Soviet Naval Aviation

Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF, for Авиация военно-морского флота in Russian, or Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota, literally "aviation of the military maritime fleet") was the naval aviation arm of the Soviet Navy.^[1]^[2]

Origins

The first

airfields

.

Civil War and Interwar Period

The regular

Kama River, Northern Dvina and on the Lake Onega

. The newborn Soviet Naval Air Force consisted of only 76 obsolete hydroplanes. Scanty and technically imperfect, it was mostly used for resupplying the ships and the army.

In the second half of the 1920s, the Naval Aviation order of battle began to grow. It received new

Soviet Pacific Fleet. The importance of naval aviation had grown significantly by 1938–1940, to become one of the main components of the Soviet Navy. By this time, the Soviets had created formations and units of the torpedo and bomb aviation. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all of the fleets

(except for the Pacific Fleet) had a total of 1,445 aircraft.

Second World War

The Morskaya Aviatsiya (Naval Aviation) was the Soviet Navy's air service during World War II. Such air units provided air support to the Voyenno-Morskoy Flot SSSR (Soviet Navy) in the theaters of operations in the Barents, Baltic and Black Seas and also to the Soviet Naval Detachment in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Russian Navy Aviation managed all land, shore and vessel-based (tender seaplanes and catapult vessels) hydroplanes and aircraft, as well as flying boats. The air units also conducted land operations in support of the Red Army during landings and disembarkations and served in special wartime operations. Naval Aviation provided some air cover to Allied convoys bringing equipment to Soviet forces from North Sea to the Barents Sea and via the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Okhotsk.

In particular, Naval Aviation was deployed in defense of

Odessa (June–October 1941), in operations in the Crimea and the Black Sea and carried out successful air strikes in the last stages of the conflict on the European and Pacific Fronts

.

During the war, Naval Aviation delivered an immense blow to the enemy in terms of sunken ships and crews—two and a half times more than any other unit of the Soviet Navy. Seventeen naval aviation units were honored with the title of the Soviet Guards, while 241 men were awarded with the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union (including five pilots twice).

Aviation divisions of the Red Navy

1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division VVS VMF
2nd Torpedo Rananskaya Red Banner Aviation Division in the name of N.A. Ostryakova VVS VMF
3rd Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
4th Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
5th Torpedo Aviation Division VVS VMF
6th Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
7th Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
8th Torpedo Gatchinskaya Red Banner Aviation Division VVS VMF
9th Assault Ropshinskaya Red Banner, Order of Ushakov Aviation Division VVS VMF
10th Seysinskaya Red Banner Aviation Division of Dive Bombers VVS VMF
11th Assault Novorossiysk Twice Red Banner Aviation Division VVS VMF
12th Assault Aviation Division VVS VMF
13th Aviation Division of Dive Bombers VVS VMF
14th Mixed Aviation Division VVS VMF
15th Mixed Aviation Division VVS VMF
16th Mixed Aviation Division VVS VMF [ru] - 1 May 1961 became 143rd Maritime Rocket Aviation Division.^[3]

Cold War

To attack surface ships at long ranges, the Soviet Navy was unique in deploying large numbers of bombers in a maritime role for use by Naval Aviation. The

North Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America, the primary role of these aircraft was to protect the Soviet mainland from attacks by U.S. carrier task forces.^[4]

The last commander of Soviet Naval Aviation, Colonel-General Viktor Pavlovich Potapov, was appointed in 1988. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its assets were inherited by successor states' forces, including Russian and Ukrainian Naval Aviation.^{[citation needed]}

Inventory

Soviet Naval Aviation in 1990:^[5]

Ship based aircraft

79 strike fighters
- 79 Yakovlev Yak-38
219
naval helicopters
- 113 Kamov Ka-25
- 106 Kamov Ka-27

Shore based aircraft

269 bombers
- 129 Tupolev Tu-22M
- 125 Tupolev Tu-16
- 15 Tupolev Tu-22
198 attack aircraft
- 97 Sukhoi Su-17
- 101 Sukhoi Su-24
90 Anti-submarine warfare aircraft
- 50 Tupolev Tu-142
- 40 Ilyushin Il-38
65 reconnaissance aircraft
- 50 Tupolev Tu-16
- 15 Antonov An-12
45 electronic-warfare aircraft
- 10 Tupolev Tu-22
- 20 Tupolev Tu-95
- 15 Sukhoi Su-24
90 seaplanes
- 90 Beriev Be-12
118 anti-submarine warfare helicopters
- 118 Mil Mi-14
40 refueling aircraft
- Tupolev Tu-16 N and Z

Other aircraft

Obsolete aircraft

Shore based aircraft

Helicopters

Weapons and equipment

Air-to-air missiles

R-60, AA-8 Aphid

Air-to-surface missiles

K-10S, AS-2 Kipper
Kh-22, AS-4 Kitchen
Kh-23 Grom, AS-7 Kerry
KS-1 Komet, AS-1 Kennel - Obsolete missile system
KSR-2, AS-5 Kelt
KSR-5, AS-6 Kingfish

References

^ "Aviation Elements Northern Fleet". Ww2.dk. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
^ "Soviet Naval Aviation". Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
^ "143rd Maritime Missile Aviation Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
^ Tokarev, Maksim (2014). "Kamikazes: The Soviet Legacy". Naval War College Review. 67 (1): 9.
^ "Naval Air Force". GlobalSecurity.org.

External links

http://www.ww2.dk/new/navy/aviation%20divisions.htm - Naval aviation divisions
https://web.archive.org/web/20101128053719/http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/russia/navalaviation.html- Naval aviation order of battle
Norman Polmar, Guide to the Soviet Navy (Fifth Edition),
ISBN 0870212419
, 9780870212413 (Chapter 8)

[1] "Aviation Elements Northern Fleet". Ww2.dk. Retrieved 2019-02-05.

[2] "Soviet Naval Aviation". Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2012-12-21.

[3] "143rd Maritime Missile Aviation Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 5 February 2019.

[4] Tokarev, Maksim (2014). "Kamikazes: The Soviet Legacy". Naval War College Review. 67 (1): 9.

[5] "Naval Air Force". GlobalSecurity.org.

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Historical Air Forces of Russia
Russian Empire
Emperor's Military Air Fleet (1909–1917)
Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic
Workers and Peasants Red Air Fleet (1918–1991)
USSR, Commonwealth of Independent States
Military Air Forces of the USSR (1918–1992) Aviation of the Military Maritime Fleet (1918–1992) Anti-Air Defence Troops (1948–1992) Strategic Rocket Forces (1959–1992)
Russian Federation
Military Air Forces of the Russian Federation (1991–present^[update]) Aviation of the Military Maritime Fleet (1991–present^[update]) Strategic Rocket Forces (1991–present^[update] )