Introduction

The years following the collapse of the Soviet Union were hard on the Russian military, but they were especially hard on the Russian Navy.  The new republic had little money to maintain the huge fleet that the Soviet Union had built and left behind.  Its defense priorities had also changed and a massive reorganization was in order.  The reduction was dramatic as the ships of the once proud Soviet navy were scrapped, sold, or left to rust in port.

A summary of these changes shows how deep the cuts to the surface fleet went:

• The Ulyanovsk class 70,000 ton carrier project was abandoned and cut up for scrap in 1992.

• The Kuznetsov carrier program fell behind schedule.  The first ship was completed amid delays, while the second was cut up for scrap before completion.  Talks were then held to sell the ship to India, but no deal was reached.

• Both Moskva helicopter carriers were decommissioned.

• Two of the Kiev VTOL carriers were scrapped and one (the Minsk) was sold to China for use as a casino.

• Two of the four Kirov battle cruisers were decommissioned.  One went into refit and hasn't gone to sea since.  All were renamed to be the Pyotr Velikhiy class.

• All of the Sverdlov class fire support cruisers were removed from service.  The last to go being the Murmansk in 1992.

• Three of the four Kynda class cruisers were decommissioned.

• All 14 Kresta I/II  cruisers were stricken from the fleet lists in the early 1990's.

• All 7 Kara class ASW cruisers were decommissioned.

• Half of the Sovremenny and Udaloy ships were removed from service.

• One of the four Slava class ships were given to Ukraine.

• Half of the Krivak class were given to Ukraine, and are in a poor state of seaworthiness. 

• Only one of the Neustrashimyy class frigates were ever produced.

The result of the reorganization was to have eliminated the large ASW cruisers of the Cold War, leaving the remaining cruisers to be used as flagships or as guided missile boats.  All anti-aircraft and anti-submarine missions were to be relegated to the remaining frigates and destroyers.

Like the rest of the fleet, the submarine force underwent a reduction in size.  The reorganized submarine force would have only three classes of ballistic missile boats, one class of guided missile boat, and five classes of attack submarines.  The fleet also retained one India and two Bravo class, as well as several other special purpose submarines.  The highly advanced Alfa class proved to be both too costly and difficult to maintain in service.

By 2001 the Russian fleet was a shadow of what it had been a decade earlier.  It had a smaller but more efficient surface force and a streamlined submarine fleet allowed the Russians to maintain a level of strategic nuclear deterrence while being able to defend themselves at a sustainable level.  There have even been reports that the Russian fleet is considering a new ballistic missile submarine in 2010 to replace its older boats.  The Russian Navy had clearly made it through the time of troubles, shed the excesses of the Soviet era, and formed a solid base for the future.

Naval Aviation Long range naval aviation suffered along with the rest of the Navy during the 1990's.  Production of the Tu-160 'Blackjack' bomber was curtailed due to its high cost and production of the Tu-142 'Bear' was completed in 1992.  In the face of these cutbacks the remaining Tu-22M 'Backfire' aircraft were retained due to their ease of maintenance and lower operating cost when compared to the Tu-160.

In contrast to their long range strategic counterparts, carrier based aviation seemed to have much higher priority.  A variety of navalized Su-27 'Flanker' aircraft were developed.  These were very successful and were to be sold to China and India.  All aircraft were not as fortunate as the Su-27 however.  The vertical take off and landing Yak-141 'Freestyle'  program slowed to a crawl.

Despite these changes, the naval aviation forces have occasionally probed the air defenses of the West as they did in the days of the Cold War.  In the late 1990's a pair of Tu-160 'Blackjack' bombers flew towards England over the North Sea.  The aircraft were not intercepted.  Several years later a group of Su-24 and Su-27 aircraft overflew a U.S. carrier group for over ten minutes before being intercepted.  Exercises of this sort were suspended for several months following the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States, they have since resumed.

The Naval Infantry

We do not have much information about the changes that the Naval Infantry underwent during the 1990's.  The extent of the defense cutbacks is not known, but it is safe to assume that the force probably lost a number of its air cushion vehicles - especially the older models.  The massive  Promornik Class air cushion vehicle was kept in service and improved with two batteries of shore bombardment missiles.  We also do not know the exact fate of the Ivan Rogov amphibious assault ships.

Other than new uniforms, there have been few changes in the land element.  The Naval Infantry still uses the PT-76 and a variety of BMP and BTR vehicles in the assault role.

Russian Naval Statistics

Accurate statistics for the modern Russian fleet have been somewhat difficult to find.  Part of this is that the fleet makeup is constantly changing while the other part is due to a lack of English language material.  Here are the most reliable statistics we have been able to compile.