ABSTRACT
The intelligence directorate of each component is a part of the main staff of each command, and each of the main staffs is a microcosm of the Soviet General Staff, which has separate directorates for intelligence, operations, mobilization, communications, and its other responsibilities. Tsarist naval intelligence was highly developed in World War I, particularly when compared to Russian army intelligence of that period. The Soviet Navy first became independent of the Red Army in 1937. Until then, naval intelligence was part of the intelligence division of the General Staff of the Red Army. An assistant to the chief of the intelligence department also commanded communications points for communicating with agents and intelligence groups and a coastal monitoring unit, which monitored broadcasts of enemy agents in Soviet territory and German shortwave stations. The responsibilities of the Main Naval Staff include providing intelligence on foreign naval forces, and one of its seven directorates, the Intelligence Directorate, fulfills this responsibility.
