origin of name

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

The advent of battleships

The 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 really marked new class ships, built 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 guidance 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, having interviewed 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 best project battleship for the Russian fleet.

The competition was attended by 6 Russian factories and 21 foreign firms, among which were such famous companies, like the English "Armstrong", "John Brown", "Vickers", the German "Volcano", "Sheehau", "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 firm "Blom und Voss", but according to different 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 considered, to put it mildly, unsuccessful. The desire to combine conflicting requirements in one project - powerful weapons, impressive protection, high speed movement and a solid range, swimming - has become an impossible task for designers. I had to sacrifice something - and first of all 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 into battle again on high-speed ships with powerful artillery. As for protection, they paid more attention to the armor area than to its thickness, without taking into account the progress in the development of shells and guns. 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 also contributed to the failure to meet deadlines, supplying various mechanisms and not at all interested in the rapid strengthening of the Baltic Fleet. 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. Passed 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 it was strengthened anti-aircraft weapons. 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 according to the state. And on the third battleship "Emperor Alexander III”For the same purpose, two bow 130-mm guns were removed. In fact, the Empress Maria-class ships were more balanced battleships than their predecessors, which, if they had a longer range and better seaworthiness, could be considered more like battlecruisers. However, when designing the third series of dreadnoughts, cruising trends 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 the artillery of the Civil Code and the UK was raised, but then there was an explosion of the ammunition of the Civil Code, 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, Izmail surpassed all foreign counterparts: 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 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 does 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 included in 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, she was sold to a German shipbreaking company and on October 16 she 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 spent 568 shells of the main caliber, and in March 1921 they found themselves in the center of the anti-Bolshevik Kronstadt rebellion"Petropavlovsk" and "Sevastopol" fought a duel with coastal batteries, while receiving 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, the Poltava, was not lucky. Two fires - the first in 1919, and the second in 1923 - made the battleship completely incapable of combat, although the burned-out hull stood at the Naval training ground for another two decades, inciting Soviet designers to all kinds of semi-fantastic projects for 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 the subsequent devastation made the completion of the 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. But 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.

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, 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 that the admiral did not bother to maintain secrecy - on the morning of May 2, thousands of soldiers, sailors, civilian residents of Port Arthur and even foreign military attaches 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, 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 destroyer Akatsuki died on the mines of the Amur, and later it turned out that the explosion of the 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 nighttime 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 ship.

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, remained on seabed or the Japanese got 17 battleships, 11 cruisers and 26 destroyers with a displacement of about 300 thousand tons. 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 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 half-battalion of destroyers created and trained by Essen. On November 17, 1914, the 9875-ton German armored cruiser Friedrich Karl blew up and sank at their barrier. What's up naval battles- then, 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 delivered 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 of which could not be repaired before the end of the war) are also of no interest to anyone. Postponing the fall of Port Arthur, the destruction of vehicles with siege artillery by Vladivostok cruisers - 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 precise 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.

In the first half of the XIX century. The basis of progress in science, technology, and economics was the use of a new type of energy - steam energy. The further development of the fleet was due to achievements in the field of metallurgy and rolled metal. Especially - the invention of armor plates for use in iron shipbuilding

At the beginning of the XIX century. in Russia began the construction of steam ships. The first such vessel in Russia, the Elizaveta, was designed and built in 1815 by Karl Byrd, the owner of an iron and copper foundry in St. Petersburg. With only 4 liters. with. power, the machine gave the steamboat (as the steamboat used to be called) a speed of about 9 miles per hour.

Russia's first steam ship "Elizaveta"

In 1823, about a dozen steamboats were built on the Volga, including those with two machines with a total capacity of up to 40 hp. with. And in 1843, in St. Petersburg, a steamship company "On the Volga" was formed, which had several steamships with machines of 250-400 hp. with. capacity ("Volga", "Hercules", "Samson", "Kama", "Oka", etc.), dozens of heavy barges. This society lasted until 1918.

Diesel ships

In 1903, the Sormovsky plant in Nizhny Novgorod built the first diesel motor ship for the Volga Shipping Company - a self-propelled tanker barge "Vandal" with a displacement of 1150 tons, with three diesel engines of 120 liters each. with., and diesel-electric transmission to the propellers. "Vandal" became the world's first diesel ship and diesel-electric ship at the same time.

The first motor ship in the world is the Vandal oil barge.

