The Russian Imperial Fleet is one of the very first and official names of the Russian Navy. The name existed until 1917 - I think it’s not worth specifying why it was in this year that the word “imperial” was “cut out” from the official name. Nevertheless, let's turn to more important things - to the history of the creation of Russia's naval power.

Today, the era of the reign of Peter the Great is condemned in the most natural and familiar way. Many of his reforms are controversial even centuries later, and all of them are based on a Europeanized version of Russia. After all, it was he, the Russian Emperor Peter, who took the European model of Russia's development as a basis.

It would be absurd and stupid of me to talk about whether the great emperor was right or wrong in his decision. For me, it's not a bad idea to learn from those who are more and better at some things. And in this context, it would be right to ask the most important questions - under Peter, was Russia built and developed, or did it degrade for all political and economic reasons?

It is unequivocal that Peter I developed the country, strengthened and made it more powerful, even taking into account the fact that European touches and the borrowed experience of neighboring countries were very frankly looming. I repeat, the main thing is the development of the state, and it would be absurd to reproach Peter for the opposite. The most important argument in support of the above is creation of the Imperial Navy- the pride of Peter the Great!

October 30, 1696 is considered the official date, when the Boyar Duma, at the insistence of Peter I, decided to create a regular Russian navy: "Sea ships to be."

Azov Fleet of Peter I

Azov Fleet. Engraving from Johann Georg Korb's book "Diary of a Journey to Muscovy" (Russian translation, 1867)

The emperor's military failures served as prerequisites for the creation, in particular, the first Azov campaign* clearly showed Tsar Peter that the seaside fortress could not be taken without any strong fleet.

The very idea of ​​Peter I to build a fleet on land, in Voronezh, 1,200 miles from the sea, was considered ambitious by all standards, but not for Peter. The task was completed in one winter.

Azov campaigns of 1695 and 1696 - Russian military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire; were a continuation of the war started by the government of Princess Sophia with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimea; taken by Peter I at the beginning of his reign and ended with the capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov. They can be considered the first significant accomplishment of the young king.

This gigantic enterprise alone could have been the glory of man, and only later, even more glorious deeds somehow obscured in our memories this famous emergence of the navy on land.

When Peter I was pointed out the almost impossible difficulties of keeping the fleet on a completely alien sea, where there was not a single harbor of its own, he replied that "a strong fleet will find a harbor for itself." One can think that Peter, having mastered Azov and decided to build large ships in Taganrog, expected to talk with the Turks about the world not on the Prut (constrained by their hordes), but on the Bosphorus, where his ships would threaten the Sultan's palace with their guns.

True, foreign envoys reported to their governments that most of the ships of the Azov fleet were good only for firewood. The ships of the first construction, cut down in the middle of winter, from a frozen forest, in most cases by inexperienced and poor shipbuilders, were really not important, but Peter I did everything so that the Azov fleet was a real sea power, and, admittedly, he achieved this.

The king himself worked tirelessly. “His Majesty,” wrote Kruys, “was vigilant in this work, so with an ax, an adze, a caulk, a hammer and anointing ships, he was much more diligent and working harder than an old and highly trained carpenter.”

Almost immediately at that time, military shipbuilding began in Russia, ships were built in Voronezh and St. Petersburg, on Ladoga and in Arkhangelsk. In the second Azov campaign against Turkey in 1696, 2 battleships, 4 fireships, 23 galleys and 1300 plows built in Voronezh on the river participated. Voronezh.

In order to gain a foothold on the Sea of ​​Azov, in 1698 Peter began the construction of Taganrog as a naval base. During the period from 1695 to 1710, the Azov fleet was replenished with many battleships and frigates, galleys and bombardment ships, fire ships and small ships. But he did not last long. In 1711, after an unsuccessful war with Turkey, according to the Prut peace treaty, Russia was forced to give the Turks the shores of the Sea of ​​​​Azov and pledged to destroy the Azov fleet.

The creation of the Azov Fleet was an extremely important event for Russia. Firstly, it revealed the role of the navy in the armed struggle for the liberation of coastal lands. Secondly, the much-needed experience in the mass construction of military ships was acquired, which made it possible to quickly create a strong Baltic Fleet in the future. Thirdly, Europe was shown Russia's enormous potential to become a powerful maritime power.

Baltic Fleet of Peter I

The Baltic Fleet is one of the oldest Russian navies.

The Baltic Sea washed the shores of Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Russia. It makes no sense to dwell on the strategic importance in controlling the Baltic Sea itself - it is large and you need to know this. Peter the Great also knew this. Should he not know about the Livonian War, launched in 1558 by Ivan the Terrible, who already at that time was striving in every possible way to provide Russia with a reliable outlet to the Baltic Sea. What did it mean for Russia? I will give just one example - in 1558, having captured Narva, the Russian tsar made it the main trading gate to Russia. The turnover of Narva grew rapidly, the number of ships entering the port reached 170 per year. You need to understand that such a combination of circumstances cut off a significant part of other states - Sweden, Poland ...

To gain a foothold in the Baltic Sea has always been one of the fundamentally important tasks of Russia. Attempts were made by Ivan the Terrible, and very successful, but the final success was secured by Peter the Great.

After the war with Turkey for the possession of the Sea of ​​Azov, the aspirations of Peter I were directed to the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea, the success of which was predetermined by the presence of military force at sea. Knowing this very well, Peter I set about building the Baltic Fleet. At the shipyards of the Syaz, Svir and Volkhov rivers, river and sea warships are being laid down, seven 52-gun ships and three 32-gun frigates are being built at the Arkhangelsk shipyards. New shipyards are being created, and the number of iron and copper foundries in the Urals is growing. In Voronezh, the casting of ship cannons and cores for them is being established.

In a fairly short time, a flotilla was created, which consisted of battleships with a displacement of up to 700 tons, a length of up to 50 m. Up to 80 guns and 600-800 crew members were placed on their two or three decks.

For a confident exit to the Gulf of Finland, Peter I concentrated his main efforts on mastering the lands adjacent to Ladoga and the Neva. After a 10-day siege and a fierce assault, with the assistance of a rowing flotilla of 50 boats, the Noteburg (Nutlet) fortress was the first to fall, soon renamed Shlisselburg (Key City). In the words of Peter I, this fortress "opened the gates to the sea." Then the Nyenschanz fortress was taken, located at the confluence of the Neva river. Oh you.

In order to finally block the entrance to the Neva for the Swedes, on May 16 (27), 1703, at its mouth, on Hare Island, Peter I laid the foundation for a fortress called Peter and Paul, and the port city of St. Petersburg. On Kotlin Island, 30 versts from the mouth of the Neva, Peter I ordered the construction of the Kronstadt fort to protect the future Russian capital.

In 1704, on the left bank of the Neva, the construction of the Admiralty shipyard began, which was destined to soon become the main domestic shipyard, and St. Petersburg - the shipbuilding center of Russia.

In August 1704, Russian troops, continuing to liberate the Baltic coast, stormed Narva. In the future, the main events of the Northern War took place on land.

On June 27, 1709, the Swedes suffered a serious defeat in the battle of Poltava. However, for the final victory over Sweden, it was necessary to crush its naval forces and establish itself in the Baltic. It took another 12 years of stubborn struggle, primarily at sea.

In the period 1710-1714. By building ships at domestic shipyards and buying them abroad, a fairly strong galley and sailing Baltic Fleet was created. The first of the battleships laid down in the fall of 1709 was named Poltava in honor of the outstanding victory over the Swedes.

The high quality of Russian ships was recognized by many foreign shipbuilders and sailors. So, one of his contemporaries, the English Admiral Porris wrote:

“Russian ships are in all respects equal to the best ships of this type that are available in our country, and, moreover, are more fairly finished”.

The successes of domestic shipbuilders were very significant: by 1714, the Baltic Fleet included 27 linear 42-74-gun ships, 9 frigates with 18-32 guns, 177 scampaways and brigantines, 22 auxiliary ships. The total number of guns on the ships reached 1060.

The increased power of the Baltic Fleet allowed its forces on July 27 (August 7), 1714 to win a brilliant victory against the Swedish fleet at Cape Gangut. In a naval battle, a detachment of 10 units was captured along with Rear Admiral N. Erenskiold, who commanded them. In the battle of Gangut, Peter I fully used the advantage of the galley and sailing and rowing fleet over the enemy's linear fleet in the skerry region of the sea. The sovereign personally led the advance detachment of 23 scampaways in battle.

The Gangut victory provided the Russian fleet with freedom of action in the Gulf of Finland and Bothnia. She, like the Poltava victory, became a turning point in the course of the entire Northern War, which allowed Peter I to begin preparations for an invasion directly into the territory of Sweden. This was the only way to force Sweden to make peace.

The authority of the Russian fleet, Peter I as a naval commander became recognized by the fleets of the Baltic states. In 1716, in the Sound, at a meeting of the Russian, English, Dutch and Danish squadrons for joint cruising in the Bornholm area against the Swedish fleet and privateers, Peter I was unanimously elected commander of the united Allied squadron.

This event was later commemorated by the issuance of a medal with the inscription "Reigns over four, at Bornholm". In 1717 troops from northern Finland invaded Swedish territory. Their actions were supported by large amphibious assault forces landed in the Stockholm area.

On August 30, 1721, Sweden finally agreed to sign the Treaty of Nystad. The eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, its southern coast with the Gulf of Riga and the islands adjacent to the conquered shores departed to Russia. The composition of Russia included the cities of Vyborg, Narva, Revel, Riga. Emphasizing the importance of the fleet in the Great Northern War, Peter I ordered that the medal, approved in honor of the victory over Sweden, be engraved with the words: “The end of this war by such a world was received by nothing else than the fleet, because it was impossible to achieve it by land.” The tsar himself, who had the rank of vice admiral, "as a sign of the labors incurred in this war," was promoted to admiral.

The victory in the Northern War strengthened the international prestige of Russia, promoted it to the ranks of the largest European powers and served as the basis for being called the Russian Empire since 1721.

Having achieved the approval of Russia on the Baltic Sea, Peter I again turns his gaze to the south of the state. As a result of the Persian campaign, Russian troops, supported by the ships of the flotilla, occupied the cities of Derbent and Baku with adjacent lands, which went to Russia under a treaty concluded with the Shah of Iran on September 12 (23), 1723. For the permanent deployment of the Russian flotilla on the Caspian Sea, Peter founded a military port and the Admiralty in Astrakhan.

To imagine the enormity of the accomplishments of Peter the Great, it is enough to note that during his reign, more than 1,000 ships were built at Russian shipyards, not counting small ships. The number of teams on all ships reached 26 thousand people.

It is interesting to note that there is archival evidence dating back to the reign of Peter I, about the construction by a peasant Efim Nikonov of a “hidden vessel” - a prototype of a submarine. In general, about 1 million 200 thousand rubles were spent on shipbuilding and maintenance of the fleet by Peter I. So, by the will of Peter I in the first two decades of the eighteenth century. Russia has become one of the great maritime powers of the world.

Peter I came up with the idea of ​​creating "two fleets": a galley fleet for operating jointly with the army in coastal areas and a ship fleet for predominantly independent operations at sea.

