Russian Maritime Self-Defense Forces

  

Russian Maritime Self Defense Forces
Морские силы самообороны России
Emblem of the RMSDF
Founded	Original: 1 October 1696 (1696-10-01) Current: 1 February 1964 (1964-02-01)
Country	Russia
Type	Navy
Role	Naval warfare
Size	81,000 active personnel 120 ships
Garrison/HQ	Saint Petersburg, Russia
Patron	Saint Andrew the Apostle
Motto(s)	"С нами Бог и Андреевский флаг!" (God and St. Andrew's flag are with us!)
Blue      White      Red
March	"Экипаж — одна семья" (The Crew — One Family)
Commanders
Supreme Commander	File:Standard of the President of the Russian Federation Fixed.svg President Roman Kosmynin
Minister of Defense	Yaroslav Krylov
Chief of the Defense Staff	Colonel General Viktor Zolnikov
RMSDF Commander-in-Chief	Admiral Yegor Makarov
Insignia
Ensign
Jack
Pennant
Sleeve patch

The Russian Maritime Self-Defense Forces (Russian: Морские силы самообороны России, RMSDF), also referred to as the Russian navy, is the naval component of the Russian Self-Defense Forces. As of 2022, the RMSDF has about 81,000 active personnel and 120 warships and auxiliary ships. It is the de facto navy of Russia and is one of the largest navies in Europe.

The Russian Navy was first established by Peter the Great in 1696 and all of its symbols were designed by him personally. Because Russia has traditionally been a land power with limited access to warm-water ports, during the 19th and 20th centuries the Imperial Russian Navy was considered to have a supporting role to the Army, which was given the priority in development. It underwent some modernization between the 1880s and early 1900s, acquiring modern dreadnoughts and being among the top ten largest navies in the world at the time. After the 1923 Russian Revolution it saw a severe cut in funding and was neglected by the series of military, democratic, and then derzhavist governments that followed, because of the outsized role the Russian Army played in politics in those years and general economic instability. By the end of Great War II, the Russian Navy had largely been left with obsolete equipment and much of it was destroyed.

In 1964 the Allied powers decided to establish the Russian Self-Defense Forces with the postwar Russian government. The Russian Maritime Self-Defense Forces (RMSDF) underwent a complete overhaul from the previous situation, with new warships being built and some being donated by Russia's Western allies. Unlike previously, the defense budget during the Cold War gave the naval forces a larger share, although Russian military doctrine still considers the RMSDF to be secondary and have a supporting role to the Russian Ground Self-Defense Forces (RGSDF). Despite this the RMSDF became one of the largest navies in Europe by the early 1980s, with the majority of its ships split between the Arctic, Baltic, and Black Seas. Russia has not possessed aircraft carriers but does have smaller, convertable "helicopter carriers," however the guided missile cruisers and nuclear submarines are seen as the most important part of the fleet. Since the 1990s the size of the fleet has been downsized, with many older warships being retired and being replaced by more advanced vessels. The Russian fleet has participated in supporting League of Nations peacekeeping missions and international maritime task forces against piracy.

In the 21st century, Russia is considered to have a highly trained and professional navy for a country that has limited access to the world's oceans, with the exception of the Arctic Ocean. The RMSDF is organized into the Northern Fleet in the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, and the Caspian Flotilla. The Chief of Maritime Self-Defense Forces Staff (Начальник штаба Морских сил самообороны) is the highest-ranking officer in command of the force, while the President of Russia is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Self-Defense Forces (Верховный главнокомандующий Сил самообороны).

History

Imperial Navy

Russia's naval history originates in the late 17th century to the Tsardom of Russia when the Imperial Russian Navy was founded in 1696. Under Tsar Peter the Great, the Imperial Russian Navy was expanded with the creation of the Baltic Fleet, Russia's first fleet, as the first major formation of the navy. The first major conflict in partook in was the Great Northern War (1700–1721) between Russia and the Swedish Empire with Russia's first major naval victory was the Battle of Kotlin. As the Russian Empire was formed, the navy continued to expand and grow and became one of the biggest navies in all of Europe and the world by the 1720s under Peter the Great, however its quality would deteriorate followng his death and had to be rebuilt under Empress Anna of Russia to retain Russia's military power and keep it as one of the biggest naval powers in the world.

