Baltic Fleet

As early as 1861, the first armor-clad ships were built for the Baltic Fleet. In 1863, during the American Civil War, most of the Fleet's ocean-going ships, including the flagship Alexander Nevsky were sent to New York City. At the same time ten Uragan-class monitors based on the American-designed Passaic- class monitors were launched. It was the policy of the Czar and his government to show support for the Northern Union Army in the United States during their Civil War, observing and exchanging naval tactics and cooperation. In 1869, the fleet commissioned the first turret on a battleship in the world – Petr Veliky. Furthermore, in the second half of the 19th and early 20th Century a strong network of coastal artillery batteries was created to cover the approaches to St. Petersburg, Riga, and other important bases.

Sailors of the Baltic Fleet ashore at Nossi Bé, December 1904.

The Baltic Fleet took a prominent part in the Russo-Japanese War. After the defeat of earlier Siberian Military Flotilla vessels, in September 1904, a squadron under the command of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky was sent on a famous high-speed dash around South Africa – stopping in French, German and Portuguese colonial ports: Tangier in Morocco, Dakar in Senegal, Gabon, Baía dos Tigres, Lüderitz Bay, and Nossi Be (Madagascar), then across the Indian Ocean to Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina and then northward to its doomed encounter with the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Tsushima off the east coast of Korea in 1905, ending the Russo-Japanese War. The Imperial German civilian passenger Hamburg-Amerika Line provided 60 colliers to supply the Baltic Fleet on its epic journey. During its passage through the North Sea the Fleet mistook a fleet of British fishing boats for Japanese torpedo boats and opened fire, killing three sailors in what is known as the "Dogger Bank incident". The decision to send the Fleet to the Pacific was made after Russia had suffered a string of naval defeats in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan off the coast of China and Korea near its Far East naval base and colony, at the hands of the newly emergent Imperial Japanese Navy and Army in Manchuria. The Tsushima naval battle broke Russian strength in East Asia. It set the stage for the unsuccessful uprising in the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905. That propelled the decline that would see the Romanov dynasty monarchy eventually brought down with the strains of World War I, in the Russian Revolutions of 1917.

The naval St. Nicholas Cathedral in St. Petersburg is the main church of the Russian Navy. Its outside is covered with plaques to Russian sailors/officers lost at sea.

Following the catastrophic losses in battleships during the Russo-Japanese War, Russia embarked on a new naval building program which was to incorporate a number of the most modern dreadnought-type battleships into the fleet along with other vessels and practices adopted from the Western navies. In late 1914, four dreadnoughts of the Gangut class entered service with the Fleet: Gangut; Poltava; Petropavlovsk; and Sevastopol. Four more powerful battlecruisers of the Borodino class were under construction, but were never completed. On the whole the heavy units of the Fleet remained in port during the war, as the Imperial German Navy's superiority in battleships and other vessels was overwhelming and it was difficult to communicate with Great Britain's Royal Navy forces further west in the North Sea even though they had the Germans bottled up after the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

The Imperial Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet included a submarine division that had about 30 submarines of several classes and various auxiliary vessels, the largest of which were the transport and mother ships Europa, Tosno, Khabarovsk, Oland and Svjatitel Nikolai.[4][5] Some of the Fleet's 355-ton submarines were made by Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut in the United States, main supplier and builder of subs for the U.S. Navy. Five of these "AG (Holland)" class submarines were prefabricated by the British Pacific Engineering & Construction Company at Barnet (near Vancouver), in Canada's British Columbia, also under contract to the Electric Boat Company. These Canadian-built subs were shipped to Russia, a fellow Ally in the First World War in December 1915.,[6][7] Four of these submarines, AG 11, AG 12, AG 15 and AG 16 were scuttled in the harbour of Hanko on 3 April 1918, just before the 10,000-strong Imperial German Baltic Sea Division landed in support of the "Whites" forces in the little known Finnish Civil War. During the war the Fleet was aided by a detachment of British Royal Navy submarines. These subs were later scuttled by their crews near the Harmaja lighthouse outside Helsinki, Finland, on 4 April 1918.[8]

During the October Revolution the sailors of the Baltic Fleet (renamed "Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea" in March 1918)[9] were among the most ardent supporters of Bolsheviks, and formed an elite among Red military forces. The fleet was forced to evacuate several of its bases after Russia's withdrawal from the First World War, under the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The "Ice Cruise" of the Baltic Fleet (1918), led by Alexey Schastny, saw the evacuation of most of the fleet's ships to Kronstadt and Petrograd.

