Soviet Naval Aviation

The Soviet Naval Aviation (Russian: Морская авиация Военно-морского флота СССР, romanized: Morskaya aviatsiya Voenno-morskogo flota SSSR, lit. 'Naval Aviation of the Soviet Navy'; abbr. МА ВМФ СССР, MA VMF SSSR) was the naval aviation arm of the Soviet Navy.

The first naval aviation units in the Russian Empire were formed in 1912–1914 as a part of the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. During World War I, the seaplane units were used on the Black Sea for conducting reconnaissance aircraft bombing and firing at coastal and port installations and enemy ships, and destroying enemy submarines at sea and aircraft on airfields.

The regular Soviet naval aviation units were created in 1918. They participated in the Russian Civil War, cooperating with Red ground and naval forces during the combats at Petrograd, on the Baltic and Black Seas, on the Volga, Kama, and Northern Dvina Rivers, and on Lake Onega. The newborn Soviet Naval Aviation consisted of only 76 obsolete seaplanes. Scanty and technically imperfect, it was mostly used for resupplying Reds' watercraft and ground units.

In the second half of the 1920s, the Soviet Naval Aviation order of battle began to grow. It received new reconnaissance seaplanes, bombers, and fighters. In the mid-1930s, the Soviets created naval air forces in the Baltic, Black Sea, Pacific Fleets, and the Northern Flotilla. 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 bomber and torpedo bomber naval air units and formations. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all Soviet fleets (except for the Pacific Fleet) and flotillas had a total of 1,445 aircraft.

The Soviet Naval Air Force (Russian: Военно-воздушные силы Военно-морского флота СССР, romanized: Voenno-vozdushnye sily Voenno-morskogo flota SSSR; abbr. ВВС ВМФ СССР, VVS VMF SSSR) was the Soviet Navy's air service during World War II. Such air units provided air support to Soviet Navy fleets and flotillas in the theaters of operations in the Barents, Baltic and Black Seas and also to the Soviet Pacific Fleet in the Seas of Okhotsk and of Japan.

The Soviet Naval Air Force managed all ship-based (catapult-launched from dreadnoughts and cruisers) and land-based seaplanes (including flying boats) and other naval aircraft. Soviet naval air units also conducted land operations in support of the Red Army during naval landings and served in special wartime operations. Naval Aviation provided some air cover to Allied Arctic convoys bringing Lend-Lease equipment to the Soviet Union via the Barents Sea to Northern Russia.

In particular, the Soviet Naval Air Force was deployed in defense of Odessa (August–October 1941) and of Sevastopol (October 1941 – July 1942), in operations in the Azov and Black Seas and in Crimea (October 1941 – July 1942, November 1943, April–May 1944), and it was carried out successful airstrikes in other battles on the Eastern Front and in a final stage of the Pacific Theater campaign of World War II.

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