By 1913 in different countries There were more than 80 diesel ships in the world, 70 of them were in Russia. As for steamships, by 1913, through the efforts of all six shipping companies of the country and the government, their number was increased to 1016 (with a total displacement of 487 thousand tons), and sailboats became 2577 (257 thousand brt). The Russian fleet ranked 8th in the world after the fleets of England, Germany, the USA, Norway, France, Japan, and Italy. At the same time, own steamships, accounting for 65% of the commercial fleet of Russia, could provide only 8% of sea freight.

Creation of the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade (ROPiT)

In January 1856, the adjutant wing N.A. Arkas and well-known entrepreneur-shipowner N.A. Novoselsky. They proposed to create a commercial shipping joint-stock company on the Black Sea with a large number of modern steamships for cargo and passenger traffic At the same time, they specified that in the event of war, these ships could be used for the military transport needs of the country.

On August 3, 1856, Emperor Alexander II approved the Charter of the ROPiT ( Russian Society shipping and trade). Thus was born what later became the largest Russian shipping company.

By 1860, the Society had more than 40 steamships, and 30 of them had great prospects: all of them were in operation for no more than 3 years.

Steamer ROPiT "Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna" stands at the pier in Saratov.
Approximately 1910 (Photo from the archive of Alexei Platonov)

Since 1863, the Society, replenishing the composition of the fleet, began to build new screw post-passenger steamers and wheeled cargo-passenger ships of mixed navigation. In addition to Lazarev, Kornilov, Nakhimov, Chikhachev, Grand Duke Mikhail, Grand Duchess Olga and General Kotzebue, by 1870 another 11 steam schooners for cargo transportation across the Sea of ​​Azov were put into operation.

With the construction of the Suez Canal (1869), new prospects opened up, and ROPiTa ships began to go to India, China, Far East(Vladivostok).

Creation of the "Volunteer Fleet"

In the period 1873–1883. sharply increased public attention to the needs of the fleet. In this regard, a Society was founded in Moscow to promote Russian commercial shipbuilding (for patriotic donations). The idea of ​​creating the "Voluntary Fleet" society appeared, caused by the results of the Russian-Turkish war of 1878.

All over the country, fundraising was held for an organization that would have fast and capacious ships, allowing them to be quickly converted and armed, making them auxiliary cruisers in case of war. About 4 million rubles were collected, and in 1878 the society was created.

First, Dobroflot purchased from the Germans cargo-passenger steamships, which immediately became registered in the navy as auxiliary cruisers: Moskva, Petersburg, Rossiya. Henceforth, a tradition was established: to call all new ships by the name of the centers of the provinces - "Nizhny Novgorod", "Ryazan", etc.

Since 1879, the charter of the Volunteer Fleet society provided for the possibility of using its ships for military purposes in case of war.

The work of Dobroflot began with the transportation of Russian troops from Varna and Burgas, which participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1878. Then regular flights to the Far East began. Soon the management came to the conclusion that it was necessary not to buy, but only to build ships for society - this is more profitable. True, to build not only at their own factories, but also abroad. The first steamship - "Yaroslavl" according to the drawings of the English cruiser "Iris" was ordered in 1880 in France.

Until 1896, a series of 6 ships of 4500-5600 tons with a displacement came from England to Russia. As a result, before the Russo-Japanese war, Dobroflot moved into second place after ROPiT. Its cargo turnover reached 196,000 tons per year.

Postcards from the early 1910s dedicated to passenger and freight
steamships "Dobroflot": "Simbirsk" and "Ryazan".

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. Ruining everything that was left in the fleet, and bored supreme power impudence 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 important tool 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 number 10 battleships, 4 frigates, 6 corvettes, 7 brigs, 2 shebeks, schooners and 12 gunboats.

On February 21, 1806, the Russian squadron, supported by local population without a fight, she occupied the area of ​​Boca di Cattaro (Bay of Kotor): 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 to replenish 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 together 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 government 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, historical way 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 establishments increased in number and put on the degree 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 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, left without money and an army, 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 Wincar-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 Russian troops on August 28, 1855 south side Sevastopol. Having blown up all the fortifications, batteries and powder magazines, they organizedly crossed the Sevastopol Bay to 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 basis 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 an illustrative 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 late XIX century began testing submarines.