Some ships of the fleet took part in the Russian Civil War, notably by clashing with the British navy operating in the Baltic as part of intervention forces.[10] Over the years, however, the relations of the Baltic Fleet sailors with the Bolshevik regime soured, and they eventually rebelled against the Soviet government in the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921, but were defeated, and the Fleet de facto ceased to exist as an active military unit.

The Fleet, renamed the Red-Banner Baltic Fleet on 11 January 1935,[9] was developed further during the Soviet years, initially relying on tsarist warships, but adding modern units built in Soviet yards from the 1930s onwards. Among the Fleet's Soviet commanders were Gordey Levchenko in 1938–39 and Arseniy Golovko in 1952–56. Ships and submarines commissioned to the fleet included Soviet submarine M-256, a Project 615 short-range attack diesel submarine of the Soviet Navy. The fleet also acquired a large number of ground-based aircraft to form a strong naval aviation force.

In September 1939, the fleet threatened the Baltic states as part of a series of military actions staged to encourage the Baltics to accept Soviet offers of "mutual assistance."[11][12] Subsequently, in June 1940, the fleet blockaded the Baltics in support of the Soviet invasion.

Finland, which had refused to sign a "pact of mutual assistance", was attacked by the USSR. The fleet played a limited role in the Winter War with Finland in 1939–1940, mostly through conducting artillery bombardments of Finnish coastal fortifications. Many fleet aircraft were involved in operations against Finland, however. Its operations came to a close with the freezing of the Gulf of Finland during the exceptionally cold winter of that year.

In the beginning of the German invasion the Baltic Fleet had 2 battleships, 2 cruisers, 2 flotilla leaders, 19 destroyers, 48 MTBs, 65 submarines and other ships, and 656 aircraft. During the war the Fleet, commanded by the Vice-Admiral Vladimir Tributz, defended the Hanko Peninsula, Tallinn, several islands in Estonian SSR, and participated in the breakthrough breach of the Siege of Leningrad. 137 sailors of the Baltic Fleet were awarded a title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. For most of the war the fleet was trapped by German and Finnish minefields in Leningrad and nearby Kronstadt, the only bases left in Soviet hands on the Baltic coast. Another key factor was that the Finns had recaptured outer islands of the Gulf of Finland, Suursaari being the most important of them. Many of the fleet sailors fought on land as infantry during the siege. Only submarines could risk the passage into the open sea to strike at German shipping. They were particularly successful towards the end of the war, sinking ships like Wilhelm Gustloff, Steuben and Goya, causing great loss of life.

The Fleet carried out the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn in late August 1941.

• Battleship squadron/division
  • battleship Marat (named after Jean-Paul Marat)
  • battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (named after October revolution)
  • destroyer leader Leningrad (named after the city of Leningrad)
  • destroyer leader Minsk (named after the capital of Belarus)
• 1st destroyer division/1 Flotilla
  • cruiser Kirov
  • destroyer Gnevny
  • destroyer Gordyy
  • destroyer Grozyashchiy
  • destroyer Smetlivyi
  • destroyer Steregushchy
• 2nd destroyer division/2 Flotilla
  • Serdity
  • Silnyi
  • Stoikiy
  • Storozhevoy
• 3rd destroyer division/3 Flotilla
  • Karl Marx
  • Volodarsky
  • Lenin
  • Yakov Sverdlov
  • Artiom
  • Engels
  • Kalinin
• Guards division/Naval Guards Squadron
  • Burya
  • Sneg
  • Taifun
  • Tsiklon
  • Tucha
  • Vihr
• Minesweeper Division/Task Group
  • Minelayer Marti
  • Minesweepers T-201, T-202, T-203, T-204, T-205, T-206, T-207, T-208, T-209, T-210, T-211, T-212, T-213, T-214, T-215, T-216, T-217 and T-218
  • 15 auxiliary minesweepers
• 1st submarine brigade/1 Submarine Battle Fleet
  • S-1, S-3, S-4, S-5, S-6, S-7, S-8, S-9, S-10, S-101, S-102, L3, M-71, M-77, M-78, M-79, M-80, M-81, M-83, ex-Estonian submarine Lembit, ex-Estonian submarine Kalev, ex-Latvian submarine Ronis, ex-Latvian submarine Spidola
• 2nd submarine brigade/2 Submarine Battle Fleet
  • Shch-309, Shch-310, Shch-311, Shch-317, Shch-318, Shch-319, Shch-320, Shch-322, Shch-323, Shch-324, M-90, M-94, M-95, M-96, M-97, M-98, M-99, M-102, M-103
• Support vessels
  • transport Eestirand (VT 532)
  • Oka (named after the river of Oka)
  • Polyarnaya Zvezda (Polar Star)
• Training Task Group/Division of the Navy
  • M-72, M-73, M-74, M-75, M-76, Shch-303, Shch-304, K-3, K-21, K-22, K-23, L-1, L-2, S-11, S-12, Shch-405, Shch-406
• Training Task Group
  • Shch-301, Shch-302, Shch-305, Shch-306, Shch-307, Shch-308, P-1, P-2, P-3[13]

