains a large force of special warfare forces known by the Soviet acronym Spetsnaz. These forces are controlled by the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Soviet General Staff.

The Spetsnaz forces conduct reconnaissance and special warfare mission in peacetime as well as in war. Peacetime operations, such as the assassination of Afghanistan’s president in 1979, are under the direction of the KGB.

There are Spetsnaz brigades of some 900-1,300 officers and men assigned to each of the four groups of forces in Europe as wellas several of the major military districts. There are also four naval Spetsnaz brigades that are assigned to the four fleets. All told, there are some 20 Spetsnaz brigades and 41 independent companies.

The KGB Maritime Troops protect Soviet maritime borders against penetration by foreign agents or paramilitary forces and prevent Soviet citizens from leaving by water without proper authorization. The troops operates patrol ships and craft in most, if not all of the nine border districts.

Sources are the “4th Edition Guide to the Soviet Navy” and “Combat Fleets of the World, 1993”

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The Current Soviet naval organization consists of four fleets and one flotilla. The Caspian Flotilla is the sole survivor of the twelve lake, sea and river flotillas that served during World War II. During peacetime, the fleets are administrative as well as tactical organizations.

Each fleet and the Caspian Flotilla has a headquarters. Each fleet has its own naval aviation, naval infantry, coastal defense and special warfare components. The fleet’s warships are organized into brigades and divisions. When ships are formed into a specific grouping or task force, they are designated an eskadra, literally, a squadron. This grouping can be a semi-independent command, such as the Fifth Eskadra in the Mediterranean, commanded by a vice-admiral and its principal control of its operations vested in Naval Headquarters in Moscow. The Soviet naval forces in the Indian Ocean, assigned from the Pacific Fleet, form a similar eskadra.

The Red Banner Northern Fleet is the largest of the three European fleets and is the most important. It is based mainly in the Kola Peninsula and White Sea areas and has more direct access to the Atlantic than do the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. It is responsible for wartime operations in the Atlantic and Arctic regions and provides submarines for operations in the Mediterranean Sea (The 1936 Montreux Convention imposes restrictions on submarine transists between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean).

Russia’s longest and most inhospitable coast is in the Arctic region. The waters are largely icebound in the winter, except for a 70-mile stretch of the Kola Peninsula, which includes the major ports of Perchenga and Murmansk. The region is subjected to long winter nights; in the Murmansk area the sun does not rise above the horizon from mid-November to mid-January.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Northern Fleet was the smallest of the fleets. And while it did participate in extensive combat operations against German naval forces off of northern Norway and Finland, its main use was covering the vital Anglo-British convoys carrying war material to the Soviet Union

During the initial postwar period, the Northern Fleet was considered to be of secondary importance to the Baltic and Black Seas Fleets. This situation changed in the late 1950s, when the forces that would be operating in the Atlantic were shifted to the Northern Fleet, where they would have more direct access to the open sea.

Currently, the Northern Fleet operates almost 50% of the Soviet Navy’s submarines, some 26% of its surface warships, about 27% of the naval aircraft and 26% of the naval personnel. The Northern and Pacific Fleets share all of the Navy’s nuclear submarines and ballistic missile submarines (except for the Golf-class SSBs assigned to the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets).

Northern Fleet is headquarters at Severomorsk, just north of Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula.

Sources are the “4th Edition Guide to the Soviet Navy” and “Combat Fleets of the World, 1993”

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The Twice-Honored Red Banner Baltic Fleet was the principal Russian naval force for most of the period from the time of Peter the Great (1703) until the mid 1950s. Because the Baltic Fleet’s access to the open sea is through waters controlled by NATO navies (Denmark, Norway and West Germany), the Russians decided upon a redeployment of forces. As a result, those air, surface and submarine forces with wartime assignments in the Atlantic were shifted to the Northern Fleet.

Soviet naval forces in the Baltic are intended almost exclusively for operations in that area. The major exceptions are those ships undergoing trails and training in the huge Leningrad shipbuilding complex and training facilities. Thus the main missions of the Baltic Fleet are that of supporting army operations and the conducting of landing and other operations to gain control of the Danish Straits Amphibious operations and other Soviet naval activities would be supported by the East German and Polish navies. At the same time, the Soviet and other Pact forces would seek to deny use of the Baltic to the NATO navies.

The Baltic is of major importance to the Soviet Union as a commercial shipping route from the western Russian industrial region to European and world ports. In addition, Leningrad is the transshipment point for the express container route to Japan across the Soviet Union by train and then by ship to Atlantic nations. From a military point of view, the Baltic forms the northern flank to the Central Front, while the Soviet shipyards on the Baltic are vital to the Soviet fleet in a prolonged conflict.

Much of the northern Baltic, including the Gulf of Finland where Leningrad is located, the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Bothnia, are frozen during the winter. Low clouds in the autumn and winter months limit air operations in the region.

The Baltic Fleet consists primarily of combat forces intended for wartime control of the area, amphibious operations against West Germany or Danish positions, the support of Soviet ground operations and control of the vital waterways. The Baltic Fleet is currently assigned 12 percent of the Soviet Navy’s submarines, 16 percent of its surface warships, 16 percent of its aircraft and about 19 percent of its personnel.

Submarines assigned to the Baltic Fleet are all diesel-electric craft, although nuclear submarines undergoing training, overhaul and modernization are also present.

While the Baltic Fleet is intended principally for Baltic operations, its diesel-electric submarines do conduct patrols into the North Sea and in the waters to the west of Great Britain.

The disproportionate share of personnel assigned to the Baltic Fleet is due to the large number of naval schools located in Leningrad, as well as several major shipyards. Leningrad also has the Central Naval Museum and the Central Naval library (over 1,000,000 volumes).

