On June 1, Russia celebrates the Day of the Northern Fleet - the "youngest" of all the military fleets of the Russian state. Its official history began 83 years ago. On June 1, 1933, the Northern Military Flotilla was formed, four years later, in 1937, it was transformed into the Northern Military Fleet. Today, the main task of the Northern Fleet is to keep the naval strategic nuclear forces in constant readiness in the interests of nuclear deterrence. Therefore, the main part of the fleet consists of atomic missile and torpedo submarines, missile-carrying and anti-submarine aircraft, missile, aircraft-carrying and anti-submarine ships. In addition, the fleet is entrusted with the tasks of protecting shipping, economically important regions, and fulfilling important foreign policy orders of the Russian leadership in the waters of the World Ocean.
The Northern Fleet is the youngest in Russia. But in fact, the history of shipping in the northern seas of our country began much earlier than in 1933 the Northern Military Flotilla was created. Even in pre-Petrine times, the Pomors, brave Russian sailors, used to sail here on their ships. Peter I laid the foundation for organized shipbuilding in the northern seas. But until the beginning of the twentieth century, there was no separate formation of the Russian navy in the Arctic Ocean. And this is despite the fact that since the end of the 19th century, polar expeditions have been repeatedly nominated, commanded by Russian sailors - Georgy Sedov, Alexander Kolchak and some others.
In the conditions of the First World War, the need to create a separate naval formation in the northern seas washing the Russian Empire became obvious. Moreover, this was required by the urgent tasks of defending Russian borders and protecting Russian shipping in the northern seas. By the time the First World War began in the northern seas, only one Russian warship was in service in the protection of fisheries - the messenger vessel "Bakan". In fact, the water area of the northern seas was defenseless against the actions of the German navy. Already in 1915, the explosions of merchant ships sailing in the White Sea became regular. I had to turn to Great Britain to organize joint trawling and defense of the White Sea coast. But the British, since their problems of the North Sea defense were not directly related, practically did not help Russia.
By the beginning of the First World War, apart from the hydrographic vessels, there was only one Russian military vessel (the messenger vessel "Bakan") in the Northern Maritime Theater, which served for the protection of fisheries. The appearance in 1915 in the White Sea of German mines, on which merchant ships were blown up, forced the Naval Ministry to start organizing the "White Sea Trawling Party". Aid from England, to which Russia has repeatedly turned, was episodic and extremely weak. In the end, the Russian leadership came to the conclusion that it was necessary to organize trawling and protection of shipping in the White Sea on its own. However, this task seemed elusive.
At that time, the main Russian naval forces were concentrated in the Baltic and Black Seas. It was practically impossible to transfer the ships of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets to the Arctic Ocean. The only way to organize the formation of a separate flotilla in the Arctic Ocean was to relocate there part of the ships of the Siberian flotilla, based in Vladivostok. But the Siberian flotilla itself was not numerous and could not provide strong assistance to the emerging flotilla of the Arctic Ocean. I had to turn to foreign countries with a proposal to purchase ships for manning the flotilla. They managed to come to an agreement with the Japanese - the former battleships Poltava and Peresvet and the cruiser Varyag were purchased from Japan. In 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War, these ships were sunk, but the Japanese raised them and repaired them. In addition to the three former "Japanese" Russian ships, it was decided to transfer several ships of the Siberian Flotilla to the Arctic Ocean. In February 1916, the Naval Ministry of the Russian Empire made an official decision to form the Arctic Ocean Flotilla.
