The Emergence of Soviet Sea Power
McTiernan, Robert L.
in the fight sequences which occupy the center of interest in Hard Times. Although the movie deals with violent men engaged in a violent enterprise, there is surprisingly little actual violence...
...Hundreds of shattering blows delivered by unbreakable fists strike indestructible cheeks and chins—and there is not a cut nor a bruise (nor a broken hand or nose, which would be the real-life result), and only the slightest trickles of blood...
...Navy and its supp,,rr ers have an understandable prefertnt e for large, lavishly-equipped ships...
...Hopefully recent defense cuts are not a signal that Congress will trade this prudent policy for a shortsighted one...
...For much of Soviet history especially, Russia's rulers have concentrated nearly all of its resources on building a strong army...
...The first of 30 nev,, Spruance-clas's multi-mission gas-powered destroyers has already appeared...
...The new 10,000-ton Kara-class missile-cruiser is considered one of the finest warships in the world...
...and most of its northern waters are available for only a few weeks a year...
...Although the movie deals with violent men engaged in a violent enterprise, there is surprisingly little actual violence shown on the screen...
...efforts to do the same thing by sea...
...defense posture...
...While the Soviet presence there has not been as large as in the Mediterranean, it is still large enough to establish Soviet interest in the region, and to influence the foreign policy of littoral states...
...The strong friendship between Somalia and the Soviet Union provides the Russians a safe harbor at Berbera in the Gulf of Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea...
...The most impressive additions to the Soviet surface fleet in recent years have been its cruisers...
...A similar policy has been followed with the Baltic fleet...
...These tasks are in keeping with Russian needs and traditions...
...A reopened Suez Canal could double its importance...
...Since 1971, the Soviets have also added seven Krivak-class destroyers, the most heavily armed ship of its type in any navy...
...Actors recently have become increasingly self-conscious, and their characteristic stance toward their roles, especially in genre movies, has increasingly become irony, or parody, or self-parody...
...naval base on Diego Garcia, however, the United States can now continue its periodic operations in the Indian Ocean without having to rely on a 3,500-mile support-line from Subic Bay in the Philippines...
...By keeping a permanent fleet of about fifty ships in the Mediterranean, the Soviets avoid the risk that their entire Black Sea fleet could be barred from the Mediterranean by a blockade of the Turkish Straits...
...Spencer, Jr...
...According to Admiral Holloway, the U.S...
...Carriers are still the most effective means to this end, since they carry aircraft effective against submarines and anti-ship missiles as well as planes for bombing other ships and land targets...
...Nearly as important as the size of the fleet are less visible U.S...
...Two of them have become operational since 1973, and along with six Kresta-II and four Kresta-I cruisers (all completed in the last ten years) they give the Soviets a formidable cruiser force...
...It is not as valuable as U.S...
...Though former CNOs have usually set a goal closer to 800 ships, at present construction rates the United States will probablyfall slightly short even of the new, lower figure...
...Nevertheless, it would be irresponsible to deprive ourselves of the capability to aid our allies...
...Carriers also have operational flexibility...
...warned in the pages of National Review that the Russian navy is an "offensive weapon," the creation of which "plainly signals Russia's intention of expanding its dominion over the world...
...They would need their navy only in order to frustrate U.S...
...Determination in Congress alone, however, cannot ensure adequate naval strength...
...Still, the Kiev can accommodate only VSTOL (vertical/ short takeoff and landing) aircraft...
...The ship is impressively versatile and can be used to protect a carrier task force or to carry out offensive missions on its own...
...An important feature of nearly all of the new surface ships is the SS-N-10 surface-to-surface missile, a horizon-range, anti-ship missile that is difficult to counter...
...perhaps it is the mark of Bronson's genius that he can recapture an aesthetic, rather than moral, ideal of heroism that hearkens back to a pre-modern era...
...More of the same attitude would benefit U.S...
...As moderns, we believe that the essence of "seriousness" lies in irony, ambiguity, and self-consciousness...
...and I suspect that it might be because movies such as Hard Times are "like the way movies used to be"—before they were crippled by self-consciousness...
...Navy has declined in numbers from a force of nearly 1,000 ships in 1968 to the current level of about 490 warships and subs...
