WARSAW PACT JOURNAL: COMBINED INSTRUCTION OF SEAMEN AND PETTY OFFICERS -- AN IMPORTANT CONDITION FOR TRAINING NAVY SPECIALISTS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: CIA Analysis of the Soviet Navy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005508938
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: June 19, 2017
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2017
• Case Number: SC-2007-00006
• Publication Date: February 15, 1979

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
15 February 1979
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Director of Central Intelligence
FROM : John N. McMahon
Deputy Director for Operations
SUBJECT : WARSAW PACT JOURNAL: Combined Instruction
ot Seamen and Petty Officers -- An Important
Condition for Training Navy Specialists
1. The enclosed Intelligence Information Special Report is part of a
series now in preparation based on articles from a SECRET Soviet
publication called Information Collection of the Headquarters and the
Technical Committee of the Combined Armed Forces. This article describes
in broad-brush manner tEe East German Navy's organization and procedure for
the training of conscript seamen and those conscripts selected to be petty
officers. Formerly this training was accomplished right on the combat
ships, but starting in 19704971 it has been done in a training detachment
with its own training brigade of ships and craft. This journal is
published by Warsaw Pact Headolarters in Mbscow, and it consists of
articles by Warsaw Pact officers. This article appeared in Issue No. 12,
which was published in 1976.
2. Because the source of this report is extremely sensitive, this
document should be handled on a strict need-to-know basis within recipient
agencies. For ease of reference, enortsfrom this publication have been
assigned the Codeword
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Distribution:
The Director of Central Intelligence
The Director of Intelligence and Research
Department of State
The Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Director, Defense Intelligence Agency
Director of Naval Intelligence
Department of the Navy
Director, National Security Agency
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Director of the National Foreign Assessment Center
Director of Strategic Research
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Intelligence Information Special Report
COUNTRY EAST GERMANY/WARSAW PACT
DATE OF
NM 1976
SUBJECT
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DATE
15 February 1979
WARSAW PACT JOURNAL: Combined Instruction of Seamen and Petty Officers --
An important Condition for Training Navy Specialists
SOURCE Documentary
Summary:
The following report is a translation from Russian of an article from
a SECRET Soviet publication called Information Collection of the
Headquarters and the Technical Committee of the Combined Armed Forces.
This journal is published by Warsaw Pact Headquarters in Moscow, and it
consists of articles by Warsaw Pact officers. This article was written by
Rear Admiral L. Heinecke. ?The article describes in broad-brush manner the
East German Navy's organization _and procedure for the training of conscript
amen and those conscripts _selected to be vtty officers. Formerly this
-TM:Ring was accomplished right on the combat ships, but starting in
1970-1971 it has been done in a training detachment with its own training
brigade of ships and craft. The duration, nature, and content of the
training are described presenting little or no substantive information.
The favorable results obtained are praised and the importance of
Marxist-Leninist indoctrination is stressed. This article appeared in Issue
No. 12, which was published in 1976.
Comment:
The author is Deputy Commander of the Navy for Training.
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Combined Instruction of Seamen and Petty Officers --
An Important Condition for Training Navy Specialists
by
Rear Admiral L. HEINECKE
Deputy Commander of the People's Navy of the
German Democratic Republic
The necessity of constantly maintaining the forces of the Navy at a
high level of combat readiness has brought to the fore the task of
improving the system of instruction for personnel. This has required
developing and introducing a new form of training for the young draft
contingent of seamen and also for the newly-appointed petty officers.
Experience has shown that the most effective method, as applied to our
navy, has been combined training, wherein theoretical classes are held in a
training detachment, while practical skills are acquired on the ships of a
special training large unit. Such a method makes it possible for us to
train seamen and petty officers effectively for work before they take up
their duty positions and by the same token ensure the improvement of the
combat readiness of the ships that make up the combat core of the navy. By
now we have succeeded in manning the navy's combat ships and craft with
seamen and petty officers who have completed instruction in a. training
detachment, with a replacement contingent that every six months consists of
20 percent seamen and approximately 17 percent petty officers.
After careful evaluation, combined instruction was instituted in the
Navy beginning with the 1970-71 training year. For this purpose, a special
training establishment was set up as part of the naval school -- the
Walther Steffens Training Detachment, which was subsequently changed over
into an independent training establishment. Subordinate to the commander
of the training detachment there is a brigade of training ships, made up of
the ships and craft needed for the conduct of training sessions.
