The Pacific Fleet () is the Russian Navy fleet in the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1731 as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the fleet was known as the Okhotsk Military Flotilla (1731–1856) and Siberian Military Flotilla (1856–1918), formed to defend Russian interests in the Russian Far East region along the Pacific coast. In 1918, the fleet was de jure inherited by the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, then the Soviet Union in 1922 as part of the Soviet Navy, being reformed several times before being disbanded in 1926. In 1932, it was re-established as the Pacific Fleet, and was known as the Red Banner Pacific Fleet () after World War II as it had earned the Order of the Red Banner. In the Soviet years, the fleet was also responsible for the Soviet Navy's operations in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Red Banner Pacific Fleet was inherited by the Russian Federation as part of the Russian Navy and its current name was adopted.
The Pacific Fleet's headquarters is located in Vladivostok with numerous facilities within the Peter the Great Gulf in Primorsky Krai, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vilyuchinsk in Avacha Bay on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Kamchatka Krai. Following the APEC Russia 2012 summit, it was announced that the main naval base of the Pacific Fleet in the Russian Far East will be moved to Fokino. The current commander is Admiral Viktor Liina, who has held the position since April 2023.
History
In 1731, the Imperial Russian Navy created the Okhotsk Military Flotilla (, ) under its first commander, Grigory Skornyakov-Pisarev, to patrol and transport government goods to and from Kamchatka. In 1799, 3 frigates and 3 smaller ships were sent to Okhotsk under the command of Rear-Admiral I. Fomin to form a functioning military flotilla.
In 1741, Vitus Bering claimed the Alaskan country for the Russian Empire. Russia later confirmed its rule over the territory with the of 1799. Subsequently, Russian exploration in the Pacific increased. In 1814, a Russian mission in Hawaiian waters secured agreements with local rulers ceding rights and territory (including half of Oahu) to Russia. However, the agreements remained unfulfilled due to British opposition.
In 1849, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky became the Flotilla's principal base, which a year later would be transferred to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur and later to Vladivostok in 1871. In 1854, the men of the Flotilla distinguished themselves in the defence of Petropavlovsk during the Crimean War, (1853–1856). Although heavily outnumbered, the Russian garrison, supported by the frigate Aurora and the transport vessel Dwina, defeated a combined Franco-British assault force. In 1856, the Okhotsk Military Flotilla changed its name to the "Siberian Military Flotilla" (, ). Despite local military successes, Russia's experience in the Crimean War led it to acknowledge the inherent weaknesses of its position in the Pacific, and in 1867 it consolidated its territorial holdings by selling Alaska to the United States in hopes of offsetting British interests in the Pacific.
In 1860, the provisions of the Convention of Peking ceded parts of Outer Manchuria in northeastern China, including the modern day krai of Primorsky Krai to the Russian Empire. A large squadron under Rear Admiral A. A. Popov was sent from the Baltic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean. During the American Civil War ships of the squadron visited San Francisco while the Baltic Fleet visited New York City. Parts of the squadron, including the Finnish corvette Kalevala, returned to the Baltic in 1865.
Starting in 1898 with the Russian occupation and lease of Port Arthur in southern Manchuria, Russia took steps to enhance its position in the Far East and strengthen its military and naval forces in the region. Japan came to view Russia's build-up as a threat, and Russia's occupation of Port Arthur itself as an unacceptable humiliation, having been forced out of the region by Russia, Germany and France in 1895. Owing to a gradual deterioration in Russo-Japanese relations, the Imperial Russian government adopted a special shipbuilding program to meet the needs of the Russian Far East region.
During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, Russian ground and naval forces in the Far East played an important role in the allied campaign to quell anti-Western elements in China. The Russian Navy assisted in capturing the Chinese forts at Taku which blocked the mouth of the Pei-Ho River.
By the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, while Imperial Russian naval forces were overall larger than the Japanese Navy, the Russian fleets were geographically divided and the Japanese fleet ultimately proved to be significantly superior in quality.
Russo-Japanese War On the night of February 8, 1904 the Imperial Japanese Navy under the command of Tōgō Heihachirō began military operations against the Russian Empire without a declaration of war. As a result of the sudden attack on Port Arthur, two Russian battleships were seriously damaged by torpedoes. This attack developed into a full-scale battle known as the Siege of Port Arthur. The next morning, several attempts by the Japanese Navy to attack the Russian fleet failed due to coastal artillery fire and return fire from the Russian ships that the Japanese had failed to destroy.
After failing to completely destroy the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, the Japanese fleet tried to close off access to it. The attempt to totally seal off the port was also unsuccessful.
In March, Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov took command of the "First Pacific Squadron" (Pacific Fleet) to lift the Japanese blockade of Port Arthur. By that time, both sides began to widely use the tactics of mining sea lanes near the ports. For the first time in history, mines were used by the attacking side - before that, mines were used only for defensive purposes in order to prevent enemy ships from gaining access to the harbor. Vessels of the fleet sortied to combat Japanese attacks but were reluctant to leave the harbour for full battle on the high seas, especially after the death of Admiral Makarov on April 13, 1904, when he went down with the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk after the ship hit at least one mine.