In this regard, military science considers Peter I an expert in the interaction between the army and the navy, unsurpassed for his time.

At the dawn of the domestic state shipbuilding for operations in the Baltic and Azov Seas, Peter had to solve the problem of creating ships of mixed navigation, i.e. those that could operate both on rivers and at sea. Other maritime powers did not need such military vessels.

The complexity of the task lay in the fact that navigation along shallow rivers required a small draft of the vessel with its relatively large width. Such dimensions of ships when sailing at sea led to a sharp pitching, which reduced the effectiveness of the use of weapons, worsened the physical condition of the crew and the landing force. In addition, for wooden ships, the problem of ensuring the longitudinal strength of the hull was difficult. In general, it was necessary to find a "good proportion" between the desire to obtain good driving performance by increasing the length of the vessel, and to have sufficient longitudinal strength. Peter chose the ratio of length to width equal to 3:1, which guaranteed the strength and stability of the ships with a slight decrease in speed.

In the 2nd half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. The Russian Navy in terms of the number of warships came out on the 3rd place in the world, the tactics of military operations at sea were constantly improved. This allowed the Russian sailors to win a number of brilliant victories. The life and exploits of admirals G.A. Spiridova, F.F. Ushakova, D.N. Senyavina, G.I. Butakova, V.I. Istomina, V.A. Kornilov, P.S. Nakhimova, S.O. Makarov.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet fleet withstood severe tests and reliably covered the flanks of the fronts, crushing the Nazis at sea, in the sky and on land.

The modern Russian navy has reliable military equipment: powerful missile cruisers, nuclear submarines, anti-submarine ships, landing craft and naval aircraft. This technique works effectively in the capable hands of our naval specialists. Russian sailors continue and develop the glorious traditions of the Russian Navy, which has more than 300 years of history.

Russian Navy TODAY

The Russian Navy (Russian Navy) includes five operational-strategic formations:

1. The Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy, the headquarters of Kaliningrad, is part of the Western Military District
2. The Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy, headquartered in Severomorsk, is part of the Western Military District
3. The Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, headquartered in Sevastopol, is part of the Southern Military District
4. The Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy, headquartered in Astrakhan, is part of the Southern Military District
5. The Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy, headquartered in Vladivostok, is part of the Eastern Military District

Targets and goals

Deterrence from the use of military force or the threat of its use against Russia;

Protection by military means of the sovereignty of the country, extending beyond its land territory to internal sea waters and the territorial sea, sovereign rights in the exclusive economic zone and on the continental shelf, as well as freedom of the high seas;

Creation and maintenance of conditions for ensuring the safety of maritime economic activity in the World Ocean;

Ensuring the naval presence of Russia in the World Ocean, demonstration of the flag and military force, visits of ships and ships of the Navy;

Ensuring participation in military, peacekeeping and humanitarian actions carried out by the world community that meet the interests of the state.

The Russian Navy consists of the following forces:

• surface forces
• submarine force
• Naval aviation
• Coastal
• deck
• strategic
• Tactical
• Fleet Coastal Troops
• Marines
• Coastal Defense Troops

Navy today is one of the most important foreign policy attributes of the state. It is designed to ensure the security and protection of the interests of the Russian Federation in peacetime and wartime at the ocean and sea frontiers.

It is very important to remember and know about such an important event for the history of Russia as the creation of the Russian Navy on October 30, 1696, as well as to feel a sense of pride in the achievements and successes of the Russian Navy in the light of today's events in the world.

Caspian Fleet in Syria

The Russian admirals missed the only opportunity to win the decisive battle of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, failing to take advantage of the fact that our mine layer "Amur" destroyed two enemy battleships. What would happen if the fleet was commanded not by the failed preacher Wilhelm Witgeft, but by the energetic and determined Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, who died at the beginning of the war?

The first three months of the Russo-Japanese War became an endless series of disasters for the 1st Pacific Squadron, which was stationed in the Port Arthur fortress captured from China. Of the seven battleships that make up its main force, the Tsesarevich and Retvizan were put out of action by a sudden torpedo attack by enemy destroyers, the Pobeda was patched after a mine blast, and the Sevastopol lost one of the propellers after a collision with Peresvet. The Petropavlovsk, which had blown up on a minefield and went to the bottom, was not subject to repair, as was the cruiser Boyarin, which shared its fate.

The Russian fleet failed to sink a single enemy ship. The report of the commander of the Varyag cruiser that died in the Korean port of Chemulpo (“Takatiho” cruiser sank in the sea. The destroyer sank during the battle) was not confirmed. All the Japanese destroyers participating in the battle successfully served until the end of the war, and the Takatiho died ten years later, on October 17, 1914, during the siege of the German fortress of Qingdao.

A special loss was the death of the energetic and resolute squadron commander Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, who took this post shortly after the start of the war, on the Petropavlovsk. “Wilhelm Karlovich Witgeft was an honest and well-intentioned person, a tireless worker, but, unfortunately, his work was always stupid,” Admiral Essen, who commanded the battleship “Sevastopol” in Port Arthur, described his successor, “and always all his orders led to any kind of misunderstandings and even misfortunes. As a child, as he himself said, his father intended him for missionary work, and, perhaps, he would be more capable of this than of naval service.

Essen is hard to disagree with. The meeting held in Port Arthur on January 26, 1904, devoted to security measures in view of the threat of a Japanese attack, Rear Admiral Witgeft, then head of the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the fleet, concluded with the words: "Lord, there will be no war." Less than an hour later, a torpedo hit the Retvizan, and two months later, the failed missionary and unfortunate prophet led the 1st Pacific Squadron and began command with a proposal to disarm their own ships, transferring part of the artillery to defend the fortress from land.

Artist E.I. Capital "Vice Admiral S.O. Makarov and battle painter V.V. Vereshchagin in the cabin of the battleship Petropavlovsk in 1904

Image: Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg

At the same time, Vitgeft categorically refused to attack the Japanese transports landing troops intended for the siege of Port Arthur. This was done because "even with the success of sinking 1-2 cruisers and several transports, we would have lost many destroyers" (A.A. Kilichenkov, "The Admiral Who Killed the Squadron").

It is not surprising that the commander of the Japanese fleet, Admiral Heihachiro Togo, considered that it makes no sense to keep all six battleships and eight armored cruisers near Port Arthur - three ships, periodically replacing each other, would be enough. The rest were engaged in combat training, rested and hunted for the armored cruisers Rurik, Rossiya and Gromoboy based in Vladivostok. Unlike the Port Arthur squadron, the Vladivostok detachment pretty much drank samurai blood, sinking 18 Japanese ships and among them the Hitachi-Maru transport with 1095 imperial guards and 18 heavy siege weapons. However, as it turned out, it was too early to relax.

Death from the mist

The commander of the Amur mine layer, Captain II rank Fedor Ivanov, noticed that, maneuvering in front of Port Arthur, the Japanese ships each time pass along the same route 10 miles from the coast, outside the firing range of Russian coastal batteries. After checking his observations again, he suggested that Witgeft put up a barrier there. Command the Makarov fleet, he would not only give the go-ahead, but would immediately prepare all ships capable of fighting to attack the blown up enemy. There were quite enough forces: the battleships "Peresvet" and "Poltava" were fully combat-ready, "Sevastopol" with one screw could only give 10 knots instead of 16, but it had fully operational artillery, and almost two dozen destroyers, covered by six cruisers, had every opportunity to finish off enemy with torpedoes.

But Vitgeft was not Makarov and gave a completely crazy order: in order not to expose the Amur to excessive risk, lay mines 7-8 miles from the coast, where the Japanese battleships obviously would not go. Ivanov listened to the order in a disciplined manner and acted in his own way - on May 1, 1904, at 14:25, taking advantage of the thick fog, the Amur moved to a pre-calculated place, not far from which Japanese cruisers were on duty.

“On one side, Amur, laying mines, then a strip of thick fog, and on the other side of it, the entire Japanese squadron,” wrote Vasily Cherkasov, an artillery officer of Peresvet, who observed the installation of the barrier from the shore. - I saw the danger in which the Amur was, but I definitely could not let him know about it. Then, having written a telephone message on a piece of paper about the existing danger, I sent a sailor to the nearest telephone exchange to the lighthouse, so that from the Golden Mountain by wireless telegraph they would inform "Amur" about the danger threatening him, but along the steep rocky path he could not soon reach the telephone, and I could only observe the events. Dissipate the fog, and then not only the value of the expedition will disappear, but the "Amur", with its 12-knot speed and a huge supply of mines, will have a very bad time. "Cupid", however, did not fiddle with mines for long. Probably, the awareness of the danger of the enterprise encouraged the miners, and the expedition managed to enter the harbor before the fog cleared.

Outraged by the violation of his order, Vitgeft, according to the memoirs of the lieutenant of the Novik cruiser Andrey Shter, “calling the guilty commander, told him a lot of trouble, even threatening to be relieved of command,” and most importantly, did not put the ships on alert. And, it seems, the admiral did not bother with maintaining secrecy - since the morning of May 2, thousands of soldiers, sailors, civilian residents of Port Arthur and even foreign military attachés crowded on the shore to see if it would work or not?

It is not known how many of them were Japanese spies disguised as Chinese workers and merchants, but, unlike Cherkasov, they observed the exit of the Amur from the low bank and could not accurately convey the location of the barrier. At 9 hours 55 minutes, the first mine exploded, turning the steering compartment of Japan's head and fastest battleship, the three-pipe Hatsuse, and two minutes later, water poured into the pierced starboard side of the closing Yashima formation. The Japanese tried to tow the blown up battleships with cruisers that came to the rescue, but at 11:33 a third mine exploded. The Hatsuse's stern turret ammunition detonated, the rear tube and mainmast blown off by the explosion flew overboard, and a few minutes later the ship was already under water, taking the lives of 493 sailors.

“People climbed onto the shrouds, onto the masts, trying to climb as high as possible, hoping to see something with their own eyes through the gaps between the Golden, Lighthouse and Tiger Mountains. The senior artilleryman, forgetting rheumatism, fled to Mars, the midshipmen were piled up under the very cloths, - wrote the senior officer of the Diana cruiser Vladimir Semenov. - Suddenly, on the Golden Mountain, on the surrounding elevated batteries, a "hooray" flared up with renewed vigor!

Second! Second! .. Drowned! - roared the masts entrenched under the clots.
- Raid! On the raid! Roll out the rest! - shouted and raged around.

As I believed then, so I believe now: they would be rolled out! But how was it to go on a raid without having a pair? Brilliant, the only one in the entire campaign, the moment was missed.

Indeed, the half-flooded Yashima towed at a speed of 4 knots and the battleship Shikishima accompanying it at the same speed had little chance against three Russian battleships, and six Japanese cruisers were not enough to repel an attack by more powerful Russians and two detachments of destroyers.

Image: World History Archive / Global Look

Alas, there was no one to attack. Only at one o'clock in the afternoon, several destroyers and the Novik went to sea, but without the support of the artillery of large ships they achieved nothing. "Yashima", however, this did not help - on the way home, he sank. Two days later, the Akatsuki destroyer died on the Amur mines, and later it turned out that the explosion of destroyer No. 48 on April 30 was also the merit of its crew.

