The Russian Navy Essay Research Paper Russian

The Russian Navy Essay, Research Paper

Russian Navy:

The Northern Fleet

The White Sea and the Barents Sea have been of importance to the Russian merchant fleet ever since the 15th century. Because of this, Russia.s Navy has always been an important part of the Russian Military. The matter of access to ice free harbors in the north became even more important after Germany became a significant naval power in the Baltic Sea. Events during World War I increased the importance of the Kola Peninsula to Russia very much. The Kola Peninsula and the White sea played an vital role in the movement of military supplies to Russia. A naval force dedicated especially to the northern region was established shortly after the outbreak of World War I. This fleet is now know as .The Northern Fleet..

The Northern Fleet, formerly known as the Soviet Fleet of the Northern Seas, was officially established by Joseph Stalin during his visit to Polyarny during the summer of 1933. Prior to the outbreak of WWII, the fleet consisted of eight destroyers, 15 diesel-powered submarines, a formation of patrol boats, mine sweepers and some smaller vessels. During the time when Russia was involved in WWII(1941-1945), the harbors and ports in Kola were key to the Soviet Union. In the south, material from allied countries traveled by the railways, but in the north, many new ships were given to the northern fleet to protect the ships transporting goods. Although this increased the amount of ships in the fleet greatly, by the end of the Russian involvement, many of these ships had been destroyed.

By the end of the war, the United States Navy had become considerably larger and more powerful than the Soviet Union.s. In order to catch up with the American.s head start, the Soviet Union began to build a large naval force of its own. The building of the ships didn.t end until the end of the 1950s. WWII.s use of submarines had shown the tactical and strategic possibilities of this weapon. However, the diesel submarines were severely handicapped because they couldn.t remain permanently submerged. This means that it must spend long periods of time on the surface running the diesel engines, in order to charge the batteries which powered the vessel when submerged. This dilemma caused the beginning of the nuclear powered submarine. The course was officially adopted by the Supreme Soviet on December 21, 1952. Shortly after this, in 1954, the Americans built the first ever nuclear powered submarine, the USS Nautilus. It wasn.t until a year later that the construction of the first Soviet nuclear submarine began. The K-3 Leninsky Komsomol, built in Molotovsk, was launched on August 9, 1957, and then was commissioned to the Northern Fleet in July of 1958.

In the period from 1950 to 1970, the Northern Fleet grew from being the smallest to the largest and most important of the four Soviet fleets(the Northern, Pacific, Baltic, and Black Sea Fleets). Six new Naval bases were built on the Kola peninsula and a number of smaller navy bases for other types of vessels were also established in Pechenga Fjord, Belomorsk, and Novaya Zemlya. At the same time, five large naval yards were built on the Kola Peninsula and in Severodvinsk for the construction and maintenance of nuclear submarines. It was not long before the size of the Soviet fleet of nuclear submarines passed up the United States. About two thirds of all Soviet submarines were based in the Northern Fleet.

Since 1958, there have been four generations of nuclear submarines and a number of nuclear-powered experimental submarines. These subs are built at four different shipyards. By 1995, there were 245 nuclear submarines and four nuclear-powered surface ships. Two thirds of these were delivered to the Northern Fleet, while only one third delivered to the Pacific Fleet. Still, no nuclear submarines have been assigned to the other two fleets, the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets.

The current commander and chief of the Russian Navy is Commander Feliks N. Gromov. The commander and chief of the Northern Fleet is Admiral Oleg A. Yerofeev. The Fleet is separated into departments, each with a different responsibility. The Russian Navy is responsible for the nuclear submarines as long as they are in active service or are held at one of the Northern Fleet’s naval bases. The Navy is also responsible for the three shipyards that service and maintain the nuclear submarines. Besides for that, the state committee for the defense industry is in charge of the other shipyards. The Russian Ministry for Atomic Energy is in charge of all aspects of the fuel for the nuclear reactors in the ships. There are many other organizations that put together the rules concerning the disposal of all nuclear waste and nuclear safety regulations.

The Northern Fleet has undergone some significant changes since 1989. There have been several disarming agreements between the United States and Russia, including the START I and START II treaties. Because of this, the number of strategic submarines and nuclear warheads has been reduced, and the numbers will probably continue to decrease in the years ahead. In 1989, the Soviet Navy had its largest number of nuclear submarines in operation ever, 196 total. Now in 1996, there are 109 nuclear submarines in service, and 67 belong to the Northern Fleet. The number of operational submarines in the Russian Navy will pr