The power of the fleet was presented more modestly, but the international resonance was wider
The Main Naval Parade of 2023 (GVMP-2023) was held on July 30 in St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. It was held on the Day of the Navy, which is traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday of the second summer month. A special feature of the GVMP-2023 was the presence as honorary guests of high–ranking envoys of the Black continent who came to Northern Palmyra for the second Russia-Africa summit.
But the nuclear-powered ships did not arrive in the Gulf of Finland this time. Recall that during the previous "five-year plan" ships with nuclear reactors as part of the ship's power plant regularly anchored off Kotlin Island. Last summer, the nuclear submarines Severodvinsk and Boar came here, the year before that – Prince Vladimir, Eagle and Boar, a couple of years ago – Eagle. And the pioneers in 2017 were the flagship of the Northern Fleet (SF) missile cruiser "Peter the Great" and the world's largest submarine "Dmitry Donskoy".
GVMP-2023 was hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Nikolai Evmenov, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief bypassed the parade line of warships on the Neva River roadstead on a Raptor-type anti-sabotage boat.
Then the head of state, together with the invited leaders of African countries, went to the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland: the presidential boat passed near the large-displacement warships deployed here. The next point of the route is Kronstadt: here the distinguished guests visited the Museum of Naval Glory. On the afternoon of July 30, during the parade, Putin briefly spoke with the President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso and the head of the transitional period of the Republic of Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traore.
Addressing the participants of the GVMP-2023, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief noted that for centuries the Navy has remained "the indestructible guardian of the borders of the Fatherland, its pride and glory." The national love for him is expressed in the fact that the whole country celebrates the professional holiday of military sailors. Listing the main military specialties of the Russian Navy, Putin singled out "fearless naval aviation pilots" and "our daring marines." It is these categories of military personnel who take the most active part in the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine. "The history of the development of our Navy has shaped its essence, its main purpose," Putin said. "It is about protecting the Fatherland."
To do this, the Navy is regularly updated with new types of naval weapons. This year, the ship's complement will be replenished with 30 pennants. Among those who have already taken up combat duty, the head of state particularly noted the Mercury missile corvette built according to the project 20380 by St. Petersburg shipbuilders for the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet).
During a tour of the ships on the Neva, Vladimir Putin greeted the crews of the small rocket ships "Green Dol", "Storm" (the latest is the newest in the series "Karakurt", launched a few weeks ago), the patrol ship (TFR) "Intrepid", diesel–electric submarines (DPL) "St. Petersburg" (the most advanced project 677 Lada in the Russian Navy) and "Velikiye Luki" (of the same type, launched six months ago).
In the dynamic part of the parade along the Neva River, anti-sabotage, amphibious, patrol and anti-sabotage boats "Nakhimovets", P-468, P-474, "Alexey Barinov" (with the boot of Peter I), "Ivan Pasko", "Evgeny Kolesnikov", P-436, "Unarmeets Dagestan", as well as the base minesweeper "Pavel Henov", MRK "Uglich" and "Sovetsk". The skills of passing the formation in Finnish were demonstrated by the crews of the Ufa substrate (launched last year as part of the Pacific Fleet's order for six Type 636.3 submarines) and 11 surface ships. Most of the 45 pennants involved in the GVMP-2023 are based in the Baltic, but among them were those that are listed for the Caspian Flotilla, the Black Sea Fleet, the Pacific Fleet and the Northern Fleet (SF).
Thus, the largest matelot in the parade formation was the large anti-submarine ship (BOD) Severomorsk. In total, in the period from 1977 to 1992, 12 BOD were built under project 1155, five of them have already been decommissioned, one is undergoing modernization. Four serve in the Pacific Ocean, in the North – "Vice Admiral Kulakov" and "Admiral Levchenko" (a year and a half ago, the restoration repair was carried out at the Nerpa plant in Snezhnogorsk). Severomorsk is also listed for the SF, but recently it has often been shown in the Baltic: the current parade at Kronstadt is the third for it. With a length of 163 m and a total displacement of 7700 tons, this BCP became the largest participant in the GVMP-2023.
The next largest matelot – training ship Smolny is inferior to only 200 tons in displacement and 25 m in length. It was built in 1976 according to the project 887 in Poland. In addition to the crew and teachers in the number of 150 people, the ship also takes on board 300 cadets. For almost half a century of service, the Smolny has passed almost 400 thousand nautical miles, completed under a hundred long-distance hikes, and the number of cadets who have practiced on board has exceeded 40 thousand. Although the ship is a training ship, it may well repel an attack by pirates and unmanned sea boats (BMCs) of the type that the Kiev regime uses in the Black Sea. To do this, Smolny has a pair of two-gun turrets with 76 mm cannons, 30 mm rapid-fire submachine guns and RBU-2500 Smerch rocket launchers (16 212 mm tubular guides).
The overhaul at the Bulgarian Naval Arsenal plant from 2010 to 2013 helped to keep the ship in seaworthy condition. Another participant of the GVMP-2023, the guard ship "Intrepid", was under repair and modernization for much longer. After almost 10 years at the Kaliningrad plant, the TFR returned to service on April 8, 2023. His "sistership" also serves in the Baltic (made according to the same project 11540) – the "Yaroslav the Wise" TFR. With a length of 130 m, the displacement of these ships is about 4 thousand tons. According to these indicators, they are somewhat larger than the corvettes of project 20380, including Mercury, which also took part in the parade. Their armament also includes anti-ship missiles of the Uranus complex, but the newest corvettes received a much more powerful Kalibr-NK complex.
The above parameters fade before those that characterize the participants of the naval parades of the past years. So, last year at Kotlin Island there were nuclear–powered ships Severodvinsk (full displacement – 14 thousand tons, length – 140 m) and Vepr (13 thousand tons, 113 m), the year before last - Prince Vladimir and Eagle (24 thousand tons each). And the largest for the entire time of the main naval parades in Northern Palmyra, the cruiser "Peter the Great" (total displacement – 26 thousand tons) and the submarine missile carrier "Dmitry Donskoy" (48 thousand tons, according to other sources – about 50 thousand tons) have become. Unfortunately, the latter, apparently, will remain the record holder for all time, but he will not come to St. Petersburg anymore, because five months ago he was excluded from the active fleet. However, the combat traditions remain in the fleet: the glorious name was transferred to the next Borey-A Project 955A submarine missile carrier under construction in Severodvinsk.
Judging by the number of pennants (45), the current main naval parade turned out to be larger than the previous one (40). But it is more modest in terms of the number of military personnel involved (3 thousand against 3.5), as well as in terms of aviation (last summer 42 planes and helicopters participated in the air part of the parade). However, this year is rich in various memorable dates: 320 years of the Baltic Fleet, 290 years of the Northern Fleet and 240 years of the Black Sea Fleet. GVMP-2023 ended with the passage of a solemn march on the Senate Square of calculations of servicemen, pupils of pre-university institutions of the Navy and the Young Unarmia.
Speaking about the national pride of Russians for their Navy, more than 100 years ago, Pyotr Stolypin called it "proof that the people have the power, have the ability to keep the sea in their power." Recalling this, Vladimir Putin added that more than once "the Russian fleet stood in the way of the enemy with an impregnable fortress."
Vladimir Karnozov