The Baltic Fleet headquarters is located at Baltiysk (formerly Pillau) near the Lithuanian port of Leningrad (formerly Konigsberg).


Sources are the “4th Edition Guide to the Soviet Navy” and “Combat Fleets of the World, 1993”

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The Red Banner Black Sea Fleet is responsible for operations in the Black Sea, and more importantly, it provides surface warships and aircraft for operations in the Mediterranean Sea as the Fifth Eskadra. The Black Sea Fleet, however, does not provide submarines as already noted in previous posts. This mission is performed by the Northern Fleet. Because of the significance of the Black Sea-Mediterranean operations, the Black Sea Fleet operates a larger percentage of surface warships than the Baltic Fleet.

Black Sea ports are second only to those of the Baltic in handling Soviet maritime imports and exports. As in the Baltic, there are major shipyards located along the Black Sea coast. Despite its relatively southern location, some Black Sea ports, including the leading port of Odessa, are frozen for about six weeks of the year, as is the smaller Sea of Azov, immediately north of the Black Sea. Still, the Black Sea climate is the best in the Soviet Union, with many resorts located along the coast, several reserved for naval personnel. Good flying weather is a major reason the Navy’s air training center is located in the area.

Soviet naval forces have operated continuously in the Mediterranean steadily from 1964 onwards. By the early 1970s, the Soviets had an average daily strength of 50 or more naval units in the Mediterranean. This force reached a peak during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War with some 73 surface ships and over 23 submarines. Efforts by the Soviets to obtain naval bases for the Mediterranean squadron centered on Egypt (until the Soviets were ejected in 1973) and continue in Syria. Air bases are available to the Soviets in Libya as well as Syria.

The typical composition of the Fifth Eskadra is as follows:

7 torpedo attack submarines
2 cruise missile attack submarines
12 cruisers, destroyers and frigates
1-3 minesweepers
1-3 amphibious ships
Approx 25 auxiliary ships, including survey, research and intelligence collection ships.

Soviet combat operation sin the Black and Mediterranean Seas are supported by land-based aircraft from bases in the Crimea. In addition the helicopters of the Moskva-class area based in the Black Sea as are 1-2 of the Kiev-class aircraft carriers. The Black Sea Fleet has the largest cruiser-destroyer force of any of the Soviet fleets. In total, the Black Sea Fleet has 26 percent of the Navy’s major surface combatants, but only some 9 percent of its diesel-electric submarines. The Black Sea Fleet also operates 27 percent of the Navy’s aircraft, including most of the Navy’s training planes, and some 20 percent of its total personnel.

The Black Sea Fleet headquarters is located at Sevastopol.



Sources are the “4th Edition Guide to the Soviet Navy” and “Combat Fleets of the World, 1993”

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The Red Banner Caspian Sea Flotilla is primarily a small patrol force operating in the world’s largest inland sea, which is shared with Iran. Under Peter the Great, the Russians fortified the ports of Baku and Derbend by treaty. Later treaties gave Russian warships the exclusive right to the sea, although Iran continues to operate patrol boats in the area.

Soviet operations on the Caspian continued with the construction of a canal from the Black Sea, permitting the rapid transfer of ships of up to destroyer size between the two bodies of water. Although naval activity on the Caspian is limited, there is considerable shipping with most of the cargo being oil and grain. Offshore oil rigs in the Caspian contribute significantly to the Soviet union’s petroleum production.

The Caspian Flotilla currently operates 4 Riga-class frigates, 1 light frigate, 5 patrol ships, 20 lesser patrol craft, 25 minesweepers, 13 Polnocny-class LSMs, 15 smaller landing craft and several auxiliary ships. No aircraft are assigned to the flotilla. Total personnel strength is about 4,000.

Headquarters of the Caspian Sea Flotilla is located at Baku.


Sources are the “4th Edition Guide to the Soviet Navy” and “Combat Fleets of the World, 1993”

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The Red Banner Pacific Fleet is the largest of the four Soviet fleets and the one with the largest operating area. In wartime, the three European fleets would oppose the United States and NATO forces, the Pacific Fleet would oppose the People’s Republic of China, as well as the United States and its allies (Australia, South Korea, Japan). The peacetime responsibilities of the Pacific Fleet include operations throughout the Pacific and the fleet provides most of the ships that deploy to the Indian Ocean.

With the recent unsettled political situation in the Southeast Asia area, there has been a significant buildup of the Pacific Fleet since 1979. The principal mission of the Pacific Fleet is the defense of the Soviet Siberian coast. Unlike the European fleets, the Pacific Fleet enjoys more direct access to the ocean. The port complex of Vladivostok opens into the Sea of Japan with four major straits giving egress into the Pacific. One exit (Kuril Strait) is controlled by the Russians, the second separates Japan and the Russian-held island of Sakhalin (La Perouse), while the two other exits are controlled by Japan and Japan and South Korea (Tsugaru and the Korean straits, respectively). Their blockade by the US is unlikely, except in the most dire of circumstances, because of the dependence of Japan and South Korea on maritime trade. The second major naval port is Petropavlovsk, on the coast of Kamchatka. Most of the Pacific Fleet’s submarines are based there, where they have direct access to the Pacific.

The Soviet Siberian coast has several ports vital to Soviet trade. These ports move cargo to and from European Russia and they facilitate the economic and politically lucrative trade with the Third World nations of Western South America, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and eastern Africa.

By 1985, the Pacific Fleet consists of almost one-third of the Soviet submarine force (including 25 of the 62 SSBN), 29 percent of the Navy’s major surface warships, some 30 percent of its aircraft and 33 percent of the Navy’s personnel.

Headquarters of the Pacific Fleet is at Vladivostok.


Sources are the “4th Edition Guide to the Soviet Navy” and “Combat Fleets of the World, 1993”