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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
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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
Peters
weie not of
ti'avels
lon,n"
revolution necessitated his return
him voigaandDon canal.
work upou ^ \'olna
Charles
XII.
number
a
of
[\^l^^.
Sweden.
first
proicct: ^
and
— hut he brouaht with
of British engineers,
liis
duration
who proceeded
the canal
between
to
tlie
*
Don.
tlie
Peter into conflict with foUowinii- vcaT l)rou
>
Sweden
tlie
famous Charles the Twelfth of Sweden.
was
at that time the principal Baltic Power, and, so far
asPaissia was c(.)ncerned, had been frankly recognised as
Between Swedes and Russians small
a superior force.
skirmishes had at different times taken place, but these
had nothino- of the nature of Peter,
however,
Prus-ia. Poland,
having
a reo'ular
war
allied
with
and Saxony, began
to
operations against Sweden, which was at b\'
Denmark,
attempt active first
supported
These two Powers, however,
Holland and England.
were concerned
them.
in
with Denmark, and withdrew
cliiefiy
when Sweden made peace with
Russians invade Slued ish
their forces
territory.
Charlcs liaviug settled matters in the west, then eastward, concentrating his force upon
who under Inoria. Battle of
N area.
Qu
the Danes.
moved
the Russians,
Peter had invaded the Swedish province of
and were
besieoino;
Karva with 67,000
soldiers.
amiyGliarles suddenly descended with a
this
8000 men
force of only
;
but such was his genius, and
the prestige and impetuosity of the Swedes, that he not
only defeated but absolutely scattered and destroyed Peter's host
!
Peter himself was not present
:
opinion the battle was lost before a shot had been
in
his
fired.
1645-1725
and
acted on
lie
Russia
maxim
the famous
hopes of ' another day."
47
that liokls out
His doing so probahlv spelt
ultimate success against Sweden, for he was
s
man
the only ability to
the country
in
possessed
of sufficient
With an
compete with the Swedish king.
appreciation of this, characteristic of the great Tsar,
Peter
left
his
army
to shift for itself,
making preparations smoke was to
judge
courage
rollina;
-his
^ :
for a
over the
and was busy
new campaign even while field of
Narva.
the
It is useless
action in the light of the ethics of personal
the result of his flight stands in the Russian
Empire of to-day. Charles,
proceeded
force
his
southward,
king, Augustus,
now
raised
invaded
to
from the battlefield
;
his fatal
error
the
real
menace
fled
he marched
his error,
to his empire, only realising
when, hemmed
army was crushed and
who had
and though Swedish statesmen
and friendly Powers warned him of
away from the
men,
deposed
and placed Stanislaus Leczmski on the
Peter he ignored as a coward
throne.
60,000
Poland,
in
by Peter's
forces, his
blotted out on the bloodv field
of Poltava.
As soon attacks
p„,,„-„^
as possible after Narva, Peter
upon the Baltic provinces of Sweden
resumed ;
his
and while
Charles was astonishing Europe, and his Swedish soldiers
becoming the wonder of the world, Peter was slowly
and surely taking St.
Petersburg
now
all
the count rv round about where
stands.
Ever}' piece of water that
Russian ships built in the
he gained soon saw Russian vessels being built upon ^
See a later chapter on Peter the Great
;
also the Appendices.
its
'^'"'^''
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
48
shores,
and the Neva, and Lakes Ladopi and
soon had Russian
flotillas
upon them.
The year 1702 was the
7702.
Russian Navy, and year 998
in
is
Pcipiis
of the
hirth-ycai-
real
very nearly analogous with the In 998 English coasts
English history.
were almost Danish provinces, and Alfred's new warships first encountered the enem}' on his
Russia
about that time.
1702
in
own element
was overrun hy
Swedes, in that year Peter launched two small
sea-
going warships at Archangel and laid the keel of a
26-guu
liattleship,
engaoement
Lake
on
while
Peipus
a
naval
the
resultino- in
vessel took place.
Pcter's Pclpus flotiUa consisted of small galleys
Nauai forces on Lake Peipus, 7702.
The
lodkys.
four-oared
hundred
:
mounted four small guns
galleys each
and carried a crew of
row-boats.
the exact
men
fifty
and
the lodkys were merely
;
Of these
number
there were
of the galleys
is
several
uncertain,
but thev were fairly numerous.
The Swedish It
consisted
force
was numerically vastly
of fourteen
yachts
and
mounted between them twenty guns and six The first naval engagement.
hundred men.
von Herzfeldt,
intention
to try
upon the
which
carried about
the eastern side was
In 1702 the Swedish commodore,
Loschern
force
sloops,
The northern and western portions
of the lakc wcrc Swedish, but
Russian territory.
inferior.
became
aware of
Peter's
and annihilate the whole Swedish
lake,
and
lake with four yachts and
iu
May
some
he went
down
sloops, carrying
them sixteen guns and 200 men, on a
the
between
reconnoitrino-
1645-1725
49
In doing so he came suddenly and un-
expedition.
expectedly upon a Russian force of 90 to 100 small carrying about 5000 men, and supported
craft,
liy
a
shore batterv of six guns. In such contempt did the Swedes hold the Russians in
those days, that Loschern unhesitatingly attacked
They attempted
them.
him.
outflank
to
received with a heavy and well-directed
attack ended in failure.
the flank
fire,
In the middle of
being
liut
some of
it
the Swedes landed and rushed the battery, while those afloat,
still
defeat
pressing their advantage, inflicted a total
Swedish
victory.
upon the Russians, capturing or destroying,
besides the batterv. nearly half the
flotilla,
and
killing-
several hundred men.
After this victory Loschern withdrew to the mouth of the Emliach River, in order to for a larger attack.
refit
and
to prepare
His preparations being complete
about the end of July, he sent the yacht Vivat, Captain Jonas Hokeflycht, four guns, and a complement of
men,
wind
The
to discover the whereabouts of the Russians. failing.
anchored
:
Hokeflycht ran into
a
hundred
The Vivat opened
lodky.s to cut
fire at
bay and
him
hi.-=
out.
the longest possible range,
with a view to delaying the advance as in the
small
and here the Russians getting word of
presence, sent a
and
fifty
much
as possible,
hope of attracting the main Swedish
flotilla
:
but the wind beiuo- wantino- Loschern, thoug;h he heard the
guns,
was unable
regarding the Yivat's all sides,
to
fire,
come
to
the
rescue.
Dis-
the Russians came on from
and, after a desperate resistance, captured the
Russian attack upon the yacht "''"'*•
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
50
decks.
vacht'.s The
V'luat
blows
crawled down to
tlu'
wouiuIeJ,
despcriitcly
Ilokeflyflit,
powder magazine and
up
))lew
up.
the
The Vivat was destroyed, Imt the
lioat.
cost the Russians
men
twenty lodlys, and over two hundred
killed.
On
hearing of these two desperate
withdrew
Russians
action
Peter
affairs,
remaining forces to the south-eastern
all his
tuithdraw.
shore,
where
tliev
shore-batteries
under the
lav idle
too
strong
to
new and
larger vessels
was
But
forced.
l)e
boats were idle their crews were not of
i.)rotec,tion
if
of
the
and the building
;
at once l)egun,
and pressed
forward during the remainder of the summer of 1702
and throughout the following
On
1703.
These Russia gains control of
taken
the
Neva the Swedes had
lieing cut )y
1
year.
the
off"
from
Russian
liut
retreat,
two small
were surprised and
without much
force
galleys.
loss
on
tile
NeuaandLai<e
Ou Lake Ladoga ^
either sldc.
Ladoga.
force
:
Xoteberg was cut
off',
there was no Swedish
and surrendered
;
the
Swede-- found themselves confronted by a force against
which
it
was hopeless
the waters of
to contend.
At the end
Neva and Ladoga were
pletely Russian, while Peipus
was
of 1703
practically
com-
as completely in the
hands of the Swedes. Founding of St.
In 1703 Peter founded the citv of St. Petersburg
Petersburg.
on the banks of the
simply
a
Neva, which at that time was
mass of half -sulmierged mud
islets
and
treacherous swamps.
On a city
Peter's selection of such a dreadful spot to luiild
many
morals
have
been
drawn
said— and without much exaggeration
:
it
has been
— that the founda-
1645-1725
51
tions of St. Petersburg are dead
when
all
and done,
said
is
But
men's bones.
his choice of locality
e.xtremely limited, and, better than his latter-day
was
critics,
he recognised that nothing short of a great city and a
would consolidate the new seacoast empire that
capital
he was building, or attract that trade and merchandise
without which the city could not thrive. Like the present Emperor of Germany, Tsar
Petei-
Peteri,is
own
architect.
man
was
a
new
city,
its
many
of
parts.
himself designed
palaces
himself plotted-out the
its
bridges, its houses,
and
essentially a
one-man
and inundations swept away
his land-
Petersburg
St.
:
He is
city.
High marks,
tides
swallowed the foundations of his
quicksands
houses, .the unhealthy climate swept off his
hundred thousand men died
that St. Petersburo- .should be an everlastinoto the persistence of its founder.
on that spot now. the broad
dome
of St.
haze, not all
vapour
also
All around
roads, the
flat
Isaac s
smoke
many
me
Petersburg.
monument
these words
I write
the palatial houses,
islands, the great golden
as in other cities, but the mist pestilential
and
marshes underneath
many
the buildings.
Intersecting the city are
serving
purposes as water highways
Peter's
day the trenches by which he sought
;
canals,
but in
to drain st
Petersburg
in 7899.
the dismal swamps.
And and the
southward, below the wide spans of the bridges, lines for the electric
frozen river,
I
met
cathedral looming up above the
from those
useful
Difficulties
in building St.
— two
by the thousand
workmen
see the
trams
huge building
laid slips
across
the
where Peter
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
0-
mapped-out
first
liis
Alongside
dockyard.
river
its
walls a roiiple of frozen-in ironclads stand black against
the sunset.
Every
was once
city
that
Petersburo;
its
name
that experienced by so
looking;
it
is
only
thought
across
it,
St.
the
to
one has
to arouse a longing similar to
many
and
see the past recalled,
but
;
the
recalls
standing'
think of
onl}' to
^'ividlv
And
beholder.
desert
a
compare
to
on the Xile
travellers
it
:
to
'with the very
different present.
when he found
Peter,
his foundations, filled
rubbish
till
the quicksands swallowing
them up with
rock, stones,
and
When
the
he had created solid OTOund.
Neva swept away the beginnings
swift current of the
communi-
of his bridges, he overcame the difiiculty of
by bridges
cation
him he combated and
concjuered,
disregard
At
human
how many
calculate
enough,
of
its
St.
life,
lives
met
difiiculty that
and at
last
the city
Victory could onlv he accomplished by
rose.
Seagoing ships
Every
of boats.
a
total
and probably no one can it
cost
— the
proverb
true
is
foundations are dead men's bones. Petersburo;
the buildino- of
seao'oinc:'
war-
begun.
ships
was
The
designino-
at once
commenced under
he seems
imported naval architects
have wiselv
to ;
Peter's supervision.
liut
he gave
all
left
to
his
the stimulus
he could to the work by sharing any suborciinate labour for Peter's excellent
Tsslv
which
his
himself
Deptford thus
work had
Setting
the
fitted
example,
him. his
The nol^les
example,
and subjects quickly followed
hampering of the work by
suit,
officials
and there was no taking posts for
1645-1725
which they were unfitted
wheu the Russiau
53
labour had
:
golden age
its
was born.
fleet
Meanwhile, on Lake Peipus work continued with
had been made by the
and such progress
vigour,
1704 that preparations were made
early spring of
to
assume the offensive against the isolated and unsupported Swedish force then controlling
and the Russians evolved
in winter quarters at Dorpt,
the idea of shutting
To
this
in there
and destroying him.
end they prepared a big
boom
strong
him
Loschern lay
it.
flotilla,
erected a
at the narrow part of the river raouth,
and De'arrisoned them They then brought up their entire
threw up batteries to Xprotect '^ with 9000 troops.
it,>
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
mast, niaiutopmast, and 110 of a
coast,
first
sea
-
men
fight
appeared
ships
and brought her
having; lost her foreJiors
crew of 260, was forced to
apparent!}^ the
but about
heels,
50-gun
between her and the Swedish
The Wacht-
in
de combat out
strike.
This was
which Russian big
ships were ever eno-ao-ed as victors.
Following upon this action a Russian
Russian
fleet of
30
expedition to
Sweden, 1719.
battleships
30,000
and
men
150
under
galleys
Count
and
with
trausjDorts,
Apraksin
and
Prince
Galatzin, sailed for Sweden, and on the 9th of July
appeared
the
off
Stockholm.
^
In 1717
of
Upland, to the north of
Here they sacked and burned a great many
villages, factories,
onlv,
coast
and private residences,
tlie Britisli fleet
and entirely
oft"
after
which
midei- B^'iig acted cliieflv with the
the south-west coast of Sweden.
Danes
C tA
i<
1
1
,.
Tu
op y^tr £^ c/U ^Tsr l n^o
rrtj
Hi i 'C'iiikijc 'Ci irno ^TSr d h-o
tc'^rcMct
'^ i'f
'i'hc '(i
O oTn, I i t
Ti a taJ'^c h>
/J<^
^£
O
tzl Q,
'etc
7
€
c,
^i-
('no
Ci.LM.6
i h no
t
<j'tt_^
^
e.
A.
-^ y
-Cifs ffjyi
!l .n.
i<.
a
t^
Ai.
^oc
GTcr^ct
!3-y)/(
!X
ZTT o
H -<* *
its.
^CJ\i-
n.
HMi^
"g
Z-
o
J>
a^ a-
frXLto
TU^ii
(^Js.
M<<,
-^
5-
)^J ^
ao
/
OF PETER THE GREAT's LETTER TO THE KING OF
and
viv
^^/Mjio
SWEDEN" CONCERNING EHREN.SKIOLD.
(OnZi/ the first line
i.
T^Lc/^o 'io^a (yttco'hjatti/
_cr JtI S¥: nzi
F.4.C3IMILE
ccKolL-l £ i^'X
U h,o aa^T -^o^otn.t'^
-ti%<<
a_'(
01.JI ac
-^TZ^ ^"7^ "^J-^
i mjx.
O^' -^i^Kli.
Um jt^d
REDUCED
aTo"
o
"ttoT-fC
0^ Koai'^
Ifi
<-
€
onu^i
the signature aye in I^eter's
own hand,
—See Appendix.)
1645-1725
6;
the fleet was split into three squadrons.
remained went,
the Stockhohn
in
one north, the
One squadron
Archipelago, the
other
others
The northern
soutli.
expedition lasted from July 13th to August 19th, and
during
its
continuance
Harg and
sawmills at
Ortaloo, the towns of Osthain-
mar and Oregund, the Akerby,
Vestland,
destroyed the ironworks and
it
Forsmark, Lofsta,
factories at
and
Harnjis,
Ostanci,
then
ter-
minated operations with the destruction of Xorrtelge on August 19th.
The
southern
squadron
and
sacked
between July 14th and August 3rd
down
the
cluding
coast
as
far
the
as
all
the property
Kalmar Sound,
towns of Trosa, Nykoping,
the
destroyed
in-
Sodertelge,
and Norrkoeping.
On
13th
the
of
Auo-ust
6000
Russian soldiers
landed at Sodra Staket near Stockholm, and beran a
march upon that
city
;
but meeting a repulse at the
hands of the Sodermanland regiment, they retreated to their ships.
On August 20th
the
Russians collected in
Stockholm Archipelago and returned
the
to Revel.
Considerable interest attaches to these operations, in that they
form one of several
historical instances of
the ignoring of the " fleet in being " pretty theories of Sea Power.
and several other
The Russians,
without any know-
seem to have got along
ver}^ well
ledge of these theories.
The Swedish
existed somewhere,
it
them, though
but
(in theory) it
indeed,
fleet,
unbeaten,
made no attempt
against
should have been capable
comwents
'
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
68
Of
of doiuo- a g-ood deal.
coiu'se
Sweden was almost
in
a state of anarchy at that time, and any intelligent
operations for defence were probably impossible, and the Russians no doubt were fully aware of
the same time they
knew
perfectly well that
was premeditating coming to Sweden's actuallv had
a
en
fleet
nominally about to change
now
sides,
at
England
assistance,
Denmark,
route.
But
it.
and was
too,
that Charles
was dead.
XII.
In the spring of 1720 the British Heet under Admiral
British fleet arriiies.
_
.
Norris in the Sandwich, 90 guns
;
.
«
cousistmg of one
90, one 80, seven 70, six 60, and five 50-gun ships,
altogether, 20
them under Count
Sparre.
Sparre and Norris spent
of their time in squabbling as to precedence, and
much
though they stayed three weeks fight
auy Russlaus.
expedition to
devastate
to
Forty-nine Swedish ships joined
attack the Russians.
Second Russian
came with orders
ships-of-the-liue,
off Revel,
The Russian n
visltcd tlic coast of
tt
Upper
they did not
under Apraxine
fleet
^'ii-"\t JSorrland m May
r
^
'
ot
this
Umea and
the
interference from
the
Swedisii coast,
'720.
_year
(1720), destroyed
surroundino-
In
Third Russian expedition to
devastate
Swedish coast, '^^''
[-^
tliB
town of
without
villao-es,
Anolo-Swedish
the
fleet.
foUowino'
May
face of tlic powcrful ±
the Russians, aa;ain directlv
" Aneio-Swedish o
fleet in beina. ^ •
devastated and destroyed the entire coast of Norrland for a
mouth (^fay l7th-June
farms, villages, and
private
l7tli).
estates
Thousands of
were destroyed,
including the towns of Soderhamn, Sundsvall, Hernosand; Pite, and Hudiksvall, and a factories.
number of important
With
^9
final exliibition of
Sea Power of a most
tliis
1645-1725
uuclassical sort the
war ended, leaving Russia mistress and
of the Swedish Baltic provinces
Finnish coast.
a
good deal of the
Sweden, exhausted
by twenty-two
years of warfare, was prostrate
Eussia was the pre-
:
dominant Baltic Power. In July 1723 Peter, being anxious
Duke
seat the
to
of Holstein upon the Swedish throne, indulged
and 10
flotilla,
'-'^3-
Twenty-four ships-of-
in a big naval demonstration. tlie-line
fussian nauai demonstration,
with a large coast
frigates, together
about in the Baltic under the general
sailed
command
of
personally
commanded
Apraksin,
the
who
General Admiral,
the
central
An
body.
ad-
vance guard, with the 60-gun ship Svataya Ekaterina as
flagship,
was commanded by Vice-admiral Peter
ilihailoff" (the
Tsar himself)
;
the rear-guard was under
^^ice-admiral Gordon, a Scotchman.
Two
vears
later
Peter the
Great died,
\e&Ym^
Death of Peter J725.
Prussia
was brave perhaps, rather than Peter's guidance
plished
This
new navy
efficient,
but under
an important Naval Power.
all
it
had served
purpose and accom-
its
that could have been hoped or expected of
did so was due to Peter's grasp of the
it.
That
real
meaning of
it
"
Sea Power," to his recognition of the
fact that his sailors
were more or
less
amateurs, to his
evolving tactics suitable for tliem, and, above realising that to defeat the
enemy
all,
to his
or to paralyse
him
were objectives, while mere "glorious actions" might be valueless.
His order about Swedish
oflicers
and
their partiality
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
70
for
powder magazines
battle, has already
at the close of an unsuccessful
been referred
one that was to bear queer
Swedish
had
force
to.
A
fruit later,'^
second order,
was that no
was to be attacked unless the Russians
at least a one-third majority over the '
See
ji.
7D.
enemy.
IV 1725-1762
EKATEEIXA
pETER THE GREAT ex-Livonian
the
TO PETER
I.
III
was succeeded by
peasant Ekaterina
widow
his
and
;
the
consequent change in policy produced a naval demonstration
Twentv Enoiish and 12 Danish
1726.
in
came
ships
line-of-battle
Ivronstadt
off
.
.
.
Russians had only
when
The
6 effective ships-of-the-line.
1
the
.
Bntish and Danish naual demonstration off Kronstadt,
Russians were under Admirals Gordon and Saunders
— both
of
Nothing
came
•
them
Scotchmen
of
the
demonstration
in
the
following
repetition
of
fighting.
In 1727 Ekaterina
by Peter
it
ii.,
imported
who was
I.
died,
followed
;
by
'^•^^
Peter.
nor
did
a
year lead to any
and was succeeded in
1730
by the
Empress Anne. Poland was responsible Stanislaus
army
the
next war
having oroue to Dantzig, where an
of Russians, Saxons,
a French force that ance, the Russian for the
for
French.
and
allied
and Poles besieged him and
had been thrown fleet sailed
No
;
in to his assist-
under Gordon
to look
French were forthcoming
;
but
oantzig, 1733.
'
The Putrid Sea a
local
name
and
" is
old
for the
Sea
of Azov.
SKETCH Xote.
—
It is
MAI' OF
THE CRIMEA AXD ADJACE>"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<.
of
should
the
fleet,
attempt a
rush.
Commodore line
and two
frigates, entered the
and stood by '
Greig, detached with four ships-of-the-
SpiridofF
mouth
of the Imy,
to cover the attack.
may
liave been incapacitated
from wonnds.
Grdg.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
84
The
four
were under
fire-ships
with
Dugdale,
jMackenzie as second in command.
Thfec of
Dugdale.
the
fire
-
aground and were
ran
ships
wasted, as the whole of the Russian bluejackets jumped
Turks were reached.
overboard before the
Dugdale,
however, manaoed to run his vessel alono-side a Turk
and grapple
He
her.
then fired his ship
the fiames
;
spread rapidly amid the crowded shipping, and in five
hours only the
remained
62-gun ship and a few small
craft
the Turkish fleet was annihilated.
:
In consequence of this action, which ranks as one of the
most famous
battles in Russian history, Orloff
received the surname
of Tchesmeski.
Naturally the
have to some extent concealed
Russians
pendence upon their British
officers,
their
and the
de-
critical
have remarked that the names of Elphinstone, Dugdale,
and Mackenzie are not
to be found alongside that of the
Tchesma. in the Russian is
that of
Orloff",
and
List.
this
Neither, however,
name
Spiridoff's
other actions than
for
Navy
one.i
On
is
perpetuated
the whole,
need nor grudge the Russians the triumph of their at
Tchesma
apres
not taught
Is it
where
And
:
at
in
1815
tout, the ships
in
the
and
flag
were
Belgium that Waterloo Belgians
thrashed
the
is
we flag
theirs.
a place
French?
Waterloo the panic-stricken Belgians nearly
flung oiir troops into confusion
;
while at Tchesma the
Russians refused to hamper naval operations that they did not underst
most
effective way. '
"Admiral Greig"
is
a Russian ship-name.
1762-1796
§5
After Tchesma the whole Levant was at Russia's
sipMnstone proposes to
and Elphinstone blockaded the Dardenelles. Mce
mercy,
the
Dardenelies.
Numerous Turkish merchantmen were generally
met
Russians
the
revolts in Egypt,
and
with
captured, and
success,
causing
one or two places in Greece.
at
Elphinstone wished to force the Dardenelles, but Orloff,
who, as before mentioned, had a very low opinion of the value of his
The Dardenelles,
fleet, hesitated.
as
it
chanced, were at this time practically undefended, there
being nothing save a few old tumbledown forts of scarcely
any value
at all between the Russian fleet
and
Constantinople.
While
Orlofi'
Airil TJMoldow^endji w^as
T
and wdien Orloff came found what defences.
fort
to
-1
make
hou, constanu. nople was saued
pails 01 from
Russia after Tchesma.
was carefully whitewashed
;
a reconnaissance, he
appeared to be a
It is
ex-Vizier
-1
T
sendmg round men with
Every old
whitewash.
Turkish
the
hesitated,
of brand-new
series
indeed a curious freak of Fate that a
few pails of whitewash should have barred Russia
in
1770 from the city of her eternal desire! Orloff
would doubtless have discovered the decep-
tion sooner or later, but his chance one.
The Turks had then
was only a transient
in their service a
man, one De Tott, and under De real
and
at
lenoth
attacked one of these impression on
and
sailed
it
away
what was forts,
Tott's supervision
were rapidly constructed.
efficient fortifications
Realisino-
French-
in
the
wind,
Orloff
but failing to make any
whatever, he abandoned the Dardenelles to attack
Lemnos.
At Lemnos he landed
all
the
men
at his disposal, *-
''"^sians
defeated before Lemnos, 1770.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
86
and
the Castle
l)esiegc(-l
exhausted, the garrison
days.
had
ali'cady
sent
who had
Algiers,
at
and
surrender
for
numljer
too'ether
a
manned
with
the
lioht
of
4000
from
saved
l)eeu
be .saved
will
of
4000
" If
it.
if
:
fails,
and
ruffians
Hassan landed
of
sabres.
Sultan's
court,
Grand
Vizier
the
"
Lemnos
will rid Constantinople
it
roo-ues.''
on
secretlv
island of
Lemnos, and
10th
of
October
upon
Orloft's
the east side of the
in the earlv mornino-
and
suddenh-
fell
The
lines.
and
succeeds," said he,
it
it
riff-raff
pistols
liut
got
and these he
the
the
at
considered the plan ridiculous,
approved of
He had
vessels,
volunteers,
Frenchman
the
Tott,
treat
to
holocaust
the
scene.
Constantinople, armed only with
De
begun
when Hassan of
hostages,
appeared on
Tchesma,
Provisions Ijeing
.sixty
Paissian
of the
unexpectedly
artillerymen were
cut to pieces, their guns captured and turned upon
A
the rest of the Ijesiegers.
and only
many were
killed,
percentage managed to reach the ships,
a
which at once
sailed
made
was
Alo'iers
great
For
away.
admiral
chief
Hassan of
this,
of
the
Turkish
Navy.
A in
a
little
later,
hard-fought
Hassan encountered Orloff battle
claimed the victory.
away,
first
Munderos.
After the
giving up to
had been handed over
at
at
battle
ag-aiu
Both
sides
OrlofF sailed
Hassan the hostages who
Lemnos and
sent on board
his fleet.
After this
the
Russian
Mediterranean
fleet
did
—
!
I762-I796
practically
The
nothing.
87
were
ships
need
sad
in
of repairs, battle and sickness had seriously depleted their crews
and
;
war they spent
for the rest of the
such energies as were
them
left
upon small
in attacks
towns, in order to get supplies of the necessaries of life.
In the Crimea and elsewhere the Russian soldiers
Peace of Kainardji, 1784.
had carried Peace
of
all
before
them; and
Kainardji
gained
Russia
signed,
w-as
when the
1784,
in
Kinburn, Kertch, Yenikale, and the country between the
Bug and
She
Dneiper.
Azov and
retained
also
Taganrog, secured the right to build and maintain a
Black
Sea
Dardenelles
In
ships.
Navy may share
were
drained and
all
these
divided
the
Russian
the
results
attack
merchant
her
to
be said to have borne a
unexpected
and
Bosphorus
the
open
thrown
securing
OrlofiTs
:
while
fleet,
full
in
indirect
if
Levant
the
Turkish defence.
Directly
peace was signed, Orloff, via English ports, returned to Kronstadt with his
One
fleet.
curious circumstance remains to be recorded. ^
In
_
1780 Ekaterina joined the Armed ^Neutrality
Angio-Russian Luar prevented
owing
to
most
Russian nauat
allied
with Prussia, Austria, '
Sweden, and Portugal o
nominally for the protection
of
commerce,
neutral
but practically a pro-French combination. however, though herself unable
to
opposed act
to
against
Great
Britain,
her for
the.
Russia,
found simple
reason that most of her naval officers were British,
and her only bases outside her own coasts British harbours
"^"'"'^ '"'"^ British.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
88
war with Turkey, 1787.
1787
In
Netij
a
Mindful of the
uew war with Turkey broke
out.
fleet
had
pro-
Greig
—now
that
effect
Greig ordered to the
duced,
Ekaterina gave
Mediterranean.
admiral
—
number
to
take
orders
eighteen
and
of frigates
Orloff's
for
an
ships-of-the-line,
with a
the
Levant
to
store-ships,
from Kronstadt. British
from
The
and
other hostility prevents Greig
however, never
fleet,
On
sailed.
hearing of
the projected expedition, everv State in the Mediter-
sailing.
Genoa, refused
ranean, except it
within
ports
had been
it,
or admit
the strained relations with Great
:
hope of friendly
precluded the
Britain as
its
to assist
accorded
to
such
oflices
and though some
Orloft",
British packet lines agreed to provide transport for
Rupture with Sweden, 7788.
stores,
the British Government forbade such
ance.
Finally, through Turkish diplomacy, a rupture
assist-
occurred between Russia and her old enemy Sweden,
which of course necessitated the retention of Greig's ships in the Baltic. Turco-Russian War.
The idle
R,ussian
Kavy was
against Turkey.
not,
however,
Hassan of Algiers, now Ghazi
and commander-in-chief of the Turkish on land and
sea,
large
(galleys
fleet
and small
of
to
its
gunboats.
craft
of the
forces
both
The afterwards
attacked Kiuburn.
famous Suwarroff" marched
by a
altogether
relief,
supjDorted
The Turkish
fleet
gunboat order) was
allowed to enter the Liman without resistance,
and
began to bombard Kinburn, when Suwarrofl" suddenly attacked the besiegers by land. ships
bombarded,
by the
Russian
they
were
gunboats,
While the Turkish
attacked
and
all,
or
in
the
rear
nearly
all,
them,
of
many
so
lietween
cauglit
were
fires,
destroyed. Later,
on
Suwarroff"
:
the Euxine was
One naval Saken,
of
a Turkish lake.
worthy of
is
men
a;allevs,
the
into
When
board.
were about
Captain ^
record.
•'
fell
him
that "cut
Seeing that the dav was
him. his
still
15-gun galley,
small Turkish
fighting
ship
so far as big ships were concerned,
incident
a
boats,
four galleys
board,
to
with
ojierated
Larger
Danube.
the
there was none
gunboats
Russian
these
in
with thirteen
off
and surrounded
lost.
remained
on
his ship
and
had grappled blew
up
Sahen's death.
Saken ordered
but himself
he
Kapnan
magazine,
his
destroying himself, his vessel, and her four antagon-
A
ists.
ment.
torpedo gunboat commemorates this achieve-
Saken was
Swedish
a native of the erstwhile
province of Esthonia. Li 1790 that hardy annual " The Russian Menace" •J
made
first
Pitt asked
appearance in England.
its
an
for
increase of the
Russian shipbuilding,
do
every
year.
much
Fox,
advocated a Russian
In that year
navy
Pitt's
balance
Governments
as to-day our
being
to
political
rival,
Pitt attempted to end
alliance.
the Turco-Russian war, and Ekaterina declined to listen to his proposals
a role later,
much nearly
;
in consequence of
which
Pitt, enacting
akin to that of Beaconsfield ninety years
brought about
an Anglo-Russian war.
Popular opinion, however, was
not
in
those
days
educated up to the good qualities of the Turk, or the
necessity of retaining
him
in Europe,
and Pitt
^he first
appearance of "^"^ ""*"'"" Menace " in "^'''"'''
1790.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
90
obtaiued
Russian
anti
his
entertained
now,
hundred
a
days much
odd
in
[)arty
years
same kind of
the
sentiment
public
of
own
his
Speaking generally, we
crusade.
those
in
"tenderness"
from even
support
little
for
Russia
we
later,
that
have
for
Japan.
The French Revolution put and designs,
views
sudden end
a
to Pitt's
he had any, against Russian
if
As
conquest in the South of Europe.
for Russia, her
armies on land pursued a more or less victorious course,
but
much
Sweden
and
;
liable to
of her energy
was occupied
in those days,
in dealing with
when most
nations were
change sides a time or two in the course of a
general war, Russia's distance from the centre of operations
demanded
her movements.
what took place Giiberterian
aspect of
European politics in the
18th century.
amount
a large
of circumspection in
were not " history," a good deal of
If it
in the general
wars of the eighteenth
suo-ffest the Gilbert and Sullivan ccnturv would strouffly ' && & y Qpcra of to-clay. Many books have been written on j ^ j j.j^g
and
stratcglcal
War and
to regard
to believe that
them with an open mind, any very
purposes were ever at work.
fought a battle their generals
who they the in
now and
!
The
again,
foregoing
pages
strategical inutilit}',
serious strategical
most of the faii'ly
or
has else
of
the
rulers
and
indifferent as to
what was secured position
it
So long as their armies
seem to have been
fought, or
fighting
the
Seven Years'
other conflicts of the eighteenth century, but
when one comes is difficult
political aspects of the
or
lost
Russian
usually
of tactical
been
by
Navy
one
impotence
of
1762-1796
both comlnned
occasionally of
movements
9^
but in none of the
;
of Russia's allies or foes
is
any much greater
purpose to be discerned, unless we look with a very fixed determination to discover one.
Mention has already been made of the rupture
When
with Sweden in 1788.
had
she
for
wuh
Ekaterina declared war
Sweden (then subsidised by
against Gustavus nr. of
Turkey),
The war Sweden.
and Denmark.
Austria
allies
Great Britain, then involved with France, Spain, and Holland, was, as regards Russia, a species of malevolent
She sent no ships to attack Russia, having
neutral.
none to
spare, but a
number of
British naval officers,
including the famous Sir Sidney Smith, went to Sweden,
and served his
in the
command
Swedish
Xavy and
Russian
the
in
Elphinstone resigned
fleet.
re-entered
the British service,^ but Greig and most of the others
remained in the Russian her naval
officers
Enoiand, so
fleet.
were concerned, was occupying a sea
position very nearly analogous to that occupied
on
Swiss
shore
mercenaries British ships.
or
in
ex
-
far as
— nearly its
every
armies
British
nation
— most
officers
in
had
navies
some
by the Swiss carried
of
their
^
The
first
War was
naval battle of the
that of
*""'« "/ new Russo-Swedish Hogland
Hogland (Gogiand), 17th July 1788,
the Swedes having penetrated the Gulf of Finland
with a view to attacking"
1
He
St.
Peterbours.
served witli Byron and Roduej- as captain of the Magnificent,
1774-80. "
In the Kussian
Xavv
there were also
many
British seamen.
f/^^'";^^^-
^^^^
—
—
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
92
The Russian follows
fleet
under Greig was constituted as
:
guns (Rostislav)
108
1
ship of
8
sliips of
74
„
66
„
28-32
„
8
8 frigates
,,
8 smaller ship;, various with a total of 1452 guus
The Swedes under
their
Prince Carl (afterwards
king) had a fleet consisting of 70 guns
4 ships of 11
60
„
„
5 big frigates 40
,,
32
„
2 frigates
4 smaller ships
with a total of 1286 guns
The
had
Russians
superiority in
number
therefore
of guns
;
some
considerable
but so far as number
of line-of-battle ships went, their superiority was not
very great 5
— 17
40-guu frigates capable of "lying
certainly
equal
to
ships-of-the-line.
ships were
by
ships-of-the-line against 15, aided
couple
a
of
in the line,"
third-rate
and
60-gun
Individually, of course, the Russian
and
larger,
history
has
always shown
except, perhaj)s, to the perennial contributor of " Pleas for
Moderate Dimensions
'
in Brassey's
Naval Annual —
that, other things being equal, oue big ship
worth two smaller 1
Two brains,
that
is
always
oues.^
must varj', pitted against one, work the
mischief.
In
naval warfare the individual captain must act largely at times on his
own
judgment, and "tot homines, sail-of- the -line of
three-deckers, he
various
tot sententia3."
sizes,
had
Had
Greig, instead of 17
a dozen, or perhaps
would probably have won the
even
ten, big
battle of Gogland.
-
1762-1796
The
93
began at 3.30 in the afternoon, and was
battle
commenced by Admiral
Greig,
who
in the three-decker
A
Rostislav charged right into the Swedish flagship.
seventv-four following, attacked her from the other side, ""
Three Swedish 60-gun
and
ships, the Vasa, Aran,
Fadernistandet, came to the assistance of their prince,
and
for
some while the
vessels only.
battle
was carried out by these
The two Russian ships fought
but were eventually forced to
retire
desperately,
on their main body,
which had evinced no great desire
certain ships of
tion of Russians to Swedes was not a dead letter
noc forgotten
:
Greig had broken
Swedish prestige was yet a
On
to
Peter's standing order about the correct propor-
fight.
it
and
by attacking, and
real thing to the Russians.
the other hand, the Swedes had to combat against prestige
the
Greig and
of
his
two things that helped
men,
British to
and
officers
make the
action
indecisive.
Swedish
The
Prince
chanee tack, got involved
which
Gustav, in the
failed
but almost at the same moment the Russian
;
seventy
-
four
Swedes
for a precisely similar cause.'
Vladimir was forced to
strike
The
was
either side save to " sticks"
in those vessels that
these
it
^
went back
There was very
little
any great
battle.
At 10 p.m. the to their harbours.
wind, and
all
the
the greatest loss
had begun the
was very heavy.
separated, and
;
to
rest of the
ships did a good deal of firing without doing
harm on
to
Russian line and was
captured
In fleets
Greig
manoeuvres were somewhat
disorderly and difficult to carry out effectuallj'.
ereig at
Gogland.
^^
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
94
returned
men
about 1000
loss at
liis
hois de combat}
Prince Carl sent in his as 130 killed and 334
— about half the
Eussian
It
loss.
was
wounded
in this action
the captain of the Swedish Vasa, Count Balzar
that
Horn, being mortally wounded and having to pass the
command the
to a junior lieutenant,
and
historical
me
answer
oft-quoted
Almighty
before the
made speech if
to that officer "
:
You
you yield
shall
" !
The Swedes regarded the battle of Gogland
as
almost equivalent to a victory, on the score of the
showed to a British admiral with
front that they
number of
certain
British officers
Their attack of
him.-
frustrated
by
St.
a
and seamen under
Peterbourg was, however,
it-
Details of the fleets eno'ao-ed^ at Goa-land will be
The names
found on the two pages following. British
commanding
officers
in
Russian
vessels
of are
indicated with asterisks. '
He
Tvas liimself
wounded.
He
reported the Vladimir captured, and
a second stip " missing." ^
men ^
There were also a good many picked Danish and Norwegian in the Russian
A
sea-
fleet.
nnxaher of additional
details, official reports
never before pub-
and other
battles, will
be found in the General Appendix at the end of this book.
The whole
lished, plans, the correspondence, etc. etc., of this
correspond ezice and Russian admissions as to the use of inflammable shell at the battle of
Gogland will be found in the Appendix.
I762-I796
RUSSIAN FLEET Ships-of-the-hn"e ?i'ame.
95
96
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY SWEDISH FLEET
iVa/?(e.
;
1762-1796
Greig, annoyed
at
his
97
win a victory,
to
failure
hastily refitted his fleet, collected a few reinforcements,
then
sailed
Swedes had
Sveaborg, whither the
for
Bawe 0/ Sueaborg,
and were
retired
Here he made a
refitting;.
still
bold attempt to destroy the lot of them, but
He managed, however, He then blockaded ;
which
after
In
the
Prussians
his fleet
following
intervened
failed.
to capture a line-of-battle ship.
but was taken
^
withdrew, year to
Denmark, and Gustavus
losins;
the
the
ill
and died
two
frio-ates.
Dutch,
British,
estent of
made
iii.
'^es.
Death of oreig.
and
neutralisins
a great and final
together a fleet strong enough to defeat
effort to get
the Russians, of which,
now
that Greig was dead, he
was sanojume.
command
After Greig's death the fleet
passed
to
had
with
him
frigates,
Prince
and with also
Carl,
9
frigates.
8
p.m.,
The
Prince of Nassau
21
ships ^
-
of
-
the
Siegen.^
and
line
-
An
He IQ Bawe
this force
met the Swedish Crown
with
ships
battle
21
lasted
and was again
anecdote of the blockade
-
of
the
-
-
line
Probably both
One
as follows.
crew, a petty officer and seven men, and sent
officer
The
of Greig's frigates
Greig liberated the
them under a
Mjolo Roads, where Prince Carl was lying.
Carl sent to Greig a Russian pett}"
and
hours, from 2 to
six
indecisive.
is
flag of truce
In return Prince
and seven men from the
Vladimir, and also returned the master of a captured Russian merchant-
man with courtesy
his wife
and three daughters.
In a
Greig expressed his pleasure, and
letter of
thanks for this
"regretted that he was
unable to exchange presents of the fair sex with the Prince, but he had
not had the fortune to make any such prisoners." ' '
Possibly, however, Tchitchagoff 7
of
Oland, 7789.
captured a Swedish transport laden with cordage.
to the
-
had more ships than they could manage.
sides ^
the
of the Russian
was in command
at Oland.
5IAP
OF THE BALTIC.
1762-1796
99
Swedes, however, never had their
who commanded
as Liljehorn,
'"'
a reason his opinion that force were
subsequently gave as
two-thirds of the Swedish the
defeat
to
sufficient
c^uite
their rear-guard, failed
He
main body.^
to support the
force engaged,
fulJ
Russians."
His inaction has always remained inexplicable,
had been noted hitherto tainly,
however,
lacked
bravery.
for his
the
ability
Xelson alway.s knew and acted on can annihilate,
to "'
:
as he
He
cer-
know what
Numbers only
and that mere gallant engagements are
In this case the Swedes did not even win,
useless.
and appear,
anything, to have had rather the worst
if
of an encounter in which decisive victory would have
Indeed, Liliehorn's inaction
rehabilitated their nation.
•'
may
be said to have sealed the fate of Sweden
last
chance to break the Eussian Naval Power was
To
thrown away.
all
after it they felt
the
intents and purposes this battle
was what the Eussians claim
and
:
it
—
a
Russian victory
;
themselves fully competent to
meet the Swedes on equal terms.
They
retii'ed,
however, after
Swedish coast-vessels began Finland.
A
coast
-
flotilla
'
this
meeting,- and
to penetrate the
Gulf of
under Ehrensward came
Korkiansaari, and was there attacked bv a miscel-
off"
1
The Russians
fouglit a
retreating action.
The Swedes
say that
they had several ships disabled in consequence of an epidemic caught
from -
tlie
crew of the captured Vladimir.
The Russian
version
is
ments that were exiiected force ^
that they did not arrived.
want to
Tlieir plan
was
fight till reinforce-
to collect a
and annihilate the Swedes.
One
frigate, 11 coast- frigates, 5 galleys,
and 23 small gunboats.
huge
uijehorn seals the fate of ^"""'''"
;
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
loo
Russian
laueous
coast-defence
frigates, 3 xebecques, 19 galleys,
A
on the loth of August.
Roichensalm (or Suenbsund), 24th August
the Swedes,
consisting of
force,
and 37 small gunboats,
desultory action
ensued
hurt, being driven
for
five hours,
into
Eotchensalm (Svenksund) and there blockaded.
The Russians now
2
little
collected a fleet to destroy the
entrapped Swedes, and brought up two divisions, one
1789.
under the Prince of Nassau
Admiral Kruse. of
which
small
who
8
-
the other under
Sietren,
Altogether they totalled 107 vessels,
were frigates and 22 galleys
gunboats.^
arrived a
The
little
action
— the rest being-
was begun by Kruse,
too soon, and sustained a defeat.
The Swedes, however, had not come and they were 'The
coast
various trpes.
!
Name
of Type.
-
also getting short of
flotilla
The
galleys
and gunboats
principal were
:
—
off
scathless
ammunition when of
this
period were
of
1762-1796
Duke
the
despite
of
his
lOI
Nassau-Siegen came up.
protests,
Sweden (Gustavus
Ehrensward,
was ordered by the King of
lii.),
who had watched
the battle
from a neighbouring height, to attack the Russians.
He
and sustained
did so,
frigate,
1400
3
coast-frigates,
of his
men were
As a
prisoners.
result
a
total defeat, losing
and IG gunboats.
galley,
1
wounded,
killed,
of
had to withdraw from Finland.
was 38
1
gun sloop; 15
officers
The
taken
or
the
action
this
his
Swedes
Russian
loss
and 368 men killed;
officers
and 589 men wounded.
The following ^ year Sweden made her
final effort,
The Duke of Sudermania^ was put Grand
the
command
command
while the king (Gustavus
of a large galley
transports, '27
19
of
fleet,
in
fleet,
galleys,
iii.)
oi
i'^^* effort.
took
have consisted
said to
and
^^so.
Sweden's
•'
236
gunboats,
mounting altogether nearly 2000 guns. Operations began by an attack upon the stores at
Port Baltic, which were destroyed by Cederstroim with
two
frio-ates.
o
On
the 30th of April Prince Carl
left
Carlscrona
sudetmania sails.
with a line,
fleet
of 52
of which 22 were ships-of-the-
sail,
12 frigates, and the rest small
On
the 14th of
to force the
May
he was
off,
off Revel,
and attempted
harbour and destrov ten Russian ships-of^ *'
the-line at anchor there
driven
craft.
losing
under the
batteries.
He was
one ship-of-the-line captured
and
one other sunk.Prince Carl.
1
I.e.
-
This attempt was made in a strong gale.
Another account gives
Reuei,
14th May """'ans
1790.
repulse S'"'^™'""'''-
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
I02
Gustauus
On
HI.
forces Fredrifishamn.
the .same dav the Kino; of >Sweclen forced an
eiitnmce into Fredriksliamn harbour, in fece of a heavy eainionade from the forts and coast-Hotilla, which had a
Twenty-nine of these coast-ships were
base there.
captured or sunk, while the docks and naval stores
were destroyed/
Thence the king made course
hmded
he
and
Peterbours:,
waited
then
of
distance
easy
troops withiji
his
where
Viljorg,
to
St.
Suderinania
for
at
Bjoruo. Action
Sudermania.
off
line
and
meanwhile met the Kronstadt
divi-
with
21
ships
of
-
the
-
-
Revel.
several
frioates,
sion
of
and
7
Russian
the
on
went on
intervals,
at
bv Tchitchagoff, with 13 Before
this
of
-
the
-
A
June.
Next day
line
fight-
and Kruse was reinforced
l^attleships
and 11
frigates.^
combined force Sudermania retreated to
Bjorno. and
caught
-
3rd
but indecisive action ensued.
fierce ino-
ships
Kruse
uirder
frioates,
17
fleet,
thence
him.
to
Viborg. where
Practically
the
Sweden was here blockaded of which time their the whole availalile
entire
for a
provisions force
naval
force
of
month, at the end
ran short.
of the
Russians
the
Russian
Outside,
Navy was
collected.
Russian force at
tlie
some
coast-ships.
-2
ships of lOS guns, 6 of 74 guns, 6 frigates, and
The Swedes
lost
51
killed
and 81 wounded,
be.sides
prisoners. 1
The Bnssians
Onlv 6
officers
their victorv with -
From
lost 1
turunia, 2
gun
and 180 men were made
Revel.
1
and 4 galliots. The Swedes paid for
barges, ii small prisoners.
gun yawl, 30 wuunded and 30
killed.
—
1762-1796
The Swedish
force consisted of 1
ship
I05
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
io6
France and Spain at Trafolgar
Viborg, indeed, was
:
the Trafalgar or ^Egospotami of the Baltic since that
day Russia has been the
Whether she
Power.
and ever
priucij^al Baltic
always remain so
will
;
Xaval
—whether
she could prove herself so were war to suddenly happen
—
moot point
a
is
match
the
German Heet
possibly a full
is
for such force as Russia maintains in her northern
Sweden, again,
harbours. ing up
and
:
;
still
is
slowly but surely creep-
and though her battleships are small
in size
insignificant in numbers, their organisation
is
very complete, and their crews said by the Russians to
Sooner or later Russia and
be exceedingly
efficient.
Germany stand
to be involved in hostilities,
scale
would be turned by Sweden throwing her That she should do so
into either side.
sight probable
unexpected
Great Britain
—to whom Home
hends.
Norway
Ireland, havino-
is
always
developments,
which
the relations of Sweden and
Rule
—
little
an example of
as
suspects or compre-
Sweden's Ireland
Home
first
is
Norway have always been held up the benefits of
forces
not at
is
but the Norwegian question
;
produce
ro
liable
seize
and the
Rule,
is
able
:
and,
and
unlike
waitino- to
an opportunity to assert herself
To return mania had
to the battle of Viborg.
o-ot
his galley fleet,
our. the Kino- of
After Suder-
Sweden followed with
and reached Rotchensalm (Svenksund)
with the loss of thirty ships of his command.
The
force left
him
to
mounting 1124 guns, and craft
were very small
;
still
counted
14,000 men.
195 vessels
Mostly
his
the largest were merely coast-
—
lO?
1762-1796
frigates
— of which
he had
He had
five.
also a couple
of brigs and sixteen galleys. Ao'ainst
force the
this
Prince
of
Nassau-Siegen
moved, with a Heet of 8 frigates. 6 xebecs.
U
galliots.
10 cutters and bomb
ketche.-?.
3 floating batteries.
22 galleys. S small galleys.
80 gun
In
all
.sloops.
151 vessels, carrvino- between them 18,500
men
and 1412 guns. Rather rashly the Eus.sians assumed that the Swedes
were altoo-erher crushed bv the Viboro-
affair
:
and so
sure were they of victory that a cabin was specially fitted
up ou board the Prince of Nassau-Siegen's
ship for the
flag-
accommodation of the King of Sweden
when he should
surrender,
and
the
of
9tli
July,
Ekaterina's birthday, was fixed as the day of battle
compliment to the Tsarina.
as a
Unfortunately for
Russia, the prince was a little too premature
seems to have made few
if
any preparations
;
and he
for findiug
a vio-orous resistance awaitino- him.
The
battle
began
at 9.30
on the morning of 9th
Ba"/e at ffotscliensalm
Julv. and lasted without intermission •
till
10 o'clock on
""'
the morning of the 10th.
The Russians or precaution,
(Suenksund),
9th and 10th
'
at first
went
in without
much
order
and being received with a reserved
fire,
were thrown into tremendous confusion and suffered
''^'>-
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"<'
»/ """•
with Turkey.
the Turks were driven to sue for peace L naries were signed at Galatea in ratified at Jassy
Ekaterina
; '
the prelimiJ-
'''""'^
"f
''''"^'
9th Jan. 1792.
August 1791, and
on 9th January 1792. her attention to Poland, the '™"«« "f Russian coast-
now turned
partition of which
was completed
1795; and one
in
Bv
great source of trouble removed from Europe.
"""' '^®^'
it
Russia secured the rest of Courland, and the coastline 23°, lat. 58°, to long. 21° 50', lat. 56°
from long.
Dome
— from
Ness to a few miles north of Memel, the present
frontier with
Germany.
In this year there was an Ano-lo-Russian alliance, ° and the British Admiral Duncan was joined off the •'
Texel by the Russian Admiral Hanickoff, with 12 shipsof-the-line
and 6
frigates.
Russia was then the second Naval Power in the world,
— a position
ojenius
and
to
which she had been raised by the
foresio;ht of Ekaterina.
and was succeeded by the more or
The great Ekaterina's with her.
The
British
who
less
died in 1796,
mad
Tsar Paul.
policy did not at once die
mutiny
at
the
Nore put a
temjDorary end to the fleet combination in 1797
;
but
w^hen the Dutch fleet capitulated in August 1799, the
Russian ships Retwisan and Mistisloff, under Mitchell,
an En2;lish rear-admiral into the Texel.
in
the Russian service, went
Angio-Russian alliance, 1795.
VI 1796-1801
PAUL T)OTH
under Paul, the erratic successor of the great
Catherine
ii.,
and under Alexander
i.,
the son of
Paul, Russia fought on both sides in the teneral
war
produced by the French Pi.evolution and Xapoleon. Paul, however, was naturally disposed side,
while his successor, Alexander
stances at one period drove
him
to
i.,
to Xapoleon's
though circum-
become an
ally of
France, was distinctl}^ anti-Napoleonic in sentiment.