During the Immediate post-war period the importance of the Red-Banner Baltic Fleet increased despite the Baltic being a shallow sea with the exits easily becoming choke points by other countries. The Baltic Fleet was increased to two Fleets, the 4th Red-Banner Baltic Fleet and the 8th Red-Banner Baltic Fleet on 15 February 1946. However, during the post-Stalinist period and general reforms and downsizing in the Soviet Armed Forces the two fleets of the Baltic were again reduced, with many vessels, some built before the Revolution, were scrapped, and the Fleet was again renamed Red-Banner Baltic Fleet on 24 December 1955.[9]

In Liepāja the Baltic Fleet's 14th submarine squadron, call sign "Kompleks" ("Комплекс") was stationed with 16 submarines (613, 629a, 651); as was the 6th group of rear supply of Baltic Fleet, and the 81st design bureau and reserve command center of the same force.

Far from being reduced in importance, operations of the Red-Banner Baltic Fleet during the early-Cold War period earned it a great amount of prestige and profile, with the second awarding of the Order of Red Banner being presented on 7 May 1965 when the Fleet was again renamed to Twice Red-Banner Baltic Fleet.[9] Although the Soviet Union poured resources into building up the Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet, both of which had easy access to the open ocean, the Twice Red-Banner Baltic Fleet assumed the very important position of supporting the northern flank of the European Theatre in case of a confrontation with NATO. This role was under-rated from the blue water navies perspective, but was seen as a highly valuable one from the strategic perspective of the Soviet General Staff planning. The Twice Red-Banner Baltic Fleet remained a powerful force, which in the event of war was tasked with conducting amphibious assaults against the coast of Denmark and Germany, in cooperation with allied Polish and East German naval forces.

A notable incident involving the fleet occurred in 1975 when a mutiny broke out on the frigate Storozhevoy. There were also numerous allegations by Sweden of Baltic Fleet submarines illegally penetrating its territorial waters. In October 1981 the Soviet Whiskey-class submarine U 137 ran aground in Swedish territorial waters, near the important naval base of Karlskrona, causing a serious diplomatic incident. Swedish naval vessels pulled the submarine into deeper water and permitted it to return to the Soviet fleet in early November.[14]

Operational forces include:

Separate Motor Rifle Rgt

336th Naval Infantry Brigade

79th Separate Motor Rifle Bde

Polish 9th Armd Cav Bde

Polish 15th Mech Bde

Combat formations of Ground and Coastal Forces of the Baltic Fleet and nearby Polish Army formations
There is another brigade of the Polish 16th Mech Division to the east of the 15th Mech Bde

12th Surface ship Division

• 128th Surface ship Brigade[20] (128-я бригада надводных кораблей)
  • Pylkiy (Krivak-class frigate) (702) (Navy Commander issued an order to write off the ship in 2012)
  • Nastoychivyy (610) (Sovremenny-class destroyer) (1992)
  • Neustrashimyy (Neustrashimyy-class frigate) (Entered service 1993)
  • Yaroslav Mudryy (Neustrashimyy-class frigate) (Entered service 2009)
  • Steregushchiy (530) (Steregushchy-class corvette) (2007)
  • Soobrazitelnyy (531) (Steregushchy-class corvette) (2011)
  • Boikiy (532) (Steregushchy-class corvette) (May 2013)[21]
  • Stoikiy (545) (Steregushchy-class corvette) (2014)
• 71st Red Star Landing Ship Brigade (Baltiysk)
  • Korolev (130) (Ropucha class LST)
  • Minsk (122) (Ropucha class LST)
  • Kaliningrad (102) (Ropucha class LST)
  • Aleksandr Shabalin (110) (Ropucha class LST)
  • Evgeniy Kocheshkov (770) (Zubr-class LCAC)
  • Mordoviya (782) (Zubr-class LCAC)

