The following notes have been compiled from 1970 Soviet publications, principally the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaia Zvezda (Red Star) and the Navy’s monthly, Morskoi Sbornik (Naval Collection), which remotely approximates the U. S. Naval Institute PROCEEDINGS.
__________
All Soviet publications dealing with military matters are rigorously censored, and those made available to us are distinguished by a dearth of fact and an avalanche of propaganda. Even so, with patience, facts may be found, as shown in the tables on pages 289 and 291.
The most significant feature of Morskoi Sbornik is a monthly roundup of “news” from the fleets. Each issue discloses a few names of units and commanders, mixed with repetitive reportage of the local triumphs of political officers.
The style of writing is of the kind that American teachers of composition sometimes label as the “Gee whiz!” variety. Authors below flag rank, when describing their experiences in their new “oceanic” navy, almost all display a wondering exuberance about their entry onto the open sea. In this connection, there is visible satisfaction in the challenge to the United States, leavened by a uniform verbiage about the sanctity of international law. The phrase “in neutral waters” is common.
What is the status of the Navy? At a February 1970 celebration of Lenin’s jubilee in Leningrad, the most senior of the commanders of the four fleets, Admiral S. M. Lobov, commanding the Northern Fleet, proudly announced: “The Soviet Navy together with the Strategic Rocket Army and Long Range Aviation form the nuclear-rocket shield of our Russia and all Socialist systems.” (Morskoi Sbornik, April 1970, p. 35)
Occasionally, propagandists naivete affords an interpretation different than intended. The following extract from Red Star for 5 November 1970, for example, might be taken as a tribute to the vigilance of the U. S. Sixth Fleet: “Over the cruiser Mikhail Kutusov rushed an American airplane of carrier aviation. It flew low, demonstratively. The type and side number of the airplane, like the position, were written in the appropriate log and in the next moment forgotten: here, in neutral waters, this is an everyday occurence [sic]. Suddenly, sometime afterwards, the umpire (on board for exercise ‘Okean’), not young, already a vice admiral, said to a staff officer: ‘And were we wrecked by that airplane?’ The staff officer did not understand the question. ‘By which airplane?’ he asked. ‘The one that was here an hour ago? The one that just checked us, comrade admiral? Every day not a few fly over. As we have been taught, we maintain firmness and calmness.” (Whereupon, the cruiser commander, Captain 2/R Karl Ivanovich Zhilin, “the son of a general,” hastened to explain that every aerial contact was plotted by his ever-alert combat information center while his anti-aircraft guns were always at the ready.)
On the other hand, some meetings with Americans are described with malicious humor, as in Red Star for 22 July 1970: “Towards evening, the Mikhail Kutusov fired her main battery. Scarcely waiting for the next salvo, the [USS] Warrington (DD-843) precipitated herself towards the distant horizon. . . .[”]
It is the end result, of course, which matters, and we are expected to believe that in reply to the question, "What are our ships doing in the Mediterranean?”, a 21-year old sailor said: “We are perfecting here (our) naval and military training. We are carrying out our international duty standing on guard for the whole Socialist camp. Through our presence in the Mediterranean we are restraining the realization of the covert schemes of imperialism.”
Operation “Okean”—In theory complementary to “Dvina,” the great exercise of the army in March 1970, “Okean” involved nearly 200 vessels in maneuvers from 14 April to 6 May 1970.* With ships plying the Barents, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Japan, and Philippine seas under concurrent orders, “Okean” was. easily the largest operation ever undertaken by the Soviet Navy.
The commander-in-chief of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet of the U.S.S.R. S. G. Gorshkov, proudly said at the outset in the Red Star for 18 April 1970: “Now on the chart of the world ocean, it is difficult to come upon regions where the ships of the Soviet fleet are unable to sail.”
His speech was entitled Distant Voyages—The School of Sea Teaching, and to him, the operation was a practical examination.
*See Notebook item, “Soviet Maneuvers Summarized,” U. S. Naval Institute PROCEEDINGS, November 1970, p. 101.
Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin and to the 25th anniversary of the victory over Hitler, “Okean” seems to have been primarily a test of the effectiveness of simultaneous communications. “Okean” was, of course, adjudged flawless. Yet four months later, on 29 September 1970, Red Star announced the successful launch of Molniia-1, as the first of a presumed series of communications satellites for relay of radio and TV transmissions. In the northern hemisphere, this satellite has its apogee of 24,500 miles, with a perigee of 270 miles in the south. The inclination is 65.3° and the orbit is 11h47m.
