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The tine
original of
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book
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Cornell University Library.
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text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924079598227
LIBRAR' CORNELL UNIVERSITY
227 3 1924 079 598
In compliance with current
copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this
replacement volume on paper
meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the
that
irreparably deteriorated original.
1997
(!l0rneU Uttiucrsitij SItbcary Jtl}aca, SJedj
Sork
BERNARD ALBERT
SINN
COLLECTION
NAVAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY THE GIFT OF A. SINN. -97
BERNARD
1919
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
THE XEXIA SIKEIXG THE MOXITOn
SEIFE. [Frontispiece.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY AND FUTURE
ITS PAST, PRESENT,
BY
FRED.
T.
JANE
author of " the port gc.\sd ship " "all the world's fighting ships" (naval annual) *"THE TORPEDO IN PEACE
AND WAR"
inventor of the jane naval war game (naval kriegspiel) ETC. ETC.
WITH OVER
l6o ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM SKETCHES AND DRAWINGS
BY THE AUTHOR AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
LONDON THACKER &
W. CO. CALCUTTA AND SIMLA THACKER, SPINK .
NEW YORK
:
67
FIFTH AVENUE
1899 jill rights reser'ued
& CO.
TO
MONSEIGNEUR HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS
GRAND DUKE ALEXANDER MIHAILOVITCH OF RUSSIA CAPTAIN, IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
TO WHOSE KINDNESS I
IT IS
DUE THAT
AM ENABLED TO DESCRIBE MUCH OF
WHAT
IS
SET
DOWN
IN
THESE PAGES
CONCERNING A NAVY OF WHICH
INCREASED
KNOWLEDGE HAS
LED TO INCREASED ADMIRATION
PREFACE nPHE
object of this book
is
to give as fully as possible
the essential history of the Russian past, a full is,
Navy
in the
and detailed account of the Navy
and, finally, to
which, though
include
it
questions
those side
all
as
not directly naval matters, are yet
intimately connected with the Russian sea service.
Here and there
critical readers
may
discover gaps,
what they
or at least a diflerence in perspectiA^e to
may
be inclined to look for after a course of reading
aliout the British or
claims to be fully complete, possibly to
the reader also,
it
is
to
references to these gaps here.
draw
attention
to
the
"budget" and monetary posely minimised
;
this
due to myself, and
make some
In particular
almost
specific
might
I
absence
total
some ways worse than value-
in every country, so that comparisons of
struction
of
These are pur-
statistics.
For not only does the cost of production
mean next
book
the reason being that such figures
are well-nigh valueless, in less.
As
American Navy.
difler
sums of money
to nothing, but the cost of warship con-
also
varies from year
to
year.
A
million
spent to-day has
no relation to half a million spent
some years
It
ago.
may
be double
;
it
may
equally
PREFACE
lo
l)e
the}'
did not require ten, or even
half.
statistics of cx^^enditure
to
is
is
pei'sonnel.
I
have
bottom of the matter.
British
Navy
are the
navies
most
is
fully
the greater stress
a practical reason
It is
is
a saying in the
that " one ship which has been a year or
commission
instance of
laid
Here again
at the
mobilised."
Consequently
politicians.
that though maUriel
and amply dealt with,
so in
years ago, and
a good deal shelved in this book.
Another point
upon the
fi\-e.
things that
upon war material are useful
no one except financial
expenditure
manv
Ships to-day need
well
is
worth three of her
Broadly speaking
sisters just
this is true,
and
how much more important than
men on
board of her.
It is usual to
bv the number and tonnage
by the gun-power of those
the ship
reckon up
of their warships or
warships.
It is a useful
exercise for the statistician, but so far as giving
index to the fighting value
is
an
it is
any
concerned he might
almost as well be employed upon similar data regarding the fleets of a hundred vears ago. the thing
:
For the
all else is
rest,
The men
are
secondary.
the order of arrangement followed
that .which appeared most logical
— a so
is
far as possible
strictly chronological one.
Two minor
matters require a brief reference.
The
illustrations of historical subjects are not inserted as
" pictures,' but with the prosaic
and utilitarian object of
conveying some idea of the marine architecture of the period, the conditions of naval warfare at that period,
and occasionally the meteorological conditions during
PREFACE the battle also.
II
be noted that where modern
It will
ships are illustrated they are, where possible, rejjro-
When
duced from photographs. in each case
drawn
either
the actual ships or from
from
otherwise, they are
my own
sketches of
photographs that did not
lend themselves to direct reproduction.
As everyone has spelling,
and
as of
his
many
own rendering
ships several widely different
spellings are in existence, the
spelling are here
more popular forms of
As
and there adopted.
however, the correct more or
— Xenia,
is
indicated
is
also introduced.
or Zenia
—
a case in
is
Russian spelling, the last an
point, the first being a
When
English adaption.
a general rule,
phonetic spelling
less
suitable for the English language
The name Ksenia
of Russian
possible the phonetic
sound
by the use of accents over the vowels
in order to avoid
an ugly appearance.
Rossia and
Sevastopol are names in point.
The matter is
is
not one of supreme importance, and
only drawn attention to because in a number of
cases the usual English pronunciation bears at all to the Russian one. as
Rossia
is
s]3elt
in
When
no relation
such a simple
English (as
it
name
occasionally
is)
" Rossija,"
and recklessly pronounced " Rossyjar," one
may
acquit
well
Englishman
that
the
Russian
officer
they had no such
who ship
told in
an
their
Navy.
The substance of the chapter on Anglo-Russian relations,
though some
definite alterations
have since
been made, appeared serially in the Daily Chronicle,
;
PREFACE
12
and most of the sections relating
Dockyards were
to
published in the course of a series of articles in the
Engineer.
To the proprietors and
newspapers
I desire
to tender
my
of these
editors
thanks.
am
I
also
indebted to the Engineer for the loan of certain blocks.
Most of the plans and two or three of the
illustrations
Jane Naval
War Game,
of vessels are taken from Tlie
by courtesy of
or from All the World's Figliting Ships
the publishers, Messrs Sampson Low, ]\Iarston,
owe
I
it
the
chiefly to
at all this
I
am
Duke Alexander
in a position to write
book about the Na^'v of
whom I am proud to I am also deeplv
Co.
kindness of His
great
Imperial Highness Captain the Grand Mihailovitch of Russia that
&
a great nation,
with
claim some ties of consanguinity.
indebted to Herr C. G. Bjorkman
of Stockholm for his kind and untiring assistance,
means
of which I have secured the deeply interesting
historical
matter in the Appendix.
owe thanks
chiefly
Yarrow
(for
Others to
Grave
are Mr. C. de
Hawthorn
]Messrs.
Sells
whom
Leslie
Humphrys & Tenuant
Messrs.
;
;
;
Mr.
&
Sojis,
Soper
Mrs. Kinsman
sifting
matter for the eaxXy historical chapter
Much the
my is
secrec}^
;
and several
;
and Eussian naval
officers.
Field
Messrs.
of
British
to
I
the excellent photograph of the Sokol)
Mr. John Sampson of Messrs. ]\laudslav.
much
by
For assistance in I
owe
brother, jMr. L. Cecil Jane.
written in England and
with which the
dockyards and ships.
It
America about
Piussians
may
1je
so
;
shroud their
my own
but
experience has not tallied with the legend
;
indeed,
PREFACE
13
everything was the direct antithesis, nor were any restrictions
of
any
upon
laid
sort
might afterwards write concerning of globe
-
Much
trotting.
certainly not Eussoj)hile it
may
is
discreetly
that
is
in the
this
in
for if a lesson
how
lies
book
is
— no curtain defeats.
would rather draw attention
an3'\vhere
it
lies
in
the
;
history
Russia has ever marched to victory through
Almost invariably she has won
blunders and disaster.
by sheer
I
chapters
historical
drawn over Russian blunders and
things, indeed. I
what
this particular piece
perhaps seem distinctly the reverse
To these
of
;
rae as to
"'
pegging
"
against heavy odds
;
in the end,
either with the peace or after it she has secured her object.
England has
may
more often with
many
times
though the truest interests of both countries
lie in
her than against her. yet,
in the past been
She
be both
the former.
FRED.
T.
JANE.
CONTENTS PREFACE I.
II.
III.
9
.
.
THE GERM OF THE
RUf?.SIAX
NAVY,
865-1613
1613-1645
23 40
.
THE BIRTH OF THE
RUS.SIAX XAVY, 1645-1725
44
IV. 1725-1762
V. VI. VII.
VIII. IX.
X.
XL
71
THE RUSSIAN NAVY UNDER EKATERINA PAUL,
1796-1801
77
II.
110
.
1801-1825 ALEXANDER NAVAKINO AND THE CRIMEAN WAR, 1825-1855. THE EARLIER IRONCLADS, 1855-1877 NAVAL HISTORY OF THE TURCO-RUSSIAN ^YAR I.,
.
.
1878-1885
118 127 151
180
202
XII. 1S86-1890
223
XIIL 1891-1898
252
XIV. SHIPS
XV. XVI. XVII.
1899
308 .
1.
New Admiralty
341
346 356 365 366 389 390
2.
Galbrxii Islaxd
3.
The Baltic Works
4.
SiiALLER Y'ards
5.
Kroxstadt. Revel LiBAU
6. 7.
XVIIL
COMPLETING FOR SEA IN
THE VOLUNTEER FLEET THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS, ADMINISTRATION THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS, DESCRIPTIONS
NEW PORTS AND
.
8. 9.
.
.
Vladivostok.
Port Arthur
10.
Taliex-ivan
11. 12.
Sevastopol Nikolaif
13.
Other Naval Ports
.
.
SHIP CANALS
333 337 340 394 399 402 403 409 412 413
XIX. SHIPS UNDER CONSTRUCTION OR " PROJECTED" 417 XX. EVOLUTION OF TYPE IN RUSSIAN WARSHIPS 429 XXI. FINANCE .435 XXII. THE SLOWNESS OF RUSSIAN NAVAL CON.
.
STRUCTION XXIII.
437
THE RUSSIAN ADMIRALTY Naval Ixielligencb Department Persoxxel Department 15
.
.
.
446 448 454
6
.
CONTEXTS
I
ENTRY AND TRAINING OF OFFICERS XXV. ENTRY AND TRAINING OF MEN.
XXIV.
4:.T 46r)
XXVI. PAY XXVII. RETIREMENT, PENSIONS, ETC. XXVIII. WATCHES XXIX. RUSSIAN NAVAL FLAGS
470
.
478
480 481
XXX. ORGANISATION XXXI. DISCIPLINE XXXII. DRESS XXXIII. DISTINGUISHING
484 4.94
501
MARKS FOR RANK
507
XXXIV. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RUSSIAN OFFICERS AND MEN XXXA'.
513
THE ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT OF THE FLEET
520
XXXVI. THE INFLUENCE OF PETER THE GREAT ON THE RUSSIAN NAVY TO-DAY
545
.
XXXVII. ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS XXXVIII. SOME CONCLUSIONS XXXIX. RUSSIA'S POSITION IN CHINA XL. OUR MISTAKE IN DEALING WITH RUSSIA XLI. XLII.
549
562
578 589
OTHER NAVIES AS SEEN BY THE RUSSIANS ANGLO-SAXON U SLAV
601
605
APPENDICESHISTORICAL APPENDIX CONDENSED BIOGRAPHIES OF SOME DISTINGUISHED RUSSIAN NAVAL OFFICERS CONDENSED BIOGRAPHIES OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN OFFICERS IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE RELATIONS BETWEEN BRITISH AND RUSSIAN OR OTHER FOREIGN OFFICERS IN
.
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TABLE OF RUSSIAN WARSHIPS TO-DAY HISTORICAL SHIP- NAMES IN THE RUSSIAN .
NAVY SOME NOTES INDEX TO SUB.IECT-MATTER
613 704
714
72.5
731
741
747
749
LIST
OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
The Xexia sinking the Monitor Seife Map of Turkey, etc. The Russian Fleet before Constantinople,
Frontiqneci
io
Sectional Plan, Earliest Russian Warship
A
27
a.d. 865 .
.29
.
Ship op the Russian Black Sea Fleet, a.d. 865, and the Ironclad Tri Svititelia of the Present Day
.30
Destruction op the Russian Fleet by Greek Fire outside Constantinople
35
"The Little Father Map of the Baltic
56
.
.
.
of the Russian Fleet"
42
.
.
Warships tempos Peter the Great The Battle op Gangoot (map) Facsimile of Autograph Letter of Peter the Great's Map of the Crimea Map of Black Sea, Turkey, etc. Map of the Baltic The Battle op Viborg
.
59
.
63
.
.
.
.
.
65 .
.
of theJBaltic
.
.
of Black Sea, etc.
Frig.vte
and Schooner,
.
119
cieca 1810
.
125
.
of Turkey and Black Sea
Balaklava Field Kronstadt in 1854 Idem
131
.
.
-
.
.
1-45
1^5 1-45
.
1-49
.
1-49
.
154
.
.
143
.
.
The Kreml The Netron Menia The Kniaz-Pojarsky The Brononosetz The British Penelope
137
.
Cliff at Inkerman
IxKERJiAN Heights
117
.
.
Russian Warships, 1830 The Battle of Sinope
Map
'9S
103
.
Map Map
72 81
.
•
155
.
157
.....