As a result, we can say that during the second half of the XIX century. Russia created a modern for that time armored fleet, 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. |

The glorious history of the Russian fleet dates back more than three hundred years and is inextricably linked with the name of Peter the Great. Even in his youth, having discovered in 1688 in his barn a boat presented to their family, later called the “Grandfather of the Russian Fleet”, the future head of state forever connected his life with ships. In the same year, he founded a shipyard on Lake Pleshcheyevo, where, thanks to the efforts of local craftsmen, the “amusing” fleet of the sovereign was built. By the summer of 1692, the flotilla numbered several dozen ships, of which the handsome frigate Mars with thirty guns stood out.

In fairness, I note that the first domestic ship was built before the birth of Peter in 1667. Dutch craftsmen, together with local artisans on the Oka River, managed to build a two-deck Eagle with three masts and the ability to travel by sea. At the same time, a couple of boats and one yacht were created. The wise politician Ordin-Nashchokin from the Moscow boyars supervised these works. The name, as you might guess, went to the ship in honor of the coat of arms. Peter the Great believed that this event marked the beginning of the maritime business in Russia and was "worthy of glorification through the ages." However, in history, the birthday of the navy of our country is associated with a completely different date ...

The year was 1695. The need to create favorable conditions for the emergence of trade relations with other European states led our sovereign to a military conflict with the Ottoman Empire at the mouth of the Don and the lower reaches of the Dnieper. Peter the Great, who saw irresistible strength in his newly minted regiments (Semenovsky, Prebrazhensky, Butyrsky and Lefortovsky), decides to march near Azov. He writes to a close friend in Arkhangelsk: "We joked about Kozhukhov, and now we'll joke about Azov." The results of this journey, despite the valor and courage shown in the battles by Russian soldiers, turned into terrible losses. It was then that Peter realized that war is not at all child's play. In preparing the next campaign, he takes into account all his past mistakes and decides to create a completely new military force in the country. Peter was truly a genius, thanks to his will and mind, he managed to create a whole fleet in just one winter. And he spared no expense for this. First, he asked for help from his Western allies - the King of Poland and the Emperor of Austria. They sent him knowledgeable engineers, shipwrights and gunners. After arriving in Moscow, Peter organized a meeting of his generals to discuss the second campaign to seize Azov. At the meetings, it was decided to build a fleet that would fit 23 galleys, 4 fireships and 2 galleass ships. Franz Lefort was named Admiral of the Fleet. Generalissimo Aleksey Semenovich Shein became the commander of the entire Azov army. For the two main directions of the operation - on the Don and on the Dnieper - two armies of Shein and Sheremetev were organized. Fireships and galleys were hastily built near Moscow, in Voronezh, for the first time in Russia, two huge thirty-six-gun ships were created, which received the names "Apostle Paul" and "Apostle Peter". In addition, the prudent sovereign ordered the construction of more than a thousand plows, several hundred sea boats and conventional rafts prepared in support of the land army. They were built in Kozlov, Sokolsk, Voronezh. In early spring, ship parts were brought to Voronezh for assembly, and by the end of April the ships were afloat. On April 26, the first galleass, the Apostle Peter, was launched into the water.

The main task of the fleet was to block the fortress that did not surrender from the sea, depriving it of support in manpower and provisions. Sheremetev's army was supposed to head to the Dnieper estuary and carry out diversionary maneuvers. At the beginning of the summer, all the ships of the Russian fleet reunited near Azov, and its siege began. On June 14, a Turkish fleet of 17 galleys and 6 ships arrived, but it remained undecided until the end of the month. On June 28, the Turks plucked up the courage to bring up the landing force. Rowing boats headed for the shore. Then, on the orders of Peter, our fleet immediately weighed anchor. As soon as they saw this, the Turkish captains unanimously turned their ships around and went to sea. Having never received reinforcements, the fortress was forced to surrender on 18 July. The first exit of Peter's military fleet was crowned with complete success. A week later, the flotilla went to sea to inspect the conquered territory. The sovereign with his generals chose a place on the coast for the construction of a new naval port. Later, near the Miussky Estuary, the Pavlovskaya and Cherepakhinskaya fortresses were founded. Azov winners were also waiting for a solemn reception in Moscow.

