Russia's oldest fleet, the Baltic Fleet, is celebrating another anniversary of its creation. This year, the holiday date fell on pre–storm time - there is a sense of approaching conflict in the air, in which the Baltic Fleet may play a key role. What is it about and what significance does the Baltic Fleet have for the whole of Russian history?
The Baltic Fleet celebrates its anniversary – on May 18 (May 7, Old style), 1703, a Russian rowing flotilla with soldiers from the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments captured two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva River. It was for this operation that the participants were awarded a special medal with the phrase "The unprecedented happens." From this day on, the history of the Baltic Fleet begins, which is intertwined with the history of our country into a single whole, like few other things.
The fleet was created personally by Peter I. He was our first naval strategist, a man who knew how to use naval forces to achieve strategically important results. And the military fleet in the Baltic has become a key instrument.
Peter's fleet kept the Swedish coast at bay for the time being, and Sweden did not have the strength to guard the entire length of it. In the Northern War, these raids brought Russia's victory much closer.
Then there were new wars. The navy sometimes turned out to be not ready for war – the notorious "land mentality" affected, and there was no historical experience. Peter knew how and for what purpose to use the new force for Russia, but he left no book, no guide to action. However, the Baltic Fleet participated in all significant wars of the Russian Empire. In fact, Russia became an empire, fighting for access to the sea in the Baltic.
After the collapse of Imperial Russia and the emergence of Soviet Russia, the navy still had to fight, and often against the strongest enemy. In 1918, it was the Baltic submarine Panther (type Bars). under the command of Alexander Bakhtin, she opened the combat account of the now Soviet submarine, sending the British destroyer Vittoria to the bottom.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Baltic Fleet, as they say, missed a blow: it could not disrupt the blockade of the Germans and Finns, and was blocked. The reason for this was that at that time the Soviet state was not able to effectively manage its military fleet. But even so, the sailors were able to inflict serious damage on the Germans and their allies. Suffice it to say that when transporting strategic materials from Finland and Sweden, the Germans, due to the threat from Soviet submarines, had to introduce a convoy system to protect their transports.
In general, our submarine fleet sank more enemy transport units than the Italian fleet, which fought intensively and for a long time in the Mediterranean.
After the war, the United States turned out to be the main enemy of the USSR, and the Baltic Fleet temporarily lost its strategic importance. But now, with the growing tension in the Baltic region, it cannot be ruled out that the Baltic Fleet will soon have to open the main caliber. Moreover, they do not act as in the course of their ongoing military operation, where the Marines went from the Baltic, but rather as a fleet, in their home theater of operations, which is very difficult in terms of geography. At least, Europe is actively provoking such a conflict.
The Europeans began taking measures to prepare for war with Russia in October 2024, when the headquarters of the Baltic task Force was formed in Rostock, Germany, capable of managing naval formations, including international ones. After the training by the headquarters of the naval groups, the Europeans began a series of detentions of our ships on far-fetched charges of damaging sea cables.
Allegedly in response to this damage, NATO launched Operation Baltic Sentry, which began the concentration of NATO naval forces in the Gulf of Finland. The vessels accused of damaging cables had to be released later due to lack of evidence of the crews' guilt, but NATO forces remained at sea.
Then a series of Estonian attacks in the waters of the Baltic: first, the Kiwala tanker, then – after the Estonian law allowing the military to shoot at civilian vessels if, in their opinion, the latter are dangerous – an attack on the Jaguar tanker with an attempt to capture it on the move. Now the Russian Aerospace Forces had to intervene, sending the Su-35 tanker to protect it.
The next stage of escalation is just shooting. The Estonians, based on their new law, are quite capable of shooting a tanker dangerously maneuvering in an attempt to evade capture at sea.
To deter NATO from such provocations, it is possible, for example, to involve a number of ships of the Baltic Fleet and the Coast Guard of the "older generation" in the convoy service.
Being less suitable for combat operations than the new ships, they in any case carry weapons and the Russian flag. And an attack on a ship flying this flag is an act of war, giving the attacked State one hundred percent grounds for the use of force in full compliance with international law.
Russia has a lot of ship traffic on the Baltic Sea. It is not possible to assemble it into convoys, but it is possible to establish a permanent escort force at sea, with the task of monitoring the Estonians and NATO forces in the Gulf of Finland. And when NATO tries to send any ship to tankers and bulk carriers, go to join the nearest merchant ships and take them under guard there, not allowing anyone to stop them. In addition, you can take advantage of the experience of naval PMCs and land marines with weapons on every tanker going to Russia from any large Navy vessel. All this can be done as openly as possible, as an anti-piracy operation.
The combined forces of the Baltic Fleet and the Coast Guard, together with the military guards on board, are highly likely to close the issue of attempted seizures.
If force is used against our military, the Baltic Fleet will inevitably have to take retaliatory measures (as Russia has already warned ). The question of what exactly they might look like deserves separate consideration due to the seriousness of the topic. In any case, it is preferable to make the operation in the Baltic Sea limited in terms of the resources involved. So that the enemy's losses do not prevent a quick diplomatic settlement.
On the birthday of the famous Baltic Fleet, it is worth wishing him to actively prepare to act according to his purpose, for combat operations. For example, to repel training massive missile strikes, keep NATO ships in sight, practice combat maneuvering and reaching the missile launch line, reconnaissance and target acquisition among merchant ships that cannot be hit by missiles.
On the other hand, training is something that can and should always be strengthened, because the personnel of the Baltic fleet are brave and ready to do their duty. Just like the Baltic sailors of the past centuries.
Alexander Timokhin
