“■ s. str . • one oi in
from (L-a e§ists’ central tasks. . . b tish ry v.lewP°int, RimPac-86 with intnorT10^31'00 *s i°r Washington 'shed g0a|3,nt step toward the cher-
^rav
ted’adding-?'*6 Soviet people in~
id a KCe of New yJh,C 8,3p CaUSed by the th ^ hurry bv ^ea^and has been closed
d? a’rcraft 3 ^ni^i1 naval force led by
thrt'cipatin0C3rr’erMustrious, which is
yirst time'? *C R'mPac exercises for
the nVye,skava fK, • ,
RUsSian ,, <ossiya, the newspaper of „ republic, noted:
^tpasseri^*16 exerc'scl considerably °°th Sc , Previous ones in terms of e and the number of forces
ESmi.
*din
>8s /
T'he
^Ucted in^L^ cxercise RimPac-86 con- atl(l JUne6 centraI Pacific during May end by tL„ 3S covered from beginning to eXerciSP ?V'6t media. At the start of Govemm ’ zvest,ya< the official Soviet 1( newspaper, stated:
On 1 o x * . .
°f the tj • Ma^’ j°*nt nava^ exercises ada, jar,mted States, Australia, Can- °n a va!t 3nd Great Britain began the COf. exPanse of the Pacific under year’s exe'name RimPac. . . . This the i0the,|,c'se marks a jubilee, as it is including a^nS Part are 50 warships, around 2sntW° a'rcraR carriers and last si» aircraft. The exercise will “ti* Weeks.
'sh Na;SviS,the Rrst time that the Brit- eises as taken part in the exer- the iimj e.n ^retching imagination to atiionj, p*1 ls difficult to rank Britain global- acific cctmtries. ... But highly ;n U1S currently rated very global; " Washington, and to teach li- S. « to 'he allies is one of the
an
°«ober 1986
involved. Japan represents the largest formation after the U. S. Navy. Its forces include eight destroyers, a submarine, and 16 fighter planes and helicopters. For the first time, a British squadron is taking part in the militarist games.
“. . . The participants will conduct battles imitating an engagement with the Soviet Navy and . . . strikes against the Soviet Union’s Far East regions. . . . That is, offensive operations are regarded as of paramount importance. The provocative nature of such operations is obvious. [Furthermore,] Washington is [now] actively drawing its allies into the noose of its adventurist policy.”
Moscow Radio, in its broadcasts directed at Japan, emphasized the last point:
“The attempt to give RimPac a global flavor is nothing but the result of the new U. S. maritime strategy, a global and regional one for direct confrontations. . . . Following the United States, Japan—the closest ally in the Pacific—has immediately started working out a plan . . . based on the principle of first checking the enemy’s attacks and then launching an attack on the enemy within its territory prior to itself suffering an attack. Needless to say, there is a possibility of launching the first attack not necessarily for the sake of defense.
“The participation of [Japan’s] self-defense force in RimPac is a gross violation of the legislative veto on the dispatch of Japanese troops abroad.”
As the exercise concluded, the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda characterized it as “anti-Soviet and a premiere of a new U. S. maritime strategy, whereby Soviet forces must be destroyed in forward areas away from the United States.”
Gorbachev’s Pacific Naval Proposals
The 27 July speech of Soviet First Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Vladivostok attracted world press attention because of what some infrequent observers of Soviet interests saw as a new focus on the Pacific, the promise of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Mongolia, and initiatives for better relations with China. But that trip and speech also revealed distinctly naval interests.
Notably, it was delivered in Vladivostok, as Secretary Gorbachev visited that city to review the Pacific Fleet and visit the fleet war memorial on Soviet Navy day, traditionally the fourth Sunday in July. Soviet television showed film clips of Gorbachev and his wife accompanied by Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy, Fleet Admiral Vladimir N. Cher- navin, in the reviewing stands, while the Commander of the Soviet Pacific Fleet Vladimir V. Siderov did the pass-by in his barge Typhoon I. The nuclear- powered guided-missile cruiser Frunze, described as the “pride of the fleet,” the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) cruiser Minsk, called a fortress, and other major combatants, including submarines, also were in the review. The dignitaries then watched missile, gunnery, and torpedo firings and an amphibious landing by Soviet naval infantry tanks.
At the conclusion of his speech, Gorbachev turned to naval topics making proposals similar to those he has already made for the Mediterranean:
“We propose to start talks on the reduction of naval activity in the Pacific, above all [the numbers of] nuclear-armed ships. Restriction of rivalry in the sphere of antisubmarine weapons—specifically, an arrangement to prohibit antisubmarine activity in certain zones of the Pacific— would strengthen stability.”
Soviet Shipboard Television
To the Soviet Navy, “combat readiness” means personnel readiness. The Soviet military encyclopedia states:
“Combat readiness [is] a condition which defines the level of personnel preparedness to carry out the assigned missions. Combat readiness presupposes that . . . [ships] have a certain level of military equipment in proper operating condition, ready for use. ...”
