Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF, ) was the

naval aviation Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves ''navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seab ...

arm of the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

Origins

The first

naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

aviation units in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

were formed in 1912–1914 as a part of the

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

and the

Black Sea Fleet The Black Sea Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet, along with other Russian ground and air forces on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, are subordin ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the hydroplane units were used in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

for conducting aircraft reconnaissance, bombing and firing at coastal and port installations and enemy ships, and destroying

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s and enemy

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

on the

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

Civil War and Interwar Period

The regular

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

naval aviation units were created in 1918. They participated in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, cooperating with the ships and the army during the combats at

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, the Black Sea, the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, the

Kama River The Kama ( , ; ; ), also known as the Chulman ( ; ), is a long«Река КАМА»
Russian St ...

Northern Dvina The Northern Dvina (, ; ) is a river in northern Russia flowing through Vologda Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. Along with the Pechora River to the east, it drains most of Northwest Russia into the Arctic O ...

and on the

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...

. 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

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

hydroplanes,

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

s, and fighters. In the mid-1930s, the Soviets created the Naval Air Force in the

, the

and the Soviet Pacific Fleet. The importance of

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 A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

and bomb aviation. At the beginning of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

. Russian Navy Aviation managed all land, shore and vessel-based (tender seaplanes and catapult vessels) hydroplanes and aircraft, as well as

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

s. The air units also conducted land operations in support of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during landings and disembarkations and served in special wartime operations. Naval Aviation provided some air cover to Allied

convoys A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

bringing equipment to Soviet forces from North Sea to the Barents Sea and via the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

to the Sea of Okhotsk. In particular, Naval Aviation was deployed in defense of

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

(June–October 1941), in operations in the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

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 The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

(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 * - 1 May 1961 became 143rd Maritime Rocket Aviation Division.

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 Kiev class of Soviet aircraft carriers was deployed in the late 1970s and carried up to 30 aircraft including Yak-38 VTOL fighters. The next class of Soviet aircraft carriers, named the Admiral Kuznetsov class, supported more conventional aircraft such as the Su-33 "Flanker-D" and the MiG-29 "Fulcrum". Land-based aircraft such as the

Tupolev Tupolev ( rus, Туполев, , ˈtupəlʲɪf), officially United Aircraft Company Tupolev - Public Joint Stock Company, is a Russian aerospace and Arms industry, defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow. UAC Tupolev is succes ...

Tu-16 "Badger" and Tu-22M "Backfire" bombers were deployed with high-speed

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. ...

s. Previously believed to be interceptors of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

supply

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s traveling the

sea lines of communication Sea lines of communication (abbreviated as SLOC) is a term describing the primary maritime routes between ports, used for trade, logistics and naval forces. It is generally used in reference to naval operations to ensure that SLOCs are open, or ...

across the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

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. The last commander of Soviet Naval Aviation, Colonel-General Viktor Pavlovich Potapov, was appointed in 1988. With the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in 1991, its assets were inherited by successor states' forces, including

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Ukrainian Naval Aviation.

Inventory

Soviet Naval Aviation in 1990:

Ship based aircraft

*79

strike fighter In current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multirole combat aircraft designed to operate both as an attack aircraft and as an air superiority fighter. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers, and is closely related to the co ...

s **79

Yakovlev Yak-38 The Yakovlev Yak-38 (; NATO reporting name: "Forger") was Soviet Naval Aviation's only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. It was developed specifically for, and ...

*219 naval helicopters **113 Kamov Ka-25 **106 Kamov Ka-27

Shore based aircraft

*269

s **129

Tupolev Tu-22M The Tupolev Tu-22M (; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev, Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. The bomber was reported as being designated ...

**125 Tupolev Tu-16 **15

Tupolev Tu-22 The Tupolev Tu-22 ( Air Standardization Coordinating Committee name: Blinder) was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with Long-Range Aviation and Soviet Nav ...

*198

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pr ...

**97 Sukhoi Su-17 **101

Sukhoi Su-24 The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, night fighter, all-weather tactical bomber developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, Twinjet, twin engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for it ...

*90

Anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

aircraft **50 Tupolev Tu-142 **40 Ilyushin Il-38 *65

aircraft **50 Tupolev Tu-16 **15

Antonov An-12 The Antonov An-12 ( Russian: Антонов Ан-12; NATO reporting name: Cub) is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10 and has many variants. For more than thr ...

*45 electronic-warfare aircraft **10

**20

Tupolev Tu-95 The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. Maiden flight, First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Long Range Aviation, Long-Range Avia ...

**15

*90

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

s **90

Beriev Be-12 The Beriev Be-12 ''Chayka'' (, NATO reporting name: Mail) is a Soviet turboprop-powered amphibious aircraft designed in the 1950s for anti-submarine and maritime patrol duties. Design and development The Beriev Be-12 was a successor to the B ...

*118 anti-submarine warfare helicopters **118 Mil Mi-14 *40 refueling aircraft ** Tupolev Tu-16 N and Z

Other aircraft

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the ...

Ilyushin Il-18 The Ilyushin Il-18 (; NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades and wa ...

Obsolete aircraft

Shore based aircraft

* Beriev Be-6 Madge *

Beriev Be-10 The Beriev Be-10, also known as Izdelye M, (NATO reporting name: Mallow) was a twin engined, turbojet powered, flying-boat, patrol bomber built by the Soviet Union from 1955. The Be-10 is sometimes referred to as the M-10, though this designa ...

Mallow * Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle *

Myasishchev M-4 The Myasishchev M-4 ''Molot'' (), USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 37", Air Standardization Coordinating Committee, ASCC reporting name Bison) was a four-engined strategic bomber designed by Myasishchev, Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev and manufa ...

Bison * Tupolev Tu-14 Bosun

Helicopters

* Kamov Ka-10 Hat * Kamov Ka-15 Hen * Kamov Ka-18 Hog * Mil Mi-4 Hound

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

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),

United States Naval Institute The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds s ...

, Naval Institute Press, 1991, {{ISBN, 0870212419, 9780870212413 (Chapter 8)

Naval Aviation Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves ''navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seab ...

Naval aviation services Aviation in the Soviet Union