Paul
came
to
throne in
the
immediately afterwards
1796, and
French
the
plan
almost
of
trade
campaign against Great Britain was put into execution. This action on the part of France naturally placed Russia against her, since 1798.
in
by the decree
of the Directorv issued
January 1798 auy neutral vessel found
single
Aimed
British
was
article
originallv
at
be
to
seized
the British, this
to contain a
as
decree
a
prize.
caused
most, trouble to the neutrals, and four montlis after
was issued Paul despatched a liue-of-battle ships
merchantmen
in
and
iieet
fifty galleys
the Sound.
of
it
twenty-two
to protect
Russian
Very shortly afterwards.
;
I796-I80I
III
Nelson's crushing defeat of the French Heet at the Nile ^
Effect of the
battle of
.
settled the Russian course of action
war was formally
:
"c
mie.
conducted against France, and England, Russia, Austria, Turkey, Naples, and Portugal formed a great anti-
French
alliance.
Russian armies overran Switzerland, while a combined Russo-Turkish
fleet,
under Admiral Oushakoff,
passed the Dardenelles and captured the Ionian Islands in September.
the Russian
Incidentally,
may
it
be mentioned that
with that eye to the main chance
fleet,
which her enemies always accuse Russia of possessing to
an al)normal degree, troubled very
about
little
its
and seemed rather bent on capturing harbours
allies,
operating a^-aiust the
than
French.
The
letters
of
Nelson at this period clearly indicate that the great admiral was of opinion that the capture of Malta for themselves was really
aimed
the-liue
but
at.
the Russians in the Mediterranean
They had with them eleven
and a number of
^lalta
if
all
than long for
was
frigates
ships-of-
and smaller
their real objective, they did
vessels
no more
it.
In Nelson's eyes Oushakofl" was a very inefticieut person.
Beyond
bombarding Ancona
operation attended with more to
damage
Ancona, he did nothing.
inactivity little
may have been due
in
1799,
to himself than
Probably some of to
his
an
his
ships being in
better condition than Orlofi's had been.
Russian troops, conveyed from the Baltic in British vessels, operated
very
little
for a
short while in Holland
;
but
military advantage was obtained there, and
Ancona, 1799.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
112
eventually the British stored their Russian
the
allies in
Channel Islands. In the meantime Suwarroft' met defeat in Switzer-
and eight thousand
land,
his
men were
taken
prisoners.
Napoleon, with clever forethought, put these
troops into
new uniforms and
a thing that appealed very
was
to that, he
tion for
filled
sent
much
The
to Russia,
In addition
with an immense personal admira-
laid
ships in Rus.sian ports.
brilliant Italian
his
that was needed. Napoleon
little else
managed, and Paul
them back
to Paul.
Napoleon on account of
victories.
7800.
of
an embargo upon
As
all
a result, there
correspondence between London
and
British
was angry
Petersburg,
St.
the principal result of which was that negotiations were
opened between Russia, Sweden, and Denmark "'
Armed
novels
for the
Neutrality," which in one of Captain ]\Iarryat's
described as " generally
is
meaning a charge
of
bayonets." Tlic
The case of the Freya,25th
trouble was broug;ht to a head bv
o;atherin2: .
July 1800.
Danish
tlie
frio-ate
convoy, refused to British
method
search,'
to
which
Freva.
She,
allow the the
being-
" right
the
British
British
out with
replied
by
a of
coming
of dealing with the question,
alougsidc and forcing her to surrender.
Lord Wliitworth was then to
Copenhagen
;
sent
on
an embassy
and by way of assistance to
his
arguments, he was accompanied by inne ships-of-theline,
four
-
bombs, and
five
frio;ates,
under Admiral
Dickson. Pauls anger.
All
tliis
Paul took as a personal
insult.
He
himself created Grand Master of the Knights of
got St.
"3
1796-1801
John
at Malta, ^vhiell place
in
face of the British
fleet.
the
b}'
means of getting possession
British, as the only
island
was then tlireatened
of the
Oushakoff's
fleet
beino- unlikelv to effect anythino- in the Mediterranean,
Paul, just at the time
when Dickson's squadron reached
the Sound, seized
the British merchantmen (about
all
three hundred) then in Eussian harbours, and published a declaration that he
handed over
to him.
no sign that
it
would keep them
The
British
Malta was
till
Government making-
intended to acquiesce, and Tsar Paul
being further irritated by the fashion in which,
dis-
regarding his embargo, some British merchant ships
away and
sailed
escaped, he clinched
the matter
by
ordering^ all the rest to be burned.
Denmark, Sweden, and Paul
signified to
that
Prussia
their
having by now
sentiments towards the
British were at one with his, the Tsar wrote a letter to
Napoleon and despatched an ambassador
to Paris.
At
about the same time the island of Malta surrendered
British
capture Malta.
to the British.
On
the 16th of December 1800, Russia and Sweden
Armed Neutrality,
Armed Neutrality'"' Prussia and Denmark were
signed the later
""
Pitt and the
delusions
embargo
as
to
Avas laid
British
treaty,
all
Government were under no
At
for the capture of
these Baltic Powers.
once
an
Russian, Danish, and Swedish
ships (Prussia was excluded), and letters
were issued
isoo.
also sio-natories. O
what was intended. on
and three days
of
marque
any ships belonging
to
In the meantime British ships
were excluded from every port from the North Cape to
British reply.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
114
Exactly four weeks after the signing of the
Gibraltar.
treaty a British fleet, consisting of eighteen battle ships
and
line-of-
thirty-five smaller vessels, sailed for
the Baltic. Russian fleet
The
Russian
total
at the
fleet
day was eighty-two
in 1801.
and forty
ships-of-the-line
Forty-seven
frigates.
of
these were in the Baltic or at Archangel, but of that
number only The
fifteen
British fleet, with Sir
and Nelson diplomac}'
for active service.
Hyde Parker
command
in
under him, were under orders
first
—
show of
great
were ready
"
diplomacy
" in this
tr}'
case representing
Denmark was
force.
to
to be the first
— an impression was abroad
point of attack in any case,
that the Danes, despite the Frej^a incident, had been
more
acting
therefore,
or
was
might seem
under
less
to
best.
compulsion
be detached
The
Denmark,
;
by whichever means
instructions proceeded
after settling matters at
Copenhagen the
go to Revel, to destroy
all
:
was to
fleet
Russian ships,
— that
forts,
arsenal there, after that to treat Kronstadt in the wa}',
and generally
and
same
to cause the Russian flag to dis-
appear from the waters of the Baltic.
At
the
time
suspicion began to easily give in.
these
instructions
were
issued
a
grow that the Danes would not
Nelson was in favour of attacking the
Russians, and wrote to Sir
Hyde Parker
to take ten ships-of-the-line,
of fire-ships, to Revel
for permission
one bomb, or
else a couple
and destroy the Russian
fleet
them, leaving the remainder of the British attend to Copenhagen.
By
this
means the
with
fleet
"
to
Armed
1796-1801
Neut.ralitv "
However,
115
would have been smashed
Hyde Parker was
Sir
at a siuole blow.
of a diftereut opinion to
Nelson, and the famous attack on Copenhagen took
With Russian
place.
concern, save that
him time
to
come back again more."
when Nelson was
has small
treating for the
demanded fourteen weeks "in
armistice he
allow
naval history this
order to
go and destroy the Paissian Heet, and to destroy the
Danes
if
they wanted
Eventually Denmark was detached.
much more
Before
could be done, ne"ws arrived that the
mad
Tsar Paul had been assassinated, and his successor,
Alexander
i.,
Xelson,
had no desire to continue
now
in
hostilities.
supreme command, was ordered to
nelson goes to Revel.
open negotiations with the new Tsar, to find out what Russia intended doins;, and not to the Russians lient on
it.
He
fioiit
at once
Revel with eleven ships-of-the-line, a sloops, his intention being to impress
unless he found
made
a dash for
frigate,
and two
upon the Russians
that he meant business, and to prevent their Kronstadt fleet
joining the ships at Revel.
However, he found
that, the ice
having broken the Russians
Kronstadt.
At Revel, he wrote, he could have destroyed
,
Avere all inside
the whole lot of them.
Nelson, indeed, appears to have been exceedingly
annoyed slip
at having been compelled to let the Russians
through his
fingers,
and the Russian Government
seem to have had
a fairlv clear inklino- of his sentiments
and a mistrust of
his intentions
expressed aliout their
fleet
—while his views, freelv
under Oushakoft'
in
the
Mediterranean, had been both free and uncomplimentary.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN KAYV
ii6
A
o'ood
Count
passed
of correspoiKloucr
deal
between
and Nelson, and
Pahlcii, tlie Tsai's secretary,
o)i
the 16tli of ^lay the Tsar's astonislnnent was expressed tliat
such a force as Nelson's slmuld be
Russian waters in view of
to
reputed pacific intentions
tlie
Government.
of the British
))rouo;])t
It
looked a good deal like
pressure, to an appearance of which the Russians were
particularly
anxious
not
demanded, that Nelson's
fleet
should withdraw.
Nelson's reply was to the effect that
and that
of friendship,
his
was further
It
yield.
to
fleet
was a mark
it
would he of great
service in assistins; to uavioate to Eno-land
the English vessels which had remained in Russia
ness in
—a rather neat
hand had more
all
manv
of
the winter
hint that the principal busito do with the
merchantmen
Paul had seized than with the now purely theoretical
and
innocuous
wrote to Russian
"
Armed
Neutrality.
Privately he
'
St.
Vincent and said that had any of the
fleet
been inside Revel, the Tsar would never
have made the demand he had.
However, Nelson
left
the gulf, and the Tsar removed
the embargo from British shipping.
Nelson
to
come and
single ship
a
;
l)ut
see him, if he
Treaty with England.
of
also invited
would come with
acceptance was postponed, and as
Nelson soon afterwards
came
He
left
the Baltic, nothing ever
it.
Qn
oth Junc a treaty was sio-ned between Eno-land J ^ O and Ru.s.sia, 1))^ which Russia secured the right to trade ;
between the
j^orts of a belligerent.
considerable, at a
time
when the
A
concession so
British
fleet
was
I
clearly in a position to
that
there can have
on
Russia
the
part
796-1801
denv l.ieen
of
it
I
without
troulile, indicates
no particular the
r
British
liostility
to
(Government.
Apparently Paul's action was regarded as the freak of
MAI' OF
a
mad
Ru.ssia
ruler.
THE BALTIC.
Its ultimate result
rather than otherwise.
was advantageous to
But the whole
affair
seeins to have arisen out of the tailoring enterprise of
Napoleon, when he re-clad those 8000 captured Russian soldiers.
VII 1801-1825
ALEXANDER
W
"HEN
I
oeneral war broke out aoain after the Peace
of Amiens, Russia Avas engaged in completing
the subjugation of Georgia, which was annexed in 1801,
but o-ave some trouble for a while afterwards. the beginning of 1805 alliance
Not
did Alexander enter into the
and Sweden against
with England, Austria,
for a twelvemonth before some France, thouo-h O
act
had been
foreseen.
till
such
Nelson's letters on the subject
are couched in the usual strain
:
a hope that he would
not have the assistance of a Russian squadron, and a firm conviction that
if
would merely use
it
they joined with the as
Allies,
an occasion to capture the
Ionian Republic and the whole of Turkey. Russian fleet
\vas iucorrect.
they
In this he
Russia entered honestly into the war,
in the Leuant.
and her
fleet
stood
to
bar the French from o-oing
Subsequently the French
towards Egypt.
fleet
met
annihilation at Trafalgar,^ but the battle of Austerlitz
upset '
all
the projects of the Allies on land.
There were one
or
two Russian
Trafalgar. IIS
officers
serving in Nelson's
fleet at
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
I20
Uwino; to Austeiiitz
Austerlitz.
to
N;i]^.i]es
C'attarc.i.
The Russian troops
tlirougli.
fell
Aiioio-Russian exioeditioii
expedition were employed in
}jr(»i('cted 7806.
aii
in
this
capture of
tlie
Avhile the tleet opei'ated ^Yitllout success against
Kagusa. Al)Out
was
Xapoleon
time
this
busy
over
his
projected alliance with Turkey and Persia, in order to harrv Russia
1
tiieir
ly
the Turks, getting
them
means
and
:
the case of
in
to close the Dardenelles
and
Bosporus to Russian warships. In Februarv 1807 a British denelles.
ordered Operations against Turkey.
fleet
forced the Dar-
Senyavin, the Russian admiral, had been to co-operate with
four
line-of-battle
ships,
but he tailed to arrive in time to do more than meet the British fleet coming back in a very disabled condi-
He had with him
tion.
then eight ships-of-the-line, and
was anxious that the Auo-lo-Russian
England, how-
essay the passage of the Dardenelles. ever, if the first fiasco
^
should again
fleet
had not been
sufficient,
otherwise engaged in operations in Egypt.
was
left
Senyavin
blockadino- the Dardenelles, which he does not
seem to have considered passable by least
was
he made no such attempt.
second Russian
fleet
his
squadron
—
at
In the Black Sea a
blockaded the Bosporus.
Seeing the English go away, and having had ocular
1
Although the damage sustained was very small compared with what
might have been
e.xpected, it
at Constantinople nothing
imminent danger Turks
erected.
of
was none the
had been
having their retreat cut
They probably only
less
effected, off
pretty heavy.
and the by new
Further,
ships were in
batteries that the
retired in the nick of time.
second attempt would likely have led to total disaster.
A
121
180I-1825
demonstration that they had done them some harm, the Turks oot tooether a Dardenelles on the
they
fell in
elusions,
1
they made
Ahnost immediately
9th of May.
with Senyavin,
and came down the
fleet
Ijis;
not caring to try con-
])ut
senyavu, chases bach the
t\i.\:e,e Turkish feet.
In their haste
l)ack again.
May wo?.
ships ran aground and were captured by the pursuing
Russians.
A mouth
Turkish
later the
fleet
came down
again,
accompanied by transports carrying between four and five thousand
of "
On
men.
Command
These
— in defiance of
of the Sea
"
— they
all
the theories
landed at Tenedos.
the same day that the landing took place, Senyavin's
squadron met the Turkish
dispersed.
Lemnos and
off"
One
upon them.
a severe defeat action, five
fleet
later
0/ Lemnos, 22nd
ship was captured in
were driven ashore in
Four weeks
inflicted Bawe
flight,
the
and the
troops
•'""« '«"''•
rest
landed in
Tenedos had to surrender to Senyavin. If victorious at sea,
on land the Russian arms were
fl"ss/a aja/n
changes sides.
but successful, and Alexander had to sign
anvthinp-
the
Peace of
of France
Tilsit,
and
at
whereby Russia became an
ally
war with England, Austria, and
Sweden. This sudden change of policy put Senyavin in rather a tight place.
The French
existent, the British fleet
was well-nigh non-
was the commanding unit
the Mediterranean, and his
had
fleet
new
friends the Turks,
in
who
so recently experienced disaster at his hands, were
perhaps
hardly
to
be
trusted.
He had
altogether eleven line-of-battle ships and a
smaller vessels.
To
with him
number
of
stay where he was simply meant
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
122
destruction by the
British
and he formed the
lleet,
He, however, detached
project of a rush for the Baltic.
Greig,^ his rear-admiral, to capture the Ionian
Isles,
allowing him for this service two ships-of-the-line and four
With the
fria^ates.
and reached the Tagus, where
of the Mediterranean British fleet
rest of his fleet he sailed out a
promptly blockaded him.
Greig's ships were not attacked by the British, and for
some time Avandered aimlessly
In
in the Levant.
the end they were run to earth and taken possession of
by an Austrian
Trieste,
where
fleet,
which conducted them
on
later
Napoleon's
soldiers
to re-
captured them.
Seuvavin stayed inside the Tagus
August 1808.
some
for
while.
loss of Sen-
yauin-s fleet.
Eveutually, however, he surrendered his ships to the British,
to
on condition that he and
his
men
should be free
go back to Russia, and that at the end of the war
his ships should
lie
without question.
returned.
A
when Senvavin went
These terms were granted
curious feature of the case into the Tao-us there
was
is
that
at that
time no war between Russia and England, so far as any formal declaration was concerned. tion of the Mediterranean
him
Xo
in the
Senyavin's evacua-
and the British blockade of
Tagus were merelv "precautionary measures."
direct Enoiish attack on the Russians
some while after the Peace of
Tilsit.
was made
till
As a precautionary
measure against a renewal of the Armed Neutrality, however, the British seized the entire Danish Nav}-. '
Rear- Admiral Gieig was
Greig.
See pp. 80
et seq.
tlie
son of
tlie
ex-Britisli officer,
Samuel
1801-1825
This
left
123
somewhat reduced
the Baltic Powers with
forces; but in Maj^
1808 the Russians had
in
those
waters twenty line-of-battle ships and fourteen frigates, all
while Sweden possessed eleven
effective,
battle
ships
and seven
by dint of
wdiich
frigates,
line-of-
military pressure counted upon the Russian side.
A
British expedition
entered the Baltic in June
isos.
1808, under Sir James Saumarez, with a view to assisting the Swedes to detach themselves from the Russian alliance
;
and two months
later
Oro Sound, where
line reached
were lying.
Ofi' this
two British six
ships-of-the-
Swedish battleships
place a Russian fleet of eleven
under Hamkoff appeared the very
ships - of - the - line
next day, and the next day again four more Swedes
The
arrived.
entire
Anoio-Swedish
now
fleet,
con-
of twelve battleships and five frigates, then
sisting
put out to fight the Russians, who made
Rogerswick
;
and one of the two
ofi"
British
towards
ships, the
Implacable, being swift, succeeded in overhauling and
engaging the Russian Svlod. haul
oft',
as the
She had, however, to
entire Russian fleet turned
about to
attack.
The Svlod did not long other British ship
escape, as the Centaur
—managed
—the
to block her entry into
Rogerswick harbour.
A
fierce
engagement took
place,
and,
after
a nght between
gallant resistance in which she lost over three hundred
men, the Russian
ship, dismasted
and
disabled, struck.
She was burned immediatelv afterwards.
The
rest
of the Russian fleet were blockaded in
the Sulod and British centaur.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
124
and showed un
R()i>ei>wick, O August 1808.
ercctc'l a liooin to
protected
)»v
si<:iiis CD
of coiuiii"' out. 'J
']'lie\' ^
out fire-ships, and liem^ well
kiMi'p
the shored )attei'ie,s, attacks upon tliem were
After a con])Ie of mouths the hlockading fleets
futile.
withdrew, and the Russians went back to Kronstadt,
where they remain eil. (
neither
)u
much
vigour.
hands
full
side
wcic operation^ conducted
witli
The
British Ciovernment,
theii'
ciiouo-h
elsewhere, had
n
witli
desire to p)ress
matter^ against the Tsar, whose alliance with Napoleon Capture of
showed siuns
alreadv
fif
weakness.
Russian
troops
Finland, 1809.
overran and captured Finland,
liut
the
Swi-dish ships
do not seem to have attempted any counter attack as a
Such naval actions
diversion.
operations conducted by
as took place
were minor
At Gronvik,
fiotillas.
Pah'a.,
and Aland the Russian coast -Hotilla met with some small losses at the hands of the Swede.-. British capture
British line-ofdjattle ship
I'he
Implacable, on the
seuen Russian
gunboats at Porcola, 7th
July 1809.
nlo'lit
o
of 7th Julv. scut seventceii boats to attack eiodit o ^
Russian gunboats, which, with some store-ships, lay at Porcola Point, in the Gulf of Finland.
guinary
confiict,
seven of the
After a san-
gunboats and twelve
store-ships were captured.
^
7uiyifo9
fortnight later Subdieutenant Korobka. with four
gunboats c(.)nvoying a brig with stores to Rotchensalm, fell
in
with nineteen Enoiish
managed three 1
to
show her heels
Korobka made
a
;
l)oats.^
l)ut
o-unboat
with the remaining
most, stubborn resistance for
JMortar-Loats, according to Russian accounts, Ijut
ships' boats of tbe Implacable
One
and Centaur.
more probably tbe
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
126
when
over two hours, and all
but seven of
hi.s
men were
At the very time in
progress,
finally forced to surrender,
killed
oi'
-wounded.
that these minor operations were
British
merchantmen were
trading
at
Russian ports, and the oj^erations of 1810 were purely pacific
Russia being nominally at war
ones of trade.
with England
still,
and
this trade being in
any
case
directly contrary to Napoleon's " Continental system."
Franco-Russian relations soon grew very strained.
The
end was Xapoleon's fateful invasion of Russia, and the destruction of the
Grand Armv,
in
which the crews of
the Russian ships at Kronstadt, being landed, participated.
Russia and England, from having been in a practical
Anglo-Russian Alliance.
state of peace while nominally at war, were allies
once more, and the ships of Senyavin captured
in the Tao-us
were restored.
Beyond some boat ojjerations final
now formally
affairs in
the Danube, no naval
on the part of Russia marked
this
new and
phase of the Great War.
Alexander
i.
died in 1825.
Dm-ina; his
reisjn
the
dimensions of the Empire were considerably increased,
and
fresh coastline
Black Sea.
was
o-ained
on the shores of the
VIII
NAVARINO AND THE CRIMEAX WAR 1825-1855
Nikolai A
I
LEXANDER was succeeded
by
his
younger brother
Duke Con-
Nikolai, an elder brother, the G-rand stantine,
having renounced his succession to the throne.
For the
first
few years of
his reign Tsar Nikolai
was
occupied in a Persian war, but the problems produced
by the Greek eno-aged
revolt
against
Russian attention.
joined France
aud England
the
In in
Turks naturally
June 1827 Nikolai a
league
originally
started to suppress Greek piracy in the Levant, but
which soon became an engine naval demonstration was
Greek freedom.
for
decided
upon,
A
and Rear-
admiral Count Heyden, flying his flag in the Azov, 74,
and havino; with him three 74- and three 48-eun frigates, joined
The whole
an Anglo-French
force
fleet in
the Levant.
was under the British Vice-admiral,
—
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
28
and was thus
Sir Echvard Codringtou, as senior officer,
made up 4
;
:
(Azov. Gangoot, Ezekiel,
Alexander 3
74-gun ships.
I.)
.
1
(Asia)
2
(Genoa and iVlbion)
1
.
.
1
.
1
.
frigates.
80-gun
ship.
74-gun
shi]is.
den
48
„
admiral
„
rington
1
.
3
Kear-
Count
flag in
42
28
1
;
British,
frigate.
under
admiral
r
48-gun
50-gun
.
Russian,
,
Hey-
Azov, 74.
under
;
Vice-
Cod-
Sir
E.
flag
in Asia,
80.
.
IS-gun
brig.
.
10-gun
brigs.
3 (Scipion, Trident, and
Breslaw) 1
(Sirene)
1
74-gun ships.
.
.
.
.
2
.
.
In
tlie
ship.
admiral
44-gun
frigate.
flacr
their
Eear-
Eigny
in Sirene.
— the ancient Sphakteria,
for the first
arms and surrendered
entire Turkish
de
many centuries before by that Athenian
triumph when Spartans
down
under
schooners.
liarbour of 2\avarino
rendered famous
French,
60-gun
and Egyptian
fleet,
and only time
—
laid
lay practically the
consisting of
3 ships-of-the-line,
Turkish fleet.
1
rasue frigate,
16 frigates,
27 corvettes, 5 fire-ships, 19 brigs,
and Allied fleets dispositions.
a large
number
of
gunboats and transports (about 40
Into this harbour the Allied '"
naval demonstration
"
to 50).
fleets sailecl, intent
upon
a
of the type that recent years
have rendered familiar to
us.
Thev found the Turks
;
1825-1855
129
lying in a crescent, and cleared for action, whereupon
Codrington anchored his vessels to leeward on the outside of the curve, so that in the event of hostilities
none of
his ships
He
fire.
would be exposed to a concentrated
also sent a
message to the Turkish Admiral
warning him that any
hostile demonstration
construed as an
of war,
act
destruction of the Turkish
A little
later
men
several in
were
killed,
safety through
fleet.
fired on,
27th
and a lieutenant and
ship to which
the
The Turk
and lasted four
action ensued,
a messao-e Nmanno,
and the remainder only returned
on the Turks.
firing
and punished by the
some English boats taking
to a Turkish ship
would be
they belonged
replying, a general hours.
The Turkish
ships were concentrated on, one after the other, and as
they were disabled the Turks set them on
fire
and abandoned them.
About two-thirds of three
line,
brigs,
ship-of-the-
frigates,
twenty-
one schooner, and
five
Details of the battle vary according
to the nation giving the account.
that the Russians took
small
The English version part
in
the afiair
Avhile
Russian history states that Count Heyden's
ship,
Azov, herself sank the Turkish flagship, two
frigates,
cruiser
and a
Pamiat Azova
of this action, St.
corvette.
George
is
named
in
remembrance
carries the
badoe of
commemoration.
French
and her ensign
(for valour) in
flag-
The present-day Russian so
Turkish ships
destroyed.
were thus burnt, and the remaining vessels
severely mauled.
is
— one
2-decker frigates, nine
two corvettes, nineteen fire-ships
their force
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
I30
So
accounts give, of course, yet a third version. as can be gathered share, ^
the ships-of-thc-line took their
all
and most were a
knocked about
sjood deal
The
no means a "walk over."
the battle was bv
far
English line-of-battle ships were the most damaged,
and presumably the most hotly engaged, had
them
to
home
be sent
to
being
Ijeyond
resources
]Malta"s
three
all
damage done
the
repairs,
for
—
put
to
rioht. War
Almost immediatelv
with
Kavarino a regular war
after
""
Turkey, 7827-29.
came about between Russia and Turkey, and Navarino more than anything
Owing
else contributed to
to that holocaust Russia
Power" which, judiciously take
Anapa and
as Aclriauople,
at
had an excess of enabled
utilised,
"
Sea
her to
and keep up the communications
Poti,
which penetrated as
of those land forces Peace signed at
Russian success.
which
was signed
peace
place
south
far
in
Adrianople,
1829.
1829.
Naval operatious
Merituria, 4tli
May
1829.
,,
,
than show}'.
in
this _
.
war were useful rather rr
.
brig Mercury, 20 guns, however, earned in an action the, exact facts of
some
laurels
which are probably not
The Russian version
procurable.
^
i
Lieutenant Ivazarski of the
ivapitan
is
that off Constanti-
nople he was attacked by two Turkish ships-of-theline,
one
of
110
guns, the
four hours' action, in injured, this
and
affair
and a
silenced,
added '
The
a
74.
After
a
which the Turks were badly Kazarski
Kazarski and his
pistol
other
to
frigates
sailed
officers
away
less
engaged.
For
were promoted,
the arms, because were
!
they had
IIUSSIAN WARSHIPS, 1830.
1825-1855
determined to
up
l)lo\v
that
of his
names
Hitcdc
and
Russian
also
ship-
to-day.
Now, Turkish in
la
')
iiame,
Kazarski'.s
perpetuated as
are
brig,
^Mercury
tlie
should she be overcome.
^33
despite the notoriously bad condition of the
Navy
at that period, this account
need of some " editing."
nemarha.
evidently
is
moral impossibility
It is a
that so small a craft as the Mercury could have dis-
abled two .ships-of-the-liiie in four
they done no shooting tion
is
hours, even had
and the most natural assumj)-
;
that the Turks were frigates, that have
doi;bt
little
is
rarely perpetuated the officers in ships,
to
That Kazarski distinguished
ships-of-the-line since.-^
himself there
grown
;
the Russians have so
names of distinguished naval
that the fact of their having done so
in this case presupposes a gallant action against
heavy
odds.
The war with Persia ended iurkomachai.
of
dj
territory
it
the Ai'as (Araxes) River
in
;
1828 with the
was gained
treatj'
as tar as
naval control of the Caspian
Treaty of i828.
contmi 0/ the Caspian,
was also secured. In the thirties the Russian fleet had a fairly high reputation for efficiency.
types were adopted
;
the vessels was short
A certain
in
number
but being built of
— only about
fir,
of definite
the
life
of
eight years, though
the Russians tried to keep them going for double or treble that period.
1
See 1877-78
:
action between
tlie
closely resembles tbe Kazarski story,
some quarters
Vesta and a Turkisli ironclad.
and at
to have been a pure invention.
Russian fleet
tlie
It
time was proved in
1836.
134
TH!':
IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NA\'Y
The types were—
1825-1855
The
" paper
"
135
force of ships in 185-3
was
as follows
LALTIC 25
ships-of-the-liiie
(120 and
S-i
guns).
:
—
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
1^,6 'o
Inilliantly
a
leallv
conceived and executed surprise. created a great
Its absolute decisiveness
being the
first
stir,
time in which shell were used
against ships,i the fight
is
enrolled
and
this
l)y sliips
upon the annals of
naval history as one of the most important of epochs. Fioht, in the sense to which
was none, the in the
afiair
we
are accustomed, there
was as short as that of Santiago
neither time nor need for tactics shell, fleet
There was
Hispano-American AVar of 1898.
fire,
the Turks had no
In five minutes the Turkish
the Russians had.
was on
:
and, with the exception of a solitary
steamer that escaped, every single vessel was annihilated.
The Turks fought exceedingly ftussian losses,
well,'
spaceallowcd them managed to
kill
and in the brief 34 Russians and
wound 230, a not insignificant number in view of the comparative smallness of the forces engaged. Turkish
loss.
loss is
unknown, but
practically
it
entire personnel, either killed,
The
forces eno-asjed
The Turkish
amounted
wounded, or
to their
prisoners.
were
RUSSIAN Tri Sviatitelia
120 guns
.
120
„
Imperitritza Marie
80
„
Paris
80
„
80
„
60
„
Eostislav
.
.
.
.
Tchesme Grand Duke Constantine .
.
(flag).
Admiral
ISTahimofl'.
TURKISH 2 steamers.
7 razee frigates.
Covered by a small shore-battery.
2 corvettes. '
The combustible
from the oiiiinary -
The Turkish
improved.
sbell used
shij^'s
by Greig
(see
Appendix) were not
fired
gun.
personnel had lately been thoroughly reorganised
and
BATTLE OF
SIXOI'E.
1825-1855
139
Tlie Turkish version of the affair, one, too, that
was
very generally current on the Mediterranean at the
was
time,
that, finding themselves caught
matched, the Turks set their ships on
them
ing
they blew up.
till
truth in this version.
Aj^rojJOS
mentioned that at Santiago something of the same
The
possible (a thing,
holocaust
more
or the
ability
of this,
may be
it
Some
was variously taken.
had made naval warfare im-
^
by the way, that ;
is
claimed for nearly
others attributed the
to Turkish iuefiiciency than to Russian
power of the
marked impetus was given ships
probably some
1898 the Spaniards did
in
new invention nowadays)
every
is
at once, fight-
sort.
lesson of Sinope
argued that the shell
There
fire
and over-
None the
shell.
less, a
to the old idea of armouring
the ironclad was no longer an idle dream, no
;
longer the resurrection of the fad of some long since
dead and gone Dutch the
historical
shells
cry,
"
sailor,
but the only answer to
For God's sake keep out the
" :
new
France, usually to the front with any tion,
batteries
From
the
besfan ;
and a
construction little
later
of
ironclad
floatins;
England followed ^
these, as every schoolboy
suit, innciad floating batteries.
knows, grew the sea-
going ironclads, which were shell-proof for
Gunnery
inven-
science, however, evolved a
many
means
years.
of pene-
trating armour, and in this battle with the gun, armour
grew thicker and
thicker.
In this growth
its area
was
naturally diminished, and in the struggle to keep out '
See Greig's use of shell in Appendix.
I40
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
shot, that
are at
tlic
most merely mildly dangerous,
A small patch
the shell was absolutely forgotten.
impenetrable armour was the one thing sought
of
after,
and such caricatures of the whole theory of armoured ships as our
Benbow
the Italian Lepanto, or
class,
the French Maoenta, and to some extent
The man who
ironclads, arose.
designed the ironclad cruisers
modern
all
an Italian dockyard
in
of the Garibaldi and
Cristobal Colon types ma}- truly claim to be the only
ship-designer able
to
armour was introduced
To resume.
The
the purpose for which
realise !
shell
at
Sinope did not cause
the British and French Governments to hesitate one
moment
coming
to
with Russia in the
hostilities
The causes
followlug Tear.
Crimean
War
in
War
can
many was whether
the
of the
Crimean
begins.
hardly be traced, but one of
Roman
Catholics (France) or the Greek Church (Russia)
should be the predominant guardian of the Church of Its silly
causes,
tlic
Holy
tecting the poor
Turk
interests or concern in
We
A
Scpulchrc.^ ''
certain
was thrown
amount in,
of " pro-
but England's
the matter were absolutely
nil.
were blessed, or cursed, at that time, however,
with that faddist Lord Palmerston, who was
full
of
the idea of bringing about an Anglo-French understanding on the "love your enemies" principle.
deeper seems to have existed. in
Nothing
In addition, there was
England at that time a great
taste for the
penny
dreadful literature- about Siberia and Russian tyranny, ^
Kinglake's Crimea.
-
Tlie Russians
have a very similar
soit of literature detailing the
1825-1855
and
Lord Palmerston
devout
believer
was
ardent
an
these
in
141
reader
sensational
inventions.
Suffering from that particular form of insanity
as "love of freedom,"
—which
and
known
usually works out at
nothing more logical than judging unknown things by a
man's own experience of something
else/
—Lord
Palmerston was distinctly Anti-Russian in sentiment, without a thought of any reasons of importance or
To
policy.
prepared,
a
great
extent
the
country,
The
echoed these sentiments.
of Sinope"
was the
key and
have been averted but
A
Peace Society.
War
maniacs visited
received
by the Tsar
make war
:
for
the
St.
might, howaction of the
Petersburg,
Nikolai.
The Peace Society and
and were
Tsar Nikolai.
They begged him not
and the Tsar, incapable of comprehend-
ing that the deputation was unofficial, error
Conse-
self-constituted deputation of these
amiable
to
" massacre
watchword.
quently strained relations ensued. ever,
carefully
of crediting
it
with being
from the British Government."
a
fell
into the
direct
embassy
In consequence, this
country was no longer a factor in his mind, British protests were disregarded as intentionally meaningless,
liorrible tortures inflicted
upon the
Irish
by the English and Scotch.
The one series is, of course, about as truthful as the other. 1 The term insanity is used advisedly. The plea for " Home Rule " have by politicians who never seen that country raised here for India the description of Jew stockbrokers in the Transvaal as "patriots ;
struggling for freedom"
Grseco-Turkish War,
primary
;
factor, the absolute
subject they shriek about, -
the hysterical rubbish talked on the eve of the
—can only be explained on such an hypothesis.
Kinglake.
is
The
ignorance of the agitators concerning the
completely ignored.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
142
and when war
declared
-was
more puzzled than
T.-ar
man was
no
To
Nikolai.
probably
day the
this
Imperial mind in Russia has never comprehended the situation, ever\-
member
deceit
"
block
of
distrust
a
of the
England
of Romanoff, and " British
House
on the eve of the Crimean
any
to
England.
an
:
War
is
between
understanding
]More
ingrained into
is
cxj^rcssion
a stumbling-
Russia
and
on the part of our
<Jocernment of a desire for any
understandinrj
is
regarded as a danger signal that England meditates a
way
One
icar!^
and
those
another,
amateur
diplomatists, the friends of Peace, have a good deal
answer
to Nauai history »/ the ctimean War, 7854-55.
for.
Thc uaval
liistoiy
of the
^
In
Or imDortaiit.
leiigtliv
War
Crimean
_
cases
all
/
—
in the
is
not
Baltic,
Euxine, AVliite Sea, and Pacific waters, Russian ships wisely kept inside their ports.
On Odessa bombarded, 20th April 7854.
the 3rd of January 1854, French and English
warships had entered the Black Sea
on the 20th of
;
April Odcssa was bombarded by eight frigates.
The
fleets
then cruised before
some small damao-e
frigates did
In
French
warships,
Euxine
to descend
British
fleet
^
of
the Caucasian
of Turkish
and
crowded with troops, crossed
the
upon
ten
fleet
Sevastopol, protected
ships -of- the -line,
and thirteen armed steamers.
frigates, fleet
alono;
September a huge
coast.
Sevastopol, while
by
a
two 50-gun
The Russian
then intact at Sevastopol was nominally superior
This
times in
is
not a mere opinion of
cii-cles
my own
wliere the holding of
it
;
I lieard it in
Russia
meant very much indeed.
many
ScbJ,, f^qlivl
«,/.
MAP OF TURKEY
A^TD
BLACK SEA.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN XAVY
144
to the
British
force
the
;
nearly absolutely, ignorant of
the
-whole
move was
aljsolutcly, or
condition or strength
its
defiance
direct
in
were
Allies
to
principles of " Sea Power," "fleets in being,"
other theories of which
we hear so much
all
;
the
and the
to-day.
It
was
purely a matter of fortune that Prince jMentschikofF
had decided
transports must have been Korniloff,
Russian
the
otherwise
on land only,
fight
to
more
the
or less annihilated.
who had earned
Admiral,
promotion over his share in the battle of Siuope, desired
to
The Alma, 21st Sept. 1854.
fleet
or nearly
block
tlic
might have
that
Waited Idlc in harbour all,
Sinking of the Russian fieet.
the
till
the
liarboui'
Alma was
mouth, and
so
much
lost.
Then
were sunk to crews
the
;
the Prince's
done
of the Russian ships
all,
preparations
By
countermanded.
but ]Mentschikoff orders
indeed, began
attack, and,
landed
under ICorniloff devoted themselves to throwing up It
fortifications.
was chiefly to the
sailors (aided, it is true,
efforts of these
by the hesitation of the
Allies)
that Sevastopol was not taken immediatelv after the Why
the
Alma.
Mentschikoft' had counted
upon defeating them
Russian fleet ujas inactive,
on shorc, and he had been holding the
fleet in
hand
with the idea that after this expected victory the Russian warships would
serve
capture the escaping remnants.
to
totally
destroy or
Something of Scythian
tactics is observable in his plans
;
but he undoubtedly
threw away an almost certain chance for a problematical greater
efi^ect
having been
;
and he cannot be filled
free
from suspicion of
with a desire to obtain military
glory at the expense of sound strategy.
When
all
vaaBaatiS 1.
2.
3.
IXKEEMASN OVER WHICH THE RUSSIANS JIAPXIIED, REGIMEXT AFTER REGIMENT, IN THE FOG. THE HEIGHTS OF IXKEKMAXN. THE FIELD OF BALAKLAVA. THE WINDMILL WAS THE CENTRE OF THE BATTLEFIELD. CLIFF AT
[From Photopraphs
l-imUi/
supplUd by Mr. C. de Grave Sells,]
1825-1855
and done,
said
is
however,
"sounder" than that of the with the
and
latter,
would
errors that
it
else
147
Eussian Allies.
atoned, as
have been
it
was
strategy Still,
luck was
so often has, for
fatal.
After the immolation of the Eussian ships, the war,
became purely
of course,
invested,
military.
and the Allied
bombarded
fleet
many
without impression, though
Sevastopol was its
forts
of their ships were
Inkermann and Balaklava were fought,
badly injured.
and after nearly a year's siege Sevast6pol was abandoned. In
the
course
wounded.
of this
siege
Kornilofi'
was mortally
Subsequently Kinburn was bombarded and
captured by the Allied
A large
English
fleet.
fleet,
with some French vessels, was ne
sent up the Baltic, but here again the Eussian ships
w
Nothing could be done against Kron-
ran to cover.
and the English Admiral was wise enough
stadt,
to
war
the Baltic, 7354-55.
see
In
it.
bombarded,
the
the
following
town
and
year
Sveaborg was
dockyard
being
Bombardment
de-
stroyed.
At Kronstadt the Eussiaus were not -I
r
1
and a large lorce
p
entirely idle. •
1
Defence at Kronstadt.
was extemporised with a
01 steamers
view to attempting a naval
1
action.
It is
not
clear,
however, whether these intended to meet the small craft of the
Allies,
their big ships.
use was
made
Allied
or
to
attempt conclusions with
In any case peace came before any
of them.
ships
visited
the
White Sea and some
war
in the
White Sea
Siberian harbours, but no naval actions were fought.
Petropavlovsk was attacked, and the attack defeated.
""''
''"'^'fi"-
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
148
When
the
came
English
next year they
the
Ijack
found that the Russians had evacuated
Thc WAX, of
Remarks on
it.
was not one of
course,
tlie
im-
first
the war.
portance.
demonstrated the extreme
It
attacking Russia
results secured 1jy
it
have
been neg-atived.
lono- since
One other strated
any othcv
;
difiicnlty of
thing, however,
the "
by
Crimean
"
was indirectly demon-
War, though curiously enough
no attention seems ever to have been bestowed upon it
This
in Ens^land.
Empire
is
is,
as the British
that, so far
Russian expansion of coastline
concerned,
chances of a successful war against her.
ofters the best
For instance, the more Chinese coast that may come under the Russian
flag,
the greater
which Eno-land could
ao-ainst
Yladivostoks
may
is tlie
possible area
Port Arthurs and
act.
be impregnable, but posts of this
sort cannot be indefinitely multiplied, 'and the
command
holding undisputed certainly
would
in a
of the
sfea
war with Russia)
(as
jg
n;ierely creating
no land
—
fortified
lu craviug ^ for an extended coastline, Russia
spots.
Russia's
weakness.
England
also has undis-
puted power to destrov the coast between the Coast ejrtens/on.
Power
force,
elements of weakness for herself;
however
excellent, can be mobile enouo-h
or anything like mobile
enough
—
to
defend a long line
of coast.
And
meet
exceedingly expensive, and a heavy drain on
it is
resources.
To
if
the damao-e sustained
her with
warrant.
not
o-reat,
to
believe that Russia's occupation of the
Port Arthur peninsula credit
is
a
is
a
menace
stupidity
for
to England,
which there
is is
to
no
S
-3
IX
THE EARLIER IRONCLADS 1855-1877
TN
one as
way and
another, as
by anything
else,
the
much by
"suicide"'
Russian
Navy had
already been shown, however,
War manv
of the destroyed vessels were well-nigh useless
when
become nearly non-existent when the Crimean ended.
As
lias
Russians
the
scuttled
them
;
the better, and only
really efficient ships, were kept out of danger during
the war. Directly the war was over, Russia began to reorganise her navy.
Steamers were hastily laid down,
old ships overhauled or reconstructed too
came
Keorg,
;
the personneJ
in for the o'eneral revision.
In 1859 the Russian
fleet
(according to
tlieir
navy
Condition in 1859.
lists
of
that year)
consisted of
sailing vessels, besides a
chiefly screw steamers.
number
73 steamers and 85 of small
gun
vessels,
—
I
^2
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY Details of the fleet in 1839 are as follows
:
—
'855-1877
To the Ministry
'53
of Marine, a president, ten admirals,
a vice-admiral, six officer-inspectors, a lieutenant-general at the head of the hydrographic department, a medical
and ten chief
director-general, an auditor-general,
were
clerks
allotted.
Other departments were the Engineering Department, for the care of naval fortresses
the Marine
;
Training Department, under an admiral as director
Marine Intendancy, marines
;
under
lieutenant
a
the Naval Commissariat
;
-
the
;
general
of
also shipbuilding,
timber, and Xaval Artiller)^ Departments.
The guns then
were as follows
in use
Weight of Solid Slwt
Denominaiion of Gun. 36-pounder
.
24:-pouiider
.
18-i30under
...
.
.
.
.
32
lbs.
7i
oz.
21
lbs.
10|
oz.
16
lbs.
3
oz.
10
lbs.
13
oz.
7
lbs.
3
oz.
5
lbs.
6i
oz.
.
.
6-poTmder
.
The 36-pounder was
and weighed a
9
ft.
7 in. long,
trifle
This gun was 16^
ference at the base, 7
13
in.
ft.
9
4 in.
ft.
over 2 tons.
For coast defence a monster gun was adoption.
and weighed
The 24-pounder was
just under 3^- tons. long,
.
.
12-pounder 8-pouuder
:
ft.
long, 11 J
at the muzzle.
in process of ft.
in circum-
The bore was
diameter, and the length of the bore 13^
ft.
This piece weighed 22 tons, threw a 340-lb. shot,
and had a charge of nearly 80 is
lbs.
of powder.
no record of any attempt to use
The Americans, who first
to take
it
There
on shipboard.
then, as now, were prone to be the
up and experiment with any new weapon,
154
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
were at that time engaged with the Niagara and her sisters,
carrying 11
135-pounder guns;
-in.
G8-pounder was a recognised piece in
all
Russia for a long time
the Russian.
3 2 -pounder as the
most
Navy.
navies except
stuck
to the
handled gun.
easily
This affection for a light piece in the Russian
and the
As we
is
still
to be found
shall see later, Russia at
when
the present day has adopted the 3-in. quickfirer
other nations use the 4'7-in., and in lieu of the 4"7-in.
The for,
fest
12-in.
the heaviest
bio-
wun she has ever gone
and a tendency to prefer the lately,
Peresvet is
is
—that
class,
being
and
the only Naval
the
10-in. has
in the Rostislav.
been mani-
piece
heaviest
in
the
in
Russia, in fine,
Power that has never been
bitten
with the craze for monster guns in her ships. Fifst ironclad.
Gradually, however, the 68-pounder found
its
way
on shipboard, and the coming of the ironclad produced other
chauQ-es
The
materiel.
Russians
in
early
took to iron for ship construction,
and, foUowino- in
the wake of their
opponents in the
Crimean War, decided to have an ironclad navv. England,
therefore,
launched in exists)
is,
carried at
1863.
they
ordered
Practically
and always was, a that
this
Pervenetz,
the ship
(she
floating battery.
time about two dozen
In
still
She
68-pounders,
—
.
I855-I877
and was a formidable
Displacement
Length
.
with 4^
ship, plated all over
The dimensions
iron.
155
are
in.
:
.
.
3279
.
.
.
Beam
.
tons.
220
ft.
52i-
ft.
Draught
.
circa 16
Present armament
.
Six
ft.
8-in.
i^ine 6-in.
Four 9-pounclers. Seven small Q.F.
The engines were made by Messrs. Maudslay, Sons,
&
Field
The
horse-power.
was never
trial
speed was 9 knots
built to be a
were
boilers
and were of 1067
Lambeth, London,
of
fitted,
"flyer."
and are
still
—the
ship
Rectangular box in
her.
She was
launched at Blackwall, having been built by the firm of which the present
Thames Ironworks Company
are
the lineal descendants. It
is
War,
interesting to note that despite the Crimean
Russia
turned to Great Britain
for
as-
sistance
in
re-
constructing her
navy,
just
as
she had turned in the past.^
In
the
following vear (18G4) she launched the ° ' ^ at St. Petersburg, and the next year again the '
Kreml
Netron Menia (Touch-me-not), ^
A Scotchman
still at
sisters to the Pervenetz.
imported about this time to supervise construction,
the Baltic Works.
is
xremi and Natron Menia.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
156
Id
seuastopoi and Petropaulousk.
navics the
all
on
ships
of-battle
best of the old
the
wooden
were cut
stocks
line-
down, and
In this fashion Russia added to her navy
armoured.
the seagoing broadside ships Sevastopol (1863) and
Petropavlovsk (1865). Details of these are Displacement
:
.
.
6210
.
Length
295
Y,(iAm
.
52
.
Armament Armour
.
.
Horse-power
ft.
Twent3f-one 9-ton guns.
.
.
tons.
ft.
.
Trial speed
4-| in. iron.
.
.
2800.
.
11 knots.
.
These ships are now broken up.
The monitor and
Effect of
deeds in the American Civil
its
American dull War.
War made
They
a great impression upon the Russians.
immediarely began to lay down a number of iron Monitors.
monitors, and in the year
1864 most of these were
though they were not completed
launched,
years later.
till
some
Originally each carried a couple of big
smooth-bore guns, but these were long ago replaced
by
15-ton breechloaders, of no great power or
9-in.
streng;th.-
These
monitors
Navv
the Russian present tions.
unless
energ}-,
3035
length of gun, 13
— inferior
value, D.
to
extent
that
;
it
muzzle
be
as
tertiary
fortifica-
of
velocitj-,
1260
;
weight of
a
modern
6-in.
quickfirer.
rest
shell,
nominal muzzle perforation, 10^
ft.;
in
but thev have of course no
have been broken up, and the
Several
Muzzle
1
lbs.;
iron
value,
list,
some
to
fig-ure
still
in.
275 of
War game
—
'855-1877
159
Their names are
distributed al^out at minor ports. as follows
:
Brononosetz, Edinorvg,
Ouragau,
Peroune,
Koldoime,
Streletz,
Latnik,
Lava,
and
Vest-
Tipliooii,
clioune.
Displacement
from 1800
1400 tons.
armour,
Side five
each
plates,
thick
in.
to
;
turret armour,
turret armour
of
THE EEOyoXOSETZ.
1
is
in value
modern armour, the
eleven
such plates.
This
equivalent to about 3
in.
oiferiug very
series of plates
small resistance.
Having taken adopted vessel
it.
to the monitor, Russia practically
Nothing
was attempted
in for
nature
the
some
of a seagoing
time, saving only the
broadside,
iron-
hulled
ironclad
Kniaz
Poj arski
launched in 1867 at
St.
Peters-
She
buro;.
inspired
was
by the
British Penelope,
and
is
one
of
the earliest examples of a ship with recessed ports.
She
is
still
on the navy
reconstruction,
attempted.
list,
though some
but
is
scarcely worth
tinkering was recently
Kniaz Pojarshi.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
i6o
Her
principal details are
:
Displaccinciit
5000
Length
272
Beam
49
Draught
circa 25
Armour
4r',
tons.
ft.
ft.
ft.
on complete belt
in.
ami over
loattery.
Originally eight 8-in. and
Guns
two
6-in., h)Ut
several of
these have been removed.
Horse-power
2835.
Trial speed
12 '5 knots.
Sea speed
9 knots.
At
English
Engiaud had the semi-seagoing
this time
turret-
infiuence.
as well as the seagoing
and Scorpion/
ships "Wivern
turret-ships Captain
and
j\Ionarch.
Russia, following
Enoiish lead, commenced to build a species
the
of
Wivern, and also laid down the Minin, a vessel of the IMonarch type.
gone
in
Wivern
the
Before
Smertch.
double
rhe
for
of
She
the
had
6
-
turreted
same armament
setz type, but only
turrets
had,
she
however,
monitor,
1460 tons was launched in
the Smertch carried
type
in.
one gun
armour
in
in
as
the
and 1864.
Bronono-
each turret.
These
one solid thickness on
them. This ship is Tcharodeika
practically
is
now
relegated to harbour service, and
removed from the
list.
In 1867 the Tcharodeika and Russalka, vessels of
and Russalka.
about 2000 tons, of the same type as the Smertch, but 1
Originally U.S. Confederate rams.
183
w4Mm
—
i67
1855-1877
carrying
two guns
The Tcharodeika coast defence
the Eussalka was lost in the Gulf of
;
Finland three or four years a gale,
launched.
harbour service and
exists for
still
were
each turret,
in
She put to sea
since.
and no trace of her has ever been found
Four ships launched in
of
1868
the
Wivern
British
— two
types, one
in
since.
type were
v/imm
type.
copy of the
a
Wivern, the other an adaptation of the old British Prince
and
Albert
Royal
Sovereign
with several
^
turrets.
Details of these ships are
:
Admiral Spiridotf and Admiral Displacement
Tcliitchagoff.
Length
Beam
.
.
Draught (mean)
Armour
.
234
ft.
42^
ft.
18
.
and
(belts
Armament
3500
circa
.
turrets)
SpirMoffand ton.s.
wiuern type.
ft.