Ivanov and all the officers were presented with orders, and it was supposed to allocate 20 St. George crosses for the sailors. However, the imperial governor of the Far East, Admiral Alekseev, decided that 12 "George" would be enough for the lower ranks, and Vitgeft was declared the main winner, petitioning Nicholas II for his promotion to vice admirals.

There was no nail - the horseshoe was gone

The decisive battle between the 1st Pacific Squadron and the main forces of the Japanese fleet took place on July 28. Six battleships came out to break through from Port Arthur to Vladivostok. The Japanese siege did not threaten this harbor, and in it it was possible to wait for the ships of the Baltic Fleet preparing to leave Kronstadt.

Admiral Togo blocked the squadron's path with eight battleships and armored cruisers. Four more armored cruisers of Vice Admiral Kamimura hunted for the Vladivostok detachment, but if necessary, they could join the main forces.

Image: World History Archive / Global Look

At the sixth hour of the battle (according to some sources, a shot from the Sikishima, which was missed on May 2), Vitgeft was killed, and the squadron, deprived of command, fell apart. The main forces returned to Port Arthur, several ships went to neutral ports and disarmed, and the crew of the heavily damaged Novik cruiser sank their ship off the coast of Sakhalin.

Could the battle have ended differently? After analyzing the documents on the damage to both fleets, the Russian naval historian, captain of the 1st rank Vladimir Gribovsky calculated that 135 shells with a caliber from 152 to 305 millimeters hit the Russian battleships, and in response the Japanese received four times less. The battle lasted longer, the number of hits could turn into quality, as it later happened in the Tsushima battle.

Without the Shikishima, on which a quarter of the most powerful guns of the enemy fleet stood, the picture changed somewhat. Japanese fire was significantly weakened, and Russian guns fired at a smaller number of targets. For the battleship Mikasa, the flagship of Admiral Togo, the battle at the head of a weakened squadron could be the last. Even in reality, out of 32 successful shots from Russian ships, 22 fell on him, both gun turrets of the main caliber were out of order, and an underwater hole gaped in the hull. Over 100 officers and sailors were killed and wounded, while Togo himself survived by a miracle, and any successful hit could leave the Japanese fleet without his leadership. Had this happened, and, probably, the 1st Pacific squadron would have broken through to Vladivostok.

Of course, she could also lose by drowning the Mikasa. The battered battleships were threatened by a night torpedo attack from 49 enemy destroyers. Faster Japanese ships could catch up with Vitgeft the next day, pulling up Kamimura's detachment to help. Nevertheless, the destruction of the Shikishima gave at least some hope of success. If the ships got to Vladivostok, they could very well help the Baltic squadrons going to the Pacific Ocean next year. The Tsushima battle would have gone on with a completely different balance of power, and the morale of the Japanese would not have been the same. It's no joke: first to lose three of the most powerful ships out of six, and then the fourth, along with the commander in chief!

Russian admirals missed this chance. The battleships and cruisers that returned to Port Arthur were sunk by land fire, and after the surrender of Port Arthur they were raised and served in the Japanese fleet. Only Sevastopol managed to avoid the sad fate. Essen brought it to the White Wolf Bay, inaccessible to siege artillery, until the last days of the defense of the fortress fought off Japanese destroyers and fired at the army besieging the fortress, and then sank the ship at a depth that excluded the lifting of the vessel.

In total, taking into account the defeat at Tsushima, where on May 14-15, 1905, Admiral Togo destroyed the main forces of the Baltic Fleet, 17 battleships, 11 cruisers and 26 destroyers with a displacement of about 300 thousand tons remained on the seabed or went to the Japanese. Having lost more than half of the ships, Russia ceased to be a great maritime power for decades.

Image: World History Archive / Global Look

On land, things were no better. Suffering one defeat after another and demoralized after the defeat near Mukden, the army in March 1905 retreated from this city 200 kilometers to the north, where it stood for the last six months of the war. In vain, Nicholas II, in a letter on August 7, conjured her command "to go on a decisive offensive, without asking for My approval and consent." Almost 800 thousand soldiers did not budge, but the Japanese, having taken all the Russian possessions they liked in China, were able to allocate a whole division to capture Sakhalin.

Reverse proportion of fame

There is a well-known army anecdote: an experienced sergeant asks recruits what their military duty is? Hearing “to give his life for the Motherland!”, he replies: “Dumbass! Your military duty is to make the enemy give his life for his homeland!” This also applies to the fleet, and therefore, leaving aside an alternative history, let's compare the achievements of the Amur with the results of Russian sailors over the past century and a half, when steam and armored ships replaced sailboats.

During the entire Russo-Japanese War, Admiral Togo lost two battleships, two cruisers and eight destroyers with a total displacement of 40,000 tons. Of these, Amur has two battleships and two destroyers with a displacement of more than 28 thousand tons. This is twice as many as died from the actions of the rest of the Russian fleet and random rams of comrades-in-arms.

The Amur has few competitors in subsequent wars - the second result in the Russian fleet was shown by the special destroyer division created and trained by Essen. On November 17, 1914, the 9875-ton German armored cruiser Friedrich Karl blew up and sank at their barrier. As for naval battles, alas, warships larger than the German destroyer T-31 (1754 tons, sunk on June 20, 1944 near Nerva Island by torpedo boats TK-37 and TK-60) were not available to our sailors in the last century.

But here's the paradox: Russia's most effective naval officer of the 20th century is also the most forgotten. After his retirement on January 19, 1915, nothing is known about his fate at all. Did Fyodor Nikolaevich perish in the meat grinder of the Civil War, died of typhus that raged on the ruins of the Russian Empire, or did he emigrate? Where is the grave located? Did he contribute to the development of the mine business, which was developed by the commander of the Baltic Fleet Nikolai Essen and the head of the operational department of his headquarters, also a member of the defense of Port Arthur, Alexander Kolchak?

No one knows about this, and even the past 100th anniversaries of the Russo-Japanese and World War I did not force the naval authorities, historians and filmmakers to show interest in the man who dealt the enemy a severe blow despite the resistance of his own command. The last battles of the "Sevastopol" in the White Wolf Bay with the sinking of two Japanese destroyers and damage to 13 more (some could not be repaired before the end of the war) are also of no interest to anyone. The destruction of vehicles with siege artillery by Vladivostok cruisers, which delayed the fall of Port Arthur, was even more so.

Image: World History Archive / Global Look

The death of "Friedrich Karl" was nevertheless shown in the soap opera "Admiral", but, according to its creators, the cruiser was drowned exclusively with the help of higher powers. On the deck of a Russian destroyer stuck in the middle of its own minefield, a special prayer service was held, the heavens clouded the mind of the commander of the German cruiser: instead of shooting the enemy from afar, he began to chase him through the mines and exploded.

The symbol of the Russo-Japanese War is still the Varyag, which, like many other Russian ships, sank after a heroic battle with superior enemy forces, but, unlike them, never hit the Japanese. It is obvious that the people responsible for our military-patriotic propaganda believe that soldiers must first of all die for their homeland, and the destruction of the enemy is a secondary issue. If so, then the image of a man who, with the help of accurate calculation and calculated risk, sank two of the strongest ships of the enemy fleet without suffering a loss, really lacks spirituality. Violation of the order by Ivanov makes him a dangerous troublemaker, capable of inspiring doubtful thoughts in the younger generation even after death.

The Navy of the Russian Federation is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of our state. Its main task is the armed protection of state interests in the sea and ocean theaters of military operations. The Russian fleet is obliged to protect the sovereignty of the state outside its land territory (territorial waters, rights in the sovereign economic zone).

The Russian Navy is considered the successor to the Soviet naval forces, which, in turn, were created on the basis of the Russian Imperial Navy. The history of the Russian Navy is very rich, it has more than three hundred years, during which time it has come a long and glorious military path: the enemy has repeatedly lowered the battle flag in front of Russian ships.

In terms of its composition and number of ships, the Russian Navy is considered one of the strongest in the world: in the global ranking, it ranks second after the US Navy.

The Russian Navy includes one of the components of the nuclear triad: submarine nuclear missile carriers capable of carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles. The current Russian fleet is inferior in its power to the Soviet Navy, many of the ships that are in service today were built back in the Soviet period, so they are outdated both morally and physically. However, in recent years, active construction of new ships has been underway and the fleet is replenished with new pennants every year. According to the State Armaments Program, by 2020 about 4.5 trillion rubles will be spent on updating the Russian Navy.

The ensign of the Russian warships and the ensign of the Russian naval forces is the St. Andrew's flag. It was officially approved by presidential decree on July 21, 1992.

Russian Navy Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of July. This tradition was established by the decision of the Soviet government in 1939.

At present, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy is Admiral Vladimir Ivanovich Korolev, and his first deputy (Chief of the General Staff) is Vice Admiral Andrey Olgertovich Volozhinsky.

Goals and objectives of the Russian Navy

Why does Russia need a navy? American Vice Admiral Alfred Mahen, one of the greatest naval theorists, wrote as early as the end of the 19th century that the navy influences politics by the very fact of its existence. And it's hard to disagree with him. For several centuries, the borders of the British Empire were fastened by the sides of its ships.

The oceans are not only an inexhaustible source of resources, but also the most important global transport artery. Therefore, the importance of the Navy in the modern world is hard to overestimate: a country that has warships can project armed force anywhere in the oceans. The ground forces of any country, as a rule, are limited to their own territory. Maritime communications play an important role in the modern world. Warships can effectively operate on the enemy's communications, cutting him off from the supply of raw materials and reinforcements.

The modern fleet is characterized by high mobility and autonomy: ship groups are able to stay in remote areas of the ocean for months. The mobility of naval groupings makes it difficult to strike, including with the use of weapons of mass destruction.

The modern navy has an impressive arsenal of weapons that can be used not only against enemy ships, but also to strike at ground targets hundreds of kilometers away from the coastline.

The navy as a geopolitical instrument is highly flexible. The Navy is able to respond to a crisis situation in a very short time.

Another distinguishing feature of the Navy as a global military and political instrument is its versatility. Here are just some of the tasks that the navy is capable of solving:

• demonstration of military force and flag;
• combat duty;
• protection of own sea lanes and protection of the coast;
• conducting peacekeeping and anti-piracy operations;
• conducting humanitarian missions;
• the transfer of troops and their supply;
• waging conventional and nuclear war at sea;
• ensuring strategic nuclear deterrence;
• participation in strategic missile defense;
• conducting landing operations and combat operations on land.

Sailors can operate very effectively on land as well. The most obvious example is the US Navy, which has long been the most powerful and versatile instrument of American foreign policy. To conduct large-scale ground operations on land, the fleet needs a powerful air and land component, as well as a developed rear infrastructure capable of supplying expeditionary forces thousands of kilometers from its borders.

Russian sailors repeatedly had to participate in land operations, which, as a rule, took place on their native land and were of a defensive nature. An example is the participation of military sailors in the battles of the Great Patriotic War, as well as the first and second Chechen campaigns in which the Marine Corps fought.

The Russian fleet performs many tasks in peacetime. Warships ensure the safety of economic activity in the World Ocean, monitor the strike ship groups of potential enemies, and cover the patrol areas of potential enemy submarines. The ships of the Russian Navy participate in the protection of the state border, sailors can be involved in the elimination of the consequences of man-made disasters and natural disasters.

