The Northern Fleet

      Throughout the Cold War the Northern Fleet was the main area of naval activity for the Soviet Navy, and this fleet remains very active. Officially this fleet was established in 1937 as part of the Soviet Navy. In movies and books it is probably better know as the Red Banner Northern Fleet. This fleet operates out of the extreme northern area of the Russian Federation, but thanks to the gulf stream some of its ports remain ice free year round. 

     Here is a map of the bases in the Northern Fleet's area of operations: 

Area Centered around Murmansk

     The main port for the surface combatants is the city of Severomorsk. This city remain closed  to outsiders. This is also where the Northern Fleet is headquartered.

Severomorsk

     The submarine fleet is spread throughout several different bases, along the northern part of the Kola Peninsula. See map above. 

Oscar's in port

     There are also several airfields associated with the Northern Fleet. 

Tu-142 ASW aircraft

To see a detailed order of battle for the Northern Fleet take a look here. 

      Perhaps the biggest fear coming out of the Northern Fleet is the amount of nuclear waste that is sitting around. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation didn't have the resources to maintain the largest submarine fleet in the world. Many nuclear powered submarines were left to rust away. Fortunately, through international agreements much of this nuclear waste is getting cleaned up. 

Reactor compartments of decommissioned submarines

      Recently Russia has stated that its main focus in the future will be operations in the Pacific Fleet (The US is also doing this). This is evidenced in the fact that many of the new ships being built for the Russian Navy are being sent to the Pacific Fleet, namely the first Mistral and the Yuri Dolgoruki.  Only time will tell if this shift will first actually happen, and second if it will diminish the Northern Fleets significance. 

A New Navy



Putin on board the warship Peter the Great


     This week soon to be president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, announced massive funding for the military. Over the next ten years he plans to spend 23 trillion rubles  ($775 billion US) on defense. While many are skeptical that this would actually happen, if it does it will be good news for a navy that is in dire need of new ships.
      In an article that appeared on the website of the Moscow Komsomolets Putin considers that the Russian Navy should receive 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), 8 ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), 20 multi-role submarines, more than 50 surface combatants, and nearly 100 military satellites. Here is the Russian from the article.

"400 межконтинентальных баллистических ракет наземного и морского базирования, 8 ракетных подводных крейсеров стратегического назначения, 20 многоцелевых подводных лодок, более 50 боевых надводных кораблей, около 100 космических аппаратов военного назначения"

     While the Russian Navy currently has more ships than those planned to be added, most of these ships are not capable of combat operations. Those ships that are added to the fleet will significantly increase the combat capabilities of the Russian Navy. Putin wants a blue water navy that is mainly concentrated in the North and Pacific fleets, and can protect Russia's interests in the Artic.

      According to RIA Novosti this is the current composition of the Russian Navy:



Russian Navy composition





Some other bullets of interest from the article:

Yuri Dolgoruki at sea

- According to Admiral Vysotsky (Commander of the Russian Navy), the Yuri Dolgoruki (Project 955) will join the fleet in 2012, and is expected to join the Pacific Fleet. The Alexander Nevski and Vladimir Monomak will join the fleet later, and construction of the fourth ship of the class will begin in March.

Model of Typhoon class submaine.

- The Typhoon class submarines (Project 941 Akula), Severstal and Arkangelsk,  will remain part of the fleet and will soon be carrying missiles. While the Dmitri Donskoy will remain a test platform for the Bulava.



Oscar class submarine underway



- The Belgorod, and Oscar class submarine (Project 949A) whose construction was halted some years ago, will be converted for special missions.

French Mistral

- The first Mistral will be named Vladivostok and will be based with the Pacific Fleet.

For the Russian speakers here is the article:

http://vlad.mk.ru/article/2012/02/22/674206-rossiya-uvelichivaet-flot-vdvoe.html

In other news from the Russian Navy:

Russia will continue to take part in anti-piracy operations.

Icelandic sub for Russian Navy