6 in.
.
Two
.
11 -in. B.L.
-
Six small Q.F. or machine.
(Two
turrets.)
The
xA^dmiral
Greig and Adrciiral Lazareff are
oioreigand Lazareff.
exactly the same dimensions. that the belt
is
are three turrets in
thinner (4^
— each
The only in.
difference
is
only) and that there
with one 11 -in. B.L. gun in
it.
None
of these ships are seaworth}^
however, consider that they Not, of
19 calibres long;
weight of value, C.
still
the Russians, possess
some
the present Royal Sovereign.
'
-
cour.se,
may
;
projectile,
muzzle energy, 8000;
1000
lbs.
;
muzzle
velocity,
date of manufacture, 1867.
1496;
War game
Renmrhs.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
i6S
coast defence value,
The
last year.
consideration
Eventually lighter
reboilering of the others or
is
it
and the Lazareff was reboilered
in
process
probably
1)e
British
Captain
strono- distrust in the
in 1869,
rearmed with Lazareff, at
but the capsizing
afterwards produced a
soon
Work upon
was never properly com^jleted,
at a later date practically rebuilt.
be found
therefore
out.
Minin, althoug-h she Avas more
this ship languished, she
Avill
carried
— the
of the ^Monarch than the Captain type.
and
either under
so treated.
The Minin was launched the
being
likely that they will be
and more powerful pieces
least, will
of
of
is
upon a
later
Details of her
page in the
proper chronological order of her rebuilding.
The turret-ship being in the British
at this time in full favour
Xavy, and great things expected of the
Devastation and Thunderer, the Russians laid down a larger edition of these ships, the Peter Veliky, launched in 187-2.
The
details of this ship are
Displacement Leugtli
Beam Draught
Armour
Guns
:
9665.
—
171
1855-1877
A proposal to rearm
this ship is
but nothino; had been done
With the Peter Velikv "
in
.
under cousideratiori
January 1899.^
the construction of seagoing
ironclads stopped for nearly ten years, and armoured
—which Russia may almost The invention —were commenced. cruisers
armoured
cruiser
The
simple.
claim as her
own
original idea of
an
was a vessel protected at the water
by armour, but otherwise
line
original
armoured
a
cruiser
cruiser
pure and
was the proto-
type of the deck-protected cruiser of to-day,^ and the Russians were the first
devise
to
this
kind of
In
18 73
ship.
they
launched the General Admiral, a vessel without
any protection
to qtENE^RAL AfMlRAL
her
guns,
(^RUSSWk\
but
with what was in those days a fairly
efficient protection
aoainst beino- sunk. Details of the General Admiral are as follows
Displacement
circa 4600.
Length
•28.5 ft.
Beam
48
.
Draught
Armour
belt
2.5 ft.
6-in. belt.
1
See description of Kronstadt dockyard,
-
The curved deck
outside belt.
:
ft.
cirra
inside
is
Armoured cruiser General
later.
merely a substitution for the heavier
Admiral.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
172
Six
Annaiiient
8-in.
Two
6-iu.
B.L.1
B.L.
Ten macliine
or small
Q.F.
Two
tubes
torpedo
above water.
Horse-power
4472.
Trial speed
12 knots. circa 8 knots.^
Present sea
speeil
The guns
are carried in an overhanging battery, on
Originally she had but one funnel,
the upper deck.
but having been recently reboilered, now carries two.
A Gerzog
peculiar turtle-back stern
a feature of this ship,
is
which, with her sister the Gerzog Edinburgski (launched
Edinburgski.
1875),
now
is
The
The circular
relegated to training service.
year
which
in
General Admiral
the
was
ironclads-
launched (1873) saw also the launch of a
still
more
unique Russian warship invention, the circular ironclad Novgorod.
Novgorod, of about 2500 tons displacement. designed by the late Admiral Nikolaitf on the Black Sea.
Popofi',
The
She was
and launched at
idea
of this extra-
ordinary craft was in theory most admirable.
The hitting to
circular turret then claimed to detiect it,
—
armour.
on a circular turret were held equal
6 in.
something
any shot
like 10
Popofl's idea
or
12
in.
of ordinary vertical
was to apply
to the hull
what
other designers had applied to the gun protection.
With
end
this
circular hull 121
water. '
Two
in
ft.
11-in.
War game
view he designed the Novgorod, a
in diameter,
and drawing 13^
guns were mounted
value, D.
Maj' be a
in
ft.
of
a barbette
little
more.
1855-1877
175
amidships, aud this barbette, as well as the whole side, is
covered with armour 9
develojnng 2000
7
to
horse-power
thick.
in.
moved
Engines
the vessel at a
speed of about 6 knots, and six screws formed the propelling powei'.
Two
years later a larger edition, the Vice-Admiral
Popoff, of
oooO
tons,
was launched.
same drauoht. but 120 in.
ft.
She was of the
The
in diameter.
are 16 in. thick, 3-in.
deck
of 8 J knots.
Had
—the
barbette 9
The
sides
and there
in.,
3066 horse-power gave a
;
is
a
trial
speed
make anything
like a
There are four screws.
these ships been able to
decent speed,
it is
by no means impossible
would have imitated, and in
truns (12-
40-tonuers, similar to those in the Peter Yeliky)
were mounted on the disappearing system.
fiat
The Popos.
every navy to-day.
circular ships
that Europe
might be found
The low speed, however,
once releo-ated them to the rank of
Remarks.
floatins; forts,
at
and
they remained as unique curios of naval architecture
— nothing more. Such mobility as they had was soon heavily
dis- ihew
attempt
to cruise.
On
counted.
a trial cruise they
very nicely for some distance, retire.
went up the Dneiper till
they turned to
Then the current caught them, and they were
carried out to sea, whirled helplessly round and round,
every soul on board hopelessly incapacitated by vertigo.
The
lesson
was
abandoned the ins; forts,
and
read.
Since then the Popoffkas have
role of the ironclad for that of float-
in the
Turco-Russian
War
that followed
soon afterwards, no attempt to use them was made.
i855-i877_
During armoured
1855-1877, a number of un-
this period,
ships were
Caspian
the
Of those which
built.
made
survive, mention ma)^ be Stichit (1856),
^n
of
the
"'flat-irons"
Mina (1861), Pistchal and Sea)
Siekira (for
—
and Jorsh (1874),
(1866),
still
all
carrying one big gun.
The unai'moured
1450 tons, which took some launched at
have no
and
Krev.sser
cruisers
Djijdit,
They
Petersburg in 1875 and 1876.
St.
fisjlitino-
were
five years to build,
value.
Other vessels launched in
this period are
1069 tons, Askold' 2229 tons, Bayau
Bombory (Black
Don
Sea) 760 tons,
Japonec 1472 tons, Jemtchug 1781
706
tons,
Sea)
1998
^
tons,
(Black Sea) 354
tons,
Kasbek (Black
'
Abrek
tons,
Ermak
^
692 tons, Kelasurz
(Black Sea) 307 tons, Morz 456 tons, Narra 379 tons,
Pitsunda (Black Sea), 335 tons, Psezuappa (Black Sea)
335
(Black
Salgair
tons,
(originally
some other name) 2397
Sea) 307 tons, Svetlana
^
3200
and Voyin (Black Sea) 1652 In 1877 nearly
all
Some
England
for
many the
1
All these are 12
tons,
are
still
Tunguz 706
on the
tons,
list,
others
have taken the
vessels
instances.
The
ships
built
Russian Governments during
period were the transports, (Millwall), Sextant
Sobol 456
tons.
New
have been broken up. in
tons,
Skobeleft'
these were obsolete and of very
small fiorhting value.
names
tons,
Sea) 1057 tons, Souk-Su (Black
tons, Sokol^ (Black
old
360
Sea)
etc.,
in
the
Artelstchik 550 tons
and Kompas 251 tons (Blackwall),
now broten
up,
and new
sliips
bear their names.
—
178
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
Krasnaia Strielna
IKKi
Gorka 185
tons
(Blackwall),
tons
(^Milhvall).
tho
yacht
the
Erckhik
paddlers
920 tons (Low Walker, Xewcastle), Baku 440 tons (Blackwall),
Tchihischlar
177
tons
(Low
Walker,
Newcastle), and the training; ship Beresan 3050 tons (Greenock).
Ahout the end in the Prussian
of this period the total of warships
Navy was
Baltic Fleet
2:23.
^
thus distributed
.
137
Black Sea Fleet
31
Caspian Flotilla
19
White Sea Sea of Aral
3 Flotilla
.
Siberian Fleet
6
27
223
The
i^ersonnel wasAdmirals
of all ranks
:
^855-1877
other
whereby the shijjs
Russia
nation,
held
difference
out
against
between those
and those who scaled them was
who
there are those
some
predict
the executive and sailor branch, the engineering branch,
the old branch less
'79
analogy
who
—the
who
species of
to
fought the
\\\\o
To-day
abohslied.
similar fusion^ between
who do
the fighting, and
There
is,
however,
liaA'e nothing;'
to
do with
sailed the ship.
enoineers
the main
change
to a partial extent represent
navigation or steering the ship to attending
tlie
their
:
work
engines and
machinery on board.
is
hmited
every other
Practically, they are
the modern equivalent of the rowers in ancient war-
and
ships,
these, in
thoroughly
efficient
navies
like
the Athenian, specialised as strictly as the engineering
dejDartment in the British jjossibly, as a stoker
The U.S.
to-day
—more
strictl}',
nowaday.s receives a certain amount
of deck trainino- and ^
Kavy
iSTavy has
drill.
taken steps toward some such fusion.
X THE TURCO-RUSSIAX WAPu IT THEN Russian
fleet.
'
the Turco-Russiau
War
of
1877-78
1877-78 broke were
Qut, tlic oolj seagoiug Russiau battleships
'
the Minin, Kniaz Pojarski, Petropaxlovsk. Sevastojiol,
Peter
Veliki,
Of these the
bourski. tion,
and
Admiral,
General
]Minin
(ierzog
was under reconstrnc-
some of the others were on distant
the Petropavlovsk was
stations,
and
only one anywhere near
the
She was a very old
the spot.
Edin-
ship,
next to no
of
value even in those days, and in the face of the large
Turkish the war,
fleet
remained inactive at Spezia throughout
— an operation of
circumstances that might be
held worse than a defeat both on her
own crew and on
the Russian sailors o'enerallv. Black Sea Fleet.
In
tlic
Black Sca
tlicrc
was nothing
there was worse than nothing, a
no fighting value whatever.
number
;
or rather,
of old tubs of
About twenty merchant
steamers were purchased and armed, and a number of torpedo boats (launches
we should
call
them nowadays)
were sent across country by
rail
from Petersbourg, but
practically at the outbreak,
and
in the early stages of
the war, Russia was worse
without
a
fleet
at
all.
ofi"
than she would have been
For the consecjuent forced ISO
—
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR, inactivity,
as
the
in
might be assumed
Spezia,
the morale of the men. finest fleet,
and
Petropa\'lovsk
of the
case
iSi
1877-78
to liave a fatal
eiiect
at
on
Inaction soon neutralises the
its effects
are likely
enough
to spread
to the military in a long campaign.
The Turks, on the other hand, had what passed a very fine fleet in those
going
and
ironclads,
up
monitors,
days
observed,- Russia had no
a fleet like she
now
"
seven
As
Danube.
the
case at least " Sea
or
six
— aliout
a dozen lio;ht
sea-
^
draught
been
has
for
before
Sea Power," and in this
Power" had
a full meanino-.
With
has in the Black Sea, Russia could
have settled the war
in a
week
or two.
In those days the torpedo was a new weapon, and
though possessed by with
name
the
all
Torpedoes.
Powers, was more associated
of Russia
anv
than
other.
These
torpedoes the Turks were supposed to be particularly afraid of,
and
this has
been put forward as a reason
for their extraordinary inactivity
circumstances,
machinery,
lack
may
of
;
actually, however,
ammunition,
or
defects
in
be considered more probable causes.
The Turkish admiral, Hobart Pasha, was an ex-British officer
hardly likely to have been frightened by such
an untried weapon as the torpedo then was.
most of '
as
his subsec[uent actions, moreover, point clearly
Specific
many
numbers are dangei'ous where Turkish ships are conoerned named, but the Turks have a way of doubling The superiority, however, was so b}- re-naniing them.
as fifteen could be
their .ships
tremendous that two or or less 2
would
See
The
liave
p. :^4.
three, or for that matter half a dozen, ships
made no
difference.
more
«osartPas/ia.
A\ XI ILLAII
AXD MOYINI
ZAFFU:.
FETH-I-BULEND AXD MUKADIM-I-HAIR.
ASSAr.-I-SHEFKET
AKD NEDJIM SBEFKET.
LUTFI DJEL AND HAFIZ RAHAM.
SOME OF THE TUKKISH
"WAltSHIl'S,
1877.
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR, enough
to
u
stud}-
cousideialjle
1877-78
of defence
183
against
torpedo attack, and, further, that defence was successful as a passive
defence could be.
In this connection to
it
may
not
Ije
without interest
mention that near the village of Upottery,
in
HOBART PASHAS TOEPEDO POND AT THE PRESENT DAY.
Devonsliire,
is
a pond, or rather the remains of one,
which rustics have pointed out to me as where the Turkish
admiral
duriuo"
a
played about with torpedoes.
visit
to
England
had
This was some two or
three years previous to the war, and so far as I could
glean from the very non-technical descriptions of the
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
i84
as
village
lilack.sniith (wlio
to fish
thiug.s fiut of tlic
if I'ougli
and ready were
been carried out.
Certain
hoy had hecn employed
a
water), experiiueiits, wliieli eertaiid}it is
very catholic, had
that this village black-
smith knew a good deal more about torpedo defence
some
twelve
knows even
vears in
ago
than
the
ordinary
citizen
these
days of Xavy Leagues. All of
which goes
to
help prove that Llobart
Pasha was not the
cijjher
torians
subsequent
his-
have made him
.SKETCH M-Vr OF
out to be
;
if
THE
CRI.ME.A.
ASD AD.IACENT
he was paralysed
way the Russian conducted general inabilitv.
What
it
COAST.'?.
was more through the
operations tha,n from any
the Turks failed to recosnise
was that a vigorous offence was the best defence against torpedo attack, and that nothing else could possibly
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR,
1877-78
This neither llobait^ nor his
avail.
officers
185
seem to
have grasped, while the Russians saw and acted on
The
first
place where the Turkish fleet should have
was the Danube, but the Russians
Ijeen in evidence
were swift to concentrate
Nor was the
that.
river easy for Turkish ironclads to ascend
monitors already there, lower a
on preventing
efforts
the upper reaches things were
in
it.
few ships up the
river,
left
to
the
down Hobart
;
little
did get
and the Russians promptly
dropped mines around them.
who staved
This fixed the Turks,
there exchanoing-
shots with a Russian mortar and small o-un batterv,
a
shell
from Avhich struck an ironclad, Lutfi Djel,
s/n/r/ngo/t/ic Lutfi Djel.
and blew her shell
The Russian theory was that
up.
had dropped down her funnel
some va2;ue
tale of
As the Russians was considered of the
;
the Turks had
an accidem; in the enoine-room.
sjave the Iron Cross to a o-unner
to
a
have
fired the
who
lucky shot, and none
Turks immediately concerned ever survived
the explosion to give eA'idence, the balance of such
evidence as there
may
It
surrounds
is
is
in favour of the shell.
remarked en 'passant that mystery
be the
fate
of
almost
the ships that have been
To take the
down
last
in the Brazilian Civil
Assuming
sunk
in
War
in
modern
o{
warfare.
much
the same style
—a puff of white smoke, a great cloud
that a good
many Turkish
ships were not merely hulks
through parts of the engines being missing tingency.
cent.
iDer
decade only, the monitor Javary went
as the Lutfi Djel
'
fifty
—a
perfectly
possible con-
Mstances 0/ mysterious endings of warships.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
iS6
of black, then
was
famous about Isla
it,^
Yuen has
tin.'
King Yuen went down
a
loss of
the
good deal of uncertaint}'
still
while the sinking of the Isla de Cuba and
de Luzon
— ships
How
ciise a .sliore-liatteiy
tliis
never been dcsciiljed, the
lias
Chill
In
iiotliiiMj;.
engaged.
Ijeini;-
Yalu
at
—
I\Ianila in the IIisi)ano-American
at
that were
subsequently, according to
up almost undamaged
reports, got
war
ofiicial
—pu/zles one when
taken in conjunction with earlier and mcst detailed accounts of Thefirst successful torpedo flotilla
how they were blown
Having disposed
to bits.
of the seagoing turret-ship, the
Russians next decided to sink the river monitors Seife
attack ever ?!'"'*'
May
-^^^
1877,
and Feth-ul-Islam and a ^g-unboat, which were attacked by torpedo boats on the night of the 25th of May, '
about ten days after the destruction of the Lutfi Djel.
Four boats, the Tsarvitch, Xenia, set out
from Braila on
aii
Djidjit,
excellent
very thick weather and heavy
nio-lit
and Tsarevna, for such work,
The
rain.
flotilla
was
under Lieutenant Doubasoft' in the Tsarvitch, with Lieutenant Tchestakotf in the Xenia, second in com-
mand, abreast of him.
Astern came the other two
boats under Sub-lieutenants Persin and Bali.
This
attack
followed has
of .special interest, and the
is
directed the attack to
^
A
Japanese
officfv
tlu-
made bv in the
Doubasoff
the Tsarvitch and
Takachiho at Yalu told
funnel vrith a 10-in.
shell.
me
Previously
she had been steering very wildly, and apparently was quite out
of control, service,
be
who served
that they hit this ship near to that
some importance.
therefore
order
and looked
to be foundering.
on the other hand,
a bis shell into her
I
From an
officer in
the Chinese
heard that one of the Chinese ironclads put
bv mistake.
THE TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR, Xenia, the
Djidjit was
1877-78
support them
to
defeat, the Tsarevna to be in reserve,
and
1S7
case of
in
act according
to circumstances.
The boats were
all
armed with spar torpedoes, and
Armament and torpedoes.
the greatest speed they could
manage (without being
so nois)^ that the enemy's attention
was about
would be attracted)
five knots.
Having got within 150 vards unnoticed, the two attacking boats within
put on
full
speed ahead, and were
70 yards before they were hailed from the
monitor.
In
a modern
of course, torpedoes
attack,
could have been fired long before the boats were seen, the spar torpedoes, however, necessitated close contact.
The alarm at the boats,
interval
was
oriven,
the Turks trained their
but owing to too
short,
bio-
auns
miss-fires, or because the
nothing
The
happened.
Tsarvitch struck the monitor with her torpedo in the ne
Tsaruitch's
attack.
stern.
The explosion was very
ing the boat, and the
men were
violent, nearly
swamp-
ordered to jump over-
board, the impression being that she was going down.
The monitor does not seem injured, since as the
to have been very
boat went
astern she fired her
turret guns at her, and the crew opened a
The Xenia now steamed
much
rifle fire.
at the monitor, and struck ne
xenias
attack.
her under the turret just as the big guns went
ofi".
The explosion hurled
air,
some
a lot of wreckage into the
of which fouled the Xenia's screw, and she was
only got clear by her crew pushing along the this
while
rifle
Russian was
hit,
fire
was
beino-
side.
exchano-ed,
All
but no
and at the most only three Turks.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
i88
As one
went down,
(lav In'oke the Seife
was made,
hit
a bullet that
and disabled
Djidjit
wounded, and the
her.
loss
of
is
No
Russians
on
life
not, however, to be
ad:mii!al
(>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-
()
a curved
is
2f in. thick (e) on the slopes. There is a of 8-in. armour upon each barbette, but the shields
steel deck,
strip
are merely thin bullet-jjroof ones.
no protection.
The
There
is
diameter
engines stroke,
;
:
3j
6 -in.
guns have
no armoured conning tower.
machinery consists
expansion
The
two
of
of
sets
cylinders, 41, 60,
triple-
and 90
Machinery.
in
in.
ft.
There are two screws, 16^
in diameter, 19
ft.
ft. screws.
pitch.
There are six double-ended These boilers are 15^
flues. ft.
is
19,946 square
130
boilers,
with
ft.
in diameter
There are thirty-six furnaces.
long.
ing surface in
boilers, with corruo'ated
full boilers
lbs. is
The 1150
ft.
total
;
and 16j
total heat-
working pressure
weight of machinery
On
this
sfip
horse-power, and
18'8
tons.
made 17 knots with 8500
The
trial,
knots with 11,000 horse-power, forced draught. present continuous sea speed
The square ship
ship
ft.
more
there
is
is
is
Boners.
Her
about 14^ knots.
barque-rigged,with a
sail surface of
16,000
The three funnels and curious ram make the or less unique in appearance
—that
no other ship that could be mistaken
is
to say,
for her.
smt surface.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
236
The Tsarmtch-a
tSooii aftci' liei"
completioii the
Pamiat Azova went
tour in the
PamiatAzova.
q,^
witli
^qui"
.^
tliG
George, on board. first
sod
of the
Tsai'vitch,
In the
tlic
late
course of
Trans-Siberian
this
at the
end of the tour
all
tour
railway was
Vladivostok by His Imperial Highness.
Azova was accompanied by the
Grand Duke
cut
the at
The Pamiat
cruiser Korniloff ;^
and
the officers of the squadron
were decorated with the special
Tsar^-itch
medal, a
small lifebuoy, in commemoration of the cruise.
The Pamiat A^ova
is
named
after the
Azov, Russian
flagship at the battle of Navarino,' 27th October 1827,
and on account of
this carries the
badge of
St.
George
on her ensign. 1889.
In
1889
the
at St. Petersburg,
Sevastopol. Duenadsat
battleship Navarin
was laid down
and the Georgei Pobiedonosets at
— THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
238
Like the other ships in the Black Sea Fleet, she of original design,
and there
defence to
6-in.
of
the
protected 6-in. guns in
is
a tremendous piliug-on
is
guns,
which are the best
the world.
This
done at
is
the expense of the belt and barbettes.
The 5J
ft.,
belt
and
212
is
all,
ft.
and has a width of only
long,
or nearly
all,
of
bulkheads at the ends of this belt are 12
compound armour, furnished from
^
The
under water.
it is
thick,
in.
The
Creusot.
belt
^, ^~~^
dvenadsat apostoloff
'^
-'^•-^^^^^^^J^^
itself varies
12
in.
from 16 to 12
The protective deck
and 2 m. on the
flat
extremity of the belt
about 9 to
10
The gun
etc.
ened
in.,
steel.
in.
most of
is
rise
thick
—protecting
Amidships, the belt
box
batter}',
3
is
slopes,
At each
belt.
armoured towers,
circular
are about
on the
in.
on top of the
shields
old fashion, central
2\
being only
it
the gun-hoists, thick,
in.
carried
and
up
hardin the
12 to 16
is
in.
thick. Machinery.
The propelling machinery vertical triple-expansion
consists of
engines,
made
two
sets of
at the Baltic
1886-1890
There are four double-ended boilers and four
Works.
The indicated horse-power
single-ended ones. natural draught trial,
;
forced draught
is
Boiiers.
8500,
is
put at 11,500.
On
1892, she steamed 16"6 knots with 8000 horse-
power not
239
;
Forced draught was
the coal used was bad.
tried.
This ship was
As
early part of 1893.
very short funnels
;
1392.
completed for sea in the
originally built, she
a year
had two
or two ago these were
runnels.
considerably heightened, and a great change effected in
her appearance.
Regarded
as a ship, the
Dvenadsat Apostoloff
very good second-class battleship
;
is
as a tactical unit of
the Black Sea Fleet, chieily composed of Sin6j)S, she
somewhat of a mistake,
a
or else they are.
is
In action,
one type must hamper the other.
Dvenadsat
Apostoloff
on the Euxine, saw the small
battleship
The year launched
that
Gangoot launched'
saw the
at
St.
Petersburg.
Her
details
Gangoot,
wm.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
240
maximum, thinning
A
very partial one.
and
aft
Tlic
9-in.
of the
armour on
14-7
The
belt.
liatter}'
and
turret
appears
to
was
was a
belt
tliis
was
8
fore
thick.
in.
have had a
little
but not much.
it,
knots on
189.3.
;
2g-in. protective deck
Xhc machincry was
Machinery.
Loss of the Gangoot, 7897.
gun
at the ends
of
8300 horse-power, and gave
The Gano;oot was
trial.
finished
in
In 1897 she had been out for target practice.
when she suddenlv
beo-an o
..
surrounds her
to
and surmises
loss,
sink.
Much mystery have
as to the reason
run the gamut from a Nihilist outrage to faulty construction.
Either
accepted tale
possible.
is
The more generally
that she was badly put together, and
is
The
that the strain of firing opened her seams. version was that she struck a rock.
official
This version
quite discredited outside of Russia, but
it
is
is
at least
as probable as either of the others.
The only
details that I
have so
far
been able to
procure of the occurrence are that the ship was leaking for
some hours before she went down, that the water
graduallv oained, and she had to be abandoned.
was accomplished without and one of the as she
ofiicers
made the
loss of life or
undue haste
;
took a snap-shot photo of her
last plunge.
starboard, with her
This
bow
She
listed slightly to
depressed, and went
down
slowly and gently in that position.
From time
to time since, hopes of raising the vessel
have been entertained
:
and at the moment of writing,
a Swedish firm have a contract to attempt
ship must, however, be pretty soaked
The
it.
by now
;
and
s
i6
—
a
1886-1890
243
judging by the British experience in raising the Sultan,
The
the operation will not be worth the cost. it
may
Sultan,
be remembered, had to be almost rebuilt
work of some years and very great expense
—
—on account
of the insanitary conditions produced by the stagnant
water and slime that had soaked into everything, and
was only got
And
rid of with the greatest difficulty.
the Gangoot, at the best of times, was a very inferior fighting; unit.
To return
to the year
was considerable naval was
The
laid
down
ironclad
sisters to
battleship
1890.
gunboats
Works on
May
31st
Gremiatschy and
1890.
Otvajny,
A
the Groziatschy, were also laid down. that had
?89o.
The celebrated Rurik
activity.
at the Baltic
In this year there
been commenced at a private
yard at Nikolaiff was, however, abandoned 36 tons of steel had been put together
after about
for her.
The Groziatschy, which was launched
in 1890,
and
her sisters Gremiatschy and Otvajny, launched in 1892,
Groziauchy, Gremiatschy
and Otuajny,
are a type of ship
whose
be to swell paper
lists
princij)al use
of ironclads
would seem
not easy to
it is
:
to
conceive of circumstances in which they would be of use as tactical units of a how^ever, they
fleet.
might be of some
smallest guns could quickly put
Their details are Displacement. Material of hull
For coast defence,
them out
of action.
:
..... .
though the
service,
.
.
.
1500
tons.
Steel.
Length
223
Beam
41|ft.
ft.
'«92-
244
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY 13i
Machinery.
ft.
2j5
iSSo-iSgo
" agile
The
Bose.
cruiser,"
247
in
more ways perhaps
than one the invention of Lord Armstrong, was very mucli to the fore in the eighties, and there was a tend-
ency to altogether forget Russia's
did the fact
Hope performed ]Mary Rose
:
limitations.
Not that the
ridiculous feats,
any more than
its
her operations were matter of
and possible enough.
True, the}' were aided by
seventeen similar vessels that have not yet lieen built
ADMIRAL KORNILOFF.
— but
that
Russia's
is
Hope
Russian naval NaA-y and
its
a detail.
— interesting officer, it
that
it
Ijecause. lieing written Ijy a
gave an insight into the Russian
aims and theories such as has never been
liiven before or since
twelve
This interesting story of the
— was translated into English some
3'ears ago, l>ut did not, I fancy,
might have had and deserved.
Hope was more
or less of a
"
have the vogue
The Russia's
commerce destroyer."
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
248
The
British
was
else
met, she either ran from or
she
sliips
owing to her superior
easily able to destroy,
armament.
Generally they were the "old
we kept on
an
harbour with
oil,
which they
the British shipping
ship and flooding
oil
set light to, the
Hope was given
The
Russia's
the
sort of craft
and adjacent
luck
still,
;
in
the
the
whole of
Bombay harbour was
in
that
By
those days.
foreign stations in
device of sending in
tul:)s"
burnt.
view of
we then had on the East Indian was very
stations, there
the probabilities.
straining of
little
Certainly our failure to send out
anything to hunt down the Russia's Hope, and the deserted island base, are against the tale
on
still it
;
apart from these things.
its merits,
stands
It will be a
long day before Russian warships are able to treat our ships in such fashion
they will attempt
To return are
now
;
a longer day, perhaps, before
it.
Her
to the Korniloff.
principal details
:
Displacement
...
Length
.
Beam
.
.
Draught
.
Armament
.
as designed
.
5000
circa
350 48^ 23i
Two
tons.
ft. ft. ft.
S-in.
Fourteen
6-in.
Six small Q.F.
Armament, present
Fourteen
daj-
6-in.
Q.F. 40
calibre.';.
Sixteen srtall Q.F.
Torpedo tubes (above water)
.
Six.
Horse-power {forced)
.
9000.
Machinery
.
.
Horizontal
triple
-
expansion,
•which can be disconnected to
work
as
compound.
—
.
1
Boilers
886-1 890
249
(new
in 1895) Eight cylindrical.
.
Armour
.
.
.
.
About 1000 tons of
made
be 17 knots; but this
She
is
was
built of steel,
and
wood-sheathed vice
in
which
is
ship
The
estimate.
the
fleet
On
trial
she
sea speed
is
said to
perhaps a rather favourable
built in France, at St. Nazaire.
Pacific, to
she belongs.
of the
vessels
slopes.
ser-
for
1886-87
In
on the
and 18g knots with
natural,
The present-day
forced draught.
in.
coal are carried.
knots witli
17-^
Deck, 2^
eio-ht
gunboat order were launched.
The
Donetz, Tchernomor-
and Zaporetz, at
etz,
NikolaifF the Uraletz, ;
Teretz, at
and Kubanetz,
Sevastopol
Koreetz,
hohn jur, at
Copenhagen.
;
The
and the Mand-
Practically they are all identical,
details are
15001-1300
Length
firca 210
tons.
ft.
Beam
35
Draught {mean)
circa 11
Armament
Two
S-in. (old tj-pe).
One
6-in. (old type).
ft.
Four
ft.
4-in. (old type).i
Six small Q.F. ^
rig,
:
Displacement .
the
Stock-
at
though there are minor diftereuces in tonnage, form of bow.
;
Koreetz and Miiudjur only.
and
Gunboats.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
J50
There
is
a very thin (half-inch) steel deck over the
machinerjs and thin the guns.
to
shields
The horse - power
is
about 1500, which on
gave about 13
trials
some
and
knots,
make
them can knots to-day.
of
KOf^EtETi(RWVA-0
,
The
first six
11
belong to the Black Sea
Flee t, ^ where they might
be of some use
;
but,
speaking generallj^jthey
have no
fip'htina; value.
The Koreetz and Mandjur belong to
berian
Fleet
Si-
the
in
The Koubanetz,
Pacific. Reboilered.
the
Teretz,
and Uraletz are
to
be reboilered with Belleville boilers.
Two
Lieut. Ityne,
other vessels remain to be mentioned
—torpedo
7886.
The
cruisers.
230
feet
long,
Lieut. Ilyin
is
of 714 tons displacement,
and armed with seventeen small Q.F.
(three-pounders, one-pounders,
torpedo tubes.
on
trial
Her
sea speed
is,
etc.).
She has seven
or was, about 17 knots
she made 20 knots.
The Kapitan Saken, of the same type, belongs
Kapitan Sahen, 1889.
the Black Sea Fleet.
tons
1
;
— but
carries
The Nikolaiff
She
only ten
sliips
is
somewhat
Q.F. guns.
were engined
by Kapier
Sevastopol ones by the Motala Company, Sweden. the other two.
larger
— 750
She has of
to
six
Glasgow, the
T}iis firm also
engined
1
torpedo tubes. boilers,
and
is
In
886- r 890
251
1897 she was given water-tube
probably good for 18 knots.
In the period 1886-90 the
special service paddle-
wheel steamer Krasnovodski, of 147 tons, was set
casp/a/>^o//u.
afloat
in the Caspian, as were also the stern-wheelers Tsar
and Tsarina. Twenty-seven
first
were added to the
number
and second
fleet
class torpedo honts
in this period, as well as a
of third-class ones.
Torpedo boats.
—
XIII 1891-1898
rpHE -*-
launched
vessel
principal
Navariu, which
turret-ship
in
was the
1891
took the water at
Petersburo; on the 20th of October.
St.
Her
details, etc., are
Displacement
:
10,000 tons.
.
j\Iaterial of hull
Steel.
Length
338
iJeam
67
ft.
Draught.
29
ft.
Armament
ft.
Four
12-in.
Eight
6-in.
40 calibres.
35
calibres.
Thirty small Q.F.
Six torpedo tubes
:
four broadside
behind thick armour one in bow and
The armouring identical
with
very complete, and practically
is
that
a
partial belt
thick,
about 212
bulkheads.
of
the
of
Navfu'in being like her is
the others,
;
one in stern.
—a
British
Trafalo;ar
low freeboard
ship.
compound armour, 16
ft.
long,
finished
off
— the There
to 14 in.
with
12-in.
The curved protective deck before and 3 in.
abaft this belt
is
of the belt
Hat, 2i
it is
thick on the slopes. in.
thick. 252
On
top
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
254
Above the about 200 bases. in.
ft.
The
belt
long,
an octagonal armoured redoubt
12
thick, enclosing the turret
in.
turrets at eitlier
extremity are also 12
thick.
Between the 4g
is
in.
thick.
turrets
is
a
rectangular battery about
The conning tower
is
16
in.
There
are four funnels in pairs abreast, with a very heavy single military Machinery.
mast abaft them.
The machinery
B.»ll
a.
consists
of
two
sets
of vertical
—
I89I-I898
Data of the ship Material of
257
are as follows
:
Steel.
liiill
Displacement
10,950.
Length
426
Beam
67
ft.
Draught {maximum)
30
ft.
Armament
Four
ft.
sponsons
in
8-in.
behind
shields.
Sixteen
Six
on main deck.
6-i^. Q.T".
Q.F. on upper deck.
4'7-in.
Twenty-two small Q.F.
and
(3-
1 -pounders).
Six torpedo tubes.
Horse-power
13,2.50.
Speed
18 knots (on a 6 hours'
Machinery
Four sets triple-expansion engines,
made
at the Baltic "Works
furnaces
768.
.
Coal capacity {maximum)
2000
Xominal radius
19,000 miles at 10 knots.
Actual radius at full speed
circa
The Rurik
48
;
2 screws.
;
17 '5 knots.
Continuous sea speed
Complement
trial).
cai-ries
long, amidships.
tons.
2300
miles.
a belt of Creusot steel, 341
This belt
is
6|-
deep,
ft.
ft. Ar
and
is
terminated at the ends by armoured bulkheads, the
forward one
12
beino;
The
belt varies
ship
is
in.,
the
from 10 to 8
after
about
in thickness.
in.
an enlarged Pamiat Azova, and,
armoured protection thickness.
The
like her,
to the sponsons, but of
big
6-in.
10
battery
is
deck
about 2
on the
17
in.
is
2^
flat
in.
thick
on the
on top of the
belt.
The has
no great
entirely
armoured, save for thin screens here and there. protective
in.
slopes,
un-
The and
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
26o
The ship represents the maximuui
minimum
the last,
that
80
of defence.
down
the ship laid
in
slight,
oftoncc witli
f)f
indeed,
this
is
innnediately after-
wards, the Rossia, some very distinct chanoes were introduced. Rossia, 1898
The Rurik
same
Eossia, launched from the
in
May
loo;ical order,
1896,
but
in juxtaposition
is
not the next ship in chrono-
is
more conveniently
:
Sheathed and coppered.
Material of hull
Steel.
Displacement
12,100 tons.
.
480
.
Beam Draught (mean)
(maximum)
„
descril^ed here
with her prototype.
Details of the Rossia are
Length
the
as
slip
ft.
68
ft.
26
ft.
Probably .same as Rurik.
Armament
Four
8-in.
Sixteen
6-in.
Q.F.
Twelve
3-in.
Q.F.
Thirty -six small Q.F. ^Machinery
Three
sets vertical triple-expansion
engines,
made
the
Baltic
maximnm
gave a
at
Works. Screws
Three.
Horse-power
18,446.
mean Boilers
Trial
of 19-74 knots in ten runs.
32 BeUeville.
Coal supply {maximum)
.
Sea speed
2500
tons,
and petroleum.
circa 19 knots.
Speed with central screw only
9 knots.
.
Radius {nominal) Radius
3.t
.
full speed
Protection
19,000 miles.
3000 Belt,
9|
miles, nearly.
3591 in.
ft.
long by 6
Harvey
steel.
ft.
wide
—
26 o
1891-1898
Bulkheads
Protection {contd.)
8
belt,
to
9
furward,
in.
in. aft.
Armour
deck, 2 '7
Bulkhead
in.
on
slopes.
and
to battery fore
6 -in.
Harvey.
aft,
and
Screens
shields to battery guns.
Csise-
mates for forward 8
guns,
-
in.
2 in.
Patch of armour amidships on lower deck,
and
Complement
A
4
Coal behind this
in.
in water-line.
735.
.
comparison of the plans and these details will
bring out the quite vital differences that exist between these
two
ships, often erroneously
The Rossia vessel is
more
is
sisters.
advance of the Eurik as that
as far in
Azova
of the Paniiat
— indeed,
perhaj)S
is
in advance.
The
chief essential differences are
a.
Much
h.
The bulkheads
:
wider distribution of the armament.
proof against the c.
spoken of as
to the
6-in.
maindeck battery entirely
gun.
Abolition of 4'7-iu., and substitution of a
lar2"e
—an important point
in
a ship like the Rossia, one of whose main defences
is
number
of 3-in. 12-pounders,
the frightful power of her armament. d. e.
Armour on the lower deck Shields to
all
guns
(this
amidships.
may
or
may
not be
advantageous).
The
Ros.sia is
not a perfect ship, but she
deal better ship than
heavily discounted
at
is
usually supposed.
is
a great
She
one time owang to the
w^as false
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
264
impression concerning
lier
protection
the existence
:
makes
of the 6-in. bulkhead to the battery, which
unknown.
the difference, was
An
action between the
won by
Powerful and Rossia would not be on
material
would be
side
either
dominant
the
Lepanto, the Rossia her antagonist
is
virtue of
human element only
factor.
Like
the
Italian
designed to rush in and destroy fire
;
unlike
protected in a fashion to enable
She can choose her range to that extent,
it.
and there
is
the
with her overwhelming
the Lepanto, she
her to do
:
all
no doubt that did she get her guns on
is
the target, neither the Powerful nor any other cruiser
would be any better than a wreck inside a few minutes.
On
the other hand, as Russian officers have admitted,
her
own
five
or
life
in battle
must be
short.
"
She can fight
minutes, at the end of that time will have won,-
"
All Russians, however, do not hold this view.
of their most favourite war-o-ame duels
a good
many
secure
realism
trouble
could
of these played with every
that
care to labour
at.
I
I
have seen
method
to
an utter disregard of time or
suooest.
realism was secured
an action
is
between the Rossia and the Powerful, and
One
by
The absolute maximum of rules
that few others would
do not remember a single decisive
action in these duels, or a single one that was short.
The actions
lasted for periods representing anything
from twenty minutes to two hours, and always ended with the two ships, much disabled, sheering each other.
The way
in
off
from
which the Powerful was fought
—
189I-I898
265
indicated that her good points were fully known, while
the Rossia was generally fought by some oiBcers who
had served
Each
in her.
side
knew what would
serve
the other best, and tactics were governed by prevent-
ing
Hence the
consummation.
its
battles
wei-e
at
ranges usually beyond 3000 yards, at which hits are
And
necessarily few.
that a duel
there
between the
would have a
is
every reason to suppose Rossia and Powerful
real
like result.
was originally intended to
It
Rossia,
like
the
Rurik
;
but
fit
finally
full
the
rig to the
idea
was
abandoned.
The Georgi Pobedonosetz was launched at Sevastojjol
18B2.
on the 9th of March 1892, having been building since July 1889.
Her
details are as follows
Displacement
:
10,280
.
Material of hull
Steel.
Length
339
.
.
Beam
69
tons.
ft.
ft.
Draught.
27|-
Armament
Six 12-in. of
ft.
Seven 6
-
in.
-40 calibres, Obuchoft'.
Q.F. of 45 calibres,
Canet.
Eight
3-in.
Q.F., Barinofsky.
Eighteen small Q.F.
Submerged torpedo Above-water tubes
tube.s .
One One
in bow, four in broadside. in stern,
two forward.
In general type this ship follows the Sinop and
Tchesma
class,
the six big guns being carried in the
same unique fashion
With
this,
—
in pairs in a triangular redoubt.
however, resemblance ceases.
Armour
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
266
The weak point
of the Sincip cUxss
To
uiiarmoured secondary battery. into
some other
was the
totally
resolve these ships
equivalent, they practically followed
the style of ships like the British Alexandra, Temeraire,
Superb; and so on,
— a complete
and amidships a
In the broadside ironclads this i-edoubt
redoubt.
pierced with gun ports
and
inside,
belt,
fire
;
in
over the top.
is
the Sinop the guns are
The triangular form
of
^H^ GEORGI POBEUONOSETZ.
redoubt saves weight by doing away Avith the need of
an after bulkhead.
There being nowhere inside to
carry the secondary armament, they had to be placed before
and abaft the big guns,
process
;
entirely unarmoured.
6 -in.
— a reversion of the usual
and there being no weight
to spare, they were
In the Georgi Pobedonosetz the
guns have been protected at the expense of the
water-line.
The
water-line amidships
about 175
ft.
is
protected by a belt
long, with bulkheads at the ends.
The
;
I89I-I898
greatest thickness of this belt
equal
pound armour.
Fore and deck 2 J
12
On
of the side above this
ft.
Above again
is
plated with
the triangular redoubt,
is
thick under the big gans, but diminishing to
about 6
in.
in the
Forward and
middle portion.
along this maindeck are large in.
top of the belt
is flat.
armour.
in.
runs a curved armoured
aft of this belt
About 130 6-in.
are 12 in.
thick on the slopes.
in.
deck
this
This belt at the ends diminishes to
The bulkheads
8 in. thick.
16-in. Crcusot steel,
is
the later forms of com-
resisting value to
in
269
casemates about 9i
In the forward one are four
thick.
aft
guns
6-in.
in the after one, three 6-in.
guns, the aftermost firing
astern or on either quarter.
Between these casemates
the 3-in. quickfirers, unprotected, are carried.
Unlike the Tchesma
class,
the Georgi Pobedonosetz
does not carry her big guns on disappearing mountings
they are too long to admit of
;
They have simply
it.
the ordinary barbette mounting, firing over a glacis.
There are shields to these guns of hardened to 8 in. thick in front, sides.
A
12-in.
and about 4
conning- tower
The propelling machinery consists of
made by London. a
mean
two
thick at the
abaft the
is
bow
guns.
of the Georgi Pobedonosetz
sets of vertical triple-expansion engines,
Messrs. Maudslay, Sons,
On
in.
steel 6
a twelve hours'
&
Engines.
Field of Lambeth,
trial these
worked up
indicated horse-power of 13,468, and a
speed of 16 "5 knots.
Machinery.
to tm.
mean
The estimated horse-power was worM-power.
10,600 with natural draught, and 16,000 with forced
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
270
At
draught.
the speed was to have lieen 16 '5
this
was reached with
knots, so that the contract speed
considerably
No
power
full
June
in
Coast defence
tlian
less
1892
defence battleship 1894.
and launched
"
— "coast
Admiral Oushakoff
tlie
—was
laid
down
at St. Petersburg,
In August of the
September 1893.
in
horse-power.
appears to have been made.
trial
ironclads, 1893.
maximum
tlie
following year a sister-ship, the Admiral Seniavin, was
May
launched, and in
'96 a third, the General
New
Graf Apraksin, was launched at the
A
Admiral BubakofF,
fourth, the
she
if
never be
is
Admiralty.
supposed to be
saw no signs of her anywhere, and
building, but I
doubt
is
Admiral
more than a projected ship that
will
All these ships belong to the Baltic
built.
Fleet.
Save
Difference
between Apraksin and
matter of heavy guns they
in the
each other
the others.
—the Apraksin
four 9-in.
is
resemble
has three 10-in., the others
The Apraksin being the
to select for description,
all
and
my
latest, is
the best
acquaintance with her
She
greater than with the others.
is,
moreover, the
entirely Russian one of the three.
The displacement of The dimensions
are
:
Length, 277
extreme draught, 17 vessels,
and more
this class
ft.
6 in.
fitted for
about 4200 tons.
is
ft.
5 in.
They
work
;
beam, 52
ft.
;
are low freeboard
in the Baltic than for
There have been rumours that the
wider cruising.
Apraksin will be attached to the Siberian Fleet, but there this
do not appear to be any valid grounds for report.
be utilised for
It
seems more probable that she
home
service.
will
I891-I898
The armour fashion
upon the
slopes,
deck
rising to
is
about 2
in.
on the
belt
is
ft.
Harvey
long, steel,
steel 3 in. thick
flat.
it
Forward and
comes
flat
on top
a rather narrow strip amidships,
no great height above the
about 175 iu.
arranged iu the following
curved, amidships
The
of the belt.
]
is
—A protective deck of Harvey
:
aft this
of the ship
273
Avater-line.
It is
and has a maximum thickness of diminishing at the ends to 8
in.
GENEKAL ADMIRAL GRAF APRAKSIK.
The
ends are joined
by
8
in.
bulkheads,
slightly
curved.
On
the lower deck the ship carries four torpedo
tubes— one
in the
bow, one in the stern, and two train-
ing tubes amidships, situated a
These two tubes,
like those
little
abaft the foremast.
which Elswick
fitted to the
Japanese Takasago, can be unshipped in order to increase the accommodation for the crew.
Unlike the Takasago's
tubes, which are hinged, those of the Apraksin imscrew at the muzzle end of the tube, and are then stowed,
much
as
the
maindeck guns are stowed
in
British
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
274
casemated battleships and vessel this
On
In such a small
cruisers.
a decided boon.
is
the maindeck
10 -in., four G-in.
45 calibres
The 10
6 -pounders.
the guns are carried
all
three
:
and some
quickfirer?,
guns, which are the
-in.
new
45 calibre OboukhofF pattern, are carried in the usual
Russian turrets, the prototype of the "gun-houses"
now
fitted to
most
The forward
cruisers.
carries a pair of guns,
is
armoured
which
oval in form, with a central load-
The guns revolve upon
ing position between the gun.s. the
turret,
hoist, 6 in. to 8
in thick
the turret
;
practically a big shield revolving with the guns.
works on circular
rails laid
of this turret varies from 8
in.
to 4 in.
and the guns are mounted high up being a good 6
The
oval,
it
and carry a pair of guns of the
designed and constructed by
The
the muzzles
and Seniavin are both
Admiral Oushakoff were Maudslay, are of
]\Iessrs.
sets of triple-expan-
having cylinders 31
diameter LP., and 68
stroke of 33
lofty,
each.
5000 I.H.P., and consist of two
in.
it,
very
corresponds to the fore-turret.
The main engines
46
in
thickness
and contains only one
turrets of the Oushakoff
sion engines
It is
It
above the deck, perhaps more.
after-turret is. circular,
gun, otherwise
The
ft.
The
on the deck.
is
in.
diameter H.P.,
diameter L.P., with a
in.
in.
crank-bearino- frames are of cast iron, and the
cylinders are supported
with guides bolted to
by four their
cast-iron
faces.
connecting-rods, and shafts are
all
The
standards, piston-rods,
of forged steel, the
—
1891-1898
277
journals in crank and shaft being well provided with large bearing surfaces.
gun-metal and
The condenser, constructed of with
fitted
tubes, having 7500
|-in.
square feet of cooling surface,
is
placed athwartships,
the shafting being carried underneath.
A
single acting air-pump
is
driven off the L.P.
engine crosshead, conveniently placed for repairing or overhaul.
The feed-pumping engines and
these, with circulating
pumps, fan engines, and
other auxiliaries, are supplied
Steam
is
are of the duplex type, all
by Messrs. Maudslay.
supplied by four double-ended boilers,
constructed at the contractors' East Greenwich Boiler
Works, each boiler being 18 diameter, and working at 160
ft.
lbs.
The engines of the Apraksin but were
made
at the Baltic
long by 13
in
ft.
steam pressure. are almost identical,
Works,
St.
Petersburg.
Those of the Seniavin were built by Messrs. Humphrys
&
Tennant.
The
trial results,
natural draught, were as follows
1895. Oushakoff, 12 hours, -5769 1896. Seniavin,
1898. Apraksin,
mean I.H.P.=speed
16-1 kts.
12
„
?-
„
„
circa
16
7
„
5757
„
„
^
?
The contract power was 5259
:
Trials.
kts.
I.H.P. and 16-knot
speed.
At there
sea, these ships
is
a sea on,
can do 14 knots steadily, unless
when
of course their low freeboard
soon reduces their speed. *
Variously reported at from 17 to 15 knots.
sea speed.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
278
o
00
po
J
I
°^^
" o s o CO ^
O o l^ -* CO
!5
<
-
IS
«o
s
o ;f^
I
cc
^
a
1891-1898
A
279
comparison of these ships with Swedish and
German vessels, which they may he more or with a view to meeting,
may be
notation of guns and armour sin's
armour,
of interest.
be noted,
it will
followed
is
is
less
designed
War game
—the
Aprak-
better than that of
the others (being Harveyised), though
has the same
it
thickness.
The Oushakoif may be
" answer " to the Hildebrand
^gir
the Apraksin to the
and presumably
called,
and some
is,
an
earlier sister;
while the Thor was pro-
;
bably built with an eye to both.
The best penetration
for the 10-in. B.
At 1000 a may be considered
yards would be b armour.
The armour
vulnerable.
gun at 2000
is
of diflerent material in each
common denomination is as usual worked on the formula 1 in. Harvey = l|- compound = 2 wrought
ship,
but the
iron,
and a stands
about 18
in.
for
armour having an equivalent
wrought iron
(9 in.
Harvey).
to
The Ousha-
koff class, as the heavier ships, have apparently the pull,
but the Swedes being more modern are very near
them, and in action might prove a
The Tri
down
Svititelia, laid
in
full
match.
1891, was launched
th
smuteiia,
TS93
at NikolaiiF on the 12th of
November 1893, but has
only quite recently (1899) been
She did not cruise in 1898. clad in the Russian
tected ship in the
She
completed for is
sea.
the heaviest iron-
Navy, and the most strongly proworld, offering, as
an inspection
of the plan ^ill indicate, exceedingly few points for attack.
In general type she
is
an improved Navarin,
—
1
^
—
28l
I89I-I898
Britisli
Trafalgar with
instead of compound. l^isplacement
best
Her
hardened
steel
armour
principal details arc
:
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
282
upon top of the aliout
225
ft.
This redoubt
same
is
between the guns.
*
is
is
a redoubt
end.s enclosing
16
in.
armour and
5-in.
Above
this
battery again 4'7-in.
and small Q.F. along the
angle,
is
screens,
an upper-deck battery, unprotected, with a
Q.F. at each
The
thick.
Between the turrets
thickness.
the battery with continuous 2 in.
rounded
in len2;th, with
the turret bases. turrets are the
Aljove the belt
belt.
side.
Above, again, on the boat deck, the remainder of the ;3-pounders are carried.
The engines were
built
by
^Messrs.
Tennant of Deptford, London, and natural draught, developed a
and an average speed of 17f knots. sea speed
is
ofiicially
12 hours'
in a
mean
of 11,400
so the ship
trial,
LH.P.