Composition of the Russian Navy

As of 2014, the Russian fleet included fifty nuclear submarines. Of these, fourteen are strategic missile submarines, twenty-eight submarines with missile or torpedo weapons, and eight submarines have a special purpose. In addition, the fleet includes twenty diesel-electric submarines.

The ship structure of the surface fleet includes: one heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser (aircraft carrier), three nuclear missile cruisers, three missile cruisers, six destroyers, three corvettes, eleven large anti-submarine ships, twenty-eight small anti-submarine ships. The Russian Navy also includes: seven patrol ships, eight small missile ships, four small artillery ships, twenty-eight missile boats, more than fifty minesweepers of various types, six artillery boats, nineteen large landing ships, two landing hovercraft, more than two dozens of landing craft.

History of the Russian Navy

Kievan Rus already in the 9th century had a fleet that allowed it to carry out successful sea campaigns against Constantinople. However, these forces can hardly be called a regular Navy, the ships were built immediately before the campaigns, their main task was not battles at sea, but the delivery of ground forces to their destination.

Then there were centuries of feudal fragmentation, invasions of foreign conquerors, overcoming internal turmoil - besides, the Moscow principality did not have access to the sea for a long time. The only exception was Novgorod, which had access to the Baltic and conducted successful international trade, being a member of the Hanseatic League, and even made sea voyages.

The first warships in Russia began to be built during the time of Ivan the Terrible, but then the Moscow principality plunged into the Time of Troubles, and the navy was again forgotten for a long time. Warships were used during the war with Sweden in 1656-1658, during this campaign the first documented Russian victory at sea was won.

Emperor Peter the Great is considered to be the creator of the regular Russian navy. It was he who defined Russia's access to the sea as a paramount strategic task and began the construction of warships at the shipyard on the Voronezh River. And already during the Azov campaign, Russian battleships for the first time took part in a massive naval battle. This event can be called the birth of the regular Black Sea Fleet. A few years later, the first Russian warships appeared in the Baltic. The new Russian capital St. Petersburg for a long time became the main naval base of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Empire.

After Peter's death, the situation in domestic shipbuilding deteriorated significantly: new ships were practically not laid down, and the old ones gradually fell into disrepair.

The situation became critical in the second half of the 18th century, during the reign of Empress Catherine II. At that time, Russia pursued an active foreign policy and was one of the key political players in Europe. The Russian-Turkish wars, which continued with short breaks for almost half a century, forced the Russian leadership to pay special attention to the development of the navy.

During this period, Russian sailors managed to win several glorious victories over the Turks, a large Russian squadron made the first long-distance voyage to the Mediterranean Sea from the Baltic, the empire conquered vast lands in the northern Black Sea region. The most famous Russian naval commander of that period was Admiral Ushakov, who commanded the Black Sea Fleet.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian fleet was the third largest in the world in terms of the number of ships and gun power after Great Britain and France. Russian sailors made several trips around the world, made a significant contribution to the study of the Far East, Russian sailors Bellingshausen and Lazarev discovered the sixth continent - Antarctica in 1820.

The most important event in the history of the Russian fleet was the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Due to a number of diplomatic and political miscalculations, Russia had to fight against an entire coalition, which included Great Britain, France, Turkey and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The main battles of this war took place in the Black Sea theater of operations.

The war began with a brilliant victory over Turkey in the naval battle of Sinop. The Russian fleet under the leadership of Nakhimov completely defeated the enemy. However, in the future, this campaign was unsuccessful for Russia. The British and French had a more advanced fleet, they were seriously ahead of Russia in the construction of steam ships, they had modern small arms. Despite the heroism and excellent training of Russian sailors and soldiers, Sevastopol fell after a long siege. Under the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty, Russia was no longer allowed to have a Black Sea navy.

The defeat in the Crimean War led to the intensification of the construction of steam-powered warships in Russia: battleships and monitors.

The creation of a new steam armored fleet actively continued in the late XIX - early XX century. To overcome the backlog from the leading maritime world powers, the Russian government purchased new ships abroad.

The most important milestone in the history of the Russian fleet was the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The two strongest powers in the Pacific region, Russia and Japan, entered the fray for control of Korea and Manchuria.

The war began with a sudden Japanese attack on the harbor of Port Arthur, the largest base of the Russian Pacific Fleet. On the same day, the superior forces of Japanese ships in the port of Chemulpo sank the cruiser "Varyag" and the gunboat "Korean".

After several battles lost by the Russian ground forces, Port Arthur fell, and the ships in its harbor were sunk by enemy artillery fire or their own crews.

The second Pacific squadron, assembled from the ships of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, which went to the aid of Port Arthur, suffered a crushing defeat near the Japanese island of Tsushima.

The defeat in the Russo-Japanese War was a real disaster for the Russian fleet. He lost a large number of pennants, many experienced sailors died. Only by the beginning of the First World War, these losses were partially compensated. In 1906, the first submarines appeared in the Russian fleet. In the same year, the Main Naval Staff was established.

During World War I, Germany was Russia's main adversary in the Baltic Sea, and the Ottoman Empire in the Black Sea theater of operations. In the Baltic, the Russian navy followed a defensive tactic, as the German navy outnumbered it both quantitatively and qualitatively. Mine weapons were actively used.

The Black Sea Fleet since 1915 almost completely controlled the Black Sea.

The revolution and the civil war that broke out after it became a real disaster for the Russian fleet. The Black Sea Fleet was partially captured by the Germans, some of its ships were transferred to the Ukrainian People's Republic, then they fell into the hands of the Entente. Some of the ships were sunk by order of the Bolsheviks. Foreign powers occupied the coasts of the North Sea, the Black Sea and the Pacific coast.

After the Bolsheviks came to power, a gradual restoration of the naval forces began. In 1938, a separate type of armed forces appeared - the Navy of the USSR. Before the outbreak of World War II, he was a very impressive force. There were especially many submarines of various modifications in its composition.

The first months of the war were a real disaster for the Soviet Navy. Several key military bases were abandoned (Tallinn, Hanko). The evacuation of warships from the Hanko naval base resulted in heavy losses due to enemy mines. The main battles of the Great Patriotic War took place on land, so the Soviet Navy sent more than 400 thousand sailors to the ground forces.

After the end of the war, a period of confrontation began between the Soviet Union with its satellites and the NATO bloc led by the United States. At this time, the Soviet Navy reached the peak of its power, both in terms of the number of ships and their quality characteristics. A huge amount of resources was allocated for the construction of a nuclear submarine fleet, four aircraft carriers, a large number of cruisers, destroyers and missile frigates (96 units at the end of the 80s), more than a hundred landing ships and boats were built. The ship structure of the USSR Navy in the mid-80s consisted of 1380 warships and a large number of auxiliary vessels.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to catastrophic consequences. The USSR Navy was divided among the Soviet republics (however, most of the ship's composition went to Russia), due to underfunding, most projects were frozen, part of the shipbuilding enterprises remained abroad. In 2010, the Russian Navy included only 136 warships.

Structure of the Russian Navy

The Russian Navy includes the following forces:

• surface;
• underwater;
• naval aviation;
• coastal troops.

Naval aviation consists of coastal, deck, tactical and strategic.

Associations of the Russian Navy

The Russian Navy consists of four operational-strategic formations:

• The Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy, its headquarters is in Kaliningrad
• The Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy, its headquarters is located in Severomorsk
• The Black Sea Fleet, its headquarters is located in Sevastopol, belongs to the Southern Military District
• The Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy, headquartered in Astrakhan, is part of the Southern Military District.
• The Pacific Fleet, headquartered in Vladivostok, is part of the Eastern Military District.

The Northern and Pacific Fleets are the strongest in the Russian Navy. It is here that submarines carrying strategic nuclear weapons are based, as well as all surface and submarine ships with a nuclear power plant.

The only Russian aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is based in the Northern Fleet. If new aircraft carriers are built for the Russian fleet, then, most likely, they will also be placed in the Northern Fleet. This fleet is part of the Joint Strategic Command North.

Currently, the Russian leadership is paying a lot of attention to the Arctic. This region is disputed, in addition, a huge amount of minerals has been explored in this region. It is likely that in the coming years it is the Arctic that will become a “bone of contention” for the largest world states.

The Northern Fleet includes:

• TAKR "Admiral Kuznetsov" (project 1143 "Krechet")
• two nuclear missile cruisers of project 1144.2 "Orlan" "Admiral Nakhimov" and "Peter the Great", which is the flagship of the Northern Fleet
• missile cruiser "Marshal Ustinov" (project "Atlant")
• four BOD project 1155 "Frigate" and one BOD project 1155.1.
• two destroyers of project 956 "Sarych"
• nine small warships, sea minesweepers of various projects, landing and artillery boats
• four large landing ships of project 775.

Submarines are the main force of the Northern Fleet. These include:

• Ten nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles (projects 941 "Shark", 667BDRM "Dolphin", 995 "Borey")
• Four nuclear submarines armed with cruise missiles (projects 885 "Ash" and 949A "Antey")
• Fourteen torpedo-armed nuclear submarines (projects 971 "Pike-B", 945 "Barracuda", 945A "Condor", 671RTMK "Pike")
• Eight diesel submarines (projects 877 "Halibut" and 677 "Lada"). In addition, there are seven nuclear deep-sea stations and an experimental submarine.

The Northern Fleet also includes naval aviation, coastal defense troops and marine corps units.

In 2007, the construction of the Arctic Shamrock military base began on the Franz Josef Land archipelago. The ships of the Northern Fleet are taking part in the Syrian operation as part of the Mediterranean squadron of the Russian fleet.

Pacific Fleet. This fleet is armed with submarines with nuclear power plants, armed with missiles and torpedoes with a nuclear warhead. This fleet is divided into two groups: one is based in Primorye, and the other is based on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Pacific Fleet includes:

• Missile cruiser "Varyag" project 1164 "Atlant".
• Three BOD project 1155.
• One destroyer of project 956 "Sarych".
• Four small missile ships of project 12341 "Gadfly-1".
• Eight small anti-submarine ships of project 1124 Albatross.
• Torpedo and anti-sabotage boats.
• Minesweepers.
• Three large landing ships of project 775 and 1171
• Landing boats.

The composition of the submarine forces of the Pacific Fleet includes:

• Five missile submarines armed with strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles (project 667BDR Kalmar and 955 Borey).
• Three nuclear submarines with Project 949A Antey cruise missiles.
• One multi-purpose submarine of project 971 "Pike-B".
• Six diesel submarines of project 877 "Halibut".

The Pacific Fleet also includes naval aviation, coastal troops and marines.

Black Sea Fleet. One of the oldest Russian fleets with a long and glorious history. However, due to geographical reasons, its strategic role is not so great. This fleet participated in the international campaign against piracy in the Gulf of Aden, in the war with Georgia in 2008, and its ships and personnel are currently involved in the Syrian campaign.

The construction of new surface and underwater vessels for the Black Sea Fleet is underway.