The basic goal of combined instruction has been to shift the
individualtraining of seamen and petty officers, which had previously been
conducted on ships and craft of the combat large units, to the training
detachment and to the ships of the training brigade. After completing the
training course, they pass the prescribed examinations and receive
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permission to independently operate materiel on a specific type of ship or
craft.
The accomplishment of this goal has at the same time provided for the
training of future petty officers as political and military leaders, as
indoctrinators and instructors for small military groups. In addition,
here the seamen and petty officers are molded into persons who are capable
of withstanding all the burdens of military life and shipboard service, who
conscientiously observe military discipline, are a credit to the group, and
are constantly guided by the views of the working class in all their
actions.
Combined training is thereby not limited to merely the acquisition of
specialized knowledge and skills. It also includes the development of
abilities, the forming of convictions, and the indoctrination of character
and of standards of interrelationships within the group.
The changeover to this form of instruction demanded extensive and
prolonged preparatory work. The command and staff of the People's Navy had
to resolve a number of complex matters.
The allocation of an independent training establishment for the
training of seamen and petty officers brought about the need to implement
certain structural changes. For instance, in establishing the training
brigade, it became necessary to temporarily detach a number of ships and
craft from the combat large units of the People's Navy to provide for
shipboard training. The introduction of combined instruction entailed the
requisite training of commanders, training officers, and instructors.
In the interests of insuring a high level of training for the
personnel of the ships and craft of the training brigade and of conducting
training under conditions approximating combat for the seamen and petty
officers on the ships, every year individual ships and craft of the
training brigade participate in the main combat training undertakings of
the People's Navy and the allied fleets in the Baltic Sea. In addition,
there is a requirement for periodic exchange of experience with the
corresponding training establishments of the Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet
[USSR] and the Navy of the Polish People's Republic, as well as with large
units of the People's Navy.
Modern demands for general and specialized training in the separate
shipboard specialties have brought about an entirely new approach to the
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development of training programs and to time calculations. Chief
consideration is given to practical instruction and working out of
shipboard functional duties. This was aided by the implementation of the
unified socialist system of education and well-thought out military-
patriotic indoctrination of youth in the Society for Assistance in the
Development of Sport and Technology [sic] as well as by the broadening of
the general, professional, and military education of those subject to
military service.
All measures have been directed toward improving the effectiveness of
the training process. In so doing, one of the substantial factors was to
improve the qualifications and develop the methodological skills of the
training officers and instructors. In the field of training techniques,
Marxist-Leninist training and mass political work was continuously
coordinated with the elements of general and specialized training, and a
close tie was assured between the types of instruction in the training
classrooms, trainer rooms, and on the ships. Thereby we established at the
same time the prerequisites for the interesting, varied, and
methodologically diversified conduct of instruction.
The .rocess of combined instruction is as follows. Every six months
at the eginning o y an. lovem er t ose su ject to military service are
conscripted as seamen into the training detachment. After a short period
for organizing and also the administration of an entrance examination, they
undergo a four-week beginning course. Then follows specialized training
for seamen and petty officers with a continuation of Marxist-Leninist and
general studies. This stage of specialized training is identical in
content, form, and methodology for both seamen and petty officers. The
specialized training includes the study of theoretical fundamentals,
training in trainer rooms, as well as training on ships at the base and at
sea. Still maintaining the same instructional purposes and content, the
training of petty officers lasts approximately three and a half months,
whereas seamen's training, in view of their involvement in the performance
of guard duty, lasts about four and a half months.
In the final phase of this standardized instructional process,
intensive practices according to shipboard duty rosters are conducted on
the training ships and craft at the base, in the roadstead, and at sea.
Upon successful completion of the training course in the training
detachment, seamen and petty officers will have obtained the necessary
knowledge and skills to fulfil the duties of a seaman on a combat ship or
craft of the type on which they are meant to sail.
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With this, the seamen's instruction in the training detachment ends
and they are sent to the combat large units.
Petty officers continue training in a one-month instructional
techniques course on general training, which primarily serves to develop
command qualities.
After this first half year of training, petty officers undergo four
weeks of on-the-job training as commanders of sections in the beginning
military training course for the next conscription. For future petty
officers, this is the first test of their command maturity as both
political and military leaders and as indoctrinators and instructors.