Her continuous
rated at 15 knots.
power was on 10,600,
Humphrys &
mav
The
contract
be considered
exceedingly successful, as the engines were not worked to full power.
She has a bunker capacity of 1000 tons, and can alfio
carry liquid fuel, which
is
abundant and
easily
procurable in the Euxine.
The
Tri Svititelia
board ship, and
is
is, it
it
ys94.
low freeboard
is
low
free-
consequence not a homogeneous
in
unit of the Black Sea Fleet. this
will be noted, a
Li the Euxine, however,
a matter of less consecjueuce than
mioht be elsewhere.
In June 1894 the Sissoi Veliky was launched at
St.
Petersburg, and got ready for sea with unprecedented despatch.
She
is
a second-class battleship of consider-
—
I89I-I898
able power, and, for her
Her
details are
8880
.
.
Length
.
Beam
.
Draught
exceedingly well protected.
:
Displacement Material
size,
^85
.
.
(aft)
.
.
Armament
.
ton?.
Steel.
.345
ft.
69
ft.
.
24
ft.
.
Four Six
12-in. Obukotl",
6-iD. Q.F.,
40
cals.
Cauet, 45
cals.
38 small Q.F. Six torpedo tubes above water.
SISSOI VELIKY.
Horse-power
,
8500.
Speed (continuous)
15 knots.
Screws
Two.
.
Complem.ent
600.
Armour
Belt,
.
to
247 11^
ft.
long by 7
in.,
bulkheads.
ft.
wide, 15f
terminated by
5-in.
286
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY Above
for a space
This redoubt
amidships.
ft.
is
The
thick, the after one 10 in.
The
12
is
in.
funnels are very high,
way below
—the casing stopping
is
used as a huo;e ventilator.
The normal supply of is
some
.short
the tops gives them a peculiar appearance.
The mainmast
Engines.
lower and main decks
co^'ers all the
of 195
a redoubt 5
especial feature,
lier
of Creusot steel, and protects the turret bases. fore-turret Funnels.
is
which
thick,
in.
this
800 tons.
coal
The engines
are
is
500 tons
two
the capacity
sets vertical triple-
made 16 knots on
expansion, and
;
trial.
The
boilers
are Belleville, there being twelve of these in three groups
of four each.
So soon as she was completed, the
Veliky was sent to the Mediterranean, where, Disaster on
Sissoi
off Crete,
she became notorious for a terrible gun explosion while
board the Sissoi Veiiky.
The cause
at target j)ractice.
of this disaster
is
that
she had been rather hastily supplied with her big guns,
and
in the after-turret
two with
different breechpieces
The starboard one of
were mounted.
these, an ex-
perimental gun, when unlocked, looked like the other locked.
the
This gun was fired unlocked by mistake, and
breechpiece
blown
wounded everybody
in
off.
The explosion
the turret, and some
killed
or
men
on
the upper deck, upon which the top of the turret was bodily Bung.
In 1895 the Eostislav, a sister to the Sissoi Veliky,
1895. Rostistau. Kfirabry.
was
laid
down
at Nikolaiff,
Khrabiy launched It will
and the ironclad gunboat
at St. Petersburo-.
be observed that the Khrabry bears
little
or no
—
—
289
I89I-1898
resemblance to her reputed
sisters
— the
Groziatschy
class.
Indeed, her only real connection with these
vessels
is
that, like them, she
designated an
is officially
armoured gunboat.
Her
details are
Displacement
:
1500
circa
.
Length
230
Beam
43
ft.
Draught (max.)
13
ft.
Armament
Two
tons.
ft.
8
-
in.
forward, one 6
-
in.
45
calibre Q.F. aft.
^„^^
y/f^PTTT,,
>
I
KHKABEY.
Torpedo tubes
Armour
.
.
One
fixed in bow.
Belt amidships circa
5
deck,
li
heads, 5
Horse-power
.
Engines
Screws
Harvey in.
;
steel,
protective
on slopes;
bulk-
in.
2642.
Eight Niclausse. Vertical triple-expansion.
.
The freeboard forward 19
in.
of
3
14-5 knots.
Speed BoUers
to
Two.
is
a deck higher than that
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
290
The
of the Groziatscliy class.
apparently no armour of any
Reconstruction.
\\\
this
guu sponsons have
8-iu.
sort.
year the Admiral Korniloff ^ was reboilered
Korniloff.
_
and rearmed, fourteen
45 calibres Obukoff Q.F.
6-in.
beino- substituted for her old
and fourteen
armament
of two 8-in.
She
now the most
G-in. breechloaders.
is
powerfully armed second-class cruiser in the world,
and thanks
to her
new
boilers
is
good speed, 17 knots being her
able to official
make
a very
continuous sea
speed. Dmitri Donskoi.
The Dmitri Donskoi heavy
New armament.
rig
Shc was
was also
"
t^aken in hand.
Her
was removed and fighting tops substituted. rcboilerecl,
aud
a
new armament
of six 6-in.
Q.F. 45 calibres Obukoff, and ten 4-7-in. Q.F. ditto, substituted for her old pieces. 1898.
In September 1896 the Rostislav was launched at Nikolaiff.
Originally intended to be a replica of the
Sissoi Veliky,^
some important modifications have been
since introduced,
and her eight
6-in.
Q.F., instead of
being in battery, are carried in turrets in pairs.
The
plan indicates the alterations in disposition of armour. Armour.
This armour also
than the
Sissoi's.
inch thicker
;
over the big
is
Harvey, of greater resisting power It is also
about three-c[uarters of an
saving in weight having been effected guns,
which
are
10 -in.
instead
of
12-in.
The Rostislav did her using liquid fuel, and '
P. 244.
trials
in
November 1898,
made the unexpectedly high speed =
P. 207.
^
P. 282.
S^CI:
—
I89I-I898
of 18 knots.
293
Like the Sissoi Veliky, she has Belleville
boilers.
In December of this year the Svietlana was launched
/see. Suiettana.
at Havre.
She
is
practically a third-class cruiser, though her
dimensions might warrant, her being rated in the second class.
She
is,
however, primarily a yacht, the guns and
JPoCTUCjlaBb
J>-J3
-33JD
ROSTISLAV.
other warlike things being more or less after-thoughts, as
it
were, to enable her to be used for war purposes
The following
necessary.
cerning her
if
are the principal data con-
:
Displacement
3900
Length.
331
Beam
42
ft.
Draught {maxirmim)
19
ft.
Armament
Six 15-cm.
tons.
ft.
Canet
;
(6-in.)
45
Q.F.,
cal.
twelve small Q.F.
;
four
torpedo tubes.
Armour
Creusot steel deck. If slopes.
I.H.P. (natural draught)
8500.
in.
on the
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
294
Trial speed (average)
20-25 knots.
.
21
(maximum)
„
Engines
'6
knots.
Vertical sion
Boilers
.
;
4-cj'liiider
two
triple-expan-
.screws.
18 Belleville.
Laid down at Havre 1895, launched 1896.
She serves as the yacht of the Grand Duke Alexis, Commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, and
manently
fitted for that purpose.
is
per-
The Grand Duke's
state-rooms are fairlv larse, and are wainscoted with
yellow pine.
A
good deal of interior space
by a very broad and shallow mahogany
is
taken up
staircase leading
to the
Grand Duke's smoking-room on the quarter-
deck.
This staircase
takes
up
so
much
is ver}-
fine
and massive, but
space that the smoking-room itself
considera^blv curtailed.
it is
—
1891-1898
297
Torpedo Craft
The Kapitan
Lieutenant
Kazarski,
launched at
Elbing in 1890, was followed by the Posadnik and
Voivoda
in 1892.
In 1893 the Gaidamak and Vsadnik
were launched at Abo, and the Griden at Nikolaiff. Their details are Displacement
:
—
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
298
made
destroyer 8okol, which
She
to her remarkable speed.
and was the
steel,
Her
material.
great sensation owing
a is
constructed of nickel
destroyer to be built of that
first
details are
:
Displacement
•240 tons.
Material
Nickel
.
Length
190
ft.
lleam
18i
ft.
Draught
7
.
steel.
ft.
Horse-power
4400.
Boilers
Eight Yarrow.
Screws
Speed
Two.
.
29 "7 (three hours' mean).
trial
Coal
60 tons.
Armament
One
12 -pounder,
pounders
two
;
three
6-
torjDedo
tuhes.
The excellent photograph of
this little vessel
taken just as she was leaving for Russia. etc.,
are of course not on board
;
was
The guns,
these were not fitted
until she reached Russia.^ Torpedo boats.
Ill
the pei'lod 1891-99 the following torpedo boats
have been added to the Russian Navy 23 of 118 tons, 130 i
.,
100
1
„ 130
knots
„
19
„
.,
152
„
27-4
„
-t
„
99
„
127
„
21
„
95
„
152
„
19-7
85
128
trial speed,
„
„
22
Photographs of the Sokol are procurable in England, showing her
with the guns on board, the
Kke
2.5
„
2
5
'
long,
ft.
152
:
those of the British
mysterious photograph at our Intelligence
grain of
salt.
The
is
officers in British
Hornet
!
I
uniform, and the funnels
heard in Eussia that this very
preserved in the confidential photograph-book
Department
;
but perhaps that
is to
boat, of course, is not the Sokol at
all.
be taken with a
1S9I-I898
30/
Historical Data
The
\'isit
of the French fleet to Kronstadt in 1892,
and the return
visit of
the Russian
1893, are events too well
known
By means
passing reference.
fleet to
Toulon in
need more than
to
a,
of the fleets an alliance
was cemented through which Russia obtained a good deal of advantage in money, while the French Govern-
ment presumably acquired the kudos
that
it
desired.
Imperial Yachts
18S0.
The imperial yacht Polarnaia Sviezda (Pole was launched at of
St.
Petersburg in
3640 tons displacement,
six small
May
1890.
cruiser built.
She
Star)
She
is
carries
guns (Baranovski 12-pounders), and with 5602
I.H.P. natural draught
made
8'8 knots.
She could
be of some use as a cruiser for scouting, but has no 1895.
direct fighting value.
The other imperial yacht Sthandart, launched Copenhagen 10,600
in 1895, is
I.H.P.
she
Belle^"ille boilers,
She
is
much
larger
made 21-18
and
carries
— 5557 tons;
knots.
eight
at
with
She has 24
3-pounders Q.F.
not intended for any warlike uses.
XIV SHIPS COMPLETING FOR SEA IN
1899
A S the previous j^ages haA'e shown, Prussian war-^-^
ships are not produced in batches, like British that have
one ship, or at most two, are
all
generally
been produced of a type.
The new
somewhat
alters this
ones are
:
which was
laid
of the Poltava class, the
:
down
been constructed.
Of
the
later
of
Peresviet type, two
third, the
constructing at the Baltic Works,^ and are " projected
"
—
a phrase that
or nothing save to the nervous
Pobieda,
is
C[uite a
large
means
little
gentlemen who con-
department of our Navy League.
stitute the agitation
A
first
early in 1892, three vessels have
have been actually launched, a
number
era
reference to "projected" ships, which
may
serve to
explain a good deal of the mystery and " puzzlement," will be
found on a
later page.
The Poltava was launched on the 6th 1894 at days
St.
November
Petersburg, the Petropavlovsk followed three
later, the
Sevastopol took the water on the 1st of
June in the following five years
of
year.
The
greater part of the
odd that intervene has been spent 1
See Baltic Works. 308
in
com-
SHIPS COMPLETING IN pleting them.
None
of
them were
1899
311
in a condition to be
commissioned in 1898.
The Petropavlovsk, Sevastopol, and Poltava are sister ^„„j„o ships, differing only in the height of their funnels
of the Poltava and Petropavlovsk
in
those
''*™''°" ,
Sevastopol.
being very high,
while those of the Sevastopol are short.
was almost completed
:
The Poltava
January 1899, the Sevastopol
completing. "
Improved Indianas "
is
what the Russians
call
THE INDIAXA.
these ships, which are best
described
the Indiana and the French Brennus. class battleships,
Navy.
and the most powerful
as a blend of Indiana.
They
are first-
in the Russian
The following diagrams show how they com-
pare with, other ironclads of the same date, or equivalent type. sight, I
For convenience of immediate comparison on have
War Game,
utilised the letter notation of the
the system of which
attack on armour
is
is,
Naval
that a successful
only possible from a gun correspond-
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
;i2
Thus 6 armour must be attacked by
ingly lettered. a
B
or
forth.
A
gun
;
d
is
open to A, B, C, or
D
;
and
so
;
SHIPS COMPLETING IN
1899
315
instead of four 13^-in., her superioiity would perhaps
have been greater
The following class
367
:
are the full
details of the Poltava
—Displacement, about 11,000 tons long by 69
ft.
maximum
the
still.
ft.
beam
draught on
;
dimensions,
^
draught, 27 ft.— this was
;
the actual draught
trials,
is
probably rather more. In the arrangement of armour they resemble the
Iowa or Indiana more nearly than any other but the freeboard Indiana
class,
vessels
of course, higher than
in the
and the protection better than
in the
is,
Amour.
Iowa.
The armour
Harveyised
belt, of
extends for
steel,
Beit
about three-fourths of the water-line amidships, and
maximum
has a
bulkheads 9
is
belt
in.
down
is,
^^
The
in. thick.
of the belt, it
thickness of 16
about 2^
on the
in.
in.
At the ends
deck, which
thick
slopes.
;
fore
is flat
and
on
are toj)
aft of the
The Poltava was
laid
1892, and consequently has the water-line
in
protection of an Indiana or a Royal Sovereign, and not
the belt reinforced by a curved deck behind to all designs of the present time.
reinforced belt
which
to
it
first
common
In England this
appeared in the Majestic, previously
had been confined
Behind the immensely thick clads,
it,
to the
French Navy.
belts of all
from the Magenta onw^ards,
is
French iron-
a curved protective
deck, rising from the lower edge of the armour.
Above the ^
10,960
is
thick belt of the Poltava
is
the designed displacement as announced
were commenced.
a thinner
when
the ships
Lower deck.
—
l-tt
<
lo
SEVASTOPOL — AS
E^CD O.X VIEW.
SHIPS COMPLETING IN belt protecting the lower deck
common It is
319
feature she has in
with the Indiana, Iowa, and Royal Sovereign.
about
5
thick.
in.
On
the main deck are four
casemates, armoured with 5
upon a
—a
1899
of Harvey, built out
in.
sort of recess, the nature of
which
is
best under-
On
stood from an inspection of the illustrations.
upper deck are four a pair of 8-in.
turrets, originally designed to carry
guns each, but
have
quickfirers
6-in.
These turrets are very high, and
been substituted.
have a very
the
fine arc
of
e-m. turrets.
They do not resemble
fire.
Indiana in any way, unless they are
those of the
regarded as an enormous heightening of that vessel's secondary turrets.
These Poltava turrets are
down through the main have they a very
fine
Not
deck.
only, therefore,
command, but they
it
:
being improbable that any shell
possibly, a big armour-piercing
curved
5-in.
Harvey
The big gun
—
will
They
difiier,
— except,
get through
which appear to be 12
turrets,
in. is
5-in.
however, in one item
the secondary turrets rise a
turrets
are
Apraksin, is
gun
trifle
already not,
houses,"
:
the bases of
above the upper deck
similar
described
therefore,
in. Big gun
armoured
while those of the big turrets do not. "
a
their reputed size, have
the same protection as the 6-in. turrets, a base.
like the
plate.
thick at least, though 10
There
are not liable
put out of action by a shell underneath,
Iowa's are
level,
in.
and revolve inside large armoured bases going
thick,
to be
5
in
much
au
to
those earlier
resemblance
"barbette turret" of the Majestic, Canopus,
The big of the article.
to etc.
the
turrets.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
3^ o
In
tlic
iSevastopoI
noticed, on
armoured
into these
leading;
T
main deck, doors
tl)(i
Those who have
Ijascs.
the turrets of one of
Majestic
tried to
get
chiss in a
hurry will possilily consider this an advantage
intf)
tlie
outweighing any consequent structural weakness. Ycsscls of
Armament.
the
tlic
armament
istical
Poltfiva class wcrc dcsigued to carry
still
namely,
tables,
four
twenty-five small pieces. follows for the Poltava
(a)
Four
(6)
Twelve
them
attributed to
eight
12-in.,
The
in
actual
many 8-in.,
armament
and Petropavlovsk
stat-
and is
as
:
40 calibres, Oboukhoff.
r2-in. G-in.
45 calibres, Oboukhoff quickfirers,
and four on the main
carried eight in pairs in turrets,
Six guns can
deck in casemates.
fire
directly ahead or
astern. (c)
and
Thirty-six cjuickfirers
— 12-pounder,
3-pounders,
1 -pounders.
When
I
no guns were yet on
visited the Sevastopol
board, nor were the maindeck casemates in position.
There are four above-water torpedo tubes behind 5-in.
armour.
Flush with the tops of the secondary turrets, which nest into
it, is
a spar deck
running on top of the super-
structure that extends from the foremast to the aftersuperstructure.
most mast.
Tlicrc
is
no wood
The conuing-tower stands on foremast.
Above
in this superstructure.
this
the spar deck
is
deck just before the a very large wood-
decked flying bridge, from which a most excellent
SHIPS COMPLETING IN all-round view of the whole ship
guns can be watched from
It is exposed, of course,
that matter,
— but
These
shijDS are fitted
auxiliary funnel, except rears
itself
Temperleys^ are
is
going on can be
««««<,.
a better description, the
likely to be taken for
an
in the Sevastopol, in which
more
fitted to
proudly.
A
couple
of
both the main and mizzen
The foremast, which
masts.
exposed, for
verj'^
with three masts, or perhaps
main being an obscure thing
it
cannot
it;
two and a half masts would be
ship
—
everything that
seen at a glance from
I
good a " fighting
so
position."
and
323
All the
obtainable.
is
this bridge,
any other warship with
recall
1899
is
of French shape adapted
to Russian needs, carries a not very obtrusive fighting
top very low down, and a platform with two searchlights higher up.
first is
search-lights are also carried on
All three masts are hollow, and used as
the mizzen.
immense
Two
ventilating shafts,
adopted in the
a piece of utilitarianism
Sissoi Veliky,
a ventilatino; shaft.
cowls in the Poltava
—
where the mainmast
There are also ten good-sized
class.
The engines
were supplied by Messrs. Humphrys of the Petropavlovsk were Leslie,
&
Co.
;
made by
of the Poltava
& Tennant
;
those
Messrs. Hawthorn,
those of the Sevastopol are of Russian
manufacture.
A
good many reports have from time
to
time been
set afloat to the eff"ect that these ships cannot
their speeds, ''
and never have.
Not the ordinary Temperley
a Russian invention.
As a matter
make
of fact,
transporter, but a species of derrick,
sreeds.
—
324
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
however, on their
trials
both the Poltava and Petro-
pavlovsk exceeded the contract forced-draught speed with open stokeholds, an average of about 16^ knots This was taken as
being maintained for twelve hours. " good enough," is in
the British
and the forced draught remains what
Navy
list called
"not yet tried"
fans are run merely to assist ventilation.
the failures on
trial
Germany, and, suppl}-
if
machinery
near the bottom
came,
I
The story
believe, originally
investigated
enough,
—the
a
of
from
desire
to
to
Russian warships might be found
of
it.
It
was copied into English
newspapers by some of those "naval correspondents"
who bulk this case
so largely at the present day,
were in
all
and who
in
likelihood blissfully ignorant of
the fact that in their haste
to
decry Russian ships
they were simply blindly throwing stones at English manufactures.
It
now remains
to
describe the Peresvet, a
Peresvet.
type of vessel to which Russia has
more less
mnmm
m
i
or
com1 1 e
d
herself.
The
fol-
lowing are the principal particulars of the Peresvet, Osliabia,
and Pobieda
:
.
126
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
Displacement (nominal)
SHIPS COMPLETING IN as they descend,
and
novelty consists.
in
1899
them much of the
For the 12-pounder
327
Peresvet's
guns stout
3-in.
/irmour.
shields will be provided.
Relatively to
the earlier Poltava class,
will be
it
seen that the Peresvet presents a larger target,
is less
heavily armed, and perhaps rather less well protected
Of course there
on the whole.
somewhere, and in this case Poltava
is
a battleship pure
and simple
even more than the British Canopus,
The
speed.
in
lies
it
quid pro quo
a
is
the Peresvet,
;
one of those
is
hybrid craft that the French call " intermediates." is
It
worthy of note, in passing, that the French have
built
no
such
themselves
ships
however open to
criticism they
their
:
may
battleships,
be,
have been
designed as battleships, and the French in the past
have usually proved
fairly
sound
in their ideas as to
the best form of fighting ship.
The Peresvet
is
really an
She
querading as a battleship. than our Canopus
—more
armoured is
more
cruiser
mas-
logical, perhaps,
frankly a cruiser.
Possibly
she might be called an improved anticipation of the
Cressy
class,
Goschen.
or even the "
She
is
slo-^'er
;
mighty
of Mr.
on the other hand,
more powerfully armed and better quently, if one of the "
cruisers "
mighty
protected.
cruisers,"
with
she' is
Conseits
extra
speed, caught her, the catching (assuming equal gun-
nery and equal personnel) might not be altogether advantasreous.
With some such Peresvet's designer
idea at the back of his head the
must have gone
to
work
;
possibly,
canopus.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
3^-8
as the ship
is
destined for the Far East, he might be
Asama
thouo-ht to have had the o
Asama.
only the
also,
Asama was not then heard
about,
I
fancy,
launch slightly preceded the Peresvet's.
for all that her
The same
is
"mighty
cruisers"
true, to a greater
— there
British or Japanese called
at the back of his head
Navy
is
to
degree of course, of the
no ship
in
either the
which the Peresvet can be
an exact replv, and to
her an anticipatory
call
reply of any seems scarcely correct.
The Peresvet was
laid
down
in
November 1895,
the Osliabia being commenced on the same day.
The
only possible " rival" ships that she could be a " reply to
Kaiser Friedrlch
would be German
— either the
"
Kaiser Friedrich der
III.
and Bismarck.
Trlttc Or, Icss pi'obably, the Fijrst Bismarck, both of Avhicli
were
laid
down
the fact that the Piussian exist
In view of
before the Peresvet.
Navy
always assumed to
is
merely as a menace to the British
question
of
"replies" to
what is
the
Peresvets
were
fleet,
designed
is
as
of some considerable interest, and a
comparison of the Peresvet with the ships most her
this
Only what may be termed the
instructive.
fighting details are
the comparison, the
guns and armour
like
is
given, and, in
Naval AVar
order
Game
again employed
:
to
enforce
notation for
c
.
;
SHIPS COMPLETING IN
Kaiser F. der Dritte.
Peresvet.
Tonnage Big guns 6-in. Q.F Minor Q.F.,
!
I
[
12,674
'
B
4 circa 3 inches
I
!
B
D
18
20
F
12 F 20
Small Q.F. Torpedo tubes, submerged Torpedo tubes above water, armoured Tordedo tubes above water, unarmoured
26 4
.
10,650
9750 4C(8-in.Q.F.)
4
D
B
(9-4)
12
D
D
14
10 F 14
12 F 12
5
4
\
i
1
1
1
.
Belt armour Ratio of belt to length, ch-ca
Lower-deck armour
Asa ma.
(9-4)
11
329
Bismarck.
11,130
4
(10-in.)
1899
a
—
—
a cl complete
complete
nil
nil
d
a
nil
nil
nil
c
c
d
.
Ratio of lower-deck armour, circa
Ou
big guns, armour Bases of big guns, armour Casemates or turrets, armoirr Xumber of guns in case-
a
.
mates and turrets
armour Number of guns
16 knots
...
Protections to vitals equivalent to
12-in.
the ;
d,
a
D
5
equivalent 9 -in.
;
e,
15 knots
i
cuma
a
!
to
c
—aa
10 F 19,000
,
D
and
(
/,
;
in.
D
4
17 "5 knots
—mi
aaa
iron
;
aaa
F
15 -in.
h,
;
about 4 -in.
of iron
and 12 18.000
17 knots
a
\
18-iu.
6-in.
would, be about equal to 36
and aa
12
20 F 12 F 14,500 n.d. 13,000 f.d.
Probable actual sea speed for continuous war work
c,
D
/
behind
shields
is
18
en
Horse-power
a
D
10
.
Shields,
;
;
aaaa
to 30
in.
to 24 in.
probabl}'' represents the thickest
B gun would
armour that a
be likely to get through.
It is difficult to carry this
comparison far beyond a
Notes
compw
tabulation.
tion to their
the
best.
anv atten-
Eesfardins: the vessels without
displacement, the
Being the
Kaiser Friedrich ni.
is
largest,
Peresvet she
probably
is
should
probably over-gunned
be. :
The
German
notions of ship design are always governed by the idea that any space without a
gun
in it is wasted.
Regarded
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
330
from the per-ton point of view, the best ship
quality
is
eveiything,
;
pcrhups
depends upon what
fine,
counted the most valuable.
The
of the craft, and so
more
handy
the least
in
tlic Asiiiiui is
I'eresvet
be
liable to
The Germans having no curved deck behind
rammed.
the belt, are
weak
in their engine-rooms
merely thin splinter decks, and a on top of the
flat
— they
have
armoured deck
belt.
These ships have been tried several times
War Game,
Naval
is
which
absolutely with materiel.
it
almost
deals
necessarily
In this
in the
has been purely a
matter of tactics which ship has proved the better in Probably, taking one thing with another, they
duels.
are
faii'ly
on
a
par.
Where they
fail
mostly
in
is
A
opposition to a real battleshijD carrying 12-in. guns. 12-in.
gun has
why
reason
or a 9'4-in.,
greater penetration
should shoot
less
the 10-in.
is
there
;
is
no
not
is
a good deal to face
destructive enough, but between
it
:
and the
The Peresvet may be
veiy big gap.
12-in. thcrc is &
is
straight than a 10-in.
in " time to load"
and the difierence
Finally, the 12-in. shell
great.
peresoet and
it
much
so
Shikishima.
a little swifter than the Japanese Shikishima, but her
advantage ends there. the
Other things being equal,
of victory
probabilities
in
a
all
between the
duel
Peresvet and Shikishimk would be in favour of the
She has more guns, and bigger
latter.
and
At
thicker.
this
;
but
would
it
is,
tell
more armour,
the same time, the Peresvet, with her
lofty forecastle, has a splendid
turret
;
command from
her
bow
so far, pure theory to su^ipose that
heavily as an advantage.
The
Shiki-
SHIPS COMPLETING IN
1899
331
shima, or any similar battleship, does not look to he the vessel that she was designed to meet.
From
the ^purely sailor point of view, the Peresvet ^ •'
seems likely to be a splendid broad clear decks, and
Her
ship.
af Peresuet.
lofty foke's'le,
fine lines are all things to appeal
Then, too, her coal supply
to the seaman.
saiior's uiew
than that of the British Majestic
class
is
better
coai.
— a point of great
importance to Eussia in the event of her being used
war
for
Far East.
in the
Some
of the necessity for
Port Arthur has helped to do away with, but the
tliis
taking of Port Arthur post-dates the designing of the Peresvet.
At the time
my
of
Kronstadt the Peresvet
visit to
She was
looked fairly complete, save for her masts.
The masting given
rigged with temporary poles.
her in the illustration on page 324
posed to supply her with
—
is
that
it
to mg.
pro-
is
the plan the masts as
in
The Eussians have been
originally designed are given.
impressed, apparently, by the fact that the ordinary militar}-
mast
new mast This
is
likely
enough
to be
knocked over
:
the
specially designed to stand being hit.
is
new form
of mast, as described to me,
is
a
/o™ 0/ Russian mast. //ecu
tower pure and simple, without stays or supports of
any
sort
:
an
evolution
French military mast, portions.
The Eussian
rather
itself k
ideal
is
than a copy of the
brought down,
if
at once, without
there being any stays it
will
go overboard to foul the
alongside blocking the guns.
The secondary armament •*
pro-
a mast hard to bring
down, and which,
screws, or keep
mean
thing of no
of the Peresvet
is
usually *'
secondary armament.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
332
differently to that given in this description of
listed
Some such armament
her.
— eight
G-in.
and
five 4"7's
was at some early date actually contemplated I
believe
;
for her,
at anyrate, I have seen a Russian sketch of
her design with four casemates in line along the upper
The
deck.
positions of the
the ship,
;
were not apparent
In any ease, this has long since been
from this design.
abandoned
4*7's
when
I
saw her at Kronstadt, was
complete save for the masts, and the casemates were as
I
So were those of the Osliabia,
have drawn them.
New
at the
The
Admiralty Yard.
and Rostislav, two other types
Tri Svititelia
of vessels, to a certain extent ships completing
upon
earlier
in the
come under the head
of
but being distinctly improvements
;
and existing types, they were described,
chronological
order of the
launching, in
the
on the stocks,
will
previous section.
Ships launched in 1899, or be found described in to
the dockyards
;
still
the sections that are devoted
those,
less
advanced, being con-
structed in foreign countries, will be found described ia a section
by themselves.
XV THE VOLUNTEER FLEET
TX
the Appendix at the end of the book a
full list
of
the Volunteer Fleet will be found. All these vessels have been built in England, and
continue
many
to
of
be
the
which possibly may account
so,
stories
concerning them, there
no doubt but that the Volunteer Fleet
England
as a serious
war
for
being
regarded in
is
factor.
In the House of Lords recently Viscount Sidmouth, askino- for information
teer
or at
Fleet,
less all.
to
A
concernino- the Russian Volun-
was answered by the Government more the effect that they had no information
few notes upon the subject
may
therefore
be of interest.
The Volunteer Fleet
it is
primarily no more a war
and
0.,
infinitely less capable of being utilised for
war
force than, say, the
and
is
Cunard Line or the
purposes, because, between
P.
Odessa and "\1adivostok,
Russia has no bases at which they could
fit
out.
Under
the most favourable conditions a merchant vessel makes
but a sorry warship
from one to the
:
in
other.
no case can she suddenly jump
;
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
334
Altogether there are twenty-five of these ships, of
which ten belong to the Black Sea Navigation Com-
pany and
Volunteer Fleet Association.
fifteen to the
None of the Black Sea Steam Navigation Company's steamers have
and only four are
less
than
The Volunteer ships much.
make them
the speed to
of
any
fifteen years old.
are better, but not so very
They date from the
Orel,
six of
have made
it,
the
are
rest
knots,
13
or anything like
nominally.
knotters
them
on
trial
Actually
Russian eno;ineers are not good, and
are less.
exceedingly
the
1888, to
in
Moskva and Poltava of 1898, but only 19
use,
all
it
is
doubtful whether they could get more
than 16 knots out of such a splendid vessel as the Kherson.
For
all
these
ships
8-in.
and
6-in.
guns
are
A
war
stored at Vladivostok or in the Black Sea.
would probably be over, however, on board, while struggle
the
we were
if
ships
ere
they got them
the other party to the
would be
caught
and captured
without any trouble.
The whole "menace" of its
name.
natural,
Its
obvious,
actual
and
this fieet has arisen
object useful
from
was the exceedingly one
to Vladivostok, bringing back tea,
of
taking
—though
stores
with the
progress of the Trans-Siberian railway more of this
comes yearly overland.
Gradually the ships will be-
come more and more transports, which the Black Sea steamers always have been.
The whole of them
are
under the Admiralty, just as our Indian troopships
THE VOLUNTEER FLEET used to be, and are
335
to those old troopships that they
it is
most analogous. of course, suits Russia to allow
It,
likely to be a
anti-Russian
war
useful
force, just as
party in this country,
most of them
war
to appear suits the
it
but,
we might
are concerned,
speculate on the
them
so
as
far
just as well
qualifications of our cross-Channel
In the event of war they could only operate
steamers.
from Vladivostok and Port Arthur, and would very quickly be captured
would be Russia's
laid
up
for
need
for
a
Gulf comes in pore
if
;
want of
while
so,
in
where
is
the
Persian
our position at Singa-
so,
situation,
en route
all
This
coal.
station
coaliuoO
but even the
controls
they did
— apart
from
reasons, geography puts the Volunteer
other
all
Fleet out of
court.
In the vessels fleet
event of war with Japan or Germany the
might be of some
has
now such
a numerical superiority that
exceedingly doubtful whether could trouble
her.
Against
serve well to carry troops
outposts with which
to
Germany
Volunteer
the
all
save
a
few
politicians,
is
ships
occupy those isolated is
trying to star of things
would be regarded with equanimity
by
it
Germany they would
But the destruction
Far East.
but the Japanese
service,
who
the
German
in this country
forget that
the
Georges are no longer Kings of England.
To-day
an Anglo-German alliance
alliance
is
on a par with an
between a householder and a burglar of property
!
for the protection
There are next to no interests in this
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
336
country that could favour
it
;
^
Germany
successful a rival for us to love her,
the
carefully fostered
allow
anti-Russian
to be mentioned.
it
But
sentiment would
for this anti-Russian
to
put away,
during Her Majesty's pleasure," politicians expressing
a desire for a
'
Russia
Germanv •'
too
far
and nothing but
sentiment we should probably want "
is
is
alliance.
a poor respecter of
are at one in
Imperialism."
in point.
German
Our
Jew
financial enterprise, wLile
we and
thinking Stock E.xchange ambitions
tears for tlie
Johannesburg " patriots
''
make
to o,
"be
case
—
XVI THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS Administration
I.
T^HERE
Russian dockyards, nearly every group hav-
for
ing
its
no hard-and-fast rule of administration
is
own
variations.
general regulations
There
common
to
are,
however, certain
all.
All ports are divided into two classes
:
St. Petersburo' Yards.
1st Class.
Kronstadt. Nikolaiff
Libau.
2nd
Class.
Revel.
Sveaborg. Sevastopol.
Baku. Batiim.
Astrabad. Vladivostok.
Port Arthur. Talienwan.
The vision
St.
of
Petersburg yards are under direct superthe
chief
Navy
Staff.
The other
first-
oo 8
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
class
ports
have
vice-admirals
as
Commanders-in-
chief.
The Navy tuted
Staff of first-class ports
is
thus consti-
:
Navy
Staff
Dockyard
office.
Staff under a rear-admiral.
Building and workshops under a chief constructor.
Engineering department under the chief engineer.
Magazine and
under the chief storekeeper.
stores
Ordnance under the chief gunnery
officer.
Torpedoes under the senior torpedo
officer.
Medical and Sanitary under the senior doctor.
Dockyard
Police.
Workmen. responsible through the
Navy
to the Commander-in-chief of the
port,
Each department Stafi"
office
who again
is
responsible to the General- Admiral.^
is
Second-class ports vary in their staff according to the requirements and capabilities of the port or dock-
but they
yard, Police,
Navy
all
have the Medical, Construction,
The chief of the
and Engineering branches.
Staff for second-class ports is a rear-, instead of
a vice-admiraL
Sevastopol, Baku, Batum, and Astrabad are, however, all
grouped under separate rear-admirals, each
responsible to the vice-admiral at Nikolaiff instead of to the General- Admiral chief in the
Euxine
is,
^
direct; in
fine,
the Commander-ina species of under
sjeneral- admiral. 1
See " Personnel,"
later.
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS The following
339
sections describe the Russian dock-
yards, the principal of which, through the kindness
of H.I.H. to
Grand Duke Alexander,
inspect
with
which,
as
freely
by the
more favourably than fancy.
as
I
way, in
I
could any
was permitted of
our
own,
they compare infinitely
England we are prone
to
XVII THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS Descriptions
II.
T^HIS
section
is
yards and their resources, supple-
the various
mented by actuall}^
full
devoted mainly to a description of
of such
particulars
under construction
present year
In
(1899).
in
vessels
as were
the early part of the
order
avoid wearisome
to
repetition where the ship dealt with as under construction
is
merely a replica of some vessel already completed,
the prototype vessel
mentioned and
is
The
to her in a footnote.
a
importance
complement
to
:
made
different yards are described
in a sort of geographical sequence,
in order of
a reference
and not arranged
each Russian dockyard being
some other establishment,
to
adopt
any other arrangement would produce considerable
Roughly speaking, the whole group of
difficulty.
the
St.
Petersburg dockyards and Kronstadt
may
be
regarded as a complete unit, those of the Black Sea as another unit, while Vladivostok
go to
make up
personnel
is,
in
administration.
a
third.
fine,
and Port Arthur
The equipage system of
carried
out into the dockyard
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
341
PETERSBURG YARDS
ST.
The "New Admiralty"
1.
The depth
of winter
is
not at
sight the best
first
time to view a dockyard situated within fairly easy
From
reach of the Arctic Circle.
the mere sightseer's
point of view, however, the winter visit has something to
recommend
it,
and even apart from
the science
this,
of fighting the cold has reached the state of being a
"fine art" in Russia to the extent of enabling dock-
yard work to be carried on without any very great inconvenience from the
New
The
frost.
Admiralty Yard at
Petersburg
St.
is
situated well in the centre of the city, being on the
banks of the Neva, just below the English Quay, the farthest
up the
size, it is, in
regards
comparison with Portsmouth or Chatham,
a very small place
;
in dimensions it approaches
The
nearly to the dock^^ard at Sheerness.
however, are on a considerably larger being very large and the two the
As
river of the three yards.
slips
dimensions of cathedrals.
A
most
buildings,
scale, the
shops
somewhere about slip
in
Russia
is
a
much more important
is
not possible there to construct a battleship in the
open
air,
as
only are the
is
in also.
often done in England.
slips enclosed
and covered by
When
thing than in England
roofs,
by
;
it
Hence, not
solidly built stone walls,
but both ends are solidly built
the ship
is
ready
for launching, the
342
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY liver
end
pulled
is
down, to be rebuilt immediately
after-
wards.
The
interior
of
a
is
slip
very large,
and
that
from which
THE NEW ADMIRALTY FROM THE RIVEE.
YAIID
^ the the
Osliabia
New
was launched at
Admiralty has
constructor's
office
of cloister to
it.
as
It is
a
the sort
reached
by ascending the permanent ladders that go up inside the slip house.
Work
at the
vigorous at the
New Admiralty was not by any means time of my visit such as there was ;
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS was
chiefly concentrated
OH-O
on the Osliabia and Genera]
Admiral Graf Apraksin, which two ships lay alongside the jetty, frozen
The
in.
was the
Osliabia
first
She was
ship I visited.
osiiabia.
not very advanced, neither funnels nor masts being in
any guns on board.
place, nor, of course,
replica of the
more advanced Peresvet,^
to give a detailed description here,
As
it is
and
and the dimensions 436
beam, with a draught
aft of
class are ironclad-cruisers
may
27
is
a
unnecessary
it will suffice
to mention that the designed displacement tons,
she
ft.
length,
ft.
3
is
by 71^
The
in.
12,674 ft.
Osliabia
rather than ironclads, and
be best described as mixtures of the Canopus and
Diadem.
Work upon when
I
the Osliabia was chiefly between decks
boarded her
;
a
none too easy
gangway approximated very nearly to
task,
a toboggan slide.
Everything on deck was in the grip of the great icicles
hung over the
frozen river with
its
sides.
roads across the
as the
frost,
and
Beyond was the ice,
and the long
streams of sledges carting away the snow.
The General Admiral Graf Apraksin has already been fully described.^ the
Xew
The remainder
of the ships at
Admiralty were merely small
river gunboats,
and sloops
;
none of any
craft
—yachts,
interest.
There are no dry docks in this yard, which
is
a
building, not a repairing one, though minor repairs
can be undertaken. ^
There
is
a very large
For
details of the Peresvet see p. 326.
See
p. 270.
pond under
Aprahsm.
?1
;
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS cover, in
which experiments with models are made,
similar to those carried out in
number
345
England
A
at Haslar.
of submerged tube experiments have recently
been tried here, but generally speaking the basin
is for
experiments in connection with the under-water forms of hulls.
About
2,000,000
improving
this
the
and
have
roubles
dockyard during the
been last
spent
in
few years are
new
Before concludino- this brief sketch of the
New
slips
several
of
the
buildings
erections.
Admiralty, reference
may
be
made
two items
to one or
of personal rather than technical interest.
In the
first
place, every building shed in the Russian dockyards,
and
for that
matter every shop
also,
has standing on
the wall in one corner the ikon or sacred picture, before
which candles are alwaj^s burning, and on passing which one should uncover. is
a barrel of
snow usually
where inside each
slip
—
it
A
to be
Xew
of which in facsimile
is
found standing some-
probably serves as a rough-
and-ready temperature gauge. card to view the
second item of interest
A
third
my
is
permit
Admiralty Yard, a reproduction
on the opposite page.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
346
2.
From
New
the
New
down
situated
to
Neva,
the
The yard occupies
amount
a fair
of
and gives the impression of being larger than
New
the
is
went on
I
Admiralty and exactly opposite the
Baltic AVorks. space,
Admiralty Dockyard
which
Galernii Island,
below the
Galernii Island
Admiralty, though
occupied by slips and shops
of
believe,
I
is,
actually
portion
the
less
area.
Exactly to
some doubt.
whom
Galernii Island belongs
It
generally spoken
is
purely Government yard, but
Franco-Russian
private
under
Government
derived an impres-
Company,
it
was
suljsidised
and
that
the
Possibly
control.
in
of as being a
who showed me over
sion from those a
I
am
I
private
firm part of the business extends only to the workshops.
That a
one
dockyard
mav
considerable self-defence
tions all
;
and
lack I
in language
controlled
the
must point out
further,
—save
officer,
the
that
to
works
whether
a
my
or
that
it
difficulty
cicerone
in
the
would
be
of
but
no
as
in
difterence
explana-
here,
matter
a
arguing
other,
the
is
private
as
at the Baltic Works,
whom
inspect
a
to
reader
averasce
somethina;
of
minutely
belongs
or
alwaj^s creates
other cases,
executive
discovering
institution strike
and
visit
without
Government firm,
should
as
in
—was
an
to
who
particular
GALERKII ISLAND.
347
34^
^^\'
interest. l)ut
lif
Russian navy
imim<:riai,
Tiir:
nnldrtnnatcl}'
-My ijuestions
:is
ns
witli
lia
alsn
spoke
to contrdl,
engineer
an
notliing
and so
Inil
IVtrtli,
ofiieei',
lliissian.
had, tliere-
IllAXA.
Tlie\-
ii'preter. a,
sei
these
ui
ineis
were
oi
\
ticketed
urious
"A
sizes
as
souvenir
a of
ga\-e nie
souvenir, and the
Franco-
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS Russian Works," but
it
349
just possible that I mis-
is
understood.
At
Island Avork
Galernii
The
construction.
is
entirely devoted
on
building
ships
slips
its
to in
January 1899 were the cruisers Pallada, Diana, and of which
Aurora,
was
by
far
the most
generally published
statistics,
the
first
advanced.
According three
these
the
to
which are
ships,
sisters,
are
6630 tons displacement, and measure 406
by 55
armament
The
broad.
ft.
as
arranged will consist of eight 45-calibre firers,
twenty
guns.
The twenty
quickfirers,
3-in.
3-in.
and
be of oiana
to ft.
class.
long
present
at 6-in.
quick-
smaller
eight
guns may possibly be
in-
creased in number.
The
illustration
indicates the general appearance
of one of this class as she will be
The arrangement
of the 6-in. quickfirer
to be finally settled yet will be
I
is,
under-
it
does not appear
whether the
ujDper pair for-
stood, liable to be altered slightly
ward
when completed.
;
behind shields or casemated.
In none
of the ships had the raised forecastle got beyond the
skeleton stage at the time of
the illustration
may
my
Otherwise
visit.
be taken as accurately represent-
ing what the ship will be like in general appearance. It
will
be noted that there are three funnels close
together, instead of wide apart, as
on which
these
modelled.
novel
type,
ships
Actually being,
as
are
they they
in
supposed represent are,
the to
Svetlana,
be
an
examples
mainly entirely
of the
Annament.
:
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
350
firer
ill
47-iii.
12-pounder
the 3-in.
adoption
of
preference
to
deliberate
usual
the
quickthe
gun,
cruiser
40-pounder.
Wliether Russians are right or wrong in this very radical step If
is
a difficult thing to give an opinion on.
worked out on the favourite " energy of fire
"
system,
the Russian cruisers are rather behindhand, but then the question arises wliether energy of
do with
fire
has
much
to
Energy, the Russians would argue,
cruisers.
implies penetration, which has little to do with cruiser
The
fisfhtino-.
not the shot,
shell,
is
the
cruiser's
projectile.
lu their view the 3-in.
The 3-in.
is
the most accurate weapon,
qulcf<jirer.
and
if
shells
its
numbers.
are small,
Further, there
shell to find
the joints
size
for in
nothing like the small
is
in
made up
is
the enemy's armour
other words, no porthole in a casemate
is
in
;
so small but
that 12-pounder shells can enter, and are likely to,
only enough of them are It is
Diana let
—
fired.
The
a question that only war can decide.
class, if
if
armed on Elswick
lines,
would carry,
us say, nearly twenty 4'7-in. instead of twenty 3-in.
^that is
near the Takasago proportions.
paper way of looking at to the 3-in.
tion supply
Actually, :
it
can the
4-7-in.
much depends on
carried for the
point to be borne in
mind
officer
struction
seem
in
no
inferior
the ammuni-
on a given displacement a great many
more rounds can be
naA^-al
And
also
is
3-in. pieces.
A.
that in Russia the
has considerably more voice in the con-
of warships
than in
any other country
;
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS elsewhere
the
has
designer
ship
351
mostly
it
The ship designer proceeds upon and upon certain lines of evolution
way.
o^\'ll
theories
his
certain
while
;
the naval officer works from a different standpoint, and tactical questions
of
and needs are the things he thinks
Probably, therefore, the Russians have what
first.
they consider best for the tactics they intend to adopt in
action
and
;
it
doubtful whether
exceedingly
is
paper comparisons of
the
energies
of
the
in
fire
Diana and in foreign vessels of the same tonnage have any value.
40-pounders miss, then the best of the
But
court.
the
argument
;
little if
guns
have
will
the larger pieces are
the smaller guns will be out
equally accurate, then of
12-pounders hit and the
If the
very obvious
this
conclusion
not really help towards a solution of the
does
j)''''^^
^^^
C071S.
went over the Pallada
I
from
double bottom as she lay on the
The
Island.
electric
Considerable
about
— the
slip
Russian
care
was
workman
at
needed has
fondness for leaving trap-doors open ship was a series of pitfalls.
But
deck
an ;
everj^'-
work in
to
Galernii
at
installed
many men were
where, and a good her.
was
light
upper
inside
movina;
undesirable so the whole
I believe
accidents
are rare.
The
ship
was in a very advanced
state below,
and
generally had reached or passed the launching stage the
ice,
however, rendered launching impossible
the spring.
Many
till
of the cabins were nearly complete
ON BOARD THE PALLADA
— BUILDIXG.
—
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS in the matter
of fittings,
all
bunks were being put up
steel
deck consists
whether there
where
metal
of
will
the ship
in
these heing of steel
The quarter-
in some.
and
plates,
it
doubtful
is
be such a thing as wood any-
—the
avoid any bother with It is
353
Russians are determined to
fire
in action.
not quite evident whether the casemates of
—whether,
the Pallada class will be armoured or not
in fine, the ships will be big Eclipses or small Diadems.
They have no very thick
—
belts,
and the protective deck
Harvey on the
2^-in.
slopes.
not
is
Coal bunkers
are situated immediately above and below the slopes
of the protective deck for the greater part of
The usual
tables describe
them
as
its
length.
unarmoured
where Russian ships are concerned the usual
but
;
tables do
not go for much.
The French
cruiser
type of the Diana
class
Guichen
—
probably the proto-
a type of swift cruiser carry-
ing but few guns for her
"heels" than on her
is
size,
artillery,
relying more on her
and
chiefly intended
for semi-piratical use in war. '
'
Commerce
destroyers "
is
correct designation of these craft.
to be of 16,000 horse-power. sea speed
is
perhaps
They
are intended
The estimated continuous
afloat.
The Russians
ing very indifferent to measured mile all
their -efforts
— an important 23
are grow-
speeds
trial
being concentrated upon
securing a speed that can be maintained at step
most
19 knots; they will thus be as swift as
anything of their type
nowadays,
the
one in this direction
—
sea. is
the
One
new
354
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
system of (jtticeriiig
'We
captain,
ships, paiticularly with tlic engineei's.
commander, gunneiy lieutenant, and most
of the engineer otticers ave already appointed to these
new
ships.
They
are daily with
them
The
as they grow,
and
will continue with them.
will
be so far as possible kept to the ships always as
though they were regiments.
As
engineers, indeed,
a body, the Russian
THE FEEXOH CKUISEK GUIOHEX.
Russian engineer
naval engineers are not the most efficient in the world;
officers.
the origin of the their efliciency. tunities
new system
is
It will certainly
— hitherto they
a desire to
improve
improve their oppor-
have been shifted about from
ship to ship a great deal.
The Pallada
class
have three screws
was having her sternpost bored when
— the
I
Diana
visited her.
The screws are three-bladed, and not particularly
Steam
is
to be supplied liy Belleville boilers
;
large.
in the
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARIDS Pallatlu these were l)eiiig
put in
The Aurora was
place.
The PaUada
yet in an elementar}' stage.
555
the proto-
is
type vessel, and the completion of the others will stand
by
till .she
From
has done her
the ships
I
trials.
made
a lengthy tour of the shops,
but a detailed description of these
is
be of interest, perhaps, however,
It will
my powers,
beyond
if I
shops.
mention
that a good half of the machinery bore the names of English manufacturers.
usual birthplace.
Leeds appeared to be the
Near each machine stood a duplicate
of Russian manufacture, but
none of these
were
last
working;.
Roughly comparing these shops with those dockyards, rather
I
derived
an impression
more roomy and
the
men knew
their
going on ni a very of-fact I
fashion
mention
believe,
in
this be-
an impres-
they were
that
So
Russian dochyardsmen.
Everybody
lofty than ours.
about the place was Russian.
in English
far as I could judge,
work thoroughly
:
everything was
orderly and matter-
each of the shops. there
cause
is,
I
sion that the reverse
obtains.
Waoes
of
_^_^
as
skilled
the
work-
ably exceeds was that,
given
-hi^u
/C^
'•Jv>^
^^
de
man d
men
f o r wages.
consicler-
the supply.
I
understand
to
taking
me-
shops are ver}-
ehanics in these
high,
skilled
RUSSIAN DOOEYAKDSMAN.
-
,
into
,
account
the difference in cost of living and so on, these work-
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
556
men
nearly
earn
(lout)le
workman
is
at
But then the
the same trade earn. liussiau
what English workmen
a person of less
extravagant tastes than his English " opposite
number," and the
Imperial Russian Government
he
that
see
not
is
^A
loaded
with trades-union sentiments. In the course of a year he
probably puts in at least half
much work
as
again as an
English mechanic, twice as much.
Royal
—possibly
Those in our
dockyards
certainly
give the impression of havto
ino;
work
less
hard than KUSSIAN DOCKVAEDSMAX.
the Russian men.
There
is
Island;
its
500
to
ft.
about 25
a particularly fine drawing loft at Galernii
dimensions
600
ft.
ft.
lie
should roughly estimate at
long by nearly 90
ft.
broad.
It is
hio-h inside.
3.
The
I
Baltic
The Baltic Works
Works, exactly opposite Galernii Island,
in rather an out-of-the-way part of St. Petersburg.