In “Okean,” the hostile “South” was defeated soundly by the forces of “North,” whose command was at Murmansk. Supervised by Admiral Gorshkov and the First Deputy, Admiral V. A. Kasatonov, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Fleet, Semen Mikhailovich Lobov, distinguished himself enough to be confirmed on 28 July 1970 in the rank of Admiral of the Fleet.
Emphasizing the importance of “Okean,” Defense Minister Grechko, Political Director of the Army Epishev, Air Defense Marshal Batitski, and lesser figures of the defense hierarchy cruised in the Barents Sea with Gorshkov on board the old cruiser Murmansk. Demonstrations for Grechko included the launch of ballistic missiles from nuclear submarines, the firing of ship-to-air missiles at aerial targets and ship-to-ship missiles from rocket cutters, the “destruction” of “enemy” nuclear submarines by combined surface and air action and, on the Rybachi Peninsula, the “annihilation” of an “enemy” amphibious assault.
This Rybachi amphibious exercise was apparently the largest ever simulated by the resurgent naval infantry. “Southern” forces simulated a U. S. Marine-type of assault, with a first wave of floating tanks, coordinated with a helicopter group landing behind the shore defense. Colonel Sotnikov of the “North,” however, reacted perfectly to all moves by the “South,” and, aided by the Soviet Air Force, destroyed the “enemy.” As is customary in the Soviet Union, the exercise stressed the use of naval infantry in defending against landings rather than making them.
Though the paramount issues were those of communications and coordination, the outstanding deficiency disclosed by “Okean” seems to have been in the area of aviation. There are indications that the swift “Komar” and “Osa” class cutters lack acquisition capabilities commensurate with the range of their ship-to-ship missiles. Similarly, big ships with “Shaddock” ship-to-ship missiles also seem entirely dependent upon cooperative aircraft. Without command of the air, the effective ranges of Soviet missiles would appear to be drastically shortened. Moreover, judging from a very large number of decorations subsequently awarded to members of the Air Force, naval air is inadequate to the Navy’s needs.
Glowing reportage about marvels accomplished in the Mediterranean phase by the helicopters of the “great ASW cruiser” Moskva connotes a hunger in the carrierless Soviet Navy for complete independence someday from the vagaries of land-based air. (Perhaps by the perfection of VTOL?) All sailors of the Moskva, incidentally, are rated, with 75% in 1/c and 2/c categories. For their performances in “Okean,” 85% were awarded the mark of “excellent.”
The sine-qua-non of air was flatly put by Red Star on 16 April 1970—“Aviation, for the collection of data about the enemy, plays the decisive role at sea.” In the course of “Okean,” every fleet commander salted his flag at sea.
On 4 December 1970, Red Star showed stills from a motion picture about the maneuvers, reflecting Gorshkov’s summary: “The maneuvers revealed increasing standards of training of sea and flight crews, the art of commanders in the complicated production of precisely designed evolutions. Ships and aircraft operated under complex meteorological conditions to use and service weapons, to make landings, to transfer supplies, and to refuel underway and in the air. Flights were carried to the full radius of action. In the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in the Mediterranean Sea, and in the Arctic, sailors and naval aviators proved that the water and air spaces of the earthly sphere are well mastered.”
On 3 January 1971, Red Star announced the publication of a 208-page book entitled Okean, which suggests that the Soviet high command was, at least in general, highly pleased with the exercise and wished the rest of the world to be impressed.
October Ground and Amphibious Exercises—During the October Warsaw Pact ground maneuvers, the Baltic, Polish, and East German fleets executed a simulated amphibious assault. This was noteworthy mainly because of the emergence of a Russian naval infantry tactical unit as large as a regiment, commanded by Colonel A. A. Laletin.
As vaguely described in Red Star on 17 October 1970, following bombardment by aircraft and naval gunfire, the combined amphibians started a wave of floating tanks and then the infantry. Simultaneously, airborne troops captured the “enemy’s” airfield, to which the beachhead troops drove swiftly. Because they had to come from nearby bases ashore, it was significant that “friendly” land-based air first ensured command over the area and “. . . destroyed enemy missile sites . . .” before the amphibians were off-loaded. Obviously, the Soviet Union is not prepared to make opposed landings far from home.
The German Democratic Republic’s Defense Minister, General Hoffman, was nominally in overall command of “Brotherhood in Arms,” which was announced as the greatest exercise in Warsaw Pact history. The naval portion was planned in January 1970 at Leningrad, with the Polish Navy represented by its chief, Rear Admiral Ludwig Janchishin, Political Director Rear Admiral Wladislas Shcherkovski, and Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Henrik Petrashkevich. Their opposite numbers in the East German Navy were Vice Admiral Willi Em, Rear Admiral Rudi Werner, and Rear Admiral Johan Stroibel.
