RISE OF THE SOVIET NAVY

[Music] this is must bar guided-missile helicopter carrier operating in the Mediterranean on her initial voyage in 1968 [Music] she is of a new breed of warship the Soviet economy is now willing to support cheap hotels that tomorrow's Soviet sea power will be characterized by more sophisticated and capable ships operating at greater distances from the motherland the Navy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is in current staffing the second racking Navy in the world one by one shipped by ship Soviet sea power shows the flag makes its presence felt the red Navy today has strategic mobility it moves ships great distances from home ports and transfers them freely between the Baltic the Artic the Black Sea and throughout the Mediterranean the Russian system of interconnecting internal waterways permits the transfer of submarines destroyers and small ships between the northern fleet the Baltic Fleet a Caspian flotilla and the Black Sea Fleet the northern sea route provides even more mobility during late summer and fall the northern fleet based on the Murman Coast is the primary Soviet fleet it ships and submarines cruise the Arctic and the entire Atlantic aircraft from this northern region can fly as far as Havana and have been seen on reconnaissance flights near Newfoundland the Soviet Pacific Ocean fleet operates from a system of bases from the polar regions down to the corrals to Vladivostok [Music] the rise of the Russian Navy parallels the emergence of the Soviet Union as a strong competitor for world markets the rapid expansion of her sea power has enabled Russia to project her national interests around the world [Music] Imperial Russia under tsar nicholas ii a major power at a ranking world naval power Imperial Russia boasts two main fleets the Baltic Fleet in the West in the South the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian flotilla in the East the Amur River and Siberian flotillas in the imperial fleet of world war one bizarre can count some 11 blood knots 12 battleships 22 cruisers and at least 56 submarines [Music] this fleet will be surrendered scuttled or sunk in the years of revolution which will sweep away old Russia the royal family bazaar czarina crown prince and paul royal princesses princess Anastasia a young girl rollerskating on the deck of the royal yacht across Europe at Sarajevo Archduke Ferdinand walks to his destination Europe is at war Russia fights a desperate war [Music] in the south the black sea fleet mounts are successful and previous assault against the Turks but Russia finds herself cut off in the open Mediterranean by guns and minds in the tricky streets the war is unpopular home leadership at home and on the battlefield is inept [Music] Russia suffers more wounded missing and dead than any other combatant the casualty rates 76 percent the October Revolution 1917 highlighted by a Navy revolt the sailors at Kronstadt naval base march on the Winter Palace in this Soviet film Percival the cruiser Aurora standing off in the neva fires and the palace revolution is in motion and within months the Czar and his family are murdered the revolution becomes a civil war the battle rages for three years across the motherland Admiral Kolchak aboard one of his ships he receives heavy allied backing as he leads the White Russian forces in Siberia he will be defeated and executed by the Bolsheviks one of the most famous sailors of the revolutionary Navy sailor hero de Benko he addresses his men he and his comrades will emerge from the Civil War with what a shell of a Navy [Music] in the Black Sea a Russian battleship is torpedoed and sunk by a Russian destroyer seven battleships two cruisers and eight destroyers submarines and other ships are lost at Sevastopol two-thirds of all the warships another assist I've run aground or blown up by their crews [Music] of the once-proud Baldy cleats only a handful of ships survived but worst days are to come March 1921 again let Kronstadt sailors revolt in a second rebellion this time against the Bolsheviks demanding reforms promised by the Bolsheviks but not delivered in these government films the Red Army storms the Bastian constant over the frozen Gulf of Finland the defenders hold off three attacks and when overrun and the survivors are shot the navy dishonored and all but destroyed stands condemned and Lenin not only distrust the Navy but doubts its usefulness 1924 Soviet Russia gains recognition from Western powers but the father of the revolution telling is dead the curtain falls on the first act of the communist experiment [Music] Stalin begins the next act as he sets in motion his iron rule by 1927 to recondition Czarist battleships operate in the Baltic a small defensive Navy begins to emerge under Stalin's regime the first five-year plan begins in 1928 to build up Russia's industry and her defenses the Navy receives low priority its first new ships are destroyers torpedo boats submarines and cruisers for defense of the homeland battleships and aircraft carriers will have to wait for later years aircraft construction and parachute training are a part of the new military buildup it becomes a public sport as well [Music] in 1932 the imperial japanese army invades northern Manchuria Stalin orders the buildup of the Pacific Ocean fleet [Music] 19:33 the start of the second five-year plan the Soviet Union emphasizes construction of a submarine fleet aimed at becoming the largest undersea force in the world within five years the Stalin White Sea Baltic canal is completed and Stalin is aboard the flagship of the new northern flotilla on the first tip from Leningrad to Murmansk for the first time the canal offers Russia an exit from the Baltic to the White Sea and to the North Atlantic free or foreign control one