In the shadow of the defeats suffered by the Black Sea Fleet in the clash with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the rest of the Russian Navy is trying to restore the image of a long-lost power. The so-called, strategic command-and-control exercise “Ocean-2024” is being held from September 10-16 under the command of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Adm. Aleksandr Moiseyev.
The main objectives of the “Ocean-2024” exercise are “to test the readiness of the Navy and the Air and Space Forces of Russia to control force groupings, solve non-standard operational tasks, comprehensively use precision weapons, and expand interaction with the naval forces of partner countries.” Representatives from 15 countries were invited as observers. This is Russia’s first such major naval exercise in more than 30 years.
Dreams of power
The exercise’s codename refers to a series of major maneuvers during the Cold War. At the time, “Ocean” (Okean in Russian) was the global exercise of the Soviet Navy, covering all the world’s waters (during one of them, in 1970, the K-8 of Project 627A Kit/November-class SSN was sunk). The current name of the exercise obviously refers to the “golden age” of the Russian Navy. However, the scale of the exercise does not match those events.
The announcement speaks of 400 ships, 125 aircraft and helicopters of the Navy and the Air and Space Forces, about 7,000 combat and special vehicles, and more than 90,000 soldiers. These are impressive figures. However, it can be doubted whether the Russian Navy could actually deploy so many ships at sea. According to estimates, it has about 300 vessels of all classes and types (along with the Black Sea Fleet ships, which are confined to the Caspian and Black Seas). In addition, the number of operational units is always even smaller.
The news releases mention that “military contingents from foreign partner countries of the Russian Federation” are taking part in the exercise. Indeed, ships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy are taking part in “Ocean-2024.” According to Adm. Moiseyev, China has sent four units (these are the Type 055 destroyer Wuxi, Type 052D destroyer Xining, Type 054A frigate Linyi and fleet oiler Taihu) and 15 aircraft.
Defense Ministry in Beijing said both fleets will conduct the planned “North – Interaction-2024” exercise in September in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan. Their aim is to „deepen strategic cooperation between the armed forces and strengthen the capability to respond to security threats”. Implicit in this is the threat from the United States. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his speech to the participants of “Ocean-2024.” “We see that the United States of America is trying to maintain its global military-political dominance at all costs, and to this end, using Ukraine, it is trying to inflict a strategic defeat on our country.
Under the pretext of countering the alleged Russian threat and containing the People’s Republic of China, the United States and its ‘satellites’ are increasing their military presence near Russia’s western borders, in the Arctic, and in the Asia-Pacific region.” – he said. Today’s Russian Navy is a force that cannot be completely underestimated. However, it is a long way from the power it was during the Cold War. Currently, the Russian shipbuilding industry is struggling to produce small and medium-displacement combat vessels. Large surface ships are not being built in Russia at all. The most serious threat – as during the Cold War – remains submarines.
