Northern Fleet - The Cold War

The Cold War

The Northern Fleet was considered secondary to the Baltic and Black sea fleets until operational responsibility for the Atlantic Ocean was shifted in the 1950s because of more direct access. In September 1955, the Soviet navy became the first to launch a ballistic missile from a submarine. In June 1956, Northern Fleet Zulu class submarine, (NATO designation Zulu IV 1/2) “Б-67” (B-67) became the first to carry ballistic missiles.

The 2nd Cruiser Division was formed on 31 May 1956 at Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast. Its ships included the Sverdlov class cruisers (Project 68) Murmansk, Aleksandr Nevskiy, and Molotovsk, and the 121st Destroyer Brigade, with 11 Gnevny class, Ognevoy class, and Skoryy class destroyers. On 5 June 1969, the division was reorganised with the 170th Destroyer Brigade (8 Project 56 destroyers) and the 10th Anti-Submarine Warfare Brigade (10 Project 42 and 50 ASW vessels). On 1 April 1961, the division was renamed the 2nd Anti-Submarine Warfare Division.

On 1 July 1958, the Northern Fleet raised the Soviet Navy pennant over the first Russian nuclear submarine K-3. Following the 1958 voyage of USS Nautilus, the Soviet nuclear submarine Leninsky Komsomol (named for Vladimir Lenin’s Komsomol) traveled under the Arctic ice and surfaced at the North Pole on 17 July 1962. Russian submarines have visited the North Pole region more than 300 times since then. Two nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet made a journey under the Arctic ice cap and reached the Pacific Fleet for the first time in history in September 1963. More than 25 Soviet submarines did the same in the following years. The Northern Fleet was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on 7 May 1965. A Northern Fleet submarine made a 25,000 nautical mile journey around the world without resurfacing in 1966. The Northern Fleet had almost 50% of the Soviet Navy's submarines by 1986.

From 1968 to 30 November 2005, the 7th Operational Squadron (Russian: ru:7-я оперативная эскадра) was the main Atlantic operational force of the fleet. The Museum of the Air Forces of the Northern Fleet was opened on 20 August 1976, in the closed settlement of Safonovo, Murmansk Oblast. Aircraft carriers began entering service with the Fleet in the 1970s. The nameship of the Kiev class of heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, Kiev, became operational in 1977, and Admiral Gorshkov was commissioned in 1987. Large nuclear powered missile-carrying cruisers, the Kirov-class Kirov and Kalinin, also entered service from 1980. Fortification of the southern reaches of the Barents Sea during the 1980s marked a Soviet naval strategy shift to an emphasis on bastion defense. Russia has continued to employ that strategy.

In 1982, the 175th independent Naval Infantry Brigade was formed at Tumannyy, in Murmansk Oblast.