I recall the last sailing of the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral of the Soviet Union Fleet Sergei Gorshkov, in the Northern Fleet, which took place on October 6, 1984, and fell on an audit of the results of the year conducted by the Commander-in-Chief.
Three days before going to sea, I - then the commander of the Red Banner Kola flotilla of heterogeneous forces - received an order from the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Arkady Mikhailovsky: “To plan, at your discretion, a series of tactical exercises of the flotilla with the ships of the 2nd division performing anti-aircraft missile firing. To organize all-round support for the exit of a detachment of ships. In addition, the commander-in-chief plans to get acquainted in detail with the ships of the third generation of project 1155 at the exit. " In the latter case, we singled out the newest at that time large anti-submarine ship (BOD) "Marshal Vasilevsky".
CASE IS NOT NEW, BUT VOLUME
The case was not new, but voluminous, with the use of a large number of forces and means. Needless to say, there should be up to 80 units of various forces in the sea. It was necessary to prepare a lot of combat orders, draw up a planned table of actions of the forces, to whom, when, where to go, close the vast area of the Barents Sea, including the Kola Bay, send a lot of notifications, etc. By the morning of the day of departure, decisions of all participants were received at the headquarters of the flotilla. The pilots were worried. Although the departure from berth No. 8 of the large anti-submarine ship "Marshal Vasilevsky" was not scheduled early - at 10.00, the pilots always worked with the proviso "but …".
On the day of my departure, as the leader of a large exercise, early in the morning, I was summoned to the headquarters of the fleet to report to the chief of the exercise plan. We hung out all the cards, prepared other documents and waited for the eldest to appear. Suddenly, the operational duty officer of the fleet conveyed that the commander-in-chief was already heading to the berth where the BOD was located. We all turned quickly, but, of course, we were late. The commander-in-chief arrived on the ship before us. It was not customary to refer, of course, to someone and had to report to the commander-in-chief already on the navigating bridge.
The exercises were deployed at the Central Command Center, and there, closer to reality, I made a report to the commander-in-chief on the episodes of the exit and the combat exercises performed. No questions were received. The mass of accompanying S. G. Gorshkov's "officials" directly attacked our documents: they were recording something, rewriting, recounting, etc.
All forces were already at sea. The large anti-submarine ship "Marshal Vasilevsky" (commander of the ship Yu. Shalnov) energetically moved away from the berth. While crossing the Kola Bay, I had to report to the commander-in-chief on the organization of interaction of forces at the exit: with the 42nd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the air defense, with border guards, with the command post of the fighter regiment in Monchegorsk, etc. Anticipating the questions of the commander-in-chief, fighters were raised in the air on alarm, which flew over the ship 20 minutes later with a descent.
The commander-in-chief watched this very carefully, did not say anything. Abeam about. Toros already had support minesweepers who were ready to transfer the trawls to helicopters. Helicopters also appeared. They walked low next to the ship and flew up to the trawling group. Having solved their task, after a while, on the counter course, they flew past the BOD, while the commander-in-chief personally checked the accuracy of the ship's following in the swept strip. Then S. G. Gorshkov began to tell that there are options for designing unmanned minesweepers and that in general there are plans for a large unmanned ship in the ocean zone. We perceived all this as some kind of fantasy.
Having processed all the issues with the support forces, the Marshal Vasilevsky BPK connected with three Project 1135 patrol ships from the 130th brigade of anti-submarine ships, which entered its escort from the bow heading angles and began to follow the air defense training area at a speed of 22 knots. Even at the exit from the gulf, a complete radio silence mode was established at the connection, to which the commander-in-chief reacted with approval. The information came from the command post of the fleet: “At such and such a point there is the Norwegian missile complex“Maryata”, from the AS Bodø the“Orion”took off, our“big ones”are in the air,” and so on.
ACTIVE LEARNING PHASE
The organization of the exercises was clear, the planned table was carried out one to one. I also reported to the commander in chief about the actions of our other forces, which we could not see. I invited him to the “Lumberjack” screen, where the situation was fully highlighted, including the starting points of the aircraft for the air defense exercise, but the commander-in-chief, glancing briefly at the screen, went to the wing of the bridge. He did not like these screens.
Then the air defense exercise began. The commander of the 2nd division V. V. Grishanov (senior) was an experienced sailor, had a good staff. In accordance with TR-80, he "unrolled" the system of organizing air defense with the use of all types of AIA, interference, etc. The mass of "officials" who arrived from Moscow crowded around the screens and with great attention and desire caught every inaccuracy at the air defense post of the division.
At the end of the exercise, as always, data on its results were hastily collected and the division commander reported these results to the commander-in-chief directly from the tracing paper of the air defense post, as well as the fact that he allowed the ship search and strike group (KPUG) of the 130th brigade to the actual missile shooting.
After the exercise, the ships, having reorganized into the wake formation, headed to the area of the rocket firing. The P-15 target missiles were supposed to be launched by boats, which were conducting their exercises on delivering a missile strike at the KPUG. Two missile boats were loaded with three cruise missiles. This was agreed with the Department of Missile and Artillery Armaments of the Navy, since old missiles with expired service life were allocated for such firing, and additional products were reserved in case of some kind of failure or falling targets. The commander of the 55th missile brigade, Captain 2nd Rank D. Grechukhin, was with the headquarters on the control ship (also project 1135 TFR) and controlled the boats when striking.
