The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Navy in the Baltic 1921-1941

by +selius,Gunnar

• ISBN13: 9780714655406
• ISBN10: 0714655406
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-11
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book, based on extensive work in Russian archives, investigates how strategy, organisational rivalry and cultural factors came to shape naval developments in the Soviet Union, up to the invasion of 1941. Focussing on the Baltic Fleet, the author shows how the perceived balance of power in northern Europe came to have a major influence on Soviet naval policy during the 1920s and 1930s. The operational environment of a narrow inland-sea like the Baltic would have required a joint approach to military planning, but the Soviet navy's weak position among the armed services made such an approach hard to attain. The Soviet regime also struggled against the cultural heritage of the tsarist navy and the book described how this was overcome. In a special Appendix dedicated to the purges of 1937-38, surviving [party records from the Baltic Fleet Intelligence Section are used to illustrate the mechanisms of the Great Terror at local level.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix
Series editor's preface	x
Acknowledgements	xii
List of abbreviations	xiii
PART I Introduction	1	(54)
1 Preparing for war in the Baltic	3	(17)
2 Strategy	20	(9)
3 Organizational rivalry	29	(12)
4 Culture	41	(14)
PART II The Old School, 1921-1928	55	(60)
5 'Mare Clausum' and the prospects of war	57	(15)
6 The meaning of 'small wars'	72	(20)
7 The navy of the military specialists	92	(23)
PART III The Young School, 1929-1935	115	(40)
8 The era of collective security - and of coastal defense	117	(9)
9 Support for the Red Army	126	(11)
10 The navy of the red commanders	137	(18)
PART IV The Soviet School, 1936-1941	155	(83)
11 Toward the great oceanic navy	157	(18)
12 Ready for offensive operations?	175	(23)
13 The Navy of the Soviet admirals	198	(23)
14 The lessons of war and peace	221	(17)
Appendix: the Great Terror in the Baltic Fleet	238	(11)
Bibliography	249	(13)
Index	262