Pacific Fleet (Russia)

Owing to Japanese aggression in Manchuria in 1931, the Central Committee and the Soviet government decided to create the Naval Forces in the Far East on 13 April 1932. In January 1935, they were renamed the Pacific Fleet, under commander M. Viktorov. The creation of the fleet entailed great difficulties. The first units were formed with small ships delivered by railroad. In 1932, the torpedo boat squadron and eight submarines were put into service. In 1934, the Pacific Fleet received 26 small submarines. The creation of the naval aviation and coastal artillery was underway. In 1937, they opened the Pacific Military School.

By the beginning of World War II, the Pacific Fleet had two surface ship subdivisions, four submarine subdivisions, one torpedo boat subdivision, a few squadrons of ships and patrol boats, airborne units, coastal artillery and marines.

Light cruiser Lazar Kaganovich

During the Great Patriotic War (the Soviet World War II campaign against Germany from 1941–45) the Pacific Fleet was in a permanent state of alert and ready for action, although the Soviets remained neutral with respect to the Empire of Japan, the only Axis power in the Pacific, even after Japan entered World War II. At the same time, the Soviets transferred a destroyer leader, two destroyers, and five submarines from the Pacific Fleet to the Northern Fleet. More than 140,000 sailors from the Pacific Fleet were incorporated in the rifle brigades and other units on the Soviet front against Germans in Europe. By August 1945, the Pacific Fleet consisted of two cruisers, one destroyer leader, ten destroyers, two torpedo boats, 19 patrol boats, 78 submarines, ten minelayers, 52 minesweepers, 49 "MO" anti-submarine boats (MO stands for Малый Охотник, or "little hunter"), 204 motor torpedo boats and 1459 war planes.

During the Soviet–Japanese War of 1945, the Pacific Fleet participated in the removal of the Empire of Japan from Northern Korea (a part of the Manchurian Operation of 1945), in the Invasion of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands Landing Operation the same year.

Thousands of sailors and officers were awarded orders and medals for outstanding military service; more than fifty men received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Eighteen ships and fleet units received the title of the Soviet Guards, and sixteen were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Ships of the Soviet Pacific Fleet at Vladivostok in 1990

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

The Pacific Fleet started deploying forces to the Indian Ocean, and established the 8th Operational (Indian Ocean) Squadron in 1968,[2] after the British government announced its intention to withdraw its military forces east of the Suez Canal by 1971. In addition to the defensive function of balancing the naval strength in the Indian Ocean against that of the United States Navy, the 8th Squadron played a role in promoting Soviet foreign policy. Regular visits and port calls were made in the Indian subcontinent, the Persian Gulf, and the East African coast.

The 8th Operational Squadron grew quite substantial at times; in 1980, a Soviet flotilla of 'about ten guided missile cruisers, destroyers and frigates and more than a dozen support ships' was juxtaposed to the U.S. Navy's Task Force 70 in the region.[3] There were also 23 other Soviet ships in the South China Sea, at the same time. In addition, Soviet Ilyushin Il-38 reconnaissance planes, based in Aden or Ethiopia, maintained a close watch on U.S. vessels, as did Ka-25 Hormone helicopters from Soviet warships. In 1981 the fleet suffered the loss of many of its senior officers, including its commander in chief, Admiral Emil Spiridonov, when the Tupolev Tu-104 transporting them back to Vladivostok after meetings in Leningrad crashed shortly after takeoff from Pushkin Airport. A total of 16 admirals and generals, and 38 lower ranking officers, were killed.[4][5][6]

Sailors of the Novorossiisk cruiser, Red Banner Pacific Fleet (1984)

In the 1980s, Soviet naval strategy shifted to an emphasis on bastion defense, fortifying the Sea of Okhotsk for that purpose. By the mid-1980s, the Pacific Fleet had constituted 32% of all Soviet naval assets, up from 28% in 1975 and 25% in 1965. It included approximately 800 ships, over 120 submarines, and 98 surface combatants.[7] Two of the ships were aircraft carriers Minsk and Novorossiysk, which served from the 1970s and 1980s to the 1990s. The battlecruiser Admiral Lazarev of the Kirov class served with the fleet in the 1980s and 1990s as well.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the Pacific Fleet lost many of its larger units. Within a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Fleet lost all its aircraft carriers, and by early 2000 only one cruiser remained active with the Fleet. By the end of the 2010s, the Fleet consisted of one large missile cruiser, five destroyers, ten nuclear submarines, eight diesel-electric submarines plus numerous light units, amphibious ships and auxiliaries.

