View source for Soviet Naval Aviation

{{Short description|Aerial warfare branch of the Soviet Navy}}
{{refimprove|date=March 2018}}
{{Soviet military}}
{{Air Forces of Russia and the Soviet Union}}

'''Soviet Naval Aviation''' ('''AV-MF''', {{Langx|ru|Авиация военно-морского флота|Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota|aviation of the military maritime fleet}}) was the [[naval aviation]] arm of the [[Soviet Navy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ww2.dk/new/navy/aviation%20divisions.htm |title=Aviation Elements Northern Fleet |publisher=Ww2.dk |access-date=2019-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/russia/navalaviation.html |title=Soviet Naval Aviation |access-date=2012-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128053719/http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/russia/navalaviation.html |archive-date=2010-11-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Origins ==
The first [[navy|naval]] aviation [[Military unit|unit]]s in [[Russia]] were formed in 1912–1914 as a part of the [[Soviet Baltic Fleet|Baltic Fleet]] and the [[Soviet Black Sea Fleet|Black Sea Fleet]]. During [[World War I]], the [[seaplane|hydroplane]] units were used in the [[Black Sea]] for conducting [[aircraft reconnaissance]], bombing and firing at coastal and port [[military base|installation]]s and enemy ships, and destroying [[submarine]]s and enemy [[aircraft]] on the [[airfield]]s.

== Civil War and Interwar Period ==
The regular [[Soviet Union|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]], [[Northern Dvina]] and on the [[Lake Onega]]. The newborn Soviet Naval Air Force consisted of only 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, [[bomber]]s, and [[Fighter aircraft|fighters]]. In the mid-1930s, the Soviets created the Naval Air Force in the [[Baltic Fleet]], the [[Black Sea Fleet]] and the [[Soviet Pacific Fleet]]. 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 formations and units of the [[torpedo]] and bomb aviation. At the beginning of the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Great Patriotic War]], all of the [[Naval fleet|fleet]]s (except for the Pacific Fleet) had a total of 1,445 aircraft.

== Second World War ==
The '''Morskaya Aviatsiya''' (Naval Aviation) was the Soviet Navy's air service during [[World War II]]. Such air units provided air support to the Voyenno-Morskoy Flot SSSR (Soviet Navy) in the theaters of operations in the [[Barents Sea|Barents]], Baltic and Black Seas and also to the Soviet Naval Detachment in the [[Sea of Okhotsk]].

Russian Navy Aviation managed all land, shore and vessel-based (tender seaplanes and catapult vessels) hydroplanes and aircraft, as well as [[flying boat]]s. The air units also conducted land operations in support of the [[Red Army]] during landings and disembarkations and served in special wartime operations. Naval Aviation provided some air cover to [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Arctic convoys of World War II|convoys]] [[Lend-Lease|bringing equipment]] to Soviet forces from North Sea to the Barents Sea and via the [[Pacific Ocean]] to the Sea of Okhotsk.

In particular, Naval Aviation was deployed in defense of [[Odessa]] (June–October 1941), in operations in the [[Crimea]] and the Black Sea and carried out successful air strikes in the last stages of the conflict on the European and [[Pacific War|Pacific Fronts]].

During the war, Naval Aviation delivered an immense blow to the enemy in terms of sunken ships and crews—two and a half times more than any other unit of the Soviet Navy. Seventeen naval aviation units were honored with the title of the [[Russian Guards|Soviet Guards]], while 241 men were awarded with the title of the [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (including five pilots twice).

===Aviation divisions of the Red Navy===
{{No footnotes|section|date=August 2011}}
* 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 2nd Torpedo Rananskaya Red Banner Aviation Division in the name of N.A. Ostryakova VVS VMF
* 3rd Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 4th Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 5th Torpedo Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 6th Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 7th Bombardment Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 8th Torpedo Gatchinskaya Red Banner Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 9th Assault Ropshinskaya Red Banner, [[Order of Ushakov]] Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 10th Seysinskaya Red Banner Aviation Division of Dive Bombers VVS VMF
* 11th Assault Novorossiysk Twice Red Banner Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 12th Assault Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 13th Aviation Division of Dive Bombers VVS VMF
* 14th Mixed Aviation Division VVS VMF
* 15th Mixed Aviation Division VVS VMF
* {{ill|16th Mixed Aviation Division VVS VMF|ru|16-я смешанная авиационная дивизия ВМФ}} - 1 May 1961 became 143rd Maritime Rocket Aviation Division.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ww2.dk/new/navy/143mrad.htm|title=143rd Maritime Missile Aviation Division|website=www.ww2.dk|access-date=5 February 2019}}</ref>

