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Soviet Union [USSR] Fleets, Flotillas, and Squadrons
The command organization of the four fleets was similar to that
of the military districts. The fleet commander had a deputy for
each of the combat arms of the Naval Forces, and he supervised the
naval bases and ports in the fleet's area. Each fleet had a Naval
Aviation air army, a naval Spetsnaz brigade, and several battalions
of the Coastal Rocket and Artillery Troops. The fleets reported to
the Main Staff of the Naval Forces; in wartime, they would come
under the operational control of the Supreme High Command and the
General Staff. Although the Naval Forces operated numerous
flotillas on inland seas and large lakes, only the Caspian Flotilla
was operational in 1989.
The Northern Fleet, based at Murmansk-Severomorsk, was the most
important Soviet fleet, having a force of over 170 submarines in
1989. The Pacific Fleet, based at Vladivostok, had the best
amphibious and power projection capabilities of the Naval Forces.
In 1989 it had the only Naval Infantry division, two aircraft
carriers, and 120 submarines. In wartime the Northern and Pacific
fleets would become components of oceanic theaters of military
operations (teatry voennykh deistvii--TVDs)
(see Soviet Union USSR - Offensive and Defensive Strategic Missions
, ch. 17). The Baltic and Black Sea
fleets, as well as the Caspian Flotilla, would become maritime
components of continental TVDs in wartime.
Since the mid-1960s, the Naval Forces have increasingly been
deployed abroad. In 1964 the Mediterranean squadron became the
first permanently forward-deployed Soviet naval force. Since its
inception, it has usually had thirty-five to forty-five ships. In
1968 the Soviet Union established an Indian Ocean squadron of
fifteen to twenty-five ships. Access to ports and airfields in
Vietnam, Syria, Libya, Ethiopia, the People's Democratic Republic
of Yemen (South Yemen), and Seychelles in the 1980s has enabled the
Soviet Naval Forces to repair their ships, fly ocean reconnaissance
flights, and maintain these forward deployments. In 1989 Cam Ranh
Bay in Vietnam had the largest concentration of Soviet vessels
outside the countries of the Warsaw Pact.
Data as of May 1989
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