What role did the Soviet navy play in WW2?
I know in the Eastern front they assisted with the Invasion of Sakhalin during the last days of WW2, but I'd imagine they did very little on the Eastern front for most of the war since Japan and the Soviet Union had a neutrality pact.
I'm particularly interested in the Western front. Were they just bottled up in the Baltic and Black seas? What about when St. Petersburg (Leningrad) was under seige? Did they even have a navy in the Baltic during that time?
Except for Pacific fleet, Soviet Navy had:
Northern fleet which was one of the busiest - it received a lot of leased ships and from 15 submarines and 8 destroyers in 1941 grow up to 1 battleship, 1 cruiser, 17 destroyers and 42 submarines. This fleet mostly protected convoys and at the end of war performed support for landing operations.
Baltic fleet - formidable Soviet fleet and most feared by Hitler. Was almost totally blocked by 'mine soup' in the Baltic Sea therefore up to 1944 only Soviet submarines are able to attack German and Finnish Navies. Minor impact during the war, except for drawing a lot of Luftwaffe resources due to Hitler's fear for his precious battleships.
Black Sea fleet. Biggest Soviet fleet at this time: 1 Battleship, 5 cruisers, 18 destroyers, 43 submarines. Their opponents had in total 4 destroyers and 10 submarines (due to Turkey's neutrality, no warships can be passed through Bosphorus). But despite a good start (Black Sea fleet was first to shoot at German bombers) consequences were grave. Soviets lost 1 cruiser, 14 destroyers and 32 submarines - mostly to mines and German planes. As the result Stalin was so outraged that in 1943 he prohibited all warships from operating without direct order from Moscow. After that Black Sea warships never saw major combat in WW2.
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