Between 5–12 July 2013, warships from the Russian Pacific Fleet and the North Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy participated in Joint Sea 2013, bilateral naval maneuvers held in the Peter the Great Bay. Joint Sea 2013 was the largest naval drills yet undertaken by the PRC's navy with a foreign navy.[8]

Plans for deployment of new large units to the Fleet were announced in the early 2010s. Several new ballistic missile submarines, and large cruisers were projected to join the Fleet.[9][10] However, these plans evolved over the course of the decade with a changed focus by 2020 on light units and submarines to renew the fleet. In this regard, the focus is now on new general purpose frigates (Gorshkov-class), multi-role and missile corvettes (Steregushchiy-class, Gremyashchiy-class and Karakurt-class) as well as on a full range of new submarines (the Borei, Yasen, Lada and Improved Kilo classes). Ships of these classes are all projected to enter service through the 2020s.[11][12] In addition, the Pacific Fleet's amphibious capabilities will be modernized in the mid-latter 2020s through the acquisition of one or more of the Ivan Gren-class landing ships as well as one of the new Priboy-class helicopter assault ships.[13][14]

While existing ballistic-missile submarine production will fully replace and increase numbers of SSBNs in the Pacific Fleet, it is unclear that the production of the Yasen-class vessels, and potential follow-on models, will be sufficient to replace aging older nuclear attack and cruise missile submarines on a one-for-one basis. Reports suggest that Russian third-generation nuclear submarines have not been modernized to a level to avoid block obsolescence before 2030.[15] The 2016 decision to add six new "Improved Kilo"-class conventionally-powered submarines to the fleet may be partly designed to mitigate such a gap.[16]

An accident aboard Nerpa, a nuclear-powered attack submarine doing a test run during sea trials in the Sea of Japan on 8 November 2008, killed more than 20 people,[17] marking the worst submarine disaster since Kursk sank in 2000. Nerpa was an Akula-class submarine belonging to the Pacific Fleet. Its construction began in 1991, but was delayed due to lack of funding.[18]

• Mine Countermeasures Ships:
  • Natya-class: 2 Vessels
  • Sonya-class: 8 Vessels
  • Alexandrit-class: 1 Vessel (Yakov Balyaev) entered service 2020[47]
• Patrol/Anti-Saboteur Boats:
  • Grachonok-class anti-saboteur ship: 5 Vessels (P-377; P-417 Yunarmeets Kamchatki; P-420 Yunarmeets Primorya; P-431 Yunarmeets Chukotki; P-445)[48]
• Intelligence/Tracking Vessels:
  • Vishnya-class intelligence ship Kareliya[49] (assigned to 515th division of reconnaissance ships)[50]
  • Marshal Nedelin-class intelligence ship Marshal Krylov (assigned to the 114th Brigade of the Pacific Fleet)[51]
• Fleet Oilers:
  • Boris Chilikin-class: 1 vessel
  • Dubna-class: 2 vessels
  • Uda-class: 1 vessel
  • Altay-class: 2 vessels

Naval Aviation of the Pacific Fleet (Fleet fighter information as of 2019/20; other data may be older):[52][53]

• 568th Independent Composite Aviation Regiment – HQ at Mongokhto – Tu-142MR/MZ/M3 (Bear-F) maritime-patrol/ASW aircraft[54] (M3 (Bear-F) variant reported delivered as of 2020[55]);
• 865th Red Banner Order of Labour Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (Regiment transferred to Pacific Fleet on 1 July 1998;[56] disbanded 2010; reported as likely to reform as of 2019[57]) – HQ at Yelizovo-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport – MiG-31B/M fighters (planned as of 2019[58])
• 317th Mixed Aviation Regiment – HQ at Yelizovo – One Squadron with Il-38/N ASW aircraft (upgrading with N-model variant of the aircraft as of 2017);[59] One Squadron reported deploying upgraded MiG-31BM fighters (2020)[60]
  • Pacific Fleet MiG-31s (including K-variant with Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ASM) also reported deployed at Anadyr airport in the Chukotka region (December 2020)[61] with further potential forward operating locations at Wrangel Island and elsewhere.[62]
• 71st Independent Military Transport Air Squadron – HQ at Nikolayevka, Primorskaya – An-12, An-24, An-26;
• 175th Independent Shipborne Anti-submarine Helicopter Squadron – HQ at Yelizovo – Ka-27 ASW helicopters;
• 289th Independent Anti-submarine Air Regiment – HQ at Nikolayevka – Il-38/N ASW aircraft; Ka-27 ASW and Ka-29 attack helicopters.

Additional aviation and air defence assets in the Eastern Military District are deployed as part of the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army.

Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 bombers (including with Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ASM) deployed as part of Russian Long-Range Aviation, including in the Eastern Military District (as of 2016).[63]

According to a report from the Institute for the Study of War, in March 2018 the Fleet contained two naval infantry brigades, a coastal brigade, and coastal regiment.[64]

• Fleet Headquarters, Vladivostok commanded by Admiral Vladimir Ivanovich Korolev
  • Naval Infantry
    • 40th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
    • 155th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade, Vladivostok
    • 42nd Maritime Recon Point (Special Forces battalion), Vladivostok
  • Coastal Defence Missile Units
    • 520th Separate Coastal Missile Artillery Brigade, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
      • 2 Battalions/Squadrons with K-300 Bastion Surface-to-Surface Missiles (as of 2018; additional units reported forming with the aim of 3-5 Bastion and 1-2 SSC-6 Bal battalions/squadrons).[65]
    • 72nd Separate Coastal Missile Brigade (units equipped with Bastion SSM (Iturup Island and Matua Island) and Bal SSM battalion (Kunashir Island) [66][67]), HQ: Vladivostok[68]
    • New Coastal Missile Brigade reported being established in 2021 to defend Sakhalin.[69]