Commanders—In the course of the year, Morskoi Sbornik gave a few biographical details about senior officers, who were usually also Heroes of the Soviet Union.
The leader of the Navy since 1956, Admiral of the Fleet of the U.S.S.R. Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov was born in 1910 at Ukrainian Kaments-Podol’ski. He was graduated in 1931 from the Frunze Naval School in Leningrad, the prestigious academy founded by Peter the Great. His first assignment was as navigator in a Black Sea destroyer. In 1932, he commanded a patrol craft, the Burun, in the Far East. He took the course for destroyer commanders in 1937 and in that type rose in the chain of command until sent to the Command Course, which he finished in 1941. He was given a brigade of cruisers in the Black Sea Fleet. He was Deputy Commander of the Novorossisk defense, from which he went to command flotillas, first the Azov and then the Danube. Admitted to the party in 1942, he went on in postwar years to command the Black Sea Fleet, and in 1955 began a year’s tour as First Deputy Commander of the Navy, probably as preparation for the commanding position he has held for the past 15 years.
First Deputy Commander of the Navy since January 1962, Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Afanaz’evich Kasatonov, like Gorshkov, was born in 1910 and graduated from Frunze in 1931. His birthplace was Novo Peterhof in Leningrad Oblast.
Unlike Gorshkov, he went into submarines, serving first as navigator in a Baltic submarine. By 1932, he had swiftly risen to command of a Far Eastern submarine, going on afterward to divisional commands. He joined the party in 1939. Again like Gorshkov, he finished the Command Course in 1941, and did staff work during the war. From then until 1954, he successively commanded the Eighth, Black Sea, and Northern fleets. Today, as Chief of the War Soviet of the Navy, he seems qualified in an emergency to replace his classmate Gorshkov. With his submarine experience, his main work may be command of that vital arm. In August, he was the naval representative during an eight-day conference with the staff officers of France.
Admiral Vladimir Nikolaevich Alekseev, the First Deputy Chief of the Main Staff since 1966, was born in 1912 at Irkutsk in Siberia. Graduating in 1933 from the Naval Tekhnika, he went from navigator of Baltic and Pacific submarines to chief of staff for a Pacific brigade of torpedo cutters. Joining the party in 1943, he was graduated in 1943 from the Naval Academy (War College) and went to the Northern Fleet. With a division of torpedo cutters, he participated in the 1944 Petsamo-Kirkenes operations. By 1953, he had finished at the Higher Military Academy (now the Veroshilov Academy) and commanded various naval bases. He became Chief of Staff of the Baltic Fleet in 1957.
The submarine commander for the vital Northern Fleet may well be the officer who has been the first deputy commander since mid-1964, Vice Admiral Aleksandr Ivanovich Petelin. He was born in 1913 at Shural-Sverdlovsk. In 1937, he was graduated from Frunze into submarine school. A party member since 1940, he has always been associated with submarines, and is celebrated for the 1962 exploit of taking the nuclear submarine Leninski Komsomolets to the North Pole.
The political officer innocent of genuine naval command is personified by Vice Admiral Nikolai Mikhailovich Kulakov. Since 1961, the Deputy Commander of the Baltic Fleet for the Political Section, Kulakov was born in 1908 at Ivanovski in Tul’sk Oblast. An early opportunist, he had his party card by 1927 and joined the Navy in 1932. He was graduated in 1936 from the Military Political Academy to be posted successively to the Baltic submarines Shch 318 and S 1 and to the battleship Marat. In 1939, he went to the Soviet of the Northern Fleet, but served most of the war in the Black Sea theater, and by June 1946, was deputy commander of the Navy. Reduced in 1950 to mere membership in the Soviet of the Black Sea Fleet, he recouped by 1956 to be Chief of the Political Section at Kronstadt, extending his responsibility in 1960 to embrace the Leningrad Naval District.
Generally, only a handful of admirals are identified by name. Kremlinologists, however, wait for funerals for disclosures of precedence among the pall-bearers, so we may look at the chief mourners at the funeral of 69-year old submarine hero, Rear Admiral Ivan A. Kolyshkin, listed in Red Star for 22 September 1970. After the supreme hierarchy beginning with Gorshkov, we have: N. I. Shibnev, F. I. Shchedrin, A. I. Sorokin (the commander of the 1967 round-the-world cruise of atomic submarines), N. I. Vinogradov, M. P. Augustinovich, F. P. Evseev, N. A. Terik, and F. I. Chernyshev.
The top stratum of naval air was also disclosed by Morskoi Sbomik in July and August 1971.
