Introduction

Since 1956, the Soviet Northern and Baltic fleets have been developed into two of the world's strongest naval forces. This evolution has been so profound that it has altered the northern European naval balance of power so that today the fleets pose a most potent threat to North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Northern Flank. Home based at Arctic ports on the Kola Peninsula, the Northern Fleet is the most strategically significant and powerful of the navy's four fleets. If the Northern Fleet units were able to penetrate into the Norwegian Sea, the next hazard they face before reaching the North Atlantic is the Greenland Iceland United Kingdom Gap. This area is very actively patrolled by US and British forces and, as recent Soviet naval maneuvers have shown, it is likely to be heavily contested in any East-West conflict. Home-based at ports in the eastern Baltic, the Baltic Fleet poses a significant threat to Sweden and North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Baltic states.