Russian navy...
- Thread starter Bendeco
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Subs in the Baltic, one sank the German refugee liner Wilhelm Gustloff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff
Grizz
And this uniform used to belong to Aleksandr Marinesko. It is now in private collection and will never be sold as long asl the owner is alive. Photo taken by me in Liepaja, Latvia.
The Soviet navy never got to become as big as the British or even German.
Up to the 2nd World war Soviets largest navy ships were the ones made before 1917. The most famous example is Soviet navy flagship October Revolution, which was in fact modernized imperial battleship Gangut, built in 1911. But most imperial Russian battleships in the Soviet times were allowed to come to dilapidated condition and mostly sold to scrap.
Th Soviets started their navy history with the Brest treaty they signed with the Germans. The treaty was almost unconditional surrender. It is enough to say that Soviets even agreed to return to Turkey the territories ceded to Russia as a result of Russo-Turkish wars in the 1870s! Part of the conditions of the treaty was to hand over the whole Russian Black sea fleet to Germany, while WWI was still ongoing. This was so ridiculous, that the crews of the most Black sea navy ships refused to do so and instead blew up their ships. Later the Soviet propaganda spinned it the way that Soviets agreed to hand over the ships just to deceive the Germans, and instead ordered the crews to blow them up - totally ridiculous nonsense.
Even before that, in March 1917, the first thing what happened in the Russian navy, was a horrible massacre of navy officers by the sailors, in which 76 were killed, including the Commander of the Baltic fleet, admiral Nepenin (who ironically was liberal-minded and supported the Revolution). This tradition continued in later years. In 1917-1920, Soviets killed 28 out of 106 imperial Russian admirals, most of them without real reasons, just for being officers in the former navy.
Not a very good way to start building a navy, is it?
It is significant as well, that the Soviets could never even produce the cannons similar in size to the ones produced by imperial Russia in large numbers. Most large-caliber guns from the old battleships were scavenged and used throughout WWII as mobile artillery units, placed on railroad platforms, or even mounted on the strategic heights together with the old ship turret. One example is one of the Soviet batteries made with an imperial battleship turret mounted on one of the Russia's Pacific islands (Russkiy island), this battery was in service up until 1997, i.e. for 90 years since the cannons were manufactured! This is one of them, so-called Voroshilov battery. The cannons used are taken from the 1909 battleship Poltava in 1939. In this case, they reused the whole turret together with system of ammo feeding, targeting, etc.:
I think they must have been the oldest in-service cannons in the world, when the battery was finally abandoned.
The original battleship Poltava:
You can still see several cannons from imperial battleships in Moscow in the Victory park:
As far as I know, the Soviets have not built a single battleship before WWII, their largest ships were all modernized imperial ships, i.e. at least 20 years old. No wonder that if Soviets could not even produce cannons for battleships, they could not really build any battleships.
This to me explains why the Soviet navy was so insignificant during WWII.
But as others said, Soviet navy did see some action on the Black sea. There is even a decent computer game dedicated to this - Men of War: The Red Tide.
Up to the 2nd World war Soviets largest navy ships were the ones made before 1917. The most famous example is Soviet navy flagship October Revolution, which was in fact modernized imperial battleship Gangut, built in 1911. But most imperial Russian battleships in the Soviet times were allowed to come to dilapidated condition and mostly sold to scrap.
Th Soviets started their navy history with the Brest treaty they signed with the Germans. The treaty was almost unconditional surrender. It is enough to say that Soviets even agreed to return to Turkey the territories ceded to Russia as a result of Russo-Turkish wars in the 1870s! Part of the conditions of the treaty was to hand over the whole Russian Black sea fleet to Germany, while WWI was still ongoing. This was so ridiculous, that the crews of the most Black sea navy ships refused to do so and instead blew up their ships. Later the Soviet propaganda spinned it the way that Soviets agreed to hand over the ships just to deceive the Germans, and instead ordered the crews to blow them up - totally ridiculous nonsense.