Commander since 1962 is Colonel General (Aviation) Ivan Ivanovich Borzov, who was born in the Egor’evski district of Moscow in 1915. At 20, he entered the naval air school. He served in the Baltic through World War II, finishing as commander of the 1st Guards Mine-Torpedo Regiment. In 1948, he completed the Naval Academy and was on his way to command air divisions up to the post of deputy commander of the Air Force of the 5th Fleet. (Up to 1950, there were eight Soviet fleets, but these have since been abolished.). By 1953, he commanded the Northern Fleet’s air, and then naval aviation in the Baltic. He became first deputy commander of naval air in 1957.
Since December 1966, the deputy commander of naval air has been Lieutenant General (Aviation) Nikolai Aleksandrovich Naumov, born in 1909 at Khalturin in Kirov Oblast. In 1929, he became a military pilot. He joined the party in 1940 and served over the Black Sea in World War II.
The Chief of Staff of naval air since February 1961, has been Lieutenant General (Aviation) Petr Il’ich Khokhlov. He was born in 1910 in Moscow. In 1932, he graduated from the Vol’sk Tekhnika into a four-year course at the naval air school. Becoming a party member in 1940, he served during World War II on the staffs of all fleets except the Pacific.
The Baltic naval air commander since February 1961 has been Lieutenant General (Aviation) Sergei Arsent’evich Guliaev, born in 1918 at Kazanka in Zolotukhinski district. He entered the naval air school in 1937 and was a party member by 1941. His World War II service was all with the Northern Fleet. In 1948, he finished the Naval Academy and was assigned to the Pacific, from which he went to be deputy commander for Black Sea air, thus rounding his acquaintance with the zones of operations of every Soviet Fleet.
The Black Sea naval air commander since 1956 has been Lieutenant General (Aviation) Aleksandr Alekseevich Mironenko, born in 1918 at Iakhniki near Poltava. He finished naval air school in 1940, the next year became a party member, and as a fighter pilot in the Baltic, became a regimental commander in June 1943. He flew more than 700 wartime missions. From the Naval Academy in 1948, he became deputy commander of Pacific air.
Since March 1966, the Northern naval air commander has been Lieutenant General (Aviation) Georgi Andreevich Kuznetsov, born in 1923 at Shakhti near Rostov, and in the party since 1944. He was graduated from the naval air school in 1943 for initial service in the Black Sea, transferring to the Baltic in 1944 as commander of an attack regiment. In postwar years, he completed the Air Force Academy and, in 1959, upon graduating from the Higher Military Academy, became a deputy commander of air.
In the next lower echelon is the Northern Fleet’s air chief of staff, Major General (Aviation) Vasili Ivanovich Mipakov. He was born in 1921 at Mineral’nye Vody near Stavropol’ and entered the party in 1943. He finished the naval air school in the acceleration at the Nazi invasion and went first to a mine-torpedo regiment in the Pacific. By March 1942, he was serving in the Black Sea. He was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1952 and the Higher Military Academy in 1961, whereupon he went to his present duties.
The biographical notes about these few commanders reveals a practice unlike that of any other major navy. Apparently, akin to the U. S. appointment of Supreme Court justices, a senior Soviet naval officer can hope for a lifetime position. Mironenko, for instance, has headed Black Sea air since 1956, the same year in which Gorshkov apparently obtained permanent grasp upon the foremost position in the Navy.
Main Command of the Soviet Navy
Line and Staff
Admiral of the Fleet of the USSR—S. G. Gorshkov
1st Deputy Commander in Chief, Chief of the War Soviet of the Navy—Admiral of the Fleet V. A. Kasatonov
Chief, Main Staff—Admiral of the Fleet N. D. Sergeev
Deputy Commander in Chief—Admiral N. N. Amelko
Deputy Commander in Chief—Vice Admiral G. M. Egorov
Chief of Engineers—Engr-Admiral P. G. Kotov
First Deputy Chief of Main Staff—Rear Admiral V. N. Alekseev
Commander, Air—Colonel General I. I. Borzov
Deputy, Lieut. General P. I. Khoklov*
Chief, Communications and Observation—Vice Admiral G. Tolstolutski
Commander, Naval Infantry—Colonel L. N. Roitenburd*
Chief, Naval Training Institutions—Vice Admiral G. K. Vasil’ev
Chief Medical Services—Major General E. I. Ivanov
Chief Technical Direction—Engr-Vice Admiral V. P. Razumov
Chief Hydrographic Service—Vice Admiral A. I. Rassokhi
Flag Navigator—Rear Admiral D. E. Erdman
Vice Admiral G. G. Oleinik
Vice Admiral B. N. Potekhin
Rear Admiral A. N. Tiuniaev
Engr-Rear Admiral V. G. Novikov
Major General (Aviation) M. Lukin
Chief, Historical Group—Captain 1/R G. Silaev