Leningrad Naval Base

• 123rd Submarine Brigade
  • 1 Lada-class submarine
    • B-585 Sankt Peterburg (According to the article on this boat it was assigned to the Northern Fleet after acceptance in 2014.)
  • 2 Kilo-class submarines
• 105th Naval Region Protection Brigade[16]
  • 144th Tactical Group (Kronshtadt) ex 109th ASW ships div
    • 308 MPK 99 Zelenodolsk (Parchim-class corvette)
    • 304 MPK 192 Urengoy (Parchim-class corvette)
    • 311 MPK 205 Kazanets (Parchim-class corvette)
  • 145th Tactical Group (Kronshtadt) ex-22nd Red Banner Minesweeper Battalion
    • BT 115 (561) (Sonya-class minesweeper)
    • PDKA 89 PDKA 910 RChT 702 (353) RChT 61 (324) RT 57 (316) RT 248 (348)

Baltyysk Naval Base

• 64th Maritime Region Protection Brigade
  • 146th Tactical Group (former 264th Anti-submarine Warfare Battalion, Project 1331)
    • 218 MPK-224 Aleksin (Parchim-class corvette)
    • 243 MPK-227 Kabardino-Balkaria (Parchim-class corvette)
    • 232 MPK-229 Kalmykiya (Parchim-class corvette)
  • 147th, 148th Tactical Groups (former 323rd Minesweeper Division)
    • 4 Sonya-class minesweepers
• 36th Red Banner Order of Nakhimov Missile Ship Brigade[22]
  • 1st Guards Missile Boat Battalion
  • 106th Small Missile Ship Battalion – attached from 1 June 1994. (Project 1234)
    • Liven' (551) (Nanuchka-class corvette)
    • Geyzer (555) (Nanuchka-class corvette)
    • Zyb' (560) (Nanuchka-class corvette)
    • Passat (570) (Nanuchka-class corvette)

Ships whose unit allocation is not precisely known

• 2 Karakurt missile ship in the Baltyysk naval base's brigade of missile ships and boats.[23]
• 2 Buyan-M-class missile ships
• 2 Ondatra-class landing craft
• 1 Serna-class landing craft
• 7 Tarantul-class corvettes
• 4 Pauk-class corvette
• 1 Natya-class minesweeper – not listed by warfare.be
• 6 Lida-class minesweepers
• 1 Alexandrit-class minesweeper
• 3 Dyugon-class landing craft

Naval Aviation (2007):[24]

• HQ: Kaliningrad
• 689th Independent Fighter Aviation Regiment – Kaliningrad Chkalovsk[25] – operating Su-27;
• 4th Independent Naval Assault Aviation Regiment – Chernyakhovsk Air Base – operating Su-24M/MR;
• 125th Independent Helicopter Squadron – HQ at Chkalovsk – operating Mi-8, Mi-24 (this was the former 288th Independent Helicopter Regt of the 11th Guards Army and used to be at Nivenskoye);
• 396th Independent Shipborne Anti-Submarine Helicopter Squadron – Donskoye Air Base – Ka-27/PS, Ka-29;
• 398th Independent Air Transport Squadron – HQ at Khrabrovo – An-2, An-12, An-24, An-26, Be-12, Mi-8.

World War II veteran walks with his great grandchildren, Moscow Victory Day Parade, 9 May 2015

Russian Baltic Fleet Naval Infantry Forces

• 11th Army Corps (Baltic Fleet Coastal Forces) in Kaliningrad
  • 7th Independent Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade (Kaliningrad)
  • 79th Independent Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade (Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast)
  • 336th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade (Baltiysk)
  • 244th Artillery Brigade (2A36/BM-21), in Kaliningrad
  • 152nd Guards Missile Brigade (9K720 Iskander), at Chernyakhovsk Air Base
  • 11th Independent Tank Regiment (Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast)[26]
  • 25th Coastal Defence Missile Regiment (BAL-E/K-300P Bastion-P), at Donskoye Air Base
    • 3rd Air Defense Brigade, in Kaliningrad[27]
      • 22nd Guards Air Defence Missile Regiment (Tor M1/M2), in Kaliningrad[28]
      • 183th Guards Air Defence Missile Regiment (S-300P/S-400), in Gvardeysk
      • 1545th Air Defence Missile Regiment (S-300VM), in Znamensk
  • 69th Guards Naval Engineer Regiment, in Gvardeysk
  • 299th Training Center of Coastal Forces, in Gvardeysk
  • 561st Reconnaissance Center, in Parusnoye
  • 742nd Communication Center, in Kaliningrad
  • 841st Independent Electronic Warfare Center, in Yantarny
  • 313th Special Detachment of Anti-Sabotage Forces and Means, in Baltiysk
  • 473rd Special Detachment of Anti-Sabotage Forces and Means, in Kronstadt