...But even given an adequate overall defense budget, the higher salaries required for a volunteer military, crucial needs in other defense areas, and the high rate of inflation within the shipbuilding industry will necessarily restrict the growth of the U.S...
...The "Okean 1975" worldwide Soviet naval maneuvers demonstrated conclusively that, whatever their intentions, the Soviets now have an impressive oceangoing fleet...
...and its usefulness lasts only as long as good relations with the government of the country where it is located...
...attack carriers could inflict on the Soviet offensive fleet with even the slightest warning gives them additional reason to hope that they will be able to land the first and final blow in any conflict...
...On the other hand, the United States has a lead in carriers that is virtually insurmountable...
...counterparts...
...It also gives the Soviets the potential ability to interfere with shipping lanes from the Persian Gulf around the Cape of Good Hope...
...The essence of comedy, it is said, lies in playing straight...
...The reasons for Soviet interest in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean become clear with a glance at a map...
...There-will be limits to the amount of money available for naval procurement in the coming years...
...It is 40,000 tons and over 900 feet in length...
...The United States Navy must maintain those supply and communications lines and must be able to guarantee the safety of friendly shipping, whichtransports essential strategic materials...
...In light of our large support fleet and policy of regular replenishment, the cost of nuclear ships (30-50% higher than conventional ships) does not seem justified...
...The Defense Department's program to maintain the size of the U.S...
...And their behavior during the "Yom Kippur" war is an ominous indication of possibly belligerent intentions...
...Admiral Holloway estimates that a navy of at least 600 ships will be necessary in the 1980s if the U.S...
...One of the barriers to the construction of a larger Navy is Title VIII of Public Law 93-365, which requires that all new naval combat forces be nuclear-powered...
...Nearly everyone concedes that nuclear propulsion is an important advantage for a submarine...
...Nor is everyone in Congress favorable to Admiral Holloway's request...
...Still, they are no doubt training army divisions to supplement their force of 15,000 marines, as well as increasing their fleet of amphibious ships...
...The political will to face up to a credible Soviet challenge to U.S...
...Sixth Fleet from four land bases, forced the United States to back down...
...naval superiority is by no means guaranteed...
...These goals explain the emphasis Soviet strategists have given attack and cruise-missile submarines...
...The Kiev, which will soon be fully operational, is of a more conventional design...
...No shipbuilding program can restore our naval strength to the position it held before the Soviets developed their surface fleet...
...This elaborate stylization forces us to concentrate on the bearing of the fighters, rather than the physical effects of their brutality: There is no cruelty, and no opportunity for vicarious pleasure in the infliction of pain...
...Numbers alone, however, are not the best indicators of the progress that the Soviet navy has made...
...Those are typically modern attitudes, of course...
...advantages, such as sophisticated carrier technology and long experience in training carrier personnel...
...Since the mid-1960s, the Soviets have established a permanent presence in the Mediterranean Sea, and that area accounts for more Soviet "outof-area," i.e...
...attack subs...
...Last May, D.F...
...In fact, most observers expect the number of Soviet warships to decline in the next few years...
...Despite the fact that these ships must be replenished more frequently than U.S...
...carriers for providing air support, and therefore not as effective in "projecting" power into a region...
...missile defense systems are quite good, the deficiencies in Soviet missile defense systems (in 1973 the Israelis sank 13 Russian-built missile boats without a single loss) indicate that even if Soviet warships could manage to get off a first strike their success is not guaranteed...
...Separated from its allies by water, the United States must also be able to "project" its power, through offensive air strikes and amphibious assault operations against hostile shores...
...Oceans can no longer protect us from foreign involvements, but they can be a major obstacle to maintaining supply and communication lines with our closest allies, particularly in the event of war in Europe...
...Rumor has it that a sign in Soviet Admiral Gorshkov's office reads: "Better is the enemy of good enough...
...Many critics of current naval policy, such as Admiral Zumwalt, urge repeal of Title VIII and the building of smaller, lighter, nonnuclear ships as the only realistic means of reaching adequate force levels...
...In his acting out of "his own high sense of himself," Chaney's heroism entirely manifests itself—in his fighting, in his relationship with Speed and Poe, and in his quiet arrival and departure by boxcar...
...but for the most part, it adds only to a surface ship's endurance...
