Pacific Fleet (Russia)

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Pacific Fleet

Association badge

Great emblem of the Pacific Fleet
Lineup 1731
Country Russian Empire 1883Russian Empire Russian Empire (1731–1917) Soviet Union (1917–1991) Russia (since 1991)
Soviet Union 1955Soviet Union 
RussiaRussia 
Armed forces Russian armed forces
Armed forces Russian Navy
Type fleet
headquarters Vladivostok
Awards Order of the Red Banner
commander
commander Vice-Admiral Sergei Iossifowitsch Avakjanz

The Pacific Fleet or the Pacific Red Banner Fleet ( Russian Тихоокеанский Флот or Tichookeanskij Flot ) is the part of the Russian Navy that is stationed in the Pacific Ocean and secures Russia's East Asian borders . The headquarters of the fleet is in Vladivostok . Another important naval base is located in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the peninsula of Kamchatka .

In addition, the High Command of the Pacific Fleet was responsible for the administration and operational command of the Indian Squadron and Soviet naval bases in the Indian Ocean during the Soviet era .

history

Sailors of the Pacific Fleet, 1984.

The history of the Pacific Fleet dates back to 1647, the year Okhotskij Ostrog was founded , the first Russian port on the Pacific coast. In 1648, during the Russian conquest of Siberia, Cossacks reached the easternmost tip of Siberia.

In 1731 the Russians set up the Okhotsk war flotilla (Охотская Военная Флотилия or Okhotskaya Wojennaja Flotilija). Its first commander, Grigory Skornjakow-Pisarew, was responsible for patrols and fisheries protection. In 1799, three frigates and three smaller ships were sent to Okhotsk under the command of Rear Admiral I. Fomin to form a powerful military flotilla. In 1849, Petropavlovsk became the main base of the flotilla , which was relocated to Nikolayevsk only a year later and to Vladivostok in 1871. In 1854 the ships of the flotilla excelled in the defense of Petropavlovsk during the Crimean War . In 1856 the Okhotsk War Flotilla was renamed the Siberian War Flotilla, Сибирская Военная Флотилия or Sibirskaja Wojennaja Flotilija.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the flotilla was still few in number. Due to the gradual deterioration in Russian-Japanese relations, the Russian government created a special shipbuilding program to meet the demands of the East Asian region. However, the execution dragged on. So she had to send a number of ships from the Baltic Fleet into the Pacific Ocean. (See also Pacific Squadron ).

At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05, the Russian naval forces in the Far East consisted of the 1st Pacific Squadron (seven battleships , eight cruisers , 13 torpedo boats , two gunboats ) and a number of ships of the Siberian war flotilla (two cruisers, two Mine cruiser, twelve torpedo boats and five gunboats), which were moored in Port Arthur . The other ships of the Siberian flotilla (four cruisers, ten torpedo boats) were stationed in Vladivostok.

During the Russo-Japanese War, most of the Russian Pacific Fleet was destroyed or captured by the Japanese in the sea ​​battle in the Yellow Sea and during the siege of Port Arthur . The commanders at this time were the admirals Stepan Ossipowitsch Makarow and Wilhelm Karlowitsch Withöft .

During the Russian Revolution of 1905, the Pacific Fleet seamen were actively involved in the revolutionary movement and armed revolts in Vladivostok of January 1906 and October 1907. During the October Revolution of 1917, the sailors of the Siberian and Amur flotilla fought for the establishment of Soviet rule in the Far East and against the White Army and intervention forces from the United States , Japan , Great Britain and France . During the Russian Civil War , almost all of the ships of the Pacific Fleet still capable of fighting were taken abroad and the coastal fortifications disarmed. After the intervention troops were driven out in 1922, the Soviets created the naval forces of the Far East (Commodore Ivan Kosanow) from the part of the Pacific Fleet stationed in Vladivostok and the Amur Flotilla. In 1926 they were disbanded: the unit from Vladivostok was withdrawn under the command of the border troops of the USSR and the Amur flotilla became an independent flotilla, the Амурская Военная Флотилия or Amurskaya Vojennaja Flotilija.

