Солтүстік флот тарихы және қазіргі жағдайы

Military unit of Russia
the Russian military unit

The Northern Fleet (Северный флот, Severnyy flot) is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic. According to the Russian ministry of defence: "The Northern Fleet dates its history back to a squadron created in 1733 to protect the territories of the Russian Empire, sea trade routes and fisheries in the White Sea near the coast of the Kola Peninsula. The order of the Commander in Chief of the Russian Navy of 25 May 2014 determined 1733 as the year of foundation of the Northern Fleet, and June 1 as its annual holiday". In its modern iteration, the Arctic Ocean Flotilla of the former Imperial Navy evolved into a full fleet of the Soviet Navy in 1933 as the Northern Flotilla. After being awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1965, it was officially known as the Red Banner Northern Fleet. During the Soviet era the Northern Fleet operated more than 200 submarines, ranging from diesel electric to nuclear powered ballistic missile classes. On 1 December 2014 the fleet became the core element of the newly established Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command, including all Russian armed forces located in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Oblasts and on Russia's offshore islands along its Arctic coast. It is co equal in status with Russia's Military Districts. 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. The current commander is Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev, who has held the position since May 2019. In June 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order making the Northern Fleet an independent military administrative entity, effective January 1, 2021. That status was abolished on February 26, 2024 by a new presidential decree (effective since March 1, 2024).

On June 19, 1916, the Imperial Russian Navy formed the Arctic Ocean Flotilla (Флотилия Северного Ледовитого океана, or Flotiliya Severnogo Ledovitogo okeana) 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 Navy replaced the Imperial Russian Navy and formed the White Sea Flotilla (Беломорская флотилия, Belomorskaya flotiliya) 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.

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 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. 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 Soviet Navy ensign over the first Soviet nuclear submarine, K 3 Leninskiy Komsomol. Following the 1958 voyage of USS Nautilus, the Leninskiy Komsomol (named for Vladimir Lenin's Komsomol) 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. In 1990, the 88th Separate Fighter Bomber Regiment, along with the rest of the 36th Air Army, was pulled out of Hungary along with the rest of the Southern Group of Forces. In order to save the unit, which had a distinguished history, from being disbanded under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, defence minister Marshal Dmitry Yazov transferred it to the Northern Fleet, which was not subject to the provisions of the treaty. In May 1990 the aircraft and personnel were moved to Olen'ya Airbase, near Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast where they operated in support of the Soviet Navy. In May 1994, after the Russian Ministry of Defence had ordered the retirement of the MiG 23/27 family, the unit was re equipped with the Sukhoi Su 25 and its aircraft were allowed to deteriorate, being stripped for scrap by the locals. It was then renamed the 88th Independent Shipboard Attack Air Regiment.

An analysis of the Northern Fleet produced by Chatham House in the UK notes that: "After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin paid little attention to the Arctic. During the 1990s, the Russian Arctic was at best considered a burden fraught with socio economic problems. Little was done there until an ‘Arctic revival’ began in the 2000s, focused on reinvesting in a region that had previously been abandoned for more than 15 years". Units were disbanded in the 1990s including the 6th and 3rd Submarine divisions in addition to aviation units. Previous units also included the 1st Submarine Flotilla, and the 7th Submarine Division of nuclear attack submarines. In 1989 the Soviet Navy had nearly 200 nuclear submarines in operation of which two thirds were said to belong to the Northern Fleet. By 1996, only half were still in service. The 57th Naval Missile Aviation Division of Tu 22s and electronic warfare Tu 16s from the Baltic Fleet at Bykhov, Mogilev Oblast, in the Byelorussian SSR transferred to the Northern Fleet in December 1991 as the 57th Combined Ship Aviation Division. The division commanded the 830th and 38th Shipborne Anti Submarine Helicopter Regiments and the 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment from Severomorsk 3 in Murmansk Oblast until disbanded on 1 May 1998. The 5th Naval Missile Aviation Division commanding the 524th and 574th Naval Missile Aviation Regiments. The 574th Regiment was based at Lakhta air base (Katunino), until disbanded in 2002. The 100th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment (in February 1993) and its personnel and equipment absorbed by the 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment. Today both the 45th Air Force and Air Defence Army, as well as the 14th Army Corps, fall under the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command, which was established in 2014 and is a military administered district of equal status to the other four military districts of the Russian Armed Forces. Its jurisdiction is primarily within the northern region of European Russia and the Arctic Ocean. The formal status of the Northern Fleet as a command equal to that of other Russian military districts took effect on January 1, 2021. The Northern Fleet includes about two thirds of all the Russian Navy's nuclear powered ships. The flagship Pyotr Velikiy is named after Peter the Great. The Fleet staged a series of major Barents Sea exercises in January 2004 involving thirteen ships and seven submarines including Pyotr Velikiy, Admiral Kuznetsov, with President Vladimir Putin was aboard the Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine Arkhangelsk. The exercise was marred by two RSM 54 SLBM launch failures aboard Novomoskovsk and Kareliya. Submarines have traditionally been the strongest component of the Northern Fleet. Several new classes of submarines are in production to replace older models including: Borei/Dolgorukiy class SSBNs, Yasen class SSGNs, Khabarovsk class SSGNs and Lada class conventionally powered submarines. However, the existing nuclear powered submarines of the Northern Fleet are also aging rapidly. It is currently unclear whether the new Yasen class, and other potential follow on models, can be produced in sufficient numbers, and on a timely basis, to replace aging older nuclear submarines on a one for one basis. In this regard, reports suggest that Russian third generation nuclear submarines have not been modernized to a level to avoid block obsolescence before 2030. The Northern Fleet has also received attention with respect to technological upgrades. The Fleet has received new combat aircraft (deployed within the 45th Air and Air Defence Army), enhanced shore based missile assets (both surface to surface and surface to air) as well as new systems such as the Samarkand electronic warfare systems in 2017 and the Barnaul T air reconnaissance system in December 2021. Samarkand is designed to assess electromagnetic situation, search, detect and analyze radio emissions and Barnaul T helps conduct reconnaissance round the clock. Russia's Northern Fleet in 2018 resumed regular air patrols of the Arctic by long range anti submarine aircraft and its share of modern samples of weapons and equipment exceeded 56 percent. An air defense regiment of the Northern fleet armed with S 400 SAM launchers went on combat duty in Novaya Zemlya in the September 2019. Ground force modernization has also been a priority focus through the creation of the 14th Army Corps within the fleet and broader equipment modernization. A tank battalion of a Northern Fleet's separate motorized infantry brigade received the final batch of 26 T 80BVM tanks and completed the rearmament procedure in November 2019. The 76th Guards Air Assault Division and the 98th Guards Airborne Division, strategic reserve formations from the Russian Airborne Forces, might be deployed to help protect the Kola Peninsula, in certain circumstances. In 2021, the Karakurt class corvette Sovetsk also made the transit from the Baltic to the White Sea for missile exercises. In late 2021 it was reported that the Russian Navy was considering the possible creation of a new fleet, termed the Arctic Fleet, which would be oriented to employing "ships and special equipment suitable for the Arctic". The Northern and Pacific fleets would continue to focus on "combat missions". If established, it was envisaged that the Arctic Fleet would maintain infrastructure separate from the Northern and Pacific fleets.