Even before that, in March 1917, the first thing what happened in the Russian navy, was a horrible massacre of navy officers by the sailors, in which 76 were killed, including the Commander of the Baltic fleet, admiral Nepenin (who ironically was liberal-minded and supported the Revolution). This tradition continued in later years. In 1917-1920, Soviets killed 28 out of 106 imperial Russian admirals, most of them without real reasons, just for being officers in the former navy.
Not a very good way to start building a navy, is it?
It is significant as well, that the Soviets could never even produce the cannons similar in size to the ones produced by imperial Russia in large numbers. Most large-caliber guns from the old battleships were scavenged and used throughout WWII as mobile artillery units, placed on railroad platforms, or even mounted on the strategic heights together with the old ship turret. One example is one of the Soviet batteries made with an imperial battleship turret mounted on one of the Russia's Pacific islands (Russkiy island), this battery was in service up until 1997, i.e. for 90 years since the cannons were manufactured! This is one of them, so-called Voroshilov battery. The cannons used are taken from the 1909 battleship Poltava in 1939. In this case, they reused the whole turret together with system of ammo feeding, targeting, etc.:
I think they must have been the oldest in-service cannons in the world, when the battery was finally abandoned.
The original battleship Poltava:
You can still see several cannons from imperial battleships in Moscow in the Victory park:
As far as I know, the Soviets have not built a single battleship before WWII, their largest ships were all modernized imperial ships, i.e. at least 20 years old. No wonder that if Soviets could not even produce cannons for battleships, they could not really build any battleships.
This to me explains why the Soviet navy was so insignificant during WWII.
But as others said, Soviet navy did see some action on the Black sea. There is even a decent computer game dedicated to this - Men of War: The Red Tide.
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JDForBrkFst
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Roughly North Central AB
I believe it was Naval Infantry that held a last stand in the grain elevator in Stalingrad.
Another interesting tidbit. The British lended a battleship during ww2, when Russian sailed in back to England to return it, the Russians refused the British access until they had left the ship. Once the British regained the ship tgeyvwere shocked. The mess decks were covered in human waste, some of it years old, even though the decks showed that crew was living in there. The officers mess deck was littered was well but with debris of multiple drunks. Every gun on the ship was fully loaded and ready for action BUT some of the secondary guns must have been loaded for years as breech mechanisms was rushed shut.
The largest Soviet Navy battleship October Revolution in 1930s (built in 1911 and then refurbished):
The same battleship still under her real name, Gangut:
The Soviet Union never built any battleships, their largest pre-WWII ships were Kirov class cruisers (1934). To compare, largest imperial Russian ships like Gangut had 12-inch cannons, and Kirov had only 7-inch cannons, which had some design deficiencies (the bores wore out too fast, the turrets were poorly protected), so the Soviets later switched to even smaller, 6-inch caliber cannons. Kirov saw almost no action, being trapped in the beginning of war near Leningrad.
Kirov cruiser in 1941:
The same battleship still under her real name, Gangut:
The Soviet Union never built any battleships, their largest pre-WWII ships were Kirov class cruisers (1934). To compare, largest imperial Russian ships like Gangut had 12-inch cannons, and Kirov had only 7-inch cannons, which had some design deficiencies (the bores wore out too fast, the turrets were poorly protected), so the Soviets later switched to even smaller, 6-inch caliber cannons. Kirov saw almost no action, being trapped in the beginning of war near Leningrad.
Kirov cruiser in 1941:
- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
Slavs gonna slav.... 
My understanding is that the Russian Spetznaz developed from a Navy Infantry unit. The navy infantry had there own style of slings for their rifles with a slot through the stock and were considered something of an elite unit. When I read a book on the Continuation War between Finland and Russia the Navy Units were heavily involved in defending the Russian Ports on the north coast. Definitely not your typical navy type soldiers more like the US Marines from what I can make out.
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