The composition of this operational-strategic association of the Russian Navy includes:

• Missile cruiser project 1164 "Atlant" "Moskva", which is the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet
• One BOD project 1134-B "Berkut-B" "Kerch"
• Five patrol ships of the far sea zone of different projects
• Eight large landing ships of projects 1171 "Tapir" and 775. They are united in the 197th brigade of landing ships
• Five diesel submarines (projects 877 "Halibut" and 636.3 "Varshavyanka"

  The Black Sea Fleet also includes naval aviation, coastal troops and marines.

  Baltic Fleet. After the collapse of the USSR, the BF found itself in a very difficult situation: a significant part of its bases ended up on the territory of foreign states. Currently, the Baltic Fleet is based in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions. Due to the geographic location, the BF's strategic importance is also limited. The Baltic Fleet includes the following ships:

  • Project 956 destroyer "Sarych" "Persistent", which is the flagship of the Baltic Fleet.
  • Two Project 11540 "Hawk" patrol ships of the far sea zone. In domestic literature, they are often called frigates.
  • Four patrol ships of the near sea zone of project 20380 "Guarding", which are sometimes called corvettes in the literature.
  • Ten small rocket ships (project 1234.1).
  • Four Project 775 large landing craft.
  • Two Project 12322 Zubr small landing hovercraft.
  • A large number of landing and missile boats.

  The Baltic Fleet is armed with two Project 877 Halibut diesel submarines.

  Caspian flotilla. The Caspian Sea is an inland body of water, which in the Soviet period washed the shores of two countries - Iran and the USSR. After 1991, several independent states appeared in this region at once, and the situation became seriously complicated. Water area of ​​the Caspian International treaty between Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, signed on August 12, 2018, defines it as a zone free from NATO influence.

  The composition of the Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Federation includes:

  • Patrol ships of the near sea zone of the project 11661 "Gepard" (2 units).
  • Eight small ships of different projects.
  • Landing boats.
  • Artillery and anti-sabotage boats.
  • Minesweepers.

  Prospects for the development of the Navy

  The navy is a very expensive branch of the armed forces, therefore, after the collapse of the USSR, almost all programs related to the construction of new ships were frozen.

  The situation began to improve only in the second half of the "zero". According to the State Armaments Program, by 2020 the Russian Navy will receive about 4.5 trillion rubles. Russian shipbuilders plan to produce up to ten Project 995 strategic nuclear missile carriers and the same number of Project 885 multi-purpose submarines. In addition, the construction of diesel-electric submarines of Projects 63.63 Varshavyanka and 677 Lada will continue. In total, it is planned to build up to twenty submarines.

  The Navy plans to purchase eight Project 22350 frigates, six Project 11356 frigates, more than thirty corvettes of several projects (some of which are still under development). In addition, it is planned to build new missile boats, large and small landing ships, and minesweepers.

  A new destroyer with a nuclear power plant is being developed. The Navy is interested in buying six of these ships. They are planned to be equipped with anti-missile defense systems.

  A lot of controversy raises the question of the future fate of the Russian aircraft carrier fleet. Is he needed? "Admiral Kuznetsov" clearly does not meet modern requirements, and from the very beginning this project was not the most successful.

  In total, by 2020, the Russian Navy plans to receive 54 new surface ships and 24 submarines with nuclear power plants, a large number of old ships must undergo modernization. The fleet should receive new missile systems that will be able to fire the latest Caliber and Onyx missiles. These complexes are planned to equip missile cruisers (Orlan project), submarines of the Antey, Shchuka-B and Halibut projects.

  If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

Fleet during the reign of Alexander I: Second Archipelago Expedition, Russo-Swedish War; fleet during the beginning of the reign of Nicholas I; Crimean War; Russian Navy after the Crimean War

THE FLEET DURING THE REIGN OF ALEXANDER I: THE SECOND ARCHIPELAGOAN EXPEDITION, THE RUSSIAN-SWEDEN WAR

Alexander I

Having ascended the throne in 1801, Emperor Alexander I carried out a number of transformations in the system of state administration, creating ministries instead of collegiums. So in 1802 the Ministry of Naval Forces was established. The Board of the Admiralty remained in its former form, but was already subordinate to the minister. They became the educated and capable Admiral N. S. Mordvinov, who proved himself in the war with Turkey.

However, three months later, Mordvinov was replaced by Rear Admiral P.V. Chichagov. “The trouble is, if the shoemaker starts the pies, and the pieman makes the boots” - these are the words from the famous fable of I.A. Krylov were addressed specifically to Chichagov.

This is how another contemporary, the famous navigator and Admiral Golovnin, spoke about Chichagov:
“Blindly imitating the British and introducing ridiculous novelties, he dreamed that he was laying the foundation stone for the greatness of the Russian fleet. Spoiling everything that remained in the fleet, and bored with the supreme power with arrogance and squandering the treasury, he retired, placing contempt for the fleet thereof and a feeling of deep chagrin in the sailors.

Nevertheless, the navy at the beginning of the 19th century continued to be an important instrument of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire and was represented by the Black Sea and Baltic fleets, the Caspian, White Sea and Okhotsk flotillas.

During the war with Persia that began in 1804 (the war was won by Russia in 1813), the Caspian flotilla, founded under Peter I, first showed itself by actively helping the Russian ground forces in the fight against the Persians: they brought supplies, reinforcements, food; fettered the actions of the Persian ships; participated in the bombardment of fortresses. Also, the flotilla ships at the beginning of the 19th century transported Russian expeditions to Central Asia, protected trade in the Caspian basin.

In 1805, Russia joined the anti-French coalition and, fearing the union of Turkey with France, as well as the appearance of the French fleet in the Adriatic Sea, decided to send a military squadron to the Ionian Islands. Leaving Kronstadt and arriving in Corfu and uniting with the Russian squadron already there, the combined Russian squadron began to have 10 battleships, 4 frigates, 6 corvettes, 7 brigs, 2 shebeks, schooners and 12 gunboats.

On February 21, 1806, the Russian squadron, with the support of the local population, occupied the area of ​​​​Boca di Cattaro (Kotor Bay) without a fight: the territory that, after the Battle of Austerlitz, passed from Austria to France. This event meant a lot to Napoleon, France lost the most favorable sea route for replenishing food and ammunition.
Also in 1806, the Russian squadron managed to occupy a number of the Dalmatian Islands.

In December 1806, Turkey declared war on Russia. England, acting in this war as an ally of Russia, sent a squadron of its fleet to the Aegean Sea, but refused to act jointly with the Russian fleet.

On March 10, 1807, Senyavin occupied the island of Tenedos, after which victorious battles followed: the Dardanelles and Athos. Having tried to land troops on Tenedos, the Turks were defeated in the battle near the Dardanelles and retreated, losing 3 ships. However, the victory was not final: the Russian fleet continued to blockade the Dardanelles until the battle of Cape Athos, which took place a month later.

As a result of the Battle of Athos, the Ottoman Empire lost a combat-ready fleet for more than a decade and on August 12 agreed to sign a truce.

On June 25, 1807, the Treaty of Tilsit was concluded, according to which Russia undertook to cede the Ionian Islands to France. The Russian squadron was forced to conclude a formal truce with the Turks and leave the Archipelago, leaving the British to continue the war. Leaving Tenedos, the Russians destroyed all the fortifications there. By August 14, the Boca di Cattaro area was abandoned by the Russians. The Russian squadron left the Adriatic Sea region.

In the war between Russia and Sweden that began in 1808, mainly due to the policy of the states - the former allies after the conclusion of the Tilsit Peace, the Baltic Fleet supported the actions of our land army throughout the war (until 1809), carrying out bombardment of Swedish fortifications and landing operations. Russia won the war, and as a result, Finland became part of the Russian Empire with the rights of the Grand Duchy.

However, despite the military, as well as research (maps of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans were full of Russian names and titles) successes of the Russian fleet, its condition continued to deteriorate until the end of the reign of Alexander I. This was due to the indifferent attitude of the emperor to the fate of the fleet. So, under him, the question of transferring the entire Russian fleet to England was seriously discussed. By the end of the reign, the state of the fleet was very deplorable: most of the frigates fit for military operations were sold abroad - in particular, to Spain; most of the officers and teams fell into need (for example, senior officers were sometimes settled ten people in one room).

THE FLEET DURING THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF NICHOLAS I

Nicholas I

During the accession of Nicholas I in 1825, only 5 ships of the line were fit for service in the Baltic Fleet (according to the state, it was supposed to have 27 ships of the line and 26 frigates), and in the Black Sea Fleet - 10 out of 15 ships. The number of personnel of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets was supposed to reach 90 thousand people, but in reality 20 thousand people were missing from the regular number. The property of the fleet was plundered.

In the ports, trade in all the accessories of the fleet was carried out quite openly. The delivery of stolen goods to shops in large quantities was carried out not only at night, but also during the day. So, for example, the adjutant wing Lazarev, who was already conducting an investigation on this matter already in 1826, found in Kronstadt alone in 32 shops of state things worth 85,875 rubles.

The beginning of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I was marked by the creation in 1826 of a committee for the formation of the fleet. The name perfectly reflected the state of affairs - after all, the fleet, in fact, no longer existed!

Emperor Nicholas I, unlike his predecessor and elder brother, saw in the naval forces a solid stronghold of the state and, in addition, a means to maintain his own, historically established, necessary influence in the Middle East.

Vice-Admiral Melikov, a contemporary of Nicholas I, about the emperor:
“Taking into account that from now on the actions of naval forces will be necessary in any European war, His Imperial Majesty, from the very first days of his reign, deigned to express an indispensable will to bring the fleet into such a position that it would be a real stronghold of the state and could contribute to any enterprises related to the honor and security of the empire. Everything that was necessary was done to implement this idea on the part of the Sovereign Emperor. States were issued for the fleet in sizes corresponding to the greatness of Russia, and all means were taught to the naval authorities to bring our naval forces to the sizes prescribed by the states. The budget of the Naval Ministry was more than doubled; educational institutions have been increased in number and brought to the level of perfection; in order to provide our admiralties forever in timber, it was appointed to transfer to the maritime department all the forests of the empire; finally, all the assumptions of the naval authorities, which could lead to the nearest execution of the will of His Majesty, were always taken into account.

Successes in the work of Nicholas I to revive the greatness of the Russian fleet could be observed already in 1827. The squadron of the Baltic Fleet visited England, where it made an excellent impression. In the same year, part of the squadron entered the Mediterranean Sea and, together with the British and French squadrons, opposed the Turkish fleet. The decisive battle took place on October 20, 1827 in Navarino Bay. The Turkish fleet consisted of 82 ships, while the Allies had only 28. In addition, the Turkish fleet was in a much more advantageous position.

However, the allied squadrons acted in a coordinated and decisive manner, putting out of action one Turkish ship after another with well-aimed fire. The Turkish fleet was almost completely destroyed: out of 82 ships, only 27 survived.

Battle of Navarva

In the Russian-Turkish war that began the following year, the Black Sea Fleet showed itself. He contributed to the advance of troops in the Balkan and Caucasian theaters of military operations. The brig "Mercury" covered itself with unfading glory, having won a battle with two Turkish battleships.

Aivazovsky. Brig "Mercury", attacked by two Turkish ships.

