A fleet-balance question places the Soviet fleets in their 1986 order of strength. The Northern Fleet carries the heaviest concentration because it protects the SSBN bastions and opens toward the Norwegian Sea and Atlantic. The Pacific Fleet is weaker, while the Black Sea Fleet is smaller than a modern viewer might assume. The year is a late high-water mark: the system is under increasing strain, but the severe deterioration associated with the late 1980s and 1990s has not yet removed the available force.
Notable Point · 22:13-30:08
Why the Northern Fleet anchors the 1986 Soviet naval threat
The Northern Fleet, not the Baltic or Black Sea fleets, holds the main Soviet strength in a year when the navy still fields a broadly complete blue-water force.