ABSTRACT
The naval promise of Russia seemed to share the mortality of their own lives because the continental lodestone denied the navy the necessary attention that would have institutionalized their example. The second edition of Gorshkov's seminal Sea Power of the State, which appeared in 1979, marked the fullest articulation of Soviet naval strategy. In retrospect, it also marked the fullest flowering of a powerful, creative personality at the apogee of a purposefully directed life's work. Naval aviation's participation in Soviet anti-Sea Lines of Communication operations provides the margin of power necessary to hamper seriously the enemy's antisubmarine warfare efforts, while surface combatants give the navy's two primary offensive arms the stability to sustain such operations. When Gorshkov retired, the era of Soviet naval advance also seemed to fade away. "Fleet against the shore" was one of the most serious threats faced by North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
