MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator...
The port received numerous Allied convoys delivering war materiel and other consignments to Russia.
The Soviet Navy"s Northern Flotilla, reinstated in 1933, initially comprised coast guard ships, escort ships and destroyers, mainly patrolling Soviet territorial waters and the exclusive Arctic economic zone.
The Northern Fleet steadily expanded, receiving additional weapons, combat equipment and coastal defense units. When Nazi Germany invaded the U.S.S.R. on June 22, 1941, the fleet went to war together with the entire nation.
In 1942 and 1943, several destroyers and submarines were re-deployed to the Arctic theater of war, with the Allies delivering numerous small warships and fast attack boats to the Northern Fleet under the Lend-Lease Act.
In 1944, the Northern Fleet received the British battleship Royal Sovereign (renamed as the Arkhangelsk) and the U.S. light cruiser Milwaukee (renamed as the Murmansk) in lieu of war reparations from Italy.