of the hooks and I believe that the most intelligence that has lain behind the conversations which was successfully concluded yesterday between Russia and the United States was the desire of both countries for peace the desire for the strengthening of the peaceful [Applause] with new naval bases of the Arctic and Pacific the 17th Party Congress calls for an all-out war shipbuilding program as part of the third five-year plan three former Casares battleships are modernized and fitted with larger caliber main guns the construction of six heavy cruisers is ordered but old suspicions from Kronstadt still persist commanding officers of Imperial Navy background are particularly pressured to conform the Communist doctrine the commissar an officer second in rank only to the captain is aboard each ship to ensure party loyalty in the 1930s naval officers regained status and some independence from the Commerce science but this is short-lived the shadow of the Great Purge falls upon the nation and the Navy the Great Purge the years of Terror Stalin's enemies real and imaginary are executed over half of the members of the 17th Party Congress are shopping hundreds of thousands fall in the bloodbath and the people fearful of the truth must pretend it isn't happening [Music] the estimate half of the Rif Navy's officer car is dead the commander in chief of the Navy perched commanders of the Baltic Fleet the Northern Fleet the Black Sea Fleet perch all eight Admirals alive at the start of the purge are liquidated before their August 24th 1939 the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression treaty [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] within a month Hitler invades Poland Stalin follow suit and occupies Eastern Party [Music] Europe is at war until the pelvic is vital [Music] German naval units move on the 3d port of Danzig and take ports in the Polish corner [Music] further north along the Baltic Stalin forces Latvia Lithuania and Estonia to give up faces to the Red Army and Navy now the soviet union wants Finnish naval bases and airfields but Finland resists and the Russians strike across the border for 105 days the Finns hold and then the M overpowered outgunned but not out fault Finland grants Soviet demands now on the brink of Hitler's invasion three five-year plans have seen the keels laid for over 500 warships including 82 destroyers and 14 cruisers further than 300 of these ships are already in commission pride of the fleet however is the largest submarine force in the world over 200 submarines and almost 100 more under construction the Naval Air Arm 2000 aircraft but inferior woefully antiquated no match for German strength and he aircraft artillery a dramatic increase in number but fleet bases are judged vulnerable to air attack Russian strategists fear the overwhelming strength of the Luftwaffe will imperil fleet operations June 1940 the Soviet Union occupies all the Baltic States she also moves on Romania the lower danube is now in Russian hands on the eve of the German attack Soviet shipyards are busy 219 ships under construction here lie the dreams of the Soviet Navy of the future here are hulls of great cruisers and battleships which will never be completed many the Nazis will seize as they slash into Russia [Music] Soviet fleet bases are vulnerable from the land the German plan cut off isolate and eliminate the red Navy as a factor in the war the navy turns to defense and plenteous operations in support of the Red Army the Tenth Army Corps is evacuated from the hanger Peninsula and from Tallinn on the Baltic in the south the Black Sea Fleet infantry served with the Red Army as it is driven toward the Caucasus thousands are cut off and taken by the Germans during the first years of war Soviet naval operations at sea are confined to minor actions patrol and supply of bases in the North the film's quickly cut the White Sea Baltic canal with the Germans they blockade the Gulf of Finland largely containing the red submarine fleet a few break the blockade and operate in the shallow Baltic but throughout the war Russia's huge submarine fleet is of little use except for limited action north of Norway in the Arctic 1944 the Red Army is solidly on the offensive the Navy supports another 100 M Tobias landings on inland waterways behind and on the flanks of the enemy in the south landings in the Crimea in the West the Baltic moon sound Island landings two of the largest Soviet amphibious operations of the war River flotilla saved the army they range and controlled the Danube the Nupur the Volga and other key waterways but during all of World War two major Soviet surface units do not fight a single battle either in coastal waters or at sea aircraft account for more than one half of the enemy ships sunk naval aircraft fly over three hundred thousand sorties and destroy over five thousand enemy aircraft [Music] although the Soviet Navy wins little as a result of NATO action during the war it gains important strategic prizes in the post-war world they regained the former Baltic States and all East Prussia formerly part of Germany the Black Sea Fleet now controls the mouth of the Danube and enjoys access to ports in the new satellite countries of Romania and Bulgaria even though the Soviet Union has fought only ten days against the Japanese in the Pacific it now has control of parts of Manchuria Korea all of the oil-rich island of Sakhalin and the strategic coral island chain but the red navy's greatest gain is the opportunity now to finally exploit its long-planned role as a dynamic force in a broadened national strategy with the ball of germany and japan the USSR is no longer surrounded by powerful maritime enemies now she may begin again to rebuild both her economy and her Navy the Soviet Union immediately