Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy (Russian: Военно-морской флот СССР (ВМФ), tr. Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR (VMF), lit. Military Maritime Fleet of the USSR) was the naval warfare uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. It was usually called the Red Fleet (Russian: Красный флот, tr. Krasnyy flot).

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 Russian SFSR (1918–1922)
 Soviet Union (1922–1991)
 CIS (1991–1992)
AllegianceCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (until 1990)
President of the Soviet Union (1990–1991)
Commonwealth of Independent States (1991–1992)
TypeNavy
Size467,000 personnel (1984)[1]
1,057 ships (1990)
1,172 aircraft (1990)
5 aircraft carriers (1990)
2 helicopter carriers (1990)
3 battlecruisers
30 cruisers
45 destroyers
113 frigates
124 corvettes
63 ballistic missile submarines
72 cruise missile submarine
68 nuclear attack submarine
63 conventional attack submarine
9 auxiliary submarines
35 amphibious warfare ships
425 patrol boats
Part ofSoviet Armed Forces
Nickname(s)Red Fleet
EngagementsRussian Revolution
Russian Civil War
Polish–Soviet War
Soviet–Japanese border conflicts
Invasion of Poland
Winter War (Finland)
World War II (Great Patriotic War)
Soviet invasion of Manchuria
Vietnam War
1966 Soviet submarine global circumnavigation
Cold War
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Fleet Admiral Sergey Gorshkov
Fleet Admiral Nikolay Kuznetsov
Vice Admiral Aleksandr Nemits
Vice Admiral Yevgeny Berens
Fleet Admiral Vasili Altfater
Admiral Ivan Yumashev
Insignia
Naval jackNaval jack of the Soviet Union.svg
Guards Red Banner naval ensignUSSR, Naval 1950 redban guards.svg

The Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning if a war were to every start with the opposing superpower, the United States, during the Cold War period between the two countries.[2] The Soviet Navy played a large role during the Cold War (1945-1991). It confronted the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Western Europe and helped to keep the Soviet sphere of influence in eastern Europe.[3]

Fleets

The Soviet Navy was divided into four major fleets: the Northern, Pacific, Black Sea, and Baltic Fleets. It also had a smaller force, the Caspian Flotilla, which worked in the Caspian Sea and was followed by a larger fleet, the 5th Squadron, in the Middle East. The Soviet Navy included Naval Aviation, Naval Infantry, and the Coastal Artillery.

Disestablishment

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation took the largest part of the Soviet Navy and turned it into the Russian Navy. The rest of the Soviet Navy were given to the other post-Soviet states.

Inventory

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

In 1990, the Soviet Navy had:[4]

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
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 Navy Media

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. "Soviet Navy Ships - 1945-1990 - Cold War". GlobalSecurity.org. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014.

Bibliography

Other websites