To resolve issues related to the defense of the occupied territories, Peter the Great decides to convene the Boyar Duma in the village of Preobrazhensky. There he asks to build a "sea caravan or fleet." On October 20, at the next meeting, the Duma decides: “To be sea ​​vessels!" To the ensuing question: “And how many?”, It was decided “to inquire at the peasant households, for the spiritual and various ranks of people, to impose courts in the courtyards, to write out from the merchants from the customs books.” And so the Russian Imperial Navy began its existence. It was immediately decided to start building 52 ships and launch them in Voronezh before the beginning of April 1698. Moreover, the decision to build ships was made as follows: the clergy gave one ship from every eight thousand households, the nobility - from ten thousand. Merchants, townspeople and foreign merchants pledged to set sail 12 ships. On taxes from the population, the rest of the ships were built by the state. The case was a serious one. Carpenters were searched all over the country, soldiers were allocated to help them. More than fifty foreign specialists worked at the shipyards, and a hundred talented young people went abroad to learn the basics of shipbuilding. Among them, Peter was also in the position of an ordinary officer. In addition to Voronezh, shipyards were built in Stupino, Tavrov, Chizhovka, Bryansk and Pavlovsk. Those who wished to take accelerated training courses for shipbuilders and henchmen. In Voronezh in 1697 the Admiralty was created. The first in the history of the naval document of the Russian state was the "Charter on galleys", written by Peter I during the second Azov campaign on the command galley "Principium".

On April 27, 1700, the Goto Predestination, the first Russian battleship, was completed at the Voronezh shipyard. According to the European classification of ships of the early 17th century, it earned rank IV. Russia could rightfully be proud of its offspring, since the construction took place without the participation of specialists from abroad. By 1700, the Azov fleet already had more than forty sailing ships, and by 1711 - about 215 (including rowing ships), of which forty-four ships were armed with 58 guns. Thanks to this formidable argument, it was possible to sign a peace treaty with Turkey and start a war with the Swedes. The invaluable experience gained in the construction of new ships allowed later success in the Baltic Sea and played an important (if not decisive) role in the great northern war. The Baltic Fleet was built at the shipyards of St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Novgorod, Uglich and Tver. In 1712, the St. Andrew's flag was established - a white cloth with a blue cross diagonally. Many generations of sailors of the Russian fleet fought, won and died under it, glorifying our Motherland with their exploits.

In just thirty years (from 1696 to 1725), a regular Azov, Baltic and Caspian fleet appeared in Russia. During this time, 111 battleships and 38 frigates, six dozen brigantines and even more large galleys, scampaways and bombardment ships, shmak and fireships, more than three hundred transport ships and a huge number of small boats were built. And, what is especially remarkable, in terms of their military and seaworthy qualities, Russian ships were not at all inferior to the ships of the great maritime powers, like France or England. However, since there was an urgent need to protect the conquered coastal territories and simultaneously conduct military operations, and the country did not have time to build and repair ships, they were often bought abroad.

Of course, all the main orders and decrees came from Peter I, but in matters of shipbuilding he was assisted by such prominent historical figures as F. A. Golovin, K. I. Kruys, F. M. Apraksin, Franz Timmerman and S. I. Yazykov. The shipmasters Richard Cosenz and Sklyaev, Saltykov and Vasily Shipilov glorified their names in the centuries. By 1725, naval officers and shipbuilders were trained in special schools and naval academies. By this time, the shipbuilding and training center for the domestic fleet had moved from Voronezh to St. Petersburg. Our sailors won brilliant and convincing first victories in the battles of Kotlin Island, the Gangut Peninsula, the Ezel and Grengam Islands, and took the lead in the Baltic and Caspian Seas. Also, Russian navigators made many significant geographical discoveries. Chirikov and Bering founded Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in 1740. A year later, a new strait was discovered, which made it possible to reach the western coast of North America. Sea voyages were carried out by V.M. Golovnin, F.F. Bellingshausen, E.V. Putyatin, M.P. Lazarev.

By 1745, for the most part, naval officers came from a noble family, and the sailors were recruits from the common people. Their term of service was for life. Often, foreign citizens were hired for naval service. An example was the commander of the Kronstadt port - Thomas Gordon.

Admiral Spiridov in 1770, during the Battle of Chesme, defeated the Turkish fleet and established Russian dominance in the Aegean Sea. Also, the Russian Empire won the war with the Turks in 1768-1774. In 1778 the port of Kherson was founded, and in 1783 the first ship of the Black Sea Fleet was launched. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, our country ranked third in the world after France and Great Britain in terms of the number and quality of ships.

