The Navy of Russia (USSR) as a self-reliant Service of the Armed Forces was formed during the period from the late 17th to the early 20th century.

Establishment of the regular navy in Russia is a historic pattern. It was due to the country’s urgent need to overcome the territorial, political and cultural isolation that had become at the turn of the 17-18th centuries the main obstacle to economic and social development of the Russian state.

The first permanent grouping of forces – the Azov Sea Fleet – was formed out of the ships built in the winter of 1695-1696 and was intended to assist the army in the campaign to capture the Turkish fortress of Azov. October 30, 1696 the Boyars’ Council on the proposal of Pyotr (Peter) I adopted the resolution «Let’s be sea-going vessels...», that became the first law of the Navy and the recognition of the official date of its foundation.

During the Northern War of 1700-1721 the main tasks of the Navy were determined, the list of which remained virtually unchanged until the present time, namely: the fight against the naval forces of the enemy, fighting on the sea lanes, the defence of the coast from the sea, assisting the army in the coastal areas, inflicting strikes and incursions into the enemy’s territory from the sea. The share of these tasks was changed as the material resources and the nature of armed conflicts at sea were changed. Accordingly, there were passed the changes of the role and place of the Arms that made up the Navy.

So, before the First World War the main tasks were solved by surface ships, and they were the main Arm of the Navy. During the Second World War this role passed to the naval aviation for some time, but in the postwar period, with the advent of nuclear missiles and nuclear-powered ships, submarines were entrenched as the main Arm.

Before the First World War the Navy consisted of one Arm. Coastal troops (marines and coast artillery) existed from the early 18th century. However, organizationally they weren’t included in the Navy. On March 19, 1906 the submarine forces were born and began to be developed as a new Arm of the Navy.

In 1914 the first units of the Naval Aviation, which in 1916 also acquired the signs of separate Service Arm, were formed. The Day of the Naval Aviation is celebrated on July 17 in honor of the first victory of the Russian naval pilots in the dogfight over the Baltic Sea in 1916. Finally, the Navy as a diverse strategic association was formed in mid-1930s, when the Navy organizationally included naval aviation, coastal defence and air defence.

The modern system of control bodies of the Navy was finally formed on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. On January 15, 1938 the decision of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the Council of People’s Commissars (CPC) created the People's Commissariat of the Navy, which structure included the Main Naval Staff. Earlier, In the period of establishment of the regular Russian Navy its organizational-and-staff structure and its functions were unclear. On December 22, 1717 by decree of Pyotr I the Admiralty Board was formed for daily control of the Navy. On September 20, 1802 the Ministry of Naval Forces, later renamed into the Naval Ministry, was established and it existed until 1917. Organs of combat (operational) control over the Navy came after the Russo-Japanese War with the creation on April 7, 1906 of the Naval General Staff. At the head of the Russian Navy there were such famous naval commanders as Pyotr I, P.V. Chichagov, I.K. Grigorovich, N.G. Kuznetsov, S.G. Gorshkov.

Constant groupings of forces in the maritime theaters evolved as the Russian state solved the historical problems associated with acquisition of goings to the oceans, turning the country into the world economy and politics. In the Baltic the Fleet constantly existed from May 18, 1703, the Caspian flotilla from November 15, 1722, and the Fleet in the Black Sea – from May 13, 1783. In the North and Pacific the groupings of naval forces were created usually on a temporary basis or, without having a significant development, periodically abolished. The current Pacific and Northern Fleets as permanent groupings have existed, respectively, since April 21, 1932 and June 1, 1933.

The Navy took the greatest development by mid-1980s. At this time, it had 4 Fleets and the Caspian flotilla, which included more than 100 divisions and brigades of surface ships, submarines, units of naval aviation and coastal defence.

Today the Navy is the main component and basis of naval potential of the Russian Federation, one of the tools of the state foreign policy, and is intended to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its allies in the oceans by military means, to maintain political-and-military stability in the adjacent seas, military security of sea and ocean areas.

The main event of the Navy’s combat training in 2010 was participation of the Pacific Fleet, in conjunction with heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser of the Northern Fleet «Pyotr Veliky» («Peter the Great») and the Guards Black Sea Fleet missile cruiser «Moskva» («Moscow»), in the strategic exercise «Vostok-2010» («East-2010»). Being aboard the heavy atomic cruiser «Pyotr Veliky» the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the RF Armed Forces Russian President Dmitry Medvedev watched the course of the exercise in the Sea of Japan.

Cooperation with the Navies of foreign countries continues to be strengthened in the field of maritime safety, struggle against piracy, drug trafficking, smuggling, assisting vessels in distress and rescue of life at sea.

In 2010, the Baltic Fleet took part in the international exercise «BALTOPS-2010», the Northern Fleet – in the Russian-Norwegian exercise «Pomor-2010». The large antisubmarine ship of the Northern Fleet «Severomorsk» together with U.S., British and French Navies’ warships participated in the international naval exercise «FRUKUS-2010» in the Atlantic.

For the first time the forces of the Northern and Pacific Fleets practiced interaction within the groupings in distant ocean cruises.

In the military-diplomatic sphere the important role was played and continues to be played by demonstration of St. Andrew's flag during visits to seaports of foreign states. The Russian Navy is continuing its regular presence in the areas of the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden. Warships of the Northern, Pacific and Baltic Fleets carried out and continue to carry out escorting convoys of civilian vessels through areas of high pirate activity.