== Cold War ==
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 [[Kiev-class aircraft carrier|Kiev class]] of Soviet aircraft carriers was deployed in the late 1970s and carried up to 30 aircraft including [[Yakovlev Yak-38|Yak-38 VTOL fighters]]. The next class of Soviet aircraft carriers, named the [[Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier|Admiral Kuznetsov class]], supported more conventional aircraft such as the [[Sukhoi Su-33|Su-33 "Flanker-D"]] and the [[Mikoyan MiG-29|MiG-29 "Fulcrum"]]. Land-based aircraft such as the [[Tupolev]] [[Tupolev Tu-16|Tu-16 "Badger"]] and [[Tupolev Tu-22M|Tu-22M "Backfire"]] bombers were deployed with high-speed [[anti-ship missile]]s. Previously believed to be interceptors of [[NATO]] supply [[convoy]]s 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tokarev |first1=Maksim |title=Kamikazes: The Soviet Legacy |journal=Naval War College Review |date=2014 |volume=67 |issue=1 |page=9 |url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol67/iss1/7}}</ref>

The last commander of Soviet Naval Aviation, Colonel-General [[Viktor Pavlovich Potapov]], was appointed in 1988. With the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, its assets were inherited by successor states' forces, including [[Russian Naval Aviation|Russian]] and [[Ukrainian Naval Aviation]].{{Cn|date=August 2022}}

==Inventory==
Soviet Naval Aviation in 1990:<ref>{{cite web|title=Naval Air Force|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/av-naval-equip.htm|publisher=GlobalSecurity.org}}</ref>

===Ship based aircraft===
*79 [[strike fighter]]s
**79 [[Yakovlev Yak-38]]
*219 [[naval helicopter]]s
**113 [[Kamov Ka-25]]
**106 [[Kamov Ka-27]]

===Shore based aircraft===
*269 [[bomber]]s
**129 [[Tupolev Tu-22M]]
**125 [[Tupolev Tu-16]]
**15 [[Tupolev Tu-22]]
*198 [[attack aircraft]]
**97 [[Sukhoi Su-17]]
**101 [[Sukhoi Su-24]]
*90 [[Anti-submarine warfare]] aircraft
**50 [[Tupolev Tu-142]]
**40 [[Ilyushin Il-38]]
*65 [[reconnaissance]] aircraft
**50 [[Tupolev Tu-16]]
**15 [[Antonov An-12]]
*45 [[electronic-warfare aircraft]]
**10 [[Tupolev Tu-22]]
**20 [[Tupolev Tu-95]]
**15 [[Sukhoi Su-24]]
*90 [[seaplane]]s
**90 [[Beriev Be-12]]
*118 anti-submarine warfare helicopters
**118 [[Mil Mi-14]]
*40 refueling aircraft
**[[Tupolev Tu-16]] N and Z

===Other aircraft===
* [[Mil Mi-8]]
* [[Ilyushin Il-18]]

==Obsolete aircraft==
===Shore based aircraft===
* [[Beriev Be-6]] Madge
* [[Beriev Be-10]] Mallow
* [[Ilyushin Il-28]] Beagle
* [[Myasishchev M-4]] Bison
* [[Tupolev Tu-14]] Bosun

===Helicopters===
* [[Kamov Ka-10]] Hat
* [[Kamov Ka-15]] Hen
* [[Kamov Ka-18]] Hog
* [[Mil Mi-4]] Hound

==Weapons and equipment==
===Air-to-air missiles===
* [[R-60 (missile)|R-60, AA-8 Aphid]]
===Air-to-surface missiles===
* [[K-10S|K-10S, AS-2 Kipper]]
* [[Kh-22|Kh-22, AS-4 Kitchen]]
* [[Kh-23 Grom|Kh-23 Grom, AS-7 Kerry]]
* [[KS-1 Komet|KS-1 Komet, AS-1 Kennel]] - Obsolete missile system
* [[KSR-2|KSR-2, AS-5 Kelt]]
* [[KSR-5|KSR-5, AS-6 Kingfish]]

== References ==
<references/>

==External links==
*http://www.ww2.dk/new/navy/aviation%20divisions.htm - Naval aviation divisions
*https://web.archive.org/web/20101128053719/http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/russia/navalaviation.html- Naval aviation order of battle
*Norman Polmar, Guide to the Soviet Navy (Fifth Edition), [[United States Naval Institute]], Naval Institute Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0870212419}}, 9780870212413 (Chapter 8)

[[Category:Soviet Navy|Naval Aviation]]
[[Category:Naval aviation services]]
[[Category:Aviation in the Soviet Union]]