Academy of Science, Sea Exploration—Rear Admiral I. D. Papanin
Political Direction
Chief, Political Direction of the Fleet—Admiral V. M. Grishanov
Deputy Chief—Vice Admiral A. I. Sorokin
Chief, Political Section—Vice Admiral S. I. Averchuk
First Deputy Chief, Pol. Dir .—Rear Admiral N. I. Shablikov
Senior Inspector—Rear Admiral A. S. Babushkin
Senior Inspector—Rear Admiral N. N. Zhuravkov
Chief, Propaganda and Agitation—Major General S. Il’in
Deputy Chief, Propaganda and Agitation—Captain 1/R A. N. Kramer
Naval Representative at V. I. Lenin Military—Political Academy—Rear Admiral P. I. Vyrelkin
Chief Section of Labor and Pay—Engr. Captain 1/R E. A. Komlev
Leningrad Naval Base
Commander—Adm. I. Baikov
Training Commander—VAdm. I. Kuznetsov
Chief, Political Section—VAdm. N. M. Kulakov
Deputy Ch., Political Section—Capt. 1/R N. S. Kapulnov
Head, Lenin and Ushakov Academy—VAdm. L. A. Kumikov
Dep. Head, Lenin and Ushakov Academy—Engr.—VAdm. M. P. Stepanov
Head, Frunze Academy—Adm. A. E. Orel*
Dep. Head Frunze Academy—RAdm. A. O. Shabalin
Kaliningrad Naval Academy
Head—Capt. 1/R V. S. Pilpenko [sic]
Riga Naval Base
Commander, RAdm. A. G. Aistov
* The officer named is believed to hold this billet.
Naval Aviation—The advent of the Moskva “great ASW cruisers” signalled the beginning of a realistic air antisubmarine capability for the Soviet Navy, which up until now has been totally dependent upon land-based, long-range aircraft. Because the Soviet Union cannot provide a shield of ship-based fighters for their protection, such large Soviet antisubmarine aircraft are more vulnerable to destruction whenever they venture far from home than are their Western counterparts.
The “state of the art” may be inferred from a Red Star report of 13 August 1970, written by Lieutenant Colonel L. Chuiko and entitled, “Duel in the Ocean.” Consisting of more than two full columns, the article is much too lengthy to be translated except for a small portion: “Naval aviators have received a new antisubmarine airplane . . . half-automatic . . . the search for and chase of submarines in the underwater situation was always hand [sic] work. Formerly, even with efficiency, an expert crew went through seven steps, previously written down . . . Now six steps are taken by the electronic machine, and the seventh remains with the crew . . . With such an airplane it is possible to fight a duel as equals . . .
“A ship in the ocean had a contact with a submarine and there lost this connection. Attempting to cope by themselves, they groped again for the submarine in the depths, but the submariners were cleverer than their opponents on the surface.”
So, the “new antisubmarine airplane,” an amphibian, flew “. . . 1,000 miles into the Barents Sea . . . to find and destroy the “enemy.”
It is interesting, however, that Colonel Chuiko reported (1) a surface vessel initally made contact and furnished a datum; (2) weather information depended on another vulnerable source, a meteorological aircraft; and (3) the Soviet aircraft was unopposed in leisurely use of its “magic box.”
The Soviet Navy continues with seaplanes, and a report in Red Star for 19 August 1970 proudly announced new records.
Four records were claimed for an M-12 “Chaika” with a four-man crew, the first two records made by A. Smirnov, the third by E. Nikitin, and the fourth by A. Zakharov:
1st—payload 2,024 kilos, 1,000 km. at 530.504 km/hr.
2nd—payload 2,023 at 535.228 km/hr.
3rd—payload 5,026 at 529 km/hr.
4th—payload 5,032 at 526.606 km/hr.
Morskoi Sbornik contains many fairly unsophisticated technical articles (college senior level) about naval aviation.
Submarine Base in Cuba—U. S. anxiety over a possible Soviet submarine base at Cienfuegos was ignored for a month by Red Star until 16 October 1970, when a Krokodil-style cartoon ridiculed Secretary Laird. Two days later. Red Star quoted a Tass report from New York: “The gazette Daily World gave a rebuff disposing of the U. S. propaganda campaign in connection with the so-called “Soviet military base on Cuba.”
“ ‘On Cuba,’ writes the gazette, ‘there does actively exist a military base. But it is not a Soviet base, as asserted by the Washington propagandists of the Cold War, but a base in Guantanamo Bay, which has been used by the U. S. Armed Forces for 67 years. The base at Guantanamo,’ continued the Daily World, represents by itself ‘a continual threat to the first Socialist government in America.’ ”
The whole matter was thus dismissed with only a few trivial comments before the end of the year. Several times, however, more space, pictures, and cartoons, were devoted in December 1970 to the cause of Angela Davis, which seems to represent a very curious set of values among the editors of a supposedly military newspaper.
