What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
score:23
Unlike Soviet ground forces the fleet was well prepared at the beginning of German invasion and did not panic or wait for orders.
For example as early as August 1941 Baltic fleet air force bombed Berlin from the island Ezel. In 1941 Baltic fleet placed 12047 mines.
In 1943 the Finns together with the Germans successfully placed a net across the Gulf of Finland which Soviet submarines could not penetrate. The operations of the Baltic fleet became confined to the Gulf.
Nevertheless the fleet played a serious role during the blockade of Leningrad and associated operations. For instance they supported the offensive north of Leningrad with about 200 high-caliber guns.
The fleet also set up some fleet units on the lakes surrounding Leningrad, the Chud, Ladoga, Onega and Ilmen lakes.
In 1944 Finland started to remove the barrier net, increasing the possibilities for Soviet fleet.
Overall they sunk 280 enemy warships and 624 transports, including 2 pre-dreadnought battleships, 3 cruisers, 16 destroyers, and 16 submarines.
The Fleet executed 24 landing operations and 158,000 aerial sorties.
100,000 Baltic fleet personnel were awarded decorations and 137 became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
The Black Sea Fleet also was not caught by surprise; on the night of the June 22 German attack on the USSR they successfully defended against a German surprise air strike.
Throughout the war the Black Sea Fleet made 13 landings, sank 508 enemy ships, and transported 2 million passengers and 8 million tonnes of freight.
The Northern Fleet during the war sank over 200 enemy warships and 400 transports and destroyed over 1300 planes.
The Pacific Fleet mostly did not participate in the war until the 1945 war against Japan. Many of its personnel did participate in the fight against Germany as members of other units.
Upvote:0
In the Black sea there was also an Italian naval group of small ships. Ans the germans managed to send a group off small speedboats using the Danube river to reach the Black sea.
Upvote:1
the soviet fleet did assist on the arctic convoys as mentionedin a post.it was also a soviet submarine that sank a german hospital ship willhiem gustloff that was acting as a evacuation ship as the russians advanced on the eastern front. wasn't the only timea hospital ship was attacked. a dutch and australian hospital shipswere attacked in the pacific by the imperial japanese navyin 1942
Upvote:10
The Soviet navy played an auxiliary role throughout the entirety of the Second World War. The Baltic fleet was mainly locked in by German and Finnish mines, while the Black Sea fleet mainly participated in evacuation operations (Odessa and Sevastopol) and after the Germans retreated in 1943, attempted to gain control from German and Romanian forces. The Navy also participated in numerous landing operations in the Black Sea (Malaia Zemlia) for which Tsezar Kunikov is famous, and Brezhnev, who took credit he didn't deserve.
Furthermore, Soviet Naval Infantry participated in numerous battles once their ships were disabled or there was a need for manpower. From Leningrad, to Odessa, Stalingrad, Sevastopol, Novorossiisk, and 'special forces' operations (mainly conducted by naval recon troops), Soviet navy personnel made up a significant and important part of many Red Army operations. The Germans nicknamed them 'The Black Death'.
Upvote:20
Baltic fleet
The fast German advance up the Baltic coast pushed the Soviet fleet back to bases in the gulf of Finland (Leningrad and Kronstadt). From here their operations were severely limited by German and Finnish mines. See the wikipedia page.
Here is a description of mine-laying activity in gratuitous detail. Mine were layed by Germany, their co-belligerent Finland, as well as by Sweden.
The Baltic fleet did participate in the Siege of Leningrad, but it looks like their main contribution was in aviation.
The Russian submarines in the Baltic appear to have been disruptive, but weren't very effective and did not present a substantial threat.
Black Sea
Mostly inaccessible to the Germans. As with the Baltic, their western bases were quickly taken by German land force. The Russian navy had a huge surface fleet advantage, against the Romanian and Bulgarian navies, but this was completely nullified by German air superiority.
In this case the German land advance took all major Soviet shipyards, leaving the fleet based in Georgia with inadequate repair facilities, hindering their operational capabilities. They were able to give some support to, and helped to evacuate, coastal cities.
Other
The Northern fleet was involved in protexting the Arctic Convoys, and supplied naval infantry forces to the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive against German forces in northern Finland and Norway.
The Pacific fleet participated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
The Caspian Flotilla was involved in supplying Stalingrad (via the Volga, which flows into the Caspian) as well as supplying other fighting in the Caucasuses.
Upvote:27
Soviet Navy's role was negligible compared to that of either the Soviet Army or the Navies of the Western Allies. This is not surprising given the essentially continental nature of the USSR.
