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UNDER CONSTRUCTION (re-start p.155)

I am attempting to put together an order of battle for the Soviet Navy at the start of Barbarossa. The sources I have come up with different numbers of ships/submarines and so there will be no doubt some differences. But hopefully these will be few in number, and all the main ship types will be accurate. For spelling of the ships names, I am using the spelling used by Budzbon, Radiemski and Twardowski from their series, Warships of the Soviet Fleets.

Note:
BB - Battleship
BC - Battlecruiser
CA - Heavy Cruiser
CL - Light Cruiser
DL - Large Destroyer
DD - Destroyer
SS - Submarine

22 June 1941 (Soviet Navy)

The Soviet Navy contained four separate fleets (fleet status being given to each in 1935). There were also a number of smaller flotillas that operated on the lakes and waterways of the Soviet Union.

Baltic Fleet (Vice-Admiral Tributs)

2 x BB (Marat, Oktiabr'skaia Revoliutsiia)
2 x CA (Kirov, Maksim Gor'kij)
2 x DL (Leningrad, Minsk)
20* x DD (Iakov Sverdlov, Lenin**, Volodarskij, Artem, Engels, Kalinin***, Karl Marks, Gnevnyj, Gordyj, Groziashchij, Smetlivyj, Steregushchij, Storozhevoj, Serdityj, Sil'nyj, Slavnyj, Smelyj, Stojkyj, Strashnyj, Surovyj)
X* x SS (D-2***, P-1, P-2, P-3**, K-3, K-21, K-22, K-23, L-1***, L-2***, L-3, B-2**** )

* (Destroyers) Looking at the histories (Budzbon), there appears to be 20 destroyers in the Baltic Fleet. However Budzbon summarises the Baltic Fleet as having 17 destroyers on 22 June 1941. My guess is that he hasn't included Iakov Sverdlov which was being used as a training ship, and Engels & Artem which were attached to the 1st and 2nd Submarine Brigades. All three reverted to fleet duties after the invasion.

O'Hara states 21 destroyers and assume he's included Skoryi to the 20 named above. However Skoryi was undergoing trials and not commissioned until July.

Rohwer and Ruge state 19 destroyers. Rohwer has not included Strashnyj which was in the shipyard being completed. However, Budzbon states she was taken over by the fleet on the day of the invasion.

* (Submarines)

** Undergoing repairs
*** Undergoing refit
**** Relegated to auxiliary duties

Black Sea Fleet (Vice-Admiral Oktiabrskii)

1 x BB (Parizhskaia Kommuna)
3 x CA (Krasnyj Kavkaz, Voroshilov, Molotov)
2 x CL (Chervona Ukraina, Profintern)
3 x DL (Moskva, Khar'kov, Tashkent)
13* x DD (Frunze, Dzerzhinskij, Nezamozhnik, Zhelezniakov, Shaumian, Bditel'nyj**, Besposhchadnyj, Bezuprechnyj, Bodryj, Boikij, Bystryj, Smyshlenyj, Soobrazitel'nyj)
X* x SS (D-4***, D-5, D-6***, L-4***, L-5, L-6***, SHCH-301, SHCH-302, SHCH-303***, SHCH-304*** )

* (Destroyers) Budzbon identifies 13 destroyers, and these are the same as those listed by Rohwer. However, in the summary, Budzbon (and O'Hara) states there were 14 destroyers in the Black Sea Fleet. I will ignore Ruge as an outlier - he refers to only 10 destroyers. Unless I can find reference to this '14th' destroyer, I will leave as is.

* (Submarines)

** Undergoing repairs
*** Undergoing refit

Northern Fleet (Vice-Admiral Golovko)

8 x DD (Karl Libnekht*, Valerian Kujbyshev, Uritskij, Groznyj, Gromkij, Gremiashchij, Sokrushitelnyj, Stremitel'nyj)
X x SS (D-3, K-1, K-2 )

* Undergoing refit

Pacific (Vice-Admiral Iumashev)

2 x DL (Ordzhonikidze, Tiflis)
6* x DD (Vojkov, Rastoropnyj, Raziashchij, Rekordnyj, Rezvyj, R'ianyj)
X* x SS (L-7, L-8, L-9, L-10, L-11, L-12, L-13, L-14, L-15, L-16, L-17, L-18, L-19 )

* (Destroyers) Again there is a difference in the number of destroyers identified by Budzbon (6) and the number listed in the summary (5). As with the Baltic Fleet, I suspect the difference is accounted for by Vojkov, which was attached to the Submarine Brigade at the time of the invasion. O'Hara and Rohwer refer to 7 destroyers (but these are not named). Again, unless I can find reference to a '7th' destroyer I will leave as is.

* (Submarines)

Major warships under construction on 22 June 1941 and comments upon their fate

In the late 1930's Stalin ordered a massive increase in the size, and capability of the Soviet Navy. This program was to be completed in under 10-years but was beyond the resources of the Soviet Union. Even so, at the outset of the war with Nazi Germany, the following ships and submarines were under construction:

4 x BB (Sovetskij Soyuz, Sovetskaia Ukraina, Sovetskaia Belorussia, Sovetskaia Rossiia)
Fate:
2 x BC (Kronshtadt, Sevastopol)
Fate:
1 x CA (Petropavlovsk)
Fate: Petropavlovsk was formerly Lutzow, a German Hipper-class cruiser that was bought by the USSR in February 1940. She was 70% completed at the time of Barbarossa. It was decided to employ her as a floating battery to assist in the defence of Leningrad and she was commissioned into the Baltic Fleet in August 1941.
2 x CL (Kalinin, Kaganovich)
Fate:
7 x CL of the Chapayev-class)
Fate:
2 x DL (Kiev, Erevan)
These ships were being contructed at Nikolaev and were 48.9% and 25.4% complete at the time of Barbarossa. They were towed to the Caucasus but never completed.

Sources:
On Seas Contested (O'Hara, Dickson, Worth)
Warships of the Soviet Fleets (Budzbon, Radiemski, Twardowski)
Conways's The World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946
Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945 (Rohwer)

For historical accuracy - a small correction to the U-boat scoreboard on page 2:

Warspite1 U-28 (Type VII) (1) – Vanouver City (14th)

should probably read Vancouver City.

BBfanboy wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 4:23 am For historical accuracy - a small correction to the U-boat scoreboard on page 2:

Warspite1 U-28 (Type VII) (1) – Vanouver City (14th)

should probably read Vancouver City.

warspite1

Thank-you. This gives me the impetus needed to continue with my re-presentation of the monthly u-boat stats. Current presentation gives dates of sinking (which is a nice to have) but I feel the tonnage is a more useful stat. It also allows cross-referencing when trying to reconcile losses and tonnage to records.