The Northern Fleet's main base is Severomorsk. There are six more naval bases at Polyarnyy, Olenya Bay, Gadzhiyevo (Yagelnaya/Sayda), Vidyayevo (Ura Bay and Ara Bay), Bolshaya Lopatka (Litsa Guba), and Gremikha. Civilian Arktika nuclear powered icebreakers are based at Murmansk. Shipyards are located in Murmansk, Severodvinsk, Roslyakovo, Polyarnyy, Nerpa, and Malaya Lopatka. Spent fuel storage sites include Murmansk, Gremikha, Severodvinsk and Andreyeva Bay.

The Military Band of the Northern Fleet (Lang ru) is a military band unit of the Russian Armed Forces that is a branch of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Russia. It is based at the fleet HQ in Severomorsk. The band also takes part in national events and holidays in Russia such as the Victory Day and Defender of the Fatherland Day holidays as well as the Navy Day fleet parade. It has taken part in the ceremonial arrival of ships to the Northern Fleet Headquarters including the Vice Admiral Kulakov and the USS Nicholas. It had taken part in the funerals of many of the victims of the Kursk submarine disaster in the fall of 2000. In mid March 2018, it took part in a competition at the Murmansk Nakhimov Naval School, which was presided by Colonel Timofey Mayakin, the Senior Director of Music of the Russian Armed Forces. In September of that year, the band as well as a band from Tromsø, Norway, where they performed "Norwegian March" and "Farewell of Slavianka" at the Murmansk Regional Philharmonic.

From January 1, 2021 the Northern Fleet command was made a separate command within the Russian Armed Forces having equal status to the other Russian military districts. That status was abolished on February 26, 2024 by a new presidential decree (effective since March 1, 2024) which transferred the Northern Fleet to the re formed Leningrad Military District. Additional capability in Arctic waters is provided by civilian icebreakers operated by the state owned Rosatom company as well as other companies (Rosmorport, Gazprom Neft) and a Project 21180 vessel built for the Russian Navy. This icebreaker fleet, which includes seven nuclear powered vessels operated by Rosatom, has been described as "crucial to military access and operations". Additional nuclear powered Project 22220 (three in service, two more building and two additional ships planned as of early 2023) and Project 10510 (one vessel building) icebreakers have entered service, or are under construction/planned, to augment and replace those in service. The Navy, in turn, is procuring a new "lightened" class of Project 21180M icebreakers (which are two thirds the displacement of the existing Project 21180 ship) with the first vessel being deployed with the Pacific Fleet in early 2023. These plans were formalized under the terms of a presidential executive order and Arctic strategy unveiled in October 2020. The icebreakers are designed to ensure the capacity of year round navigation along the Northern Sea Route. The Russian Coast Guard provides additional armed patrol vessels in Arctic waters with a further expansion of its capabilities anticipated in the 2020s. As of early 2023, the Northern Fleet itself comprises about 32 surface warships (including major surface combatants, light corvettes, mine counter measures vessels and amphibious units), though some units are under repair or otherwise not operational. Additional lighter patrol units, support ships and auxiliaries are also deployed. The Fleet also comprises around 33+ submarines (including ballistic missile submarines, cruise missile submarines, special purpose submarines as well as nuclear and conventional attack submarines). As with the surface fleet, some submarines are not operational; others are in reserve and inactive. Nevertheless, programs to modernize the Russian Navy are continuing with the Northern Fleet traditionally having a priority focus with respect to major combatants.