159 159
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
i8
The The The The The The The The The The The
(j,hoi'jynq,li)
Kil
Admiral Sfiridoff {photogi-apli) Admirai, Greig (pholor/raph) Peter A'eliky General Admiral
103
Gep.zog EDiNfaouRsKi
173
Eur-SALKA
IGo
109 IVl
170
Popoff Av.ni Illah
.
Feth-i-Bulend
182
Assar-i-Shevket
182
Lutfi D.tkl
.
182
.
HoiiART Pasha's Tokfedo Poxd
Sketch
Map
182
183
of Crimea axd Adjacent Coasts
LlEUTEXAXT (xow Admiral) Makaroff {pliotofjraph) Defeat ^jf a Eussiax Torpedo Boat Attack i.\ the Danube The Attack ox the Assar-iChevket
184
188 .
191
193
Sinking of the Suxina
197
Eetern of Torpei-j Boats The MI^^N Plan of Vladimir Monomakh The Dmitri Donskoi, 1886 (old rig) Plan of the Xahimoff The Admiral Xaeimoff {photograph) The Pamiat Merkuria (photograph) The Easboynik (^jhotograph)
201
.
205 207 .
209 212 213 215 216
The Eynda (^ihotograph) The Strelok The Bobr
217
EussiAN "Flat-iron" Gunboat The Asia
220
The The The The
219 220
220
Afrika Zabiaka Ekaterina ii. (jihotograph) Tchesma in Ifi'O
221 221
.
224 225
Plan of Sinope Class Plan of Alexandes ii. Plan of Pamiat Azota The Pamiat Azova The Dyenadsat Apostoloy Plan of the Dyenadsat Apostoloy
The Gang-oot Sinking The Groziastchy The Korniloff
227
230 232 233 237
238 241
245 .
247
.
.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ThIO KoUJiAKBTZ
The The The The The
249
Tchernomoret/,
249
.
Koreitz
250
Maxdjour
250
Liedtexaxt Ilyix
251
iSTAVARiN
253
Plan of the Navarin
The Rdrik
The Eossia
254
{photograph)
Plan of the Rdrik Plan of the EossIa
.
259
.
{photograph)
.
2G1
.
266
The Georgi Pobedonosetz at Sevastopol The Oushakoff in Kronstadt Dockyard Plan of the Apraksin Engines of the Oushakoff
The Tki
Svititelia
267
{photograph) {photograph)
.
275
{photograph)
280
.
Plan of the Tri Svititelia Sissoi Veliky Plan of the Sissoi Veliky Interior of the Sissoi Yelikt's Turret after the Disaster
281 283
285 287
{photograph)
Plan of the Khrabey The Dmitri Donskoi Reconstructed Plan of the Rostislav S^^ETLANA {photograph)
289 291
{photograph)
293
295
.
297
.
Sokol {photograph) Russian Fleet at Toulon {photograph) L'entente Cordiale at Toulon {phAograph) The Imperial Yacht Sthandart {photograph)
299 301
303 305
.
The Petropavlovsk {photograph) The U. S. Indiana The French Brennds {plwtograph)
309 311
.
313
Plan of Poltava, etc. Bow YiEW of the Sevastopol
316 317
The Sevastopol {photograph) The Peresvet and Sevastopol
351
324
Plan of the Peresvet Osliabia. New Admiralty Yard from the River Facsimile of Permit Card to view a Russlan Dockyard .
The
Galernii Island Dockyard. (as she will be when complete) .
The Diana
271
273
.
The
Kazarski
255
258
.
Plan of the Georgi Pobedoxosetz
The The The The
19
.
342
344 347
.
.
325
.
348
1
.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
20
I-AGE
Ox Board the Pallada— Buildixu The French Cruiser Guichex (jihologroph) Russian-
352
•
.
354 355
Dockyardsman
35G
Ide.ii
.
.
Works Works (photograph)
Outside the Baltic IxsiDE THE Baltic
.
Plans of the Gromovoi Putting in the Engines of the Amoor
35
.
358 360
.
365
•
371
Kronstadt Dockyard Approaches to Kronstadt Engine-Room of the Sevastopol On the Road to the Gunnery School, Kronstadt
376
.
Map Map Map
377
382
of Libau and District
391
of Vladivostok.
395
of the
"
Far East
"
400
Panorama of Sevastopol {photograph)
405
Sevastopol Docky'ard
407
{photngrapih)
.
House after the Bombardment (jihotograph) The Dockyard. Another View {photograph) Plan of the K. Potemkin Tavritchesky Plan of the Retvisan Plan of the AVaryag H.I.H. Grand Duke Alexander Mihailovitch {photograph) Russian Xaval Flags Officer's Overcoat A Corporal (photograph) Marching Uniform, Russian Bluejacket (photograph)
407
A
Russian Bluejacket (photograph)
506
A
Miichman
507
407 411 419 425 461
482 502
.
504 506
.
Shoulder-Straps and Epaulettes Distinguishing Marks for Men
509
.
512
.
Ivan in Repose (photograph) 6-iN. Gun Drill on board the Djidjit (photograph) The Belleville Boiler
519
Idem
533
.
The Barr and Stroud Range-Finder
521 531
(diagram).
Ide.\[ (photograph)
537 .
542
Naval War Game Pieces made for H.I.H. Grand Duke Alexander (photograph)
573
Map
621
of the Baltic
Plan of Battle of Gogland, July 1788 Plan of Battle of Oland, July 1789 Repulse of the Swedish Fleet at Revel, 1790 .
629 651
656
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
21
PAGE
Plan Plan Plan Plan Plan Idem
of Battle off Revel, 1790
.
.
.
063
of the Battle of Viboug, 1790
007
of Battle of Svensksund, 1789
071
of Battle of Svensksund (Rotgensalm), 1790
073
of Petty Fleet Battle
087
The Late Tsarvitch
095 .
.
707
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
THE G-ERM OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY
nnHE
Russian Navy, thougli generally regarded as
a comparatively
modern
Peter the Great, can, as a matter of
fact,
claim to antiquity than the British
fleet.
before Alfred built the
founded by
institution,
lay greater
A
Enoiish warships, Russians o
first
-L
had fought years
ago
Russians.
in
desperate
the
foremost
it
sea-fights, sailors
This nav_y died,
in absolute annihilation,
century
it
— but
is
Antiquity of ue Russian Nauy.
and a thousand
—
it
met
the nation that
did not die; and to-day the root of
were
time
the
of
true,
J
its
end
owned
the Eastern
all
/fs
/mportance.
Question, and hence of the Far Eastern Question too, lies in
the enterprise of early Russian warships.
Into the details of the exjDedition of Darius against
oarius and the Scythians.
the Scythians, some two thousand odd years ago, is
unnecessary to
enter
powder,
and adopted
which
Napoleon
at
in
a
;
the
Scythians had no sea
the place of later
appreciate without practical
it
period
test.
it
those tactics
w^as
Had
unable to
the Scythians
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
24
we read
"Sea
that
possessed
question:
of
nowadays
which
much, Darius would never have crossed
so
Europe.
into
Power"'
"What
with
connection
In
does
want with
Russia
The
some bearing.
this incident has
the Bosphorus and Dardanelles
future
may
yet
;
thing that has
the
the past ma}- yet come,
in
The
about again in the future.
navy?"
a
pour into Europe across
see Oriental armies seeking to
happened more than once
frequent
the
probabilities of such
an event are small enough to-day, and certainly the Russian Black Sea Fleet does not exist because of such a possibility.
On
the other hand, the place where Darius
his bridge of boats
that
fleet,
Russian
would be one of the objectives of
given certain eventualities
cursory glance at a
War
made
map
v.-ill
and the most
;
show how
in the
Turco-
of 1877 thousands of lives micrht have
been saved had Russia but possessed a
fleet
capable of
striking at once at the heart of the Turkish Empire. Russia and Constantinople.
"\Yg ^Ys,t
hear
of Russia
connection with the
in
channel dividing Europe from Asia.
More than two
thousand years have passed since then,
same channel
is
supposed
channel and the city upon
been directed for a great years between.
themselves
—
if
it
many
of
and towards
have Russian
eftorts
of the two thousand
Ever since Byzantium was founded,
Russians have at intervals ;
this
mark the bounds
to
Russia's southward ambition in Europe, this
— to-dav
made
efforts to take it to
persistence goes for
headed eagle should yet again
aught the two-
fly wjiere it
used to
fly
MAP OF TURKEY, THE BLACK
SEA, ETC.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
26
before the crescent took
and died since then, even the
bom
have changed or
races tliemselves
died, but always the people inhabiting
Empire have
striven
capture the blue w^aters of the Bosphorus.
It is
what to
Empires have been
its place.
now
is
the Imperial Russian
a thino- too little recognised, this hereditary trend of
Russia to Constantinople. In attacks upon the capital of the Eastern
Empire we, on the
mention of Russians
too, find the earliest
sea.
The Scythians changed
Goths took possession of almost
European Russia, and founded a
Huns and
others a
vear 862 Rurik arose, created
and took
all
into
of
a
to himself the title of
Slavs, the
what
is
sort of empire,
later overthrew,
little
Roman
now
which in the
till
central Russian state,
Grand Duke.
Rurik was originally the chief of the ^'araugians, a
Norse
tribe,
and he appears
of the orio-inal Slavs to
much
monarch
;
Pairik
have come to the aid
Hengist and Horsa came
as
help the ancient Britons
can be drawn
to
—a
fairly
close
parallel
though the Saxon king Edgar
is
the
would more nearly resemble otherwise.
The Varangians being Scandinavian were of course, a seafaring people, original A'arangian strain fact that at the present
and some
may
originally,
faint transmitted
possibly account for the
day moujiks from the
interior
of Russia can be turned into tolerably capable sailors. It
was not long before the Varangians, working
southward, turned their
e^yes
their natural instincts led
towards Constantinople
them
;
to naval expeditions
both piratical and trading on the shores of the Black
TilK r.rs^IAX
FLEET
liEFOIIE
CONST AXTIXOPLE,
Stff.
A.D.
—
GERM OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY and
Sea,
there, naturally
enough
too,
29
they soon heard
At
of the wealthy city on the Bosphorus.
this period,
'"'«*
""^w"" "'"'"'
%"g^^"f
Cherson (now Sevastdpol) was a Byzantine possession,
and wuth
this place
Commercial
deal of legitimate trade.
equally with piratical
bottom of the
first
Russians carried on a good
the
intent,
rivalry, therefore,
may have been
at the
Russian expedition, which in 865
A.D., in the reign of
the Greek Emperor ]\lichael
iii.,
attacked Constantinople.
The attacking
Greeks called them, which means
fiovo^vXa the
"
made
200 small ships
fleet consisted of
literally
They were, how-
of one single piece of wood."
earnest Russia, warships.
ever,
more than
up with
that, the sides being built
planks above the main boat
h,
b,
as indicated in the
sectional
With
drawina;.
these old-time w-arships
all
a certain
has
to
amount
be used
;
of doubt
but the
convey
illustrations
some
idea of their probable form.
They werc 60
sECTiox, EAP.LT RUSSIAN BATTLESHir.
ably very length, and the freeboard feet
above the water
have a penchant
for a
fcet loug, prob-
broad for their
is
always spoken of as 12
level.
The modern Russians
high freeboard, as the Peresvet
and a good many other of
their
ships attest, but
these ancient warships were probably scarcely so high as the old historians
ship like the
90 feet high
!
make
out.
On
such a scale a
modern Peresvet would have
sides nearly
In ancient shipping generally the height
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
^o
(if
now occupied
the side took that place in naval ethics the "
by
However,
nominal speed."
comparison
1
for
purposes of
have drawn one of these old warships on one of the latest completed Black Sea
scale alongside
Fleet ironclads, the Tri S^dtitelia.
The crew
Crew.
f[uantit_v.
of
Twenty
while Gibbon,
40 to 90.
these
old
the
is
warships
number
with a cautious
Possibly 20
men
a
is
stated
Ijy
liberality,
doubtful
Finlay
;
from
savs
constituted the normal
crew, while 90 could be stowed on board upon special occasions.
When we
rememl^er that
an Athenian
trireme of almost the same dimensions as a
torpedo boat carried 200 men, there
way
the
is
modern
nothing out of
in these old Russian ships carrying 90.
modern torpedo boat
carries less than a score of
A
men
;
the ironclad Tri Svititelia has a complement of about 580, but machiner}' It Motiue power.
as a
now
takes the place of the rowers.
appears that these early Russian ships used
motive power
of a favourable
as well as oars, for
wind
"
"
sail
by fortune
they reached and passed the
Bosphorus, and anchored at the mouth of the Black
;
GERM OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY River in the Propoiitis (Sea of Marmora).
Greek Emperor was away
the
Saracens, having fleet
left
j\Jeaiiwliile
Asia fighting the
iu
an admiral of the Byzantine
act as governor of the
to
31
was completely surprised by
Byzantium
capital.
this
unexpected attack
and the passing of the Bosphorus by the Russian fleet
produced an immediate panic.
After passing the Bosphorus, the Russians under
Askold and Dir, princes of
Kieff, Rurik's " lieutenants,"
ravaged the Princes Islands in the Propontis, pillaging the rich mona.steries, killing the monks, and laying waste all
the country round about
ferocity
Constantinople.
and cruelty aggravated the panic
tine capital
;
out with his
Their
in the
Byzan-
bur the Emperor, returning in haste, went fleet,
attacked, and utterly destroyed the
Destruction 0] the Russian
invaders
:
Russian
small
the
against the big Byzantine warships.
deep a mark had the invasion could at
first
and when
being
vessels
left,
scarcely credit the
helpless
fieet.
