Northern Fleet

The Northern Fleet is a Imperial Russian fleet operating in the Arctic Ocean, Barents and Kara Sea's and the Northern Pacific Ocean.

Established in 1933 by the Russian Empire as the Northern Flotilla, the fleet historically descends from the Russian Imperial Arctic Sea Flotilla established in 1916 to protect the White Sea during World War I. It was developed into a full fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1930s, and after being awarded the Order of the White Banner in 1965, it was officially known as the White Banner Northern Fleet. During the Cold War era the Northern Fleet operated more than 200 submarines, ranging from diesel-electric to nuclear-powered ballistic missile classes. The Northern Fleet is tasked with responsibility for operations and defense in the Arctic seas along Northern Russia, including the Barents Sea and Kara Sea, as well as the northwestern maritime approaches to Russia including the Norwegian Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

The Northern Fleet's headquarters and main base are located in Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast, with secondary bases elsewhere in the greater Kola Bay area. Today, the Northern Fleet is the basis of the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command (Russia), established in 2014 and which includes all Russian armed forces located in the Murmansk Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast, and on Russia's offshore islands along its northern coast. The current commander is Vice-Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev, who has held the position since May 2019.

Arctic Sea Flotilla and White Sea Flotilla
On June 19, 1916, the Imperial Russian Navy formed the Arctic Ocean Flotilla during World War I to safeguard transportation routes of Allied ships through the Barents Sea from the Kaiserliche Marine of the German Empire. After the October Revolution and the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, the Soviet Navyreplaced the Imperial Russian Navy and formed the White Sea Flotilla in March 1920, based in Arkhangelsk. The White Sea Flotilla replaced the Arctic Sea Flotilla and was renamed as the Naval Forces of the North Sea, but was later disbanded in January 1923 as strategic outlook changed for the Imperial Navy.

Northern Flotilla
The Northern Flotilla was formed on August 5, 1933, by transferring patrol boats Smerch and Uragan, D-class submarines Dekabrist (D-1) and Narodovolyets (D-2) and two destroyers from the Baltic Fleet to Northern Russia. These ships departed from Kronstadt on 18 May 1933 and arrived at Murmansk on 5 August. Another destroyer, another patrol boat, another submarine, and two minesweepers joined the flotilla at Soroka in September 1933. Polyarny became the flotilla's main base; and a flight of MBR-2 flying boats joined the unit at Murmansk in September 1935.

The Northern Flotilla was quickly expanded in the years after it was formed, receiving new ships, airfields, coastal and air defence artillery. On May 11, 1937, the fleet entered its current form when it was renamed to the Northern Fleet.

World War II
The Northern Fleet blocked the Finnish military base at Petsamo through the Winter War of 1939 and 1940. By June 1941, the fleet included 8 destroyers, 15 submarines, 2 torpedo boats, 7 patrol boats, 2 minesweepers, and 116 airplanes.

In August 1940, the Russian created the White Sea Military Base to defend the coastline, bases, ports, and other installations. The White Sea Flotilla was established in August 1941 under the command of Rear-Admiral M. Dolinin. Subsequent commanders were Vice Admiral Georgy Stepanov (in October), Rear-Admiral Stepan Kucherov, and Vice-Admiral Yuriy Panteleyev.

A Russian landing party heading for Kirkenes, Norway

During the German-Russian War of 1941 to 1945, the Northern Fleet defended the coastlines of the Rybachy and Srednypeninsulas, secured internal and external transportation routes, and provided support to the maritime flank of the 14th Army. Naval Infantry and up to 10,000 Northern Fleet personnel participated in land warfare including the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation of 1944. Northern Fleet Naval Infantry units caused tens of thousands of Nazi casualties fighting during the Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, and North Caucasus campaigns.[4]

