Celebration date.

Previously, Naval Navigator's Day was celebrated on the days of the spring (03/21) and autumn (09/23) equinoxes. It is on these days that you can accurately and without tools determine the cardinal points - the Sun at any point rises strictly in the east, and sets, respectively, in the west. But since 1997, in accordance with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, the Day of the Navigator of the Navy has been celebrated on January 25, the day the navigation service of the Russian Navy was founded.

Who is celebrating.

The event is celebrated by naval navigators: assistant captains (skippers), ship captains, students of naval schools and all those who have connected their lives with this exciting, responsible and dangerous profession.

History of the holiday.

The need to train domestic captains and navigators arose with the beginning of the construction of a navy in Russia. The implementation of this idea was the creation in Moscow of the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in the Sukharev Tower. In the decree of Peter the Great of January 25, 1701, it was said: "To be mathematical and navigational, that is, nautical cunning arts of teaching." This day is the official date of foundation of the navigation service of the Russian fleet.

It should be added that the Charter was issued by the same Peter, according to which “Navigators are not allowed into taverns, because they, boorish offspring, get drunk without delay and arrange a brawl.” - “During the battle, do not let the navigators on the upper deck, because they, with their vile appearance, upset the whole battle.” These were the articles in the charter of Peter the Great. But this is so, by the way, and not for the holiday.

Many famous naval commanders began their military service as a ship's navigator. Among them are the admirals who laid the foundation for the modern fleet of Russia - S. Gorshkov, V. Mikhaylin, A. Mikhailovsky, and many others. In the history of great geographical discoveries, the names of navigators are on a par with commanders of ships and admirals. Only in Primorsky Krai, the names of navigators of the Russian fleet are immortalized in the names of 64 capes, 12 islands, 3 peninsulas, 9 bays.

The profession of a ship's and flagship navigator is considered especially difficult and responsible, and also, as it is written in the Rules for the organization of navigation service on ships of the Navy, "the work of a navigator in a campaign is creative." Moreover, today we are talking about the navigation service not only of the Navy, but of the entire Russian fleet.
For the first time in its history, the Navy celebrated its professional holiday on January 25, 1997, in accordance with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, and in 2001 the navigation service of the domestic fleet celebrated its 300th anniversary.

On the profession of a navigator.

The navigator (translated from Dutch - “man at the wheel”) is a first-class specialist who knows how to competently work with the appropriate equipment. If necessary, he can easily cope with the task without him. The navigator not only monitors the operation of devices that can fail at the most inopportune moment, and compares the adequacy of the readings. Together with the captain, he makes decisions on which the fate of the crew members depends.

This specialist must have an extensive knowledge base in various fields: geography and topography, cartography, radio electronics and shipbuilding, meteorology and others. It requires the ability to control oneself in critical situations, the presence of analytical creative thinking and the ability to quickly assess the situation.

Every year on January 25, our country celebrates a professional holiday - the Day of the Navigator of the Navy of the Russian Federation. This is a professional holiday for all Russian military personnel whose activities are directly related to laying the course of ships, vessels and aviation of the Russian Navy, as well as monitoring the correct operation of navigational instruments and calculating movements. Sometimes this holiday is also called Navigator's Day.

Interesting is the fact that until relatively recently the Naval Navigator's Day was celebrated in our country twice a year. The dates of the spring (March 20-21) and autumn (September 22-23) equinoxes were chosen for the celebration. It was on these days that it was easy to determine the cardinal directions without the use of special tools and instruments - the Sun rose strictly in the east, and set, respectively, in the west. This practice continued until 1997. Changes to the date of the celebration were made by Fleet Admiral Felix Nikolaevich Gromov, who at that time held the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, he signed the corresponding order "On the introduction of annual holidays and professional days in the specialty" on July 15, 1996. In accordance with the order, the Day of the Navigator of the Navy of the Russian Federation was to be celebrated on January 25th.

It should be noted that the date of the celebration was not chosen by chance. It was on this day, January 25, 1701, that Peter I issued a Decree, which, in particular, noted: “To be mathematical and navigational, that is, nautical cunning arts of teaching.” To implement the will of the king in the country, the "School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences" was formed, a new educational institution was located in Moscow, in the Sukharev Tower. Today this day is rightly considered officially the date of foundation of the navigation service of the Russian fleet.

The very word navigator came to us from Holland (stuurman, from stuur - "steering wheel" and man - "man"). Literally, it could be translated as a person behind the wheel. This definition quite accurately reflects the meaning of this profession. At the same time, several centuries ago, and today, the navigator has a huge responsibility, since at sea a ship can always encounter unforeseen circumstances. Of course, modern equipment has greatly simplified the work of navigators, but they still need to be able to do their job without modern electronic equipment, which can fail for various reasons.