- cruiser "Askold"
However, the relocation of ships from Vladivostok to Murmansk was not free from excesses. The cruiser "Peresvet" sank in the Port Said area, being blown up by a mine. As a result, it was decided to transfer the battleship "Chesma" to the North Sea, into which the battleship "Poltava" was renamed (before the death of "Peresvet" it was assumed that the "Chesma" would replace the cruiser "Askold" in the Mediterranean Sea, which will go to the North). In addition to him, the cruisers Askold and Varyag arrived in the North. The cities of Yokanga and Murmansk were chosen as the base of the flotilla, and the ships for the needs of the new formation were transferred from Vladivostok. The tsarist government had no money to buy new warships abroad, so Russia was forced to buy outdated trawlers, whaling ships, steamers and yachts and hastily convert them into warships. In particular, for the needs of the northern flotilla, they bought 6 Norwegian and British, 5 Spanish trawlers, 3 American trawlers, 1 French and 2 Norwegian whaling ships, 14 yachts and steamers, which were converted into messenger ships. However, it was possible to order the construction of new military ships abroad. So, 12 minesweepers were built in Great Britain, and from Italy in September 1917 a submarine built by special order, named "St. George", arrived in Arkhangelsk.
By October 7, 1917, on the eve of the October Revolution, 89 combat and auxiliary vessels were serving in the Arctic Ocean Flotilla. These were the battleship Chesma, 2 cruisers Askold and Varyag, 6 destroyers, the submarine Saint George, the minelayer Ussuri, 2 icebreakers Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich, 43 minesweepers, 18 messenger ships, 8 port ships, 4 hydrographic vessels, 3 transports. The ships of the flotilla were involved in escorting cargo ships with help from the Entente countries, as well as in the fight against German submarines.
However, the October Revolution and the subsequent withdrawal of Soviet Russia from the First World War entailed a new stage in the short history of the Arctic Ocean Flotilla. Already on February 26, 1918, the Naval Department of the Central Committee of the Arctic Ocean Flotilla decided to reduce it. According to this resolution, the flotilla was to include 1) a trawling division consisting of 16 minesweepers, 2) messenger ships for the protection of the fishing industries of the northern seas - 5 vessels (Gorislava, Yaroslavna, Kupava, Taimyr and Vaygach "); 3) Transport workshop "Ksenia"; 4) communication service of the flotilla consisting of 2 minesweepers and 2 messenger ships; 5) directorate of lighthouses and sailing ships, consisting of 5 ships; 6) hydrographic expedition of the White Sea, consisting of 2 hydrographic vessels and 3 minesweepers; 7) sea icebreakers "Svyatogor" and "Mikula Selyaninovich"; 8) Murmansk survey, which included the hydrographic vessel "Pakhtusov"; 9) two destroyers; 10) submarine "St. George" (later she was to be relocated to the Baltic Sea). All other ships and institutions of the flotilla were ordered to be reduced or eliminated. However, on May 24, 1918, a new order followed, according to which the number of ships in the flotilla was further reduced. In particular, the trawling division was reorganized into a detachment of 12 minesweepers, it was decided to remove all minesweepers from the hydrographic expedition, and the submarine was transferred to the port for long-term storage. Obviously, the Soviet naval command was convinced that the young state would no longer need a large military flotilla in the Arctic Ocean. But, as it turned out very soon, the reduction of the flotilla was a big mistake. The Civil War began, accompanied by the intervention of foreign troops. English and French troops landed in Murmansk, the Finns went on the offensive.
It is worth emphasizing that the White Finnish offensive took place in March 1918 - just before the decision was made to further reduce the flotilla. By the way, the decision to reduce the flotilla was actively implemented by a certain A. M. Yuryev - Deputy Chairman of the Murmansk Regional Council of People's Deputies. First, Yuryev and his supporters carried out an accelerated demobilization of the most active part of the sailors of the flotilla, and then on June 30, 1918, they officially announced their break with the Soviet regime and concluded an agreement with representatives of England, the USA and France on "joint actions." This treaty untied the hands of the British, Americans and French for further intervention in the northern ports of Russia. The ships of the Arctic Ocean Flotilla ended up in the hands of the Whites and the interventionists, therefore, in the northern regions of Russia, mainly land battles unfolded between the Red Army detachments on the one hand, the interventionists and the Whites on the other. The "white" government of the Northern Region under the leadership of Tchaikovsky handed over a number of the most interesting ships of the flotilla to the British and French, formally justifying this decision by the fact that it follows the allied agreements, and Great Britain is in a state of war with Germany. In fact, it was a real robbery of the flotilla on the most efficient ships, which were taken to England and France. As a result of the actions of the Tchaikovsky government, the composition of the flotilla by February 1919 was greatly reduced and included only 12 messenger and hydrographic vessels, 4 destroyers, 9 minesweepers and the battleship "Chesma".
