Submarine forces of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet on the eve of the Great Patriotic War

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The subject of the study is the state of the submarine forces of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet on the eve of the Great Patriotic War, in particular, the issues of the operational and tactical situation in the theater, combat and political training of personnel, the level of organization of supplies and medical and sanitary support, as well as military discipline of the Red Navy and commanders. The purpose of the work is to determine the level of combat readiness of the submarine forces of the fleet at the time of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. On the basis of archival documents, sources of personal origin, as well as specialized literature, the author analyzes the peculiarities of the activities of Baltic submariners in 1940 – the first half of 1941. For the first time within the framework of this topic, along with the analysis of the capabilities of warships, the most important criteria for the combat readiness of large naval formations are considered the issues of moral and psychological state, as well as its factors formations. This approach determines the scientific novelty of the research. When developing the question, the author resorted to the use of a set of methods of historical research. The historical and systematic method allowed us to present the structure of the submarine forces of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, its organizational and combat capabilities. The historical-comparative method made it possible to identify the features of general processes and their impact on the combat training of brigades and a division of submarines of the fleet. The quantitative method also played an important role in the study of the issue, which made it possible to generate statistics on a number of important issues: disciplinary practice, medical and sanitary provision, numerical characteristics of personnel. In conclusion, a conclusion was made about maintaining a high level of combat readiness of submarine brigades, however, a number of negative phenomena were identified, such as a low level of military discipline, significant difficulties in organizing supplies, the need to develop new operational areas, which somewhat reduced the combat readiness of the submarine forces of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet in the conditions of a possible confrontation between Germany and the USSR.