Peter I, who laid the foundations of the Russian fleet, was well aware of the importance of navigational service. At the same time, the duties of the navigator and navigator of the ship were documented in 1720, they were contained in the first Naval Charter for Russia. On the ship, depending on its armament (number of guns), it was necessary to have 1-2 navigators, who had 1-2 sub-navigators each. For example, on battleships with 50-90 guns, the state was supposed to have two navigators and two sub-navigators, if there were 32 guns - 1 navigator and 2 sub-navigators each, 14-16 guns - 1 navigator and 1 sub-navigator each. At the same time, at that time, the position of navigator in the fleet was in seniority between the skipper and the boatswain. On navigation issues, the navigator reported directly to the commander of the ship.

The navigators were obliged to receive the necessary supplies from the navigator's unit (compasses, magnets for magnetizing compass arrows, lots, hourglasses, etc.). On a battleship in those years, it was supposed to have 8 magnetic compasses at once and up to 10 hourglasses of different duration: from half a minute to half an hour, inclusive. At the end of the campaign, the navigators reported to the captain on the expenditure of supplies, after which they handed over the remnants to warehouses (shops). At the same time, navigators had to have their own atlases of marine navigation charts, navigational aids and instruments (quadrants, hailstones, nocturnals, compasses, etc.). Also, navigators were required to keep compasses in order, periodically check them, and watch the hourglass.

Immediately before the sea trip, the navigator was charged with inspecting the steering wheel. At sea, navigators were responsible for analytical calculations, recording in their journal the course, drift of the ship, distance traveled by the ship, compass declination, sea current, wind, and a host of other information. When sailing near the coast, navigators were obliged to study it, mapping all unfamiliar shoals, rocks and large stones on maps. When the vessel was anchored, they were engaged in controlling the time of its throwing depending on the drift, and after anchoring, they monitored the movements of the ship.

At one time, many well-known Russian naval commanders began their military career precisely from the position of a ship's navigator. Among them were admirals who laid the foundation for the modern fleet of our country, such as S. Gorshkov, V. Mikhailin, A. Mikhailovsky and many others. In the history of great geographical discoveries, the names of navigators were on a par with the names of ship commanders. For example, in Primorsky Krai alone, 64 capes, 12 islands, 9 bays and 3 peninsulas were named after the navigators of the Russian fleet, thus their names were immortalized for history.

More than three hundred years have passed since the appearance of the fleet in Russia, since then shipbuilding, science and maritime affairs have come a long way, but the work of a navigator is still in demand and revered in the fleet. According to the Chief Navigator of the Navy of the Russian Federation, Rear Admiral Eduard Luik, the navigator specialty, which appeared in our country simultaneously with the appearance of the first warships, is in high demand these days, this specialty can be called one of the main naval specialties in the Russian Navy. The admiral emphasizes that without a navigator even in our time it is impossible to imagine either the movement of the ship or its actions to use the standard weapons systems on board. In conditions when Russian warships and submarines are once again solving the important tasks of the naval presence in the World Ocean, the role and responsibility that falls on the shoulders of naval navigators is only increasing.

As of 2017, the navigation service of the Russian Navy consisted of about 3,000 specialists, about 1,000 of them are officers. There are also more than 200 faculty members of various Russian naval educational institutions. About 50 of them have an academic degree, and more than 30 teachers have an academic title. Today, the navigation service of the Russian Navy includes more than 10 training units, the main of which are the departments of the navigation service of the Navy at the Naval Academy, the navigation departments at higher naval educational institutions located in St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Kaliningrad and Vladivostok, as well as in the training centers of the Russian Navy. Today, the navigator service of the Russian fleet has at its disposal both special simulators for the maritime training of future navigators and modern training laboratories. Also, several training ships and about 10 training boats are actively used for naval training of navigators.

At the same time, the prestige and demand for the navigator's profession are still great. This is confirmed by the rather high competition for admission to study. So in 2016, the competition in the Russian naval educational institutions for the navigational specialty was 3.5 people per place. The Russian fleet is interested in the qualitative selection of candidates for admission to the first course in navigational specialty. The quality of the selection and training of future navigators directly affects the successful fulfillment of the assigned tasks by warships and support vessels of the Russian Navy, without various incidents and navigational accidents, which at sea can have the most sad consequences for both the ship and its crew.