Creation of the RMSDF

In October 1957, the Russian Armed Forces were officially abolished by the Allied Control Council. Much of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet became part of the newly-formed Ukrainian Navy and the Georgian Navy, part of the Caspian Flotilla went to the Azerbaijani Navy and the Kazakh Naval Forces, and some of the Russian Northern Fleet at the behest of the Allies. In total, by the end of the war there were two ageing battleships, six cruisers, 30 destroyers, 150 torpedo boats, and 90 minesweepers. The battleships became part of the Ukrainian fleet. In August 1958 a mine-clearing force was established using some of these vessels. As early as the fall of 1958 there were proposals for a Russian rearmament, as the Cold War was underway and the Allied Control Council believed that the newly-independent states in Central and Northern Asia were too weak to defend themselves, and the Western countries did not have the resources to defend all of them, while the People's Republic of China had emerged from Great War II as the strongest military power in the Asian mainland. Western governments envisioned a Russian ground force that could deter China from acting against the newly independent states in Asia, and a naval force to support it, primarily based in the Arctic Ocean, that would be capable of moving into the Pacific. In January 1959, the Russian Ministry of Demobilization began keeping track of former naval officers and personnel, and a naval department was formed to study the feasibility of creating a "maritime self-defense force" in Russia.

In 1960, Sierra and Germany informed Russia that it would need to rearm to protect itself and the region from potential Chinese expansionism, despite British and Polish opposition. The Russian Self-Defense Forces would be established to this end. In 1963 several vessels of the Sierran Royal Navy and the German Navy were donated so that the new Russian navy would have modern warships to work with. On February 1, 1964, the Law on the Self-Defense Forces was passed by the State Duma, and the RMSDF was officially established. Under the new Russian government and its Ministry of Defense, it was determined that the force would have a focus on Russia's maritime national security interests instead of possessing a large fleet for prestige, as had done the Russian Empire. Under the first Basic National Defense Strategy, adopted in June 1964, the MSDF was to be centered around submarines and small surface ships equipped with missiles, more so than their Western counterparts, with the main purpose being to counter Chinese or Continental submarines. The Northern Treaty Organization envisioned the goal of the RMSDF to be anti-submarine activity in the Arctic and the Pacific. But Russia also developed some larger ship classes, including the Kara class cruiser. The senior staff and headquarters of the MSDF were on an equal level to that of the GSDF, so that the development of the fleet would not be neglected in favor of the ground force, as past governments had done. At the same time, the RMSDF continued aspects of the past Imperial Russian Navy traditions to ensure that the culture and esprit de corps of that force lived on in the modern fleet.

Between 1964 and 1970, the Maritime Self-Defense Forces underwent their first build-up, acquiring vessels from Russia's allies and constructing new ships at the main shipyards in Severodvinsk (near Arkhangelsk), or at the Saint Petersburg yard. In the second phase of its build-up, from 1970 to 1978, saw the RMSDF expand its submarine fleet and develop it to the point where indigenous Russian submarine designs surpassed Western designs in some respects. The surface fleet of the MSDF was primarily intended to be an anti-submarine force, though the need to support larger operations in the Pacific – the most likely potential theater of war, against the People's Liberation Army Navy – with an escort force arose. So by the late 1970s plans for "helicopter carriers" were being made by the Russian government. By the middle of the 1980s the Russian Maritime Self-Defense Forces had a large submarine fleet, as well as a powerful surface force, which was centered on two carriers and guided missile cruisers.

Structure

The Maritime Self-Defense Forces Staff is headquartered at the historic Admiralty Building in Saint Petersburg. Saint Petersburg has traditionally been the Russian Navy's headquarters since the times of Peter the Great, and the Kuznetsov Naval Academy is located there as well.

There are four arms in the Russian Maritime Self Defense Forces: the Surface Force, the Submarine Force, the Coastal Troops, and the Naval Aviation. The Coastal Troops include infantry, artillery, armor, and support forces, while the Naval Aviation mainly consists of helicopters along with some mainly ground-based planes. Officially Russia does not have aircraft carriers, but the helicopter carrier it has is easily convertible to accommodate planes. The largest operational formations are four fleets: the Northern, Black Sea, Baltic, and Caspian. Each of them is organized as a combined force with elements of all four arms of the RMSDF, capable of operating independently.

Tactical organization

Typhoon-class nuclear submarine, one of the largest submarines in the world.

Naval spetsnaz "Commando Frogman" training, 2017.

Naval Infantry during landing exercise, 2013.

