Author: Alexey Dmitrievich Muraviev

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 870

ISBN-13:

This thesis presents an investigation of the reasons for Russia's desire to have an ocean-going nuclear-powered navy, including in its most remote maritime theater, the Pacific. My dissertation argues that the conceptual framework of strategic geography, combined with analysis of modem naval technologies, provides the most appropriate analytical tool for examining Russian perceptions of the development of naval power in the Pacific. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, no major work was published either on the transition of Russian naval power or on the reform of its Pacific fleet. Analysis and research on the Russian Navy in the Pacific in the past fifteen years has often lacked accuracy due to inability of its authors to employ Russian-language unclassified sources, and has resulted in prematurely elaborated conclusions. As during the Cold War years, the research was largely driven by threat-assessment analysis. The thesis argues that Russia's geographic position and a whole spectrum of maritime interests, ranging from economic and scientific to military-strategic, dictate the need for a navy. By critically examining historical patterns of the development of Russian naval power in the Pacific since 1731, carefully assessing current doctrines of force application and present-day capabilities and trends in their employment, I will argue that the nation needs a strong blue-water navy, and trends in the evolution of Russian naval power in the Pacific illustrate the country's determination to achieve this goal.