As regards
accessibility,
they bear about the same
tion to St. Petersburg as the
London
;
and the
district in
also not so very unlike.
rela-
Thames Ironworks do
to
which they are situated
is
They have been described
as
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
557
OUTSIDE
THE BALTIC \VOEKS.
the Elswick of Eussia,. but such a comparison relative
these works
are
the
only ones in Russia
that will
bear comparison with big British private firms. Brothers, of Birkenhead,
most nearly resemble
The
Baltic
a private
is
;
the British firm that they
there
is
a strong appearance of being
an absence of the usual
policeman's guard-house at the entrance. a private firm in the matter of being run capital
;
it
is
heavily subsidised,
Admiralty stands
for
Lau-d
in scope.
Works have
yard
purely
However,
of course, Russia has no Elswick.
;
is
I
It is hardly
by private
believe,
and the
the bulk of the shareholders.
OO 8
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
iStill,
its
work
Steamers
building.
structed
work
not entirely confined
is
;
for mercantile
to warship
purposes are con-
and when warships are built or
refitted, the
a matter of contract.
is
The works
are divided into
two
parts, the shipbuild-
ing yard near the river, and the boiler and engine
INSIDE THE BALTIC WORKS.
ftictorios
across
the road.
Belleville boilers
these boilers
is
are
Russia's
adoption
of the
very evident at the Baltic Works stacked
all
over
the
;
place in the
shipl.juilding yards.
This yard contains the finest slip in Russia..
520
ft.
It is
long, housed in with the usual cathedral-like
structure, the height
and span of which
not so very far behind
St.
in this case arc
Pancras Station in Loudon.
—
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS an exceedingly
It is
work
700,000 roubles were spent on
;
the
slip
fine building of red brick
Rurik was
built.
Her
very advanced state
;
iron-
On
this
mv
Rossia,
the
sister,
under construction at the time of
and
this.
The Gromovoi, an improved
followed.
359
Rossia,
was
and
in a
visit,
but for the frozen river she might
have been launched at Christmas time.
Gromovoi may be described
This " reply "
an
the Powerful and Terrible
to
Russian
a^ a
but she
;
is
infinitely better protected craft than these vessels,
and, for that matter, compares very favourabl}^ with
j\Ir.
Goschen's " mighty cruisers," when the flowery part of their description
is
ship
by her
may
be interesting.
deleted.
chief engineer,
The
tons.
Dimensions are
mean
draught, about 26
The armament («)
upper
:
I
was taken
over this
all
and a description of her
"official
tonnage"
length, 473
is
12,336
beam, 68^
ft.;
ft.
;
ft.
will consist as follows
Four
8 -in.
deck,
two forward and
quickfirers,
in
:
on the
casemates,
two
aft,
the
iu
as
Rossia and Rurik. (6)
Sixteen 6-in. c^uickfirers.
Ten
of these are in
casemates on the main deck amidships, the forward
and guns.
aft
casemates being directly under
All
these
quickfirers
are
carried
the forecastle two more
behind shields
;
8-in.,
8
-
in.
Harvey.
On
two more
6-in.
casemates are 6-in.
the same deck, aft of the after
the
ports.
Inside
6-in. quickfirers are
mounted
in
recessed
in the extreme
bow
is
a third.
sixteenth sun will be carried on this deck rioht
aft.
The
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS (r)
Twenty
3 -in.
-,6i o^
Six
12-pounders.
quickfirers,
sponsoned on the upper deck above the casemates,
two mounted on top of each forward
upon the
four
8-in.
and four
forecastle forward,
casemate,
The
aft.
remainder will be mounted on the after casemate. (d)
guns
Twenty-four smaller quickfirers and machine be in various parts of the ship.
will
Altogether
Gromovoi
the
carry
in.
calibre
and counting only guns of 3 she will be
armament
her
40 gun
a
ship.
-
carries
twelve
3-in.
firers.
This armament does not
that usually given
sixteen
8-in.,
over,
and
6-in.
quickfirers,
thirty-six smaller quick-
exactly accord with
the ship in statistical tables,
to
may
but as here given
or
be seen that
It will
which
quickfirers,
guns,
from that of the Eossia,
difiers little
four
64
will
be regarded as authentic,
it
having been procured from the best possible source.
The Gromovoi
will
have a
6-in.
The deck behind
against the Eossia's 10-in. Harvey.
the
belt
is
protection or
curved as in the Majestic, so that the
—-the
slopes of the deck
thereabouts —
is
altogether
Harvej', or about 24-in. iron.
gun,
therefore,
engines.
Harveyised belt
stands a
3 in.
thick,
equivalent to
12-in.
Nothing under a
in.,
as near
belt
is
a
the teak
could guess.
as I
This was being put in position when ship, fitted into a steel
12-in.
chance of getting at
Immediately behind the
backing of about 24
are
I
visited
the
framework of rectangles about
one yard long by half a yard high.
The
belt
appears to
be
designed
for,
roughly,
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
362
300 350
that of the Rossia
loi)o-;
ft.
about
lie
was announced some while ano that
It
lono-.
ft.
said to
is
the Gromovoi would be completely belted, but there
appears to be no Avarrant for plans
the
of
positively
may
ship,
is
possible
it
;
be intended
The
much
ship
so
this
to start
on her
trials.
The
boilers
are
thirty
if
unable
AVhen launched
screws, as
away
and
The designed horse - power,
The continuous
shown
as
20
There
knots.
that,
may is
The deadwood
the Elswick
type of cruiser.
as
the
in
illustration.
often
so
is
the
case,
be departed from, and not very
masts because
three
not cut
is
likeh". it
was
It
is
The ship
the
three
here
possible
original
masts
design
fitted,
but
The Rossia was given three originally
intended that she
should be barcjue -rigged, like the Rurik not,
be
will
the Rossia.
in
in
probably be
will
have four big funnels, and probably two masts,
will
it
as
be
to
is
a condition
not quite, in
natural draught, will be near 18,000. sea speed
speak
to
continuation
thin
a
position.
Belleville,
number.
in
six
that
was not shown
Canopus.
she will be very nearly,
-
am
I
was Avorked into
of this
I
be wood-sheathed and cojjpered,
to
is
hi
()
this.
and never has been, any intention
;
there to
is
apply
sail-power to the Gromovoi.
On
a slip adjacent to the
of the Peresvet struction.
She '
'
type,
was,
Gromovoi, a battleship
the Pobieda, was under con-
however,
For particulars of
barely
this type see p. 324.
commenced,
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS and was well under 1000 tons when a
third
combined
a
slip
A
built.
Amoor, lay frozen
in at the jettv
autumn of
particular fighting value
only in the stern.
the
;
she was launched a vessel of
any
claim to interest
lies
is
ziot
Here, in a tremendous overhang,
have been devised,
ports
large
her
;
mining
sister to this vessel,
She
1898.
On
her.
and
"catcher"
launch was being
in the
saw
I
363
mines will be dropped.
through which
The ship
is
the
about 200
ft.
long.
In a large basin one of the imperial yachts lay
dismantled
of basins, were a
number
to
of small
Owing
steamers and such-like. difficult
second basin, or series
In a
for a refit.
make out much
craft
to the
— merchant
of these,
where the basin began or ended.
It
it
was
to
tell
snow, or
was possibly
a canal. I
did
not notice
are
none
there
Russian
the
Petersburg
St.
launched in such
are
believe
dockyards.
advanced
an
that docking during subsequent
state, is
ships
in
any dry docks, and
construction
not so essentially necessary as in British Royal
and when docking
yards,
is
needed, the ships go to
the Ru.ssian Portsmouth, Kronstadt.
At the
Works
Baltic
warships, or nearl}^ for
bv
Eno;lish
of future built
by
ships,
all,
firms,
save
;
the engines for
other are for
abroad,
contract
here in the future
all
Russian
than those contracted
made. such will
All
vessels
the
enoines
as
may be
probably be
for reasons that will
made
be entered
"
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
364
into
the
later,
by
engines
of
construction
British
firms for the Russian
Government
a thing of the past.
The balance of the machinery
is
made
bestowed
being
armour ago
the Ijora AVorks, but
at
and
plates
upon
chiefly
torpedo
imported most
Russia
manufacture
A
fittings.
In
closing
sketch
this
that would have
sketch
is
made
of the
been
less
is
of
few years
armour,
her
from Creusot, the balance from Carnegie
nowadays the greater part
here
attention
the
of
too probably
is all
in
chiefly
America
;
at liome.
—a
Baltic AVorks
" impressionistic
but for the particular severity of the weather on the
day
I
went there
—
may
it
not be without interest to
mention that the manager, or one of the managers,
works
of these
understand,
something
however, like
Scotchman.
a
is
fifty
he
that
I
was given
had been
Unfortunately
years.
not come across him, or learn his name. is
by way of being
in
the Russian particular
nection'
that
several
;
it
I
did
The
fact
Scotchman
will
of the
be
about
has also some further early
Xavy were Scotchmen.
established
Russia
in support of the proverb
the ubiquity of Scotchmen interest
in
the
founders
of
Probably this
last of the
" con-
some hundred odd vears
by the famous Admiral
to
ago,
Greig, or before that, again,
by Saunders and Gordon.
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
365
PUTTING IN THE EXGIXES OF THE AMOOE
AT THE BALTIC WORKS.
4.
Smaller Yaeds
This concludes the other
itself,
than
a
list
of yards in St. Petersburg
small
establishment
river of no particular interest, where
boats
are
built.
This
a
is
up
the
a few torpedo
semi-private
firm,
and
has a sort of " corresponding connection " with the celebrated Poplar.
British
torpedo
-
boat firm of Yarrow at
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
366
Kkonstadt
5.
Kronstadt was founded iu the days of Peter the Great, and
some of
there
alongside
many
of
his buildings are
modern
them were but that
condition,
a
in
more
mostly
is
A
shops.
to
still
l)e
few years since
tumbledown
or less
changed now
all
found
— the
hands of the repairer have been busy.
Xo
Kronstadt Dockyard
is
ships are built here
the place
The Russian system
station.
as
specialise,
for
is
decentralise
to
is
one.
essentially a naval
were, with different yards
it
;
—
there
to
is,
example, no equivalent to Portsmouth or Toulon to
be found in Russia. it
;
and repairing
a fitting
The system has
its
has, however, its strong points also, in
weak points
;
the resulting
simplicity.
dockvard
Tlic cutirc arca of the
Area of yard.
about one million
is
square yards, but the whole of this space
is
not
full.
In the arctic conditions prevailing at the time of
was not very easy
visit it
what was
what was land and
the ubiquitous snowdrifts covered every-
;
and perhaps made the place look
thing, really
sea
to tell
larger than
Alexander, 584
490
it
is.
There are at Kronstadt four large dry docks
Docks.
my
ft.
by 73
somewhat
ft.
ft.
by 85
by 29
by 29^
ft.
ft.
;
smaller, but big
The Alexander the time of
is
my
ft.
;
— the
the Coustantine,
the Nikolai and the Peter,
enough
to take
most
ships.
a very capacious dock indeed, and at visit it
contained the
new
battleship
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
367
Sevastdpol, the destroyer Sokol, and a torpedo gunboat of the Posaduik type.
Yarrow destroyer,
TJie Sokol, a
has ah-eady been described and illustrated.
mention that she
here, therefore, to
and on is
coal,
and
190
in
ft.
long
18^
liy
ft.
Those who saw
England would
Yarrow
over
coat.
all
;
little
and snow-
icicles
was only the winter
but, of course, this
Xavy adopted craft,
than that which the
little lighter
for the earliest destroyers. "
The Posadnik was
made
Germanv,"
in
She
launched in 1892.
is
Her draught
is
11
The
ft.
stroyer alongside
made her
The Posadnik's
armament
-pounders, one torpedo
trainino-
finer
lines
is
tube
six
an
posadnit,.
beam.
of the de-
3-pounders, the bow,
in
craft.
three
and one
There are two masts.
tube abaft the funnel.
trial
ft.
look a rather clumsy
The horse-power with forced draught and the
beina;
of 400 tons,
the same length as the Sokol, but over 24
1
ship
find difficulty in recognising her at
brown-grey colour, a
Elbing
— eight
noticed that she was painted a peculiar dirty
I
British
boilers
celebrated
this
Kronstadt, wooden sheds on her deck, drifts
a 240-ton boat,
is
beam, carries 60 tons of
of course, with
is fitted,
of these.
It suffices
with 4490 horse-power made 30 "28 knots.
trial
She
som.
speed about 22 knots.
is
about 3500,
She has a couple
of locomotive boilers, and carries 90 tons of coal. I
got
was told that on
trial
last
summer the Russians
30 knots out of the Sokol,^ and they seemed
exceedingly pleased with her altogether. the Sokol are being built 1
;
Copies of
altogether twenty-eight are
Sokol, p. 298.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
36S
either building
hand there
As
projected.
or
Two were
considerable doubt.
is
and two others were
year,
set
a dozen are at
Some
Som.
There
is
Laird of
jMessrs.
hand of the 30-knot
in
twenty
the
of
probably be copies of this Russian sub-
by a private
afloat
present in hand.^
Birkenhead have a destroyer
— the
last
Of the remaining twenty-four, perhaps
firm at Abo.
type
in
launched
up the Neva,
at St. Petersburg, at a torpedo yard Destroyers.
number
the
to
four
will
craft.
some indecision
in Russia at the present
marine boats.
moment
as to
whether
moment nothing Rescript
is
it
is
done
ascertained.is
more than, a torpedo
So far as
my
I
could
ram
It is larger
boat. it is
too early to discuss
perhaps, exceeding
the result of the Tsar's
till
a submarine
However, since
craft.
a l)etter
Fifty of these are projected, but
likely to be
type of boat
this
])e
only intended to sink at the
is
of attack. is
special type
— semi-submarine would
the boat
word, as
better to have destroyers
is
The Russians have a
or submarine boats.
of submarine boat
it
limits
much
as
out,
as, or
than the French
as yet unljuilt
its 2^^'os
make
and
and untried,
cons,
and
I
am,
by saying much about
it.
may, however, mention that the Russians believe
I
very
much
in
underwater
submarine battleship as an
To ship tlie
craft,
idle
and do not regard the dream.
leave the battleship in nubibus for the battle-
de facto. latest.
At
Kronstadt the time of
contained
my
visit
Sevastopol, Poltava, and Seniavin were 1
See a later section.
^
"Written before the
specimens
of
the Peresvet, all
in
dock or
Hague Conference ended.
;
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS The Peter Veliky, Nikolai
basin.
Svietkiua,
Khrabri, Minin,
i.,
Rynda, and
Edinbouriski,
369
number
a
of
monitors and old craft were also about. After inspecting the Sevastopol
^
had a look at
I
Dismantled Nahimoff.
the Admiral Nahimoff in the next dry dock close by.
This ship, an armoured cruiser of about 8500 tons,
formerly carried eight 8 -in. and ten
mighty armament.^ and at the time of
visit she
guns,
—
a truly
guns are gone now
All these
my
6-in.
was stripped
bare, even
the gun-houses in which the barbette guns used to be
boilered,
not
She
being removed.
carried
be
and generally modernised, and about
some time
for
will
probably consist
The
weak
point
of
identical
in
pound
belt,
10
in.
a very small strip.
probably
— not
for
of
ship
There
thick at
The
a
quiekfirers.
6-in.
her
is
feeble
arrangement with that of
French Magenta type.
re-
The new armament
entirely this
will
come
to
year at least, possibly longer.
tection,
to be rearmed,
is
is
its
pro-
the
an all-round com-
maximum, but
it
is
barbettes, again, are merely
strips.
Apropos of ,, ,.,.
this ship, a ,.. T
few days
after seeing her in
..^ m one 01 our principal
,. tuis dismantled condition 1 read
„
intelligence
about Russian ships
in
English
evening newspapers, which has something of a reputation for its naval intelligence, that
an
unimpeachable
NachimofF, o'o
now
in
source
We .
learn from
the Admiral
and thence to the Far East."
For a detailed description of For a detailed description
24
that
"
the Mediterranean, will shortly
to Russia to refit, '
:
this class see p. 315.
see p. 208.
newspapers.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
370
It is
an interesting instance of how loosely statements
as to the
Navy
Russian
are made.
Beyond the two dry docks mentioned above
I
make
could not
how much
tell
out, the snowdrifts blotted out all
In the same
configuration.
it
was not possible to
it
like a long, rather
how much
basin was basin, and projecting into
way
what looked
of
form
Its exact
very large basin of irregular shape.
a
is
narrow
" stream " -with a jetty
— absolutely nothing, save
a
few
ele-
vated narrow pathways, and a glimpse of wall here and there, told
what was "water" and what was
these basins lay the
Basins.
^
In
land.
Peter Veliky, Minine, Nikolai,
Rynda, a number of old turret-ships, and the modern ironclads Peres veet, Seniavin,
The Peter Veliky
Reconstructed Peter Vetiky.
Harvev one, Nibotai
or
Krupp
and modern
The Nikolai
I.
Russian Navy.
me about
destined to be reconstructed,
is
process turrets replacing the present 10-iu.
i.
and Poltava.
is
guns in place of the old
perhaps the best-known ship in the
The only thing that
her was,
how very
particularly struck
unlike she
much
loftier
to most of
is
the photographs of her that one encounters
looked
r2-in.
:
the masts
than photographs render them, and
the ship altogether less clumsy.
The
old ]\Iinine
is,
and has
for a long time been,
under reconstruction, but progress on her was standstill.
She
will eventually be
a seagoing training-ship 1
For detailed descriptions
Nikolai, p. 230 Poltava, p. 315.
;
Ryuda,
p.
;
;
a
brought forward as
at present she
see Peter Velikj-, p. 168
216
at
Seniavin, p. 270
;
is
merely a
Minine,
204
;
Peresveet, p. 324
;
;
p.
371
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
372
hulk, with only the fore and
main
masts stand-
lowei'
the mizzen beinu' altotretlier removed.
ina",
The Kynda
an old vessel of
is
\'ery small fighting-
She was nearly as much dismantled as the
value.
Minine. TliB
The suietiana the ice.
She was
uext claimed attention.
Svictlaua
in
lyino- well
out in a laroe basin, but boards were laid to
her over the snow that covered the frozen water, so that with a
get
at.
little
Some
cautiousness she was easy enough to
care
was indeed needed,
snow
as the
was pretty deep, and the boards, of course,
slippery.
Alongside the ship a large square hole was cut in the
From
ice.
was drawn.
So
this hole
water for washing purposes
far as the ship
being ice-bound was
concerned, this hole had no significance
the pressure
;
of the ice has apparenth^ no inconvenient
the hulls.
I
did not anywhere notice any of those
elaborate precautions which being frozen in larly
supposed to necessitate.
one other use
—the Russian
The Russian bluejacket Ablutions of Russian sailors.
is
The hole
sailors
used
is
popu-
it for
had
bathing
I
a hardv fellow, and a few
— " He not, perhaps, wash very often, it
is
in the ice
degrees of frost add zest to his ablutions.
for
upon
efi'ect
to be nice to get along.side
He
ain't clean
does
enough
and chum with him,"
the British bluejacket's reason for the absence of
that entente cordicde between Jack and Ivan that exists
between
his
otiicers
and Russian
officers,
— but
Ivan does wash, twenty or thirty degrees of not stop his enjoying a swim.
When
when
frost will
they make a
hole in the Xeva, and bless the water in front of the
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS Tsar and the Court in the
New
Petersburg, plenty of moujiks tion
and
naval
Year
jump
festivities at St.
in
and seek
A
cleanliness in the sacred waters.
officer
me
once gave
his
373
salva-
Japanese
impression of
first
Russian sailors as he had seen them in some northern
Japanese harbour, and the thing that most impressed
him was Russian
bathiuo;
sailors
an ice-covered
in
sea.
As
a rule, Russian ships are almost, if not quite, wMer
deserted for the winter, but the Svietlana
nating with most of her
officers
little
was hiber-
and men on board.
the smart cruiser that was to be seen at
while ago she bore very
^
To
Havre some The whole
resemblance.
of the deck amidships was roofed in with wood,
much
as the decks of our hulks used as depots are roofed in. Little
wooden sheds were
guns, around the chart-house, and lio-hts
But
on the masts.
and
built over the fore
for
aft
over the search-
her
funnels
three
and enormous ram she would have stood very well for a frozen-in
whaler as we see them in picture-
books.
The Seniavin ^ was
built-in in
She and the Poltava
^
much
the same fashion.
have been already so fully
described that nothing remains to be said about them here.
The
reference. for her fairly
Peresvet,* too, admits of
Men were
masts
(a
at
little
work on board
but a passing her,
and save
couple of temporary poles) she looked
complete.
She was being pushed forward
1
For a detailed description
2
Fully described on
p. 270.
of tins vessel see p. 294. =
See
p. 315.
'
See
p. 324.
to
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
374
some
relieve
vessel
upon the
Pacific station
— the Eurik
probably.
In
The Peresuet all
made
some reference
of the Peresvet
tlic (lescription
in
Russia.
Russians
exceedingly proud
are
" everything,
down
was made
home-made construction
very bad.
The Gangut,^
was
1897, and her
lost in
was attributed
show
bad
to
in Russia
it
is
;
since the
necessarily
may be remembered,
loss,
rightly or wrongly,
construction.
Ofiicially,
Bad Russian
—
so at least the story goes.
ship construction
hundred years ago
Orlofi^s fleet,
is
no new thing.
by
of the vessels only keeping together
was that
—
the
Alleged faulty construction
somctimes grccn,
of Russian
and very badly suited
a
A
going to the Mediter-
ranean, had to put in at Portsmouth for repairs,
then
I
was said to have struck a rock in a part
of sea where no rocks exist
cause
in
Gangut an impression has been abroad
the
believe, she
that
fact
or no materiel has suffered for the
benefit of patriotism time alone can loss of
the
of
to the smallest rivet,
Whether
Russia."
that
The
have been made to her construction.
should
ships
some
The
cables.
were
built
of
fir.
material very cheap in Russia, ship construction.
for
Some
ships
of this
reputation
has
stuck
to
the
Russians
ever
judge
— do
since.
On
the whole, facts
—
so far as I can
not seem to point to any general bad construction of hulls in
had
to
the Russian
fleet,
undergo something
at Glasgow,
and the
Ros.sia, 1
See
the Peter Veliky, which ver}^ like a reconstruction
which
p. 240.
split
her decks up
—
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS from the
strain
of
her
filing
375
enormous armament,
being the only two specific instances that can be
cited.
Stories were afloat once about the Nahimoff', but
subsequently turned out that the origin of these
it
tales
lay in the ship having gone 'on trials before her fore-
was
castle
The Ekaterina
built in.
in the
11./
Black
Sea Fleet, was muddled over to a certain extent, as her armour has no backing, but that was due to a
oe/ecthe ships
common
clerical
ships
;
error.
Every navy has
even our own
is
few black-sheep
a
'
The Penelope,
not exempt.
Supert, Neptune, Ajax, and, to some Trafalgar, are ships
—
" tinkering "
which
one cause and another
for
— may
sometimes
be said to have a
black
mark
States
Navy, the Brennus and Magenta
The Texas
against them.
Nile and
ext-ent,
in the
United
in the French,
the Oldenburg in the German, the K. E. Stephanie in the Austro-Hungarian Fleet, are merely a few of the
better-known instances of ships that have not
fulfilled
Navy
does no
expectations.
At the worst
the Russian
more than come near the top of the it
;
at the best
But here one trenches on
not at the bottom.
is
list
the unwritten and secret history of modern warships.
Even
in batches of
new
ships there
is,
for one reason
or another, usually a " bad egg," and to conceal the
which energies are
fact is naturally a thing to
Even
in
England there are instances
successfully done.
that
it is
We may
take
it
—probably
done to as great
an extent in foreign navies. 1
See
p. 224.
in
directed.
which
this is
as a sure thing
much
greater
"ii
to
nmies.
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS To resume ship
1
since she in
attention
was cut
with wood,
oft'
was
to
Klirabiy,
by snowdrifts, and
failed to derive
I
tlie
small
ver\'
relation
to
awx very
the
\)\\t Khrabn,.
also iioused
of her details, beyond discernino-
pression
bore a
The next
the description of Kroiistailt.
(lirc-eted
Ml
clear ini-
that
she
usual description
of her.
I_V
THE ENGINE-tOOM OF THE
This concluded far as shi|>s
as
I
my
tour of Kronstadt Dockyard, so
all
These are
the hammocks,
— so
I
gathered
made by hand
women and
Such of the workshops
were concerned.
saw were of enormous
which
girls
labour.
are
.SEVASTOPOL.
size,
etc., for
—
particularly that in
the fleet are made.
entirely, or almost entirely,
For
this
several
hundred
employed, and there were two
tremeudoirs long rows of them sitting opposite each
worhshop^.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
378
on
other
forms,
and
laughing-
they
as
cliattering
Avoiked.
Another item Ijuildinoj
Some Figureheads.
was
row of bow scroll-works
name
mere sentimental idea crews
any value,
may
There
to bear them.
teaching
new
waiting for
tlicrc
the
at
;
up,
same
ships of the
be more in this than least,
of
history
for men-of-war.
now broken
of these belong to old vessels
and haug
a
a
noticed in the lower part of this
I
a
the
if
idea
of
name has
ship's
modern
this treating the figurehead or its
equivalent in the light of a regimental colour should
had
for
Navy we have
In the British
be distinctly useful.
some years a custom of painting up in a
names
battleship the
of actions in which earlier vessels
name have taken
bearing that
part
the idea of pre-
;
serving and passing on the figurehead
We
Russian novelty.
new
only are our
could hardly copy
a real figurehead, but
and when the Royal Sovereign to have a off, it
scroll
— got her
was not replaced.
pace the period
bow
stories, yarns,
when
— one
as not
The
ships.
it is
now
gone,
of the last ships
gilt scroll-work
knocked
The figurehead has never and anecdotes written
figureheads had a reign
British institution.
it,
devoid of figureheads, but
vessels
they are disappearing from the older
Rodney once had
distinctly a
is
—-been
Fashion brought
again in the old days, but
it
it in
in the
much
of a
now and
was several times ordered
to be discontinued. Relics. of Peter the Great.
A fcaturc Dockyard
is
of nearly
all
the buildings in Kronstadt
the stone spiral staircase
—
architecturally
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS known
— by
as a newel
reached.
These
which the upper are
staircases
relics
379
are
stories
Peter the
of
Great's first buildings.
Kronstadt Dockyard
popularl}' supposed to be
is
Accessibility 0/
Kronstadt.
about as accessible to the world at
doubt whether True,
it is
not open to the ordinary casual tourist, but
It
gulf, to
I
really so strictly preserved as that.
it is
then Kronstadt seek.
Thibet.
larsre as
is
not a place that the tourist would
situated on an island well out in the
is
be reached only by steamer in the summer,
in the winter
by
a four or five mile sledge-drive over
the frozen sea from Oranienbaum.
"Diligences" also
labour over this ice road, but there are a variety of reasons for preferring an open sledge.
The thermometer vs'here
frost
the winter
in
— degrees
Centigrade,
wind over the gulf which
good deal of
trafiic to
people, only
military,
come
as even they
a
into
and there
believe;
I
None
with the dust of frozen snow.
the
stand any-
between freezing-point and thirty degrees of
al\\'ays a
a
may
is
creates a blizzard
the
less,
there
is
the place every morning, and
fraction
of
whom
are
and go from the town
naval or as
easily
might come or go into Portsmouth or
Devonport.
The yard mere palisade
by
police,
is
—
enclosed in
by
a low wall
—
in places a
which are frequent doors guarded
who apparently have
to follow whoever enters.
My
orders to detach a
man
cicerone here as else-
where was a naval lieutenant, but when we went into the yard a policeman plodded silently along in the
outside the dockyard,
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
^,8o J
snow
All this serves to give the place
iieliind us.
mystery, but
air of
apparent than
—such
1
think
it is
much
None the
less,
I
still
real.
of
must
an
more
it
confess,
we imbibe almost
are the ideas of Russia that
with our mother's milk and cultivate afterwards with courses of sensational literature, I Aduenture with a policeman in Kronstadt Dockyard.
eouki
view
not
I
must
plodding
that
confess that
with
policeman
ridiculous tales of unfortunate
The most
cquauimlty.
—
and transported to quickEnglishmen suddculy ' sclzed " -^
-^
mines
silver
especially
Siberia
in
and assumed
suddenly came
into
my
head,
most painful realism and probability,
a
when
was led into an absolutely empty
I
and deserted corner of the dockyard between some snowdrifts.
learnt
I
this
due course that we had gone into
in
because from
cul-de-sac
Se^"ast6pol
thence
and Poltava more or
other could be seen
;
less in line
that
a rouble
cheerfully accepted and to the Ingliski.
for
expended
for
meant nothing
his trouble
in liquid
would be
good wishes
!
this sort of thing is neither history nor
a description of Kronstadt
The dockyard, a fair
with each
Verily our Russian literature has a
good deal to answer
However,
the
while the stolid stare and twitch-
ing hand of the policeman, I gleaned,
worse than
a view of
amount
of
as already stated, lies very low, it
and
can be seen from the roads and
streets outside, or, at
well with a glass.
Dockyard.
an5u-ate, could
be seen pretty
Possibly, seeing that to use a camera
or sketch in the streets of even St. Petersburg without
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS permission renders a
man
-,8i
be "run
liable to
in,"
to
attempt to view Kronstadt from the outside might lead to unpleasant
enough consequences
still,
;
some
sort of viewing could be done.
The Elswick
ice-breaker
Ermak
will
make
a vast ne
difference to Kronstadt in future winters, as she will
keep the channel and fairway open
At the time almost
w^as
of
my
dailj-
had not
visit she
expected, and
was very keen indeed
all
—her
the year round. arrived, but she
the interest aroused
importance was beyond
that of a first-class battleship.
From
the dockyard I went across to the gunnery
"Whale
school, a species of
the dockyard. excavation,
The way
empty
Island'' standing behind
to it lies alongside
then, into which
docks and basins can be turned.
all
an enormous
the water in the
It is possibly con-
nected with some system of drainage for the low-lying
and marshy land upon which the dockyard Its
dimensions
I
was
feet
deep
built.
could not very well gauge, as from
the pathway the bottom was not properly side
is
visible.
One
a perpendicular wall, that looked about 100
the
;
.side
opposite to that upon which I stood
rose in a series of steps, as though excavations would
My
be continued in the summer. this sort of it
embryo
was a sandpit
or quarry of
heard was incorrect.
somewhat
rej)lica of a
impression of
jMartian canal was that
some kind, but
this
I
I g-athered that it is ro yarded as
of an eno-ineerino: feat, and that
demanded the overcoming difficulties.
first
of
a
its niakino;
good mauv
initial
Ermau.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
;82
Description of
The gunnery
school dates more or less from Peter
Kronstadt
gunnery school.
the Great'.s day.
In architecture
style of an old cathedral cloister
is
it
ratlier after the
and the modern guns
;
peeping l)et\veen the ancient arches in a kind of crypt, the glass doors and pitch-pine partitions under a vaulted
stone roof, give a most incongruous and cjuaint tout cnscmhle.
-iW Museum.
The class-rooms and reached
by the
museum
is
artillery
museum
old-time
usual
very complete
;
spiral
are upstairs, steps.
The
contains every type of
it
small C[uickfirer, the breech-pieces and mechanism of a variety of Canet and rifles
from the
One
case contains"
6-in.
guns, revolvers and
earliest times, chronologically arranged.
brated
Dum-Dum.
various
rifles
placed
Krupp
rifle .
bullets,
All
the
and includes the
well-known bullets for
are here, as well as a
by themselves, which
I
cele-
number
of others
could not name.
Some
—
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
383
of these were of eccentric shape, probably experimental
and theoreticallv-invented
This
bullets.
museum
con-
tains a specimen of the earliest explosive bullet, invented
back in the days of smooth-bore muzzle-loaders.
bought up the secret of a
and then put
this bullet,
museum, making no use
of
Russia it in
except possibly towards
it,
the close of the Crimean War.
Round about
this
are standing, from
shell
Mostly these were common
downwards.
12-in.
room
shell
of the usual pattern, with flat noses for the fuse to be
screwed
now
in.
There were a few armour-piercing
abolished in the Russian service,
have been A. P.
shown me any capped
shell
with base
fuses.
— or I
shot,
they
may
did not have
of the famous " magnetic " shell or the
projectile,
now
but these are
served out for
all
big guns, and have the same penetration as A. P. shot.
As noted above, the A. P. shell
is
abolished.
is
The H.E.
not yet in the Russian service.
The " magnetic there,
shot
and
is
" shell,^ so far as I
apparently a short conical shell with
another cone fitting on top
of
my
projectiles which, so far as
it.
use.
At
least,
1
saw
limited knowledge of
gunnery would carry me, looked
some such
can gather, was
to be designed for
In whatever form employed, the shell
has no particular advantage over the solid shot, as the shot aoainst thick armour will do ful in
such places, and there
shell breaking up, 1
So called because
being
fitted to the shell
is
the damao;e need-
always the risk of the
no matter what tlie
all
its
head.
In theory,
Eussians set afloat some tale about the cap
by magnetic
attraction.
rhe sheii.
a
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
384
perhaps, the "magnetic" shell
intended to penetrate
is
armour partially only, and then to shatter by bursting, but that sort of thing
is
apt to remain theory.
gunnery lecture-rooms,
Tlic class-rooms consist of
Class-rooms.
in
one of which
attending lectures
officers, ;
and
two rooms and
instructions, a large
another men, were
in
and
for electrical plant
well-fitted laboratory, a
room
apparently devoted to hydraulic gear, a room with miscellaneous fittings, and a sort of large central
This
hall,
as the
hall.
which looked as architecturally interesting
Tower of Loudon, has
deep recesses
its
filled
with photographs and other details of various Russian
At one end
battleships. turret,
armour and
all.
there
a
is
large
working
Li place of the guns, however,
a couple of tube cannon are fitted,
and on the turret
roof a Barr and Stroud rano-e-finder.
At
the other end of the hall
is
a very large painted
background of sea and sky, with some movable In this arrangement there
ships.
novel so far as the taro-et O
novelty comes
in, is in
is
dummy
of course, nothing-
is,
concerned.
Where
the
the carefully-painted target pro-
ducing as nearly as possible the actual sea colours,
—
by no means unimportant thing when we remember that the usual or vice versa,
]\Iorris
— and
tube
tare-et is
the elaborate revolving turret by
means of which the guns have more
or less as they
black a2;ainst white
to be re-laid each time,
would have
to be re-laid in actual
practice. Naoai war game.
Tlicrc
Is
also a
war game room, but
belongs rather to strategy and tactics,
its
as Kriegspiel
chief
home
is
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS at the
Naval Academy
at St. Petersburg, or else at the
Xenia Palace on the Moika section deals with
Russian Navy.
385
A
Canal.
War Games
Naval
At Kronstadt
it
subsequent
as pla3^ed in the
not a compulsory
is
subject.
From hall,
the gunnery school,
some account
to the drill
of which, in view of the fact that
Russian sailors have
more than half
went on
I
— to
use an Irishism
—
may
their sea-time ashore,
to put in
not be out
of place.
The
hall is
from 80 to
a very large tunnel-shaped building,
100
Possibly the length
wide, and
ft.
of
;
long.
ft.
At
either end,
—
a chapel at
beyond partitions
at the other, behind a theatre stage, a species
gymnasium.
The
hall is
normally some 60
but at the gymnasium end the height increased,
600
greater than that.
is
this tunnel is continued
one end
quite
is
high,
ft.
considerably
and the mainmast of a large ship
set
up
Nets are plentifully spread around, and on
it.
mast the Russian
makes
sailor
of
afloat
in
all
owing
to
climatic
our
have to be done
course
of
things
training
-
at
ships
We
have
Greenwich,
and
cover
but in Russia,
:
early mast
the
conditions,
under
this
are frequent, but the
nets usually prevent any serious accident. sort
in
his first acquaintance
Tumbles
with his profession.
this
orni Haii.
for
a
drills
good deal of
the year. After watching the
on to the Kronstadt sufficiently explained 25
drill for
a while, I was taken
Naval Club
by
its
name.
—a
place
hardly
Like everything
Nami cm.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
o 86
of the nature of a public building in Russia, architecturally very fine.
It is fitted
museum, drawing-rooms, and the usual other it
unmarried
officers
It
is
a large dining-hall, billiard,
rooms one finds
sorts of
and nearly
Kronstadt
stationed at
in a club
live
;
all
here.
ornaments arc concerned, almost entirely
so far as
is,
is
with a theatre,
the " officers' quarters,"
practically
it
furnished with gifts from the French nation on the French gifts:
occasiou of thc Toulou
aff"air,
One way and another
was cemented.
alliance
Navy from
Russian
gifts to the
must be worth over half numbers of
huge
when the Franco-Russian
a million
solid
workmanship, a few of
different
silver
solid
French towns
pounds
figures
gold,
these
;
there are
of
exc|uisite
while
silk
fiags,
jewelled ornaments, and valualjle china-ware are too
numerous
be
to
There are rooms and
reckoned.
rooms of them.
The museum
What
there
is
mostly stuffed ing
collection
logically
is
of
small,
it
is
birds.
;
special interest.
chiefly geological, the balance
There
is,
harpooning
of
arranged
and of no
however, an interestinstruments,
chrono-
and there are a few models of
ships of very early type.
This place, however,
is
in
no way on a par with the
Historical nauai
Service Institution,
museum of our United which the Navy Club resembles
much more than
does an ordinary club.
A
it
word might bc Said of the
pictures.
There
is
no
pictures.
gallery, but the walls generally are
paintings that form
Russian
hung with
large
a very complete history of the
Navy from the time
of Peter the Great
onward
;
—
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
3S7
and a high
level of technical accuracy being maintained,
these
useful as well
are
of these
one of the French
is
a masterpiece favourite
and
of
bold
firearms, are
These,
staircase.
Did space permit, one could spin out about the Naval Club at Kronstadt
With regard
lethal
arranged chronologically in devices
on the walls of the vestibule and
enough has been
Another
treatment.
weapons.
is
finest
at Kronstadt
fleet
artistic
wall-ornament
The
ornamental.
as
good deal
a
but perhaps
;
said.
to the
town
itself,
the
are
streets
extremely wide, but most of the buildiugs are wood.
A
stone.
At
Navy
few buildings, like the
Navy
the
Staff",
the hall
Staff,
of
are of
hung with
is
The town.
half-
f/av,/ staff.
sectional models of all early Russian ships, but there
being nothino- of
much
one's interest in these
later date
was naturally
Of the famous Kronstadt all
;
than the Peter Velikv
no signs of them were
the snow concealed them
forts I
visible ;
curtailed.
the
saw nothing
anywhere,
at
—probably
appended sketch map
indicates their positions, and shows pretty clearly that
the place
is
as
impregnable as can well be
;
while the
outlying Fort Constantine practically precludes any-
thing in the
way
of a long-range
great study of this
Admiral Napier Crimean
War
;
map not
did
nothing
is
required
attack
save
No show why
bombardment.
the
to
place
specially
monitors would have a chance against
in
the
constructed
it.
Kronstadt being a commercial port as well as a naval arsenal, there
is
an English colony there, and
Forts.
"
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
iSS
combined with the
this,
merchant
ships, leads to
English chaplain
an
permanently stationed at the with the English in Russia,
place.
In
being
connection
ma)^ be of some interest
it
mention that at Kronstadt
to
population of the
floating
found
I
Russian
t^^o
with Enolish wives, a third whose mother was
officers
Enolishwoman, while a dauohter of the Admiral
an
commanding
is
married to a British naval
officer
;
but
there no lono-er remain any Enolish servini;- as officers in English folk Kronstadt.
<
the Russian
Russian
officers
Navy
connected with the early days of Kron-
stadt were, of course. Englishmen
do not foroet what nation to be sailors.
Half the
as in the old days.
There
is
it
and the Russians
;
was that tauoht them
at present, as I
have already
observed, a great craze for everything about Russian shij)5 to
many
be
made
Russian
in Russia
vessels
are
;
but, as
just
we know,
now being
a good or
built
ordered in France, Germany, and the United States.
Yet
it
is
onlv owino- to the recent eno-ineering- strike
that most of these ships are not building in England.
Whether owing
to
this
country's
days when the liussian Navv was as
help in the early a;rowinL;'.
the result of experience, Russians
or
whether
have a heavy
preference for English over other foreign ship material.
Their description of the British workman, however, A Russian of
"
is
A person who always refuses to work when his employer
definition
the British
workman.
has imdertaken to deliver a job in a certain time
A
bit
1
sweeping and severe, maybe, yet perhaps not
altogether without some sraius of truth.
There
is
not
the slightest shadow of doubt but that the British
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS mechanic has only himself to thank
that he
in
389
is
not
working on the Tsarvitch, Bayan, Waryag, RetAnsan,
and the
rest
;
the Russian
have had these ships
officials
built
in
would sooner
far
England than at La
why none of the
Seyne and C'ramp's.
No
question of cost entered
:
the
new
i^ussian battle-
ships and
Russian has not yet learnt
to appreciate the
-^
and nasty the
;
J-
J-
cheap JL
indeed, so particular are the Russians in
contract specifications, that
rule everywhere to charge
it
is
the invariable
them more than any other
nation.
The theory that an to is
anti-British feeling
do with next to no work
beinsf sent to British firms
absolutely without foundation.
expression of opinion on restino-
on
tlie first
is
part,
is
not a mere
but a statement
Revel
an old naval base of no present import-
ance beyond the fact that
and that there
A
my
This
authoritv.
G.
Revel
had anything
is
it
is
a torpedo boat station,
a dock building there for these craft.
couple of docks to take large warships are pro-
jected, but these are not likely to be in existence for
some time to come. There warships.
is
no dockj'ard here
for the construction of
'"•""^" ordered ^"s'"""-
"'^''^
in
;
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
390
7.
LiBAU (Fort Alexakder
III.)
Libau has the particular recommendation that
or at anyrate that ships do not get frozen
is ice free,
in there as at
plete stage,
As yet
Kronstadt.
though
an incom-
in
is
OushakofF
and Admiral
spent the winter 1898-99 in
were perhaps the
it
advanced to admit of
sufficiently
Petropavlovsk
the
it
These two
basins.
its
only modern
having
the
of
battleships
Baltic Fleet in a condition to commission that winter
though the Poltava and Seniavin could have been
added at
The
Reasons for founding Litau.
fairly short notice.
idca of Libau
was to have
could be sent at
ships
Now
Mediterranean.
Kronstadt port, the
is
any time to the thanks
that,
no longer to
wisdom
from which
a port
to
Pacific
the
or
Ermak,
considered an ice-bound
l^e
of founding Port Alexander III., as
Libau naval arsenal
is
named,
open to
at least
is
question.
Before entering into this question, however, some short description of the place with,
it
is
situated
about
is
450 miles by sea from
Kronstadt, over 300 from Pievel miles from the
base
is
arsenal,
German town
is
but only 50 odd
;
of IMemel, where a naval
Dantzig, the nearest
projected.
about
100
To begin
called for.
miles
distant
German
from Memel.
About half-wav between Memel and Dantzig strong
German
Its strategical
appended sketch
weakness,
.
,
military
map .
base of
the
of
lies
Konigsberg.
and
coast />
x
•!
naval
indicates the strategical weakness of Libau
—
the
The
railways it is
very
—
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS nearly an isolated outpost. is
little
against
doubt it
;
and
In the event of war, there
Germans would operate
that the
Ijut
in the event of a winter
war before the
days of ice-breakers, they stood to blockade risk of interruption
from the
391
it
Avithout
Speaking generally,
sea.
the Russian system of defence Avas always to leave a vast expanse of wilderness between her borders and
her principal points
;
in
making an arsenal
at Libau
she has 2:iven hostage to fortune to that extent, and the advanced base of Port Alexander
III.
may
yet
become another Sevastopol, the defence of which successful or unsuccessful
Port Alexander
on resources.
a second Biserta.
ranean base,
— must
it
is
entail a
III.
is,
heavy drain
or rather will be,
Like the famous French Mediterpractically an inland naval arsenal
THE
592
the sea by
(•(niiiected Avitli
ships
sort
this
huxc.
enemy
almost
.is
absolute
cei'tain
block the canal, in which case for are
the
immunity
on the other hand,
Ijut,
;
Inside a place of
caual.
;i
pnieticallv
from capture or damage vigorous
RUSSIAN NAVY
IMPI<:RIAL
means
to
find
all
the good they
to
The
might as well have been sunk.
sliijjs
a
Russians, however, pin great faith on "hiding-places,"
and a
sort of Libau
projrcted in the Black Sea.
is
may l)e useful, but their utility is passive, and command of the sea will never he gained by aid Such places
of them.
The port
divided into three divisions: (l) the
is
harbour,
outer
mercial port; (3) the naval
])ort,
(2)
;
com-
a
nearly a mile and a
2200 yds.) inland.
half (about
Tlic outer liarbour
Description
anchorage
protected
a
now
is
in
an advanced state
;
of Libau.
harbour has
commercial
the
imjDortance,
great
some
for
have
time to
been
make
and
and
a
harljour
of
protect
one
any
vie with
Riga
and breakwaters
Jetties to
reached
yet
unlikely to
is
come.
constructed
not
and
the
roadstead,
half
a
sc[uare
miles. Naoai harbour.
Froui thc liarbour runs a canal about eleven cables
(2200 yds.)
in
^just
this,
At
the inner head of this
bej'ond
and inshore of the town.
storehouses, workshops,
built or building.
large opens.
is
800 yds. long by about 240 yds. wide
a large basin
—
length.
This
docks about 600
ft.
All round
and naval barracks are
Into this basin another nearly as is
the repairing basin, and two dry
long open into
it.
One
of these
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS docks
is
complete, the other
elementarv All this in 1895,
as
yet iu a rather
stasje.
work on docks and buildings was
and then expected
but everything 1905.
is
is
to be
not likely to be finished
much
;
before
In January this year about one and a quarter
— equal,
an expenditure of two millions or more
countrv.
besfun
completed iu 1900
million pounds had been spent upon Libau
to
393
in
say, this
cost of
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
394
ASIATIC DOCKYARDS 8.
Vladivostok
The importance of Vladivostok political
nature
as a
;
Much
station at Jamaica.
the strength of
its
ance given to
accordingly
it
fortifications,
a station.
purely
written about
is
and a great importis
usually either
by people who have an
more guns the greater the importance
Actually, of course, there
is
consequently to pile on fortifications
On
is
by
a fleet
mostly a waste
foe,^
and a thousand
forts
not prevent the eventual capture of a place
enemy can
the
^ :
the other hand, almost any port can
be blocked by a determined will
of
hardly a naval
station in the world that could be reduced
of energy.
it is
a
or less with the
but this
;
for political purposes or else
idea that the
more
of
cliieflj-
dockyard or arsenal
a second-class place/ on a par British
is
invest
it
supplies and succour
attack of naval bases
by land and
reaching is,
it.
sea,
if
and prevent
The defence and
in fine, a military rather
than
a naval question.
From
the military standpoint Vladivostok
is
very
nearly impregnable, so far as any foe likely to attack it is
Japan
concerned.
is
the only nation in a position
'
Second-class fortress
is its official
2
The impotence
tlie
of
weaklj' fortified place like Santiago, that almost anj-thing in the
vay
will protect a harbour completely. ^
See Libau,
p. 390.
designation.
American squadron is
off
a case in point.
of forts,
an e.xceedingly It
would seem
combined with a mine-field,
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS to seriously
menace
it,
and
it
is
event of war she would attempt
unlikely
395
the
tliat in
Vladivostok has
it.
so large a garrison, that to duly invest
it
would need
at least 150,000 men.
Much
has
been
about
said
the
Trans-Siberian
railway and Vladivostok, but the value of this will scarcely be so
great as
is
made
out.
It
save
will
Russia having to keep so large a force in the district
X
5IAP OF VLADIVOSTOK.
(70,000) as she does
much helped
be
is
;
but the theory that offence
is
hea^dly discounted.
will be
stores
move men
On
thither
boats.
needed at Vladivostok
in
;
hence
more quickly
the other hand, the railway
of inestimable service in bringing
and torpedo
is
In any war upon that coast
absolutely in a position to take her time
the value of ability to is
Russian strategy
questionable.
not to be in a hurry. she
will
These
up naval
last are likely to
case of
be
war, because, like
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
396
Wei-liai-wei, the
place
At
Ijombardmeut.
is
very open to a long-range
niglit, ships (unless
kept
strong torpedo Ijoat menace) could without
steam in and pitch
shells over the hills,
much
Japan (both stronger than Russia
undoubtedly do this force
in case of
risk
England
at sea)
would
war/ unless the torpedo
were strong enough to make the attempt too
And
absolutely risky. lasting
power
;
little
they are bound to be gradually destroyed. is
end of the Golden Horn.
and
have very
torj^edo boats
Vladivostok Dockyard
slips,
a
which would
be bound eventually to destroy the dockyard. or
by
off
situated at the extreme It
does not contain any
practically in scope a small Kronstadt, or
is
rather will be.
There
and 30
one dry dock, 550
is
ft.
There
'
Heet.
size,
is
dock
also a small fioatino;
iMonomakh, but used
armoured gunboats. great
wide,
ft.
long, able at a pinch to take ships like
ft.
Vladimir
the
long, 90
This dock will take any vessel in
deep.
the Russian Navv.
about 300
ft.
and
a
chiefly
for
the
There are two basins of no very
few repairing shops.
The Russian
At Wti-hai-wei tlic^ .Jajianese did tlie same thing to the Chinese The damage done to the ships hy tliis wild firing over Leu-kun-
tau -was infinitesimal
moral
effect
;
but
it
was enormous.
torpedo attack, and
it
upon Chinese nerves.
absolutely broke the Chinese defence. It
did as
was
much
this that jiaved the
way
Its
for the
as the torpedo in the wa\' of effect
Anticipation of these shells destroyed
all
rest,
and when the surrender took place the Chinese had had no sleep worth mentioning for four days. The officer who brought the letter of surrender fell
asleep in the
down
to
fleet stated
shells.
wardroom
of the
Japanese flagship the instant he sat
await entering the admiral's presence
;
and the
officers of
the
that he attributed all the worst miseries to these aimless
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS ideal
make
to
is
but so far
it
is
the
Yard
397
entirely self-supporting,
only able to undertake minor repairs.
The water alongside the
very deep/ and
jetties is not
Jetties.
a good deal of dredging will yet be required before
Now
the Yard can be considered of great value.
Port Arthur
doomed
is
Russian, Vladivostok
Arthur none of
at Port
;
more
is
that
or less
this depth-of-water
difficulty exists.
However, the
having openly
fact of the Russians
stated that Vladivostok was an unsatisfactory place
is
always accepted by us as evidence to the contrary, so useless to say
it is
An
much about
impression prevails that Vladivostok
up the greater part rate
;
is
frozen
quite inaccu-
is
small and by no means powerful ice-breakers
addition,
it is
to freeze
all
the year round, and, in
rare for the entire anchorage to be long-
frozen thickly.
The depth
of water
—not
—was the aquatic objection to
The anchorage
is
practically untroubled
Vladivostok
but
its
have done
is
little
of the district.
by
is
-
^
fairly
deep,
tide"^ or current.
as
well as a naval
not very great
;
^
the Russians
as yet towards developing the trade
Stories about the choking of trade
and excessively stringent regulations are 1
tendency
A'^ladivostok.
protected,
a commercial
commerce
its
extremely good in the Eastern
being very well
Bosphorus,
port,
This
of the year.
keep a channel fully open
and
the matter.
Only about 4 fathoms (24
chiefly
ft.).
The rise and fall is usually little more than a About 400 vessels used the port in 1898.
foot.
moon-
Not he-bound.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
39S
shine
the regulations are identical with those in any
:
The
other Russian harbour.
idea seems to have been
promulgated chiefly through some innocent writers discovering that only two foreign warships are allowed to enter it at one time.