In 1802, the Ministry of Naval Forces began its existence. For the first time in 1826, a military steamship was built, equipped with eight guns, which was called the Izhora. And 10 years later they built a steam frigate, nicknamed "Bogatyr". This vessel had a steam engine and paddle wheels for movement. From 1805 to 1855 Russian navigators explored the Far East. During these years, brave sailors made forty round-the-world and long-distance voyages.

In 1856, Russia was forced to sign the Paris Peace Treaty and as a result lost the Black Sea Fleet. In 1860, the steam fleet finally took the place of the sailing fleet, which had lost its former importance. After the Crimean War, Russia actively built steam warships. These were slow-moving ships, on which it was impossible to make long-range military campaigns. In 1861, the first gunboat called "Experience" was launched into the water. The warship was equipped with armor protection and served until 1922, having been a testing ground for the first experiments of A.S. Popov by radio communication on the water.

The end of the 19th century was marked by the expansion of the fleet. In those days, Tsar Nicholas II was in power. Industry developed at a high pace, but even it could not keep up with the ever-increasing needs of the fleet. Therefore, there was a tendency to order ships in Germany, the USA, France and Denmark. The Russo-Japanese War was characterized by the humiliating defeat of the Russian Navy. Almost all warships were scuttled, some surrendered, only a few managed to escape. After the failure in the war in the east, the Russian Imperial Navy lost its third place among the countries that own the largest fleets in the world, immediately finding itself in sixth.

1906 is characterized by the revival of the naval forces. A decision is made to have submarines in service. On March 19, by decree of Emperor Nicholas II, 10 submarines were commissioned. Therefore, this day in the country is a holiday, the Submariner's Day. From 1906 to 1913, the Russian Empire spent 519 million dollars on the needs of the navy. But this was clearly not enough, since naval forces other leading powers developed rapidly.

During the First World War, the German fleet was significantly ahead of the Russian one in all respects. In 1918, the entire Baltic Sea was under the absolute control of Germany. The German fleet transported troops to support an independent Finland. Their troops controlled the occupied Ukraine, Poland and the western part of Russia.

The main opponent of the Russians on the Black Sea has long been the Ottoman Empire. The main base of the Black Sea Fleet was in Sevastopol. The commander of all naval forces in this region was Andrey Avgustovich Ebergard. But in 1916 the tsar removed him from his post and replaced him with Admiral Kolchak. Despite the successful military operations of the Black Sea sailors, in October 1916 the battleship Empress Maria exploded in the parking lot. It was the largest loss of the Black Sea Fleet. He served only a year. To this day, the cause of the explosion is unknown. But there is an opinion that this is the result of a successful sabotage.

Revolution and civil war became a complete collapse and catastrophe for the entire Russian fleet. In 1918, the ships of the Black Sea Fleet were partially captured by the Germans, partially withdrawn and scuttled in Novorossiysk. The Germans later handed over some ships to Ukraine. In December, the Entente seized the ships in Sevastopol, which were given to the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (Gen. Denikin's group of white troops). They participated in the war against the Bolsheviks. After the destruction of the white armies, the rest of the fleet was seen in Tunisia. The sailors of the Baltic Fleet rebelled against the Soviet government in 1921. At the end of all the above events, Soviet power there are very few ships left. These ships formed the Navy of the USSR.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet fleet underwent a severe test, protecting the flanks of the fronts. The flotilla helped the rest of the military branches to smash the Nazis. Russian sailors showed hitherto unprecedented heroism, despite the significant numerical and technical superiority of Germany. During these years, the fleet was skillfully commanded by admirals A.G. Golovko, I.S. Isakov, V.F. Tributs, L.A. Vladimirsky.

In 1896, in parallel with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. Petersburg, the day of the founding of the fleet was also celebrated. He is 200 years old. But the largest celebration took place in 1996, when the 300th anniversary was celebrated. The Navy has been and is the pride of many generations. The Russian fleet is the hard work and heroism of Russians for the glory of the country. This is the military power of Russia, which guarantees the safety of the inhabitants of a great country. But first of all, these are inflexible people, strong in spirit and body. Russia will always be proud of Ushakov, Nakhimov, Kornilov and many, many other naval commanders who faithfully served their homeland. And, of course, Peter I - a truly great sovereign who managed to create a strong empire with a powerful and invincible fleet.