Nevertheless, so
that the Byzantines
news of
its
destruction,
finally convinced, at once attributed it to the
special interposition of the Virgin.
In the tenth ceutur}^ the Russians held the highest
As the Turkish
reputation as sailors.
employs Greeks, so the Byzantine 900
A.D.
took to
fleet
fleet of to-daj-
about the year
employing Russians.
Special aud/russmM/n demand as
very high rates of pay were offered to them, and history records
ment.
Thus
Romanus
i.,
many
in
specific instances of their emploj^-
935
we read
a.d., in
the reign of the
Emperor
of Russian ships and 415
men
being sent to Italy as part of a Byzantine expedition.
sailors.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
32
Romauus
In 949, in the reign of participated
in
six Russian ships
ii.,
an unsuccessful attack on Crete.
966 again, Nicetas took Russian
In
with him to
sailors
Sicily.
This
did
auxiliaries
further Second attack on Constantinople, 907 A D.
than In
907
abortive
Oleg",
made
being led
to
vessels,
time
this
fleet
wdthout
place
Askold and
of
second
their
person
in
resent for the vouno- foor
Russian are
expedition
the Russians
Constantinople,
take
naval
on the part of the Byzantines
experiences
the
however,
not,
of Russian
value
the
recotrnirion of
—son
consisted
be believed) of no
Dir.
attack
time by
this
The
of Rurik.
(if
the
on
historians
than two thousand
less
which came down the Dnieper with
its
thirty
cataracts.
By means
of these
cataracts
ships got
somewhat reduced
in
thousand
men
of
Constantinople
are
spoken
"the City of
Russians used then to
two thousand
numbers, but eighty as
the
arriving
Caesars"
the
usual
treatment disposal.
the
and any prisoners taken were tortured to
in particular
their
as
ravaging was
death in order to keep the invaders amused.
into
before
it.
Constantiuople
Outside carried on,
call
the
Priests
were selected as victims, driving nails
heads
in
of Sisera
sarcastic
being the
emulation favourite
Times have changed since then
of
Jael's
method of :
to-day in
Russia, subject of course to the variation consequent
upon the lapse of a thousand other foot.
years, the boot
is
on the
GERM OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY Constantinople Vjut
itself
was
no danger of capture,
in
on the other hand the Russians appear to have
had an equal immunity from the "ravaging"
risk of interference, since
much hindrance
without
continued
for nearly four years; in fine,
till
in 912,
Emperor Leo the Philosopher bought
A
3s
when
the
their retirement.
commercial dispute appears to have been at the
bottom of
ending a trade treaty
this war, for at its
was signed.
To
this treaty the Russians adhered until 941, in
the reign of
Romanus
i.,
when
differences arose.
time the Russians are allowed no
less
This
than ten thousand mrd
attack on
Constantinople,
ships credit
by some of the
historians
;
others,
more modest,
941 a.d.
The Grand Duke
them with one thousand.
Igor appears to have been in personal command, and, as
on the occasion of the two previous
attacks, the
time appears to have been well chosen,
the
since
greater part of the Byzantine warships were in Italy,
and only
fifteen vessels at the capital.
In these
ambassadors to try and buy such overtures were rejected stantinople itself was the
Emperor sent
the Greek
cii'cumstances
ofi"
;
the Russians, but
nothing
prize
less
aimed
all
than Con-
at this time.
In despair the Byzantines, therefore, made ready such ships as they had, fitting
them with an
of tubes for discharging Greek
fire
by means of which the fragments held out against the
barbarian
when a hundred-pound melenite mere everyday bagatelle
extra
—that
of the
number
awful agent Gmk
Roman Empire
world.
Nowadays,
or lyddite shell
in warfare,
we
is
a
are prone to
fre.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
34
regard
Greek
fire
danger of putting unable
to realise
as
in
it
Yet
appliances of those
who had
in
who had heard practical
few
these
of Greek
knowledge of
to charge the Greeks,
by boarding,
once
—
modern
ships fire
its
in
much
weajDons.
moving
Igor,
out,
but apparently had no
effects,
intent
tactics
was
it, it
be the vnl of Lytton's
pitted against our
seeing
are
days of un-
those
to face
the same relation as would
On
in
we
;
comparison with the fighting
scientific warfare.
Coming Race
considerable
in
perspective
false
potency
its
and
archaic,
on
ordered his fleet
capturing them at
intelligible
and
enough,
indeed on the face of them reasonable.
The Grccks, however, meeting
Russian fleet
this attack
with
annihitated.
streams of
fire,
up
burnt
the
whole
and
attack,
followed up their victory so thoroughly that Igor only
escaped with some half-dozen boats. his force
was annihilated.
After for
a
All the rest of
this
disaster
hundred years
;
Constantinople was
let
alone
then the death of a Russian
noble in a street tumult in 1043 was seized on as Fourth attaci< on Constantinople,
1043 AM.
a,
cGS'is belli.
compensation, the attack
dre\\'
Thc Euiperor Coustantine which was refused
weight of gold for each of
the price
man
impossible terms
offered
subsecpently,
nearer, he sued for peace.
the Russian leader, fixed
these
;
ix.
Vladimir,
at three
in his force,
as
and
pounds in face
Constantine prepared to
resist.
As on
the occasion of the previous attacks, very
few Byzantine ships were
off
Constantinople, but these,
GERM OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY having loaded up with Greek
enemy.
the
An
fire,
went out
to
action was fought
indecisive
37
meet five
;
inied,, action.
of the Greek ships, getting cut
body, were captured and destroyed,
were reliable data concerning
amount of almost
a certain
the present
have been an difiiculty. it is
operation
— an incident which,
procurable, Avould hold
it
practical interest even at
For to cut
day.
from their main
oft'
oft"
those
.ships
more than
something
of
Guns and torpedoes may
a case of covering the sea with
when
miss, but fire
must
the question
of accurate aim scarcely enters.
A
second and subsequent action was,
howe%'er,
and the majority of the Russian ships burnt.
decisive,
rotai
destruction of *''« """" sian fleet.
The remainder were destroyed
in a storm,
and
whole expedition was annihilated.
cally the
slaughter on a scale so complete that to-day scarcely picture
killing-
Thus
in
we can
early Russian striving
after
Those who prophesy that increased
Sea Power ended.
means of
the
ir,
practi-
by
wliole.sale will
end war mav be
correct in their surmises, but in the matter of history
supporting their
theory perhaps the least said the
better.
This ended the
Roman
Russian attacks on the decaying
Empire, for subsequently a species of alliance
grew up
;
and when
the Turks, Ivan
at last Constantinople fell before
the Great,
who had married Sophia
Paleologus, took to himself the
title
of Csesar (Tsar),
and the double-headed eagle of Byzantium that has formed the arms of Russia ever
since.
For some time
the Greek Church liad become the religion of Russia
;
it
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
38
found
its
new head
citv at j\Iosro\v, and, as mueli as the
original Constantinople could be transfeiTed, to
and remained
Moscow
at
Byzantium
of the old
still
^luch
day.
this
till
went
it
the city of the
lives in
Kremlin.
Nothing of the Greek naval power seems to have gone
to Russia
attack and the
owing fall
to the alliance
between the
;
of Constantinople the struggles of
eleveutli to the fifteenth centuries
Eieuenth to
the
fifteenth centuries.
Strife,
Hud a battling the Tartar
into the fifteenth century
overran the country did
Russia
did,
the
new
last
;
emero'e
not as
a
were internal
invasion.
more
the Tirtars till
well
Till
or less
the reign of Ivan
When
nation.
solid
iii.
she
Turks were upon Constantinople, and her ver}'
liirth
nearly coincided
with
advent
the
enemy
of that nation which has been her hereditary
ever since. In
were
however, the
Tartars
too near and great a menace for
Russia's
sixteeath
the still
century,
reception of the remains of the Eastern to be
more than
and nominal
religious
was burned by the Tartars
in
1572
;
Roman Empire ;
jMoscow
and
itself
in 1598, the
Roorik dynasty becoming extinct, the whole country
was plunged into a
civil
war.
of which
the
Poles
were swift to take advantage, Ladislaus their king being even proclaimed Tsar in ^loscow. which he had occupied. Minin.
Then arose Kosma
^liuin,
a
butcher
of
Xijni
Novgorod, who started what Sir George Clark has
termed the
first
national
movement
in
Russian history.
GERM OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY
39
MiniQ was joiued by Prince (Kniaz) Pojarski, and between them these two brought about the expulsion of the Poles in 1612.
In the following year Mihail
Romanoff was elected Tsar of present dynasty.
Russia, and founded the
II
1613-1645
rpHE
Navy during
Russian
was
invasion
as
a
all
the years of the Tartar
almost non-
fighting force
existent, but the idea that the Russians
at all of
any sort
quite incorrect.
is
was to remain nautically more or in the times of Igor, while
had no ships
What
less as
they did do,
they had been
England, Sweden, Holland,
France, Denmark, Turkey, Venice, Genoa, Spain, and
Portugal built seagoing ships and evolved improve-
The huge Russian
ments.
elementary kinds
for
rivers necessitated craft of
traffic
and communication, and
there were plenty of rough coasting craft and fishing
boats about at Archangel.
River boats, too, undoubt-
edly penetrated at times into the Turkish districts on the Black Sea, and there were some, too, on the Caspian.
There
is
reason to believe that
naval actions
— not
now and
entirely piratical
again small
— took
place not
only in the Caspian and in the Southern rivers, but also against the
Swedes when they were capturing the
Neva
districts.
battle
upon the banks of the Neva
participated. eff"orts
to
In
1242 Alexander Nevski won
Ivan the Terrible (Ivan
in
a
which boats
iv.)
made
great
promote commerce, and attempted minor
naval operations against the Swedes in row-boats upon
a
1613-1645
4'
Lake Peipus aud the rivers round about Elizabeth of England sent him a small
Queen
it.
boat
sailino-
—
present to his navy. Boris Godunoff,
who
1598 usurped the throne,
in
had naval designs, and enlisted the
also
between two and three thousand foreigners
services of ;
all
drawn
from maritime States. Either
in
Peter
subsequent date,
all,
the
Great's
nearly
or
events were destroyed.
reio-n
records
all,
Peter
or
the
some
at
of these
Great was the
founder of Russia's seagoing navy, and people about the Court hastened to abolish anything that might in the slightest degree tend to minimise Peter's claims
much
In
to be the sole founder.
such fashion were
the records of old Egyptian kings destroyed in the reigns of
tions from the eleventh to the,
century few, to
were
Eno'lish
that
a
Navy under
occasionally acted.
naval
the
o^Dera-
of the, seventeenth
and
fraoments there of
sort
and
enough,
insignificant
but from historical
believe
Russian
descendants.
their
probably is
reason
navy on a par with the
Norman
kings existed and
In the fights against the Tartars
the great Russian waterways
must have been used,
apart from the evidence of the boat which our Queen
Archangel from
Elizabeth sent to Ivan the Terrible. the
earliest
times was
a
trading
port,
and Mihail
Romanoff engaged English shipwrights there period 1620-40
;
and
in the
his successor, Alexei, Peter the
Great's father, had an imperial yacht '
Charnoclc.
^
built for
him
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
42
at the Archangel Dock}-ard.
Ilis
brief reign (1G78-8-J), induced one
foreiouers, chiefiv Scotch chiefly with a
and Dutch,
son, Fcdor, in his
hundred and
fifty
to entei' his service,
view to naval enterprise, both at Arch-
angel, on the shores of
Lake Peipus, and at Voronege, on
(ienerally the craft built were flat- bottomed,
the Don.
but there were others built of more shipshape form.
"THE
LITTLE FATHER OF THE KUSSIAX FLEET."
The period 1645-89, when Peter and Ivan both nominally
occupied
troubles in which
But
all
the
much
did not go.
throne,
produced
internal
of this progress went under.
Peter
at
Moscow
in
1G88 saw
Ivan the Terrible's boat, then stowed there, and at once
wanted
to get alioat in
it.
An
Archangel shipwright
(one of Alexei's importations) was sent
for,
and he
re-
paired and re-rigged the craft, also building a few more.
1613-1645
Queen Elizabeth's boat "
The
little
father
still
of the
sacredly j^reserved as the It is
not the
iione the less it
of to-day (.Troniovoi,
owes
first, is
exists
and
43
:
Peter christened
Russian
first it is
fleet,"
and
origin,
is
Paissian ship.
not Russian, hut English
to this boat that the Russian
its
it
it
and from
it
;
Kavy
the Peresviet,
and Kniaz Potemken Tavritchesky of to-day
are directly descended.
III
THE BIRTH OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY 1645-1725
Peter the Great
THE GREAT
>ETER
P'
loug upon the throne before he realised that
his country
was
to expand,
that expansion, then
must
in 1645.
Turk
;
lake, the
and otow civiHsed with
common highway,
The
if
Baltii;
the sea,
was practically
a
Black Sea belonged entirely to the
Russla was Httlc better than a mass of central
territories. less
the
at Ids doors.
lie
Swedish Russia
(Peter ^^eliky) liad not jjeen
Ijounded on the west and south by more or
hosrile nations,
on the east bv the savaiic and
almost unknown wastes of Asia, while on the north, thouo-h
she had some coastline,
it
was onh' on
the
inho.spitable Arctic seas.
