Russian Naval Aviation

Beginning On 30 May 1912, the Vice-Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy, Vice-Admiral Alexander Karl Nikolai von Lieven submitted a written report No. 127 on the plan for the creation of aviation detachments in the fleets . This document, approved with some reservations by the Naval Minister Vice Admiral Ivan Grigorovich, acquired the character of an order for the Naval Ministry. The logical continuation of the report was a letter from MGSh No. 1706/272 dated 06/02/1912 to the head of the General Staff School on the formation of the infrastructure of aviation units in 1913. As of 1 January 1913, there was one seaplane and two wheeled airplanes on the Baltic Sea, and five seaplanes on the Black Sea. In the spring of 1914, by the decision of the Minister of the Navy, an aviation department was introduced into the staff of the Naval General Staff, consisting of three people. World War I The beginning of the World War I found the Russian Naval Aviation at the stage of organizational formation. In total, by 1 August 1914, the Naval Ministry had about three dozen aircraft of various types and about 20 certified pilots. About 10 more officers underwent flight training directly in the fleets. By the beginning of the war, there were only 10 seaplanes on the Baltic, based in Libau, and 8 seaplanes on the Black Sea, in Sevastopol, and Kilen Bay. It was planned to deploy air detachments on the Pacific Ocean only by the summer of 1915, but this was not implemented due to the outbreak of the war. flying boat from the Russian Naval Aviation Officer School in Baku, 1917 At the beginning of March 1915, the Naval Aviation already had 77 aircraft, including 47 on the Baltic, and 30 seaplanes on the Black Sea. They were served by 78 officers and 859 lower ranks. As of 1 January 1917, the Russian Naval Aviation was an impressive force and included 264 airplanes of various types. Of these, 152 aircraft and 4 small controlled balloons were in the Black Sea Fleet, 88 aircraft in the Baltic Fleet. Another 29 aircraft were available in the Petrograd and Baku naval aviation officer schools. flying boat being lifted aboard the , 1916 From September 1916 to May 1917 alone, the Naval Department received 61 Grigorovich M-11 and M-12 seaplanes. 26 of them flew in the Black Sea Fleet, about 20 entered the Baltic Fleet. In the Black Sea and Baltic aviation units, respectively, 115 and 96 officers, 1,039 and 1,339 conductors, non-commissioned officers and privates served. Russian Civil War and interwar period The regular Soviet naval aviation units were created in 1918. They participated in the Russian Civil War, cooperating with the ships and the army during the combats at Petrograd, on the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Volga, the Kama River, the Northern Dvina and on Lake Onega. The newborn Soviet Naval Aviation consisted of 76 obsolete hydroplanes. Scanty and technically imperfect, it was mostly used for resupplying the ships and the army. In the second half of the 1920s, the Naval Aviation order of battle began to grow. It received new reconnaissance hydroplanes, bombers, and fighters. In the mid-1930s, the Soviets created naval air forces in the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, the Soviet Pacific Fleet, and the Soviet Northern Flotilla. The importance of naval aviation had grown significantly by 1938–1940, to become one of the main components of the Soviet Navy. By this time, the Soviets had created bomber and torpedo bomber naval air units and formations. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all of the fleets (except for the Pacific Fleet) had a total of 1,445 aircraft. World War II At the end of June 1941, three air squadrons of the Civil Air Fleet (Baltic, Black Sea, Northern) were formed from civil aviation units (Baltic, Black Sea, Northern), which were operatively subordinate to the command of the air forces of the respective fleets. Their task was to provide transport services in the interests of the fleets. In addition, from the first days of the war, some aviation units of the NKVD Border Troops were transferred to the Naval Aviation. At the same time, the first assault aviation units appeared in the Soviet Naval Air Force: a squadron of the 57th BAP in the Baltic and the 46th OSHAE in the Black Sea Fleet. In the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Naval Air Force turned out to be the most effective of the forces of the fleet – the destruction of 407 enemy ships by aviation was officially confirmed, which is 66% of losses, with a total number of losses – 614 units (however, there is information that official data on the effectiveness of the work of mine and torpedo aviation, for a number of reasons, they are greatly overestimated). In the end of World War II, a reduction in the Soviet Armed Forces began. In the Naval Aviation, after the end of hostilities, assault aviation was completely eliminated, however, three more aviation divisions were formed: the 17th SAD and the 18th SAD of the Pacific Fleet Air Force, as well as the 19th MTAD of the Navy's Main Command. Cold War period To attack surface ships at long ranges, the Soviet Navy was unique in deploying large numbers of bombers in a maritime role for use by Naval Aviation. The of Soviet aircraft carriers was deployed in the late 1970s and carried up to 30 aircraft including Yak-38 VTOL strike aircraft. The next class of Soviet aircraft carriers, named the , supported more conventional aircraft such as the Su-27K "Flanker-D" and the MiG-29K "Fulcrum-D". Land-based aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-16 "Badger" and Tu-22M "Backfire" bombers were deployed with high-speed anti-ship missiles. Previously believed to be interceptors of NATO supply convoys traveling the sea lines of communication across the North Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America, the primary role of these aircraft was to protect the Soviet mainland from attacks by U.S. carrier task forces. is one of the most advanced combatants of the Russian Naval Aviation in 2019 On 3 December 2016, an Su-33 crashed into the sea after attempting to land on the Admiral Kuznetsov. The plane crashed on its second attempt to land on the aircraft carrier in good weather conditions. The pilot was safely recovered by a search and rescue helicopter. Initially it was suspected that the plane missed the wires and failed to go around, falling short of the bow of the warship, but later it was revealed that the arresting cable failed to hold the aircraft, and was damaged in the attempt. Following the two incidents, the air wing was transferred to shore at Khmeimim Air Base near Latakia, Syria to continue military operations while the carrier's arresting gear issues were addressed. During her deployment off Syria, aircraft from Admiral Kuznetsov carried out 420 combat missions, hitting 1,252 hostile targets. On 11 January 2017, Admiral Kuznetsov was conducting live-fire training exercises in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya. The Russian defence ministry announced that on 11 January, Admiral Kuznetsov was visited by Libya's military leader Khalifa Haftar, who had a video conference with Russian defence minister Sergey Shoygu while on board. the non-operational aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is the Russian Navy's only carrier leaving the Russian Navy without an operational aircraft carrier. Further, reports that the s crew of ca. 1500 has been reassigned to the Russian Army for combat duty in Ukraine indicates that there is no plan to make the Russian Navy a carrier navy again. Russo-Ukraine War, since 2022 As of 2025, aircraft losses during the Russo-Ukraine War, for both the Russian Aerospace Forces and shore-based Russian naval aviation, have included at least seven Sukhoi Su-30SMs and between 10 and 20 of the older Su-24MRs. Russia's total inventory of approximately 110 Su-30s, and reserve stocks of at least 100 Su-24s, may allow for some of these losses to be absorbed but they have not been insignificant. ==Structure and Organisation==