Soviet Naval Air Force
The Soviet Naval Air Force (Авиация военно-морского флота in Russian, or Aviatsiya voenno-morskogo flota) is a part of the Soviet Navy.
The first naval airborne units in Russia were formed in 1912-1914 as a part of the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet. During the World War I, the hydroplane units were used in the Black Sea for conducting aircraft reconnaissance, bombing and firing at coastal and port installations and enemy ships, and destroying submarines and enemy aircraft on the airfields.
The regular Soviet naval airborne units were created in 1918. They participated in the Russian Civil War, cooperating with the ships and the army during the combats at Petrograd, on the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Volga, the Kama River, Northern Dvina and on the Lake Onega. The newborn Soviet Naval Air Force consisted of only 76 obsolete hydroplanes. Scanty and technically imperfect, it was mostly used for resupplying the ships and the army.
In the second half of the 1920s, the fighting strength of the Soviet Naval Air Force began to grow. It received new reconnaissance hydroplanes, bombers, and fighters. In the mid-1930s, the Soviets created the Naval Air Force in the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet and the Pacific Fleet. The importance of naval aviation has grown significantly by 1938-1940. It became one of the main components of the Soviet Navy. By this time, the Soviets had created formations and units of the torpedo and bomb aviation. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all of the fleets (except for the Pacific Fleet) disposed 1445 aircraft altogether.
During the war, the naval aviation delivered an immense blow to the enemy in terms of sunken ships and crews (two and a half times more, than any other unit of the Soviet Naval Forces). 17 naval aviation units were honored with the title of the Soviet Guards, 241 men were awarded with the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union, and 5 pilots ? even twice.