Although Peter was nominally Tsar 1689.
not
till
in 1645, it
was
16S9 that he became actual ruler of Russia.
His energies were then
war with
Turkey was,
Russian efforts were
occupied as
usual,
concentrated
south
in
the
in
progress,
:
a
and
upon the capture
of Azov.
Here
failure
met them. 44
The Turkish Heet was
a
1645-1725
power
in
45
days, and supplies were brought into
tlio.se
the town oversea without let or hindrance.
Realising
the hopelessness of his efforts so long as the seaside of the place was open. Peter
made preparations
Europe was
operations.
ransacked
marine
for
Foreigners
volunteers,
for
employed.
naval, artillery,
and engineer officers were procured from
foreign States, and a
flotilla
of about
two hundred boats
and galleys was rapidly constructed with
With
on the banks of the Don. secured
command
j^ears
it
at length
Russia possessed
it, it
it
1696.
to
larger naval operations were concerned
battleships
Peter
Fifteen
^^-'capturerf.
and even while
;
was valueless
craft
^«*«'''«J^"'
and Azov being
fell in
Turks recovered
later the
these
of the inland sea,
closely blockaded,
their assistance
them :
so far as
the Turkish
would soon have made short work of Peter's
small vessels.
Finis,
was written on
therefore,
operations in this direction
;
his
but the very fact of this
failure led to Peter's inception of the idea that Russia
must become a Kaval Power. Full
of
idea,
this
in
1697 he started on his
historical tour as Peter Mihailoft', shipbuilder, carpenter,
and
so on, visiting
Dutch and English
ing nautical trades with his
methods were indeed
own
:
learn-
Though
his
11.
of Russia
and of
his
the trades and professions in which he did not
seek to shine were few.
He M-as more practical,
than the Kaiser of the telegrams in
hands.
and
different, yet, broadly speaking,
Peter was the Kaiser Wilhelm
century
ports,
Peter as a docftyardsman.
;
the same direction, and our
Wilhelm 11. to-day
will help
still,
perhaps,
his greatness ran
common knowledge ^
of
more than anything else to an
Peter the Great and the Kaiser '"'"'«''" "•
compared.
THH IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
40
of
appreciation
the
upon
lines
wliicli
Tsar
Peter
—
a small
ni()\e
force,
and waited developments.
while,
though
made
to
fully
aware that prejoarations were being
meet him, made no attempt
Russian works.
mean-
Loschern,
Either he
run, or else, bearing in
felt
mind
to frustrate the
that
his course
easy victory on a
his
previous occasion,^ despised his opponents too to trouble about their as
abilities
his
a
idled
at
Dorpt
May, then went quietly down
much
hi any case, his
movements,
commander were not on
He
courage.
was
the
till
a
par with
the
river
4th
of
with his
entire flotilla.^
The current was
strong,
works at a great
Russian
with a heavy
fire,
and he approached the
rate.
They received him
which he returned as he drifted
be brought up helplessly against the boom.
past, to '
Page
49.
2
The
total
crews were 250 soldiers and 350 seamen.
Destruction of the Su/edish nauaifone on Lake Peipus, '''"''
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
54
Here
crowded
vessels were
all his
too-etlier,
the Russians
"
firiuii'
""
into the
In-i.iwn.
The 250 Swedish and silenced
soldiers
battery, then set to
a
A
to l)reak
a
attack,
thir
cutting
and,
up
to their
The remnant
second attempt was repulsed.
made
tlien
work
them back
the boom, but the Russians forced ships.
ashore, stormed
leapt
way
their
through the Rusviaiis. escaped to Dorpt.
The
sailors of
fighting Loschern bioujs
up
\\&v&
Luschern in
rats
like
and
dcstroycd
a
s
force stuck to their ships,
trap
till
themselves
vessels
their
all
Loschern's
slain.
his fagsfiip.
yacht, the Carolus. was the last to survive
;
she was
taken
bv
boardino-.
Loschern, however, maiiao-ed to
reach
his
magazine,
and blew himself up with
his
conc|uerors. Peter's order
was
It
a
pccuHar
trait
to endeavour
of Reter's
about boarding.
always to at once adapt his war methods to circumLoschern's
stances.
action,
upon
quickly
following
«
that of the Vivat's captain, brought about the issue of
an imjDerial order that no Swedish ships were to be boarded
By
7705.
Russian seagoing
till
the
the principal othcers had been killed
middle of 1705
Peter
a seagoiug fleet at Kronstadt,
!
had got together
consisting of 9 line-of-
fleet.
ships,
battle galleys,
4 Inigs, 5 galiots, 7 large
and 12
as well as a
fire-ships.
boom
and
8
small
Forts had been constructed,
defence behind which the ships la3^
In June of this year a Swedish fleet of 7 line-ofThe Swedes offer battle.
battle ships
and
frigates ^ offered battle several times.
to be
drawn
5
into losing his
came
off
Kronstadt, and
Peter, however,
new
fleet,
was not
as assuredly at
1645-1725
that early ilate
would
lie
liaAc
55
done had there been a
general engagement, despite the difference in numbers. Strict orders were issued that the
Swedes were not
be attacked, and eventually they gave
and
to provoke an action,
u])
to
the attempt
sailed away.
In the meantime, land operations were vigorously
uii.
pushed, and town after town taken from Sweden on the southern shores
of the Baltic.
By 1711
all
of
them, including Riga, had Ijeen captured.
new navy participated,
In the capture of Viborg the
the place being taken
The Swedish
sea.
l)y
fleet failed to
put
in
an appearance
till
commanding
his arm}'
;
Sweden
Peter himself was
into something very like anarchy.
Not
mo.
Admiral Apraksin from the
the battle of Poltava the year before had flung
afloat off Viborg,
viboi-g,
a reserve squadron.
had been annihilated at Poltava
1709. Pottaua.
did Charles
made.
xii.
that he had
the fatal error
realise
Escaping from that bloody
field,
he spent a
couple of vears idly careering in the south
;
then he
attempted a counter-irritant, and induced the Turks to fight the Russians. Peter's
Here the
latter
met
disaster
;
army was surrounded, and only saved from
un. hopelessly
defeated by
annihilation by a peace
whereby Azov was restored to
"«
Turks.
Turkey, the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed, and a
heavy indemnity
paid.
The
peace, however, was fatal
to Charles" schemes.
Having disposed
of the Turkish
War, and captured
ma. Capture of
all
the Swedish territorj^ on the southern shores of the
Heisingfors,
Abo, etc.
Baltic, Peter's genius led side.
In
May
him
to attack the northern
17 13, therefore, he sent his fleet to sea
MAr OF THE BALTIC. 3Vf.
— Eciwerawick was a small harbour a
little
west of Eevel.
1645-1725
under
General
Apraksin, the
57
Admiral Graf
Fcodor JMatveievitcli
Russian admiral, to attack the coast
first
'^p'"''^'".
^"*
Russian
and himself took the post of second
of Finland,
command, which meant that he did not allow position as Tsar to affect
fighting
He
value.^
what he considered
selected
his
—
number
difficulty
smaller
the
:
places
Swedes,
own
Peter Velikj^
ships were encountered, and
of
his
the next best
and paralleled by no absolute monarch before or
a
'"'"">'>'
himself as second in
command because he considered himself man to Apraksin a step characteristic of
No Swedish
in
were
taken
by
drained
since.
Abo and without
x to *a/(en,
wild
Charles'
campaigns, could put nothing but raw levies in the
and Russian
field,
soldiers soon overran the southern
shores of Finland.
The
month
ships
or
went back
two
;
and
to
July the Swedes, having got
in
their fleet together, sent
three ships of 56, 54, and
48 guns respectively, under connoitre Revel. ships anchored at
name), and
tlie
On
Revel in the course of a
Commodore Raab,
them.
and
10th Julv these
the nio-ht of
Gogiand (Hogland
is
next morning, about three
the Russian fleet coming under
to re-
full
the Swedish o'clock,
found
to surprise
sail
Raab, however, managed to get under weigh
retreat,
damagcins; two of the
somewhat badly.
Sc-heltinga's
leadino-
flagship,
Russians
the Viborg,
then led the van, supported by Ea-uyis's ship, the Riga.
Nauai
Both these ships were better
Hdgiand, 7713.
1
Peter served always as a
subject,
Tsar but as Rear-admiral Mihailoff.
sailers
and was
than the Swedes, officially
known
not as
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
58
and
overhauling
Averc
gvounded on sliding over
The Riga having
it.
the
the incident, struck
greater draught, stuck
ship
same
to oljservc
failed
The Vilwrg
fast.
being of
and,
bank,
also struck,
The Russians, anxious to save
but scraped over. flagship, stood
when Raab's
She succeeded, liowever, in
hank.
a
fast
tlieni
by
to haul her
off,
their
and Raab's squadron
escaped into Helsingfors.
The
state of
affi\irs
Sweden produced by
in
prevented any large
defeat
and not
Russia's opponents,
the Swedes try to recover the
the
In
Battle of
of
sprino-
on the part of
action
till
the following year did
command
1714
Charles'
the
of the sea.
Admiral
Swedish
Gangoot, 1714.
to sea with a fleet of 15 line-of-battle
Wattraug put ships,
2
gun sloops
in
Mav
for
Abo, and here
he came
or boats,
oft'
fell
and 2
galleys.
Hangoeud (Gangoot), making in with
and captured or sank a
of Russian galleys that were engaged in small
number
operations
isolated
along the
coast.
A
numl^er of
escaped into the bay formed by the
others
Early
Hango
isthmus, then (the Finnish coast hereabouts rises almost perceptibly yearly) very low and narrow.
In this gulf the finding
move
Russians were blockaded
themselves shut
in,
their o-allevs over the
prevent
this,
they began
isthmus on
to
;
but
try
rollers.
to
To
Wattraug despatched Ehrenskold wdth
a
14-gun sloop, ^ six of the captured galleys, and a couple of cutters '
round the peninsula.
Tlie Elefantin.
a species of row-boat.
Tbe
galleys carried 8
giiiis
each.
The
cutters
were
6i
1645-1725
Elirenskold had gone some twenty -five miles when
he sighted 115 Russian ships and
galleys,
under Peter
He
and Apraksin, coming up from the southward.
at
once retreated into a channel between two islands, and
sank one of his cutters astern, so as to protect himself
from a double attack.
The Russians, under
a flag of truce,
demanded
his
surrender, to which he sent back the historical repty
:
f/irensAs/rfs
reply to the request
m
surrender. ''
My
me
king has not given
them over
of handing
ships for the purpose
enemy,
to the
enemy on whose word none can
an
rely."
Apraksin sent thirty-five galleys the Swedes, reserving their
least of al] to
fire
till
in to attack
;
but
the galleys were
within half-pistol range, easily repulsed them.
Peter then led the attack himself ^ with, the whole
Peter in dose action.
galley force, and, after a sanguinary conflict and heavy
got
loss,
own
his
Ehrenskold.
alongside
galley
now
Defeat beino-
commander made
off"
for the
the
sloop
of
Swedish
certain, the
powder magazine
;
but
the Russians, being on the lookout for such a move, shot him, boarded, and took the vessel as well as
The Swedes
her consorts.
wounded
;
lost
700 men
killed
The
of the attacking Russians
loss
was much more heavy, and has been estimated as 3000, while a
ens-aofed
The big
on either
run Ehrenskold,
as high
good half of their galleys were sunk
or badly injured.
00
or
the remainder of their force, 200 men, were
taken prisoners.
been
all
ships do not appear to have
side.
rIpQnpT'pf'.AlAT desperately
urnnnrlprl wounded,
was
\s7i:»«
l'n'm_^„^ brought Peter and EhrenskHld.
^
He was
on board
tlie
galley
commanded by General
AVaide.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
62
before
victorious Tsar, who, almost beside himself
tlic
with delight, ran up to him, wiped the blood from his face,
During the time he remained
and kissed him.
a
Swedish commander with
prisoner, Peter treated the
e\erv mark of esteem, and oave him a "old snuft'-box set with brilliants
Qu
Peter promotes
when he
liberated him.
the rctum of his fleet with the captured vessels,
himself.
Peter went into the Piussian Senate and, describing his ^'ictory,
announced that he had promoted himself to
the rank of vice-admiral. ''''s-
England allies with Rnssm.
Enoiand, havino" In the followiuoo some O ^ / ^ vear (1715) quarrcl with Sweden, sent Sir John Norris into the '
'
Baltic with 18
ships-of-the-line.
had thirty 80-gun ships
those waters,
in
Danish vessels
also
number
ships, being
of
80
Tsar himself.
The
joined
SA\-edes
The Russians then
:
the whole
and some
fleet,
Charles
xii.
remained shut up in their
More-
had a secret alliance with
about this time,- and was even suspected
of having designs on the capital of his
Charles
the
under command of the
harbours, and nothing warlike was attempted.^ over, Peter appears to have
to
xii.
managed
to
Danish
friends.
run such blockade as the
Danes kept up, and returned
to his
kingdom, but any
naval operations on his side were out of the Cjuestion.
