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Soviet Union [USSR] Fleet Operations
In an effort to attain the highest labor productivity and cost
efficiency, maritime authorities embarked on a policy of
standardization. For vessels, this meant standardization not only
by mission and areas of operation but also by major components:
engines, cargo-handling equipment, and electronics. The results
were higher fuel efficiency, improved and more efficient repair and
maintenance, increased cargo-carrying capacity (thus decreasing the
relative per ton construction and operating costs), and increased
speeds (thereby ensuring faster delivery and increased vessel
productivity). New ship designs allowed speedier cargo handling and
better space utilization and resulted in a higher carrying capacity
per ship. Automation and mechanization of shipboard operations
increased labor productivity. For instance, automated control
devices enabled operation of a large cargo ship's engine room by
one crewman.
Most seas adjoining the Soviet coastline, particularly the
Arctic Ocean, the northern Pacific Ocean, and the Baltic Sea, have
short navigable seasons. To keep the sea-lanes open and prolong the
navigable season, a sizable and diversified fleet of ice-breaking
vessels was required. The vessels ranged from small harbor tugicebreakers to large, nuclear-powered, oceangoing icebreakers, as
well as Arctic freighters and tankers of up to 35,000 deadweight
tons.
Arctic freighters were especially constructed with reinforced
hulls, resembling those of icebreakers, to enable the ships to
proceed through ice up to one meter thick. Arctic freighters'
superstructures were protected against the severe weather to allow
the crew to move from one part of the ship to another without being
exposed to cold and ice. Deck de-icing equipment allowed them to
operate at temperatures ofas low as -50°C.
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union had the world's largest
passenger vessel fleet. One of its major tasks was to provide
transportation to the Arctic and Far Eastern coastal areas, where
ships were frequently the sole means of travel. Small vessels, such
as hydrofoils seating about 120 passengers and reaching speeds up
to forty kilometers per hour, operated in the coastal areas of the
Baltic, Black, Azov, and Caspian seas. Old passenger liners, some
built prior to World War II and acquired as war reparations,
catered to foreign cruise clientele, generally in contiguous
waters. Modern and well-equipped cruise ships, however, either were
built expressly for Morflot in foreign yards, mainly in East
Germany, or were built chiefly in the Federal Republic of Germany
(West Germany) and Britain for Western cruise lines and were
subsequently acquired by Morflot in the 1970s and 1980s. With cabin
accommodations for 250 to 700 passengers, they catered to Western
tourists and plied the world's oceans from the Norwegian fjords to
the South Pacific islands. In the mid-1980s, Morflot's oceangoing
passenger fleet numbered some eighty liners with a total of about
25,000 berths.
Morflot operated several major ferry lines, both international
and domestic. In 1988 two important international train ferry lines
were jointly operated, one with Bulgaria, the other with East
Germany. The lines had been put into service to avoid transiting
Romanian and Polish territory, respectively. The Soviet-Bulgarian
ferry between Il'ichevsk and Varna began service in 1978. It has
used two Soviet and two Bulgarian ships, each with a capacity for
108 seventy-ton freight cars on three decks. This line has
shortened by six days the delivery time between the two countries.
In 1986 the Soviet-East German ferry service began between
Klaipeda, in the Lithuanian Republic, and Mukran, on the island of
Rügen in East Germany. When in full operation (scheduled for 1990),
the line was to use six Mukran-class ferryboats, three belonging to
each country. Each boat was designed to carry 103 freight cars of
up to eight-four tons each that could roll on and off directly from
the shore, thus reducing each boat's turnaround time to only four
hours. The round trip between the two ports has taken only fortyeight hours. The annual peak capacity of the six ferries by 1990
was projected at 5 million tons. Since 1984 a Baltic automobile
ferry has been operating between Leningrad and Stockholm.
Among the domestic routes were the Caspian Sea ferry lines, the
Crimea-Caucasus lines, and the Sea of Japan line between Vanino and
Kholmsk. Some automobile ferries in the Far East had trips lasting
up to fifteen days and had cabin accommodations for 432 passengers.
The Soviet Union's freight and passenger fleets were supported
in ports and at sea by a large diversified fleet of auxiliary
craft. They included harbor and ocean tugs, oceangoing salvage and
rescue vessels, fire boats, various service craft, and floating
cranes, as well as civil engineering craft, such as dredges, used
in the construction and maintenance of harbors and navigational
channels.
In 1986 the Soviet Union had the world's largest oceangoing
fishing fleet, comprising about 4,200 vessels under the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Fishing Industry. Research and
surveying ships numbered more than 200. They were for the most part
not operated by Morflot but by various institutes of the
Academy of Sciences (see Glossary) for oceanographic
research and surveying,
such as fisheries, marine biology, and oil and gas exploration.
According to Western authorities, however, many of these ships were
manned at least in part by naval crews and performed work for the
Soviet Naval Forces. Usually, these were modern units outfitted
with sophisticated equipment, including intelligence-gathering
devices.
Most Soviet ports fell into one of three categories. General
cargo ports handled a variety of break-bulk, container, RO/RO,
LASH, or bulk cargo ships at the same type of pier. Specialized
ports transloaded dry or liquid bulk cargo, such as ores, coal,
grain, petroleum, and chemicals. They had automated transloading
equipment suitable for a particular type of cargo. Major ports, and
some smaller ones, had facilities and equipment to handle both
types of ships.
The merchant fleet's cargo, passenger, and auxiliary vessels
constituted an indispensable logistical component of the Soviet
Naval Forces and provided the armed forces with strategic sealift
capabilities. According to the United States Department of Defense,
Morflot ships, particularly RO/RO, RO/FLO, LASH, and combination
RO/RO-container ships, were fast, versatile, and capable of
handling combat and combat support vehicles and equipment.
Moreover, the majority were able to enter most of the world's
harbors. LASH and RO/FLO ships were capable of unloading their
cargo at sea and could thereby support amphibious operations.
RO/ROs and container ships required minimally prepared shore
facilities to discharge their cargo. Nearly half the cargo ships
were equipped with cranes capable of lifting the heaviest military
armor and vehicles, thereby reducing the dependence on prepared
port facilities. Morflot's tankers and cargo vessels were also used
for out-of-area refueling and replenishment of Soviet naval vessels
operating far from home waters. Merchant ships were sometimes
equipped with sophisticated communications and navigational
devices, served as intelligence gatherers, and had protection
against chemical, biological, and radiological hazards. According
to some Western naval authorities, many Soviet merchant and fishing
vessels possessed mine-laying capabilities. In the event of
hostilities, the Morflot passenger fleet, with a total of about
25,000 berths in peacetime, was capable of transporting several
times that number of troops into operational areas.
Data as of May 1989
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