“The training of navigators for the Navy of the Russian Federation today also takes into account the active process of updating the fleet within the framework of the State Shipbuilding Program, receiving new surface and submarine ships of a new generation into the fleet, equipping the navy with new weapons, modern navigation systems and complexes. The ships of the Russian fleet are increasingly being assigned responsible tasks that are directly related to operations as part of heterogeneous, interspecific and homogeneous groupings. All this requires specialists of the navigational services of all Russian fleets and the Caspian Flotilla to have an even higher level of professional and practical training,” said Rear Admiral Eduard Luik. According to him, navigation support for the fulfillment of assigned tasks at sea is becoming even more important these days, since Russian ships are increasingly appearing in various areas of the World Ocean, often still poorly understood.

On January 25, the Military Review team congratulates all navigators of the Russian Navy and veterans of the navigation service on their professional holiday. Navigator's Day of the Russian Navy is a holiday for all people who, on duty, have performed or continue to perform very important tasks to ensure the navigational safety of surface ships and submarines, as well as various support vessels for the Russian fleet in various regions of our planet - from the hot tropics to icy arctic latitudes.

Based on materials from open sources

On January 25, Navigator's Day is celebrated in the Navy. Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Korolev congratulated the specialists of the navigation services of fleets, ships, submarines and naval support vessels on this date. the oceans, equipping the Russian Navy with warships, nuclear submarines of new generations puts forward increased demands on the specialists of the navigation service of the Navy, who are directly responsible both for the navigational safety of navigation and for the fulfillment of tasks by ships for their intended purpose. In order to train high-class navigational specialists for the Navy, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the High Command of the Navy, appropriate changes have been made to their training programs, allowing them to train highly professional personnel in this most important specialty, taking into account the entry into the composition of new ships of various classes, nuclear submarines of the Borey project , "Borey-A", "Ash". Admiral Vladimir Korolev emphasized that "largely thanks to the high professional training of ship and submarine navigators, the most important tasks of the actions of the Navy forces in the Mediterranean Sea, the successful use of high-precision weapons by ships and submarines on objects of terrorist groups on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. High professionalism is shown by navigators of ships performing tasks in the Arctic zone. ”The contribution of navigators is also noticeable in the fact that over several years the intensity of combat training in the Navy has increased by 1.7 times, the wear and tear of crews of ships and submarines by 2.9 times , and the number of combat services of the ships of the Navy increased by more than 2 times. The efficiency and quality of tasks performed by navigational specialists have increased due to the development of navigation aids. The share of modern marine navigation and oceanography facilities has more than doubled over the past few years,” said the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Vladimir Korolev, congratulating the navigators of the Navy on their professional holiday. Today, the Naval Navigation Service of the Navy has about 3,000 naval specialists, more than 1000 of which are officers. The chief navigator of the Navy, Rear Admiral Eduard Luik, is in charge of the navigator service of the Navy. More than 200 faculty members are involved in the training of future navigators in the specialty at the naval educational institutions of the VUNTS of the Navy, more than 50 of which have an academic degree, and more than 30 are scientists. rank. More than 10 training units are directly related to the navigation service of the Navy. These are the departments of the Navigational Service of the Navy at the Naval Academy. N.G. Kuznetsov, departments of navigation in higher naval educational institutions in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Sevastopol and Kaliningrad. Also, the training of specialists of technical means of navigation (TSK) is carried out in Vladivostok, St. Petersburg, and in the training centers of the Navy. At the disposal of the navigation service - training laboratories and classrooms, special simulators. For maritime training of future navigators, several training ships and 10 training boats are used.

Throughout the entire period of its existence, humanity has revealed an unconscious need for control. The primitive communities had leaders, the army certainly acquired a commander in chief, and so on. With the advent of the first land vehicles, the need for total control of the situation increased even more, since it is one thing to be responsible for the people, sitting in the palace, and quite another being inside a working mechanism. When people invented the ship in order to develop sea roads, the need for a managerial function was supplemented by the obligatory possession of knowledge in the field of spatial orientation. This is how the profession of a navigator appeared, whose representatives celebrate their main holiday on January 25, the Day of the Navigator of the Russian Navy.

History reference

The sea evokes a lot of associations: the cry of seagulls, swimming, splashes shimmering in the sun, white foam of the waves ... But for ordinary people, for people associated with the state by military service, the vast expanse of water is nothing more than a possible battlefield, as well as a kind of replacement of the "firmament of the earth" under the bottom of the cruiser, destroyer and other equipment. For a navigator, the sea is a native element, because over the years of sailing, a person leading a ship through winds and distances to the target manages to get used to pitching, and to the cold unchanging landscape outside the porthole, and even to the idea that the machine for which he is responsible limits the opportunity to be in a standard environment in conditions of imminent danger.

