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The Soviet Union

The Soviet Navy

In the Winter War

 

The battleship "Oktjabrskaja Revolutsija"

Picture source: "Talvisodan Historia 1", p.270

 

 

The Baltic Fleet

The Baltic Fleet of the Red Navy was commanded by V.F. Tributs. The Red Baltic fleet was the most powerful naval force in the Baltic Sea. The headquarters was located in Kronstadt. The Baltic fleet had also app. 650 different types of planes under its command. The objectives were :
- support the attack of the 7th Army on the Karelian Isthmus
- the fleet and the marine brigades are to occupy all islands in the Gulf of Finland
- protect own troop movements
- cut off all sea routes out and into Finland

 

 

The North Fleet

The CinC of the Arctic fleet was V.P. Drozd and it was based in Poljarnyj, Murmansk and Archangel serving as secondary ports. The Arctic fleet had some 150 planes* and it's objectives were:
- secure the coast of Murmansk
- support the 14th Army in it's seaborne invasion on Petsamo .

( * = This is according to Finnish sources )

 

 

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The Soviet naval vessels

(The data in the below tables was gathered by Andrey Sysa, St.Petersburg, Russia)
Sources are mentioned after the table

Note:
DP
-means Dual Purpose-gun, can be used against sea and air targets (i.e. "universal gun")
AA -means Anti-Aircraft
MG -means Machine Gun

Ship class

Ship name

Year of
entering
service

Displacement
tons

Speed
knots

Engines
HP

Armament

Battleships

(data on 1939)

Oktjabrskaja Revolutsija (former Gangut )

21 October
1914

26 692

23

60600

12 x 305 mm gun
16 x 120 mm gun
6 x 76.2 mm AA gun
6 quad 7.62 mm AAMG
4 x 457 mm torpedo tubes

Marat
(former Petropavlovsk )

20 December
1914

26 170

23.4

61100

Same as above

Cruisers

Kirov

26 September
1938

9436

36

113000

9 x 180 mm gun
6 x 100 mm DP gun
10 x 37 mm AA gun
4 x 12.7 mm AAMG
2 x triple 533 mm torpedo tubes
100 mines

Fleet Command
(Destroyer Leaders in Russian)

Leningrad class

5 December
1936
(the first one, Leningrad )

2690

43

66000

5 x 130 mm gun
2 x 76.2 mm AA gun
6 x 37 mm AA gun
6 x 12.7 AAMG
2 x quad 533 mm torpedo tubes

Destroyers

Gnevnyj class

 

1936-1941
(19 ships total)

2380

37

48 000

4 x 130 mm gun
2 x 76.2 mm AA gun
2 x 45 mm AA gun
2 x 12.7 mm AAMG
2 x triple 533 mm torpedo tubes

Opytnyj class

About 1941

1600

?

?

3 x 130 mm gun
(info on the rest of armament is not available)

Novik (Sverdlov) class

1913-1916

1350
(Novik (Overdo) itself– 1260)

35-37.5

32 000
(Novik (Sverdlov) itself – 42800)

4 x 102 mm gun
1 x 76.2 mm gun
2 x 7.62 mm AAMG
3 x triple 457 mm torpedo tubes
60 mines

Frigates, or Escort Ships

Uragan class (Storm was the 7th ship of that class

1931 onwards 18 ships built

619

23

6290

2 x 102 mm gun
3 x 37 mm AA gun
3 x 12.7 mm AAMG
1 x triple 457 mm torpedo tubes
30 mines

D -class
Submarine

D means “Dekabrist”

1931
onwards
(6 subs built)

933 / 1354

14.7 / 9

2200 / 1000

8 x 533 mm torpedo tubes
1 x 100 mm or 102 mm gun
1 x 45 mm AA gun

L -class
Minelayer
Submarine

L means Leninets

1933-1942
24 subs built

1100 / 1400

14.1 / 8.3

2200 / 1200

6 x 533 mm torpedo tubes
1 x 100 mm gun
1 x 45 mm AA gun
20 mines

P -class
Submarine

P means Pravda

1931 onwards
( 3 subs built)

955 / 1671

18.7 / 10.5

?

6 x 533 mm torpedo tubes
2 x 100 mm gun
1 x 45 mm AA gun

M -class
Submarine

M means Maljutka

1936-1941

208 / 254

14 / 8.4

800 / 400

2 x 533 mm torpedo tubes
1 x 45 mm AA gun

Sch -class
Submarine

Sch means Schuka

1933-1945

584 / 700

14 / 8

1600 / 800

6 x 533 mm torpedo tubes
2 x 45 mm AA guns

S -class
Submarine

S means Srednjaja

1934-1948

840 / 1070

19.5 / 8.8

4000 / 1100

6 x 533 mm torpedo tubes
1 x 100 mm gun
1 x 45 mm AA gun

Gunboats

Krasnoje Znamja
(at 1939)

Sept 10th, 1897

1823

14.5

2200

5 x 130 mm gun
7 x 45 mm AA gun
50 mines

Moscow

1939
(only one ship built)

1140

8.5

800

2 x 100 mm gun
3 x 45 mm AA gun
1 x 20 mm AA gun
2 x 12.7 mm AAMG
1 x 7.62 mm AAMG

Lahta

1899
(only one ship built)

580

6.9

220

2 x 100 mm gun
2 x 45 mm AA gun
1 x 37 mm AA gun
3 x 12.7 AAMG
2 x 7.62 AAMG

Torpedo boats

G-5

1928 onwards

17.84

48-50

1700

2 x 533 mm torpedoes 
  or 4 mines
2 x 12.7 mm AAMG
3 depth charges

Sh-4

1928

10

50.5

1300

2 x 457 mm torpedoes
1 x AAMG
2 mines

Note, the following in the submarine data:
Displacement = surfaced / submerged
Speed = surfaced / submerged
Engine = diesel / electric engines

Sources used:
1.        “Soviet-Finnish War 1939-1940” , Minsk, Harvest Publishers, 1999, ISBN 985-433-692-1
2.       “Glubinnyj Dozor”class="teksti">(“Depth Watch”) Moscow, 1978, Molodaya Gvardiya Publishers, ISBN not available.
3.       Voyenno-morskoy slovar (Naval Dictionary) Moscow, 1990, Military Publishers, ISBN 5-203-00174-X
4.       “Lineynyje i bronenosnyje korabli. Kanonerskiye lodki” (“Battleships and ironclads. Gunboats”) by S.S. Berezhnoy, Moscow, 1997, Military Publishers, ISBN 5-203-01671-2
5.       http://members.tripod.com/lord_hexer
6.       http://fs1.math.spbu.ru/navy/MK/MK-11/MK-11-2.htm (the site is in Russian)

 

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The Soviet Cruiser "Kirov"The Soviet Cruiser "Kirov"
Picture source: "Talvisodan Historia 1", p.116

Main armament
9 x 180 mm Main guns
6 x 100 mm Dual Purpose guns
6 torpedos
could take 100 mines

 

 

 

The strengths of the Baltic and Northern (Arctic) Fleets

(Information provided by Andrey Sysa)

Ship type

Baltic Fleet

North Fleet

Battleships

2

-

Cruisers

1

-

Fleet command and destroyers

13

7

Submarines

29

16

Gunboats

3

1

Escort ships (or frigates)

12

16

Minelayers and net laying ships

3

2

Minesweepers

28

8

Torpedo boats

62

-

Other naval boats

33

8


Air Force

Fighters

246

-

Bombers

111

-

Source: “Soviet-Finnish War 1939-1940” , Minsk, Harvest Publishers, 1999, ISBN 985-433-692


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