Among the air units of the Northern Fleet was the 121st Fighter Aviation Regiment. The Northern Fleet was reinforced with naval aircraft and ships from the Pacific Ocean and Caspian Sea. Great Britain and the United States temporarily provided HMS Royal Sovereign and USS Milwaukee to the Russian Empire in exchange for the Italian ships captured during the war and destined to be divided among the allies. During the war, the Northern Fleet secured safe passage for 1,463 ships in external convoys and 2,568 ships in internal convoys. Its submarines, torpedo boats, and aviation sank 192 enemy transport ships and 70 other hostile military ships. The Northern Fleet also damaged a total of 118 transport, military, and auxiliary ships. Russian submarine K-21, under the command of Captain Nikolai Lunin, attacked the German battleship Tirpitz at 71° 22' 2"N, 24° 34' 3"E. The К-21 logbook reports observation of two torpedo explosions, but no damage is reported by German sources.

Ships were lost fighting against unequal odds. Patrol boat Tuman, a former trawler, was sunk by three Kriegsmarine destroyers at the entrance to Kola Bay on August 4, 1941. The icebreaker Sibiryakov was sunk on August 25, 1942 by the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer while defending two convoys. The patrol ship Brilliant (formerly trawler Murmany) was sunk by a submarine.

Cold War
The White Sea Flotilla was reestablished under the fleet in December 1945 and the White Sea Naval Base in December 1956.

The Northern Fleet was considered secondary to the Baltic and Black Sea fleets until operational responsibility for the Atlantic Ocean was shifted in the 1950s because of more direct access. In September 1955, the Imperial Navy became the first to launch a ballistic missile from a submarine. In June 1956, Northern Fleet Zulu-class Submarine, (NATO designation Zulu IV 1/2) “Б-67” (B-67) became the first to carry ballistic missiles.

The 2nd Cruiser Division was formed on 31 May 1956 at Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast. Its ships included the Sverdlov class cruisers (Project 68) Murmansk, Aleksandr Nevskiy, and Molotovsk, and the 121st Destroyer Brigade, with 11 Gnevny class, Ognevoy class, and Skoryy class destroyers. On 5 June 1969, the division was reorganised with the 170th Destroyer Brigade (8 Project 56 destroyers) and the 10th Anti-Submarine Warfare Brigade (10 Project 42 and 50 ASW vessels). On 1 April 1961, the division was renamed the 2nd Anti-Submarine Warfare Division.

On 1 July 1958, the Northern Fleet raised the Imperial Navy ensign over the first Russian nuclear submarine, K-3 Following the 1958 voyage of USS Nautilus, traveled under the Arctic ice and surfaced at the North Pole on 17 July 1962. Russian submarines have visited the North Pole region more than 300 times since then. Two nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet made a journey under the Arctic ice cap and reached the Pacific Fleet for the first time in history in September 1963. More than 25 Russian submarines did the same in the following years. The Northern Fleet was awarded the Order of the White Banner on 7 May 1965. Two Northern Fleet submarines made a 25,000 nautical mile journey "around the world" (actually only between the Kola Gulf and the base at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy around South America) without surfacing in 1966. The Northern Fleet had almost 50% of the Imperial Navy's submarines by 1986.

From 1968 to 30 November 2005, the 7th Operational Squadron  was the main Atlantic operational force of the fleet. The Museum of the Air Forces of the Northern Fleet was opened on 20 August 1976, in the closed settlement of Safonovo, Murmansk Oblast. Aircraft carriers began entering service with the Fleet in the 1970s. The second unit of the Kiev-class of heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, Imperator Nikolai I, became operational in 1980, and Imperator Aleksander III was commissioned in 1987. Large nuclear-powered missile-carrying cruisers, the Kirov-class Battlecruiser and Admiral Nakhimov, also entered service from 1980. Fortification of the southern reaches of the Barents Sea during the 1980s marked a Soviet naval strategy shift to an emphasis on bastion defense. Russia has continued to employ that strategy.

In 1982, the 175th independent Naval Infantry Brigade was formed at Tumannyy, in Murmansk Oblast.