Well been in my mind awhile- I would like to discuss the Soviet navy's contributions and performance in WWII both the good and bad.
It is true that the Soviet-German war was a land conflict, but the personnel of the Soviet navy saw a LOT of action. I want us to look at 3 aspects:
1) The fleet itself, and their naval actions. The Soviet navy was small (except for submarines) and my understanding the quality of ships was mixed. From old battleships (albeit somewhat modernised) like the Gangut class, modern ships like the Kirov cruisers and Project 7 destroyers and many subs. River and small craft were very important ie. keeping supplies moving across the Volga at Stalingrad. One of the main problems was the Soviets had 4 small fleets (Northern, Baltic, Black sea and Pacific) that could not really help or reinforce one another once the war started. They also did not have to protect much commerce (except in the Black sea) nor did they have many targets outside the Baltic or Northern sea. I understand the Baltic fleet was blockaded in Leningrad until late 44.
2) The Soviet naval infantry-this has been brought up before but the specialised mariens and even sailors from the fleet fought as infantry in many palces from Leningrad and Sebastopol to the Kurile islands. In Leningrad many sailors fought on the front while their comrades manned the big ships (even the Aurora I think) as heavy artillery.
3) Well another forgotten aspect is the Soviet naval aviation-no aircraft carriers (why would they need them) but land based airpower that was under operational control of the Soviet naval command and scored some successes in the Black Sea and Baltic. I believe they also used lend-lease aircraft such the A-20 Havoc.
Here is a good place to start the memoirs of the head of the Soviet navy Admiral Kuznetsov.
http://admiral.centro.ru/start_e.htm
It is true that the Soviet-German war was a land conflict, but the personnel of the Soviet navy saw a LOT of action. I want us to look at 3 aspects:
1) The fleet itself, and their naval actions. The Soviet navy was small (except for submarines) and my understanding the quality of ships was mixed. From old battleships (albeit somewhat modernised) like the Gangut class, modern ships like the Kirov cruisers and Project 7 destroyers and many subs. River and small craft were very important ie. keeping supplies moving across the Volga at Stalingrad. One of the main problems was the Soviets had 4 small fleets (Northern, Baltic, Black sea and Pacific) that could not really help or reinforce one another once the war started. They also did not have to protect much commerce (except in the Black sea) nor did they have many targets outside the Baltic or Northern sea. I understand the Baltic fleet was blockaded in Leningrad until late 44.
2) The Soviet naval infantry-this has been brought up before but the specialised mariens and even sailors from the fleet fought as infantry in many palces from Leningrad and Sebastopol to the Kurile islands. In Leningrad many sailors fought on the front while their comrades manned the big ships (even the Aurora I think) as heavy artillery.
3) Well another forgotten aspect is the Soviet naval aviation-no aircraft carriers (why would they need them) but land based airpower that was under operational control of the Soviet naval command and scored some successes in the Black Sea and Baltic. I believe they also used lend-lease aircraft such the A-20 Havoc.
Here is a good place to start the memoirs of the head of the Soviet navy Admiral Kuznetsov.
http://admiral.centro.ru/start_e.htm
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