But as early as 1923, the Soviet government succeeded in setting up a ship department in Vladivostok. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet " Naval Forces of the Far East " were created, which also included the Amur flotilla. The members of the fleet received their baptism of fire in 1929 during the armed conflict against Japan over the East China Railway . The increasing danger of war made it necessary to strengthen the Far East fleet in the years that followed. For this purpose thousands of people were sent from the western parts of the country to the Far East of the USSR. Ships, weapons and technical equipment were dismantled and sent there as well. At the same time, the construction of combat ships began in partly newly built shipyards in the Pacific region, so that the Far East Fleet soon had numerous combat and auxiliary ships, submarines, naval aviators and coastal defense troops.

Due to the Japanese aggression in Manchuria in 1931, the Central Committee and the Soviet government decided to reorganize the Far East Naval Forces on April 13, 1932. (In January 1935, they were renamed the Pacific Fleet (Commander M. Viktorov). In 1932 the torpedo boat squadron and eight submarines were put into service. The Amur flotilla was spun off from the Far East fleet and formed its own fleet formation.

In 1934 the Pacific Fleet received 26 small submarines. At the same time, the creation of the naval aviation force and coastal artillery was in progress. In January 1935, the "Naval Forces of the Far East" were named Pacific Fleet . From 1937 to 1938 there were again armed conflicts with Japan, which culminated in 1938 in the Japanese invasion of Soviet territory on Lake Chasan. The Red Army , together with the Pacific Fleet, which also provided land formations, managed to repel the attack. In 1937 the Pacific Military School was opened.

At the beginning of World War II , the Pacific Fleet had two surface subdivisions, four subdivisions, a torpedo boat subdivision, some squadrons of other ships and patrol boats, air units, coastal artillery and marine infantry .

Since Japan was allied with the German Reich , it was necessary for the USSR to have strong troops, aviation and naval forces ready to protect the eastern parts of the country with the outbreak of the Second World War. Nevertheless, after Germany's attack on the USSR, the Pacific Fleet sent numerous officers, non-commissioned officers and men, as well as combat technology, to the German-Soviet front. In 1943, on the orders of the State Defense Committee , the Pacific Fleet transferred a large destroyer , two destroyers and a submarine division to the Soviet Northern Fleet . During the Second World War, 143,000 members of the Pacific Fleet fought on the land fronts and took a. participated in the battles for Leningrad , Odessa , Sevastopol and Stalingrad . An officer of the Pacific Fleet led the battalion that stormed the Berlin Reichstag in 1945 .

In August 1945 the Pacific Fleet already had two cruisers, one flagship, ten destroyers, two torpedo boats, 19 patrol boats, 78 submarines, ten mine layers, 52 mine sweepers, 49 MO boats, 204 motor torpedo boats and 1,459 fighter planes. In the same year the Kamchatka Flotilla was set up as part of the Pacific Fleet in the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky naval base .

With the end of the war against Germany, the USSR entered into the war against Japan on August 9, in accordance with the treaty, alongside the Allies . The Pacific Fleet undertook numerous landing operations against ports and bases in Japanese-occupied Korea . The Pacific Fleet was also involved in the conquest of the Japanese Kuril Islands and the Japanese southern part of Sakhalin Island with ships, naval aviators and landing forces .

With the Cold War there was a massive armament of the Soviet naval forces from the mid-1950s. Numerous modern warships were added to the Pacific Fleet. This included nuclear submarines and guided missile ships as well as modern espionage technology. In 1972 units of the Red Banner Fleet were involved in mine and wreck clearance in and in front of the port of Chittagong at the request of the government of Bangladesh . As part of this action, 23 ships were lifted or towed and an area of ​​1500 km² cleared. At the request of Egypt , the Pacific Fleet carried out mine clearance in the Gulf of Suez in 1974 . A ship was badly damaged by a mine hit. In 1975, three in the Indian Ocean helped the Republic of Mauritius deal with the damage caused by a devastating hurricane. From 1979 there was an important outpost of the fleet in Vietnam with the naval base Cam Ranh Bay . It was given up in 2002.

The Pacific Fleet was in constant use in the Pacific and Indian Ocean to enforce Soviet interests. In addition, fleet visits were carried out in other countries for representation purposes. Furthermore, the Pacific Fleet was responsible for securing the eastern sea borders of the USSR.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union , the situation also changed for the Pacific Fleet. Due to a lack of technical and financial means, the operational readiness and combat strength of the now Russian Pacific Fleet has decreased. Despite this, Russia continues to strive for a strong fleet in the Pacific region.

