Pacific Fleet (Russia)

Pacific Fleet
Russian Pacific Fleet sleeve insignia
Active	1731–present
Allegiance	Russian Empire (1703–1917)  Soviet Union (1922–1991)  Russian Federation (1991–present)
Branch	Russian navy
Role	Naval warfare Amphibious warfare
Size	50 Warships 23 Submarines
Part of	Russian Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Vladivostok (HQ) Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Vilyuchinsk
Engagements	Russo-Japanese War October Revolution Russian Civil War World War II
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner
Commanders
Current commander	Adm. Sergei Avakyants
Notable commanders	Adm. Nikolay Kuznetsov Adm.Ivan Yumashev Adm. Zinovy Rozhestvensky

The Pacific Fleet (Russian: Тихоокеанский флот,^[1] translit: Tikhookeanskiy flot) is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Pacific Ocean.

Established in 1731 as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the fleet was known as the Okhotsk Military Flotilla (1731-1856) and Siberian Military Flotilla (1856-1918), formed to defend Russian interests in the Russian Far East region along the Pacific coast. In 1918 the fleet was inherited by the Russian SFSR then the Soviet Union in 1922 as part of the Soviet Navy, being reformed several times before being disbanded in 1926. In 1932 it was re-established as the Pacific Fleet, and was known as the Red Banner Pacific Fleet (Краснознамённый Тихоокеанский флот) after World War II as it had earned the Order of the Red Banner. In the Soviet years, the fleet was also responsible for the Soviet Navy's operations in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Red Banner Pacific Fleet was inherited by the Russian Federation as part of the Russian Navy and its current name was adopted.

The Pacific Fleet's headquarters is located in Vladivostok, with numerous facilities within the Peter the Great Gulf in Primorsky Krai, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vilyuchinsk in Avacha Bay on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Kamchatka Krai. Following the APEC Russia 2012 summit, it was announced that the main naval base of the Pacific Fleet in the Russian Far East will be moved to the town of Fokino, Primorsky Krai. The current commander is Admiral Sergei Avakyants, who has held the position since May 2012.

History

In 1731, the Imperial Russian Navy created the Okhotsk Military Flotilla (Охотская военная флотилия, Okhotskaya voyennaya flotiliya) under its first commander, Grigoriy Skornyakov-Pisarev, to patrol and transport government goods to and from Kamchatka. In 1799, 3 frigates and 3 smaller ships were sent to Okhotsk under the command of Rear-Admiral I. Fomin to form a functioning military flotilla. In 1849, Petropavlovsk-na-Kamchatke became the Flotilla's principal base, which a year later would be transferred to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur and later to Vladivostok in 1871. In 1854, the men of the Flotilla distinguished themselves in the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy during the Crimean War, (1853-1856). In 1856, the Okhotsk Military Flotilla changed its name to the "Siberian Military Flotilla" (Сибирская военная флотилия, Sibirskaya voyennaya flotiliya).

In 1860, the provisions of the Convention of Peking ceded parts of Outer Manchuria in northeastern China, including the modern day Primorsky Krai to the Russian Empire. A large squadron under Rear Admiral A. A. Popov was sent from the Baltic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean. During the American Civil War ships of the squadron visited San Francisco while the Baltic Fleet visited New York City. Parts of the squadron, including the Finnish corvette Kalevala, returned to the Baltic in 1865.

At the turn of the 19th century, the Flotilla was still small in numbers. Owing to a gradual deterioration in Russo-Japanese relations, the Imperial Russian government adopted a special shipbuilding program to meet the needs of the Russian Far East region, but its execution dragged on and in addition there were several clashes and defeats between Russian and Imperial Japanese Navy vessels. In response, the Naval headquarters in St. Petersburg ordered the Baltic Fleet to the Pacific to reinforce Russian naval forces, primarily the Pacific Squadron on the east coast of Asia and its naval base at Port Arthur.

By the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, Imperial Russian naval forces in the Far East consisted of the 1st Pacific Squadron (7 battleships, 8 cruisers, 13 torpedo boats, 2 gunboats) and a number of ships from the "Siberian Military Flotilla" (2 cruisers, 2 mine cruisers, 12 torpedo boats and 5 gunboats), based in Port Arthur. Other ships of the "Siberian Military Flotilla" (4 cruisers, 10 torpedo boats) were stationed in Vladivostok.

During the Russo-Japanese War, most of the Russian Navy in the Pacific was destroyed. The Russian Baltic Fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, renamed the Second Pacific Squadron, was defeated at the Battle of Tsushima.

The headquarters of the Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok

During the Russian Revolution of 1905, the sailors of the Pacific Fleet were actively engaged in the revolutionary movement, participating in armed revolts in Vladivostok in January 1906 and October 1907. During the October Revolution of 1917, the sailors of the Siberian and Amur military flotillas fought for the establishment of Soviet authority in the Far East and against the White army and interventionists. During the Russian Civil War, almost all of the ships of the Pacific Fleet were seized by the White army and the Japanese. After the departure of the interventionists in 1922, the Soviets created the Naval Forces of the Far East, under commander Ivan Kozhanov, as a part of the Vladivostok unit, and the Amur Military Flotilla (Амурская военная флотилия, or Amurskaya voyennaya flotiliya). In 1926, these were disbanded: the Vladivostok unit was transferred to the command of the frontier troops in the Far East, and the Amur flotilla became a flotilla of its own.