- battleship "Chesma"
When, by February 1920, a large-scale offensive by the Red Army units against Arkhangelsk began, the Whites began an accelerated evacuation. General Miller, in particular, was evacuated on the Kozma Minin icebreaker, which the red icebreaker Canada did not manage to overtake. On February 20, units of the Red Army liberated Arkhangelsk, and on February 22, as a result of an uprising of sailors and soldiers, Murmansk passed into the hands of the Bolsheviks. The North of Russia met the spring of 1920 under Soviet rule. The leadership of Soviet Russia had to think hard about how to restore the naval forces in the Arctic Ocean - after all, a significant part of the ships of the flotilla were taken away by the invaders to foreign ports. Ultimately, the decision was made to create the White Sea Naval Flotilla, which was later reorganized into the North Sea Naval Force.
The Naval Forces of the North Sea, according to the order of June 26, 1920, included a naval detachment, a river flotilla, hydrographic expeditions of the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean, the directorate of lighthouses and sailing directions of the White Sea, coastal defense vessels of the Murmansk region, a diving and rescue party. The naval detachment included the battleship Chesma, 3 auxiliary cruisers, 3 minelaying cruisers, 2 destroyers, the Kommunar submarine (as the submarine Saint George was called), 8 patrol boats, 2 boats, 2 minesweepers and 1 motor yacht. The coastal defense of the Murmansk region consisted of 7 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 2 steamers. A number of ships were transferred to hydrographic expeditions and the White Sea Lighthouse and Sailing Directorate. After the end of the Civil War, it was decided to write off all obsolete and more unfit for service courts. Hydrographic vessels remained as part of the naval forces, the icebreakers were handed over to the commercial ports of the White Sea. In December 1922, the North Sea Naval Force was disbanded.
However, already 11 years after the disbandment of the North Sea Naval Forces, the Soviet leadership again turned to the idea of re-establishing a military flotilla in the northern seas to protect the northern sea borders of the Soviet Union. As a result, on June 1, 1933, in accordance with a special circular, the Northern Military Flotilla was formed. To equip it, 3 destroyers, 3 patrol ships and 3 submarines were transferred from the Baltic Sea to the Kola Bay. The main naval base of the fleet was originally Murmansk, and since 1935 - Polyarny. In 1936, the Northern Flotilla received its own naval aviation - a separate link of MBR-2 aircraft was redeployed to the North.
In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR of May 11, 1937, the Northern Military Flotilla was transformed into the Northern Fleet. This decision led to a significant increase in the power of the fleet. It included 14 submarines, 5 destroyers, several dozen auxiliary ships, brigades of destroyers and submarines, a formation of protection of the water area, began the development of the Northern Sea Route. The first commander of the Northern Fleet was the 1st rank flagship Konstantin Ivanovich Dushenov (pictured). The ships of the Northern Fleet played an important role in the development of the Arctic Ocean, supporting Soviet polar explorers, and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1941. became the first combat rehearsal of the fleet - the ships of the Northern Fleet provided transportation of goods and support for the Red Army. The Northern Fleet played the most important role during the Great Patriotic War. During the years of the war, the fleet, which before its beginning included 15 submarines, eight destroyers, seven patrol ships and 116 combat aircraft, practically tripled its armament.
Thanks to the actions of the forces of the Northern Fleet, it was possible to destroy more than 200 enemy ships and vessels, more than 400 transport ships, about 1300 aircraft, to ensure the passage of 76 allied convoys with 1463 transports and 1152 escort ships. Thousands of North Sea sailors fought heroically on land, eliminating many enemy soldiers and officers. But the personnel of the fleet also suffered significant combat losses - over 10 thousand officers, foremen, sailors died in battles with the Nazi invaders and their allies. At present, the Northern Fleet is one of the most powerful and dynamically developing military fleets of the Russian Navy.