Official Visits—Admiral of the Fleet of the U.S.S.R. S. G. Gorshkov flew to Algiers for a stay from 25 March to 1 April 1970. The visit was reciprocated when Major Ben Mussa, commander of the Navy of the Algerian People’s Democratic Republic, arrived in Sevastopol.
On 28 May 1970, Gorshkov flew to Paris at the invitation of the French Navy and stayed until 6 June.
Ship movements were numerous. From July 1969 to July 1970, the Soviet Navy visited 36 countries.
In January 1970, Pacific Rear Admiral N. I. Khovrin, with the ASW ships Vladivostok and Strogii (“Severe”), a landing ship and a tanker, was at Port Sudan, four months into a six months cruise. He then returned to Vladivostok in mid-February and then cruised into the Philippine Sea for the “Okean” maneuver.
On 26 January 1970, Black Sea Captain 1/R (Captain First Rank) S. E. Korostelev in the destroyer Blestiashchi (“Brilliant”) visited Hodeida in Yemen en route to Massawa. It has become routine for the Soviets to join ships of other navies in honor of Ethiopian Navy Day. During the stay from 1 to 6 February 1970, Emperor Haile Selassie boarded the Blestiashchi.
On 3 February 1970, Northern Rear Admiral N. V. Solov’ev entered Reykjavik, Iceland, with the ASW ship Stroinyi (“Harmonious”) and the destroyer Moskovski Komsomolets. This was the first Soviet naval visit to that country.
In April 1970, Black Sea Rear Admiral F. E. Pakhal’chuka, with a detachment of river gunboats and other shallow-draft vessels, started a tour of Danubian River ports, including Vienna. He returned to Sevastopol on 28 May 1970.
“Okean” sired five, as yet incompletely disclosed, visits. On 19 to 23 April 1970, a Pacific group consisting of the rocket cruiser Admiral Fokin, the destroyer Blestiashchi, and the tanker Vishera were in Port Louis, Mauritius. Northern Rear Admiral V. M. Leonenkov on board the rocket cruiser Admiral Golovko, an ASW ship, an escort, and a tanker were in Algiers from 8 to 13 May 1970. The Baltic Fleet Commander, V. V. Mikhailin, stayed in Cherbourg from 8 to 13 May 1970 with the cruiser Oktiabr’skaia Revoliutsiia and destroyer Obraztsovyi (“Exemplary”). Frunze cadets were on board. On 13 May 1970, Black Sea Rear Admiral Sokolan led a force visiting Lagos, Nigeria.
The most noticed visit was that of Northern Rear Admiral IA. M. Kudel’kin with his flag in the ASW ship Vice Admiral Drozd, accompanied by the destroyer Gremiashchi (“Thundering”) and a submarine, to Cienfuegos, Cuba, for a two-week visit, from 14 May to 2 June 1970. Admiral Kudel’kin remained in Cienfuegos during this time, except for a three-day visit to Havana on board his flagship on 25 May.
On 25 June 1970, a Baltic group, headed by Admiral of the Fleet V. A. Kasatonov on board the old cruiser Kirov, was in Gdynia helping to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Polish Navy.
From 9 September to 10 October 1970, a submarine support group under Northern Rear Admiral N. V. Solov’ev in Cuba raised the alarm in the United States about a possible base for submarines.
From 10 to 14 October 1970, a group of Black Sea naval vessels visited Split, Yugoslavia, following President Nixon’s visit to that country.
In the closing days of November 1970, the minesweeper Obepin put into Le Havre with “. . . three symbolic urns with ashes of 293 French warriors . . .” who fell in Russia during World War II. Representatives from all French forces received the ashes under the eyes of Ambassador V. A. Zorin. Russians have fond memories of the Normandy-Nieman Air Regiment, while the French recalled that more than 19,000 Soviet POWs escaped to fight with the Maquis.
The Cuban matter was heated anew when the third visit to Cuba for 1970 found a submarine support group in Cuba from 9 to 23 December 1970.
Visits to Soviet ports were comparatively trivial, primarily by minor training craft from satellites. The Finnish ship Matti Kurki made a three-day stay in Leningrad in June 1970. In July, the head of the Bulgarian Navy, Vice Admiral I. Dobrev, accompanied by his political chief, Major General D. Petkov, visited Sevastopol on board the training ship Dmitri Blagoev. On 8 August 1970, Riga welcomed the East German minesweepers Hera, Potsdam, and Dresden under Captain 2/R Gerhard Thomas. Murmansk saw the Polish cadet ship Grif beginning on 7 August, and later in the month another Polish group visited Riga. Early in September, the Grif called at Leningrad. In October, Riga entertained five Polish craft under Lieutenant Commander Thadeus Lis.