The war ended in September 1829 with a complete Russian victory. Turkey lost the Black Sea coast from the mouth of the Kuban to Cape St. Nicholas. The islands in the Danube Delta went to Russia. She received the right of passage of ships through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The southern arm of the mouth became the Russian border. Finally, the Peace of Adrianople, concluded on September 14, brought freedom to Greece, which was declared independent (there remained only the obligation of an annual payment to the Sultan in the amount of 1.5 million piastres). The Greeks could now choose a sovereign from any dynasty reigning in Europe, except for the English, French and Russian.

In the war with Persia that began in 1826, the Caspian Flotilla again proved itself, providing serious assistance to the ground forces and winning victories at sea. In February 1828, a peace treaty was concluded between Russia and Persia. According to it, Russia retained the rights to the lands up to the Astara River, received the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates. Persia had to pay 20 million rubles indemnity, and also lost the right to maintain a fleet in the Caspian, which partially repeated the agreement of 1813.

The influence of the Russian Empire on the Ottoman Empire became even stronger after in 1832 the current sultan, having suffered defeat from his vassal Pasha of Egypt, was left without money and an army, and was forced to turn to the Russian Empire for help. A year later, Rear Admiral Lazarev led the Russian squadron to Constantinople. Her arrival and fourteen thousand troops landed on the Bosphorus put an end to the uprising. Russia, on the other hand, according to the Winkar-Iskelessi treaty concluded at that time, received in the person of Turkey an ally in case of hostilities against a third country, both on land and at sea. At the same time, Turkey undertook not to let enemy warships pass through the Dardanelles. The Bosphorus, under all conditions, remained open to the Russian fleet.

The Russian fleet during the reign of Nicholas I was greatly strengthened, the number of ships of the line increased greatly, order and discipline in the fleet were again established.

The first Russian parahodfrigate "Bogatyr". Modern model.

It is also worth noting that, in addition to traditional sailing battleships, military steamships began to be built for the navy: in 1826, the Izhora steamship armed with 8 guns was built, and in 1836, the first steam frigate was launched from the slipway of the St. Petersburg Admiralty "Bogatyr", armed with 28 guns.

As a result, by the beginning of the Crimean War in 1853, the Russian Empire had the Black Sea and Baltic fleets, the Arkhangelsk, Caspian and Siberian flotillas - a total of 40 battleships, 15 frigates, 24 corvettes and brigs, 16 steam frigates and other small vessels. The total number of personnel of the fleet was 91,000 people. Although the Russian fleet by that time was one of the largest in the world, however, in the field of steamship building, Russia lagged far behind the advanced European countries.

CRIMEAN WAR

During the diplomatic conflict with France over the control of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Russia, in order to put pressure on Turkey, occupied Moldavia and Wallachia, which were under the protectorate of Russia under the terms of the Adrianople peace treaty. The refusal of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I to withdraw troops led to the declaration of war on Russia by Turkey on October 4, 1853, then, on March 15, 1854, Great Britain and France joined Turkey. On January 10, 1855, the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) also declared war on the Russian Empire.

Russia was not organizationally and technically ready for war. The technical backwardness of the Russian army and navy, associated with a radical technical re-equipment in the middle of the 19th century, acquired threatening proportions. armies of Great Britain and France, which carried out the Industrial Revolution. The Allies had a significant advantage in all types of ships, and there were no steam battleships in the Russian fleet at all. At that time, the English fleet was the first in the world in terms of numbers, the French was in second, and the Russian was in third place.

Sinop battle

However, on November 18, 1853, the Russian sailing squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Pavel Nakhimov defeated the Turkish fleet in the battle of Sinop. The successful battle in this battle of the sailing frigate "Flora" against three Turkish steam frigates indicated that the importance of the sailing fleet was still great. The result of the battle was the main factor in declaring war on Russia by France and England. This battle was also the last major battle of sailing ships.

In August 1854, Russian sailors defended the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka Fortress, repulsing the attack of the Anglo-French squadron.

Defense of the Peter and Paul Fortress

The main base of the Black Sea Fleet - Sevastopol was protected from attack from the sea by strong coastal fortifications. Before the landing of the enemy in the Crimea, there were no fortifications to protect Sevastopol from land.

New tests also fell to the lot of the Baltic sailors: they had to repel the attack of the Anglo-French fleet, which bombarded the fortifications of Gangut, the fortresses of Kronstadt, Sveaborg and Revel, and sought to break through to the capital of the Russian Empire - Petersburg. However, a feature of the naval theater in the Baltic was that due to the shallow waters of the Gulf of Finland, large enemy ships could not approach St. Petersburg directly.

Upon receiving news of the Battle of Sinop, the English and French squadrons entered the Black Sea in December 1853.

On April 10, 1854, the combined Anglo-French squadron fired at the port and city of Odessa in an attempt to force the capitulation. As a result of the shelling, the port and the commercial ships in it were burned, but the return fire of the Russian coastal batteries prevented the landing. After the shelling, the Allied squadron went to sea.

John Wilson Carmichael "The Bombing of Sevastopol"

On September 12, 1854, an Anglo-French army of 62 thousand people with 134 guns landed in the Crimea, near Yevpatoriya - Sak, and took the direction to Sevastopol.

The enemy moved to Sevastopol, went around it from the east and occupied convenient bays (the British - Balaklava, the French - Kamyshovaya). The 60,000-strong Allied army began the siege of the city.
Admirals V.A. Kornilov, P.S. Nakhimov, V.I. Istomin became the organizers of the defense of Sevastopol.

The enemy did not dare to immediately storm the city and proceeded to siege it, during which he subjected the city to multi-day bombardments six times.

Throughout the 349-day siege, a particularly intense struggle went on for the key position of the city's defense - Malakhov Kurgan. The capture of it on August 27 by the French army predetermined the abandonment of the southern side of Sevastopol by Russian troops on August 28, 1855. Having blown up all the fortifications, batteries and powder magazines, they organizedly crossed the Sevastopol Bay to the North Side. Sevastopol Bay, the location of the Russian fleet, remained under Russian control.

Although the war was not yet lost, and the Russian troops managed to inflict a number of defeats on the Turkish army and capture Kars. However, the threat of Austria and Prussia joining the war forced Russia to accept the terms of peace imposed by the allies.

On March 18, 1856, the Treaty of Paris was signed, according to which Russia was forbidden to have a navy on the Black Sea, build fortresses and naval bases.
During the war, the members of the anti-Russian coalition failed to achieve all their goals, but managed to prevent the strengthening of Russia in the Balkans and deprive it of the Black Sea Fleet for a long time.

RUSSIAN FLEET AFTER THE CRIMEAN WAR

After the defeat, the Russian fleet, which consisted mainly of sailing ships, began to be massively replenished with first-generation steam warships: battleships, monitors and floating batteries. These ships were equipped with heavy artillery and thick armor, but they were unreliable on the high seas, slow and could not make long sea voyages.

Already in the early 1860s, the first Russian armored floating battery "Pervenets" was ordered in Great Britain, on the model of which the armored batteries "Don't Touch Me" and "Kremlin" were built in Russia in the mid-1860s.

Battleship "Don't Touch Me"

In 1861, the first warship with steel armor was launched - the gunboat "Experience". In 1869, the first battleship designed for sailing on the high seas, the Peter the Great, was laid down.

The specialists of the Naval Ministry studied the experience of building in the USA the monitors of the system of the Swedish engineer Erickson with a rotating tower. In this regard, in March 1863, the so-called "Monitor Shipbuilding Program" was developed, which provided for the construction of 11 monitors to protect the coast of the Gulf of Finland and operate in skerries.
During the American Civil War, Russia sent two cruiser squadrons to the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the northerners. This expedition became a good example of how relatively small forces can achieve major political successes. The result of the presence of only eleven small warships in areas of busy merchant shipping was that the major European powers (England, France and Austria) abandoned the confrontation with Russia, defeated by them only 7 years ago.

Russia achieved the lifting of the ban on keeping the navy in the Black Sea under the London Convention of 1871.

Thus began the revival of the Black Sea Fleet, which was able to take part in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. (On May 26, 1877, the mine boats of lieutenants Shestakov and Dubasov sank the Turkish monitor Khivzi Rahman on the Danube), and by the beginning of the 20th century it consisted of 7 squadron battleships, 1 cruiser, 3 mine cruisers, 6 gunboats, 22 destroyers, etc. courts.

The construction of warships for the Caspian and Okhotsk flotillas continued.

By the end of the 19th century, the Baltic Fleet had over 250 modern ships of all classes.

The descent of the battleship "Chesma" in Sevastopol

Also in the 1860s-1870s, a reform of the naval forces was carried out, which consisted both in the complete technical re-equipment of the fleet and in changing the conditions of service for officers and lower ranks.

In addition, in Russia at the end of the 19th century, tests of submarines began.

As a result, we can say that during the second half of the XIX century. Russia created a modern armored fleet for that time, which again found itself in 3rd place in the world in terms of military power.

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This article is from the History of the Russian Fleet project. |

origin of name

Battleship - short for "battleship". So in Russia in 1907 they named a new type of ships in memory of the old wooden sailing battleships. Initially, it was assumed that the new ships would revive linear tactics, but this was soon abandoned.

The advent of battleships

Mass production of heavy artillery guns was very difficult for a long time, therefore, until the 19th century, the largest of those installed on ships remained 32 ... 42-pounders. But working with them during loading and aiming was very complicated due to the lack of servos, which required a huge calculation for their maintenance: such guns weighed several tons each. Therefore, for centuries, ships tried to arm as many relatively small guns as possible, which were located along the side. At the same time, for reasons of strength, the length of a warship with a wooden hull is limited to about 70-80 meters, which also limited the length of the onboard battery. More than two or three dozen guns could only be placed in a few rows.

This is how warships arose with several gun decks (decks), carrying up to one and a half hundred guns of various calibers. It should be immediately noted what is called a deck and are taken into account when determining the rank of the ship only closed gun decks, above which there is another deck. For example, a two-decker ship (in the Russian fleet - two-way) usually had two closed gun decks and one open (upper) one.

The term "battleship" arose in the days of the sailing fleet, when in battle multi-deck ships began to line up - so that during their volley they were turned to the enemy by the side, because the simultaneous volley of all onboard guns caused the greatest damage to the target. This tactic was called linear. Building in a line during a naval battle was first used by the fleets of England and Spain at the beginning of the 17th century.

The first battleships appeared in the fleets of European countries at the beginning of the 17th century. They were lighter and shorter than the “ship-towers” ​​that existed at that time - galleons, which made it possible to quickly line up sideways to the enemy, and the bow of the next ship looked at the stern of the previous one.

The resulting multi-deck sailing ships of the line were the main means of warfare at sea for more than 250 years and allowed countries such as Holland, Great Britain and Spain to create huge trading empires.

The ship of the line "Saint Pavel" 90 (84?) - the cannon ship of the line "St. Pavel" was laid down at the Nikolaev shipyard on November 20, 1791 and launched on August 9, 1794. This ship entered the history of naval art, a brilliant operation of Russian sailors and naval commanders to capture a fortress on the island of Corfu in 1799 is associated with its name.

But the real revolution in shipbuilding, which marked a truly new class of ships, was made by the construction of the Dreadnought, completed in 1906.

