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Soviet Union [USSR] Surface Forces
Between 1962 and the early 1970s, the Soviet Union's World War
II-era Naval Forces became a modern guided missile cruiser and
destroyer force. In addition, in the late 1970s the Soviet Union
launched its first nuclear-powered Kirov-class battle cruiser, its
third class of guided missile cruisers, and two new classes of
guided missile destroyers. These surface forces have had the
peacetime task of supporting Soviet allies in the Third World
through port visits and arms shipments as well as visibly asserting
Soviet power and interests on the high seas. In wartime, they would
conduct both antiship and antisubmarine operations.
A variety of auxiliary ships supported the Naval Forces and the
armed forces in general. In 1989 the Soviet Union operated sixtythree intelligence-gathering vessels, manned by naval reservists
and equipped with surface-to-air missiles. It also had the world's
largest fleet of oceanographic survey and marine research vessels.
Over 500 ships gathered and processed data on the world's oceans
that would be crucial to the Soviet Union in wartime. In 1989
eleven specially equipped vessels, including the new Marshal
Nedelin-class, monitored and tracked Soviet and foreign space
launches. Yet Western experts have noted that the Soviet Naval
Forces still lacked enough specialized underway replenishment
vessels to provide adequate logistical support to naval combatants
at sea.
Data as of May 1989
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