• Maritime Self-Defense Forces Headquarters (Saint Petersburg)
  • Kuznetsov Naval Academy (Saint Petersburg)
  • Defense Academy of the Self-Defense Forces of Russia (Moscow)
  • Hydrographic Service (Arkhangelsk)
  • Maritime Special Operations Forces Command (Saint Petersburg)
    • 42nd "Commando Frogmen" Naval Special Reconnaissance Regiment
  • Black Sea Fleet (Novorossiysk)
    • 4th Submarine Division
    • 30th Surface Ship Division
    • 41st Missile Boat Brigade
    • 68th Coastal Defense Ship Brigade
    • 176th Oceanographic Exploration Ship Division
    • 197th Assault Ship Brigade
    • 126th Coastal Defense Brigade
    • 810th Naval Infantry Brigade
    • Black Sea Fleet Air Force
  • Baltic Fleet (Saint Petersburg)
    • 12th Surface Ship Division
    • 36th Missile Boat Brigade
    • 71st Assault Ship Brigade
    • 123rd Submarine Brigade
    • 11th Coastal Artillery Brigade
    • 336th Naval Infantry Brigade
    • Baltic Fleet Air Force
  • Northern Fleet (Arkhangelsk)
    • 2nd Auxiliary Ship Division
    • 4th Submarine Division
    • 7th Submarine Division
    • 43rd Surface Ship Division
    • Northern Fleet Air Force
  • Caspian Flotilla (Astrakhan)
    • 177th Surface Ship Division
    • 879th Naval Infantry Brigade
    • Caspian Flotilla Air Force

Surface and Submarine Force

The surface and submarine forces are the largest and primary arm of the RMSDF.

Coastal Troops

The Coastal Troops consist of the Naval Infantry, the Coastal Artillery, and support various units, such as anti-aircraft defense. Each fleet has several ground units attached to it, mainly Naval Infantry and Coastal Artillery brigades.

Naval Aviation

The Naval Aviation of the RMSDF operations from ground-based naval air bases, but the Admiral Lazarev helicopter carrier is also capable of being converted to hosting airplanes in addition to helicopters.

Personnel

The Russian Maritime Self Defense Forces are a fully volunteer force with enlisted ratings, warrant officers, and commissioned officers. There are about 81,000 personnel as of 2022, down from 150,000 at the height of the Cold War in the early 1980s. The fleet has been downsized since then and the number of personnel has been also. The Kuznetsov Naval Academy is the officer commissioning school for navy lieutenants, while the Defense Academy of the Self-Defense Forces of Russia is the senior staff college for officers ranked captain 1st rank and higher.

Ranks

Officers

Pay grade	Flag officers				Senior officers			Junior officers				Cadet
	O-10	O-9	O-8	O-7	O-6	O-5	O-4	O-3	O-2	O-1		Special grade
Russian MSDF (Edit)												N/A
	Адмирал флота Admiral of the fleet	Адмирал Admiral	Вице-адмирал Vice admiral	Контр-адмирал Rear admiral	Капитан 1-го ранга Captain 1st Rank	Капитан 2-го ранга Captain 2nd Rank	Капитан 3-го ранга Captain 3rd Rank	Капитан-лейтенант Captain lieutenant	Старший лейтенант Senior lieutenant	Лейтенант Lieutenant	Младший лейтенант Junior lieutenant	Курсант Cadet

Enlisted

Pay grade	Senior NCOs				Junior NCOs			Enlisted
	OR-9	OR-8	OR-7	OR-6	OR-5	OR-4	OR-3	OR-2	OR-1
Russian MSDF (Edit)	N/A
	No equivalent	Старший мичман Senior midshipman	Мичман Midshipman	Главный корабельный старшина Master chief petty officer	Главный старшина Chief petty officer	Старшина 1 статьи Petty officer 1st class	Старшина 2 статьи Petty officer 2nd class	Старший матрос Leading seaman	Матрос Seaman

Equipment

Ships

• 

  Admiral Lazarev-class helicopter carrier, flagship of the RMSDF

• 

  Kara-class cruiser, most powerful RMSDF surface combat ship

• 

  Udaloy-class destroyer

• 

  Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

• 

  Steregushchiy-class corvette

• 

  Buyan-class corvette

• 

  Karakurt-class corvette

• 

  Ropucha-class landing ship

• 

  Zubr-class LCAC

• 

  Balzam-class intelligence ship

• 

  Project 22160 patrol ship

• 

  Grachonok-class anti-saboteur ship

• 

  Alexandrit-class minesweeper

• 

  Typhoon-class submarine

• 

  Borei-class submarine

• 

  Kilo-class submarine

• 

  Missile range instrumentation ship Marshal Krylov

Aircraft

• 

  Su-27K fight jet on the deck of Admiral Lazarev, which is a convertible "dual-use" helicopter/aircraft carrier

• 

  Kamov Ka-29 naval helicopter.

• 

  Ilyushin Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft.

• 

  Mikoyan MiG-29K ground-based fighter.

Deployments

Russian warships have been deployed to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea to combat piracy as part of international task forces. During the Cold War ships regularly toured ports in North America, including the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, to visit Russia's NTO allies there. In the 21st century such naval visits to North America have been less common.

See also

Attribution notices

• This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Russian Navy, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).