The Augio-Russiau 1
fleet cruised
yearly off the Swedish
The Swedish version (Admiral Gyllengranat)
Danish, S Russian ships-of-the-liue
2'h's
some
galley.s
says 10 English, 18 ;
and that a descent
on the coast of Sweden was meditated but prevented owing ence of a Swedisli -
He had
Sweden.
fleet of
to the exist-
14 battleships and C fiigates.
an intense personal admiration for the meteoric King of
2. (ask
—
=-=2
CO
o
fcgQ
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
64
ports
]7ls.^
till
year
wliicli
ill
imaded Norway, was
who had
Charley,
by a cannon
killed
ball
at
Frederickshald. 24th May 1719. Capture of the Wachtmeister
On
the niorning of 24th ]\Iay of 1719 three Russian
Gotska Sandon
50-guii ships cruising off
N.W.
(to the
and other uessets.
of Gotland)
—a
fell in
with a reconnoitring force of Swedes
(Wachtmeister,
2-decker
48
IG-gun
frigate (Rushenfeldt), a
guns),
and
brig,
24-gun
a a
schooner.
They
immediarely
sailers
soon overhauled and captured the three smaller
Swedish
gave
and
chase,
being
better
The 2-decker, however, kept
vessels.
on,
and brought chnwn the foremast of the leading and fastest
Eussian. steerino- for Sandhamn.
meister
seemed
show her
likely to
midday two more Eussian
to
The Wachtmeister
acti
a^ a-
frXLto
TU^ii
(^Js.
M"T
COASTS.
not clear which part of the Sea of Azov was marched over
by the Russians dry shod. seems to imply that
phenomenon was
it
locally
Creas}' {History of (he
was the
Straits
kno^vn to occur with certain winds,
and that Lascy marched down there circumstance.
Othmian Turk^)
of Yenikale, that the
to
avidl
himself of the
1725-1762
the
produced In
Dantzig by
blockaded
efiectually
fleet
73
and
sea,
surrender.
its
1736,
other
being
relations
Russia
peaceful,
embarked upon that campaign against Turkey which Count Munnich
Peter had had to abandon. following
year
boats
attack the
to
assembled a
armed
Crimea, and
him with
admiral, supported
of
fleet
7736.
War
.
flat
-
in
the
bottomed
Bredal, a
with
Turi<ey.
7737.
Invasion of Crimea.
Russian
a force of gunboats and
rafts.
Lascy now took bridge
and
casks
of
command, and bv
supreme rafts
crossed
Azov was captured
Yenikale.
left
by
Crimea
the
no very
August the
in
over
bridge
a
capture of Azou, 1737.
of
Straits
in June, but
important operations took place, and Russians
the
a
" the
Putrid Sea." In the following
year these semi-military, semi-
773s.
A chapter of
naval operations were resumed by Lascy, and a curious incident took place.
The waters of
and
are verv shallow,
at times
a
" the Putrid Sea strono-
drives back the water, leaving dry land.
1738 Lascy marched
army
his
^^odus
in
the
"
west wind
On
7th July
across the sea, which
returned just as the last Russian reached the Crimean
The
shore.
Book
parallel to a
Exodus was
of
well-known incident
sufliciently
striking
to
in the
make
an immense impression upon the superstitious Russian soldiers,
and perhaps
attack on Turkey
—a
it
led
move
to Austria's
that cost her dearly.
Bredal's fleet did not take operations.
In
joining the
any great share
in
the
August 1737, while lying under
a
operations of the Russian fiotnia under Bredal.
battery,
it
was attacked by a Turkish
flotilla,
which
it
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
74
repulsed
but veuturing to sea in the following year,
;
was so damaged
Along
useless.
won some
a storm that
in
;
soldiers
but, on the whole, the
war was
the
very barren of results to either ally, Austria,
was practically
it
Russian
Dneister
the
victories
it
side,
save to Russia's
which was heavily defeated
in
several
actions. Treaty of Belgrade and the Euxine
In the foUowino- year the treat\- of Belgrade was
By
signed.
Russia gained
it
a
little
territory
Ijut
;
fleet, 1739.
Azov and Taganrog
Avere dismantled,
and an agreement
entered into that Russia should maintain no ships in the Sea of x'^zov or in the Black Sea, nor build any vessels
on the shores of the Euxine.
In 1740
Anne
and
died,
same year the AVar
in that
Ivan
of the Austrian Succession began to loom.
the
new
o'ained
vi.,
Tsar, started hostilities against Sweden, and
some land advantage
;
then
a revolution
dis-
posed of him, and set Elizabeth, Peter the Great's dauo'hter, on the throne.
arms were more the
Under Elizabeth
successful,
of
capitulation
an
the Russian
Lasc}' brought about
and
Swedish
entire
army near
Helsingfors.
In
Naual
1743 Lascv oot together at Kronstadt a Heet
operations,
1743.
consisting of 17 line -of- battle
command
48 galleys, the
shijDS,^
5
frigates,
and
of which fleet was given to
Admiral GoUovin. Off
Haugo Point (Gangoot)
numbering 16 ships-of-the-line, 2
bomb
ketches, 1
and
1
lay a 5
frigates,
fire-ship.
Some accounts
sa,j
1
Swedish Heet,
5 battleships.
:2
brigs,
1725-1762
Lascy sent Gollovin to attack
75
this fleet
;
but when
Goiiouin declines
action witti
the to
Swedish admiral, Johan von '
moved out
Utfall,
"«
S"""'"^'
Mail 1743.
meet him, Gollovin at once retreated to Revel,
and merely a few long - range shots were exchanged. Gollovin excused
inaction
his
by quoting Peter the
his reasons.
Great's order that the Swedes were n9t to be fought unless the Russians were in a big majority.
Probablv Gollovin was
heavy naval
prestige,
The Swedes had
rio-ht.
—the past gave no hope
of equal forces of Russian sailors beating
Swedish
comments.
or record
Swedes
By
attack would have been but to court disaster.
ing to Revel he occupied the
a
fleet,
;
to
retir-
and by
remaining intact prevented their operating elsewhere. In August a
disadvantageous
peace
to
Sweden
Peace, 1743.
was concluded. In the general fighting which preceded the Treaty 1748, Russia, though subsidised
of Aix-la-Chapelle in
by England, took no active 37,000 to
men and 40
been the reason of
any
sort
part,
notwithstanding that
galleys were
kept in
readiness
Lack of transport appears
participate.
of
1743.
this
was made
to
inaction,
remedy
it
to
have
and
no attempt
b}'
utilising the
Russian Navy.
The Seven
Years'
War
found
Russia in
conflict
The seuen Years' War,
with Prussia, liattleships
and
1757 a
15
Russian
bombarded and captured Memel.
Thence
in
they blockaded the Prussian
fleet
coast,
of
till
in
1758 the
Russian land forces were compelled to withdraw from the scene of several victories owino- to provisions.
shortness of
?757.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
76
1758
In joined
by
6
the
fleet,
for
an opposing
that did not appear.
In 1760 the
fleet,
now brought up
under Admiral MishukofF, attempted
to 27
but
vessels,
to
failed
take Colberg in conjunction with a land force. i7ei.
was
Misbukoff
and some Danes under Schoutbynacht
and spent the summer looking
English 1760.
Admiral
Swedish battleships and 2 frigates under
Lagerbjclke, Fisher,
Russian
The
next year, increased to 40 ships and having been joined also
by Swedish
vessels,
they tried the same thing, and
Colberg was taken on 16th December 1761. 1762.
Some
three weeks later the Empress Elizabeth died,
and was succeeded by Peter
iii.,
and became
forces with Prussia
who at
at once joined
war with Sweden.
Nothing, however, seems to have happened
:
Peter's
energies were principally occupied in trying to rid himself of his wife, Ekaterina, a
Ekaterina, havino-
o-ot
German
princess.
Then
some regiments of guards
to
espouse her cause, dethroned Peter, proclaimed herself Tsarina,
and Peter, thrown into prison, was strangled
by her orders a week
after his deposition.
—
V 1762-1796
THE RUSSIAN NAVY UNDER EKATERINA THE GREAT
T?KATERINA II. (the Great) was undoubtedly the -^ most able woman who ever sat ou the Russian or, for that matter,
any other throne.
The means whereby
she came to rule were ethically reprehensible enough, and, like every
woman who
name
has written her
in the
pages of history, her morals were hardly such as meet
with favour.
But
in this respect
she was no worse
perhaps even she was better
— than
Anne and
she was infinitely
Elizabeth,
able as a ruler. into
the
literature,
while
science, and,
a
great
patron
of. art,
from the imperial stand-
point, raised her country to a pinnacle
before occupied.
more
She introduced many wise reforms
government, was
and
her predecessors,
it
had never
To the Imperial Navy her
services
were second only to those of Peter the Great
some points of view they were indeed
greater.
:
from
During
her reign appeared the most famous of Russian admii-als,
Samuel Greig, a Scotchman, who had pre%dously served in the British
Navy, and participated in the 77
battle of
samuei
ereig.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
yS
He
Quibeioii in 1759.
joined the Kussian
17G2, two years after Ekaterina
and soon rose to high rank. other British
nuniber of other British
came
Navy
in
to the throne,
Ekaterina also induced a to enter her service,
otticers
officers.
Elphinstone (who entered as a rear-admiral), Dugdale,
Mackenzie, and ^Mitchell being those most celebrated
Under Peter the Russian Navy had been
after Greig.
to
some extent
a child
Saunders had already
of the British one,
heard
l^een
these good offices were
of,
Gordon and
but under Ekaterina
increased a hundredfold, and
At one
British officers entered her service in scores.
time more than half the entire
list
Anglo-Saxon and Celtic nationality particular, War
The
with
showed a
of ofticers were of
— Scotchmen,
in
partiality for the service.
event when Ekaterina assumed the reins
first
Prussia.
of government was a reversal of her husband's policy
and of
a
return
much
to
No
that of Elizabeth.
operations
importance, however, on the part of Russia
marked the
close of the
Seven Years'
War
may have turned
small use that the fleet was
thoughts to the utilisation of British
;
and the
Ekaterina's
Russian
ofiicers.
historv was full of instances of British fleets entering
and operating
in the Baltic
though nearly dead
upon the facts it
the power of the Swedes,
;
in 1762,
had been great and decisive
sea in earlier years.
must have
Contemplation of these
fired Ekaterina's
imagination
;
and she
was who, having reorganised her navy, gave orders
for the first
attempt of
a
Russian
fleet
to operate in
foreign waters.
In 1768 war was declared against Turkey; and in
;
1762-1796
79
the following year Ekateriua ordered Admiral Couut
Alexis Orloff to take his fleet from Kronstadt, and
Russian feet ordered to the Mediterranean, 1769.
operate
Turkey
against
the
in
absolutely novel departure
made
Such an
Levant.
considerable stir in
Europe at the time, and the Turks, amongst others, heard of Ekaterina's intentions.
They, however, looked upon
the projected expedition as so foolhardy and impossible that they
made
absolutely no preparations to meet
it,
contenting themselves with the assurance that Orloff
would not manage to enter the Mediterranean.
Count Orloff
Kronstadt with a
left
fleet consisting onof
of 12 ships-of-the-line, 12 frigates, and a
transports and
bad weather pilots
store-ships.
in the
and having
of
After experiencing some
German Ocean, he picked up English
and reached Portsmouth
At Portsmouth
number
saus.
in a very
bad condition.
Reaches Portsmouth.
the dockyard was put at his disposal
refitted,
he sailed again, to meet more bad
weather in the Bay of Biscay
;
but eventually he got
through the Straits of Gibraltar and anchored at Port ]Mahon, then occupied by the British.
found himself among friends,
owo#
at Port Mahon.
Here again he were
his battered ships
put into trim, and his sea-sick and diseased men treated in the hospitals.
The Mediterranean Powers generally regarded the advent of a Russian
fleet
with extreme dislike
the
;
views of Mediterranean Pouiers.
Venetian action.
Venetians, in particular, would have none of issued an order that
it.
They
no Russian ships were to be
admitted into the ports, and sent out a orders to attack Orloff should
fleet
with
he try to enter the Views of
Adriatic.
The Turks, meanwhile, were astounded
to
the Turks.
So
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
hear
of
Russian
the
arrival
fleet's
and promptly
;
addressed a complaint to the representatives of Austria because the Venetians " had allowed Orloff to pass the Straits of Gibraltar."
Mustapha
The Turkish
iii.,
the then Sultan of Turkey, had paid
fleet in 1770.
great attention to his efficient condition Hassan of
Its chief
—
and
fleet,
was
it
at least,
eflicient,
for
admiral was Hassan of Algiers, a
a fairly
in
the Turks.
man
of
some
Algiers.
fame and mark in Persia,
Born on the
his time.
frontiers of
Hassan when a boy was captured and sold
slave in Algeria.
as a
After a time he became a boatman,
then a soldier, and later
still
a pirate, in
which capacity
he gained so
much renown
of Algiers.
Here he quarrelled with the Dey, and was
exiled or escaped to Italy
that he became Port Admiral
;
and
his
fame having pre-
ceded him, he secured a post in the Turkish
fleet,
and
soon became a leading admiral. Orloff"
Orloff moves,
having refitted his
ships, left Port
Mahon
the Morea.
Here
Feb. 1770.
in
February 1770, and
sailed
for
he issued proclamations and jDi'oduced a revolt, and occupied Navarino, Modon, Patras, and several other ports.