...A pickup bout becomes an elegantly choreographed pas de deux, with the brutality conveyed solely through the sound effects—incredible grunts and groans, and the clap and crunch of fist against flesh...
...By stationing ships in the Mediterranean, the Soviets have a portion of their ships "on-task," thus saving the transit time from their home ports...
...That is partly because a "Charles Bronson movie" or a "Charles Bronson role" have almost taken on independent existence of their own—a nearly inevitable consequence of the typecasting of a strong character actor...
...This new deployment policy also alleviates the traditionally troublesome geographic problem in Russian naval strategy...
...More recently, former Chief of Naval Operations, retired Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, told newspaper reporters that the United States had to back down from a naval confrontation with the Soviets during the 1973 "Yom Kippur" war because the Russian fleet had the United States outnumbered in the Mediterranean 98 warships to 65...
...The same factors govern Soviet strategy today...
...Most of the Soviet fleet consists of diesel-powered subs built in the mid-1950s...
...I shall concern myself here, however, with whether the growth of the Soviet navy poses dangers to our own navy's "conventional" mission of sea control...
...These highly innovative ships have missile cruiser forwards and helicopter flight-deck afts...
...The design of Soviet surface warships also supports this assessment...
...Although he is a loner, he is not alienated...
...Soviet long-range missiles and guns can reach enemy ships within a 300-mile radius...
...The United States abandoned the Regulus II missile program in 1958, and for years had no comparable weapon...
...As the Navy's Forrestal-class carriers approach obsolescence, the United States will have to build at least one carrier every two years in order to maintain a force level of 12 carriers in the 1980s...
...carrier force is a key element in maintaining our ability to control sea lanes...
...But such projects, besides interfering with higher force levels, make ideal targets for those who think we're already spending too much on the Navy...
...The United States now has a fleet of 13 carriers, including two new 90,000-ton, Nimitz-class nuclear attack carriers...
...Fortunately, a crash program will soon equip United States ships with a "Harpoon" missile, effective against enemy ships from a distance of fifty to sixty •These figures are the author's estimates based on recent editions of Jane's Fighting Ships and Jane's Weapons Systems...
...The fact that the Soviet navy had the United States outnumbered by 33 ships, combined with the threat of a Soviet attack on the U.S...
...But as the Soviets demonstrated during the "Yom Kippur" war, they still have the capacity to "surge" naval forces into strategic theaters...
...attack carrier fleet shows a better way to balance capability and economy...
...Despite this encouraging note, there are other areas where U.S...
...Proponents of a strong Navy must also be realistic...
...An illustration is the huge nuclear strike cruiser, which was cut recently from this year's budget...
...Building an airbase is an expensive and time-consuming process...
...Thus, the damage that U.S...
...Though these nuclear-powered "mediums" will still be larger than any Soviet carrier, critics of this move, such as Admiral Rickover, claim that the higher cost of the big carriers is justified since they can carry and support larger planes and more of them...
...These would be of use mainly in the unlikely event of an extended war on Western shipping...
...And even though the U.S...
...A recent study by the Naval Ship Engineering Center in Hyattsville, Maryland concluded that Soviet warships are smaller, faster, and more heavily armed than their U.S...
...It is the improved quality of individual warships that has increased Russia's total naval capability...
...But carrier aircraft can The Alternative: An American Spectator January 1976 17 strike at a distance of over 1,200 miles...
...level...
...Since the early 1960s, the Soviet Union has added 270 major surface combatants and submarines (including ballistic missile subs) to their fleet, compared with 176 such additions for the United States...
...A lot of people pay a lot of money to see a lot of Charles Bronson's movies...
...14 new ships in fiscal year 1974 to the current level of about 22 ships per year...
...On some occasions he has added that it would probably suffer painful losses in the process...
...The Soviet navy's basic mission is sea denial, the direct opposite of the United States Navy's...
...But we just might find that it lies in acting straightforwardly...
...That mission is primarily "sea control," guaranteeing that during hostilities we can use the sea for ourselves and deny its use to our enemies...
...beyond home waters, ship-days than any other region...
...Ensuring that the United States Navy has the right type of ships for sea control is also crucial...
...While polls indicate support for a strong national defense, Americans are unlikely to favor any large increases in defense spending...