191
perso °yiets develop high combat or and tecb' read'ness not only by tactical tant bv n*Ca' tra'n*n8 but, equally impor- trai^ng m°ra''P°l't'cal and psychological state- ^ov'et textbooks on training
chn]C°mbat’ moral-political, and psy- in, 0"lca' training is a unified and andParab‘eProcess- • • ■ The combat niai moraHpolitical training are the ehof1 and fading aspects. The psy- Proc°®1Ca* asPect is formed during the tfaineSS combat and moral-political 8- • . , ”
Hill:
JPPlied
ie,|rat’n2 lb at this teaching is actually
^ -tbe ^eet> Vice Admiral N. Trai"insw\ the Chief of Political stated in T tbe Soviet Pacific Fleet, a ^24 Morskoy Sbornik article:
logical6 rtlora'"P°litical and psycho- inte Gaining for servicemen is an theij a ,Part °f the whole system of it pa_rainmg and education. We view tiain and Parcel with solving the reari;„ tas^—improving the combat “Thess of ships and units.” the m6 Pr°hlem of further improving Prena Oral-Pol>t>cal and psychological
esPeciali°n °f the Personnel • • • is age1 Y 'mportant on a long voy-
servjc ' crew’s tenor of life and in teae,atsea Hself plays a special role tn0ra)c m8 the personnel the required quaiitiP0htical and psychological
the
The S0V;
goal <-'et military dictionary defines of such training:
"Th
ate c f.moral-political qualities that ForCes !1Vated in the Soviet Armed a\\.'arelnclude: a high level of social land and devotion to Mother- Pr°letnd *he ideals of Communism; ness tontn internationalism; faithful- me oath and to military com-
fcPi
Win;’ atred enemies; [and a] Sake0f 6SS Por self-sacrifice for the Vlctory over the enemy. ...”
consciousness of military 1 hatred , *
new ASW cruiser Novorossiysk from the Black Sea to the Pacific as an example. The command element and the party committee directed the television committee to maintain a close connection between the studio’s work and the missions being carried out by the crew. Thus, the crew saw such broadcasts as:
- A lecture on the countries of the Indian Ocean basin
- “The Naval Forces of the NATO countries in the Atlantic—A Threat to the Peace and Security of Peoples”
- “Psychological Warfare ...”
- “The Political Situation in the Countries of Africa”
- “My Fatherland,” which acquainted the multinational crew with the economic achievements, the culture, and customs of all the union republics in the Soviet bloc
- A talk concerning the heroic past of the Belorussian people and their successes in accomplishing the goals of the 11th Five- Year Plan
- A series devoted to the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War
- Talks on aircraft carriers of the NATO navies, U. S. Shipbome Aircraft, U. S. submarines, and missile weapons of the NATO countries
- An edition of “Your Communists and the Ship,” which reports regularly on the work of the party organization
- A sketch about Lieutenant Colonel Yu. Tishkov, who completed his 5,000th flight on the day of the broadcast.
- A discussion of problems related to improving readiness and vigilance and strengthening discipline and prescribed order
- The daily edition of “Ocean Meridians,” which is 25-30 minutes “on the most important events in the country and abroad”
Remembering World War II
ThUs
n°tb'ng is t -be ^miral continues, “Here bat'on nf riv'al > nor can it be. The organ-
SUres;°ftelaxation,.
a p
. .of cultural mea-
■Pect , ®rt'at help. . . . Important with Nag^ mis is the use of technical aicalp8anda resources.
ANra^aganda
Astern rC^ers is the ship’s television u ^ art’ i •
.hliae q'C 6 'nMorskoy Sbornik entitled, , stratesrfens ’n tde Crews Quarters,” elev;„: how the content of shipboard
t^Si
The “tech- resource” to which the
’ eVie,
th°ral-r?,rl. systems
is used to further
lri§- Tbgbbca* and psychological train-
featui
re used the cruise of the
Memories of the “Great Patriotic War” are kept very much alive in the Soviet Union. The Soviet people remember the war with great pain and pride and with a determination not to let the losses they suffered and the victory they won be forgotten or deprecated. The Soviet government keeps World War II memories alive to further the propaganda themes of today.
This June marked the 45th anniversary of the 1941 Nazi attack on the Soviet Union. On 20 June, the mass-circulation newspaper Pravda reiterated for the Soviet public the lesson learned:
“The chief lesson of the Great Patriotic War is that it is essential to re
buff any aggressive pretensions decisively and in good time and fight against war before it begins. This is particularly topical now when international imperialism headed by the United States is basing its foreign policy on military strength and attempting to gain superiority over socialist countries.”
Speaking at the Ministry of Defense Institute on Military History, General of the Army Aleksey Lizichev, Chief of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Ministry of Defense, amplified and detailed the party’s perspective on why World War II memories must be kept alive:
“For the Soviet people, war and victory are fused into one, and they will never be just history. They are our present and our future. Victory in the most just of all the wars that our people have ever had to wage is a subject of nationwide pride—a mighty factor in the upbringing of new generations and a terrible warning to those who would wish once again to test our firmness.
“In recalling in our mind’s eye those harsh days, we are looking ahead, so that those days may never be repeated, so that the Soviet people may be protected reliably. . . . Imperialism is preparing for war. . . . And taking account of the policy of imperialism, first and foremost that of the United States and the NATO bloc, we must today prepare our own people to defend the achievements of socialism. Our Army and fleet must be prepared in such a way as to be ready at any moment to repulse any aggressor.
. . . Supreme political and military vigilance in regard to the intrigues of imperialism is essential. One must fight against war before it starts.”
The following week, speaking to the USSR Writers Congress, the General cautioned:
“. . . During the postwar years, new generations have grown up which have not experienced war. In their view, peace is the normal state of society. This can, involuntarily, lead to complacency, to an underestimation of the real threat of war.
“. . . In this context the military patriotic education of the population, and in particular young people, and of course Army and Navy servicemen, assumes a special significance. It is impossible to overestimate the role of literature in this nationwide and partywide task.”
'din
Igs 1 October 1986
193