Russian Northern Fleet

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Northern Fleet sleeve insignia

The Russian Northern Fleet (Russian: Северный флот, Severny Flot) is the part of the Russian Navy that has access to the Barents and Norwegian Seas, the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, and is responsible for the defense of northwestern Russia. The Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet was established in 1933, but changed its name after the fall of the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]} The fleet's headquarters are in Severomorsk where the main base and administrative center for bases located throughout the Kola Gulf are located. During Soviet Era it was the base of more than 200 submarines ranging from diesel-electric attack (SS) to nuclear-powered ballistic missile (SSBN) classes.

During the 1980s Soviet naval strategy shifted to an emphasis on bastion defense, fortifying the southern reaches of the Barents Sea for that purpose, and Russia has continued to employ that strategy.

The Oscar class submarine Kursk was destroyed in a torpedo accident during Fleet exercises in 2000. The submarine was previously based at Ara Bay. The Northern Fleet staged another series of major exercises in January 2004 involving thirteen ships and seven submarines in the Barents Sea. The involvement of Admiral Kuznetsov and Pyotr Velikiy was overshadowed however by two ballistic missile launch failures, made more embarrassing because President Vladimir Putin was afloat aboard the Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine Arkhangelsk to witness the tests. Neither Novomoskovsk nor Karelia were able to successfully launch what were apparently RSM-54 SLBMs.^[1]

The flagship of the Northern Fleet, the heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, is named after Peter I of Russia (or Peter the Great). The Northern Fleet is perhaps best known for its many nuclear-powered vessels. In fact, about two thirds of all the Russian Navy's nuclear force is based there.

[edit] Sites

Map of naval bases, shipyards and spent fuel storage sites operated by the Northern Fleet

In addition to the main base at Severomorsk, the Northern Fleet has six more naval bases and several shipyards and spent fuel storage sites, according to the Bellona Foundation. The spent fuel storage sites include Murmansk, which is also a shipyard and base for Arktika nuclear-powered icebreakers, Andreyeva Bay, and Severodvinsk, also a shipyard.

[edit] Bases

• Severomorsk
• Olenya Bay
• Skalistyy
• Ura Bay
• Ara Bay
• Bolshaya Lopatka
• Gremikha - also a spent fuel storage site

[edit] Shipyards

• Roslyakovo
• Polyarnyy
• Nerpa
• Malaya Lopatka

[edit] Order of Battle

This is a partial list of Northern Fleet vessels and air units currently in service.

• 43rd Missile Ship Division
  • KUZNETSOV-class CV RFS Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov (TAVKR 063)
  • KIROV-class CGN RFS Pyotr Velikiy (TAKR 099)
  • SLAVA-class CG RFS Marshal Ustinov (GRKR 055)
• 11th Squadron, Zaozersk
  • • TYPHOON-class SSBN RFS Dmitriy Donskoy (ТК-208) (Nerpichya)
    • TYPHOON-class SSBN RFS Severstal (TK-20) (Nerpichya)
    • TYPHOON-class SSBN RFS Arkhangelsk (TK-17) (Nerpichya)
  • 7th Division, Vidyaevo
    • SIERRA II-class SSN RFS Pskov (K-336)
    • RFS Daniil Moskovskiy (K-414)
  • other submarines
• 12th Squadron, Gadzhiyevo
  • 31st Division (Yagelnaya Bay, Sayda Inlet)
    • Delta IV-class SSBN RFS Novomoskovsk (K-407)
    • Delta IV-class SSBN RFS Verkhoturye (K-51)
    • Delta IV-class SSBN RFS Ekaterinburg (K-84)
    • Delta IV-class SSBN RFS Tula (K-114)
    • Deltc IV-class SSBN RFS Bryansk (K-117)
    • Delta IV-class SSBN RFS Kareliya (K-18)
  • 24th Division
    • Commanders
      • Jul 1985-Oct 1987 VADM Vladimir Mikhaylovich Monastyrshin
      • Oct 1987-Dec 1989 VADM Nikolay Ivanovich Mazin
      • Dec 1989-Jun 1992 RADM Boris Sergeyevich Bogdanov
      • Sep 1992-Jun 1996 RADM Sergey Anatolyevich Bliznyuk
      • Jun 1996-Sep 1998 RADM Aleksandr Nikolayevich Bukin
      • Sep 1998-Aug 2000 RADM Aleksey Vitalyevich Burilichev
      • Aug 2000-present RADM Vladimir Ivanovich Korolev
    • K-480, K-317, K-461, K-328, K-154
    • AKULA II-class SSN RFS Vepr (K-157)

• Northern Fleet Aviation^[2][3]
  • 924th Separate Maritime Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment - HQ at Olenegorsk/Olenya - Tu-22M3;
  • 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment - HQ at Severomorsk-3 - Su-25UTG, Su-33;
  • 73rd Independent Air Squadron - HQ at Kipelovo (Fedotovo) - Tu-142MK, Tu-142MR;
  • 403rd Independent Mixed Aviation Regiment - HQ at Severomorsk-1 - An-12, An-26, Il-38, Tu-134;
  • 830th Independent Shipborne Anti-Submarine Helicopter Regiment - HQ at Severomorsk-1 - Ka-27;

[edit] List of former vessels

This is a list of former Northern Fleet vessels that have Wikipedia articles (not including those who only served in the Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet).

• Aircraft carriers
  • RFS Admiral Gorshkov (TAKR 069), sold to the Indian Navy and renamed the INS Vikramaditya
  • RFS Kiev, sold to a Chinese military theme park in Tianjin.
  • RFS Minsk, sold to military theme park "Minsk World"
• Cruisers
  • RFS Admiral Ushakov, believed decommissioned in 2001
• Submarines
  • B-427, museum ship in Long Beach, California
  • K-77, now a museum ship in Providence, Rhode Island
  • ТК-202, scrapped in 2000

[edit] Commanders

  Northern Flotilla

  Northern Fleet
11 May 1937-28 May 1938

[edit] References and external links

• (Russian) Official site at mil.ru
• (English) Bellona Foundation site about the Russian Northern Fleet

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