Of course, there have been shipmasters in Russia ever since the navy appeared. But this fact was not officially fixed anywhere, and no specialized training was practiced for this profession. The celebration of the navigator was traditionally associated with the natural dates of the best orientation in the location of the cardinal points without the use of any additional devices, namely, with the autumn and spring equinoxes.

Only in 1997, the leadership of the Navy decided to establish a holiday in honor of the glorious workaholic navigators. Why was January 25 chosen to celebrate the Day of the Navigator of the Russian Navy? The fact is that this day, however, more than three centuries ago, at the suggestion of Emperor Peter the Great, became the moment of the emergence of an indispensable navigational unit. In the mouth of the crowned person, the order sounded as follows: "To be mathematical and navigational, that is, nautical cunning arts of teaching." By the way, the same Peter made special instructions, issued in the form of a set of mandatory rules of conduct for subjects occupying a place directly at the ship's helm. Thus, the emperor, apparently, wanted to convey to the specialists managing the ships his absolute conviction that a person who conducts a combat vehicle on the high seas must serve as an exemplary example for the entire team.

A navigator is the first step on a long ladder of a military career, as evidenced by numerous examples from the history of the Navy. Well-known admirals of Russia, long before taking up their high and more responsible position, carefully studied navigation charts for years and determined weather changes according to special natural features. The attitude of the Russian people towards navigators has always been exceptionally respectful, otherwise the geographical objects of our country would not have their names, and there are more than 80 of them in Primorye alone.

Profession navigator of the Russian Navy

On this winter professional holiday on January 25, the Day of the Navigator of the Russian Navy, I would like to say about the importance of this difficult military profession - the navigator.

The word navigator is of Dutch origin, meaning literally "man at the wheel". This concept fully reflects the meaning of this difficult specialty. The volume of skills and knowledge that a navigator is simply obliged to possess puts his profession on a par with pilots and submarine captains. A great responsibility lies on the shoulders of the ship's manager - there are too many dangers and unforeseen circumstances in the sea.

Of course, new generation navigation instruments greatly facilitate the work of a modern sea navigator, however, there are a lot of issues that cannot be solved with the help of electronic technology alone. So, it often happens that information about the coordinates of the vessel, "reported" by the interactive map, does not coincide with the true alignment. Then the good old paper analogue comes to the rescue, but for its application it is necessary to know the geographical language. This is just an example. In reality, situations that require the navigator to directly apply the baggage of his knowledge are encountered almost at every turn. Therefore, in order to avoid disruption of the service and combat missions facing the ship’s crew, it is necessary without difficulty, in which case, to determine the cardinal directions in the absence of a compass, and to lead the ship through the so-called “narrowness”, and to cope with the indignation of nature. Pessimists and squishy people in the navy have nothing to do - it needs people who are strong in spirit, physically strong, brave, quick-witted, with a quick reaction. An important quality of navigators, required in the conditions of the specifics of work, is a creative approach to business and a tendency to improvise. And, of course, to become a ship's manager, one should have the appropriate education: a navigator's specialty.

What to gift?

If in your immediate environment there is a person who performs the duties of a military navigator of a surface transport, in addition to congratulations, you are faced with the quite natural problem of choosing a gift for the hero of the holiday on January 25, the Day of Navigator of the Russian Navy. The profession of a ship manager is associated with the sea and is a harsh male occupation, very useful to all the Russian people. Therefore, give the navigator a souvenir that combines romance and practicality. Let it be, for example, a miniature spyglass, a magnifying glass, an unusual compass or an ornate wall barometer. A gift for Navigator's Day of the Russian Navy with a twist will be a model of a frigate that glows in the dark, and an original souvenir is a globe bar. And you can not strain your imagination and hand over a photo calendar in the appropriate style or a photo album with the image of the coat of arms of the Navy on the cover - the recipient will be pleased to have such a little thing.

Souvenirs and household items seem too mundane for you to be a gift for the Navigator's Day of the Russian Navy? Then you will have to seek help from a mysterious family of natural minerals - precious stones. Just imagine how surprised the one for whom you are preparing a real surprise for the holiday on January 25 will be! The only thing to keep in mind before going to a jewelry store is to remember or inquire about the zodiac sign of the person being honored.

An amulet for a navigator can become an aquamarine jewelry that keeps those traveling at sea from all sorts of troubles; sapphire, which diverts shipwrecks from sailors; emerald - a symbol of those who surf the ocean.

The Day of the Navigator of the Navy is celebrated on January 25 by our entire vast country: from Krasnodar to Kamchatka. It is extremely important that courageous navigators feel the support of both close people and the Russian people as a whole - this will become a powerful incentive for them to further work for the good of the Fatherland!