Similar resfulations exist for
The curious
nearh' every naval arsenal in the world. ^
thing
that fifteen years ago the Russians had no
is,
such recrulation at
all
and
at Vladivostok,
1886
in
Admiral Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton, being
ofi"
with the British China Station
took
place
pay a
into his head to
call.
on at the time, and the
fos;
about
was the British
it
fleet,
the it
There was a thick sea the Russians
knew
salutinor inside
their
first
fleet
harbour.
They were considerably impressed by the
incident,-
as
they would
have credited the
never
possibility of such a thing without ocular demonstration,
and they did not altogether
some
later
date
like
When
it.
at
they framed regulations about the
entry of the harbour by foreign warships. Admiral
Hamilton was popularly supposed to be the cause
"
;
but there
evidence to prove
The town
is
" first
an absence of any very direct
this.
of Vladivostok
is
a fine one,
with a
population of about 30,000 in the town itself railway, the first
Tsarvitch,
runs
sod of which was cut nearly
500
miles
Khabarovka on the Amoor River is
destined to run east 1 -
Three
It
is
;
by the
The late
northward
to
but the new line
not likely to be
is the limit in all Italian naval harbours. See " Our Mistake in dealing with Russia."
in
;
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
399
complete working order for some years to come, though excursions were advertised to run a couple of thousand
miles on to
summer
it this
It is said that
(1899).
bad foundations much of the
owing
line will haA^e to be
re-laid.
About £150,000
Port Arthur
^
on improving the
or in dredging the harbour.
forts at Vladivostok,
9.
to be spent
is
Port Arthur perhaps the most easily defended
is
harbour in the Far East, although the Japanese with a big military force took late war.
The
cliffs
it
protect
without much
fire
hostile fleet
of
is
easily
would be
is
such that a strono-
obtained from
Ko
them.
likely to venture within range
save under exceptional circumstances, such
its forts,
as in the Chino-Japanese
War.
Against the place there capable of very
is
to be said that
much expansion
;
it is
easily cut off (as it
it
it is
was in the Chino-Japanese War),
unless held or covered finally,
not
while, standing as
does at the extreme end of a narrow peninsula,
and
the
from a long-range bom-
it
bardment, while their altitude
plunging
loss in
by
a
very strong land force
being round the corner of Korea- nearly
1500 miles from Vladivostok, junctions
in
war-time
between squadrons at the two ports would be exceedingly
difiicult.
'
'
In the case of hostilities with Japan,
For some
A map
political details, see later.
will be found
on
p. 400.
H'-'-T
VCkSM W-ES
'^-"1
MAr OF THE '"FAR
EAST.
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS which has
its
401
Nagasaki base dominating the channel,
such a junction would be almost absolutely impossible
and
war with the British the base
in a
{if it
make
could be held) would
at Wei-hai-wei
the attempt almost
Unless, therefore, she means to
equally dangerous.
abandon Vladivostok as a war base
virtually
hostages to fortune by taking Port Arthur.
bound
than
strength
weakness the
map
;
for her
much given
squadrons, Russia would look to have very
places are
;
The two
to be a source of weakness rather
while
Talienwan
if
will be increased.
Certainly,
added,
is
the
one studies
if
of the district with an open mind, there seems
a good deal of truth in the Russian story that they
only took Port Arthur to keep Germany out of
They may be working
for a
years hence, but
fifty
it
hundred or a hundred and hard to see any nearer
is
From whatever
objective.
Russia's position at Port Arthur
is
it
of several of her
we regard
point of view
it,
improved by the
is
isolated
;
nor
fact that the steaming radius
on the station
ships
is
good
for
more than the 1500 miles between there and
little
A
Vladivostok.
dry dock capable of taking medium
sized warships used to exist at Port Arthur, but like
it.
most Chinese things
freely used,
— in
however, during
bad condition. the war.
it
was
It
was
When
the
Japanese took the place they appear to have destroyed this dock, along with a
was about 400 It is
now
long, 70
ft.
things.
wide, and 26i
ft.
It
deep.
being repaired or converted into a new and
larger dock. 26
ft.
good many other
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
402
Port Silicriaii
to all
Aithuv
lit>
It is a
i'aihva\'.
merchantmen
down with is
will
;i
terminus of the Trans-
purely naval harbour,
and the onlv lambs
:
alloAvecl to lie
There
the lion there, are Chinese warships.
an impression that
ships there
('liina
will
more than she can
closctl
new
not store her
help, unkss, of course,
the Russians succeed in doing what the Japanese have
alreadv tried to do.
—
officer the
bluejackets are probablv o'iven O
Chinese Navy.
among
Chinese
the best in the world,
efficient officers, beino- intelliiient, obedient, O
quite inditferent to of Japanese
'
1...
life.
who have
]
Talienwan
is
0.
Such, at least,
is
and
the opinion
studied and fought them.
Talienwan
to be turned into a double
one military, one commercial
importance has yet been done.
;
harbour
but nothing of
:
much
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS
40;;
BLACK SEA DOCKYARDS 1
Sevastopol in the
is
1
Sevastopol
.
notable cluefiy for the part
war which England, France,
waged against Russia
belongs to the second
As
category as Eevel and Vladivostok.
however,
same
The dockyard,
places, since there are a couple of building-
Except that
slips as well as docks. it is
in the
it
more important than those of the above-
is
mentioned
ships,
a naval port
and comes
class,
Turkey
Sardinia, and
1854-55.
in
played
it
it
builds battle-
very much on a par with the English dock-
yard of Sheerness.
The panoramic view gives
lu
of Sevastopol on page 405
some indication of the extent of the yard.
the centre
of the illustration
the Georg-i Pobie-
donosetz can be detected on the stocks, and noticed that there establishments.
mark the
slip as in
ft.
it.
if
photograph
it
slip,
in
necessary.
1898
A
will reveal the
;
shears
slijjs
Inland aojain are two docks
long by 27 deep
be
will
the northern
Inland, and this side of the
which was enlarged Svititelia
no roofed-in
position of the basin, which has
seaward side of
about 400
is
Dockyard.
:
the
No.
1, Docks.
and the Alexandrovski,
in order to take the Tri
careful
inspection of the
mast and funnels of the
Sinope in this dock. This photograph was taken in the autumn of 1891.
The Georgi Pobiedonosetz ^ was launched 'See
p. 265.
in
sup.
March of
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
404
the year following. Weakness of
down
laid
Since then no warships have been
at Sevastopol
;
and thouo-h great improve<-'
Seuastopol.
ments have been recently made with a view to protecting what that
much
will
easily destroyed
<-
the fortification,
in
done to improve
be
unlikely
exists, it is
dockyard so
a
by long-range bombardment.
The second page
of illustrations
date (1894 or '95)
:
the
is
more recent
of
and third
first
are photo-
graphs of the dockyard from across the small inner
harbour
the second
;
AVar — a
Crimean
which were
is
monument
a Russian
of the
house (the entire inhabitants of
was
killed) left just as it
after the
bom-
bardment.
Thcrc arc other mementoes preserved at Sevast6pol
Captured British guns.
— the cemetery contains a number
of captured British
guns, about which our histories are silent. are ranged
in
These guns
rows like the Russian o-uns that are
such familiar objects in most public places in the
United Kingdom. medal. Six
The
It
is
the
Hundred" guns the
side
of
the
Charge of the
are also in this cemetery.
The warships that have been are
reverse
re-captured " Balaklava
built at Sevast6pol
gunboats Teretz, Kubauetz,
and
Ouraletz,
launched in 1887; the .second-class battleships Tchesma (1886) and Siuope (1887); and the ship Georgi
first-class battle-
Pobiedonosetz, launched
gunboats were built on small
slips
construction of merchant vessels.
in
1892.
The
intended for the
r
C>
C:
6
yi: \f^^i ^_*fc-^
-
V^
.»r
"
2.
The Dijckviin.! from across tlie House left just as it was after
:J.
Dock}"ard
1.
and Coalsheds.
(The rise in Malakoff Rcdouljt.)
anchor.
iniK-r liarliour.
the Auglo-Frtuch boiubarJiuent.
with the circular ironclad Poiroff at the distance above the PopoH' is the
—
—
THE RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS NiKOLAIFF
12.
Nikolaiff,
Kherson,
a
little
above
modern
and one of more importance than Sevastopol,
place, it
Boug
on the
situated
a strongly protected, comparatively
is
409
being
classed
Kronstadt or
burg yards,
Pembroke
as
-
class
naval
Like the
port St.
like
Peters-
purely a building establishment
is
the British Royal dockyard
is
There
resembles.
first
Petersburg.
St. it
a
is
most nearly
it
also a private yard belonging to
the Russo-Belgian Black Sea Company.
The
ships
that have been built at Nikolaifi" are
the gunboats
Donetz, Tchernomoretz, and Zaporetz,
launched in 1887
ships that have been built at niiioiaiff.
the torpedo cruiser Kapitan Sacken
;
(1889); the circular ironclads Novgorod and PopofF ('73
and
'75)
;
the second-class battleships Ekaterina
(1883), Dvenadsat Apostolov (1890); Tri Svititelia (1893)
;
11.
the first-class
and the second-class Rostislav,
launched in 1896.
At
the present time (1899) the first-class hattle- Kmaz
Potemi
Tatjriteheshy.
ship
Potemkin Tavritchesky
Kniaz
is
at
She belongs to the same type as the
Nikolaifi".
English Hood, and Tri Svititelia.
It
more or
is
less
a sister to the
seems probable that she
that vessel in displacement, since her
designed
building
is
will
exceed
armament
as
the colossal one of Four
12-in.
Sixteen
6-in.
Fourteen
Armament.
Q.F.
3-in.
Q.F.
Fourteen smaller Q.F. Five torpedo tubes (two or four of which will be submerged).
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
4IO
In (}.Y.
guns
The
as the Tri Svititelia.
improved
an
is
many
she will carry exactly twice as
fine,
latter, of course,
Potemkin
The Kniaz
Navurin.
G-in.
Tavritchesky will generally resemble her, but the
semblance
will
18
in.
be that of the Majestic to the Eoyal
The
Sovereign.
have about 12
will
savincr
thick instead of
in.
Krupp
of
in.
weio-ht o-oes to extra
in
—about
tion
be 9
will
belt
a curved deck will reinforce
;
the
turrets
The
process steel.
and ammuni-
s;uns
on record of any gain to
case
first
The
it.
armament from reduction of armour
Like
weight.
The
the Tri Svititelia, she will be of low freeboard.
annexed
jolan
re-
approximately represents, so far as
ascertain, the disjjosition of her
armament
I
can
but in the
;
matter of number of funnels and other minor details nothing
The
Machinery.
is
apparently definitely settled.
Ptusso-Beloian
ship's engines.
this
Companv They
will
at Nikolaift'
them by
the contract.
The
making
be of 12,000 horse-
power, and a 12 hours' speed of 18 knots of
is
is
demanded
boilers will be Niclausse
(probably). A Russian
Some
years ago an attempt was
made
to build an
contract-built ship.
ironclad in a private yard at Nikolaiff", but after a few
tons
had been
built into her the contract
was cancelled
and the attempt abandoned.
The Imperial Dockyard dock of 1500 tons, 250
The water
ft.
at Nikolaift' contains a slip
in length over
at NikolaifF
is
all.
too shallow to allow of
ships being completed for sea there.
'
-r: II
CO
a
>II
II
Oi
a II
CO ^-
^
a II
•—
to
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
412
13.
Other Naval Ports
Other ports and dockyards, calling description, are
no special
:
Works
Grey ton
Abo.
for
private
;
yard
at
which
destrovers are built.
This firm
Private yard.
Ijoro.
is
supposed to
be in connection with Yarrow of Poplar.
SvEABOEG. fairly
here
strong fortifications
a dry dock, the Oskar
there
is
56
%\Tide,
ft.
Second-class naval port.
Batum.
Baku
and 18| Naval
ft.
;
and
at Helsingfors
Elkund
— 314
ft.
long,
deep.
port, second class.
(Caspian).
There are
Naval
port,
No
second
docks. class.
No
docks.
AsTP.ABAD (Caspian).
Base of the Caspian small dockyard.
Second
flotilla
;
and
class
in
naval port.
possession of a
XVIII
NEW n^HE
PORTS AND SHIP CANALS
haps by Dardeuelles, said
and
of a British fleet (supported
possibility
to
allies
have
into
shaken
Russian
Straits
able to a hostile
At
should
is
new naval harbour
White Sea the
anyrate, a scheme in the Sea
naval
•
begmnmg
of
rail
impass-
has been
made
with
St.
new harbour only
little
in
Gulf Stream
by means of
Norwegian
freezes
coast,
it
and
ships so
at
Petersburg,
use
this, ;
of course,
with
the
severest
being
close
could
get
the
it
advantages would be theoretically enormous.
that
The
base.
1
1
Without
are entertained.
the
Azov
between the Neva and
a ship canal
harbour would be of
owing to
is
Gulf in the White
in Ekaterina
be connected by
and visions of
Sevastopol
be absolutely
•
1
since this year (1899) a
It will
is
not the only projected base,
\
Sea.
in
them,
fleet.
Kertch, however,
a
faith
first-class
Yenikale
of
pass
making Kertch
impregnable
an
to
allowed
Nikolaifi" as "safeties."
in progress for
Kertch.
with military power) forcing the
being
or
per-
This
winters, to
it,
so
round the
be free from that easiest
whne sea Harbour.
THK IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
414
of
a
Itlockades.
all
blockade
narrow
the
of
seas
round Denmark. Man}-
be realised, Canals.
still
it
A
of the future.
ship canal from
the Black Sea,
likely to be a fait
Russia will
navy
circumstances
The have
in
may
a nearer probability,
many
accompli ere be
then
in
years have
a position
to
con-
the Eu.xine or in the Baltic, as
require.
this gigantic operation
undertaken, and the scheme being under
l)een
Grand Duke Alexander Mihailovitch,
the wing of the
certain of ultimate fruition.
The Ultima Thule of There
is
alreadj'
torpedo boats could Baltic-Euxine
is
prelirninar}^ steps for
is fiiirlv
prospect can
—a
similar project
and
centrate her
a.
as a possibility
Balti(,'
to
sueli
must be regarded
the
passed.
Grand Duke Alexander and Waterways.
must pass before
}'cars
Ru.-^sian
a canal if
for
small
necessary go
the Baltic to the Euxine.
Ship Canals
vessels,
and
by water from
The projected canal
will
Canal.
take the largest ships. Liliau
to
Riga,
thence
The proposed route along
is
from
the Duna, River, the
Beresina, and Dneiper, with an opening at Nikolaiff.
The Sea
of
Azov would probably be connected
The length would be nearly 1000 Difficulties.
difficulties exist
up there
still
107
in
feet
in
the
Dneiper,
miles.
The main
where 200 miles
remain nine cataracts, and a
40
miles.
also.
fall
of
The upper reaches of the
NEW PORTS AND Dneipev,
very
are
too,
here would
difficulties
When made commercial
and
rather
lie
all,
SHIP CANALS and
marshy,
415
eugineering
colossal.
the canal would be primaril}-
than
Given
military.
ever at the mercy of a stronger blockading
uses.
the
it,
Dardanelles and the mouth of the Baltic are
ns
as
still
and
fleet,
the visionarv canal to the White Sea would lead to
away from any
a place too far
centre of operations to
For the steaming radius of ships
be of service.
is
very small, and only a few British ironclads are able to
operate more than a thousand miles from
base.
as
Indeed, 500 miles
England
is
is
more of a
their
So
limit.
far
make no
concerned, the canal would
except in the event of that
very great difference,
—Russia, France,
combination which Russians dream of
and Germany.
But
a fleet of destroyers
Dover
at
and another at Gibraltar would put France out of touch with Russia and Germany, and the day distant
would
when lie
case, too,
mouth
two Powers
the fleets of these other
In any
able to act efi'ectively in concert.
we
could blockade Wilhelmshaven and the
of the
old proverb,
is far
Baltic
Man
grapliA' is greater
without
proposes,
difiiculty.
God
disposes
It
is
the
and geo-
;
than canals.
Against Germany, on the other hand, Russia would find the
-_^,--^.
Baltic-Euxine
^-^
1
r
Canal of
•
•
^
1
1
mestimable value.
Russian ships would certainly try conclusions with
German ones
in case of hostilities,
and a reinforcement
use 0/ the Canal against Germany.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
4i6
such as the Black Sea Fleet would
mean
a tremendous
advantage.
So
far as
England
cally stated in
is
concerned, for reasons specifi-
a later chapter, Russia unaided does
not dream of a "future on the sea
"
^
—yet
anyrate. '
See " Our Mistake in dealing with Russia."
awhile, at
—
XIX UNDER CONSTRUCTION OR "PROJECTED" ABROAD AND IN RUSSIA
SHIPS
rpHE
heavily armed Kniaz Potemkin Tavritchesky
and the Pobieda have already been described the Dockyard section fleet are
The
now
Ret"«'isan
most important
;
She
;
Cramp's
Yard,
The
Russian Navy.
the
and detailed description of her
ft.
;
Length between
London.
breadth, extreme, 72
draught, not to exceed 26
12,700 tons
at
when complete, be the
will,
in
Engineer,
Tlie
perpendiculars, 376 in.
building
is
vessel
following very full
from
new
dealt with.
Philadelphia, U.S.A.
is
the remaining ships of the
:
in
^
ft.
;
ft.
2 "5
displacement, about
indicated horse-power, estimated, 16,000
;
knots
;
speed, at full displacement, for twelve hours,
18
complement, about 750.
The armament loading
twelve 6 -in. breechloadiug
rifles,
rifles,
twenty
firing
rifles,
3-in. rapid-firing rifles,
twenty 47-mm.
rapid-firers, six
unsheathed, 1
27
will consist of four 12-in.
The
2^-in. rapid-
411
hull
is
37-mm.
of steel
by the usual inner
and supplemented p.
rapid-firing-
rapid-firers, six
torpedo tubes.
K. P. Tavritcliesky,
two
breech-
;
Pobieda, p. 324.
Retwhan.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
4i8
bottom, extendiiio- fore and aft throughout the greater
armour
pait of the vessel and reaching up to the
bottom
at the
water-line
of the
be
made
of feed-water if needful.
The
attack,
also
is
tirst,
by a
normal draudat, is
9
in.
maintains
maximum
there
for the carriage
protected from
7^-ft. water-line belt
extending from
4
thick,
hull
and
At
forward to the stem.
This
of the belt below water.
ft.
for two-thirds its total length
maximum
its
and
is
the after barbette
alireast
belt
to
This inner-
belt.
in part for liquid fuel,
bottom space ma}' be used provision
shelf
thickness.
Forward of the
thickness the belt gradually tapers to 2
in.
at the stem.
Above the the
water-line armour, and
gun deck, the
first
tinuous band of
to the line of
sides are reinforced
armour.
by
a con-
The gun casemates
are
thick about the guns of the midship batteries on
5 in.
The protective deck extends from bow
both decks.
to
In wake of the heaviest portion of the water-
stern.
line
6-in.
up
belt
the
slopes
of this
deck,
which terminate
against the lower edge of the water-line armour, are 3 in. thick, while the flat
is
2 in. thick.
Forward and
abaft this region the slopes are increased to 4
midship
flat
section remaining
still
2
in.
in.,
the
Following
the line of the ends of the superstructure, diagonal
athwartship bulkheads of
9-in. steel
extend from the
protective deck to the lower deck, and from the lower
deck to the main deck, completely blocking a raking fire.
All of the armour will be treated by the
process.
Coal, of course,
is
Krupp
stowed in the wake of the
THE niPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
420
water-line
armour and on top of the protective deck,
much more
affording' just tliat
protection against shot
or shell.
The four will
12-in. guns,
which
40
will be of
calibres,
be mounted in two turrets, one forward and one aft
of the central superstructure
At present the design type, but there
and on the same deck.
of the turret
is
of the Russian
every probability that the turrets
is
Maine and
will eventually be similar to those for the
her sister-ships.
At present the
turrets
and barbettes
shown have a continuous thickness of 10 guns have an arc of 6-in.
fire
in.,
of quite 340 degrees.
Eight, four
mounted on the upper and the main deck.
midship battery, will be placed amidships on
the main deck.
These guns are placed in rectangular
sponsons, and have each an arc of
Heavy
The
be of 45 calibres, are to be
guns, which will
in each
and the
fire
cylindrical shields are placed
four remaining 6-in.
of 120 degrees.
on the guns.
The
guns are mounted on the upper
deck at the corners of the superstructure, where their arcs of fire are about
The
180 degrees.
3-in.
ouns are
mounted, twelve on the main deck forward and abaft the 6-in. battery, six on the lower deck between the 6-in. batteries again,
ships,
and two, one on each
upon the bridge deck.
The
guns are placed forward and
aft
bridge deck, and
tops.
tubes are disposed
and
four,
tubes, so
up
in
— one
two on each it is said,
the
side,
amid-
rest of the small
on the bridges, the
The
six torpedo
at the bow, one at the stern,
side, amidships.
The broadside
are to be of the under-water type.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
SHIPS
421
Elaborate arrangements provide for a continuous
supply of ammunition turrets,
all
ammunition
machines
auxiliary
the
to
many
and
hoists,
by
operated
be
will
The
rapid-fire guns.
of
the
electricity.
In the matters of comfort and convenience for the
complement There
will
the
ship
be
will
American.
typically
be a very extensive drainage and ventila-
tion outfit.
The ship
be
will
driven
b}^
two
triple-
expansion engines, in separate water-tight compartments, actuating twin
three-cylinder type, and
the
for the high, intermediate, will be
385
stroke of 42
in.,
59
in.
The
They
screws.
be of the
diameters, respectively,
and low pressure
and 92
in.,
will
in.,
cylinders,
common
with a
collective indicated horse-power
pump
of the engines for the air and the circulating engines,
and
making something be 1G,000. trial of
main
for the
This
like is
to
engines,
when the
latter are
126 revolutions a minute,
will
be kept up continuously for a
twelve hours, and that under natural draught.
The high-pressure cylinders pressure cylinders
aft.
are forward, and the low-
The main valves
will
be of the
piston type, worked by Stevenson link motions with
double bar links.
The valve gear
of these cylinders
will be
made interchangeable
will be
one piston valve for each high-pressure cylinder,
and two
There
as far as possible.
for each intermediate-pressure cylinder
low-pressure cylinder will have four piston valves.
;
each
The
crank shafts will be made in three sections and interchangeable.
The cranks
will
be
120 degrees apart.
All crank, line, and propeller shafting will be hollow
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
422
Each main condenser 9600 square
aljout
have a cooling
will
feet,
siu-face of
measured on the outside of Each
the tubes, the water passing through the tubes.
engine-room will have an auxiliary condenser, having not less than 800 square feet of cooling surface.
Steam
be supplied by twenty-four water-tube
will
working
boilers of the Niclausse type, constructed for a
pressure of 250
lb.
per scjuare inch, reduced to 200
high-pressure
at the
cylinders.
The
boilers will
lb.
be
placed in four water-tight compartments, and there will
The
be two double and two single-ended fire-rooms.
amount
total
of heating surface will be about 58,104
square feet, and the total grate surface will be about
1353
There will be twenty-four furnaces,
scjuare feet.
with
72
latest
and ashpit
fire
doors,
fitted
with
the
The
and best designs of the Messrs. Niclausse.
boilers are to be of iron, malleable iron, cast iron, steel.
Ordinary east iron will not be employed in parts
subject to steam-pressure.
be of bronze. steel
256
and
of lb.,
The steam drums
ample thickness
and
Pipe fittings and cocks will
for a
will be
made
of mild
working pressure of
be fitted with plates for receiving
will
the collectors or headers, which will be of malleable iron thoroughly annealed,
pressure of 400
lb.
and subject
to a hydraulic
per square inch before being incor-
porated into the boilers.
The
boiler casings will be
complete in sheet steel and angle bars, wdth coverings of magnesia or material.
They
some other approved non-conducting will
ashpits, doors for
be
fitted
with grate supports,
sweeping tubes, balance
fire
doors
^
SHIPS
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
closing
automatically, balance
similar
approved
a.shpit
The
features.
and
doors,
funnels,
423
of
all
wliich
there will be three, will reach to a height of 100
above the
The will
ft.
bars.
sri'iite
supply will be 2000 tons.
full coal
be lighted throughout by
carry six large search
-
lights,
electricity,
The
ship
and
will
four of which will be
placed upon the bridges, and two others up in the tops of the military masts.
The
conditions upon the builders, but there
known.
The ship
is
The
successful fulfilment on their part.
be furnished by Russia.
some exacting
ship imposes
The contract
will carry
no fear as to batteries will price
is
not
two second-class torpedo
boats.
A at
Tsamuh.
Petersburg, a fourth ship,
Nemship
is
La Sevne.
At the
Baltic
Works,
of the Peresviet tj'pe,
is
St.
to be laid
vacated by the Gromovoi
be or
A is
building in France
similar ship, the Tsarvitch,
is
laid
down
at the
;
and a
New
down on
fifth
the slip
Peresviet will "^"
Admiralty Works.
sixth Peresviet (or else a replica of the Retvisan)
projected for some future date
—probably
"''-'
after the
launch of the Pobieda in 1901.
No
battleships '-
other than
the
Kniaz Potemkin
Tavritchesky are building or projected in the Black Sea. '
This ship will be named the Borodino.
'^°
"™
**''«
in Black Sea,
^"^'""" '**«•
—
.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
424
Ckuiskrs a cruiser of the
At Cramp's Yard, Philadelphia,
\Nar^ag.
Pallada type, the Waryag, was laid is
"to be delivered"
Her
be.
in
6500
Material
Steel. ft.
Beam
52i-
ft.
Draught {mean)
19f ft. Twelve
Armament
may
not
tons.
400
.
or
and
:
Displacement
Length
in 1899,
may
She
1900.
principal details are
down
6-in.
45
cal.
Obukoff, Q.F.
twelve 3-in. 12-pounders, Q.F.
Two
;
47-mm. (3-pounders).
six
Torpedo tubes
;
suhinerried
— one
above water
in bow, one ditto in stern.
Protection
Deck, 3
in.
on
slopes.
Cellulose and cofferdam.
Gun
.shields,
Hardened IMacbinerjr
4|
to 5 in.
steel.
by Cramp.
Triple-expansion,
Niclausse boilers.
Two Speed (contract)
screws.
23 knots for 12 hours, with 18,00 I.H.P. at 6500 tons displacement.
The Russians have
over-much
not, perhaps,
that this speed will be realised
;
there
is
a tendency to
think that the impossible has been demanded. ship
manages
it
on
trial, it is
belief
If the
of course hardly likely to
be her sea speed for the future, sea conditions being different
to those possible
over 20
knots continuously
speed to maintain.
at is
trials.
an
And
anything
exceedingly good
425
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
426
The
coal
supply (normal)
720 tons
is
the bunker
;
capacity, 1100 tons.
The Askokl, building at
Askoid.
—ships
Kiel,
of the Pallada type,^
is
Waryag, except
practically identical with the
that (as at present intended, 1899) they carry four 6-in.
guns Bogatyr.
and a more or
less,
amount
of coal.
correspondingly larger
less
The Bogatyr,
of this type,
also
is
building in Germany.
Two
other Paiiadas.
Nikolaiff
are
Pallaclas
said
two more, or possibly
;
;
and
existence of no Russian warship
a
way
much
to be
credited.
ships have
of coming into existence without being on the
strength of the Sayan.
is
new Russian
Either in Russia or in England
much
has been named, the
it
till
at
be built
three, will
All these, however, are very
at Galernii Island.
ships of the future
"projected"
be
to
fleet.^
Such have
At La Seync an armoured
Her
under construction. Displacement
7800 Steel.
Length
443
Beam
.
Draught
(mea?i)
Armament
.
.
is
:
tons.
ft.
57
ft.
22
ft.
Two
Bayan,
cruiser, the
details are
jNIaterial
.
political uses.
8-in.
twenty
Q.F. 3-in.
eight 6-in. Q.F.
;
Q.F.
;
;
seven small
Q.F.
Torpedo tubes
.
.
Two submerged and
one (or three)
above-water tube.
Armour ^.
Complete
.
mates,
1
See
'
Thickness of armour uncertain.
p.
349.
2
belt,
in.
;
in.
ggg pp 433
et seq.
and
case-
—
SHIPS
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Speed
23
maximum
knots
draught,
natural
;
427
knots
21
with
16,500
horse-power.
Screws
At
Three.
Stettin a small third-class cruiser, the No^dk,
building, or to be built. Displacement
.
Her
details are
3000 385
Beam
40
Draught (meau)
16 knots.
Armament
Six
ft.
ft.
were originally spoken
4'7-in.
of,
but this gun being
two
6-in.
Q.F.
dis-
Q.F. and twelve 3-in.
Six torpedo tubes.
A protective
.
now
she will .probably carry
carded,
Armour
:
tons.
Length
.
is Novik.
deck of no great thick-
ness (measure not known). ilachinerj", etc.
Xormand
boilers (probably).
Con-
tract speed, 25 knots with 1 7,000
horse-power.
This ship
may
be regarded as a large torpedo cruiser,
or a third-class cruiser of the " look-out nill
have no
less
"
type.
She
than five funnels.
Others of the same type are vaguely spoken as yet (August 1899) are purely visionary.
of,
but
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
428
ToRPKDO CkAFT To keep pace with the construction almost impossible, even in England of those constructing in
out
(
if
som.
ing.
A total
the question.
eventually
The
and
for
:
of destroyers
is
a correct estimate
Russia
of 3 1 boats
is
alto2;ether
is
provided for
of these, 7 are afloat and others build-
;
principal
the Som,'' of the Express type,
is
buildino- at Laird's, at Birkenhead.
All details of this
boat are kept strictly confidential, and the only infor-
mation
at present available is that she is of
displacement and 30-knots speed. swifter than that, the
for
armoured
is
The Express being
presumably going to have
and construction,-
extra stout engines will be
Som
a little like
350 tons
— probably
she
some of the Yarrow boats
Argentina have been.
The boats building
at Ijora in
Russia are to some
extent to be described as " Yarrov^-
"
boats
— the
them being connected with the
constructing
firm
British
lirm at Poplar.
Four boats
are building or projected at Nikolaiff".
Further details will be found in the General Appendix, in
the
list
Russian war-ships
of
built, building,
and projected. Concerning torpedo boats, that at the
moment
class boats of
in
hand
it suflnces
here to mention
of writing (August 1899) eight
first-
118 tons, and 25 knots nominal speed, are
at St. Petersburg,
and nine at Nikolaiff are
projected or building. 1
See
p.
368 and Appendix.
XX EVOLUTION OF TYPE IN RUSSIAN WARSHIPS
T^HE
evolution of Avarship types
scarcel}^,
perhaps, obtains
improve upon each degree, that to
armoured
is
not always is,
An
these ships,^ which are order, will
to such a
to
eas)^.
The
persist-
however, fairly noticeable
cruisers, a species of genealogical table
appended.
is
improvements
other's
ence of a particular type
which
it
of this " inter-marriaore " that main
points are obscured,
of
the attention that
work out any type without having
much
in so
in the
a question that
Nations copy so much from one another, or
deserves.
d}'ao;
all
is
inspection of the plans of
more
or less in chronological
show that the dominant idea from the Minin,
as altered in 1878, to the Rossia, completed in 1898, essentially the same.
In
all
cases the water-line has
been protected before the guns
;
these hav-e simpl}^ had
given to them what weight has been belt
—generally a very
not defence,
Monomakh
is
the
slight
left
over from the
amount of armour.
main
is
idea
Otfence,
from the Vladimir
onwards, though this first-named ship
is
now
almost a specimen of defence at the expense of offence a recent reconstruction and not the original design 429
;
is
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
430
Armoured
In the Gromovoi, indeed, the latest
the cause of that.
cruisers.
of the type Rurik, protection, as has been .shown,
given to the guns nominally at the expense of the
is
belt,
but modern improvements in armour have a lot to do
with
also
it
;
the resisting power of armour has more
than doubled in twenty years.
EVOLUTION OF AEMOUKED CRUISERS Minin (1869) (
= Engli.sh
Captain type) General Admiral (1873)
and Gerzog Edinhurg.ski (1875)
Minin altered 1878 (on lines of French Richelieu)
I
Vladimir Monomakh (1881) and Dmitri Donskoi (1883) I 1
'
r
i
\
IS'ahimoff (188-5)
Groziatschj' (1890)
|
Khrahri (1895)
|
Pamiat Azova (1888) I
Rurik (1892) I
(English Renown)
(English Powerful)
Rossia (1896)
I
I
I
i
Gromovoi (1899) Peresvet (1898)
The Peresvet,
of course, has no connection with the
but as she
an evolution of the British Renown
rest,
with a
little
is
of the Powerful thrown
fluence of these ty^pes is
is
visible in the
in,
and the
in-
Gromovoi, she
included above.
In battleships
and
in the
it is
not so easy to trace any evolution,
development of the broadside vessels a big
EVOLUTION OF TYPE gap
The Alexander
is felt.
when
all
IN
WARSHIPS
coincides with a time
11.
Baweships.
the rest of the world had abandoned the broad-
side ship, the last
previous
being the French
effort
Courbet, and that some five years before. the two
431
big guns
Alexander
are in a
turret
class represents the
or
Although
barbette, the
latest effort to bring
the broadside ship to suit modern requirements.
Gangoot was simply a small Alexander. Alexander
may
belonging to
its
claim the very latest
type
;
the
The
In a way the battleships as
new American vessels embody
something of the Alexander
idea, for all that
they are
more obviously developed Majesties. EVOLUTIOis^ OF
Kreml
BROADSIDE lEONCLADS
(1864) I
Kniaz Pojarski (1867)
Alexander Nikolai
ii.
i.
(1887)
(1889)
Gangoot (1893)
None the a modernised
less it is
and
by no means impossible that
fairly near
copy of the Alexander
r/.e //.
may ^
become the yet ^
o ship of the future
fiffhtinor
o
J.
trend of modern thought at present
is
The
against the big
wun, and one can well conceive of conditions under
which two
12-in.
guns might be considered enough,
especially if well protected.
Again, modern armour
/i/cxander
type
may
be
the battleship
of the future.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
432
is
so
good that a great area of a modern ship
is
invulnerable to the 6-in. shot, and doubly so against
that piece's
another
A
shell.
affair,
and an
no longer any good
6-in.,
for
is
all
6-in.
is is
already adopted for new-
United States
Twelve-in.,
and Kentucky.
these are
what the
to do
8-in.
gun, however,
9-in.
It is found, too, in the
Italian designs.
Kearsarge
modern
and
9-in.,
to be found in the Alexander type,
of antiquated pattern of course
—
the idea
still,
is
there.
Finally, the Alexander combines these things with
modern
a complete belt, that
qua non
sine
to which
only the French have given unwavering allegiance,
but to wliich
all
the newest designs are trending.
EVOLUTION OF TUEEET-SHIPS American Monitors (1860-64) I
Greig, Lazareff, etc. (1868)
Peter Veliky (1872)
(
= English
Thunderer)
I I
(English Trafalgar) I
I
Oashakoff dass (1893-96)
\
|
I
Kavarin (1891) I
I
Dvenadsat Apostolov (1890) I
Sissoi
i
Kniaz Potemkin
Veliky (1894)
(U.S. Indiana
and French Brennus)
Tri Sviatitelia (1893)
Tavritchesky
I
(building) I
I
Poltriva class (1894)
Turret-ships
Rostislav (1896)
lu tuiTet-ships, the Peter Veliky idea died with that ship, not to
be revived
till
nearly twenty years later
;
EVOLUTION OF TYPE That
in the Navarin.
ship,
WARSHIPS
IN
however,
433
practically a
is
Unlike the
Russian version of the English Trafalgar.
English, whose only advance upon the Trafalgars was
the solitary Hood, the Russians have held to this
man's ideal
now
the Kniaz
shij),
na-\'al
Potemkin Tavritehesky
building being simply a normal evolution of the
Trafalgar type.
modern
other
Apostoloff
is
The United States Kearsarge edition of a Trafalgar.
is
the only
The Dvenadsat
an out-growth of the Trafalgars much
The same
the English Royal Sovereigns are. cause
is
Trafalgar type.
at work, the recognition of the
as
operating-
tremendous
advantages conferred by high freeboard.
The
Sissoi
Desire for high freeboard.
Veliky
is
a frantic effort to
combine high freeboard
with low freeboard advantages
same type heavily ships
— the
affected
Poltavas
—
;
the Rostislav
by the Poltavas.
are out-crops of
the
is
the
These
United
States Indiana and Iowa, p?u5 the freeboard of the Sissoi Veliky.
The Retwisan does not belong she
is
to this lot at all
an American new Maine, an evolution of the
English Majestic.
The Ekaterina
11.
class,
and the sequel
to
them, the
Georgi Pobiedonosetz, do not appear to be evolved from
anything designers.
^
save the inner consciousnesses of Russian
There
may
be,
and judging by the nou-
ftafm«a
//.
type unique.
persistance of the type probably are, practical objections to these vessels, but theoretically they
'
of
embody
a
Unless indeed, as before noted, tliey can be railed developments
the Popoffkas.
unique.
28
But
these curious craft were
still
more
essentially
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
434
command
splendid idea, and admiration.
no
Power
otlier
ment of
It
tills
is,
good deal of naval
a
to say the least of
it,
curious that
has attempted any copy of develop-
^
type.
It is
not
conceive of a
difficult to
15,000 ton Georgi Pobiedonosetz which would be in no
way
inferior to the latest
developments of the IMajestic
Probably an undue holding to the theory that
class.
a single projectile could " do
up
"
the four forward guns
majr have had something to do with
A
this.
very
moderate screen would, however, prevent anything of that sort, added to which the two pairs would hardly
one might very
well, of course, hit the other
but in any case,
till
missed
hard by
;
that happened there would be four
guns instead of two bearing right ahead, while
bis;
Run-away
astern perhaps six could bear.
the best for these ships
only in a of
What
likely to be often in a direct line.
l)e
fleet
one or two of them
would be a nuisance.
them one can
wisdom
— so that
see points,
and
tactics are
But
in a squadron
it is difficult
ro see the
abandonment of them
of the Russian
Black Sea Fleet, unless there
is
some
in
the
practical disad-
vantage which could only be learnt by long exjjerience of the type.
But
Pobiedonosetz built 1
The Greek
that be so,
why was
li.
the Georgi
?
Spetsai class and the Austrian
cmbod}- the Ekaterina ratlier
if
idea
;
Rudolph
to
some extent
but, being smaller ships, are necessarily
"throw backs" than developments.
XXI FINANCE ~1
N
view of the var3nng price and requirements of naval construction, the
£
s.
d.
of naval estimates
proves nothing whatever, or next to nothing.
On
the
other hand, for statistical and political purposes, in
which
facts are of
from,
they
have
incorporated here. 1892
no particular use except to considerable
value,
so
select
they are
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
436
an established custom in Russia/ fifnu-es
under
—and the absence
value
head negatives such small
this
as the taljulation of estimates
of
might otherwise have.
Facts can only be deduced from the progress of ships
completed, and this since 1878 has been normal
IMuch of the talked-of recent increase
quite recently. is
fictitious
:
the broad fact remains, however, that an
increase exists, and
"
it
exists along
a definite line of
Russia always has in view a possible naval
policy.
alliance
till
between
We
Germany, and France.-
herself,
are all building
always go on
it,
England
ships.
Probably you and
building.
not live to see
more
I
can't shall
but a day must come some time
when, to equal the three, England
will
have to have
two hundred battleships and eight hundred
Your naval superiority cannot
last
for
cruisers
ever."
!
So
me the man who, more perhaps than anyone may be taken to represent future naval aspirations
said to else,
of Russia,
Russian is
and who
fleet a
a powerful
at
is
doing
power to make the
factor of the future.
But geography
enemy, and the new Admiralty harbour
Dover must
still
lie
at Dover, this
the
sea.
control
new
left for
the situation
triple alliance
Still, all this is
have to be
all in his
:
while
we
cannot unite on
a matter for posterity,
posterity to settle.
'
See biograpliT of Apraksin in Appendix.
^
See later sections.
and
will
XXII THE SLOWNESS OF RUSSIAN NAVAL CONSTRUCTION
TN
the Times,
December 1888/ some
description was
given of tw-o 8000-ton battleships buikling in the
Black Sea, and two in the Baltic of 9800 and 6600
Of
tons.
these,
one of the 8000-ton ships was possibly
the Dvenadsat Apostoloff, launched about four years later it
;
the other 8000-ton ship can
fit
no vessel unless
be the Rostislav, barely yet complete.
Baltic ship
may
stand for the Gangoot doubled
larger I cannot identify in any way.
1889—90, " Brassey," she cruiser, the
armament the
and seventeen
The smaller
6-in.
guns
is
down
In the as
;
the
lists
of
an armoured
truly awful one of four 9-in.
Presumably
!
this ship is a
foreshadowing of the Rurik, but that vessel was then in a nebulous sta2:e altoo;ether.
Agaiu,^ a 1500-ton gunboat, carrying a belt of
armour, and armed with one 16-in. gun and two is
tabulated and described
Admiralty Works.
show
as
building at the
Examination and
surmise
5-in. 8-in.,
New may
and harmless Grosiatschy.
this to be the mild
Naval Annual, 1889-90,
1
Brassey's
2
Brassey, 1889-90, p. 84. 437
p. 466.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
438
It
would not be
instances
there are
more
of
to
difficult
or
less
cite
a dozen similar
mythical
To-day
ships.
Bubakoff and two or three
the Admiral
sisters to the Peresviet all
"building" at one or other
of the St. Peter.sburg dockyards, though there are no slips
upon which they could be constructed.
Now,
it
must be borne
mind that the
in
details
culled from Brassey, 1889-90, were soberly given in a
publication that no one could accuse of sensationalism.
They were presumably given on the
best evidence pro-
Yet the ships were purely mythical,
curable.
or as
good as mythical.
The question as " building"
is.
How
did they
Eussian Government
In the
may have
going for political reasons. of thing fairly well,
Pedro d'Aragon,
or
more
been and
— and
likely,
:
more
this
is
still
is
exists or ever has existed. as likely a reason
— these mythical
armoured ounboat. with the
bound
A
in
sunk
steadilv listed for
as
any,
vessels are the result
number
16-in.
and
of people
The 1500-ton
or less technicallv ionorant.
ridiculous that
information
the armoured cruiser
of information passing through a all
the
the
Spain has done this sort
we know
But no such ship
Secondly,
set
first place,
a sister to the Cristobal Colon
Santiao-o, has
years.
to be accepted
?
There are various answers.
at
come
8-in. o-uns, is so
this particular case
one
is
almost
to accept that hypothesis.
third reason
may
be found in the undeniable fact
that a good deal of the naval expenditure
money
in
SLOWNESS OF CONSTRUCTION Russia never reaches the navy. Russia are
full
Foreign residents in
moneys thus intercepted and
of stories of
misappropriated.
It is not necessary here to
the reasons and causes of this state of still
remains that
who knows
Russia,
and wherefore. to stop
exists,
it is
more
In time
it
439
— the
affairs,
and everyone
go into
in Russia, or
or less cognisant of the will be stopped
fact
why
an attempt
:
explains some of the present naval activity
it
in Russia.
Hence any ship
down
laid
or building in Russia
is
to be regarded with suspicion, unless very clear evidence
of her existence
to be procured
is
no Russian ship should reserve, and, in
till
she
launched
is
be taken to exist without
view of the normal slow rate of ship-
building there, should
done her
:
be counted
she
little till
has
trials.
At the
jDresent
day there
word insanity advisedly
—
is
an insanity
—
I
use the
for the compilation of tables
of comparison between English, French, and Russian fleets.
As
a rule, every ship j^rojected goes
down
in
these tables, and a lot of useless and misleadino- com-
For while
parisons are the result.
a ship is usually
completed several months, perhaps a year, sooner in
Enoiand than between
in
France
the-se ships
;
in Russia the time distance
and British ones
is
(with a few
notable exceptions like the Rossia) two, or three, or
even four years.
Russian ships are in consequence to
that extent always behind the times, the three Pol-
tavas as yet (1899) barely complete are in date and
methods
of
construction
equivalent
to
the
British
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
440
Royal Sovereign
which were doing duty
class,
afloat
in 1894.
What may are
in Brassey
gi^-en
appended, and that fact
be termed the sanest comparative tables
is
if
:
a ship
noted.
the is
date of launch
is
tliere
building or only projected
Date of launch
as regards preparedness for war,
is
still,
a vague thing it is
a deal in
comparison with some of the tables people make where everything
The
is
muddled up anyhow.
instructiveness of
all this
can best be gauged
by tables of the British and Russian class
battleships
The 1894 all
table
is
in
first
and second
1894 and at the present time.
taken from Brassey for that year, but
ships then incompleted have been put in italics
Fikst-Class Battleships in 1894
:
—
SLOWNESS OF CONSTRUCTION First-Class Battleships in 1894 England. Launched.
441
(continued) Russia.
Name.
1884. Rodnej^ 1892. Royal Oak. 1891. Eoyal Sovereign. 1887. SansPareil. 1887. Trafalgar. Total, 22 shiiDS
;
16
effective.
Total, 9 ships
;
Second-Class Battleships in 1894 uiiclied.
Name.
1 effective.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
442
A
good deal of difference
!
However, these
are not quite exact, the Centurion ferior ships to the Sissois,
and Barfieur being
still
a mythical
should run
"pro"
ship.
:
Gross England
in-
and the Hercules and Sultan
unfit for inclusion in a second-class is
figures
list.
Sissoi
HI.
Eevised, the figures
SLOWNESS OF CONSTRUCTION
443
First Class England. Launched.
Rlssia.
Name.
1893. Empress of India.
Name. 1892. Georgi Pobiedonosetz.
1S93. Hood.
Bldg. Paris {Kniaz Potemlcin
Launclied.
1894. Magnificent.
Tavritclieslaj, now).
1894. Majestic.
1894. Petropavlovsk.
1893. Eamillies.
1894. Poltava.
1893. Repulse.
1894. Sevastojyol.
1893. Kesolution.
1893. Tri
1893. E«venge.
Bldg.
* Retwisan.
1893. Eoj-al Oak.
Bldg.
* Tsarevitcli.
S%'ititelia.
1892. Eoyal Sovereign. 1896. Jupiter.
1897. Hannibal. 1897. Mars. 1897. Illustrious.
1897. Yictorious1897. Csesar. 1896. -Prince George.
1898. Canopus. 1898.
Glorij.
1898. Albion. 1898. Goliath. 1898. Ocean. 1898. Bulwark. 1898. rmplacdble. 1899. Formidable.
Bldg.
* London.
Bldg.
Irresistible.
1898.
Vengeance.
Bldg.
* Venerable.
Bldg.
* CornwalUi.
Bldg.
* Duncan.
Bldg.
* Kcrnouth.
Bldg. * Eussell. Total, 33 ships
;
19 effective.
Total, 8 ships
:
4
eli'ective.
444
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY Possibly the ironclad Sevastopol should be added
to the effective ships, fully complete is
put to
all
on
tlie
by the end of
ground that she this year.
ships that are a good
An
asterisk
way removed from
completion as yet.
Let us now turn to the second-class
England.
will be
vessels.
SLOWNESS OF CONSTRUCTION To summarise
:
445
XXTII THE RUSSIAN ADMIRALTY Russia's
advantage.
'
USSIA
R'
has one great advantage over us, in that her
Admiralty cauuot be changed subject
have been
in the past,
need entail
little
we
True,
will of the people."
and
a
to
now than we
are safer
change of party in power
save a change of figure-head in the
person of the First Lord of the Admiralty
;
and the
First Lord, whatever nonsense political exigencies
compel him
to
talk
out of
office,
when he " the
Whitehall generally adheres carefully to of the
service
"
"the
and
fixed
may
sits
at
custom
schemes of construction.
Should a General Election turn upon whether Mr.
John Kensit
Lord
or
Halifax
is
the
person most
meaning of the
qualified to interpret the
Bible,
it
no
longer follows that our entire shipbuilding programme
may
stand to
permanence
of
upset
be the
modern innovation
;
endure, even though
Admiralty nor
we
But
thereby.
is
it
is
this
semi-
comparatively
a
necessarily one that will
shall probably
always escape
carrying the matter so far as our friends the French. Weafi point
"When
all is said
and done, however, our Admiralty
is
in British
Admiralty.
very
much
at the mere}" of the Treasury
;
and
for party
—
THE RUSSIAN ADMIRALTY needs,
may
money
that should have been voted for the navy
go instead to adorn some parish pump.
There is
is
none of
voted for the
this nonsense in Russia
navy by a
stable
much
money
of the
;
but that
of the system. indefinite
money and
A
good deal
much
it
was not
in-
Peculation in
a personal question rather than one
is
The
superiority of a definite over an
The
system remains.
ian, Carthaginian,
the
does not get dispensed
farther than certain pockets for which
tended
;
institution
dispensed by another stable institution. too
447
collapse of the Athen-
Venetian, and nearly
all
other sea
empires, from the interference of political or popular
Dangers of democratic
meddlers, forms a very unpleasant object-lesson.
The Russian Admiralty 1.
The President, who
present a
member
been a naval sine
interference.
consists of is
Admiralty.
the General- Admiral
— at
of the Imperial family; but his having
officer,
not Imperial relationship,
is
the
qua non. 2.
The Minister
3.
Ten Admirals.
of Marine, Vice-President.
The General- Admiral
is
the Commander-in-chief of
GeneraiAdmiral.
the Navy, responsible to no one save the Emperor.
The present holder
of the rank
Alexei, the third son of the late
and uncle of the present
is
H.I.H. Grand
Duke
Emperor Alexander
11.,
a naval officer.
His
Tsar.
The Minister of Marine
is
principal duties (apart from those on the Board) are chiefly financial cial
;
all
save the most- important finan-
questions being settled in his department.
The
Minister of Marine.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
448
present
of the otiice (1899)
holder
is
Vice-Admiral
Tyrtoff. Duties.
The
special duties of this
more important
the Naval Regulations, the questions,
and the inspection of
To
yards.
Board are attending
this
ships, ports,
to
financial
and dock-
Board the various branches of the
Admiralty are subordinate. These branches are
Navy
:
(Headquarters).
1.
Chief
2.
Supreme Naval Court.
3.
Chief
4.
Hydrographer's Department.
5.
Construction and Suppl}' Department.
6.
Technical Committees.
7.
Admiralty Department.
8.
Medical Department.
9.
Record
Staft'
Law Department.
Office,
and a few minor departments.
1.
The Na^'y head,
is
Chief Navy Staff
Staff,
with the Chief of the staff at
divided into two departments
Intelligence
Department
(a)
and probably
Japanese "N.LD." Russian one
(h)
the Naval
the Personnel Department.
NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DEPAKTMENT
The Russian Naval to be,
;
— (a)
its
it
is
is,
Intelligence
Department
is
said
the best in the world, though the
may run
it
rather
close.
said over there that they
Of the
know
as
!
THE RUSSIAN ADMIRALTY much
or
more about our navy than
449
the First Lord of
the Admiralty, and that they consider our lutelligence
Department an "interesting
know
tainly
tions than
more about our
far
most of our
officers are
course this sort of thing
Navy than
to
any
to blame, because
Intelligence
yarn, that
its
if
name.
an
tion to the "N.I.D."
Department
is
not
money
much to
British n.i.d.
do
sends valuable informa-
sends him stamps to defray
it
the other hand, he
for us that
well-known British
—but no one has yet earned
his postage,
On
essential to the British
It is a
officer
Of
allowed to know.
not allowed enough
it is
anything to justify
Navy
is less
cer-
confidential instruc-
and a blessed thing
other,
Our own
it is so.
They
institution."
those stamps
!
pretty certain to have been
is
snubbed.