His
soldiers,
insurrection
Orloff's opinion
of his
to
however, were too few to help the
any extent, and the Turkish army
coming down
in force,
and then
Greece altosrether.
left
He had
written
he
to
first
withdrew to Navarino
Ekaterina a most trenchant
fleet.
criticism
upon
his fleet, describing it as nearly useless
even against the Turks discouraged.
;
but the Tsarina was not to be
Rear- Admirals Elphinstoue and Spiridoff,
with Greig, then a commodore, were despatched with
"^cai.,
£--,51.^.1
«,lc.
MAP OF BLACK
SEA,
TrRKEY, ETC.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
82
Ehaterina sends reinforcements.
reinforcements via Portsmouth and Port IMahon, and In May, Hassan
these reached Orloff early in 1770.
came down the Dardenclles with a
of Alpjiers
and the
fleet, Small
number
rivals
each
tried
other's
laro;e
metal
in
a
of small long-range engagements that produced
encounters.
little
On
Battle of Chios
and Jchesma, 5-7 July 1770.
or no loss on either side.
ten
^
tlic
5th of July 1770 Admiral SpiridofF, with
ships-of-thc-line
Chios,
and
five frigates,
when he encountered Hassan
Turkish
fleet consisted of
was cruising
off
The
of Algiers.
15 ships-of-the-line (one of
100 guns, one of 96, four 84, one 74, one 70, one 62,
and
60
six
fighting
8
and both till
5
galliots,
Hassan ran
corvettes. Spiridofi",
guns),
ship
his
vessels took
they blew up.
crews were killed on either admirals and principal
and 2
xebecques, alongside
fire.
that
of
They continued
Nearl}* the whole of the side,
officers
but
in
both cases the
The
escaped unhurt.
majority of the Turks were at anchor, and so remained
during the battle, which led to no very decisive
though such advantage with the Eussians. be destroyed against vessels.
;
as
Night
result,
there was rested entirely fell
before the Turks could
but the fortunes of the day had gone
them enough
to create panic in
many
of their
Hassan's authority was set aside, and, bent
only upon avoiding a repetition of the action on the
morrow, the Turks cut disorder into the
more or '
less safe
Bay
their cables
and drifted
in
of Tchesma, where they were
from Russian attack.
Creasy's Histoni of Turhey says eight sliips-of-tlie-line and seven
frigates.
The
biggest Russian sliip iras the Eostislav, 108 guns.
—
^
I762-I796
They were
83
not, however, protected agaiust fire-ships
(the old-tmie equivalent to torpedo boats), and Admiral
Elphinstone prepared
knew anything
at
None
four.
about
all
fire
evinced no desire to start learning sequently the famous a British
l)attle
of
of
and
ships,
-
ofi"
Russians
the
they
Con-
Tchesma.
Tchesma was
practicall)'
with Russian crews, and not invariabl}'
affaii'
Tchesma a British affair.
even with these, as those in the
fire-ships deserted at
the critical moment.
what
Practically,
was to very wisely
Spiridofi^ did
decide not to interfere with an operation concerning
which he had neither experience nor knowledge
when we make allowances dependence
upon
for
foreigners
and
;
natural gall that
the
must have
produced,
Russian behaviour at Tchesma was correct enough.
The Russian work
ofticers
folded their hands, and
who understood
to those
instances of our
History has
it.
hampering,
no
did
the
many
people co-operating with foreigners,
much
the foreigners busy hampering as Spiridofi'
left
and
as
possible.
command
the
oispiridog's wisdom in not
the entire fleet seems to have lieen in the hands oi interfering.
Elphinstone that night.
The plan of attack was Elphinstone, lay
out.side
in
with the case
the
as follows
main
:
liody
Turks
pia„ 0/ attaci-
io8
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
great
loss.
gallant and vigorous attempts to get as gallantly
met and
in,
(9500) having been
They
a
also lost
16 gallevs, 6
killed,
frigates,
bomb
half their
retire,
wounded, or captured.
of their
third
namely, 4
vessels,
but each was
repulsed.
Eventually they were forced to
men
made most
fight they
For the rest of the
fleet,
4 xebecs,
1
and
ships
b'l
coast-frigate,
ketches or cutters, and 21 other
vessels.
The Swedes onlv allowed having 1
coast-frigate, 3 yawls,
and 300 men
The Russian estimate higher
have
and
;
lost
it
more,
Englishman
would appear probable that they must if
F.
Sir
numbers
large
Sir
de combat.
only on account of the close quarters
That redoubtable
fouo-ht.
Sidney Smith was fighting
for
the
English, both officers and men, were present
Swedes. in
liors
fixed their loss considerably
which the battle was
at
suffered the loss of
in
hoth fleets
:
^
of these. Captain
Thesiger particularly distinguished himself on
the Russian side.
This repulse of the Russians at Svenksund was,
^""''^ °.^.,
"Sissoi
,.,
V el iky,
„
however, too late to save Sweden.
— the Swedish force
was
command
still
2,thjuiy 1,90. ^^.:^^^Yl
blockaded, and Russia had
thirty ships-of-the-line, some of which defeated a
few Swedes su,eden
makes peace,
q£
^j^g
off
Gogland on
'&&mt Sissoi VeHkv.
14th Aug. 7700.
i^Q^yQ^-^y^
'
of the sea
Swedes
•27th July, the festival-day
The
battle of
savcd Stockholm for the denj- the presence of
moment
Svenksund, ;
any foreigneis in their
and peace fleet
except
Smith, and attribute the legend to the adventures of Mr. Chucks in Marrvat's Peter Simjih.
I09
1762-1796
proposals were made.
These Ekateriua accepted, and
peace was signed on the 14th of August 1790. Russia was thus
Sweden's
ally,
left
Turkey
;
with a free hand to deal with
and
some land
after
defeats,
f"bject of
only
struck the stern of the
appears to have been very small the affair
still firing, l)uL
even
^vere
the Turkish side
the importance of
:
gauged by
The
this.
makauoff.
the expedition was achieved, and
in history as the first successful torpedo
it
stands
boat
flotilla
attack. It
was not the
first
attempted, as a few days earlier
an attack with towing torpedoes had been made at Batirm.
lend
The
itself
to
towing fiotilla
torpedo,
attacks
however,
like
does
not
the spar and the
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR,
1S77-78
189
Wliitehead, and this particular attack was a dismal failure.
The Grand Duke Constantine was an armed merchant
command
steamer of about 1500 tons, and the
Duke
Grand
the
of her
(now Admiral) Makaroff.
was given to Lieutenant Practically
Maharoff.
was
Constantine
an
anticipation of the British Vulcan or French Foudre
of the present time, though the boats of 1877 being
much
smaller than those of to-day, thev were carried,
to the
number
The very
of six, on the davits.
first
Russian naval movement
in the
\\a,\: Mai<aroff at ^
was to send Makaroff to Batum, where some Turkish
BatOm, 12th '^"y '«77.
ironclads lay at anchor behind a partially completed
Four
boom.
Sukhum
boats,
Tchesma,
Kala, were sent
Sinop,
but finding a small vessel
in,
on guard outside, which opened were concentrated on
efforts
and
Navarin,
fire
upon them,
their
Nothino- came of the
her.
torpedo Avhieh they tried to tow under this the attack had to be abandoned as the
sliip,
and
enemy were on
the qui vive.
On
the
12th
of
June
the
Turkish
ironclads
/ifaAaro# at Sulina, 12th
Idjalalieh, Feth-i-Bulend,
boat,
were lying at Sulina.
protection
each
Mukadim-i-Hair, and a gww-
for
these ships,
—a
Hobart had devised a
HcbartPashas defence scheme.
circle
connected to the next with a
of guard-boats, rope,
—a
very
sound passive defence, which under certain circumstances would be valuable euough in the present day.
Off Sulina arrived Makaroff in the Grand
Duke
Constantine, with a sister ship, the Vladimir, as consort.
Having located the
June isj?.
enemy, he dropped
his
boats.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
190
ordered them to attack in two divisions and rejoin the
rendezvous
flae at a
Tlie boats
off the coast.
were
1st division, Tcliesma, Lieut. Zatzarennyi (in
2nd
Xo.
2,
Lieut. Eojdestrenski.
No.
1,
Lieut. Poutscliine.
command).
division, Sinnp. jSJ^avarin.
Sukhum
The Tchesma other boats were
Kal5.
still
all
had the towing torpedo
;
the
armed with spar torpedoes, con-
sequently the former had to act independently. Fate of No.
7.
Thc
first dlvislon,
thus reduced to two boats, ran at
the nearest ironclad, the Idjalalieh, and No. the
into
capsized,
sunk.
rope the
between
the
torpedo was
Six of her crew
she
picket-boats,
exploded,
who
running
1
was
and the boat
escaped were captured
by the Turks. Rojdestvenski's boat
managed
to
but sustained some damage in doing
jump the boom, so.
Proceeding,
she struck her spar against the Idjalalieh's torpedo nets, Attack
and
in the explosion sustained further
which put her out of
up a heavy boat,
fire all
action.
The Turks, who had kept
along, also did
though no men were
damage,
hit.
some damage
to the
The ironclad steamed
forward in pursuit, failing to capture or destroy No.
but quite neutralising the remainder of the
flotilla.
The Tchesma's towing torpedo proved altogether
useless,
and the whole attack was a complete 20th June 1877.
2,
On 20th June
a Turkish
failure.
monitor
off
Rustchuk
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR,
1877-78
191
attacked some Russian boats laying mines in the day-
One
time.
for firing
of
them attempted
to torpedo, Ijut the wire
was cut by a bullet and the boats routed.
Three days
later this
same monitor was up the 23rd
June
wn,
off Nikopolis.
Danube and
-
at
the
Nikopolis,
torpedo
boats -Mina, >Sub
lieutenant Arens, and
the
=^
Toutehl-r
1 i
NilofF,
to
at
t
e
n a u
t
The
her.
however,
once, and
dropped
also
rigged
out booms with explosives at the end of them. likewise steamed at the boats,
-
were ordered
attack
monitor, nets
u
e
S ub
a,
She
and very nearly caught
that of Sub-lieutenant Niloff between her
booms and
the river bank.
The boats being armoured with Turkish hand,
rifle fire
they w-ere
did them
little
absolutely
boiler plates, the
harm
;
powerless
on the other against
the
monitor, the captain of which, an Englishman or an
American, stood on the bridge waving his cap and
—
.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
192
assailants,
at his
jeci-iiig
who were doing what they After a time he disappeared,
could with small arms.
and the monitor promptly steamed away, the boats retirino; also. Reported tiauai action, 23rd July 1877.
the 23rd July the Russian armed mercliantman
On Vesta
ironclad
Turkish certainty
denied of
in
it
rifle-shots
in the matter
jjeen shot for failing to
were interchanged.
is,
that
the action
if
Turkish captain ought to have capture or sink the Vesta.
the ulglit of 24th August Makaroff came
Kale,
21th Aug. 1877.
cannot have been more than
which a few long-range
0\\
Ijeen
and was probably nothing but a stern chase
really took place, the
Sukhum
has
it
In any case, in view of the disparity
toto.
The only sure thing
Maharoffat
and
hangs over this action,
in
un-
Considerable
Assar-i-Chcvket.
the combatants,
partial,
engaged with the
supposed to have been
is
oft'
^
Sulvhuui Kale, which a Turkish squadron had attacked
He
and occupied. Tchesma
despatched four boats
(flag)
Sinup
These,
Lieut. Zatzarennj'i. Lieut. I'ifarefsky.
Torpedoist
Sub-lieut. Hirst.
Xavai-in
Lieut. A'ishnevetski.
armed with the towing torpedoes,
after
some
delay came to the roadstead where two large ships, one of
them the Assar-i-Chevket, and
were lying.
They found
a
number
of feluccas
the Turks in full occupation,
a huge fire burnino- on the beach,
bv the
lio'ht
of which
the attack was able to proceed fairly easily. Attack on the
Tlicrc
was au
eclipse of the
moon
that night, and
Assnr-i Cheuket.
in the
middle of the eclipse the four boats rushed the
THE ATTACK ON THE ASSAR-t-CHEVKET.
—
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR, Assar-i-Chevket under a heavy
from a battery on
fire
1877-78
195
from the vessels and
shore.
Alongside the ironclad a boat was lying, and the ne sincp's attack.
Sinop's torpedo was exploded closer
boat,
alongside,
by hitting
this.
Drifting
the Sinop got entangled with this
and a good deal of hand-to-hand fighting took
place, in the course of
which Lieutenant Pifarefski was
wounded, and very nearly made
Eventually,
prisoner.
however, the Sinop got free and retired.
The Navariu, attacking ^ her torpedo and exploded thereby.
at the
it,
same time, fouled ne Nausrins attach.
nearly swamping herself
The Tchesma fouled the
ironclad's accom- ne Tchesmas attack.
modation ladder and was so compelled to cut loose
A moment
her torpedo, which drifted to the beach. later she fouled the
accommodation ladder
the ironclad, rolling from the torpedo, nearly
forced
her
of the
eftect
under.
herself,
As
it
and
Sinop's
was she
escaped, but badly disabled.
