# Ministry of the Maritime Fleet

The Ministry of the Maritime Fleet (Russian: Министерство морского флота СССР), usually abbreviated Minmorflot (Минморфлот) and also MMF, was a government ministry in the Soviet Union.
The Merchant Maritime Fleet of the USSR is abbreviated Morflot (Морфлот). All Soviet merchant fleet organizations and establishments were subordinate to the Ministry of the Maritime Fleet, abbreviated Minmorflot.

## History

Until April 9, 1939, functions of the Minmorflot were carried out by the People's Commissariat of Water Transport, which was responsible for both maritime and river fleets.
On April 9, 1939, the People's Commissariat of Water Transport was abolished and split into the People's Commissariat of the River Fleet and the People's Commissariat of the Maritime Fleet. The structure of the People's Commissariat of the Maritime Fleet as a separate people's commissariat was confirmed by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars on May 25, 1939.
On March 15, 1946, the People's Commissariat of the Maritime Fleet was renamed the Ministry of the Maritime Fleet by decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, along with all the other people's commissariats, which also became ministries.
On March 15, 1953, Minmorflot was united with the Ministry of the River Fleet, becoming the Ministry of the Maritime and River Fleet.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council dated August 25, 1954, the Ministry of Maritime and River Fleet was re-established on August 25, 1954, when the Ministry of the Maritime Fleet and Ministry of the River Fleet was redivided.
Minmorflot was liquidated on December 26, 1991 due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

## Subordinate organizations and establishments

The Ministry of the Maritime Fleet was the head organization of Morflot. The main office of Minmorflot was in Moscow.
The following establishments were subordinated to Minmorflot in from 1970–1991:
* Sovfraht [ru] (Russian: Совфрахт, Soviet shipping agency)
* Register of the USSR, today Russian Maritime Register of Shipping
* Maritime Container Service (МРФ).
* Merchant Maritime Transport, abbreviated as Torgmortrans or TMT (Торговый морской транспорт, Торгмортранс).
The merchant marine was divided into shipping companies and sea routes. The following subordinate shipping companies to Minmorflot from 1960–1991:
* Baltic Sea Shipping Company, Leningrad
* Estonian Shipping Company, Tallinn
* Latvian Shipping Company, Riga
* Lithuanian Shipping Company, Klaypeda
* Black Sea Shipping Company, Odessa
* Azov Shipping Company, Mariupol
* Novorossiysk Shipping Company, Novorossiysk
* Georgian Shipping Company, Batumi
* Soviet Dunaj Shipping Company or Dunaj-Sea Shipping Company, Izmail
* Far East Shipping Company, Vladivostok
* PRISCO, Primorie (Seaside) Shipping Company, Nahodka
* Sakhalin Shipping Company, Kholmsk
* Kamchatska Shipping Company, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
* Murmansk Shipping Company, Murmansk
* Sevmorput (Севморпуть), the organisation controlling the Arctic Northeast Passage Sea route.
* SVUMF (СВУМФ), the North-Eastern Directorate of the Maritime Fleet.
* Caspian Shipping Company, Baku
* Central Asian Shipping Company (Aral Sea)
Each Soviet seaport was part of the closest shipping company.

## List of ministers

Ministers of Minmorflot from March 1946 to March 1953:
| Name | Date of taking office | Date of removal from office |
| Pyotr Petrovich Shirshov (1905—1953) | 19 March 1946 | 30 March 1948 |
| Alexander Alexandrovich Afanasyev (1903—1991) | 30 March 1948 | 26 April 1948 |
| Acting minicter Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov (1909—1971) | 26 April 1948 | 23 October 1948 |
| Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov (1909—1971) | 23 October 1948 | 15 March 1953 |
Ministers of Minmorflot from August, 1954 to December, 1991:
| Name | Date of taking office | Date of removal from office |
| Viktor Georgievich Bakaev (1902—1987) | 28 August 1954 | 14 January 1970 |
| Timofey Borisovich Guzhenko (1918—2008) | 14 January 1970 | 27 September 1986 |
| Yuri Mikhailovich Volmer (born in 1933) | 24 October 1986 | 28 August 1991 |
| Acting minister Yuri Mikhailovich Volmer (born in 1933) | 28 August 1991 | 26 November 1991 |