The Japanese tactics of using mines were quite effective and significantly limited the maneuverability of Russian ships. Soon the Russians adopted the Japanese mining tactics and began to use it for their own purposes. On May 15, 1904, two Japanese battleships, Yashima and Hatsuse, stumbled upon a fresh minefield and exploded after impacting at least two mines each.
The Russian fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Vitgeft made an attempt to break the blockade and go to Vladivostok, but was intercepted and turned back after the battle of the Yellow Sea. The remnants of the Russian squadron in Port Arthur were targeted by Japanese artillery besieging Port Arthur. Attempts to break the blockade of Port Arthur from the land also failed, and after the Battle of Liaoyang in late August, Russian forces retreated to Mukden (Shenyang) where another battle was fought and lost by the Russians in February/March 1905. Port Arthur itself had fallen to the Japanese on January 2, 1905.
The Russian command sent a squadron of the Baltic Fleet under the command of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky to help besieged Port Arthur around the Cape of Good Hope across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. However, the fleet arrived too late to relieve Port Arthur, whose garrison surrendered before the fleet arrived. On October 21, 1904, this fleet almost provoked a war with the British Empire (an ally of Japan, but a neutral state during this war) during the Dogger Bank incident, when the Russian fleet shelled British fishing vessels, mistaking them for Japanese destroyers. After a seven-month journey, the squadron was destroyed by the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 before reaching its objective, and thus ending the war with a Japanese victory.
Aftermath and start of the Soviet period During the Russian Revolution of 1905, the sailors of the Pacific Fleet were actively engaged in the revolutionary movement, participating in armed revolts in Vladivostok in January 1906 and October 1907.
During the October Revolution of 1917, the sailors of the Siberian and Amur military flotillas fought for the establishment of Soviet authority in the Far East and against the White army and interventionists. During the Russian Civil War, almost all of the ships of the Pacific Fleet were seized by the White army and the Japanese. The Bolsheviks did not establish full control until Japanese forces withdrew from Vladivostok in October 1922.
After the departure of the Japanese, the Soviets created the Naval Forces of the Far East, under commander Ivan Kozhanov, as a part of the Vladivostok unit, and the Amur Military Flotilla (Амурская военная флотилия, or Amurskaya voyennaya flotiliya). In 1926, these were disbanded: the Vladivostok unit was transferred to the command of the frontier troops in the Far East, and the Amur flotilla became a flotilla of its own.
Establishment in 1932 Owing to Japanese aggression in Manchuria in 1931, the Central Committee and the Soviet government decided to create the Naval Forces in the Far East on 13 April 1932. In January 1935, they were renamed the Pacific Fleet, under commander M. Viktorov. The creation of the fleet entailed great difficulties. The first units were formed with small ships delivered by railroad. In 1932, the torpedo boat squadron and eight submarines were put into service. In 1934, the Pacific Fleet received 26 small submarines. The creation of the naval aviation and coastal artillery was underway. In 1937, they opened the Pacific Military School.
By the beginning of World War II, the Pacific Fleet had two surface ship subdivisions, four submarine subdivisions, one torpedo boat subdivision, a few squadrons of ships and patrol boats, airborne units, coastal artillery and marines.
Like all elements in Soviet society, the navy (including the Pacific Fleet) was decimated by the Stalin purges of the 1930s. At least 30 percent of the Soviet Army and Navy officer corps, including three of the four fleet commanders, were arrested and shot or sent to the gulags. These included two commanders of the Pacific Fleet (Admirals Mikhail Viktorov and Grigory Kireyev) who were shot in succession.
World War II
During the Great Patriotic War (the Soviet World War II campaign against Germany from 1941 to 1945) the Pacific Fleet was in a permanent state of alert and ready for action, although the Soviets remained neutral with respect to the Empire of Japan, the only Axis power in the Pacific, even after Japan entered World War II. At the same time, the Soviets transferred a destroyer leader, two destroyers, and six submarines from the Pacific Fleet to the Northern Fleet. More than 140,000 sailors from the Pacific Fleet were incorporated in the rifle brigades and other units on the Soviet front against Germans in Europe. In August 1945, the Pacific fleet consisted of two cruisers, one destroyer leader, 12 destroyers, 19 escorts, 78 submarines, 10 minelayers, 52 minesweepers, 49 submarine chasers, 204 PT boats, 19 landing ships, and 1,549 aircraft. In addition, the Amur Flotilla had about 200 ships and 70 aircraft.
During the Soviet–Japanese War of 1945, the Pacific Fleet participated in operations against Japanese forces in northern Korea which constituted an element of the Soviet Union's Manchurian Operation of 1945. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Soviets added Russian control over the Kuril Islands to their aims as part of entering the war against Japan. As a result, in August 1945 Soviet naval and ground forces invaded both the Kuril Ilands and southern Sakhalin. The Soviet Union then subsequently annexed these territories.