The Torpedoist missed the way, and was supposed to
have been
lost.
to look for her,
Zatzarennyi went back under
and eventually picked her
The ironclad was
quite uninjured
ne
Torpedoist.
fire
i;p.
by the torpedo
O: Effect
on the
ironclad.
slio;ht
dent on the armour belt being the sum-total of
her injuries.
At the
time, however, the Russians were
under the impression that they had sunk Just as the Grand
was
the
flotilla
reached Makaroff's steamer
Duke Constantine,
sioiited
her.
a large Turkish ironclad
throuoh the mornino- mists.
The Russian
expedition was not, however, sighted in return, and it
went back
to
Odessa unmolested.
—
196
Mouth of
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY The next naval operations did not take place
Danube.
the winter.
In
November
tion consistina; of
Attacff on
Turkish fleet.
till
there left Odessa an expedi-
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR, to the marshes,
1877-78
swamps, and quicksands surrounding
the phxce, could any military assistance Practically
the
197
Russian tactics
l^e
olitained.
themselves ue
resolved
into an attempt to shut in the Turkish squadron
sowing mines broadcast above and below
now descended toward
under
that did
fire
by
it.
The torpedo boats having gone up the Danube
Toultcha,
to
Sulina, laying mines
them no harm.
The following day
a Russian steamer reconnoitred,
The Sulina and the tug came out
to attack her, but
the former getting on to the Russian mines was blown
up and sank herself
in shallow water,
rescuing
Russian
*°'""'
the
survivors
and the tug busied of
the
crew.
The
sniinauownup.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
igS
Miikadim-i-Ilair l>ut
caiue up, (ipcniiigfire at
no hits appear to liave been made on
The
General action.
now
eitlier side.
wliole PiU.ssian Hotilhi attacked next day,
a sovt
of naval battle took place at long bowls.
turret
-
.-hip
somewhere
Hafiz-i-ul in
Raham was
the machinery
^
ammunirion
wa.- exj^ended, Ijut
On
hits.
the other hand,
they did no harm armour, and
— she
shell-fire
hit
fio;ht
shell
action. all
till
and
The
by a
and put out of
The .Mukadim-i-Hair continued the
any
range,
loui;-
her
again without securing if
the Russians hit
hej-
a ship largely coated with
is
therefore likely to be compara-
tively innocuous to her.
After the Suklium Kale aftair the Russians began
Makarojf at Batum, 21st Dec. JS77.
to
discardthc towing torpedo, and the Tchesma and
Sinop were armed with Whitehead tubes. were too Method of carrying the Tchesma'stube.
.small to
Tchesma was lashed under
ijo^ts bottom, the intcution being to cut
as soon as Method of carrying the sinop'stube.
carry the tubes as tubes are earried
nowaday.?, and that of the ^\^q
The boats
it
had been
Thar of the Sinop was secured lashed alongside the boat. therefore,
was
fitted
it
loo.se
used. to a raft
which was
For practical purposes each,
with a sort of bow tube.
These
torpedoes had a 60-lb. gun-cottou charge, and besides
being smaller, were, of course, far slower and more uncertain than the Whiteheads of to-day. Hobart Pasha's precautions.
Hobail Pasha lay at Batum with seven presumably defended
in
the
usual fiishiou.
vessels
A
very
sharp lookout was kept, picket-boats were out, and lights carefully hidden both ^
'
all
on shipboard and on shore.
Said to have been hit in the boilers but this
is
doubtful.
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR, As a
result
1877-78
199
some con-
of this the Russians had
Difficulty in finding
siderable dithcultj'' in fiudiug the place
At
dark, rainy night.
last,
it
;
also a "«
was
'''""-''J-
however, the masts of ships
were made out, and for these, guided also by the sound of the Turks' voices, the Russians steered. A\
ithout being
sighted
they crept up, and the
Tchesma discharged her torpedo
but
;
some other obstruction and exploded torpedo missed
Sinop's
opening a heavy
fire,
altogether
nets or
hit
it
The
harmlessl}-. ;
and
the
Turks
the attack was over.
the retreat the Russian boats nearly attacked
In
the G]-aud
Duke Constantine
The
vessel.
Torpedoist.
— takino- her
for a hostile
and the Xavarin had previously
sighted [Makaroft's vessel, and steamed away from her
under the impression that she was an enemy best avoided.
The
On
last naval action in the
this occasion.
was
moonlight. at the
same
fetched,
fairly
visible
ship, a large gunboat,
to
in
the
to
satam, 26th Jan. 1878.
bright
fired simultaneously
which sank
at once.
have known nothing about
this
they found their ship going under, and the
Russians retreated after the event without any
The
Batum.
also off
There was a sea on, but the
The two boats both
The Turks appear aflair till
^^-as
Makaroff onlv sent the Tchesma and
Sinop into the attack.
harbour
war
loss.
results of this ^ guerilla warfare cannot be said
have been particularly conclusive.
negative rather than positive results.
nature of things,
torpedo warfare.
is
A
They produced That, in the
likely always to be the
few ships were sunk
;
eff'ect
of
but the
General remarks.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
200
destruction of ships "
merely an item in naval warfare.
is
Moral effect" on the Turks seems to have been
might have been expected
or at anyrate less than
Turk
is
little, ;
the
a case-hardened person, and he seems to have
taken the then novel and new-fangled torpedo as being quite as commonplace a Kismet as a shot or a
In the absence of
shell.
of the Turkish fleet
how much,
it
if at all,
full
is
knowledge as to the
state
almost impossible to gauge
that fleet was paralysed by the
torpedo boat menace.
On is
the other hand, the credit due to the Eussians
immense.
They had no
knowledge tactics is a
:
the
of
light
he had to invent his
tactics,
cannot judge present
day
and to invent
Nor, because their loss of
was small
life
insignificant, can this be held to detract
individual
-
very different thing to executing evolutions of
the drill-book.
and
by
exploits
wdth, and they
We
unknown weapon.
used an almost
Makaroffs
fleet to start
bravery of
the
Eussian
from the
torpedoists
;
on
going into action there were absolutely no reasonable prospects of such an extraordinary survival.
men than they have admitted to — but
they lost more that
is
a
Possibly
side
issue.
The main
fact
that they
is,
accomplished a good deal with the slenderest materials,
and of
if
Farragut
ironclads,^ 1
is
worthy of being called the Nelson
Makaroff certainly deserves a similar
This comparison
is
of
course
made
in a purelj^ relative sense.
Neither Farragut nor Makaroff occupy a niche any\\-here near Nelson, :
for the simple reason that the operations in
which they did
so well
were
purely local ones, having no world-importance like those in which Nelson participated.
—
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR, status
for
torpedo work
attacks requires quite as
1877-78
the
planning of torpedo
much
brain and ability as
;
the same sort of thing with ironclads.
In a sense
the torpedo boat being a novel weapon
more.
201
—
it
requires
XI 1878-1885
npHE
immediate result of the Turco-Russian
War was
Russia's I'ecognition of the necessity of a Black Sea
and she decided on the construction of
fleet,
vessels
which have put Constantinoj)le at her mercy ever
The
decision that a fleet there
however, lead to much
down
actually laid British fleet
was due
of rcasous,
at
since.
was necessary did
first,
for five years.
not,
nothing was
since
This, for a variety
chiefly to the British
Government.
forces the Dardeneites.
In
tlic first
placc. the armistice with
Turkey was soon
followed by the forcing of the Dardenelles by a British
squadron, which, with guns loaded and ships cleared for action,
steamed up the Dardenelles
snowstorm.
It
was anticipated
in a
heavy gale and
in the English vessels
that the Turks would offer opposition
;
it
is
almost
probable that something of the sort had been decided
on it
but the move was of the nature of a surprise, and
;
is
not impossible that the Turks knew
till it
was
-A
little
about
it
fait accompli.
In any case, the British ironclads had Constantinople at their
mercy, and
beyond Constantinople and the
Bosphorus lay the Russian Black Sea Coast fleet's
mercy.
A
fleet in
also at the
the Black Sea would control
203
1878-1S85
the Danube, and, once a beginning was made, ships capable
operating
of
in
Danube and
the
communications would soon be got up
By
occupying
Turkish Dardenelles'
the
in a tight place, but Austria,
had
game was occasion
:
immediate is
was
it
The
objects.
a debatable point
The
" bluff"
one of
however,
fleet
The
British
on this particular
bluff that succeeded in its
precise value of those objects
but that
;
the
forts,
hungering for a share
also to be considered.
chiefly
required.
have put the British
Russians would, indeed,
of the spoil,
if
cutting
precise ultimate result
is
not our concern here.
Result of the moue.
was that Eussia recognised
that the Dardenelles were not necessarily a closed door,
and a good deal of energy was in strengthening SevastSpol
and Nikolaieff and
battleships did not take place
few minor
:
The
war was one of
laid
down
craft, is
:
that,
the naval
two or three years following the war.
To the Miuin some
ship
1883.
and the Vladimir Monomakh
history of the
fortify-
The Miniu's reconstruction was com-
savinor the buildino- of a
made.^
till
directly following the
naval stasrnation. pleted,
some years expended
Hence the laying down of Black Sea
ing other ports.
The period
for
altered
reference
Minin was quite
already been
has
a different type of
from an English turret-ship type she was con-
verted into a barbette ship of French style antithesis of
The
what she had
mounted
in sponsons, one 1
See
direct
been.
turrets amidships were abolished,
heiavy guns
—the
p. 168.
and the four
on each beam
/mmn.
—
—
a
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
204
The low l)ulwarks amidships
and one on each quarter.
were raised and built up to the height of the old
and
flying deck,
guns
castle,
two
along the old maindeck
in turrets,
and four
guns
is
6-in.,
two
in the fore-
Full details of the ship
in the poop.
photograph of which follows
6-in.
Originally she was to have carried four
were placed. 11-in.
all
on the opposite page
—
— are
as
:
Displacement
.
Length
.
Beam
.
.
.
tons. ft.
49^
.
Draught {mean)
Armour
6000
298^
25
.
.
ft.
ft.
Complete
1-U
iron
Barbettes, 8
Armament
.
.
Four
belt,
in. in.
8-in.
Twelve
6-in.
Sixteen small Q.F.
Horse-power
.
Trial speed
.
6000 .
At present (1899) the ship struction,!
removed.
12i knots.
.
is
up
laid
for recon-
and some of the guns have been or
will be
Belleville boilers will also be fitted to her.
For a considerable time she was employed on training service.
Thc ^^adlmlr Monomakh, once a very famous
Vladimir
ship,
Monomatil:.
is
copy of the altered Minin.
practically a
launched in 1881. Displacement
Length
.
Beam
.
Her dimensions,
.
.
etc.,
6000 295 52
.
Draught {mean)
.
'
.
are
tons.
ft.
ft.
circa 24
See article on Kronstadt.
ft.
She was
'r
I878-I885
207
Armour was
Belt and barbettes, 6
in.
Compound armour.
Armament
Four
teas
8-in.
Twelve
6-in.
Twenty small Q.F. Three torpedo tubes. Horse-power
7000.
Trial speed (max.)
15 knots.
Sea speed
13 knots.
She was then a sails,
fully rigged ship, with double top-
and reckoned one of the
J)
—
-"^^-^ ^
rr 1e
finest
cruisers afloat.
-D
Ie
PLAN OF VLADIJIIE MONOJIAEH WITH PRESEXT
Since then
As soon
KIG.
she has been a good deal reconstructed.
as possible after completion she
was sent out
to the Pacific.
In 1883 the Vladimir
Monomakh was
followed
hj
her sister the Dmitri Donskoi, which also has since
been reconstructed.^ ^
For details
She
differed
in
armament and
of reconstruction, see a later chapter.
omiM oonskot
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
2o8
its
arrangement, but otherwise was identical wdth the
Monomakh.
Vladimir
Instead of
four
8-iu.
9-ton
guns, she only carried two of these pieces, and these
were in sponsons upon the upper deck, the influence of French type being here visible.^
guns were
battery fourteen 6-in.
All these
more heavily masted than the Vladimir
possible,
Monomakh
carried.
The Dmitri Donskoi was,
have since been removed. if
In the maindeck
indeed, a tale was current in the Medi-
;
terranean, where she presently appeared, that her topsails
had never been
set for fear she should capsize.
She evoked considerable for
some long
and
in service
while.
Both she and the hulls,
and was
interest,
Monomakh have steel and coppered. On trial, the
"\^ladimir
are sheathed
Dmitri Donskoi made 16 knots, and she
to this
day
to take the water
was
is
rather faster than her sister.
The next ship of importance
Admiral
the Admiral Nahimoff, launched in 1885.
She
is
in
part an evolution of the Dmitri Donskoi, and in part a
"reply" to the British Imperieuse and Warspite,
which she closely resembles. type
is
The
influence of French
again fully manifest.
The following
are
the details
of
the Admiral
Nahimoff,^ and for purposes of comparison the details of the British Imperieuse are also given.
notation
of the
benefit of
armour and guns
immediate comparison
is
"
War game "
given for the
:
1
See Evolution of Type.
^
Slie is reconstructing at present (1899).
I878-I885
211
212
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
ships
went out
to the
China Station, and becoming
ships" there, the question as to which was
"chummy
The
the better naturally cropped up for discussion.
palm was her
own
eventuall}' given to the British vessel
officers at
Probably they were
anyrate.
—by
right.
Like the Luperieuse, the Xahimoff was originally brig-rigged military
—the
mast
former vessel, however, had a single
substituted
at
an
early
The
stage.