The authorship of a new leap in the development of large artillery ships is attributed to the English Admiral Fisher. Back in 1899, commanding the Mediterranean squadron, he noted that firing with the main caliber can be carried out at a much greater distance if guided by splashes from falling shells. However, at the same time, it was necessary to unify all artillery in order to avoid confusion in determining the bursts of shells of the main caliber and medium-caliber artillery. Thus was born the concept of all-big-guns (only big guns), which formed the basis of a new type of ship. The effective firing range increased from 10-15 to 90-120 cables.

Other innovations that formed the basis of the new type of ships were centralized fire control from a single general ship post and the spread of electric drives, which accelerated the aiming of heavy guns. The guns themselves have also changed significantly, due to the transition to smokeless powder and new high-strength steels. Now only the lead ship could carry out sighting, and those following it in the wake were guided by bursts of its shells. Thus, building in wake columns again allowed in Russia in 1907 to return the term battleship. In the USA, England and France, the term "battleship" was not revived, and new ships continued to be called "battleship" or "cuirassé". In Russia, the "battleship" remained the official term, but in practice the abbreviation was established battleship.

The Russo-Japanese War finally established superiority in speed and long-range artillery as the main advantages in naval combat. There were talks about a new type of ships in all countries, in Italy Vittorio Cuniberti came up with the idea of ​​a new battleship, and in the USA the construction of ships of the Michigan type was planned, but the British managed to get ahead of everyone due to industrial superiority.

The first such ship was the English Dreadnought, whose name has become a household name for all ships of this class. The ship was built in record time, going on sea trials on September 2, 1906, a year and one day after the laying. A battleship with a displacement of 22,500 tons, thanks to the new type of power plant used for the first time on such a large ship, with a steam turbine, could reach speeds of up to 22 knots. On the Dreadnought, 10 305 mm caliber guns were installed (due to the haste, the two-gun turrets of the completed squadron battleships of 1904 were taken due to the haste), the second caliber was anti-mine - 24 76 mm caliber guns; medium-caliber artillery was absent. The reason for this was that the medium caliber was less long-range than the main one and often did not participate in battle, and guns with a caliber of 70-120 mm could be used against destroyers.

The appearance of the Dreadnought made all other large armored ships obsolete.

For Russia, which lost almost all of its Baltic and Pacific battleships in the Russo-Japanese War, the “dreadnought fever” that had begun turned out to be very useful: to the revival of the fleet could begin without taking into account the outdated armored armadas of potential opponents. And already in 1906, after interviewing the majority of naval officers - participants in the war with Japan, the Main Naval Staff developed a task for designing a new battleship for the Baltic Sea. And at the end of next year, after the approval of the so-called "small shipbuilding program" by Nicholas II, a worldwide competition was announced for the best design of a battleship for the Russian fleet.

The competition was attended by 6 Russian factories and 21 foreign firms, among which were such well-known companies as the English "Armstrong", "John Brown", "Vickers", the German "Vulkan", "Schihau", "Blom und Voss", the American "Krump", and others. Individuals also offered their projects - for example, engineers V. Cuniberti and L. Coromaldi. The best, according to the authoritative jury, was the development of the company "Blom und Voss", but for various reasons - primarily political - they decided to refuse the services of a potential adversary. As a result, the project of the Baltic Plant was in the first place, although evil tongues claimed that the presence of a powerful lobby in A.N. Krylov - both the chairman of the jury and the co-author of the winning project.

The main feature of the new battleship is the composition and placement of artillery. Since the 12-inch gun with a barrel length of 40 calibers, which was the main weapon of all Russian battleships, starting with the "Three Saints" and "Sisoy the Great", was already hopelessly outdated, it was decided to urgently develop a new 52-caliber gun. The Obukhov Plant successfully coped with the task, and the Petersburg Metal Plant in parallel designed a three-gun turret installation, which, compared to a two-gun mount, gave a 15 percent savings in weight per barrel.

Thus, Russian dreadnoughts received unusually powerful weapons - 12 305-mm guns in a side salvo, which made it possible to fire up to 24,471-kg shells per minute with an initial speed of 762 m / s. Obukhov guns for their caliber were rightfully considered the best in the world, surpassing both English and Austrian guns in ballistic characteristics, and even the famous Krupp guns, which were considered the pride of the German fleet.

However, excellent armament was, alas, the only advantage of the first Russian dreadnoughts of the "Sevastopol" type. In general, these ships should be recognized, to put it mildly, as unsuccessful. The desire to combine conflicting requirements in one project - powerful weapons, impressive protection, high speed and a solid range ", swimming - turned into an impossible task for the designers. I had to sacrifice something - and primarily armor. By the way, the mentioned survey of naval officers did a poor job here. Of course, those, having been under the destructive fire of the Japanese squadron, would like to go back to battle on fast ships with powerful artillery.As for protection, they paid more attention to the area of ​​​​armor than its thickness, without taking into account the progress in the development of shells and cannons. The experience of the Russo-Japanese War was not seriously weighed, and emotions prevailed over impartial analysis.

As a result, "Sevastopol" turned out to be very close (even outwardly!) To the representatives of the Italian shipbuilding school - fast, heavily armed, but too vulnerable to enemy artillery. "Project scared" - such an epithet was given to the first Baltic dreadnoughts by the naval historian M.M. Dementiev.

The weakness of armor protection was, unfortunately, not the only drawback of the Sevastopol-class battleships. In order to ensure the greatest cruising range, the project provided for a combined power plant with steam turbines for full speed and diesel engines for economic power. Alas, the use of diesel engines caused a number of technical problems, and from they were abandoned already at the stage of drawing development, only the original 4-shaft installation with 10 (!) Parsons turbines remained, and the actual cruising range with a normal fuel supply (816 tons of coal and 200 tons of oil) was only 1625 miles with a 13-knot course. one and a half, two, or even three times less than any of the Russian battleships, starting with Peter the Great. The so-called "reinforced" fuel supply (2500 tons of coal and 1100 tons of oil) hardly "reached" the cruising range to acceptable standards, but catastrophically worsened the rest of the parameters of the already overloaded ship. Seaworthiness also turned out to be useless, which was clearly confirmed by the only ocean voyage of a battleship of this type - we are talking about the transition of the Paris Commune (formerly Sevastopol) to the Black Sea in 1929. Well, there is nothing to say about habitability conditions: comfort for the crew was sacrificed in the first place. Perhaps worse than our sailors, only the Japanese, accustomed to the harsh environment, lived on board their battleships. Against the background of the above, the assertion of some domestic sources that battleships of the "Sevastopol" type were almost the best in the world, looks somewhat exaggerated.

All four of the first Russian dreadnoughts were laid down at St. Petersburg factories in 1909, and in the summer and autumn of 1911 they were launched. But the completion of the battleships afloat was delayed - many innovations in the design of ships, for which the domestic industry was not yet ready, had an effect. German contractors, who supplied various mechanisms and were by no means interested in the rapid strengthening of the Baltic Fleet, also contributed to the failure to meet deadlines. In the end, ships of the Sevastopol type entered service only in November-December 1914, when the fire of the world war was already raging with might and main.

Battleship "Sevastopol" (from March 31, 1921 to May 31, 1943 - "Paris Commune") 1909 - 1956

Laid down on June 3, 1909 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. On May 16, 1911, he was included in the lists of ships of the Baltic Fleet. Launched June 16, 1911. Entered service November 4, 1914. In August 1915, together with the battleship Gangut, she covered minelaying in the Irben Strait. It underwent a major overhaul in 1922-1923, 1924-1925 and 1928-1929 (modernization). November 22, 1929 left Kronstadt for the Black Sea. On January 18, 1930, he arrived in Sevastopol and became part of the Black Sea Naval Forces. From January 11, 1935, he was part of the Black Sea Fleet.

It underwent a major overhaul and modernization in 1933-1938. In 1941, anti-aircraft weapons were strengthened. Participated in the Great Patriotic War (defense of Sevastopol and the Kerch Peninsula in 1941-1942). On July 8, 1945 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. On July 24, 1954 it was reclassified into a training battleship, and on February 17, 1956 it was excluded from the lists of the Navy ships in connection with the transfer to the stock property department for dismantling and sale, on July 7, 1956 it was disbanded and in 1956 - 1957 it was divided on the basis of "Glavvtorchermet" in Sevastopol for metal

Displacement standard 23288 full 26900 tons

Dimensions 181.2x26.9x8.5 m in 1943 - 25500/30395 tons 184.8x32.5x9.65 m

Armament 12 - 305/52, 16 - 120/50, 2 - 75 mm AA, 1 - 47 mm AA, 4 PTA 457 mm
in 1943 12 - 305/52, 16 - 120/50, 6 - 76/55 76K, 16 - 37 mm 70K, 2x4 12.7 mm Vickers machine guns and 12 - 12.7 mm DShK

Reservations - Krupp armor belt 75 - 225 mm, mine artillery casemates - 127 mm,
towers of the main caliber from 76 to 203 mm, conning tower 254 mm, decks - 12-76 mm, bevels 50 mm
in 1943 - board - upper belt 125 + 37.5 mm, lower belt 225 + 50 mm, decks 37.5-75-25 mm,
traverses 50-125 mm, cabin 250/120 mm floor 70 mm, towers 305/203/152 mm

Gears 4 Parsons turbines up to 52,000 hp (in 1943 - 61,000 hp) 25 Yarrow boilers (in 1943 - 12 systems of the English Admiralty).

4 screws. Speed ​​23 knots Cruising range 1625 miles at 13 knots. Crew 31 officer 28 conductors and 1065 lower ranks. In 1943, speed 21.5 knots Cruising range 2160 miles at 14 knots.

Crew 72 officers 255 foremen and 1219 sailors

Battleship "Gangut" (since June 27, 1925 - "October Revolution") 1909 - 1956

Battleship "Poltava" (since November 7, 1926 - "Frunze") 1909 - 1949

The battleship "Petropavlovsk" (from March 31, 1921 to May 31, 1943 - "Marat")

(from November 28, 1950 - "Volkhov") 1909 - 1953

The information received that Turkey is also going to replenish its fleet with dreadnoughts demanded that Russia take adequate measures in the southern direction as well. In May 1911, the tsar approved a program for the renewal of the Black Sea Fleet, which provided for the construction of three battleships of the Empress Maria type. The Sevastopol was chosen as a prototype, but taking into account the characteristics of the theater of operations, the project was thoroughly revised: the proportions of the hull were made more complete, speed and power mechanisms were reduced, but the armor was significantly strengthened, the weight of which now reaches 7045 tons (31% of the design displacement versus 26% on the "Sevastopol"). Moreover, the size of the armor plates was adjusted to the spacing of the frames - so that they serve as an additional support that prevents the plate from being pressed The normal supply of fuel also increased slightly - 1200 tons of coal and 500 tons of oil, which provided a more or less decent cruising range (about 3000 miles of economic progress). But the Black Sea dreadnoughts suffered more from overload than their Baltic counterparts. The matter was aggravated by the that due to an error in the calculations, "Empress Maria" received a noticeable trim on the bow, which further worsened the already unimportant seaworthiness; In order to somehow rectify the situation, the ammunition of the two main caliber bow turrets had to be reduced to 70 rounds per barrel instead of 100 rounds per state. And on the third battleship "Emperor Alexander III" for the same purpose, two bow 130-mm guns were removed. In fact, ships of the "Empress Maria" type were more balanced battleships than their predecessors, which, having a longer range and better seaworthiness , could be considered more like battlecruisers. However, when designing the third series of dreadnoughts, cruising tendencies again prevailed - apparently, our admirals were haunted by the ease with which the faster Japanese squadron covered the head of the Russian wake column ...