The Russians work amount
of
things
money expended upon
be something enormous. exactly
diflferently,
how
and another certain
Secret Service
must
Naturally one cannot learn
money
this
and the
is
expended, but in one way
facts leak out.
The Russians
are
justly proud of the efficiency of this department, and it is,
of course, rather to their interest than otherwise
that the
acumen Certain
Russia.
of
it is
it
should be
that
it is
respected outside
no secret
in the country
other nations' confidential
that the confidential books issued to the
owm and any sole
our
used by Russia. booi<s
other important navy, are usually issued
to Russian officers
whose
officers in
before
being issued to those for
consumption they were intended
Again, the Russians possess
all
the drawings of our
secret 0/ British sub-
submerged torpedo 29
tubes, but, like the French (who also
merperf tubes.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
450
possess them), these designs arc of no use to them, as
the
man who
sold
Very
of the weapon.
Information
secret
few, indeed, do.
popular notion in this country that our dock-
It is a
The men who supply
them did not know the prime
yards and the Admiralty
Whitehall contain
offices at
to Russia.
numbers of Russian
A
tion.
little
speaking this
who
spies
collect
of this no doubt
is
is
not the method.
and
sell
informa-
done, but generally
Valuable secrets are
hardly to be found that way, and information goes to Russia
employes it is
from
much
higher
than humble
quarters
go directly
It does not
will ever occupy.
;
even possible that those who supply do not know
where
it
goes
To be
—they do not
officially
know, at anyrate.
one can be over a matter of
as explicit as
own
this sort, certain people
own)
(or feel that they
the perquisite of selling information to an intermediate quarter,
whence
it
cerned asks questions of course. altogether a secret to to
desire
defeat
our administration
may
it
be
at
our " salt horse " officers.
;
indeed, a
the bottom of the is
dealt out to
Things the secret of which
confined to the
Vernon or Whale Island remain
secrets;
when they
are issued as "confidential" to all
officers,
other people
is
besides
kept absolutely
naval
officers
can
lay
There are one or two things
claims to possess them.
Russian Naval
con-
This can hardly be
niggardliness with which information
Secrets.
Nobody
re-sold to Russia.
is
secret.
In the usual way,
it
is
the Naval Attaches
who
are
Attaches.
expected to and who do collect information those
of
Russia
collect
;
and
if
more than those of other
THE RUSSIAN ADMIRALTY Governments,
it is
451
only because they are more carefully
selected.
In this country of course
it
is,
generally speaking,
to our interest to let foreigners see as
of our dockyards, and so on. sillier
we
as possible
Nothing could well be
than the outcry now and again raised against
foreigners being as
much
shown over our dockyards.
are, it is well to let
them know
stringent regulations nearly always lack of preparation
it
;
is
Secrecy and
it.
mean
weak
the
Prepared
defects
and
points, not the
strong ones, that nations chiefly desire to hide.
Brand-
new
inventions are of course exceptions, but these are
rare
and
isolated.
Naval Attaches, Russian the dockyards of our
own
of course, merely what
them.
Of what they
is
or
or
any
;
round
hou, nauai Attaches work.
considered ad^asable to show
see they
men methods adopted
other, going
any other navy, are shown,
gress of repairs or construction
so on.
our system.
make ;
notes
—the
pro-
ability of the work-
for this or that little thing
;
and
All of which they send to their Governments.
In addition, they have standing orders with marine
photographers for any new photographs of warships to be sent them.
They further study
newspapers bearing
on
naval matters,
all
important
extract
the
wheat from the chaff as much as they can, and send
it
over to their Intelligence Department.
The mass
of Russian information (other than that
rtussian
"spies."
referred to specifically above)
is
obtained in this fashion
;
the spy people, such as there are, have nothing to do
with the attaches.
So many absurd
stories are
and
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
452
have been written about Russian
spies, that
most people
The
believe everythino- or nothino; eoiicerninii; them.
truth
lies
and rather
a mean,
in
mass of the Russian "spies"
a small mean.
T)ie
country belong
in this
rather to the police than to the Intelligence Depart-
At the same
ment.
time, the
not altogether puny
knows when Enoiish
for
;
work of these agents
is
one thing, Russia always
spies or agents have found out
On
anything about her worth knowing.
the other
hand, some of these agents are not chary of inventing information
when
it
The
cannot be found otherwise.
actual, as opposed to the nominal, speeds of our best war-
ships
one subject in which Russia
is
and one over which she
is
most
is
deeply interested,
liable to
be fooled.
For instance, the Russians possess the information that our Majestic cannot steam continuously at a greater rate than fourteen knots (13'9 their exact figure).
it is
recollect aright,
if I
perfectly true that the
station-keeping speed of the Majesties
highest
knots
Xow
is,
14
but any of them can steam independently at
;
over 15 knots
^
for
days
—
so long as her coal lasts, in
—an important
The two speeds have been mixed
fine.
is
error. Still
the fact remains that here a piece of valuable
enough information had been obtained
—one procurable
from certain publicly published sources not
known
to
the mass of people
interested in the
Now we '
in
navy though they may
it is
this
true,
but
country,
be.
possess absolutely no similar data as to
The Hannibal, May
1899, did 16i knots continuously.
.
THE RUSSIAN ADMIRALTY Russian ships, at least none with any
we
;
seal of
official
Yet they could be procured fairly
authenticity on them. easily if necessar}'
453
lack the
same capacity
for taking
trouble/ and content ourselves with characterising the
Russians as " underhand," and the rest of
it.
Another duty of the Russian N.I.D.
is
to collect
other duties. Russian N.I.D.
details of coast defences, forts, mines, torpedo stations,
and
so forth, of
any Power with which they are
Knowledge as to how many
to be engaged in hostilities.
guns and of what
ammunition
Ave
and how much garrison and
calibre,
have in the
Wight, or the exact
Isle of
position of the mine-fields at Spithead,
primarily of
make
it
use, still
so are possible.
useful an
SO
much
principle
is
The sex
way
always the same,
able minor facts
-
of
may
not seem
eventualities that
ornament plays
In whatever
this sort.
likely
might
of which Delilah
was
share in things of
its
these things are done the
— the
collection of innumer-
importance in themselves,
little
which the headquarters Intelligence Department
collect
and arrange.
What by common business "
the
however,
"
spy
fraction
of
the
called
is
merely a
small
work done by the Naval Intelligence
It
Depart-
All the cruising programmes, stations of ships,
ment. ^
is,
consent
of course, "
is,
And
degree.
there
not wortli our while are always a
Parliament prone to consider that .Service should be publicly
As an
"
to
cei'tain
all details
anything like the same
number
of
Jlembers
of
of expenditure on Secret
announced.
may
inention that when I went to the Russian X.I.D. in connection with ray tour of the dockj-ards, I found that they had a photograph of myself there, by means of which I was at once -
recognised
instance, I
spies of the fair sex.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
454
positions for coast defence, training and mobilisation,
worked out at the N.I.D., which
are
a very large
is
building;. //,
Thc Hiost
interesting
interesting thing that
I
saw there
map.
it
has absolutely nothing novel about
map
indicated upon certain
of
it
;
a
huge
Navy, down
The
special interest lay in
map had been
in the pin-holes
that
to torpedo boats,
also the positions of foreign vessels
quarters.
fact that this
and
—was
of the world, with the positions of every single
vessel in the Paissian
in
it
— though
upon
it
in use
some
the
little while,
one could trace the course
famous move when the
Veliky and
Sissoi
Navarin were suddenly sent from the Mediterranean to the after
"war
China station, and the British Victorious sent
them was stranded
map
forgotten now, but this Sissoi
days of 1898
scare" of the early
pin-holes
made
it
all
it
fairly
is
almost
with the courses of the
and Navarin, and every
their paths, recalled
That
the Suez Canal.
off
enemy near
possible
very vividly indeed.
The
apparent for tvhose benefit the
two ironclads were sent
The Power
out.
in question
was not Eng;land.
(h)
PEESONXEL DEPARTMENT
The Personnel Department assistant-chief of the
Navy
is
Staff,
under a rear-admiral,
and
its
recruiting, appointment, jjromotion, pay,
of officers and men.
The Chief
of the
duties cover
and retirement
Navy
Staft" is
head of both these branches, under the Minister of Marine.
With the
aid
of the
heads of these two
;
THE RUSSIAN ADMIRALTY branches, his duties are to draw up
all
455
movements of
peace and dispositions for war.
2.
Supreme Naval Court
The Supreme Naval Court
is
a court of appeal in
connection with the local naval courts. is
an admiral, and there are
Its president
members
five other
of
less rank.
Supreme
3.
Law Department
The Law Department
is
the Supreme Naval Court.
kind of
Hydrographer's Department supervises and
all
surveying and exploration works, gets out
and supplies charts and ships'
service.
Hydrographer's Department
4.
orders
It attends also to every
matter connected with the naval
lecral
The
merely a legal branch of
libraries
all
nautical
instruments
and kindred matters are
also
under
its wiucr.
5.
Construction and Supply
The Construction Branch attends at
home and abroad
departments
:
the second for
the all
branch generallv.
first
;
to shipbuilding
the Supply Branch
has two
devoted to the supply of
stores,
the financial part of supply to the
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
456
The Technical Committee
G.
This Committee has for members the directors and assistant
directors
-
of gunnery, torpedo, engineering,
and
construction,
naval
Every
works.
technical
matter connected with the navy, inchiding new
through
VL'utions, goes
responsible
Department
struction
7.
This
a
is
that
seeing
for
hands
their
is
;
and they are
work
the
in-
of the
Con-
carried out.
Admiralty Department branch,
literary
and
attends
to
the
General- Admiral's correspondence, and puts into form all
reports
received
or
issued
by
all
the other de-
partments.
8.
This with the
on
attends fleet,
officers
ease,
The Medical Department to
all
sanitary
— supervises
matters
connected
hospitals, sick-lists, reports
and men incapacitated by wounds or
and everything
else
within
the province of
disits
name. 9.
The Record Office
This deals with Naval Records Past and Present,
—the
care
reports,
of ships'
logs,
preserves correspondence,
and recommendations.
XXIV ENTRY AND TRAINING OF OFFICERS 1.
/"OFFICERS
the Russian
for
—
two ways
Executives
(l)
supplementary
are obtained in
by an orthodox system not very
different to our Britannia ''
Navy
system
;
(2)
by a species of
list."
The former, who compose the bulk
There
by competitive examination.
tives, are entered
no svstem of nomination
is
of the execu- smry
of regular e^ecutwes.
as for the Britannia in
the British Navy, but what has been called the "close corporation "
down
secured by
is
regulation which lays
a
that only the sons of nobles
The age
compete.
fourteen years,
—a
of entry
is
^
or officers
very low
very wise provision
— twelve
naval
;
may to
Regulations
""'"' '"""'
^se of
entry.
officers
cannot be entered too young.
Those who pass the examination are admitted
to
"auai cadets.
the corps of Naval Cadets, in which they serve four years
and two as midshipmen {guarde-
cadets
as
•marine).
^
Gentry
candidate
is
is
tlie
a
man
have a handle
nearest equivalent English term
to his
of
good family
name.
it
is
;
so long as
tlie
not essential that he shall
Midshipmen,
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
458
These cadets and midsliipmen are divided into six companies, each year's entry
forming a company.
Each company averages 80 strong, but owing
two junior companies
increase the
having
whole corps
l^een
standard number for the
about 500
all
For the
year,
^
brought up to 600, Previously
future.
first
three
years
cadets
the
— twenty
-
was
an
receive
eight
hours
a
the professional education begins with the fourth
and
is
prefaced by an examination.
during the summer they are sent afloat
the winter;
masted
This profes-
on shore during
sional education includes theory, etc.,
in
it
its
told.
ordinary academy training ;
are stronger, that
numbering over 100, consequent upon the
of 1898
week
an
to
In the course of these three years
ships.
they put in
three
courses,
mostly
dealing
afloat,
with the general practical work of their profession.
A
fourth course afloat
special
navigators'
is
devoted to navigation
branch
having,
like
the
(the'
special
corps of gunnery, been abolished in 1885). Finally, there
is
a four
months'
cruise, usually to
the "West Indies, after which they have to undergo a final
examination for mitchman
About 10 per
cent,
may
fail
{i.e.
to pass
sub-lieutenant). this;
they are
then put back for extra training, or discarded altogether,
according
mitchmen do in
is
to
decided
circumstances.
by how
as
guardes-marine
this examination.
The ranks of mitchmen '
the
Seniority
No work
is
are also filled from outside.
doue on Wednesdays or Sundays— both religious days.
TRAINING OF OFFICERS Young men
of sufficient
serve in the
fleet,
education
459
allowed to
are
suppiementaries.
they have interest enough to
if
obtain permission from the authorities as " volunteers."
They
are allowed to go in for the mitchman's examina-
tion,
and
if successful,
They
enrolled as officers.
usually sent to the Siberian or Caspian Fleet in the Siberian Fleet proper
with the regular
are
— service
being anything but popular
officers.
Thereafter mitchmen and officers senior do courses at the
Naval Academy.
tactics,
gunnery, torpedo, war game,
two year
are
and by
Nauai Academy.
Here they learn strategy, There
etc.
etc.
courses, also shorter ones of seven months,
also general ones for the winter months, attended
all officers,
week
Naval
are devoted to
will be
War Game,
days a
details of
which
found in a later section.
There
is
no exact age but
to lieutenants,
Avithout
if
promotion of mitchmen
for
they have gone for ten years
promotion they are placed on the retired
Promotion
list.
Two
from admirals downward.
lieutenant
to
months' sea service, and ships, three
days'
sea
is
by
In training-
seniority.
service
forty
necessitates
count
as
four days
served.
Lieutenants receive special courses ise
in
anything
Gunnery
and
— gunnery, torpedo
torpedo,
schools
are
if
they special-
navigation, at
etc.
Kronstadt,
musketry at Oranienbaum on the mainland hard by. lieutenants for navigating; duties
examinations
have
matter of promotion
some
—a
who do
special
well in their
privileges
in
the
plan introduced to popularise
Lieutenants.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
460
this Ijranch Retiring age.
when the stafF-commauders were
Uupromotcd
Heutenaiits are not retired
till
abolished.
they
re;ich
Senior lieutenants used
the age of forty-seven.
be called kajiitan-lieutenant, but
rank
that
to
now
is
abolished.
The ncxt
Kapitans /.
and
step
lieutenant
after
is
kapitan
11.
II.
rang (commander), the age limit of which
The majority of commanders that
vears.
across are, however,
much younger men,
is I
fifty-one
have come
the average
Unless an
age being thirty to thirty-five years.
officer
has a great deal of interest and high social position he does not become a commander, save under exceptional
Something of the same
circumstances.
sort, of course,
obtains in the British and most other navies in jDcace
time
;
promotion must necessarily be by selection
admirals are to be kept young. a lieutenant
must have done
as lieutenant,
and
years' service in
this
home
To become
fifty -eight
may
if
a kapitan,
mouths' sea time
be put at ten to fourteen
waters, while
if
he goes to the
Mediterranean or Pacific three years will qualify him ro be a
commander.
Kapitans
rang unpromoted
li.
are retired 'at the age of fifty-one. Kapitan Rang.
To bccomc a kapitan
I.
i.
rang, a
commander must
have served at least one year as commander of a seagoing ship, and put in other service in addition. earliest axre O at
which
this
rank can be reached
Thirty to thirty-two, 11.1.11. at
present a kapitan
of age
(1899).
i.
about
Grand Duke Alexander,
rang, being thirty-three years
An unpromoted
retired at fifty-five.
is
The
kapitan
i.
rang
is
II. I. II.
r.r.AXii
DUKE
ALE.x.iyriEr. miiiailovitch
KAI'ITAX
I.
ILAXC.
of
i-.u.s.^ia
TRAINING OF OFFICERS To become
a rear-admiral a kapitan
have done four years in command of a
home
(if in
a
year's
him
qualifies
Promotion to rear-admiral
is
younger than
to
is
this
The conditions
duty with a
fleet
is
entirely
by
selection.
is
rear-
to fifteen years.
as a rule entirely
by
vice-admirai.
home on
are three years at
(twelve months' sea service), or on
two
foreign stations,
be a rear-admiral.
by ten
Promotion to vice-admiral seniority.
first-class ship
The average age of
Retiring age, sixty years. admirals
Rear-admirai.
however, he goes on foreign service,
If,
duty
rang must
i.
and spent eight months of that
waters),
time afloat/
463
The
years' service.
retiring age
sixty -five.
Vice-admirals
Emperor nor
is
become
admiral
by
of
will
There are no conditions to be
only.
the
Admii-ais.
fulfilled,
there a retiring age.
The highest rank
of
all,
the solitary one of general-
Generaiadmiral.
admiral,
The
the next
is
selection
is
and
made by
last
the
step
above admiral.
The
Emperor.
first
holder of this rank was Graf (Count) Apraksin in the
time of Peter the Great; the present holder
Grand Duke
Alexis,
who
is
fifty
is
H.I.H.
years old, and he has
occupied his present position some considerable while. It will
be noted that foreign service
way by which reason
is
1
that the average Russian naval
For nearly two-thirds
of the year
They are
to the ice.
The
officer hates
and only those who have no
up owing
months.
the only
rapid promotion can be obtained.
foreign service,
laid
is
interest
Russian ships in the Baltic are
actually frozen in for about five
In the Black Sea the waters are rather more open.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
464
or else very ambitious officers take
may
ranean
The Mediter-
it.
be some exception, and
crack ships like the Rossia in the Far East. is
would be
so, too,
But there
an utter absence of that contempt for an
a "snuo- shore-goino-
1)illet"
which obtains
officer in
in the British
Navy.
The
Injct'we List.
liability to serve.
their
When
rank they are placed
in
In addition, a reserve
List.
who
officer
age limit. of
an intermediate category,
He
war or great
No
List.
officer is
is
till
created by allowing any
years in the active
such time as he reaches the
only liable for active service in case
allowed to " resign
from service
;
"
unless he
he reaches the age limit of his rank, unless
On
is
physi-
and must remain
board or court-martial has dispensed with his Promotion on
list
necessity.
cally incapacitated till
is
has served two
to enter the reserve
Retired
they reach the age limit of
which they form a species of reserve.
in Reserve
from
retiring ages do not at once free officers
leavino- the "inactive" list
an
a
liable
medical
services.
officer of
good
retirement.
character and service
is
usually promoted as with us,
and draws the pay and pension of
A
his retired rank.
second privilege (no mean one in Russia, where
officers
are never in mufti, and the civilian
000
upon
as
rio'ht to
is
an inferior sort of person altogether)
looked is
00 on wearino- uniform after beinsf o retired.
the
—
XXV ENTEY AND TRAINING OF MEN II
/TEN
for the
made
Courland, in part
in
etc.,
from
are raised
maritime
the
by conscrip-
provinces
— Finland,
and the shores of the Euxine, but
a paucity of supply in the original sources,
made
seem
to
do
one years of age, and here
is
come
is
taken
till
and these
numbers of men levied
man is twenty-
a
In the British
much younger, and
as a sailor as well as to
Navy have
men from
one weak point of the Russian
in comparison with ours.
the sailor
Navy
trained to think
do the duties of one.
The
in recent years for the Russian
been, roughly Levied.
'
into sailors,
is
fairly well.^
Liability to serve does not
Navy
lately,
because there
political reasons, in part
the interior have been
conscription.
naval conscription was
Originally this
tion.
only
Navy
Russian
Total of
all
ranks.
1890 about
6,000
1891
„
6,000
1892
„
7,000
1893
„
7,000
— — — —
1894
„
8,000
about 35,000
In the Biitish Navy a very large number of
sailors are
Londoners.
^se of
entry.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
466
Levierl.
Total of all ranks.
— —
1895 about 8,000 1896
„
1897
„
11,000 uhout 40,500
1898
„
12,000
„
42,000
1899
„
14,000
„
44,000
The increase
in
it
it
A
was 129,000,000.
new
increase
was 74,000,000, increase of
larger
and men may be expected
officers
the
AYhereas in 1859
rate.
1897
some extent more apparent than
the population of Russia increases at an
real, Ijecause
abnormal
to
is
9,500
for
1900-2, when
ships will be in commission, though a gradual to
meet
this
is
The Russian
made.
being;
Navy has never contained enough men
to
man
all its
ships. Number of
The number maintained on foreign
I
stations
is,
on foreign service.
roughly, a (Quarter of the entire force.
To resume.
Conscripts.
draw the
In the maritime provinces
once
lot
service they are
more or ous
;
less "
if
;
put
paper
men
only
they do not draw for active
in the naval militia,
" sailors.
and remain
Exemptions are numer-
numbers of men are physically
unfit in Finland,
and great pains are taken where possible to avoid drawing men upon
and so their
on.
If
whom
depend
for support,
such are taken the probability
time of service
sent abroad.
families
The
is
is
that
shortened or they are not
difficulty
of getting enough
under these conditions has led to the
men
recruitinc; of
sailors in the interior of Eussia. Length of
Every
sailor serves
normally
for
seven years on the
service.
active list
and three additional years on the
reserve.
"
ENTRY AND TRAINING OF MEN He
marry while on the active
not allowed to
is
467
list.
two branches
Sailors are, broadly, divided into
—
Branchc
(1) military, (2) civil.
1.
Military Branch
Bluejackets are drafted to Kronstadt or Sevastopol,
and thence, the training
Some
of
chiefly
men.
course of instruction ashore, to
after a -
ships,
these
which are always
vessels
carry
chiefly
The length
masted.
fully
cadets,
others
of their sea time that they
spend at sea depends partly upon the captains of the ships
some do
;
others keep the
as
much time
men
in
harbour as they can,
at sea every
moment
that they
can manaoe.
From
men
the training-ships
are
drafted to the
Practice Squadrons and to gunnery and torpedo train-
thence to foreign service, which they do not
ino--ships,
When
love.
after
a Russian man-of-war gets
men
foreign service, the
their glee
and excitement
sacrifice
home
again
their hats in
every sailor throws his
:
hat overboard in commemoration of his safe return. This
is
was
in
as orthodox a
the old
paying-ofF
custom as " crossing the
da,js,
or
pennant which
line
as the tremendously long British
ships
indulge in
when they come home. Seamen second
;
are divided
into
two
ratino-s
the former having better pay.
—
first
and
They have
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
468
no promotion,
at an
unless
show
stage they
early
aptitude and a desire to specialise.
such
In
Corporals.
they go
case
Kronstadt to train
to
a
school
special
when
corporal (petty-officer),
for
they do a seven mouths' course in shore-going
and elementary sea sea
for
year
a
in
duties.
After
special
training
drill
they go to
that -
at
spending
ships,
forty weeks afloat in foreign waters.
There are no warrant
Conductors.
officers in
the Russian
equivalent to those in the British service
Navy
but after
;
a couple of years' service and passing the necessary
examinations
become
"conductors"
subjects,
corporals
boatswains,
for
gunnery,
can or
" conductors " are never watch-
But
torpedo duties. No warrant
technical
in
keepers under any circumstances, nor do they under-
officers.
any duties higher than those of chief petty
take officer
in
the British
rank to theirs
— and
Except
corporals.
Cjuarter-deck
is
Xavy
—the
nearest equivalent
they are practically merely chief in case
of war, promotion to the
impossible in the Russian service.
In
war - time, however, should a man particularly and specially to Promotion of rankers.
rise
him
to.
distinguish to
the
any rank that
In the
known, and
himself,
I
he would his
merits
be
eligible
would
take
army such promotions have been
believe I
great General
am
correct
in
stating that
SuwarofF himself rose from the
ranks.
There are a number of small ranks which corporals fill
— gunnery,
torpedo, submarine
mining,
masters, signalmen, divers, riflemen, etc.
quarter-
For nearly
ENTRY AND TRAINING OF MEN all
these
there
Kronstadt,
are
special
and
to
at
and
Oranienbaum, where there
a musketry school.
2.
These
include
Civil Branches stokers,
engine-room
engine-room corporals in the engine-room
men, and writers. their
rank,
All
these
enter
the
artificers, -
bay
service
for
;
sick
and have no further promotion.
go to special schools at Kronstadt and are thence passed into service. is
classes
Eiflemen
Sevastopol, or Nikolaiff.
gymnastic corporals go is
schools
469
NikolaiiF,
They and
Their term of service
the same as that of bluejackets.
XXVI PAY
T3AY
Navy
the Russian
iu
matter.
It
may
a rather bewildering
is
best be described as a pittance
may
eked out with extras that
may
or
not make
it
fairly good.
The majoritv of Eussian naval means
have private
officers
but whether they have or have not
;
it is
said
to be their characteristic to " chuck about the roubles"
periodically
when they have them, and then
quietly in the interim.
There
Bohemian about them
as a rule
fellow "
may
is
be
way
a
in
in
they
lie
low.
Russian
the
— being
is
men
it
fact
it
The same
is
neither
the
when they
:
comes about that pay reputed
variously
"very good" and "wretchedly bad." of
good
a "jolly
when they have
freelv,
it
Hence
service
the
of
have money they spend not
a good deal of the
is
an ideal with most Russians.
said
very
live
one
As
nor the
a
to
be
matter
other very
much. It Cost of liuirg in
always
statlou,
Russia.
— an .
in
Russia,
varies
considerably
exceedingly good
arrangement.
to
the
Living
...
.
it
according
must be remembered, 470
is
a great deal
1
PAY cheaper
—
Russians
for
where again
it
is
47
— than
is
than
America.
less
in
extra pay for foreign service to popularising
unknown
beyond that
and
—a
in the British service
torpedo
boat
Eiissian
partly with a \iew
is
Navy.
practi-
In our service,
on the West Coast of Africa,
duty,
trials
not in harbour),
(if
brings
money, service on one station on another.
The
piece of consideration
commissioned for
in ships
Englanfl,
in
partly to help cover the increased
it,
cost of necessaries, cally
living
is
a
little
much
additional
the same as
the commandincr officers and
So, too,
Xavv mav
one or two other seniors in the British
draw a
little
to the
"all along the line" sy.stem of the Russian
extra
;
but there
is
nothing equivalent
Navy.
The following pay
are the three
in the Russian service,
on different
and the
The rouble
stations.
roughly worth about
principal sources of
2s. 2d.
rates is
depending
calculated
Its actual value appar-
ently varies daily, and, so far as the traveller cerned, depends sell
crown I
;
if
mention
upon whether he wishes
one buys, a rouble
If
it.
one
sells, it
this not
is
to
is
con-
buy
only fetches about two
figures within about
roubles.
what
but
my
of a nousrht will brina; these
5
per cent,
of the
amount
in
To obtain the equivalent purchasing power
in England,
to
a
shillings.
for tlie sake of the " wheeze,"
The addition
or
worth about half
to account for a certain appearance of looseness in
Finance.
as
and allow
for our
more
constitute the " necessaries
liberal notions as "
of
life,
from 50
472
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY _"
=^ .2:
— o
^
-
—
PAY
1
;3 P3
t3
fa
o
473
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
474
may
GO per cent,
to
mind, too,
tliat
Russian
have no expenses in the junior
than
it
is
officers,
should be borne in
It
being always in uniform,
for plain clotbes,
ranks at anyrate,
and that uniform, relatively cheaper
is
in our service.
home
In four
is
be added.
waters, sea pay
only to be earned about
is
mouths out of the twelve.
The pay here tabulated
most
there are various small
in
cases the a^erao•e
duties that increase
Men
it.
pay
receive
;
page 473, the
at the rates as on
per annum, unless
amounts given being
definitely
stated otherwise.
The additional
daily allowance varies according to
the station and the market It
given for the
is
recj^uired.
"We have
purchase
much
to
spend at
than
His pav, in
actually
it
same thing
least 2d. to 3d. or
for ordinary necessaries.
higher
the
of additional
where a bluejacket
in the British service,
bound
of commodities there.
jDrice
while
is,
Where the
nominally lower than the actual.
Russian Admiralty Is superior
no
to ours.
difierence
is
made
to
whether the station
one
—the
ours
over
minimum ordinary
the
in is
a
if
in practice
is jjractically
more per diem
fine, is
the
nominally
Russian's
is
Further, absolutely British
service
as
cheap or a very dear
Russian Admiralty are more generous than this
daily
pay,
matter of
pay of plus
the
a
sailors'
pay.
Russian
additional
additional revenue,
is
The exact
bluejacket,
mess
and not including sea pay and other
ports.
food
i.e.
allowance, sources
as follows with different
of
home
PAY Port.
475
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
476
lodirino-
wage
first
-
class
^et
sailors
minimimi
a
in order to iinliice tlicm to specialise in
The number of things
thing.
do
while
;
this
which they can
in
nor do
tabulate,
to
amounts
extra
exact
the
great
too
is
some-
earned
thus
know
I
in
many
cases.
The men
Food.
are fed pretty well
no meat
a:et is
;
but butter
two-thirds it
Tea (stakan
Men who
(a
fraction over
which
to the Russian
is
workman,
is
and holding
it
to put a
is
Id.)
per
there,
make
it
what beer
Being an economical
lump of sugar do duty
Occasionally the knob
of tea.
prefer
supplied very liberally,
but the sailor buys his own sugar. person, his habit
;
sj)irit.
tchi),
to the British
per diem.
taken up for breakfast or supper
is
4h kopeek
in lieu of
Vodka
a service ration.
is
the midday meal.
for
can receive
diem
is
Russians have
served out at the rate of about ^ pint
One-third of this
Savings.
all
On AVednesdays and Fridays they
healthy appetites. Spirit ration.
^
;
is
in his
mouth,
for several glasses
passed round to his
friends.
A
sailor
draws
7
lbs.
of tobacco per
He
daily ration of about fV of an ounce. Soap.
plied with a small piece of soap daily, to the legend circulating
he
is
annum, is
in a
also sup-
which (according
amongst British bluejackets)
believed to eat.
' In 1720 Peter the Great made an inspection of sailors' food, and hung three pursers because the food was bad. He recognised the
absolute necessity of feeding his
about
Navv.
it.
The
woi'd of
men
well,
Peter the Great
and is
left explicit directions
still
law in the Eus.sian
—
PAY The Breakfast
daily meals are
.
Dinner (midday)
477
:
Tea, with biscuit or bread and butter.
Fresh
Two-thirds of the daily spirit ration.
or salt meat, -with vegetables or gruel.
Pease
and butter
only
on
Wednesdays
and Fridays. Supper
Tea, with gruel
and
butter.
Tallow, upon which the Russian bluejacket this
country populai'ly supposed to be
served out in any Russian warship.
fed,
is
in
is
not
XXYll RETIKEMENT, PENSIONS, ETC.
T IKE
all
matters connected with pay in the Russian
Xavy, pensions, are complicated
retiring allowances,
by innumerable
and so
forth,
side-issues.
In the ordinary course a lieutenant or commander is,
promoted on retirement and draws the
as witli us,
full
shore
pay (not a very large amount)
rank.^
This, however,
amount
of sea service entitles
is
not
If married, a certain
all.
the education of his children
that
for
him
to
draw money
for
while in any case,
;
if
he has served twenty-five years with credit, he gets a pension varying from £23 to his
rank
;
and
draws double Good Service
if
£lo
a year, according to
he has served thirty-five years, he
this.
In addition there
is
a species of deferred
pay
for all
Pension Fund.
ranks,
known
money
is
pay of
all
as the
Good
raised ])y deducting 6 per cent,
ranks.
Government
The
Service Pension Fund.
from the shore
This brings in nearly as
much
as the
pension.
In addition, again, there are -gratuities which
mount officer
to a very large sum, according to
who
the retirino-
is.
'
There
is
no
lialf-pav, shore 478
pav
is
tantamount
may
to that.
—
RETIREMENT, PENSIONS, ETC. Engineers, doctors,
etc.,
receive exactly the
the corresponding executive rank,
i.e.
479
same as
as follows
:
RANK.
BRANCH. -1
Executive exgixeebs
sukgeoxs
.
.
Navigation
Mitchman
Lieutenant
Kapitan
Junior Engineer
As>t. Senior
Senior
Junior Surgeon
As5t. Senior
Lieutenant
Engineer
Surgeon
II
Kapitan
Rear-admiral
I
of Macliincry
Insjiector
Fleet
Engineer
Engineer Fleet
Senior
'
Surgeon
Surgeon
Junior Naval Construc-
Senior Naval Construe-
Inspector of Hosjiitals
Staff Captain
'
(Expiring)
coxstructoks
Junior Asst.
Senior Asst.
Naval Con-'
NavalCon-
stnictor
structor
Naval Works
Junior Constructor
of
Inspector
Naval Construction
tor
Senior Constructor
Chief
Con-
structor
Inspector of Construction
Naval Ordn'asce (E-vpiriDg)
1
Lieutenant
'
Captain
Lieuteuant-
Colonel
M.ijor-
colonel
Lieut. -general ranking with Vice-admiral
\
General with Admiral.
general
^
XXVIII WATCHES rpHE
Russian
Navy
is
peculiar in
watches for ofBcers and
men
arranged, and in neither case as in
The "day" begins
its
all
watch-keeping,
being differently other navies.
in both cases at 8 a.m.,
twenty-four hours are arranged into five four men's watches.
and the
officers'
and
—
XXIX RUSSIAN NAVAL FLAGS
rpHE
Russian naval ensign
a blue
St.
Andrew's
is
a long white flag with
The Jack has the
cross.
same blue cross but a red ground, and a very narrow white cross quartering
it
white lines also separate the
;
The pennant
blue cross from the white ground. white, with slightly
the naval
peaked
Admirals
ensign
the
in
corner,
is
and a
tail.
flags are square adaptions of the ensign.
Admirals' flags.
Vice-admirals carry a blue band at the bottom, rear-
A
admirals a red band. ordinary admiral's
Grand Duke
;
flag,^
then the
general-admiral
unless
wears the
he happens to be a
Imperial
Arms
(the
black
double-headed eagle on a yellow ground) are borne in small circle in the centre of the is
in
command
of a port he
flies
fiao-.
O
If
a
an admiral
the ordinary ensign
with a rectangle containing a couple of blue crossed anchors in the middle of the
The Jack it is
1
worn
is
afloat
The old custom.
also the national flag of Russia,
by
fleet.
all
and
the Imperial Family except the
About 1723 the general-admiral (Apraksin) wore
a Jack at the main for the
admirals of the
flag.
first
time, an innovation copied for the British
The Russian
Navy under
Peter the Great, p. 121.
e™"'' ""^^s.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
482
Tsar, who, of course,
flies
the Imperial Standard, the
doul)le-headed Byzantine eagle upon
because so
so familiar to us
carry
it
n
vellow ground,
many books on
Russia
on the covers under the impression that
the Russian flag
!
A
Grand Duke's Jack
it is
carries
a
rectangle in the middle with a small Imperial Standard,
JACK
ENSlQN
'
PENNANT QRftND
PE N
OF A
N/
ANT
iliiillillilllllilil l
DUKE
'
I.-
,
,.
V
unless he he the Tsarvitch, in which case there circle
for
the Imperial
Arms
=Blue, Yfllouj
is
a
instead of a rectangle.
These same standards are worn in the head of their broad pennants, which are short, white, and forked.
The Emperor,
of course, wears the Imperial Standard
in the corner of his.
Ships of the Volunteer Fleet Association generally fly
the Russian merchant service
flag
—a
horizontal
RUSSIAN NAVAL FLAGS tricolor,
483
white on top, then blue, and at the bottom
red.
The most-used
service
flag
— used,
that
is,
for
a
variety of purposes, like the Church-pennant in the British Nav}^
—
naval signal "
the Pilot Jack, a flag
is
D"
and Pilot
Jack in a rectangle Russian flags the Great.
flao;,
filling its
a white
much flas;
our
with the
middle.
descended from Peter
are, of course,
The present mercantile marine
or less copied from the Dutch)
like
is
flag
(more
the oldest, then came
the Jack (a copy of the English Jack of that period),
then the naval ensign proper. as before remarked,
no sense a naval
is
flaa;.
of
much
The Imperial Standard, older date, but
it
is
in
—
—
XXX ORGANISATION
rpHE
navy personnel ^
is
thus organised
:
General-admiral.
1
12 Admirals; 20 Vice-admirals
320 Staff
Kapitans
2339 Junior
;
25 Rear-admirals.
and
212
(724 Lieutenants and 380 Mitchmen,
— the
Senior)
{i.e.
Officers
Kapitans
(92
i.
ii.).
Officers
rest reserve, etc.).
385 Engineer
Officers of all ranks.
525 Medical and other 100 Admiralty
civil
branches.-
Officials.
45,000 (about) Petty
Officers,
Seamen, Stokers,
etc.
In connection with the personnel, ships are rated as follows
\d
:
Rate.
— All battleships
of anj- importance
— armoured
cruisers
and imperial yachts.
Ind Rate.
— Small
monitors, ironclad gunboats, small cruisers,
torpedo gunboats, training ships, miscellaneous steamers, and transports. 3rf7 Rate.
— " Flat
iron " gunboats, first-class torpedo boats and
destroyers, coastguard ships
ith Rate.
and
— Second-class torpedo
light-ships.
and other small
boat-s
1
All ranks are being increased in numbers.
-
Including 160 navigating and 70 ordnance
of corps
now allowed
officers
craft.
(marine artillery)
to die out; also naval constructors, etc.
ORGANISATION
485
This rating has nothing whatever to do with the fighting value of the ships, but depends crews.
over
200
rate
first
is
;
between 200
carrying
all
and 100 men are second rate; and from 100 third a
the "equipages"
it
—a
is
also
series
use
of
25,
the
These are units
like
naval force
small
army corps — each containing
is
divided.
-
equipage commander, and
ofiicers
including
ratings,
arranging
in
of corps into which
entire
and
to
This offers conveniences for specifying
rate.
command, but
ranks
their
with a complement
every ship
Practically,
upon
its
own
and men of
all
and
an
treasurer
a
ships, E:,uipages.
Equipages are subdivided into companies
adjutant.
under lieutenants, and each averages 150 men, but
no exact number.
there
is
exact
number
Neither
is
may
be only seven, or as
twelve, or even
more
in a
;
few
cases.
The
companies make up the complement of the ships attached to the equipage,
the equipage has
any
companies necessary to form an
of
there
equipage
there
command
many first
as
four
first-class
and the commander oi companies.
of the
chief ship.
The
remainder form the crews of the inferior vessels in the same group.
Equipages are grouped at times, three to nine formino; a " division " under an admiral.
When
fleets are
formed,
all
the ships of an equipage
never get together, of course, but, as has been remarked before, only one-third of the year
on foreign
stations,
usually done.
On
is
spent at sea except
and even there " wintering shore the equipage
"
is
commander
is
—
486
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
a species of
commodore
or
brigadier,^
and
other
all
kapitaiis in the equipage are responsiljlc to him.
on his part, Equipage
is
He,
subject to the admiral of his " division."
Eacli admiral of division has a rear-admiral as second in
command,
lieutenant,
a
flag-ca])tain
gunnery
(chief
lieutenant,
of
staff),
torpedo
officer,
engineer, a naA'igating officer, and a doctor.
The equipages
a flag-
are normally grouped thus
:
an
ORGANISATION and who had
left
consideration.
the matter open for a time
Of
officer I
—pending
course, this only applies
where the commission
Another
487
way
arranged a long
is
know had
cases
ahead.
just been appointed captain
He went down
of a ship at Kronstadt.
in
to her, but
finding no old shipmates available or any officers that
he " knew much about," he requested the Admiralty to appoint officers for him, giving
them some
idea of
the particular sort he would soonest have. Unofficiallv, of course, there
kind
in the British
extent.
It
is
a
Xavy, but
his
Hence the
officers
thiuo-
somethina; of this
nothing like the same
very good system, and
generally speaking, that
amongst
to
is
if
it
makes
it
means,
" a captain gets any " duffers is
entirely
his
own
fault.
for efficiencv.
[Tables.
SHIPS A XI) or
Name Number
THE IK EQUIPA(;ES Normal Total Ships of
4tli
Also personnel
Kate.
of
for.
lliuiks
all
and Ratings
2097
1438
14-38
Telegraph corps and depot at Kronstadt
1
1438
I
Steam Reserve
1438
Bandsmen
1438
circa 1200
Jlen of depots and schools
5 small craft
702
Depots and shore service
I
Steam reserve
circa 1500
Bandsmen and telegraph
corps
Bandsmen
2 Customs cruisers 1
harbour craft
1
harbour craft
Bandsmen and Steam
Coastguardsnien
reserve
SHIPS AND Naine or Nunil-Hrr of l'',i]iiipage.
THE
I II
E Q U I P A (} E
S Normal Total
Ships of
Also i>trsonnel
4tli Rati;.
for.
I
i
of all l;ank^ ami Kating-
Kronstadt depot men
795
2 harbour steamers
146
9 torpedo craft 14?,8
1 cutter 1
harbour craft
Band Torpedo depot Harbour service ilining craft
Crew
of
Ee-serve
an Imperial cutter
men
Swimndng school staff
Xon
-
combatants
;
;
uon-eflectires
harbour,
1-200
signal,
617
swim-
3087
and torpedo school
7 torpedo boats
Band personnel ming schools, ;
signal
staff,
of hospital,
harbour
torpedo,
service,
and mining.
—
492
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN
NA\'V
Fleets in Commission maintains
Russia
Mediterranean and (for four
months
permanent
Pacific,
yearly),
squadrons
the
in
two " Practice S(|uadrons
and
'
training-ships.
In Aus;ust 1899 the distribution was as follows
:
Pacific Battleships (2nd class). Cruisers
(Armoured).
— Alexander
—
Rossia,'-
i.,^
Xavarin, Sissoi Yeliky.
Eurik,'
Pamiat
Azova,
Dmitri
Donskoi, Vladimir Monomakli. Ironclad gunboats. Cruiser (2nd
—Gremiastchy, Otvajny. —Admiral Korniloff.
class).
—
Miscellaneous.
Giliak,
Easboinik,
Ivreisser,
Zabiaka,
Koreetz,
Mandjur, Swortch, Bobr, Ysadnik, Gaidamak, and some torpedo boats (temporarily).
3Iediterraneas Ironclad gunboat.
— Grosiastchy.
—Posadnik,
Miscellaneous.
Uraletz,
2
torpedo
boats
— Teretz
and
Kolheda, at Constantinople, Psesuappe (transport) at Galatza.
Baltic {Practice Squadron) Battleships (1st class).
—Poltava, Petropavlovsk.
Battleships (2nd class).
— Oushakoff, Seniavin, Apraksin.
—Khrabry. — Greig,
Ironclad gunboat. Coast defence. Cruiser.
—
Spiridoff.
Svietlana.
Miscellaneous.
—Sokol, Kretset, Korsliun, Condor, and some torpedo
boats.
1
-
'
To be To be To be
replaced by Petropavlovsk.
replaced by Osliabia or Sevastopol. replaced by Peresviet.
ORGANISATION
493
EUXINE {Practice SqiMdro)i}
Battleships (1st class). Battleshijis
(2nd
Miscellaneous. Uraletz,
—Georgi Pobiedonosetz, —Tchesme, Sinop, Dvenadsat
Tri Svititelia.
class).
— PSmiat
Merkuria,
and some torpedo
Saken,
ApostolofF.
Kubaiietz,
Donetz,
boats.
Training Squadron
Gunnery
— Netromenia, Pervenetz, Kreml, —Groza, Afrika.
Battleships (3rd class). Miscellaneous.
Lazareflf.
Torpedo Ilyn,
Mina, 3
first
and 5 second
class boats,
and
2 destroyers.
Eight torpedo boats in French, waters. Sneig and 4 torpedo boats (three months).
For Cadets, Kniaz Pojarski, Eynda, Yoin, Viernii,
etc.
jNIoriak.
]\riSCELLANEOUS
General- Admiral (for stokers). Djidjit (seagoing).
Gerzog Edinburgski (seagoing). In commission for
trials,
or getting
ready for them
Rostislav, Pallada, Gromovoi, Sevastopol,
—Peresviet,
and 2 destroyers.
XXXI DISCIPLINE Control of Admirals
1.
rpHE
case of the British
by Admiralty
Admiral Byng who, hampered
was compelled
instructions,
an action that he was opposed
to fight
attempting,
tr>
and
subsequently shot for his failure to win a victory,
is
one of the most well-kuown cases in history of that trouble which in
may now and
navies
all
again arise
between the opinions of the director at home and those of the admiral on the spot.
There have been similar cases
in the
Russian
Navy
that of Kruyis (Cruys) being the most flagrant.^ case
this
the
had
Russians
a
;
In
heavy majority, and
Kruyis's failure was due to the general inability of the
admiral and everyone else concerned.
condemned him
An equal force of Swedes not to be attacked,
time
attack
to .
.
majority
issued tlic
au
to his rank, Peter at
order
Swcdcs uulcss
, ^ 01 at least
i
i
r»
liali
as
lie
See
p.
found himself in a
manv
i
-
ships again as the
57 and Appendix. 494
the
no admiral was
that
Swedes had. ^
this Peter
and though eventually he
to death,
was pardoned and restored
same
For
—
DISCIPLINE At a
1743, Gangoot ^
later period, off
seen,^ this order far greater
was used
495
to cover
seem
to
life
have been questioned
have/?Mwtot Tweetmunde.
and excuse a
than that which cost Byiig his
Peter's law
we
as
;
till
failure
nor does in
1770
Spiridoff immolated himself against a superior force of spiridojf.
Turks. In
order was
theory Peter's
absolutely sound.
Remarks on Peter's order-
The object of war
defeat
to
is
fight ' glorious actions."
It is rare
between equal, or anything
any decisive
to
result
investigation will
through great
the enemy, not to
indeed that battles
like equal, forces
— when they have done
show that
it
p™-
have led so,
a little
has only been because
tactical ability the wdiole of one force
has been concentrated upon a portion of the other. !No
Russian admiral in Peter's time possessed this
ability,
and
it is to
recognise the
fact.
Peter's credit that he Avas able to
He saw
that the Swedish unit was
superior to the Russian unit, and acted accordingly it
was
his ability to recognise this that
made Peter
:
a
great man.
On
the other hand, in warfare conditions must arise
/femaM^ on order—
Peter's
similar to those that
happen
so often on the chess-
board, where a simple exchange of pieces
The mental
the farthest reaching issues.
may have attitude of
Russians to war has a great trend in this direction " There their
is
the enemy, go for him," has always been
mental substitute
land expects every
A
for
man
higher perception of 1
Nelson's
to do his
famous " Eng-
duty" aphorism.
what may be termed the P. 75.
con.
;
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
496
chivalrous side of war than of
hampered tliem more than Modern Russian
its
To
once.
dominaiit Russian idea of a
fleet
has
scientific side
day the
this
action
to
is
con-
nauai tactics.
centrate
upon the strongest
distinction to that
most other nations, Avhere
of
destroy upward from the weakest
This
is
contra-
unit, in
hostile
not a work on naval
is
to
the ideal.
tactics, so it will suffice
here to merely point out that the destruction of the
weakest
the
necessarily
is
because some result
is
eftect
units
its
polic}',
not only
thereby more quickly achieved,
but because of the moral ing any one of
better
upon the enemy of
The amount
lost.
of
see-
power
needed to destroy or disable the strongest unit sufficient to destroy two, or
is
perhaps three, of the weaker
ones. Punishment of admirals.
At
tlic
inflicted
prcscut day should any punishment
be
upon an admiral, an Imperial Edict would In the event of such punishment being
be necessary.
administered, degradation to an inferior rank would be the one probably selected.
2.
Officers and
The system of Russian Right to punish
tiou.
Navy is
Evcry
Men
discipline generally in the Imperial
exceedingly simple in
officer
and petty
officer
its
can
broad applicainflict
punish-
all inferiors.
ment on those below him
in rank.
Such a system without safeguards might well lend itself
to
inflicted
abuses, but
by minor
the
punishments that
officers are
may
be
very small and slight
DISCIPLINE the
higher
his
rank the greater
punishmeuts allowed to an
To
497
is
gamut
the
of
officer.
a certain extent this " executiveness of all ranks "
Engineers and their grievances.
may
appear to be a solution of the problem raised now-
adays by the engineers in every navy, but able whether
it is
question-
In any case the engineers in the
it is so.
Russian service have their "grievance" as much as those in any other navy. is
at
bottom governed
undue appreciation
In
a misapprehension
l)y
who have
even machinery has
of,
and
the importance of machinery.
of,
Machinery has grown so much years that those
cases this agitation
all
its
in importance of late
do with
to
limits,
it
forget that
and that war actual
is
not really a mere matter of machinery pure and simple.
Absolute control of everything on shipboard or connected with ships
ambition
is
the ultima thule of naval engineer
over the world, and any lesser claims put
all
forward are merely temporary, or representative of a conservatism of the moment.
The mere the present
fact that engineer agitations should exist at
moment in
four such very different services
as the Russian, American, English,
and Japanese,
is
an
indication of the universal application of the forces at
In every State there
work.
is
a party of the
Haves
and a party of the Have-nots, the party of conservatism and the
Machinery on shipboard
part}^ of advance.
has produced a like
and must go on
result,
existing.
and
like conditions exist
The engineers represent
that party of advance to be found in every State, and like that party they range 32
from a species of Anarchist
ao
solution
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
49S
to the "
moderate Liberal."
Cerberus
"
cau do more than temporaril)^ alleviate this
^
and the attempted American
condition,
amalgamating the executive and engineer and
so drastic likel)^
or " sop to
Xo panacea
attempt an imitation
to
a remedy
is
no nation
democratic that
until
at
very
is
the
least
working of the American system has been tested "
The
toue;h war.
big in these days,
branch
is
Jack of
trades
all
when the
"
of
.s(jlution
in a
rock looms too
training for any single
a matter of at least five years.
That the engineering problem should be common
Ubiquity of the agitation.
to
the most autocratic and the most democratic countries the world
in
a matter worthv of note, hence the
is
foregoing remarks, the applicability of which to the subject of this book might not otherwise at
first
sight
be fully apparent.
To return cipline
rigid
is
Knoctiing
rigidly enforced in
Dis-
most Russian
a well-known legend at sea that
is
common
quite
it is
and
There
warships.
question of punishments.
to the
for
Russian
officers
to
knock men
men down.
down upon
the quarter-deck, but though one or more
such instances maj^ have actually occurred, they can be
scarcely generally, discipline
regarded
one is
may
as
say
that
the
enforcement
no heavier in Russian ships
British, or that such difference as
may
exist
and on the surface rather than an actual
The
Scale of punishments. '
but
scale of
than is
of in
racial
contrast.
punishments at the disposal of com-
The Japanese gave it
Speaking
representative.
tlieir
engineers executive rank some time since,
completely failed to solve
tlie
problem.
DISCIPLINE manding
officers
American
man
greater
is
A
services.
than in the British
commander
This
and probably a very "Arrest"
is
a favourite
minor punishment,
effective engine.
" light
divided into three sections:
is
arrest," "middle arrest," and " strict arrest."
most
or first
able to order a junior officer not to enter
is
the wardroom.
may be
arrest"
or
Russian captain can order a
a flogging if he likes, while a
lieutenant
499
under arrest.
"Light
operative for a week, but one of the
inferior officers, a corporal for instance, can only
inflict
a single day's imprisonment, or a single day's
other punishment.
A
may
sub-lieutenant
man
give a
Punishments different officers
four days' stoppage of leave
he chooses, or three
if
days' extra work, or one day's light arrest. are
empowered
days' " black
man
to imprison a
list,"
manders can run
or
two days'
up
A
Com-
eight days' black
medium
days' strict arrest, or not exceeding is
week, four
to inflicting a month's imprisonment,
to five days' light or
the offender
Lieutenants
light arrest.
or, as alternatives for lesser offences, list,
for a
""i/ """"-a.
arrest, or
fifteen
two
lashes
if
a seaman.
captain of the
first
rank
may award
ten days'
ordinary arrest or four days' strict arrest, or twentyfive lashes.