The other two answers give the glorified official version which inflates ridiculously the damage inflicted on the Axis. Early in the war, the Baltic fleet was locked up in Leningrad; Tributs kept sending submarines on one way missions to show that he was doing something. After the cruiser Red Ukraine was lost in 1941, the use of larger ships had to be sanctioned by Moscow. Indeed, the Northern fleet helped with the Arctic Convoys, and late in the war both Baltic and Black sea fleets were more active, but all their achievements pale compared to what the Red Army did.
PS. The Soviet Naval Strategy was heavily directed towards Sea denial (the Shipbuilding Ministry was unofficially known as "Наркомат подводных лодок" - Submarine Ministry) which is not surprising given the aforementioned continental nature of the USSR. One might find Анализ эффективности советского подводного флота в годы Второй мировой войны enlightening, especially its scathing criticism of the official historiography.
More post
- 📝 Who are the people walking with Hitler?
- 📝 Did Rothschild say this famous quote? If yes, what did he mean by it?
- 📝 Which European towns or cities are architecturally most similar today to how they would have been in 16C-17C?
- 📝 How many troops did Hitler send back from the Eastern front to face the Allies' assault?
- 📝 Canadian inter-tribal wars
- 📝 Why did serfdom disappear gradually in England?
- 📝 How was financial profit viewed in Medieval Europe?
- 📝 How did tobacco affect the English colonies economically during the 17th Century?
- 📝 Has anyone tried to map the Tribal Hidage
- 📝 Before and during WW2, how were war games played?
- 📝 Who, if anyone, was the first astronaut to return to earth in a different vessel?
- 📝 What do we know of the conditions the "prominents" were kept in in Nazi concentration camps?
- 📝 When did Pontius Pilate rule?
- 📝 What date does a 1738 British author intend by "soon after the revolution"?
- 📝 Did medieval peasants work 150 days a year?
- 📝 How were old wooden warships with structural damage to the hull repaired at dock?
- 📝 Why did Mao use political mobilization to prevent inefficiency and slack?
- 📝 What was (if at all) Hitler's Plan B if Molotov-Ribbentrop had not worked out?
- 📝 Nejd (Saudi Arabia) and the Arab Revolt
- 📝 Did Aryan race ever existed?
- 📝 Did Diaochan really love Lü Bu?
- 📝 A German immigrant ancestor has a "Registration Affidavit of Alien Enemy" on file. What does that mean exactly?
- 📝 Why is it called the "Ottoman" Empire in English language?
- 📝 Battle of Seattle
- 📝 Why did Coloman of Slavonia leave Sajó bridge weakly defended against the Mongols?
- 📝 Why did Columbus cross the mid-Atlantic instead of exploring from Greenland?
- 📝 Where would the first nuke have been dropped in Germany?
- 📝 Did the Allies ever seriously contemplate a "Northern Intervention" in Russia during World War II?
- 📝 Understanding my 96 year old father's US Army discharge papers
- 📝 Italian & Italian-American Internment camp locations in the United States in WWII
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 What was the Soviet role in Syria during the Cold-War?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the ratio of German to Soviet losses on Eastern front during different stages of the war?
- 📝 What was the role of the Russian Orthodox church in Soviet Russia?
- 📝 What was the role of Nikita Khrushchev during the battle of Stalingrad?
- 📝 What was the role of Konstantin Rokossovsky during WW1?
- 📝 What was the role of Nigeria in Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- 📝 What was the role of Scotland during the Hundred Years War?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What was the strategy to protect the British Museum during the World Wars?
- 📝 What was the ratio women to men after World War 2 in the Soviet Union
- 📝 What was the "Favorable result" that the German admiralty was expecting from the naval attack on the Royal Navy in 1918?
- 📝 What was the size of surface of a cereal crop needed per man per year during the Dark Ages in Western Europe?
- 📝 How close was the Soviet Union to collapsing during WW2?
- 📝 What was the value of the spice trade during the age of exploration?
- 📝 What was the liquor that was based on petrol which was produced in the USSR during the Second World War?
- 📝 What was the actual value of tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party?
- 📝 What was the situation of h*m*sexuals in the early Soviet Union?
- 📝 What was the role of Indian princes and aristocratic landowners under British colonial rule?
- 📝 What role did the Ancient Samurai heritage play on Modern Japan during WW2?
- 📝 What was the ethnic composition of Soviet government?
- 📝 What role did the space race play in reducing the nuclear threat during the 1960s?
- 📝 What determined which companies went to which post-Soviet republics after the fall of the Soviet Union as everything was centralized in Moscow?
- 📝 What was the Nove / Millar debate, how is it important to the historiography of the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What did European people of the 5th century AD eat during spring and what was the availability?
- 📝 Communication lag during the Age of Sail: what if enemy claimed that peace agreement was signed?
