Most books of WWII speak of the naval battles of allied and axis powers during the war, but none about the Soviet navy. The soviets had an active fleet at the time, why did it not engage the Germans at sea?
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Unlike Soviet ground forces the fleet was well prepared at the beginning of German invasion and did not panic or wait for orders. For example as early as August 1941 Baltic fleet air force bombed Berlin from the island Ezel. In 1941 Baltic fleet placed 12047 mines. In 1943 the Finns together with the Germans successfully placed a net across the Gulf of Finland which Soviet submarines could not penetrate. The operations of the Baltic fleet became confined to the Gulf. Nevertheless the fleet played a serious role during the blockade of Leningrad and associated operations. For instance they supported the offensive north of Leningrad with about 200 high-caliber guns. The fleet also set up some fleet units on the lakes surrounding Leningrad, the Chud, Ladoga, Onega and Ilmen lakes. In 1944 Finland started to remove the barrier net, increasing the possibilities for Soviet fleet. Overall they sunk 280 enemy warships and 624 transports, including 2 pre-dreadnought battleships, 3 cruisers, 16 destroyers, and 16 submarines. The Fleet executed 24 landing operations and 158,000 aerial sorties. 100,000 Baltic fleet personnel were awarded decorations and 137 became Heroes of the Soviet Union. The Black Sea Fleet also was not caught by surprise; on the night of the June 22 German attack on the USSR they successfully defended against a German surprise air strike. Throughout the war the Black Sea Fleet made 13 landings, sank 508 enemy ships, and transported 2 million passengers and 8 million tonnes of freight. The Northern Fleet during the war sank over 200 enemy warships and 400 transports and destroyed over 1300 planes. The Pacific Fleet mostly did not participate in the war until the 1945 war against Japan. Many of its personnel did participate in the fight against Germany as members of other units. |
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Baltic fleet: There were a whole bunch of mines laid by Germany and their co-belligerents Finland and Sweden shortly before the Great Patriotic War began, which did not help the naval forces in Leningrad. This and the fast German advance up the Baltic coast prevented the Russians making my use of their surface fleet in open water. See the wikipedia page. The Russian submarines seem to have had more success in disrupting the axis efforts, but since submarines do not fight great engagements and sea control was not as important to Russia at that time as it was in Britain (in it's own submarine war) it is unfortunately a footnote in history. Balck Sea, Northern and pacific: As for the black sea, it's on the wikipedia page, there was involvement in supporting and evacuating coastal cities. More problems with mines there as well as the Luftwaffe. As for the northern fleet it was involved in protexting the Arctic Convoys. The pacific fleet participated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. If you were wondering, the Caspian Flotilla was involved in supplying Stalingrad (on the Volga) and supplying other fighting in the Caucasuses. |
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