On 26 July 1970, the new Minister of the Merchant Fleet, Timofei Borisovich Guzhenko, began a visit to Cuba.
Disclosed Leaders in the Fleets
OFFICE | BALTIC FLEET | BLACK SEA FLEET | NORTHERN FLEET | PACIFIC FLEET |
Commander | Adm. V. V. Mikhailin | VAdm. V. S. Sysoev | Adm. Flt. S. M. Lobov | Adm. N. I. Smirnov |
Political Director | Adm. I. A. G. Pochupalio | VAdm. 1. S. Rudenev | VAdm. F. IA. Sisov | Adm. M. N. Zakharov |
Chief of Staff | VAdm. F. I. Savel’ev | VAdm. L. V. Mizin | VAdm. G. G. Lai | VAdm. G. A. Bondarenko |
Dep. Chief Pol. Dir. |
|
| RAdm. K. T. Serin* | RAdm. V. D. Pil’schikov |
Ch. Pol. Sec. of Staff |
|
|
| Capt. 1/R K. N. Mukhin |
1st Dep. Commander | VAdm. I. A. N. Globa | RAdm. N. M. Baranov | VAdm. A. I. Petelin | RAdm. V. P. Maslov |
1st Dep. Pol. Dir. | Engr, RAdm. A. A. Plekhanov |
| RAdm. N. P. Baturov | Capt. 1/R K. Kh. Menzulov |
Asst. Cdr. Fleet |
|
| RAdm. E. V. Eremeev | VAdm. B. Potekhin |
Cruise Commanders | Adm. V. V. Mikhailin | VAdm. V. S. Sysoev | RAdm. I A. M. Kudel’kin | RAdm. N. I. Khovrin |
(Formations beyond U.S.S.R.) | VAdm. F. I. Savel’ev | VAdm. G. Abashivili | RAdm. N. V. Solov’ev |
|
| VAdm. I. A. N. Globa | VAdm. B. F. Petrov |
|
|
| RAdm. V. P. Beliako | RAdm. V M. Leonenkov |
|
|
| RAdm. B. V. Drugov | RAdm. F. E. Pakhal’chuka |
|
|
| RAdm. B. E. lamkovoi | RAdm. M. Preskunev |
|
|
|
| RAdm. S. S. Sokolan |
|
|
Commander Aviation | LGen. S. A. Guliaev | LGen. A. A. Mironenko | LGen. G. A. Kuznetsov | Col. Gen. A. N. Tomashevski |
Pol. Dir. Aviation | MGen. S. M. Ruban* |
|
| MGen. P. S. Borisov |
Ch. Staff Aviation |
|
| MGen. V. I. Mipakov |
|
Commander Submarines |
|
| VAdm. A. Sorokin* |
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Cdr. Nav. Infantry | Col. P. T. Shapronov* |
| Col. A. F. Pakhemov | Col. I. IA. Kharitonov* |
| Col. A. A. Laletin* |
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| Col. S. A. Borzenko* |
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Shore Artillery | MGen. P. E. Mel’nikov |
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Dep. Cdr. Flt. for Rear |
| RAdm. F. Izmailov |
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Chief, Communications |
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| RAdm. P. Zotov |
Chief, Sec. of Rear and |
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| Capt. 2/ R TU. I. Iakushev |
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Chief, Medical Service |
| MGen. A. E. Pestov | MGen. A. B. Zandanov | MGen. P. I. Gorbatykh |
Cdr. Technical Services |
| LCol. V. Sicotkin |
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Chief, Hydro, Service |
| Capt. 1/R P. Abramov | RAdm. N. V. Skosyrev |
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Chief, Meteorology |
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| Col. D. A. Mamonov |
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Chief, Bur. of Inventions |
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| Col. L. L. Glukh |
Chief, Construction |
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| Engr. Col. M. Ponomarev |
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Flag Navigator |
| Capt. 1/R L. Mitin |
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Chief Auto-tractor Serv. |
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| MGen. V. Lemeshok |
Dep. Ch. Pol. Dir. for Propaganda and Agit. | Capt. 1/R IU. A. Moroz | Capt. 1/R D. A. Shigaev | Capt. 1/R I. I. Kolker | Capt. 1/R M. A. Fateev |
Chief of Bldg. Pol. Dir. |
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| Col. A. I. Basi |
Dep. Chief Pol. Dir. |
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| Capt. 1/R P. Kovalev |
Secy. Party |
| Capt. 1/R S. Drozhshin |
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Flag Officers | RAdm. V. N. Gagarkin | RAdm. L. G. Baliakov | RAdm. D. G. Shindel | RAdm. A. M. Gontaev |
| RAdm. M. Kalashnikov | RAdm. N. I. Boravenkov | RAdm. V. N. Shishkin |
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| RAdm. V. S. Pilipenko | RAdm. B. A. Chandaev | MAdm.[sic] V. B. Nikailin |
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| RAdm. G. Lazarev |
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| RAdm. B. M. Ogorodnik |
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| RAdm. A. A. Pashkin |
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* The officer named is believed to hold this billet.