...Congress has already demonstrated a stubborn refusal to allow the Soviets to shift the balance of power in a vital area by approving a naval base for the Indian Ocean...
...But there is more to it than just that: Bronson brings more than just a weather-beaten face to the role in Hard Times...
...This has brought the Soviet navy to a level of 466 combat ships...
...Its job during hostilities is the defense of the Soviet Union's coastline and the interdiction of United States supply-and communications lines...
...seapower will be a permanent feature of our defense policy...
...The Soviets are currently building at least one more like it, according to Rear Admiral Bobby Inmann, Director of Naval Intelligence...
...While the Soviet navy has grown rapidly during the past decade, the U.S...
...Instead of building a fourth 90,000-ton, Nimitz-class nuclear carrier, which would probably cost about $2 billion, the current Administration is determined to move to the smaller, 50-60,000-ton carrier...
...This problem can be circumvented through the use of carriers, which can be sent to an area as soon as an emergency arises and withdrawn immediately when it has past, without any wasteful abandonment of equipment...
...Geography is in part responsible for confining Russia to the role of a continental power...
...To gain these advantages, however, the Soviets have sacrificed habitability and, above all, endurance...
...In the event of war in Europe, the Soviets could send troops and supplies there by land routes...
...Most analysts agree that the USSR is planning its naval program around a "first-salvo" strategy...
...Several procurement programs intended to correct imbalances in our naval forces have received consistent support in Congress and are well underway...
...In addition, while U.S...
...With the development over the past ten years of a modern surface fleet, the Soviets have initiated a new operational policy of "forward-deployment...
...With the recent Senate approval of a U.S...
...but a certain image of a man, a style, which expresses itself most clearly in violence...
...Robert L. McTiernan The Emergence of Soviet Sea Power • When the United States Navy celebrated its two hundredth anniversary last October, the optimism characteristic of such occasions was marred by a recognition of discipline problems in the service, of personnel shortages, and, above all, of the growing strength of the Soviet navy...
...There are also plans to develop patrol frigates and hydrofoils and continue work on long-range cruise missiles and the sophisticated Aegis system for defense against missiles and aircraft...
...Because Russia is contiguous with the rest of Europe, it has traditionally been able to pursue its diplomatic and military goals without the use of a large fleet...
...The use of nearly all of its harbors is impeded by winter ice...
...feel comfortable merely keeping up with the Soviets in numbers of combatants and those who advocate a return to extremely high pre-1968 levels both forget is that the essential goal in the United States shipbuilding program is to build an adequate number of the right kind of ships to enable our navy to accomplish its strategic mission...
...fleet—unless the Navy makes very efficient use of its defense dollars...
...With the outbreak of large-scale hostilities, a scattered Soviet fleet would attack all U.S...
...The Soviets have completed only one carrier of conventional design...
...ships, the Soviets have only a small support fleet...
...It would not be an exaggeration to say that Charles Bronson is the only actor who could have played Chaney—or any similar role...
...Despite its lack of support ships, none of the Soviet navy's surface warships are nuclear-powered...
...Whatever course naval planners follow, a more modest vision of the reach of U.S...
...That mission of sea control requires not only a large number of combat ships, but the maintenance of an extensive support fleet...
...Congress has made a strong move to prevent this by increasing ship authorization from...
...Even the large missile cruisers must return to port after firing their surface-to-surface missile launchers...
...The crucial question is whether the United States Navy could carry out its missions today in the face of an increasingly competent Soviet navy...
...Of course, the naval strength of our NATO allies adds significantly to ourown, while the Warsaw Pact countries have virtually no naval forces...
...Aside from upgrading the quality of individual naval units, the most noticeable change in the Soviet navy has been in its deployment patterns...
...One of the figures that is frequently cited with concern is that the Soviets have a fleet of nearly 270 attack and cruise-missile submarines, compared with 80 U.S...
...Even where the Western nations have clear superiority, the consequences of skirmishing with a capable Soviet fleet are sobering...
...And with the economy in trouble, pressure in Congress for further defense cuts - is likely to increase...
...seapower will be a necessary element in any successful defense policy in the coming decade...
...Indeed, the emergence of an impressive Soviet navy over the last decade has recently caused increasing comment, and in some cases alarm...
