Naval Force Morskoyo Flota - Exercises
The Soviet Navy conducted its first major exercise program in 1968 as a participant in the large-scale joint exercise "SEVER-68." Later, in the spring of 1970 and again in 1975, the Navy deployed its forces in two complex exercises demonstrating capabilities to extend its combat operating areas. The "OKEAN" exercises featured warships conducting coordinated operations simultaneously in Atlantic, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Ocean areas. Over 200 submarines, surface combatants, and supporting auxiliaries participated in "OKEAN 70", while about 120 participated in "OKEAN 75." Operations included antisubmarine and anti-carrier warfare, SLOC interdiction, opposed forces, convoy escort, and amphibious landings. Air- craft participation was also a major part of both exercises and included strike aircraft from both the Soviet Naval Air Force and Soviet Air Force. The exercises signaled the arrival of the USSR as a globdii maritime power and afforded Soviet naval personnel excellent training opportunities under realistic conditions.
Since 1975, Soviet naval exercises in general were smaller in scale and scope and primarily oriented to the missions of the separate fleets. In 1983, an exercise emphasized anti-surface operations in defense of the Soviet landmass. It featured simulated attacks on convoys and task groups by submarines, aircraft and surface ships in the Northern and Pacific Ocean Fleet areas, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. It also included the highest ever level of participation by the Soviet Merchant Fleet.
In the spring of 1984, a large-scale naval exercise was conducted along the westem approaches to the Soviet Union, apparently to test the Navy's capability to carry out its strategic defense mission of protecting the SSBN force. In addition to surface combatants and submarines, naval and air force aircraft conducted long-range reconnaissance and strike missions well out into the Atlantic. The exercise also demonstrated the ability to conduct successfully joint force operations with other elements of the Soviet military structure. Two large-scale exercises were conducted in 1985, one each in the Pacific theater and in the Norwegian Sea/North Atlantic region, which concentrated on defending the Soviet homeland along the seaward axes against hostile strike forces. Emphasis was placed on the early acquisition and and intercepton of enemy battle groups.
Defensive operations were highlighted in Soviet naval exercises since 1986 to reflect the shift in Soviet military doctrine that a future war probably would involve a protracted conventional conflict. Hence, the late Cold War Soviet exercise regime stressed the planning and execution of intensive, joint force "defensive'" operations closer to home while always remaining prepared for nuclear operations.
In the year 2021, the total number of ships and submarines exposed to water was over 17,500 days. The forces of the Navy took part in over 900 tactical and command and staff exercises, as well as in 11 international exercises. At the direction of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, the High Command of the Navy conducted an analysis of the actions of the forces of the Navy in 2021. The results of this analysis were communicated to the command of the fleets and the Caspian flotilla.
It is worth noting that the Ocean Shield exercises are annual, but in 2020 they differed significantly both in their geography and in duration. Each of the four fleets performs the tasks of inter-fleet and inter-service cooperation in its operational area of responsibility. Military sailors improve their skills in sea areas from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean.
The Ocean Shield 2020 exercises started at the end of July in the Baltic Sea. Each of the 4 fleets performs the tasks of inter-fleet and inter-service cooperation in its operational area of responsibility. Military sailors improve their skills in sea areas from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean. A number of tasks were worked out here to organize anti-submarine, air defense with the implementation of torpedo and artillery firing in the sea ranges of the Baltic Fleet. Along with this, the crews of the warships of the fleets performed elements of joint maneuvering, exercises for setting radio-electronic interference. The task of landing an amphibious assault on an unequipped coast near the Khmelevka training ground of the Baltic Fleet was also successfully solved.
In 2020 the Russian Navy focused its annual OCEAN SHIELD exercise on the defense of Russia's maritime approaches in the Arctic and Pacific. The multi-fleet exercise, intended in part to demonstrate Russia's ability to control access to the Arctic through the Bering Strait, included amphibious landings on the Chukotka Peninsula opposite Alaska, as well as anti-submarine patrols and anti-ship cruise missile launches from within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
China and Russia have conducted a major bilateral ormultilateral joint exercise on an almost yearly basis. From April 22-27, 2012, China and Russia held their first official bilateral naval exercise (variously referredto as Naval Interaction 2012, or Maritime Cooperation 2012) around China’s Yellow Sea port of Qingdao, the base of the PLA Navy’s Northern Fleet. From 5-13 July 2013, China and Russia conducted an 8-day naval drill in the Sea of Japan. These war games (which the Russians termed Naval Interaction 2013 and the Chinese Joint Sea-2013), were larger and more sophisticated than the first exclusively Sino-Russian naval exercise held the previous year.
The joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian naval exercise CHIRU-2022 took place in the Gulf of Oman (the northern part of the Arabian Sea) and in the airspace above it January 18 to 22, 2022. From the Russian side, a detachment of ships of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) took part in it, as part of the Guards Order of Nakhimov, the missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs and the large sea tanker Boris Butoma. In total, 14 warships and auxiliary vessels were involved in the exercise from three fleets. In the course of practical actions, ships of the Russian Navy, jointly with the Chinese and Iranian Naval Forces (Navy), carried out artillery firing at a sea target, carried out joint tactical maneuvering, and worked out search and rescue tasks at sea. In the final part of the CHIRU-2022 exercise, the practical skills of the parties were improved in conducting search operations and releasing a ship conditionally seized by pirates. In this episode of the exercise, an amphibious helicopter and special units of the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Iranian Armed Forces) were involved.
The joint Russian-Chinese naval exercise "Peaceful Sea-2022" was held in the western part of the Arabian Sea. From the Russian side, a detachment of ships of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) took part in it as part of the Guards Order of Nakhimov, the missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship (BPK) Admiral Tributs and the large sea tanker Boris Butoma. The Naval Forces (Navy) of the People's Republic of China were represented by the Urumqi missile destroyer and the Taihu complex supply ship. During the exercise, Russian and Chinese ships practiced tactical maneuvering, screening, and carried out an operation to free a conditionally seized vessel, which was used as the Boris Butoma tanker.
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