Oceanography—Six ships for seven months surveyed a 270 by 270 mile “tropic zone of the Atlantic.”
The Pamiat’ Merkuriia, Captain 3/R A. Moshnin, of the Black Sea, logged 20,000 miles in the Mediterranean.
Captain 1/R V. Zhdanov on board the submarine Lira of the Northern Fleet completed a scientific voyage in July 1970, which covered 30,000 miles in eight months.
During the September 1970 flight of Luna 16, which obtained samples of the moon, the science-research ship Mikhail Lomonosov was on tracking station off Madeira.
From 16 to 20 November 1970, the hydrographic ship Andrei Vil’kitski, with Vice Admiral A. I. Rassokhi, was in Amsterdam. Admiral Rassokhi is Chief of the Naval Hydrographic Service.
In the Black Sea, an experiment similar to U. S. “Sea Lab” has been underway with four men living underwater “. . . for many days.”
Officer Education—No notable changes in the five-year “higher schools” appeared in the Red Star solicitation of applicants on 3 February 1970. Servicemen to the age of 23 and civilians of 17 to 21 years are eligible. The Baltic Fleet has six such schools, of which five are in Leningrad—Frunze, submarine, radio, and two for engineers. The school in Kaliningrad (Head, Captain 1/R V. S. Pilipenko) is a Frunze satellite which only Soviet nationals may attend. The Black Sea Fleet has a school for line and other candidates, plus an engineer school (Head, Engineer-Vice Admiral M. A. Krastelev). The Pacific Fleet has the Makarov School (Head, Vice Admiral V. Starikov) at Vladivostok, while the Caspian Flotilla has the Kirov School at Baku. Would-be political officers apply to the Kiev School.
The famous Suvorov (Army) and Nakhimov (Navy) schools have been drastically altered since their original foundation to educate sons of creditably deceased armed forces personnel. The Navy now has only the school at Leningrad, associated with the “legendary cruiser” Aurora. Now apparently only a cram school for the sons of the party elite, the course has shrunk from eight to two years for boys 15 or 16 years old, who may need a kind of naval “head start.”
Inasmuch as the Air Force trains candidates for naval air, it is to be noted that two new schools give the Air Force 22 such institutions.
Civil Fleet—In January 1970, Timofei Borisovich Guzhenko replaced V. G. Bakaev as Minister of the Merchant Fleet. B. E. Butom continues as Minister of Ship Construction.
On 4 August 1970 in Red Star, Guzhonko [sic] announced a special five-year-plan to honor the Lenin jubilee. By 1975, the present tonnage is to grow 1.5 times to 13,000,000 overall. Containerism and improved design are expected to increase actual capacity 1.8 times. There will be an effort to increase speeds, though Guzhenko is pleased that 70% of present construction does better than 14 knots. There will not, however, be any move towards monster tankers, since the shallow entries to the Baltic and Black Seas preclude them.
The intimacy between the civil and naval fleets is reflected in the manner that merchant captains radio their humanitarian deeds to Navy operators for reporting in Red Star. An instance occurred in mid-August 1970 about 120 miles off Dakar. The Kaliningrad-based fishing trawler Lakhta took in tow a Senegalese fishing craft, whose machinery had been disabled in a storm, and brought the crew to their home port.
Miscellaneous—There are some indications that, paralleling U. S. Navy practices, Soviet nuclear submarines have what might be styled “Red” and “Gold” alternate crews.
As Soviet naval infantry continues its modest expansion, Navy Day in July 1970 featured demonstration landings at Sevastopol and Vladivostok.
Shipboard organization is in “boevye chasti,” literally “fighting units,” but the same as U. S. Navy “departments.” “BCh-I” is Navigation; II, Gunnery; III. Mines; IV, Observation and Communications; V, Engineering; and VI, when appropriate, is Aviation.
In the last four years, the Soviet Union has founded nearly 100 new municipalities as economic planners push more electro-stations, mills, factories, oil processing, and mines. A number are coastal, such as Pevek on the Chukotka Peninsula in Magadan district. Pevek is designated to become a hydrographic center for the Pacific.