<p><strong>Naval aviation</strong>, also naval air force or fleet air arm is a general name for the naval component of armed forces which possess its own aviation or aeronautical main weapon component distinct from the air force. Previously also called hydroaviation.</p> <p><strong>Purpose</strong> Designed to destroy ships, force groups, convoys, enemy landings at sea and in bases, search and destroy enemy submarines, disrupt the surveillance and control system of its theater of operations, cover groupings of friendly ships, conduct reconnaissance, issue target designation in the interests of the use of weapons by naval forces and solving other problems.</p> <p><strong>Composition</strong> Naval aviation includes: naval missile-carrying, anti-submarine, reconnaissance, and ground-based attack aircraft, as well as units and units of transport aircraft and units for other purposes. Organizationally, it consists of fleet air forces, includes shore- and ship-based units and subunits, as well as units, subunits and support services. The naval air forces are specially subordinate to the chief of naval aviation. Parts of central subordination are directly connected to it. In the armed forces of some countries it is called naval aviation (fleet aviation). It includes basic patrol aircraft, as well as attack, fighter, reconnaissance and special purpose aircraft (long-range radar detection, electronic warfare and others). The US Armed Forces also have Marine Corps aviation.</p> <p><strong>History</strong> By the beginning of the First World War, naval aviation in the world was extremely poorly developed, being in the stage of initial creation.</p> <p>During the First World War, naval aviation aircraft capable of solving combat missions began to enter service with the warring countries. These aircraft included the German Flugboat, the French Borel and the English Avro.</p> <p>In the Russian Empire, naval aviation was born on the eve of the First World War as part of the Imperial Air Force in the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet. During the period (1910 - 1914), the navy first chose airplanes, and then hydroplanes.</p> <p>In 1910, aircraft designer D.P. Grigorovich designed his first flying boat, the M-1, intended for military operations at sea. Subsequently, he developed improved models of this aircraft. One of the best models was the M-5 seaplane.</p> <p>By the beginning of the First World War, the naval aviation of the Russian Imperial Fleet was practically hydroaviation.</p> <p>During the First World War, more than 200 seaplanes were built at the Shchetinin PRTV plant "S.S. Shchetinin and Co" (Gamayun)[1], which were used in the Black and Baltic Seas.[2]</p> <p>In August 1914, the first governing document of the Russian fleet aviation was put into effect - “Regulations on the aviation service in the communications service”, which consolidated the organizational inclusion of naval aviation in the communications service of the fleets of the Empire.</p> <p>The Russian naval aviation included twelve aircraft-carrying ships (AVS), seven of them took part in hostilities as carriers of hydroaviation.</p> <p>At the end of 1916, the “Regulations on the Naval Aviation and Aeronautics Service of the Imperial Russian Fleet” were put into effect and air divisions, brigades and divisions were formed in the RIF fleets.</p> <p>During the years of the First World War, the Russian Navy accumulated unique experience in the construction, management and combat use of naval aviation and aeronautics (seaplanes, airplanes, airships, balloons and balloons were used in the interests of the fleet).</p> <p>By the end of 1917, Russian naval aviation consisted of the Black Sea and Baltic divisions, numbering 152 and 88 aircraft, respectively. The first of them ceased to exist along with the Black Sea Fleet.</p> <p>In 1918-1919, naval aviation organizationally consisted of the Baltic Air Brigade, the air division of the Volga Flotilla, the air detachment of the Caspian-Astrakhan Flotilla (later the air brigade), the air detachment of the Onega Flotilla and consisted of 76 aircraft. From 1920 to 1938, naval aviation was part of the Red Army Air Force; its aircraft fleet consisted of 36 aircraft. In 1938, the Navy Air Force was created, the composition of which continuously increased in number. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Navy Air Force consisted of 2906 aircraft (torpedo bombers - 10%, bombers - 14%, fighters - 45%, reconnaissance seaplanes - 25% and others), but mostly of old models.</p> <p>During the Great Patriotic War, naval aviation operated mainly on land fronts; from the second half of 1942, its action at sea intensified somewhat, and in 1943 and especially in 1944, the efforts of naval aviation were directed mainly against fleet forces and enemy naval targets. In total, naval pilots accounted for 1,015 sunk ships and vessels, and more than 5,500 destroyed enemy aircraft. 17 naval aviation units became guards, 57 were awarded orders, 241 aviators were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, and B. F. Safonov, A. E. Mazurenko, V. I. Rakov, N. G. Stepanyan and N. V. Chelnokov awarded the second Gold Star medal.</p> <p>In 1953, naval aviation began to be called naval aviation, and the naval air force became fleet aviation. Since 1980, fleet aviation has again been called the fleet air force.</p>