Experience has confirmed the great importance of this on-the-job training.
Then begins a new stage in the specialized training of these future petty
officers (about four months long), in the course of which their
qualifications within their specialties are improved and their
methodological abilities as instructors are developed. Along with this,
they study their functions relative to their shipboard duty roster and are
assigned as instructors for the specialized training of the trainees from
the new conscription. Such a method guarantees sufficient training for
future duties on combat ships and craft. After passing the examination and
receiving the rank, petty officers are sent out to actually master their
duties on a combat ship. This continues for about three weeks. Next, the
young petty officer enters upon a new duty, taking it over from his
predecessor who leaves to enter the reserves.
Petty officers and seamen for whose instruction the training
detachment does not have the requisite training resources are detached for
a preliminary period to combat ships for the purpose of acquiring practical
skills.
The conduct of combined instruction according to standardized
specialized training for seamen and petty officers has made stringent
demands on its planning and organization. For instance, every half year
about 15 training groups (platoons) are activated according to the
different specialties (navigation, artillery, engineer, etc.). Depending
on the needs of the People's Navy, their number and size vary. It should
be added that those groups destined for training on ships and craft of the
brigade are often divided into smaller training subgroups in order to
insure in-depth training in individual specialties. However, this requires
more efficient and centralized planning in the training detachment.
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The efficiency of the training and indoctrination depends
substantially on the cooperation between the organs of control and the
instructors and specialists of the training brigade. For example, at the
instructor level, cooperation manifests itself in the rendering of mutual
support, and likewise in collaborative educational influence on the
formation of the character of the young seamen and petty officers.
To have training approach actual operating conditions to the maximum,
we have instituted an extensive system for improving the ratings of
instructors, one which includes the accomplishment of. combat training tasks
by the organic persamm 1 of the ships and craft of the training brigade,
participation in the main combat training undertakings in large units of
combat ships and craft, participation in exercises, and temporary duty with
combat large units for the instructors.
The object of this training methods work with the instructors of the
training detachment is to improve their general pedagogical and
methodological skills in their specialties. For these purposes, we conduct
demonstration training sessions, methodological exercises and training
sessions, and consultations among the instructor personnel. For the
continuous analysis of the effectiveness of the combined instruction, close
contacts are maintained between the training detachment and large units of
the People's Navy. The periodically organized exchange of experience also
serves this purpose.
The experience accumulated in the course of several years and the
results obtained enable us to draw the conclusion that the introduction of
combined instruction into the People's Navy has totally justified itself.
In combined instruction we have found an advantageous means which, as a
result of the intensification of instruction, has led to the improved
combat readiness of ships, large units, and the navy as a whole.
With the introduction of combined instruction, the training of young
conscripts in the training detachment more fully satisfies the requirements
of service on combat ships and craft, and likewise the direct demands of
specific shipboard functions. It has turned out that by consistently
achieving the assigned training goals in the training detachment, the ships
of the combat core are being manned with well-trained seamen and petty
officers.
The seamen and petty officers have sufficient theoretical knowledge
and practical skills to fulfil their shipboard duties; they are efficient,
prepared for heavy physical burdens, can fulfil their tasks
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conscientiously, and display a striving to quickly make themselves a part
of the shipboard group. The seamen and petty officers are able to service,
maintain in good repair, and operate in combat the weapons and materiel of
their combat posts or combat units. In addition, the petty officers are
able to lead small groups, fulfil their social functions in youth and sport
organizations, and also work as agitators in the conduct of mass political
work.
As the result of purposeful Marxist-Leninist training and political
work, graduates of the training detachment develop a high level of
political conviction. They understand the policy of our Marxist-Leninist
party and actively strive for its practical implementation.
Upon completion of instruction in the training detachment, seamen
serve two and a half years, and petty officers three years on combat ships
and craft of the People's Navy. This system we have adopted for supplying
the fleet with personnel guarantees the constant combat readiness of the
ships, since every half year no more than 20 percent of the crews are
replaced.
After each replacement of a certain part of the personnel, the task
consists in developing in the shortest period of time the cohesiveness of
the new crews of the ships. This period of intensive combat training
concludes with the conduct of special tests of the ships of the combat
core.
The improvement in the training of seamen and petty officers achieved
as a result of this combined instruction helps the People's Navy of the
German Democratic Republic fulfil with honor the tasks entrusted to it.
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