Battleship "Empress Maria" 1911 - 1916

at the Russud plant in Nikolaev, launched on October 19, 1913, entered service on June 23, 1915.
He died on October 7, 1916 in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol from the explosion of cellars of 130-mm shells.
By May 31, 1919, it was raised and put into the Northern Dock of Sevastopol, and in June 1925 it was sold to the Sevmorzavod for dismantling and cutting into metal, and on November 21, 1925 it was excluded from the lists of ships of the RKKF. Dismantled for metal in 1927.

Battleship "Empress Catherine the Great" (until June 14, 1915 - "Catherine II") (after April 16, 1917 - "Free Russia") 1911 - 1918

On October 11, 1911, it was included in the lists of the Black Sea Fleet ships and on October 17, 1911, it was laid down at the Naval plant (ONZiV) in Nikolaev, launched on May 24, 1914, and entered service on October 5, 1915.
On April 30, 1918, he left Sevastopol for Novorossiysk, where on June 18, 1918, by decision of the Soviet government, in order to avoid capture by the German invaders, he was sunk by torpedoes fired from the destroyer Kerch.
In the early 1930s, EPRON carried out work to raise the ship. All artillery of the Main Command and the UK was raised, but then there was an explosion of the main battery ammunition, as a result of which the hull broke under water into several parts.

Battleship "Emperor Alexander III" (since April 29, 1917 - "Will") (after October 1919 - "General Alekseev") 1911 - 1936

October 11, 1911 was included in the lists of ships of the Black Sea Fleet and October 17, 1911 was laid
at the Russud plant in Nikolaev, launched on April 2, 1914, entered service on June 15, 1917.
December 16, 1917 became part of the Red Black Sea Fleet.
On April 30, 1918, he left Sevastopol for Novorossiysk, but on June 19, 1918 he returned to Sevastopol again, where he was captured by German troops and on October 1, 1918 included in their Navy on the Black Sea.
On November 24, 1918, it was captured from the Germans by the Anglo-French invaders and soon taken to the port of Izmir on the Sea of ​​Marmara. From October 1919 he was part of the White Guard naval forces of the South of Russia, on November 14, 1920 he was taken away by the Wrangel troops during the evacuation from Sevastopol to Istanbul and on December 29, 1920 he was interned by the French authorities in Bizerte (Tunisia).
On October 29, 1924, it was recognized by the French government as the property of the USSR, but due to the difficult international situation, it was not returned. In the late 1920s, it was sold by Rudmetalltorg to a French private company for scrapping, and in 1936 it was cut into pieces in Brest (France) for metal.

The next four ships for the Baltic, according to the “Program of Reinforced Shipbuilding” adopted in 1911, were originally created as battlecruisers, the lead of which was named Izmail.

Battlecruiser "Izmail" on the slipway of the Baltic Shipyard a week before launch, 1915

The new ships were the largest ever built in Russia. According to the original project, their displacement was to be 32.5 thousand tons, but during construction it increased even more. Huge speed was achieved by increasing the power of steam turbines to 66 thousand hp. (and when boosted - up to 70 thousand hp). Booking was significantly increased, and in terms of the power of weapons, the Izmail surpassed all foreign counterparts: the new 356-mm guns were supposed to have a barrel length of 52 calibers, while abroad this figure did not exceed 48 calibers. The weight of the projectile of the new guns was 748 kg , initial speed - 855 m / s Later, when, due to the protracted construction, it was necessary to further increase the firepower of the dreadnoughts, a project was developed to re-equip Izmail with 8 and even 10 406-mm guns,

In December 1912, all 4 Izmails were officially laid down on stocks that were freed up after the launch of the Sevastopol-class battleships. The construction was already in full swing when the results of full-scale tests on the execution of the former Chesma were received, and these results plunged the shipbuilders into a state of shock. cable, and at long firing distances it deforms the shirt located behind the armor, violating the tightness of the hull. Both armored decks turned out to be too thin - the shells not only pierced them, but also crushed them into small fragments, causing even greater destruction ... It became obvious that the meeting of the "Sevastopol" at sea with any of the German dreadnoughts did not bode well for our sailors: one an accidental hit in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ammunition cellars will inevitably lead to disaster. The Russian command realized this back in 1913, and that is why it did not release the Baltic dreadnoughts into the sea, preferring to keep them in Helsingfors as a reserve behind the mine-artillery position that blocked the Gulf of Finland ...

The worst thing about this situation was that nothing could be fixed. There was nothing to think about making any fundamental changes to the 4 Baltic and 3 Black Sea battleships under construction. On the Izmails, they limited themselves to improving the systems for attaching armor plates, strengthening the set behind the armor, introducing a 3-inch wooden lining under the belt and changing the weight of horizontal armor on the upper and middle decks. The only ship on which the experience of shooting the Chesma was taken into account in full , became "Emperor Nicholas I" - the fourth battleship for the Black Sea.

The decision to build this ship came just before the start of the war. It is curious that it was officially laid down twice: first in June 1914, and then in April of the next, in the presence of the tsar. The new battleship was an improved version of the "Empress Maria", but with identical armament, it had large dimensions and significantly enhanced armor protection. The weight of the armor, even without taking into account the towers, now reached 9417 tons, that is, 34.5% of the design displacement. But it was not only quantity, but also in quality: in addition to strengthening the support jacket, all armor plates were connected by vertical dowels of the "double dovetail" type, which turned the main belt into a monolithic 262nd

Battleship "Emperor Nicholas I" (since April 16, 1917 - "Democracy")

1914 - 1927

It was laid down on June 9, 1914 (officially on April 15, 1915) at the Naval plant in Nikolaev and on July 2, 1915 was added to the lists of ships of the Black Sea Fleet, launched on October 5, 1916, but on October 11, 1917 due to a low degree of readiness weapons, mechanisms and equipment removed from construction and laid up. In June 1918, it was captured by German troops and October 1, 1918 included in their fleet on the Black Sea. The Germans planned to use the ship as a base for seaplanes, but due to a lack of personnel, these plans were abandoned.
After the liberation of Nikolaev by parts of the Red Army, the battleship was laid up. On April 11, 1927, it was sold to Sevmorzavod for scrapping and on June 28, 1927, it was sent in tow from Nikolaev to Sevastopol for cutting into metal.

Battle cruiser "Borodino" 1912 - 1923

Laid down on December 6, 1912 at the New Admiralty in St. Petersburg. Launched on July 19, 1915.

Battle cruiser "Navarin" 1912 - 1923

Laid down on December 6, 1912 at the New Admiralty in St. Petersburg.
Launched November 9, 1916
On August 21, 1923, it was sold to a German shipbreaking company and on October 16 it was prepared for towing to Hamburg, where the ship was soon cut into metal.

Battlecruiser "Kinburn" 1912 - 1923

Laid down on December 6, 1912 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg.
Launched October 30, 1915
On August 21, 1923, it was sold to a German shipbreaking company and on October 16 it was prepared for towing to Kiel, where the ship was soon cut into metal.

The fate of most Russian dreadnoughts turned out to be rather sad. Battleships of the "Sevastopol" type stood on raids throughout the First World War, which did not at all contribute to raising the morale of the crews. On the contrary, it was the battleships that became the center of revolutionary ferment in the fleet - anarchists and socialist-revolutionaries enjoyed the greatest authority here. During the civil war, battleships were twice in battle : in June 1919, "Petropavlovsk" shelled the rebellious fort "Krasnaya Gorka" for several days in a row, having used up 568 shells of the main caliber, and in March 1921, "Petropavlovsk" and "Sevastopol" found themselves in the center of the anti-Bolshevik Kronstadt revolt, fought a duel with coastal batteries, having received with a number of hits.Nevertheless, they were restored and, together with the Gangut, served in the Red Fleet for a long time. But the fourth ship - "Poltava" - was not lucky. Two fires - the first in 1919, and the second in 1923 - made the battleship completely incapacitated, although the burned-out hull stood at the Naval training ground for another two decades, exciting Soviet designers to all kinds of semi-fantastic projects its restoration - up to turning into an aircraft carrier.

The Black Sea dreadnoughts, unlike the Baltic ones, were used much more actively, although only one of them, Empress Catherine the Great, met the German-Turkish Goeben in December 1915 in a real battle. The latter, however, used his advantage in speed and went to the Bosphorus, although he was already covered by volleys of the Russian battleship.

The most famous and at the same time mysterious tragedy occurred on the morning of October 7, 1916 on the inner roadstead of Sevastopol, a fire in the forward ammunition cellar, and then a series of powerful explosions turned the Empress Maria into a pile of twisted iron. The victims of the disaster were 228 crew members.

“Ekaterina” outlived her sister by less than two years. Renamed “Free Russia”, she eventually ended up in Novorossiysk, where, in accordance with Lenin’s order, she was sunk on June 18, 1918 by four torpedoes from the destroyer “Kerch” .. .

Emperor Alexander III” entered service in the summer of 1917 already under the name “Will” and soon “went from hand to hand”: the Andreevsky flag on the hafel of his mast was replaced by Ukrainian, then German, English and again Andreevsky, when Sevastopol was again in the hands of the Volunteer Army . Renamed again - this time to "General Alekseev", - the battleship remained the flagship of the White Fleet on the Black Sea until the end of 1920, and then went into exile to Bizerte, where in the mid-30s it was dismantled for metal. It is curious that the beautiful The French retained the 12-inch cannons of the Russian dreadnought, and presented them to Finland, which fought against the USSR, in 1939. The first 8 guns reached their destination, but the last 4, which were on board the Nina steamer, arrived in Bergen almost simultaneously with the start of the Nazi invasion to Norway. So the guns from the former Volya ended up in the hands of the Germans, and they used them to create their Atlantic Wall, equipping the Mirus battery on the island of Guernsey with them. In the summer of 1944, the guns first opened fire on the Allied ships, and in September they even achieved a direct hit on an American cruiser. And the remaining 8 guns of "General Alekseev" fell into the hands of the Red Army in 1944 and were "repatriated" after a long journey around Europe. One of these guns was preserved as a museum exhibit of Krasnaya Gorka.

But our most advanced battleships - "Izmail" and "Nicholas I" - never had a chance to enter service. The revolution, civil war and subsequent devastation made the completion of ships unrealistic. In 1923, the Borodino, Kinburn and Navarin hulls were sold for scrapping to Germany, where they were taken in tow. Nicholas I, renamed Democracy, was dismantled for metal in Sevastopol in 1927-1928. The Izmail corps lived the longest, which again they wanted to turn into an aircraft carrier, but in the early 30s it shared the fate of its brothers. On the other hand, the guns of the battleships (including 6 "Izmail" 14-inch guns) served for a long time on railway and stationary installations of Soviet coastal batteries.