Merchant marine in Soviet naval strategy

The recent UK operation to recapture the Falkland Islands demonstrated the crisis and wartime utility of civilian merchant vessels in assisting military operations in distant areas. Over 50 merchantmen -- many rapidly converted -- were taken up from trade and served in a variety of vital logistic and support roles; as troop and hospital ships, aircraft transporters, repair ships and munitions carriers, to mention but a few. 1 In addition to the lessons for amphibious landing operations and air defence of surface naval combatants, a recent issue of Morskoi Sbornik pointed to the importance of peacetime arrangements for transfer of merchant shipping to naval control and the role of large container ships as aircraft transporters and operating platforms for Harrier aircraft providing air defence of the Royal Navy's 'mobile rear' en route for the operational area. 2 The time is perhaps propitious for an examination of the dimensions, make-up and peacetime roles of the Soviet civilian fleets, focusing on the contribution made to Soviet economic and military objectives by the USSR Ministry of the Maritime Fleet.