...The idea for the cruiser, which may be revived next year, originated not in the Navy, but with Admiral Hyman Rickover and Representative Charles E. Bennett, Chairman of the House Sea Power Subcommittee...
...It is the advent of Soviet "mini-carriers," however, that has caused the most comment and speculation about Soviet intentions...
...It is unclear just how well the Soviets are equipped to engage in such interventions close to the USSR...
...This should help close the gap in the area of anti-sub and anti ship submarines...
...Former Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger has said that this out-of-area activity seems to have stabilized below the U.S...
...According to the former CNO, the Israelis had trapped and threatened to destroy Egypt's important Third Army, but the United States restrained the Israelis in the face of Soviet threats to intervene to save it...
...Nevertheless, as former Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger frequently reminded the Navy, the new carrier, which has been designated the CVNX, will result in significant savings to their shipbuilding programs...
...It also gives them a direct line to the Middle East, which provides Western Europe with about two-thirds and Japan with three-fourths of their oil needs...
...The most startling example was revealed last summer by Admiral Zumwalt, who claims that during the 1973 "Yom Kippur" war, the Soviet Union issued a "savage ultimatum" to President Nixon...
...Admiral James L. Holloway III, the Chief of Naval Operations, estimates that the two navies are roughly comparable in cruiser, frigate, and destroyer capability...
...This ship is a significant advance for the Soviet Union, especially in antisubmarine warfare...
...and the USSR have roughly equal numbers of nuclear-powered, nonballistic missile submarines, the Soviets continue to outbuild us in this category...
...Soviet operations in the Indian Ocean could also prove an important factor in oil politics...
...Rather than concentrating their naval power in coastal waters and around their home ports, the Soviets regularly send their ships into inter16 The Alternative: An American Spectator January 1976 national waters...
...In the late 1960s, two 18,000-ton helicopter cruisers were completed...
...This drastic drop was due to the Navy's decision to retire obsolete World War II warships in order to concentrate all of its resources on new construction...
...18 The Alternative: An American Spectator January 1976...
...Some liberals such as Representative Les Aspin have already announced their opposition to the plan...
...Nevertheless, in two categories, Soviet and American strengths are not equal...
...The U.S...
...fleets within a ninety-second period...
...The U.S...
...Numbers alone, however, tell us much less about the comparative power of the two navies than most commentators would have us believe...
...What Warshow wrote about the violence in Westerns is perfectly to the point here: "Really, it is not violence at all which is the 'point...
...is to maintain its capability for success...
...miles...
...The United States now has only a slight edge in numbers of major combatants...
...The kind of heroism which Chaney em-bodies in the movie is possible only because Bronson, the actor, dignifies the movie with the same kind of straightforwardness that Chaney, the character, is supposed to possess...
...And it is Bronson, as Chaney, who is the most "stylish," and thus the most heroic: a heroism—a nobility realized through performance—which is not a moral idea, but an aesthetic ideal...
...Navy could successfully carry out its responsibilities in most situations that can be expected to arise, and especially in the case of a Warsaw Pact-NATO conflict...
...Most naval analysts agree that the United States must increase the size of its fleet in order to guarantee the Navy's ability to perform its mission...
...It is also very expensive, the first cruiser costing $1.2 billion and those that follow about $850 million each...
...The Soviets have always been deficient in mobile tactical air support and in the numbers of amphibious warfare troops and landing craft needed for such operations...
...Nevertheless, the Soviets have the edge here...
...In addition, the Soviet vessels have little reload capacity...
...Regardless of who would begin the initial confrontation, the Soviets count on making the initial and final strike at sea...
...The advent of nuclear weapons has also given our navy partial responsibility for strategic deterrence, the burden for which falls on our ballistic missile submarines, such as Polaris/Poseidon and the proposed Trident...
...Next year t'he first of 26 huge Los Angeles-class nuclear attack subs will be commissioned...
...He is entirely "external"—for him there is no separation between idea and act, and thus he can be completely straightforward in all his dealings...
...There has also been a permanent presence in the Indian Ocean since 1968...
...What those who...
...But this is only our first attempt at such a missile, and the Russians have a technological lead in this area...
Vol. 9 • January 1976 • No. 4