-h^-^ 'S> 'X) Nahimoif, on the other hand, though her bowsprit was after a
The
time removed, retained her top hamper.
plans and photograph will give a clear idea of her general appearance. will
The
rig in the plan is that
probably be given to her.
The Nahimoff was
not
repeated,
instead by an enlarged copy of the
the well-known Pamiat Azova. till
her.
which
but followed
Dmitri Donskoi,
She was not launched
1888, and several battleships took the water before
Before
proceeding
to
describe
her,
and
the
Hi
I878-I885
battleships which
stand ab
vessels in the Eussian
;he
215
earliest non-obsolete
Navy, some attention may be
given to the unarmoured ships constructed in this transition period after the war.
The Pamiat Merkuria, 1
/.
a vessel 01
3050
T
originally called the Yaroslav, 1
T
tons, launched at
the
first effort at
She
is
creatine a
m
psmiat Mercuric
Toulon in 1880, was
modern Black Sea
rsso.
Fleet.
long since obsolete, and was never of any great
THE PAMIAT JIEKKUEIA.
account, thouo-1. her orio-inal
guns rendered her
6-in.
her, in
and
of four 18 -ton
rmidable opponent on paper
\
Th^oC guns have since been replaced
fifteen years ago.
by
armament
4-in.
breechloaders.
and of other unimportant
the Appendix,
it
is
Further details of vessels,
unnecessary to
being given delay
over
her here.
In 1885
the
first
Russian deck-protected
the Rynda, was launched at Kronstadt.
cruiser,
She too has
/?^nrfa,
7ss5.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
2i6
rather outlived her sphere of usefulness, though she a vessel that has been
She
years.
class cruisers
much employed
in the last ten
about on a par with the British
is
— the Calliope and her
is
"C"
sisters.
g^'O**^" THE EASROTKIK.
The
details of the
Rynda, an
'
her sister the Vitiaz
(subsequently wrecked in the Pacific), are Displacement
Length
.
:.
Beam Draught {mean)
Armament
3506 269
:—
tons.
ft.
45 ft. 16i ft.
Ten
6-in.
breechloaders.
Ten small Q.F. Five torpedo tubes.
217
.
219
I878--I885
Armour deck ^
curved deck over
l|-in.
machinerj' only.
Horse-power
(^forced
3000.
draught)
Trial speed
She French
15 knots.
a very fine-looking
is
with what
craft,
tlie
" robust " engines.
call
Other vessels of
this period are a
number
of useless
corvettes,
7878-80.
many
corvettes,
of which, however, are
still
employed.
These are the Opritchnik, Plastoune, Naiezdnik, Ras-
and
boynik,
and
Djijdit
and
Kreysser,^
are
similar
carry
three
to old
-
the
type
A
guns.
6 -in.
They
Strelok.
photograph of one these
of
on
a;uns
board the Djijdjit
found
will be further
The
on.
Opritchnik
now
is
struck off the others
list
and used
seagoing
serve as
as a hulk
training
they are known as second-class
-
some of the
;
Officially
ships.
cruisers.
In 1884 the Sivoutch was launched at Stockholm,
Boiranrf Siuoutcb,
and
in the following year the
Bobr at Kretona.
though out of date now, were in
their
These,
day rather
remarkable vessels, beino- nothino' more nor
less
an attempt to create seagoing "
They
place about their
for '
-
size
—
a
heavy of this
9-in.
gun forward, a
deck would be /
save the very smallest projectiles.
See p. 177.
dis-
1000 tons and carry a large armament
The war game value
iiotliing
flat irons."
than
;
it
6-in.
would keep out
is84-e5.
"
"
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
220
gun
and half a dozen smaller guns
aft,
niiie
flat
bottoms, their
horse-power
which on
BoBR^.>,sivt)OTCH-^=~^=*-
and are employed
gave 13
trial
sea
make about They
in the Pacific.
1150,
is
At
knots.
old
They
pounders.
-
have
—the
8
they
knots;
are 187 feet
long and draw about 9^ feet of water. other "Flat irons, 7879-81.
The Toutcha,
Dodje,
irons"
"flat
Snegue,
Grad,
Groza,
and
Vikhr,
Bouroun were added
to
the fleet in this period.
They
merely
are
ordinary
flat
gunboat, single
them
-
the
bottomed
carrying
old-type
a
gun
11 -in.
and
fore
are fitted for spar torpedoes
being very low indeed, conditions in
which
it
is
;
of
but their speed
diflicult
they could
Some
aft.
to conceive of
use their
efli'ectually
weapons. " War scare
A
war
scare
with
England
caused
the
Asia
cruisers.
Columbus),
(ex
Afrika,
and
Zabiaka to be purchased as com-
merce
The
destroyers.
first
two are
of 2500 and 2800 tons,
the
Zabiaka
1234
tons.
They
are
single-
—
I878-I8S5
screw ships,
originally
221
American merchantmen, and
were not particu-
new
when
purchased.
They
larly
are
of
no
use
except for transport
and
service,
even at the time of their purchase 'SFT^I^**^ (R-
could hardly have
done much harm to British commerce had war broken out.
The Turco-Russian War gave Russia torpedo
craft.
trend to
a
In the period under review about
100 torpedo boats were added to the These
fleet.
in-
cluded the Thornycroft boat
Sokhum
(1883) of 64 tons, the
Yarrow-built
Batum, number of
and
a
boats of 30 tons, either built by Shichau
or copies of
them constructed
launched during the war,
is
in Russia.
The
Yalta,
the more remarkable of
these boats, as she was of 160 tons displacement
not
far
short
destroyers.
of the
The Yalta
displacement of the is
earliest
one of the earliest examples
of a seagoing torpedo boat.
The yachts Marevo (1878), 58
tons,
and Lividia
Torpedo boats. 7878-85.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
222
(1880) were added during the period under review.
The
latter
an imperial yacht.
Govan, and
Co., at
She was
three
displacement
is
PopofF.
screws,
4000
built
some ways
in
the circular ironclad abreast,
and was intended to be
a curious vessel,
is
by John Elder is
an adaption of
She has three funnels
and four
The
masts.
signal
tons, the trial speed, with 10,500
The dominant idea
horse-power, nearly 16 knots.
the design was to produce an uusinkable vessel
— but
Nihilists were active in those days,
expectations,
fulfil
transport,
She Penderaklia.
is
vessel
and
is
She was
and
so
rechristened
able to carry
&
was
converted
Opit
4000 men.
.she
— the
of
—the
did not into
a
Experiment.
Another interesting
the iron storeship Penderaklia, of 1052 tons. originally
and was captured
the
in the
Turkish
War
transport Mersina,
of 1877.
however, attaches to her capture.
No
"history,"
;;
XII 1886-1890
Armoured Ships "jV/TAY of
tlie
Ekaterina
year ii.
1886 saw the launch of the
at Nikolaiff,
and of the Tchesma
Biack sea neet,
ekatenna Tchesma,
at
Sevastopol
:
in
June of the following year the
Sinop took the water at Sevastopol.
The
first
two
ships were on the stocks for nearly three years, the
Sinop was three years and two months.
These remarkable vessels are practically identical such differences as exist between them are of a very
minor nature.
They
and the only foreign
are distinctly Russian in type vessels
which can be said
to
appear even remotely connected with their design are the British Temeraire, and our Inflexibles, or the Italian ii-onclads, bio- o-uns
from the Duilio to the Lepauto, with en echelon to get a strong
At the bombardment
their
end-fire.
of Alexandria, just about the
time the Tchesma was being designed, the Temeraire, carrying two guns on the disappearing system, acquitted herself as well, or better, than
any
ship,
and she was
high favour in the British
Navy for other
feature of the Temeraire
was the mounting 223
reasons.
in
The
of guns on
sinop.
//.,
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
224
a naval adaptation of the Moucrieff system
germ
:
possibly the
On
of the Russian thouglit lay here.
the other
hand, the Vice- Admiral PapofF, with disappearing guns inside a strong redoubt,
the idea
may
was already
and
in existence,
equally well have come from her.
EKATERIKA
II.
In any case, the Tchesma and her sisters represented a unique type of a very powerful kind.
these ships are as follows
details of
:
Displacement
10,300 tons.
Length
.
339
Beam
.
69
Draught (extreme)
The ships are rams.
The
belt
of
10
The
is
in.
built of iron
entire water-line
and is
belt.
is
steel,
ft. ft.
with powerful
armour-belted, and this
compound armour 16
There
top of the
29
ft.
in. thick, taperino-
also a flat 3-in. protective
to
deck on
Amidships, above the armour belt
is
a
IS
;
1886-189O
227
huge triangular redoubt, at the rounded angles of which
of
This redoubt
big guns are mounted.
the
compound armour
maximum
at its
probably thinner in places.
is
In the Ekaterina
The top
of this redoubt
which the guns
fire.
is
—
in.
thickness, but
Tchesma, as will be seen from the photographs,
hangs the sides somewhat
14
and
11.
it
over-
in the Sinope it is flush.
finished off with a glacis, over
Owing
design, the
to error in
Ekaterina's armour has no backing.
The big guns
are six
in
number,
12-iu.
pieces,^
n n
mounted
in three pairs.
very great power,
Tchesma with
full
They
30 calibres
are of Krupp's make,
long.
Those of the
and cannot be
fired
The other
charges owing to some defect.
two ships have Obukofi" guns, length.
are short pieces of no
also of 30
calibres in
The disappearing mountings of the Tchesma
were made at the Motala Iron Works, those of the other two ships at the Obukoff" factory.
the mounting '
is
identical with that used in the British
Muzzle energy with
weight, 50 tons
;
Practically
full charges, circa 19,000 ft.-tons
war game value, B.
;
velocity,
1940
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
228
Temeraire
when
— the
causes the
recoil
and presses
fired,
means of which
duck down
to
rammer, by
a hydraulic
elevated again after loading.
is
it
in
gun
The secondary armament of these three
ships con-
of seven 6-in. breechloaders of 35 calibres long,
sists
four of which are in an unprotected battery before the
redoubt, the remainder Ijeing abaft
One
o-un is riofht aft,
A
side.
and can be trained on either broad-
and three
they can
way
show that these
reference to the plan will
ships can fire four 12-in. 12-in.
also unprotected.
it,
—
6-in.
practically,
of this stern
fire
and four
astern.
6-in.
ahead, and six
Theoretically, at least,
upper works are rather in the
from the big
pieces.
There are seven torpedo tubes, above water and un-
Torpedo tubes.
Four are before the redoubt, two on each
armoured. broadside
;
the others are one each side well
aft,
and one
in the stern.
The engines of the Tchesma and Ekaterina
Machinery.
ii.
were
designed to develop 11,000 horse-power, and are of the
compound
vertical three-cylinder type.
Tchesma were made by the those of the Ekaterina St.
Petersburg.
The
ii.
Cockerill
Those of the
Company, Belgium,
were made at the Baltic Works,
Sinop's engines are of the triple-
expansion type, and were made by Napier of Glasgow.
With
natural
draught
they develop
10,000
horse-
13,000
horse-
In each ship there are fourteen cylindrical
l^oilers,
power;
and
with
forced
draught,
power. Boilers.
three furnaces to each boiler. are about to be replaced
by
Those of the Ekaterina Belleville boilers.
ii.
230
IHh, IMl^liKI
—
1886-1890
has no such bulkheads, but the
by armour
screens 9
231
9-in.
guns are protected
in. thick.
The Alexander has
a 12-in. barbette, with a thin
shield over the breeches of the guns
a
BuMeads.
;
fi/?
suns,
the Nikolai has
thick closed turret revolving in the 12-in.
10-in.
Both ships have a strong
barbette.
deck, curving
up above the
In appearance they are
protective
3-in.
belt.
much
alike
:
far less clumsy-
looking ships than they generall}^ appear in photographs.
The Alexander
11.
has vertical compound three-cylinder
engines of 8000 horse-power, which gave a
16 '5 knots on a short
maximum
The Nikolai has
trial.
Machinery.
of
vertical
triple-expansion engines, which on trial developed 8000
horse-power, and gave a speed of just under 16 knots (15 '94).
This, however,
was a maximum speed, and In 1898 she
she proved the slower vessel of the two.
/v«o/a/ reboitered,
was reboilered with sixteen of these
made 14
Bellevilles,
and with eleven
Her present continuous
knots.
may therefore be put at On the 1st of June 1888
speed
'^^s.
sea
that.
the Pamiat Azova
v^'SiSPamiatAzoua, 1888.
launched at
St.
Petersburg in the presence of the Tsar
and Tsarina.
She had been
months on the
stocks.
two years and three
As previously
observed, she
an enlarged edition of the Dmitri Donskoi, and follows that vessel in
The
her main
featiures.
details of this ship are as follows
Displacement
Length
Beam
all
.
.
.
.
.
Draught (mean)
.
.
... .
.
.
.
.
.
.
:
6700.
377
ft.
50
ft.
23
ft.
is
closely
1886-1890
Armament
235
Two
.
8-in.
Thirteen
6-in.
Fifteen small Q.F.
One torpedo tube on the stern, and one
on each broadside.
There
81
is
a belt of
compound armour 259
wide, 10 (6) to 8
ft.
heads terminate this
in. thick.
(c)
8-in.
Beyond them
belt.
ft.
long by
Armour.
bulk-
(