In September 2007 a joint maneuver (Pacific Eagle) of the Russian Navy and the US Navy was carried out in the North Pacific, in which the destroyers RFS Admiral Panteleyev (548) and the USS Lassen (DDG 82) took part.

Important modern ships in the Pacific Fleet (as of 2008)

Nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles

The destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov (DD 543) of the Russian Pacific Fleet in Apra (Guam). Recording from March 2006

In the meantime it has been announced that all three newbuildings of the Borej class are to go to the Pacific fleet. They are intended to replace the older SSBN of the Delta III class.

  • Project 955 Borei class
    • Jurij Dolgorukij (launched on April 15, 2007, will be equipped)
    • Aleksandr Nevsky (keel laid on March 19, 2004, launched in 2009)
    • Wladimir Monomakh (keel laid on March 19, 2006, launched 2011)

Nuclear submarines with guided missiles

The SSGN forces of the Pacific Fleet form five cruiser submarine of the Oscar II class. In July 1997, K-442 Tzelyabinsk shadowed several US aircraft carriers during maneuvers off the west coast of Washington state . In October 1999, K-186 Omsk inspected the area around the Hawaiian Islands and then headed for San Diego, California. It has been shown to have accompanied the aircraft carrier CVN-74 USS John C. Stennis and the amphibious dock landing ship LH-2 USS Essex .

  • Project 949A (NATO code: Oscar II class )
    • K-132 Irkutsk
    • K-442 Tzelyabinsk
    • K-456 Vilyushinsk
    • K-186 Omsk
    • K-150 Tomsk

Nuclear submarines armed with torpedoes

Conventional propulsion submarines

  • Project 877 (NATO code: Kilo I class )
    • B-260 Tshita
    • B-394
    • B-464 Ust-Kamshatsk
    • B-494 Ust-Bolsheretsk
    • B-190
    • B-345
    • B-187

Missile cruiser

Admiral Lazarev is still lying on the pier in Vladivostok. It remains to be seen whether funds for repairs will also be approved here. The cruiser Varyag has participated in several international exercises in the Pacific over the past two years.

Admiral Lazarew (ex "Frunze") (launched since 1999, scrapping expected (as of February 2017))

Large Missile Ships (Destroyers)

Large anti-submarine ships (ASW ships)

    • Admiral tributes
    • Marshal Shaposhnikov
    • Admiral Vinogradov
    • Admiral Panteleew

Multipurpose combat ships

Awards

More than 30,000 members of the Pacific Fleet were awarded orders and medals in World War II , 52 of them with the title Hero of the Soviet Union . 18 ships and troops received the title of guard and 16 were awarded the Order of the Red Banner . 15 other units received honorary degrees. After the end of the fighting in the Pacific on September 2, 1945, all members of the Pacific Fleet involved in the fighting received the medal for the victory over Japan .

On May 5, 1965 , the entire Pacific Fleet was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Pacific Fleet Commander

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

5th fleet

  • Alexander Sergejewitsch Frolow (January 1947 - February 1950)
  • Nikolai Gerasimowitsch Kuznetsov (February 1950 - August 1951)
  • Yuri Alexandrovich Panteleev (August 1951 - January 1953)

7th fleet

In April 1953 the fleets were reunited under one command:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flot.com: Командующему Тихоокеанским флотом Сергею Авакянцу присвоено очередное воинское звание (December 18, 2012). Retrieved December 19, 2012. (Russian, "The commander of the Pacific Fleet Sergei Avakjanz was awarded the next military rank")
  2. ↑ Meyers Universal Lexikon, 3rd edition 1982, order no .: 5769737, license no. 433130/182/82, Volume IV, p. 129
  3. ↑ Khmelnov took over the duties of commander of the Pacific Fleet
  4. ↑ Sidenko became the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, Awakjanz took over the duties of commander of the Pacific Fleet
  5. ↑ kremlin.ru: Decree No. 575 of the Russian President of May 3, 2012. Retrieved on July 23, 2012. ( Memento of the original of February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / graph.document.kremlin.ru