Soviet Navy Soviet Naval Ensign The Soviet Navy was the naval arm 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 all-out wars never happened, but the Soviet Navy still saw lots of action during the Cold War. The Soviet Navy included the 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 high seas, 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, possessing a few obsolescent battleships but no aircraft carriers. As the country's attentions were largely directed internally, the Navy did not see much in the way of funding 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 World War II German 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 submarine designs, though always staying a generation behind NATO countries, primarily in noise dampening and sonar technology. On the upside, 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 vessels - and fast missile boats - where, in the West, such a move would never have been considered technologically 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. In 1968 and 1969 the Soviet helicopter carriers Moskva and Leningrad appeared, followed by the first of four aircraft carriers of the Kiev class in 1973. In the 1980s the Soviet Navy acquired its first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Tbilisi (now renamed Admiral Kuznetsov). In another sign of the Soviet Navy's desire to be unique, the Kiev class and Admiral Kuznetsov carriers possessed their own offensive missile component in addition to the organic air arm. Despite these efforts, the Soviet Navy was still short of a large aircraft carrier fleet, as the U.S. Navy possessed, therefore the Soviet Navy was unique in deploying large numbers of strategic bombers in a maritime role by the Aviatsiya Voenno Morskogo Flota (AV-MF, or Naval Aviation). 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. The Soviets also possessed numerous purpose-built guided missile submarines, such as the Oscar class, as well as multitudes of ballistic missile submarines, including the largest submarines in the world, the Typhoon class. Nevertheless, in 1991 at the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Navy was still operating many of their first-generation missile submarines. 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." After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Navy went neglected once again, and was eventually divided among several former Soviet republics. The Black Sea Fleet, in particular, spent several years in limbo before an agreement was reached to divide it between Russia and Ukraine. 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 Nikolai G. Kuznetsov The First Soviet Giants Soviet Submarines Aircraft Carriers Dreadnoughts Red Fleet Flags & Streamers Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. 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