Before striking the KPUG, brigade commander-55 via communications, and we put it on "loud", addressed to me, in the presence of the commander-in-chief reported on his analysis of the situation and the decision to strike. I approved his decision. As for what follows, the situation is as follows: 1st target missile - normal start, normal flight; 2nd - immediately fell after the start; 3rd - normal start, normal flight; 4th - normal start, fell at a distance. Further, according to my instructions, the brigade commander-55 launched the 5th and 6th target missiles on his own, no longer asking anyone. Of course, according to the rocket firing plan, three targets were planned, and four reached, which were shot down, and fell into the water at a distance of 4 to 7 km before the formation of ships.
"IN THE CASE OF WHAT!"
Rocket fire was dynamic. The ships, in addition to the Osa anti-aircraft guided missiles, fired both artillery and jammers (PK-16). The Marshal Vasilevsky was also ready to fire. He was given the task of shooting in self-defense (in which case!).
The commander-in-chief took a good place on the bridge where he could see everything, and after each missile target he bent his fingers. We put an intelligent signalman next to him, who drew the commander-in-chief's attention to the change in the current situation.
After the shooting, while my headquarters was still preparing our express analysis of the shooting, an inspector from the Main Headquarters of the Navy jumped up to the commander-in-chief and, choking with an excess of information and joy, immediately reported: “The shooting conditions were violated, instead of three targets, four were launched”.
The commander-in-chief is silent.
"The simultaneous approach to the KPUG target missiles is not ensured."
The commander-in-chief holds bent fingers.
"KPUGom allowed an overrun of anti-aircraft missiles!"
The commander-in-chief is silent.
"The interference situation was created insufficient!"
The commander-in-chief is silent.
"The large anti-submarine ship" Marshal Vasilevsky "took target designation only for artillery."
The commander-in-chief is silent!
And already quite quietly, the speaker added: "Inflatable corner reflectors were not thrown off" …
The commander-in-chief did not say a word to all this, and we knew that he would not say anything, because all the missile targets that he saw did not reach the formation of the ships, as they were shot down. And this is the main point. After all, it was a real anti-aircraft battle, and everything turned out like in battle. The brigade commander-55 also solved his task - he struck at the KPUG. What he reported by telegram.
HELICOPTERS COME INTO BUSINESS
After the establishment of "Combat readiness 2, air defense option" the command sounded: "Prepare the ship for helicopter flights!" This was done in a very organized and quick manner. The Ka-27PS has already unscrewed the screws. According to the plan, the commander-in-chief descended on the Frunze heavy nuclear missile cruiser (TARKR), which was also in the open sea not far from us, without entering the exercise area. The commander-in-chief put on a life jacket and got into the helicopter in the place of the navigator. The cruiser, with Senior Vice Admiral Vladimir Kruglikov on board, was ready to go to the Pacific Fleet, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy decided to escort the ship. Then, after seeing off the Frunze TARKR, the commander-in-chief flew to Severomorsk on the same helicopter.
The analysis of the final check was carried out by the commander-in-chief in the office of the commander of the fleet, only with the Military Council of the fleet. Noting the great achievements of submariners in mastering new weapons and equipment, he cited as an example the anti-aircraft battle of the ship's search and strike group of the 130th brigade, which he observed from the Marshal Vasilevsky submarine. He also noted the brigade commander of the 55th missile boat brigade, who acted proactively and at the appointed time struck the KPUG with all missile boats.
The commander-in-chief comprehensively assessed everything together: prudence, perseverance in fulfilling the assigned task, the state of technology and weapons systems, the fairly good organization of the work of the headquarters, command post of the fleet, the proximity of the situation to what could really happen in a war. In general, while at sea on a ship, he saw what he had been teaching sailors for many years. He did not comment on any comments of the inspectors. Well done, the commander-in-chief, that he never exchanged for trifles, but worked and evaluated everything on a large scale and for the future. Real sailors fully understood this.
In total, seven brigades, five regiments, headquarters of brigades, divisions, flotilla, navy, 10 command posts, about 5 thousand personnel took part in the above-mentioned exit events.
After the publication of directive documents and clarification of the tasks for the forces for the preparation and conduct of combat service, S. G. Gorshkov and his deputies traveled to the fleets and checked the understanding of the assigned tasks and the level of work of commanders and commanders to improve the combat service system.
When visiting the fleets, the commander-in-chief personally worked with the commanders of brigades and divisions, with the commanders of the ships, checking their understanding of the decisions of the naval command and the methods of their implementation. In general, it was an assessment of the state of affairs and, most importantly, the study of people.
In personnel appointments, Gorshkov had practically no mistakes, and he knew how to grow worthy leaders. But, choosing people for leadership positions, on the one hand, he “did not have a reverse gear,” and on the other, he did not forgive even a single mistake. I don’t know whether it was right or not, but all areas of the Navy's activities were steadily developing and improving, and the main criterion for evaluating the leaders was their experience of combat service, experience of long voyages and solving assigned tasks at sea.