registers all captive ships and again the Soviet Navy must for the time being concentrate on coastal defense with promise of major warships to wait but not for long the post-war Navy places the Soviet naval officer in a special class her conscious effort is underway to create an elite corps and foster naval tradition even in the cadet car recently drawn from officers families east european satellites are directed to rebuild shipyards and provide ships for the new soviet merchant marine and high seas fishing fleet while soviet shipyards will concentrate on warship construction polish East German Bulgarian Romanian Yugoslavia and Albanian ports are now available to Soviet ships [Music] 19:53 and Stalin is dead khrushchev rises to power and with income vital decisions as to the level of technology to be employed in the Navy of the future now the Soviet Union looks to nuclear power it develops long-range cruise missiles launched from aircraft ships or submarines as well as submarine launched ballistic missiles but Soviet seapower progresses in a pattern which recognizes all elements of maritime power warships are just one part what emerges is a collective national force a balanced modern merchant fleets oceanographic service and high seas Navy all under unified government direction in the early 60s the Soviet merchant fleet is in 11th place among the fleets of the world 1965 the merchant fleet of the Soviet Union now ranks in 6th place 1968 there are now almost 1,400 seagoing merchant man the 1980 goal is to more than double the size of the present legend fleet over 80 percent of this fleet is less than ten years old and the Soviet Union is striving to attain the capability of carrying 75 percent of their trade in ships flying the red flag these ships call it some 800 ports in 90 countries who service the world markets for oil the Russians have over 300 tankers Western suppliers have been dislodged and their long-established markets by these ships the Soviet high seas fishing fleet is the most modern in the world with 4000 vessels it's catch has more than doubled in the past 10 years this fishing fleet supplies the needs of a great many emerging African nations Senegal Ghana Nigeria Congo Liberia Sierra Leone Guinea and Egypt part of this huge state-owned enterprise is stationed in the Atlantic within a hundred miles of Boston its units operate on station for months at a time the Soviet oceanographic effort employs over 150 ships and 2,500 scientists and technicians in the past decade the Soviet Academy of Sciences has made important gains in Antarctic research I studies and marine life observations are being made in the vast areas of both polar regions to support the Soviet effort in oceanography there is an extensive network of marine scientific stations along the vast Soviet coastline north of Japan special research attention is given to the Kurile Islands to complete this balanced ocean force the REB Navy under Fleet Admiral Gorshkov is organized in four main fleets the Northern Fleet the Baltic Fleet the Black Sea Fleet and the Pacific Ocean fleet to make their ships harder to identify throughout the world the Soviet Navy makes random changes in the pendant numbers of submarines and ships as they transit freely from home waters on occasion numbers are even painted out mobility is the key to the present-day red fleet now by using ports in client and satellite countries they have better access to the North Atlantic and Mediterranean than in years past in the Mediterranean replenishment Anchorage's provide logistics support without international obligations in this replenishment anchorage to dawn glass tenders support submarines cruisers and destroyers depending on the season and the political climate the Soviets have deployed 30 to 50 warships and auxiliaries from the Black Sea and other fleets to the Mediterranean today the Soviet Navy is benefiting from the farsighted planning of the 50s her submarine force is the largest in the world approximately 350 embassy craft all built since the end of World War two about one in seven is nuclear power 35 can fire ICBMs from beneath the sea and over 40 can fire the cruise missile [Music] the Naval Air Arm has some 800 fixed-wing aircraft including 150 helicopters and 500 jet bombers most of which can fire cruise missiles [Applause] this Task Force patrolling the Mediterranean reflects the success of the Soviet fleet building program a product of the early Christian era is the kinder class guided missile cruiser [Music] hirama Minh includes surface-to-air guided missiles for defensively task force from air attack [Music] along with 200 destroyer or escort ships in the red fleet six or more of his class are operational in 1969 another new design in the modern Soviet Navy discussion class guided missile frigates the largest warship in the world having gas turbine propulsion she is capable of 35 knots this is musk Barr she is the largest Soviet Navy ship armed with guided missiles guns Pepito's and helicopters boasting an impressive array of sophisticated electronic senses she represents the current high-water mark in Russian ship design today Soviet ships can put roll off any coast in the world they may be oceanographic research ships merchant vessels fishing trawlers submarines or surface warships but they are all part of the same maritime force [Music] closely commanded through a modern system of communications they can respond rapidly anywhere in the world to any situation [Music] this has been the rise of the Soviet Navy of Soviet sea power for Meszaros fleet of 1917 to the present modern mobile well-coordinated ocean force and this ship must bar symbolizes a challenge a challenge of Soviet sea power to Western preeminence on the oceans of the world [Music] [Applause] [Music]