World War II

Light cruiser Lazar Kaganovich

During the Great Patriotic War (the Soviet World War II campaign against Nazi Germany of 1941–45) the Pacific Fleet was in a permanent state of alert and ready for action, although the Soviets remained neutral with respect to the Empire of Japan, the only Axis power in the Pacific, even after Japan entered World War II. At the same time, the Soviets transferred a destroyer leader, two destroyers, and five submarines from the Pacific Fleet to the Northern Fleet. More than 140,000 sailors from the Pacific Fleet were incorporated in the rifle brigades and other units on the Soviet front against Germans in Europe. By August 1945, the Pacific Fleet consisted of two cruisers, one destroyer leader, ten destroyers, two torpedo boats, 19 patrol boats, 78 submarines, ten minelayers, 52 minesweepers, 49 "MO" anti-submarine boats (MO stands for Малый Охотник, or "little hunter"), 204 motor torpedo boats and 1459 war planes.

During the Soviet–Japanese War of 1945, the Pacific Fleet participated in the removal of the Empire of Japan from Northern Korea (a part of the Manchurian Operation of 1945), in the Invasion of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands Landing Operation the same year.

Thousands of sailors and officers were awarded orders and medals for outstanding military service; more than fifty men received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Eighteen ships and fleet units received the title of the Soviet Guards, and sixteen were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Ships of the Soviet Pacific Fleet at Vladivostok in 1990

Current fleet

Commanders of the Pacific Fleet

• Mikhail Vladimirovich Viktorov (from April 1932)
• Grigoriy Petrovich Kireyev (from August 1937)
• Nikolay Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (from January 1938)
• Ivan Stepanovich Yumashev (from August 1939)

In January 1947, the Pacific Fleet was divided into the 5th and 7th fleets:

In April 1953, the Fleets were once again combined under one Pacific Fleet command:

• Yuriy Aleksandrovich Panteleyev (from January 1953)
• Valentin Andreyevich Chekurov (from January 1956)
• Vitaliy Alekseyevich Fokin (from February 1958)
• Nikolay Nikolayevich Amelko (from June 1962)
• Nikolai Ivanovich Smirnov (from March 1969)
• Vladimir Petrovich Maslov (from September 1974)
• Emil Nikolayevich Spiridonov (from August 1979)
• Vladimir Vasilyevich Sidorov (from February 1986)
• Gennadiy Aleksandrovich Khvatov (From December 1986)
• Georgiy Nikolayevich Gurinov (from March 1993)
• Igor Nikolayevich Khmelnov (from August 1994)
• Vladimir Ivanovich Kuroyedov (from February 1996)
• Mikhail Georgiyevich Zakharenko (from July 1997)
• Gennadiy Aleksandrovich Suchkov (from July 2001)
• Viktor Dmitriyevich Fedorov (from December 2001)
• Konstantin Semyonovich Sidenko (from December 2007)
• Sergey Iosifovich Avakyants (Acting from August 2010 - appointed Commander 3 May 2012)

Structure

• Fleet HQ (Vladivostok)
  • Seaboard (Primorsk) Combined Forces Flotilla
    • Flotilla HQ (Fokino)
    • 36th Surface ship Division
    • 44th Anti-submarine ship Brigade
    • 100th Assault ship Brigade
    • 19th Submarine Brigade
    • 165th Surface ship Brigade
    • 34th Rescue vessel Brigade
    • 31st Auxiliary vessel Brigade
    • 72nd Brigade of ships under construction and repair
    • 515th Intelligence ship Brigade
  • Naval Infantry and Coastal Missile-Artillery Troops
    • Naval Infantry HQ (Vladivostok)
    • 155th Guards Red Banner Naval Infantry Brigade - Vladivostok (formerly 55th Red Banner Naval Infantry Division)
      • 165th Naval Infantry Regiment
      • 390th Naval Infantry Regiment
      • 84th Naval Infantry Tank Battalion
      • 263rd Naval Infantry Reconnaissance Battalion
      • 287th Naval Infantry Self-Propelled Artillery Battery
      • 1484th Naval Infantry Communications Battalion
      • Brigade Air Defense Battery
    • 180th Naval Engineering Battalion
    • 72nd Fleet Independent Coastal Defense Missile and Artillery Regiment
    • 217th Fleet Radio-electronic Regiment
    • 140th Fleet Signals Detachment
    • 165th Independent Naval Infantry Brigade (to be raised 2018)
  • Pacific Naval Air Forces
    • HQ, Pacific Naval Air Forces
    • 7062nd Air Base Command
      • 568th Combined Air Regiment
      • 289th Combined Anti-submarine Air Regiment
      • 71st Air Transport Squadron
      • 72nd Coastal Missile Regiment
      • 217th Electronic Warfare Air Regiment
• Northeast Group of Troops and Forces (NEGTF)
  • Group HQ (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy)
  • Kamchatka Flotilla
    • 16th Submarine Squadron
      • 10th Submarine Division
      • 25th Submarine Division
    • 182nd Submarine Brigade Flotilla
    • 114th Coastal defense ship Brigade
    • 438th Rescue vessel Division
    • 84th Auxiliary vessel Brigade
  • Naval Infantry and Coastal Missile-Artillery Division
    • 40th Krasnodar-Harbin Twice Red Banner Naval Infantry Brigade
    • 1532nd Missile Regiment (Surface-to-Air Missile)
    • 520th Coastal Missile-Artillery Brigade
  • Naval Air Forces of the NEGTF
    • 865th Fighter Regiment
    • 317th Combined Air Regiment
    • 175th Shipborne Anti-submarine Helicopter Squadron
    • 216th Combined Electronic Warfare Regiment
    • 1532nd Anti-air Warfare Regiment

See also

• Grigory Pasko - former officer of the Russian Navy, editor of Boyevaya Vakhta (Battle Watch), in-house newspaper of the Pacific Fleet, and prisoner of conscience

References

Further reading

• Muraviev, Alexey D. (2007). The Russian Pacific Fleet: From the Crimean War to Perestroika (PDF). Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs No. 20. Canberra: Seapower Centre - Australia. ISBN 978-0-642-29667-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2009.