An
equij^age captain
may
order fifty lashes, and
from one month's light arrest to a week's
He
has also the power to degrade any All punishment
is
correction punishment
There
is
strict arrest.
officer.
broadly divided into two classes,
and criminal punishment.
a good deal to be said for this system.
An
Fifty lashes.
;
500
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
ojfficer is
as
it
were systematically trained in inflicting
punishments, the surest safeguard
against
abuse of
Only the more serious offences come
those powers.
before the captain, or
even before the commander
minor ones are dealt with as they occur by the junior officers. An entire crew
In couuectlon wlth the administration of discipline
sent to Siberia.
on shipboard, one cannot but refer to a tale that was very generally published a few years since entire
crew of a flagship
— both
officers
been much cited as an instance of a good beino;
known probably cerned,
it
is
that the
and men
been sent to the Siberian mines for mutiny.
The matter
:
—had
This has
many
things.
one the real truth about which
to
none save those immediately con-
idle to cite it as
far as can be
made
bottom of the
affair,
is
out,
some
proving anything. political plot
which removes
it
being a question of naval discipline.
and perhaps the true one,
is
was at the
altoo-ether
from
Another version,
that the whole affair
one of those innumerable ca» «7-rf.s- that Russia and the Russians.
So
tly
is
around about
XXXII DRESS Officers'
1.
T3 USSIAN
officers'
Uniform
uniform
the usual blue, and
is
officer's coat.
consists of the frock-coat, the ordinary "reefer"
jacket
the
buttoned, and the "
-tt'orn
summer
these are white.
The cap
is
and
full
—
difficult article to describe,
the various illustrations of to
it
will serve to
anyone not already familiar with
blue
or wdiite according to
often than not
parade dress
For
that peculiar to the Russians, rather high
somewhat
a
monkey jacket."
is
It is
uniform, and
the
wear cocked
more
For
it.
but
clear
it
shape.
its
seen Avith a red band to
all officers
make
full
Under the
hats.
coat a rather high buttoning white waistcoat
is
The necktie
There
is
black, tied in the usual knot.
no " proper linen vidual fancy
mav
that with turned
other
is
collar " to
down
grey can be worn.
points
is
Blue
only blue
is
is
;
however, the light grey military
wahuoat.
is nechne.
indi-
coiiar.
Navy
authorised, and no blue,
is
but light
the regulation,
seen
worn,
—
In the British
The overcoat
"uniform."
Kronstadt
wear with uniform,
be consulted.
cap.
in
St.
coat,
and at
Petersburg,
with a heavy
overcoats,
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
S02
cape
—a
sort of semi-mantle
—
In
frequently affected.
is
either ease, the officer's overcoat reaches to the ground,
and the grey caped one
a particularly picturesque
is
Amidst the sombre
coat.
cloth-
ing usually affected by
women
as
men
capital,
it
well
as
gives a
ness
touch of bright-
certain
the
to
the
in
the
In
streets.
majority of cases no visible fur
worn with
collar is
fur
It is lined
which there Officers
Winter
it.
and quilted with some
of red
sort
never seen on
are
cuffs
this coat
underneath
flannel, fur.
is
and men
also,
during
head-gear.
OFFICEE
S
the winter, wear over the shoulders
OVERCOAT.
and down the back of
cape,
a
light
buff"
ends over the chest.
extremelv
cold,
is
covering the ears. thus I
;
brown
or
colour,
with long
should the weather be
This,
worn peaked over the head and Usually, however,
durino- the whole of the time
never saw this
a sort of wool
head-covering in
only on two occasions did
I
is
not worn
was
in Russia
it
actual
use,
and
notice officers with their
I
coat collars turned up, though a thaw in the morning, .
followed an hour or
two
to thirty degrees of frost,
dition
in
Russia,
later
—
— mioht
some such precaution
by a nip of twenty
a favourite climatic con-
Avell
seem to necessitate
occasionally.
During the winter months every Russian
is,
of
—
DRESS
503
course, wearing goloshes over his boots.
golosh
is
quite a plain shiny one.
The
service
ooioshes.
Inside his socks the
Russian usually wears some dry mustard, a certain cure
and precaution
for,
The Russian
against, influenza.
the German,
officer, like
is
always \n
Always
in
uniform.
uniform from the
thing in the morning
first
may
thing at night, wherever he
There British
any
no " dress
is
Navy
;
"
be.
uniform such as there
is
in the
any ordinary uniform being correct
no -dress:
for
by the way, that
It is a curious item,
hour.
the last
till
a
Russian expects an Englishman to dress for any function or anything after six in the evening, taking
so,
as the
and a compliment that the Englishman
correct thing
should do
it
A German,
and feeling hurt if he does not.
on the other hand,
is
prone to take an Englishman in
evening dress as an insult to himself
Meals are taken in the following order Cafe au
lait,
Meais.
:
breakfast on rising.
Dijeiiner, about 11.30 a.m. to
1
p.m.
Dinner, about 6 p.m. Supper, any time after 10 p.m.
an ordinary mess
In
it
customary to smoke
is
between the courses at dinner and supper the
little
Russian cigarettes, which have not much taste and very little
smell.
meal at which
round
"
This
is
never done nowadays at any
ladies are present.
with the coffee in
all cases
are matters of individual taste. officers
who do not smoke
however, smoking
is
Cigarettes only "
very
;
previous smokings
There are a good
at all
;
much
come
many
with the majority, of an
institution.
smoi
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
504
There are in the Russian Navy none of those regulations about smoking wliich obtain
Engbsh warships smoking
in the Engbsli
in the
wardroom
cept possibly with the coffee after dinner, it
only in
is
that
vessels
English ships
though There
port-guardships
also,
rule
and
all,
ex-
forbidden
;
harbour-service
not adhered is
is
at
In
In some
to.
confined to certain hours,
regulation
is
now dying
out.
nothing of that in the Russian Navy, and an
maj^ light up a cigarette anywhere, where, and
whenever he chooses. IS
is
smoking
this barbarous
is
officer
the
Kavv.
permissible
;
Even
in an English
in the dockj^ards
dockyard
it is,
smoking
of course,
stringently and absolutely forbidden. Priests are carried as chaplains in nearly all Russian Chaplains.
warships.
Like the
j9af/7r.s in
the British Navy, they
have no special naval uniform, but wear the ordinary clerical
costume.
A COKl'OEAL.
—
DRESS
505
Men's Uniform
2
much
All over the world the sailor wears pretty
the same uniform.
The Eussian
sailor has a cap that
a cross between those worn by the British and the
is
United States tails to
sailors,
otherwise he
it,
look
to
and
sailors,
In
at.
very long ribbon-
this cap has
much
is
any other
sailor
non-British
Navy
like
common with
all
cap.
he wears a moustache.'
Corporals wear the
sailor's
uniform, but have peaked
corporars cap.
caps instead of the ordinary sailor's cap.
Russian
sailors Avear a grej^ overcoat,
below the knees, and belted around the
not reaching
overcoats.
Under
waist.
the ordinary sea-service jumper or jacket they wear
and white
a jersey, blue
white stripes upon the
summer
white
clothing
There are blue and
striped. collar,
there
while in the case- of are
also
blue
stripes sammaclothing.
upon the
On
cuff.
ship
duty, sentry,"
etc.,
the cutlass
is
worn
sentry,
attached to a waist-belt, and the ammunition pouch
upon another
strap slung over the left shoulder.
For shore-going duty sluno;
is
to the waist
sailor usually
-
in
belt.
marching order the pouch
On
these occasions the
wears a sort of long military tunic
military except that
it
has a small turn-down
collar.
There arc shoulder-straps then to indicate the equipage, '
A
recent edict of the Kaiser has abolished the moustache in the
German Navy.
shore duty.
5O0
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
also cuffs of a military sort.
with this Nauai cadets.
High leggings
are
worn
rig.
Naval cadets have an almost identical uniform to this.
XXXIII DISTINGUISHING MARKS FOR RANK 1.
npO
Officers
those used to the simple stripe distinction of
rank used
method of
in
the
British
Navy, the
Russian
differ-
entiation is rather
there
confusing,
manv
as
beincr
the
varieties
in
Russian
execut-
uniform
ive
as
there are amongst
the branches
all
of the British service combined.
Yet
the
in essence
Russian
system simple, is
is
very
and there
none of that
chance of muddle
between a " two and a half
striper "
and a commander
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
5o8
whicli
puzzles
so
man-of-war.
semi -initiated
the
in
It is the different equipages
a
British
and
tleets
which produce the trouble when the foreigner to discover the rank
The Russian wears no
Grade shoulder-
Russian
a
(if
stripes
tries
officer.
on
his sleeves,
but
is
straps.
differentiated instead
marked
as follows
^Mitcliman
{i.e.
hv
One
sub-lieutenant)
Lieutenant
Kapitan
ii.
Kapitan
i.
rank (commander)
star ;ind
Three
stars
and one band.
Three
stars
and two bands.
bands without
Rear-admiral
One
eagle.
Vice-admiral
Two
eagles.
Admiral
Three for
.
is
blue-black
on
The corresponding
dress epaulettes are without any bands, but have
the stars as usual.
executii'e officers.
stars.
eagles.
executive officers
a yellow strap, with silver stars.
Epaulettes of
one band.
Two
rank (captain)
The band
full
These are
shoulder-straps.
:
have no fringe
—
a
Those of lieutenants and mitchmen
commander's epaulette
a lieutenant's one with a fringe to cpiite plain
epaulette
;
it.
A
is
practically
captain has a
admirals have one, two, or three
eagles, according to rank,
on
theirs,
and heavier
fringes,
each pendant l)eing about half an inch or more in diameter. All executive officers have gold epaulettes.
Doctors and engineers have silver epaulettes and shoulder-straps
;
some red
in the engineers' marks, the
doctors havino; black.
Both engineers and doctors are divided into two
main grades Engineers.
only, junior
and
senior.
The junior engineer has three
stars
on a red stripe
mdm
Liiut.
dJi
KabifajiIR
Kab It
T?eaT ^c1tt)(.
Mifchwan., and
UJ|^h
Sta^s
3
Li tut
r^ fl)
I Ju-ntof
J)oc(br SHOULDEK-STKAPS AND EPAULETTES.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
5IO
on his shoulder-strap, the senior two red stripes witliout stars.
The junior doctor has
two black
stars,
the senior doctor
stars
between the band. of both doctors
In the case shoulder-strap executive
a single hlack stripe without
is
and engineers the
much narrower than
that
an
of
officer.
The junior engineer has
Engineers' epaulettes.
and three
stripes
a plain silver epaulette
with three stars placed as a lieutenant's stars very like a captain's, save that
senior's is
it
;
the
silver
is
instead of gold.
The
Doctors'
junior doctor has an
epaulette exactly like
epaulettes.
the
junior
and
all
also
has
epaulette
In
engineer,
the
interior
plain
this is
save is
that
there
black.
A
black
are
no stars
senior
doctor
otherwise
interior,
his
almost identical with that of a senior
all cases
both straps and epaulettes have a naval
anchor upon the upper or inner corner.
So
But we now come
far this is fairly simple.
to
the complicating features, which, however, are of minor Aides-de-camp.
impOrt. If
an
officer
Imperial family,
is
an aide-de-camp to any of the
he wears a bright red collar to a
military looking tunic, and with the military moustache so favoured
by Russian
officers
^
looks far
more
like a
soldier than a sailor. '
No
Russian (except a few of the lower orders)
either wears a moustache, or else beard, moustache,
is
ever clean shaved, he
and whiskers.
In the
"
DISTINGUISHING RANK MARKS
511
Then
the
gunnery
again,
executives' black stripes to red
own
equipages have each their
equipage entails a
first fleet
broad stripe
it,
equipage
and three
the
number
C
letter
Ch
is
One
above that.
stripes
The second
stripes.
Other equipages have
only, except the Siberian, indicated
S
and the Sveaboorg, which has
v).
has this equipage indication on his
sailor
when
by the
in shore-going
marching
of the Black Sea equipages has a good deal
of gold about
the
the
past,
This regiment distinguished
it.
and
its
men now wear
and gold ribbons
caps
as
mark
a
saiiors.
order.
.
in
Equipage marbs.
with a crown above
indicated by an
(the Russian
shoulder
Thus the
a crown and one
Avitli
and two narrow
(the Rus.sian S),
Every
while the different
;
sign manual.
K
Gunnery.
the Caspian has a .^ of slightly simpler
;
pattern, no crown, fleet
turns
specialisation
a famous equipage.
itself
around
gold
of Imperial
distinction.
Boatswains and corporals in marching order wear a
Bosuns and corporals.
flat
gold shoulder-strap
narrow
lines
on
British
Navv,
the corporal's has the lines a
it,
diff'erently placed,
the boatswain's has seven
;
and four of them
of coarse, the clean
shaved
the rule rather than the exception
;
officer is
are merely dotted.
common,
on your is
is
face
?
" or "
Why do
man
is
—he
is,
indeed,
everything, or else a clean shaved
face with, at discretion, very small side whiskers,
a Russian the clean shaved
little
a curio—
'•
is
you English wear your
To
the regulation.
Why don't
you grow hair
faces like
women's
1
a question I several times heard in llussia, where to be clean shaved
So much is this the case that our an Englishman's hall-mark. who do not want to be taken for Germans are either clean
" bagmen "
shaved or fully bearded person
who normally
;
—and
loves to
the English commercial traveller
grow a moustache.
is
a
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
512
Usually they wear ordinary sailor dress, but a peaked instead of an ordinary round cap witli
tails.
®#® 1.
Quartermaster. 5.
Mechanic. 12.
2.
Chief Signalman.
Torpedo Q.T.JI.
C'liief
Stoker.
9.
Engine
6.
-Room
3.
Topnian. Artificer.
Artillery Quartermaster. 7.
Electrician.
10.
Armourer.
(In all the^e rating.-i the addition of
an outer
S.
4.
Diver.
Chief Torpedo 11.
Bandsman.
circle indicates a
"chief."'
Men's dis-
The
distinoui.shino-
marks
for the difi'crent classes of
tinguishing
marhs.
men
can be
made out
tions of the circles
best from the
worn upon the
appended
sleeves.
illustra-
;
XXXIV PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RUSSIAN OFFICERS AND MEN Officers
own
llyTY
exceedingly
Russian
officers
places in this book.
me
that
my
out
leaks
impression
be urged against
view was necessarily couleur de side
out."
of
good many
a
in
It will, perhaps,
them "best
that I saw
favourable
rose,
and
Possibly I did.
Certainly the Russian executives struck
me
as differ-
ing from their English brethren chiefly in that some of
them wore moustaches
wonderful similarity.
and does
That was
not see them
Again,
over
all.
in their personalities,
a
it
may
Altogether,
hundred,
admiral to sub-lieutenant.
odd hundred it
my
elsewhere,
I
in
I
:
In our
I
met
did in
from
rank
Intimacy (which
is
the
with some of this slight,
while with
own harbours and
have come across a few dozen more
altogether, therefore, so far as 33
however,
intimacy was
was the reverse.
be said that
ranoino'
only sure guide) varied, of course
others
was a
there
not, of course, necessarily prove that their
efficiency is equal.
Russia
otherwise
;
numbers
go, there are
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
514
presumably enough is
them
that, taking-
well with our
opinion, so far as
and
one,
at least based
is
not, so far as 1
me
my
I
Russian naval
in the
way
of
any other
do not think that the Russian
Hence officer
man
struck (a
on
me
as
Russian
record
ideal),
—
I
the
skin-
and further,
and havino; a
mastery of the theory of his
Of the more important
that
more than a
thinkino; a crood deal about
considei'able
so freelv,
put
I
deep "jolly good fellow"
my
held qualified to deliver
(one-eighth part) can be held enough to bias
judgment.
as a
hope, an unbiassed
I
is,
on opportunities that have
know, come
And
Englishman. in
This
may be
I
impression
lump, they compare very
in the
officers.
my
and
to saixiple from,
profession.
practical side I cannot speak
have not seen enough of that side to make
opinion of
much
Tot homines,
upon Russian
value.
tot sententicB
:
officers that are
I
have heard opinions
dead against these of
mine, and in some cases at anyrate the\' are opinions
not to be discarded as of no weioiit.
For instance,
the following on the whole most unfavourable opinion is
more
current in St. Petersburg and other
or less
parts of Russia
:
"AYith the exception of Grand Duke Alexander Mihailovitch and a few of his or
commander who
after
snug
billets
is
lot, there's
any good
at
on shore, and
sea never do anything except
Germans would beat them
all.
if
make
not a captain
They
are all
they do go to a
muddle.
The
easily."
This might be a paraphrase of the opinion of the
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
515
contemporary Englishman in Peter the Great's day possibly
its
may
roots
there.
lie
think that
it is
the fact of
its
accuracy.
Nor can one altogether
have reason to
a fairly general belief in Russia, but
being fairly general
opinions were about in
when
I
^ ;
is
no proof of
forget that identical
Japan concerning the
War
the Chino-Japanese
its
broke out.
fleet
In that
case popular opinion proved singularly incorrect.
In our service
have heard some scathing com-
I
ments on Russian
much
efficiency
the pattern
after
of the one quoted in extenso above, but on tracing its
it,
origin proved to be a
gallant masts in
a fourth-rate
may
it
for
or
may
much
of
them
not be warped by personal fondness
Russian " opposite numbers."
English
me
" ;
it's
not
that
their
was not
officers
The English
a reciprocal affair, though Russians
is
have always told
say
seen
Generally
!
good deal more favourable a view, though
This fondness
"
in striking top-
gunboat
who have
speaking, our people incline to a
muddle
officers till
quite
make
don't
you get
first
to
the
pattern.
friends easily," they
know them
When
to cet so fond of them."
after
impression of
that
you begin
the fondness comes
about relations are generally very cordial, there was nothing
speech of the
save
officers
a
of a
pretty
politeness
even in
if
the
Russian which lay in a
harbour with a British and a French warship, when the Franco-Russian alliance was at fever heat.
Russians called
first
The
upon the Frenchman, then came 1
See Appendix.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
5i6
and stayed
to the English ship first,
there, with a
pleasure afterwards."
In such
shore-going
appeared fully
as
drill
saw, the officers
I
I incline to
efficient.
are less bellicose than our people. this to
I
fancy that they
do not mean by
imply that the average British naval
thirsting for war, but he
feelino;
efficiency.
and would,
is,
would undoubtedly accept
it it.
that a war would tend to better our this feeling in Russia,
They have not got I
officer is
and not put himself out to avert
easily if it came,
The
— "Duty
more with a dogged
fancy, accept war
determination to do their best than with a conviction of
certain
At
success.
least,
would not be the dominant concerned, there conclusions
with
this
latter
sentiment
So far as we are
one.
would not be any attempt on
us
the
water
if
it
to try
be
could
avoided.
So far as personal appearance goes, there nothino; of the
dandv
in the
Russian naval
and there one may encounter an
officer
is little
officer.
or
Here
who has done
time in the French Navy, and he will probably stand Generally the Russian
out as smarter than his fellows. is
less
officer,
particular
about
linen
his
than an
English
and one who would be regarded as untidy
our service would not be conspicuous in theirs.
wandering Englishman that to
me
met
in Russia
A
remarked
that " Russian naval officers always wore dirty
and crumpled officer
I
in
to
generally
collars,"
prove his accepted
but as he pointed out a Customs contention,
belief
here)
this
(more or
less
cannot be accepted
; :
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS as conclusive
dandies
;
Our naval
!
certainly not slovens
patriotism of a
and
being Russians.
marked
naval
while with
a
they are proud of
:
same
the
them
in
sort
us the reverence
with Russian
imbued with
all
Loyalty to the Imperial Family
characteristic
officers
but they are
distinctive sort, something on a par
with our Civis Bntanniss sura
a
so,
—and there the matter ends.
they are one
Finally,
a class are not
officers as
the Russians are rather less
517
officers it
is
of
more
with
our
thing obtains,
but
also
for
is
is
:
the institution,
directly personal.
!Men
The Russian bluejacket bears no
likeness to the
British article, nor will the British "blue" fraternise " with him. 'E ain't clean enough" is the verdict
of our
and
lower deck,
there
from our standpoint the verdict is
In point of
not over clean.
no denying that
is
is
fact,
justified.
Ivan
he stands much
where our men stood a hundred years or more ago.
He
comes,
the
young
too,
from
a
British bluejacket
spectable youth.
He
is
the Russian joins as a
because
he
is
told
Fraternising between our
has to
be
a
class
very
re-
a sailor, too, from boyhood
man
to,
and lower
different
of twenty-one,
not
because
men and
has never yet taken place, and
and
joins
he wants
to.
the Russian sailors is
never likely
to.
Yet our men do not altogether despise the Russian
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAYV
5i8
blues
the sort of contempt that they have for
witli
;
tliey ha^'e also a species of respect,
them,
the form of "we'd
them "—a
fight
to
like
hlucjacket's antithesis to contempt.
contempt
also
— he
on
chiefly
lives
;
Still,
tallow
-
He
Ivan fears but one thing
— cold
water.
person
of no
fish,
Ivan
that
Jack has the
is
a
with bear's
varied
candles soap.
believes
British
believes that every Russian sailor
and
decayed
orease,
which takes
way,— that it has He doubts whether
that
believes
He
further
spirit
at
all
in the ordinary
"all been flogged
out of him."
Ivan would "like
to fight because
proper modern sea-fight must be
a
man
the most interesting thing a
could see in this
world or the next." ^"ery funny
Ivan at sea
;
exao-o-eration
Ivan
is
is
bluejacket's notion of
this British
but when due allowance
and so
forth,
it is
—
like
a
big Newfoundland dog.
and to
find fun in his profession in his
way.
I
who regard
valuable
He
is
not high. best
his
own melancholy
doubt whether seeing a sheep killed 'tween
decks has such charms for him as
watching
professional
anything more finer
is
amenable and willing, anxious to do
is
for
not altogether incorrect.
simple and childish, and his intelligence
tars,
made
a big, strong, burly fellow with a sluggish
good temper
He
is
ethics
such
training.
It
it
has for British
an
operation
would not mean
than " something to eat " to Ivan
would be
lost
on him.
as
:
its
This particular
trait of the British bluejacket nvdj strike
some of our
good shore-going folk as very dreadful, but
it is
an
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS exceedingly good trait practically trained to
kill
and to be
— the
519
man who
is
killed does not require to
be taught to give a virtuous shudder at the sight of Hereabouts
blood.
realises that
exists
to
difference all
one main
difference
he exists to be shot at
shoot is
lies
as
at
others,
heavy a one
and as
the difference in the world.
IVAN IN KEPOSE.
;
this
:
Ivan
Jack, that he
psychological
can well be
:
—
it is
^
XXXV THE AEMAMEXT AND EQUIPMENT OF THE FLEET Guns
npHE -*-
majority of guns in the Russian service are
manufactured at Obukofi' "Works
—
tlie
balance
come from Canet. The Obukoff Works on the Neva
obukoff.
are a State estab-
lishment, and under the control of the Navy.
were
first
ever since.
and have grown steadily
started in 1863,
At the present time they have
some 800 guns
for
in
hand
They
a capacity
at once, in addition to tor-
About 3000 men
pedoes, armour, and machinery.
employed here,—pay ranging from
are
to 8s. per diem.
Is.
Obukoff guns are generally noticeable in that their relatively a lirtle less than that of
energy per ton
is
foreign pieces
thev are made very strong, and the
:
Russians are proud of the fact that none have ever burst.
The breech mechanism Breech
—the
Obukofi'
gun
is
is
an adaption of the Canet,
altogether more or less after
mechanism.
,
the Canet pattern, 1
it is
The
ihe newest
Sissoi Veliky disaster
.
6-in.
(Russians use the
was not a matter
of a burst gun, tliough
usually loosely spoken of as having been 620
so.
—
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT inch aud
not
the
centimetre
523
desiwnatino;
for
their
artillery calibre) is practically a simplified 15-cm. Canet.
This simplicity is
essential, as the
is
Russian bluejacket
not easily able to master intricacies of mechanism.
It
a singularly workable piece, heavy for
is
(it
45
is
long), with a single-action
cal.
breech.
It is
doubly impossible to
its
size
self-locking
the gun unless
fire
the breech be locked.
On
the following page are the details of Russian
guns^ now mounted
War Game
The alphabetical Naval
afloat.
notation, which
is
generally used in the
plans of ships throughout this book,
and
reference
for
explanation
appended, and
is
the
armour-notation
system adopted to suit rapid comparisons.
Many extinct,
— the
mounted and
of the weaker of these guns are
for
years.
The
employed
will be largely
an expiring
piece, as also is
10-in. is quite a
were the
Svititelia
and building
A B C
1
of
12-iii.
40
in ships
The Rurik
be built with
it.
now completing
long.
cal.
„
45
2
8
„
45
D2 F2
6
„
45
„
3
„
50
„
„ (1)
„
Q.F. (will be mounted in Gromovoi).
These details are substantially taken from All
Quickfirer.
it.
:
10
Ships for 1899. -
are
9-iu. is
the 4 '7 -in., though until
last ships to
The guns being mounted
new gun,
The
in future.
recently several ships were re-armed with
and Tri
not been
gun, for instance, has
11-in.
many
now almost
the
World's Fighting
524
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY With
I
%
A. P.
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT
525
the testing-ground the "magnetic" capped A. P. shell
got through as
much armour
High
as solid A. P. shot.
explosives have not yet been adopted, and probably will not be until their
demonstrated
success
Experiments
abroad.
being conducted with a
power and singular
The newer guns
has been more fully
new
explosive of fairly high
safety.
a smokeless powder.
fire
In Q.F. of smaller calibre than the
Maxim,
Hotchkiss,
Works
pounder).
Maxim in.)
and
47
-mm.
the
The
are called upon.
{6-pounder),
however,
are,
12-pounder,
3-in.
Eussian
Baronovski
calibres are the
(3-pounder), and
57-mm.
-mm.
37
(1-
There are also Xordenfelts and the ordinary
guns.
The Baronovski Q.F.
is
gun, 17 calibres long, firing a 5i
a muzzle velocity of 1220
Russian gun.
ft.
-seconds.
a 63-mm. (2*5 lb.
The l-pounder
is
with
It is a purely
The 37 -mm. (l-pounder)
revolver guns.
shell
are usually
the smallest shell
allowed by the Geneva Convention, and measures only
3|
in. in
shells,
height.
Some
while a^o one of these 37-mm.
bursting on board a French warship, killed or
wounded
five
men
:
their utility in action
is
likely,
however, to be limited.
Revolver cannons are also in favour Service.
in the
Russian
swatier q.f.
—
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
;26
Small-Arms The Russian naval details of
which
Calibre,
AVeight
"3
of
Number
in.
bullet,
velocity,
Initial
This weapon
Lee straight
208
2001
pull,
2550
it is
;
next best.
— '236 only, which The
is
is
orrains.
going.
Tlie
used in the United States
is
is
rifle
its
100
high
ft.
initial velocity
better than the
Its bore is the smallest
Mann-
known
rather less than the Mannlicher's.
service revolver
There
is
the Smith-Wesson.
nothing jjarticular to say about the swords.
The dress sword usually worn by
officers
is
a
thing, a species of midshipman's dirk. 1 -
5.
eventually replaced by the
remarkable for This
33
Charge,
probably the best
ft.-seconds.^
licher, the
of rounds in magazine,
-seconds.
to be
is
:
o-rains.
ft.
1893 model of this arm
Navy
the Monzin, model 1891,
rifle is
are as follows
^
From The Kaval
Pocket Book for 1899.
The Lee-Metford's
initial velocity is
2200
;
calibre, '303.
little
—
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT
527
Torpedo
The Russian type, and
Factory,
made
is
St.
service torpedo
at Obukoff and at
Petersburg.
The
as
enormous one of 300
much
19 '68
latter is
in.
ft.
The charge
and of about 30 knots speed.
said to be the
—half
50 torpedoes yearly.
those of 15 and 17 '7
There are several models: being the most common.
Loesner
the
Between them these two
establishments turn out about
length,
of the Whitehead
is
lbs. of
again as our 18-in. ones
in is
gun-cotton,
cai-ry.
Russia purchased the right to manufacture gyroscope
A
torpedoes.
gyroscope
or
Obry apparatus
Austrian inventor)
"By
" business "
is
as follows
of the
description
(so
called
Gyroscopes.
after
its
:
the use of this apparatus any deflection of Description.
the torpedo out of
its original line
of
fire is
prevented,
such deflection being produced either by the method of
discharge or
torpedo
which
itself.
is
defect
The apparatus
set in action at the
the torpedo. incr
by some
appertaining to the
consists of a gyroscope,
moment
The action depends on
of discharge of
a rapidly revolv-
wheel, suspended in gimbal rings in such a manner
that
all
sources of friction are absent, and the axis of
the wheel tends to maintain itself in the original direction in which the rotary motion was communicated to it;
thus the
initial direction of
tained throughout the run.
the torpedo
The gyroscope
is
main-
acts
on
the slide valve of a steering engine, and, on any ano-ular
movement
of the
torpedo from the
initial
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
528
direction, the slide valve
is
acted on, working a piston
connected to vertical rudders pivoted so
immediately
the torpedo l»ack again in the
.steers
original direction of the line of
The higher the
fire.
rate of revolution of the wlieel, the greater the
the
for
^Motion
ajiparatu.':
tendency
remain in correct adjustment.
to
given to
is
and
in tlic tail,
tlie
wlieel at the
moment
of dis-
charge by the rapid unwinding of a torsional spring,
which spring has to be so held every time before the torpedo
is fired.
9
is
lbs.,
the
placed in
and
torpedo,
The apparatus weighs between
is
so
8
and
buoyancy chamber of the
arranged that
it
can readily be
abstracted for examination or adjustment.
It can be
taken from one torpedo and readily placed
in another.
The course of the torpedo with the apparatus is
of
a
lateral
maximum good
wave form, with
of about 2
special
table,
is
ordinates
metres in length.
adjustment, which
results, careful
needed.
By
in action
the
is
at
the
To obtain done on a
use of the
Ohvj
gyroscope, torpedoes can be set to run accurately up to
2000 yards, though at lower rates of speed.
accuracy of a torpedo
apparatus
tliis
delay in
that
well-known
guu
is
Will cari'y
by and
viz., their
The present
cost
£50, including royalties."
somewherc about 25,000 yards,
but the odds are heav}^ against 5000.
difticultv
service,
for
a range, is obviated.
of these instruments
A
the
so enormously increased
preparing torpedoes
adjustment at
Remarks.
is
The
its
hitting at even
In the same way, the 2000-yard range of the
Obry -fitted torpedo
is
more of the
possible than the
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT
Without the apparatus, about 500 yards
probable. is
maximum
the very
distance at which a torpedo
expected to hit the target, and the
about
With
5 to 1 against it then.
are reasonable
it is
use.
Still,
there
is
and
after"' at times little
if
skill in its
when
16 per cent,
is
look for in war,
any question that
a heavier accuracy than the if
such as
And
Santiago with
all
its
gun can
2 per cent,
is
still
any
the " naval experts" declare.
The Russians have not yet discarded torpedo
They have
it is
improvement on previous methods.
a great
criterion,
chances are
the gyroscope there
eonsideraljle care
and plenty of "looking
not in
war
is
chances of hitting up to 800 yards.
The apparatus needs use,
529
nets.
the old pattern, but will probably be
introducing the Gromet with
its
finer
mesh
ere long.
Russian ships invariably stow their torpedo booms the reverse
way
instead of of their
34
to the usual,
aft.
This
is
— the
booms lying forward
noticeable in
modern warships.
all
the illustrations
Nets.
;
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
530
Engineering Matters Until warships
quite
recently
was
chiefly
— Maudslay,
and Hawthorn This
ships.
&
Sons,
machinery
the
by
supplied
Field
;
for
Russian
English
firms
Humphrys & Tennant
Leslie liavino- all enoiued recent battle-
now
is
by reason of any
in a great
measure changed
;
not
with the material
dissatisfaction
supplied, but for a variety of other causes.
One
of
a patriotic idea about " everything
made
in
them
is
Russia," but this
is
minor one,
a
— and the making
in
Russia generally means the employment of French or Belgian firms established there is
The
no Archimedes.
course inevitable
;
the normal Russian
ubicjuitous
German,
are —but mostlv Beloians O J
too, is of
to the fore.
These enterprising people have, on the whole, drawn
more advantage from the Franco-Russian their neighbour
:
people in Russia take
and contracts are apt
what the
alliance has
Russian
ficial
in return for
are
peculiar
:
they invariably
other, because the slightest super-
and harmless flaw voids the contract
thing ordered that
for French,
brought to Russia.
contracts
more than any
cost
them
way
to fall their
alliance than
l)y
Russia.
prevent Russian
The same
ships
for any-
causes, however,
being built in England
prevent engines being constructed in this country.
I
was told in Russia, not once but a dozen times, that the " Strike Clause" was the stumbling-block, Russia insisting all
on
too well
its
absence and English firms (knowino-
what
its
absence would
mean
in
these
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT days of agitatiou) insisting on
its
maintenance.
5o'
The
British mechanic has killed his goose so far as Russia
is
concerned, and presumably, no doubt, will go on doing it
elsewhere
till
there
is
no trade
left
him.
However,
old-age pensions are likely to be operative
by
then,
and workhouses much more comfortable than now.
BELLEVILLE EOILEK.
I
am
is
enough on the
not writing on internal British
The
subject.
battle of the water-tube boiler found
champion ville,
in Russia,
One
an early
which quickly adopted the Belle-
and subsequently the
misers.
politics, so this
Belleville fitted with ecouo-
objection to the Belleville, or at anyrate
to the Belleville
when not
fitted
with economisers,
is
Boners.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
03^
that
it
"Welsh coal
its
presence
upon given certain
of less consequence.
is
of course,
this,
;
with this there
In addition,
eventualities.
plenty of smoke as a
is
boilers
much and
AVorks at Ijora, and,
if
rule.
the Baltic
at
constructed
are
is
not always to be relied
used, especially in the Black Sea,
is
Belleville
is
however, always gives
stored in Russia
is
smokeless, but
liquid fuel
fuel,
so the matter
much smoke, Fuel.
Russian
smokes.
necessary, at Obukoff.
For the Retvisan and one or two new ships the Xiclausse Belleville
in
exists
appropriated
been
has
boiler
most Russian
but the
;
Very many
ships.
ships have been re-boilered recently, the old cylindrical Liquid fuel.
oucs bciug uscd to store liquid fuel about the dock-
At Kronstadt
vards and naval arsenals.
there
is
a
reoular avenue of these.
With
liquid
obtained more
it,
system of using liquid
Aloonsuud,
fitted
anj^
with
fuel has
easily
is
mazut
petroleum).
on board the torpedo boat locomotive boilers,
The system
consists in
At the
orifice
The system
is
on
The
It is
forcing the oil
oil
is fitted
into a very
the invention of an engineer
named Shensnovitch, and has
successful.
and
boilei's.
each tube
with a perforated disc that forms the
officer
trial.
or astatki (a heavy residual oil of Russian
through spiral tubes.
fine spray.
on
the
;
been tested this
board the Peruou, which has water-tube fuel
nation
other
made 18 knots
year (1899) in the Baltic
have
Russians appear to
than
success
Rostislav, burning
A new
the
fuel
so far
an adaption of an Italian
proved very idea.
i
rrt Ii ^
^
111
'
r.r
H
M
«S=r
%
{
^ I
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
534
Akmouh lately
Till
from
abroad,
L'arnegie
lieavy
Company
with the Creusot
in
most
contracts
standing
people.
In
armour
with
the
the past, too, English
The hardened Creusot
Harvey
plates,
which claim to be
chiefly
been fitted to Black Sea ships
armour
her
of
the Unit(-d States, America, and
supplied a good deal.
firms
ijora.
drew
Russia
ec|ual to
;
process, have
the American
to those built in the Baltic.
Russia has purchased the Harvey system, and at Ijora,
where 4000 men are emploj'ed, a good deal of
armour
is
exists at
turned out. Obukoff.
Putilofl:'and
Plant for
Some work
its is
construction also also
Alexandrovsky Steel Works.
done
at the
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT
535
Gunnery Accessories The Russian Government, or
adopted
less
already in use
naval
and
circles,
knowledo-e
good
in
nothing
of or
instrument
As
the British Navy.
in
is
is
bad
Since, outside
known about
range-finders,
shown that an
has
ranee
the
have more
trial,
Barr and Stroud range-finder,
the
experience
since
after
the
governing;
some
account
is
shooting,^
accurate factor
of
the
given here.
its first trial in
actual use took place
more than
the Barr and Stroud cannot justly be
five years ago,
termed a novel instrument adoption as yet
is
;
none the
less its general
very partial, and rather in process
of accomplishment than a fait accomj^Ii, save in the British
Navy, where
it
has been in regular use for some
while. Fig.
1
is
a
diagrammatic representation of the
instrument, details of construction being- omitted for
the sake of clearness in the explanation of the piinciple of operation.
Two beams
viewed are
of light from the object
received by the reflectors, and transmitted through the objectives towards the centre of the frame, where an
arrangement of
^^risnis is placed.
These prisms
reflect
the beams outwards through the right eye-piece. ^
Experience at target practice in our sennce
lias slioTvn tliat ninetj-
per cent, of misses are due to a miscalculation of range. so
finely sighted, that, given moderately
range, a hit
is
almost certain.
the exact distance.
By
Modern guns
are
good gunners and the exact
Nearly the whole problem
lies in
knowing
General
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
:)3 6
partial images
means two
these
shown
are seen, one over the otlier, as
image seen
of a distant object
upper half of the
in the
the right eye-piece
Fig. 9
in
field
the
;
of view of
thus formed by the equivalent
is
of a telescope directed
towards the object from the
right-hand end of the instrument, the image seen in the lower half being formed by the equivalent of a
second telescope looking at the object from the
left-
hand end.
The images as Separating
line.
shown
by
are seen separated
in Fio-s.
8
and
9.
a thin black line,
This line
is
called the
" Separating line."
Suppose a very distant object
shown
at L^ L, (Fig. 2),
of that object
seen
are
illustrated in Fig.
8.
If,
viewed by rays
is
and that the in
correct
partial
images
coincidence
as
now, the object approaches
beam
the instrument along the line ij, the
of light
received by the right-hand reflector will have a different
shown by the
direction, such as
is
partial images will
no longer appear
line
L'.j,
and the
in proper coinci-
dence, but will occupy such relative positions as are
shown is
not
in Fig.
(The relative position of the images
9.
affected
by any turning of the instrument
azimuth; the images move together across the
The
partial
images
might
evidently
be
in
field.)
brought
together by rotating the reflector, but the necessary rotation would be almost infinitesimal, sequentl}^
require
to
be
made
and would con-
and indicated with
excessive delicacy.
The bringing of the two
partial
images into coin-
^Mf
-m
Oj
if
V,-
%
637
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
538
Aligning
cidence
in this laiigc-fiiider
is eft'ected
by means of
a
images.
"deflecting prism" of small angle (Fig.
placed in the path of the
and
reflector
movable
is
The action of
raj'S
lono-itudinallv in the tube.
The
3.
to the position
O
when the
X, but the prism has
in position
is
partial images of a very
distant object are in coincidence is
is
from the right-hand
prism in producing coincidence
this
illustrated in Fig.
prism
which
1),
deflecting
to be
in order to bring the partial
moved images
of a near object into coincidence.
By
using a prism of sufficiently small angle, the
longitudinal motion corresponding to a given change
of
range of
the
object
can be
made
as
great
as
desired.
As
usually constructed, a motion of about six inches
corresponds to a change of range from infinity to 250 yards.
An
Scale.
carrier,
ivory scale
and on
it
is
attached to the refracting prism
the distance of the object viewed
read by aid of a scale lens in the
left eye-piece,
is
the scale
being graduated to give the distance in yards or metres or
any other
unit.
Externally the range-finder consists of a tubular case about 5 feet in length
shown
A
in Figs.
1, 4,
frame (Fig.
and
and 3i inches
in diameter,
5.
1) carries all
the optical parts of the
instrument with the exception of the eye-pieces, finder objective, Provision
against deformation.
and windows.
This frame
is
carried within
the tubular case on
two supports, so arranged that no deformation of the
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT framework cau
result
539
from the application of forces
to
the case.
While general heating aud cooling produce
no
on the indications ° given by the instrument, differential heating of the frame would cause it to effect
-'
bend, and the readings would be affected.
This
Provision against temperature effects.
is
by the peculiar form of the
entirely prevented (1st)
frame, (2nd) by compensating the instrument, aud (3rd)
by constructing the other,
case
A
two
of
tubes, one inside the
which greatly retards the transmission of heat to
and from the
The
interior.
deflecting prism (and the scale attached to
it)
Deflecting
Prism.
is
moved by means
This screw
of a screw.
by a w^orking head
(Fig.
4),
which
is
placed on the
is
upper side of the tube in a convenient position
worked by the
actuated
for
being
observer's right hand.
The nature of the
scale is
shown in
Fig. 13, but the
graduations are too numerous and come too close
gether to admit of the scale ivory
as actually cut
to-
on the
—being represented on the drawing.
The to
—
scaie.
scale
is
500 yards,
divided in single yards from 250 yards in
tens
of yards
1500 yards,
to
in
hundreds of yards to 5000 yards, and in thousands of yards to 10,000 yards; marks are also cut for 15,000 yards, 20,000 yards, and infinity.
The
scale
tion has been
is
read by the
made by the
left
eye when the observa-
right eye,
and the reading
can be taken instantly, when the proper coincidence of the partial images has been obtained.
A
very simple and
efificient
" finder "
is
provided to
Finder.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
540
enable the observer to immediately direct the instru-
ment upon
the
This consists of a small tele-
object.
scope of low magnifying power, the objective of which is
seen in Figs.
eye
;
eve
—the
telescope
is
to " find
"
4,
and which
is
used by the
left
occupying only a portion of the
scale
field as
and
1
shown
The
in Fig. 7.
view of
field of
left
this
wide enough to enable the observer at once the object whose distance
when the instrument
is
so
is
required, and
directed as to bring the
object into the centre of the finder-field (see Fig. 7),
the object will be found, greatly magnified, in the field of view of the right eye-piece (Fig.
Au
Face-piece.
8).
iudiarubbcr face-piece (Figs. 5 and 6)
to the tube around the eye-pieces.
comfortable to use lired
on board
received
the
eyes
—
by giving
This,
the
when guns
especially
excludes
it
;
through to
fixed a
brow, makes the instrument more
rest for the
soft
is
the
lio-ht
eye-pieces
eye-pieces,
in
;
other
and
night
are being
than that guides
it
observations,
when, from the small amount of light received, the eyes
would
otherwise
not
immediately
the
find
apertures.
For taking the distances of as ships' Astigmatiser.
lights or
lights at night, such
lighthouses, an optical
Called thc " astigmatiscr,"
is
appliance,
provided in the interior
The astigmatiser draws out the
of the instrument.
images of a point of light into vertical streaks (Fig. 10),
or
which can be worked upon exactly
other object
is
The astigmatiser
in is
as
a
mast
daylight observations (Fig.
9).
put into or out of action
by
;
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT means of a
slider (Fig. 4) actuated
541
by the thumb of
the right hand.
In order to render the scale visible at night, a small .
electric
lamp
— identical with
sights of guns
Fig
A
4.
supplies
—
is fitted
and battery.
those used for the night
on the instrument as shown
the
is
in
small secondary battery (Figs. 15 and 17)
A
current.
contact
maker
(Fig.
actuated by the right hand, switches on the lamp the scale
Eiecukiamp
5),
when
to be read at night.
If preferred,
the lamp wires will be arranged to
lead current from a primary battery or " transformer
"
circuit.
It is
found that the instrument, unless
with an accident, seldom,
if ever,
but two adjustments are provided
it
meets
Adjustments.
requires adjustment
for, called
the adjustments for "Halving"
respectively
and " Coincidence."
wato/n^
adjustment.
The former partial
is
to accomplish the condition that the
two
images shall form a complete one and neither
show "Duplication,"
as illustrated
in
Fig.
11,
nor
"Deficiency," as illustrated in Fig. 12.
The adjustment
for
coincidence 1
1
n
to accomplish
is -
the condition that the scale shall give the true
tance of an object
when
the partial
T
dis-
images of that
object are seen in correct coincidence or alignment, as in Fig.
8.
This adjustment thus
corresponds to the index
adjustment of a sextant, but
work
it
in a range-finder with an
is
not convenient to
"index
error,"
owing
to the scale not being a uniformly di^dded one.
These adjustments are accomplished by means of two
coincidence adjustment.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
542
milled heads, rendered accessil^le by partially rotating
shown
the cover-plate
"Halving" adjustment
The
Testing for
in Fig. 4.
can
be
tested
Ijy
halving
adjustment.
observation on any object at a distance of over 250
The distance of the object does not require
yards.
to
be known.
adjustment.
" Coincidence
The
Testing for coincidence
'
adjustment
observation upon the
tested., by
moon
conveniently
is
or a star,
when
the reading of the instrument should be "Infinity"
indicated
by the star-shaped mark on the
Windows
scale.
of optical glass are fitted over the aper-
tures (see Figs.
1
and
4),
and the tube
is
everywhere
so closed as to prcA^ent rain, spray, or dust gaining
access to Sun shades.
sun
the internal parts of the in.strument
shades
vided
are
to
fit
windows,
as
Fig.
6,
to
protection or
spray settling
them,
and
the
shown
against
to
and
pro-
over
aftbrd
;
in
some rain
upon
exclude
direct sunlio'ht.
For use at sea the range-finder
is
mounted
on the stand illustrated. It will be seen that the
instrument
is
supported
Bearings.
lu bcariugs attaohcd to a frame.
Balance uieight.
E balance Weight inside the
This frame carries
tank and
swings upon
knife edges; which knife edges are carried
upon the
ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT end-plates
the tank.
of
swinging frame.
A
handle
This handle
and thumb of the
held
is
fixed
is
543
to
by the
the
Handle.
finger
and thus the
obsei-ver's left hand,
motions of the swinging weight are kept under control.
The instrument
moved
is
azimuth by rotation oi Azimuth
in
motion.
the tank upon the pedestal spindle.
The instrument
by rotating
in the bearings
it
handle being
14), the
(Fig.
weight will then tend steadiness
of the
correctly in altitude
directed
is
by means
left
it
worm
of the
The swinging
free.
to keep
Altitude motion.
so
directed, but
instrument can only be obtained
by the observer controlKng the motions by means of the handle.
When
on the naval mounting, the eye-pieces of Attitude of range-taker.
the rano'e-finder
are
at
a
heio-ht
The range-taker
from the deck.
of
about
5
feet
presses his face firmly
into the rubber face-piece, and his eyes are thus guided to the eye-piece apertures.
hand
placed
are
handle
is
The
fingers of the right
upon the working head, while the
li^htlv held
bv the
The remainiuo-
finger and
thumb
of the
the left hand
left
hand.
may
be allowed to slide along the under side of the
tank to
o-ive
The body
fino;ers
of
increased steadiness. is
pressed against the tank to assist the
hands in keeping the insu'ument correctly directed
in
azimuth.
The instrument
is
thus completely under control,
and an object can be kept constantly
in the field of
view.
After a few days' practice
it is
found much easier to
544
Ease of control,
keep
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY Ell
object in the field of view of the range-finder
than in the
field
been proved
l:>y
many months, successfully in
of an ordinary telescope trial
that
;
and
it
has
on shipboard, extending over the
range
-
finder
can
be
used
such a sea as would render practice
with large guns impossible.
—
XXXVl THE INFLUENCE OF PETER THE GREAT ON THE RUSSIAN NAVY TO-DAY "\
/POST
the entry of
officers is
when
Navy have
a
more
or
connection with Peter the Great, and
less direct
1885,
Russian
tilings in the
no exception to the
there was
a
Until
rule.
reorganisation, everything
remained almost exactly as Peter had founded
it,
—the
addition of engineer officers and ratings being the only differences worth notins;.
In Peter the Great's time the guarde-marines were
much
entered
as thej are at the present day.
system was copied from France, where,
The
in the seven-
teenth and eio-hteenth centuries, the ranks of naval
were stocked by young men about sixteen
officers
twenty years
old,
to
and with the clause about nobility In Peter's time an examination was
as the only one.^
necessary for the guarde-marine to become a mitchman,
and
it
more
or less covered the
ground covered to-day,
allowing for progress in modern science.
In called
Peter's
Reformados
they are 1
"
day, too,
La
still.
the
supplementaries
— then
— existed, and were entered much as
The English system of
" cabin-boys,"
seule condition a remlir pour I'admission etait d'appartenir a
la noblesse."
35
La Marine
Francaise,
M.
Loir.
Personnel.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
546
" volunteers,"
was probabl}- the
etc.,
system was used
at the outset,
first
and
tlie
cause.
This
changes
in it
have only been such as the altered condition of
nowadays has rendered
necessary.
or ordnance officers,
The corps of marine artdlery which was not abolished
whose members
by Peter, out of learn
to
1885, and some few
till
exist
still
in
that
ofticers
of
was founded
service,
he sent to Germany
These were at
gunnery.^
aflairs
known
first
as
Bombardiers. lu materiel Peter again has been the prime guide.
Materiel.
The fast ships of the Peresviet type Rami at Azova, the
—the
idea underlying
idea that Peter the Great
all
had and
Rossia, Rurik,
these craft
have ships beyond
an
Russia
built on.
evolved the armoured cruiser, and in evolving followed Peter's aim to
is
it
all
she
other
thino;.g swift. Nauai
In uaval politics, of course, the hand of the Great
politics.
Tsar
is visible.
when
The Russian [Mediterranean
which
re-instituted a few years since caused so great
a commotion, was
Ekaterina's idea. it
Fleet,
something more than She, indeed, was the
out, but long before Ekateriua, Peter
a
copy of
first
to carry
had the idea in
his head.^ 1
A
"
Gunnery - Xoie.— In 1714
scjuirting liquid
fiix'
seems to have come of quick-firing
gun
its
use.
of the period,
in reeds to facilitate loading.
Vol. -
Peter
(Greek-tire?) fitted to
XVI. Naval Records
tlie
two
Great had tubes for
of his ship.?,
but nothing
At the same time he introduced the adopting a device of carrj'ing powder
— The
Russian
Fleet
under
I'cter the Great.
Society.
"Just upon the conclusion
of the late peace (of 1721) it
was hotly
talked that the Tsar would send a squadron of men-of-war through the
— :
PETER THE GREAT'S INFLUENCE Again, the making of Libau into a
first-class
547
naval
port was more or less one of Peter the Great's designs.
And though
the famous will of Peter the Great has
thing concocted by
been proved to be a spurious
Napoleon, the springs of nearly every Russian action will
Some
be found in what Peter did.
had been vaguely attempted by
They hoped
only vaguely.
:
his predecessors,
Peter
affairs at
appreciations
;
his sense of per-
full justice to
power of attending
spective, to his
but
Many
acted.
many
Lives of Peter have been written,
but none of them do
of the things
to details
and to grand
He
one and the same moment.
always
is
Peter
may hme
been a coujafd.
man
spoken of as a
of great personal courage, and in
the historical text that legend has been adhered Still,
he
may have
to.
lacked this courage, and indications,
such as his behaviour at Narva, and other things, such as the possibility that he did not actually fight at Gangoot the
absence of direct
anywhere
Ehrenskiold
;
his
who had been
as
to
adulation
hysterical
his
;
evidence
fisfhtins;
of the
pardoning after a time of
guilty of cowardice,^
his
—
all
gallant
many officers these things
tend to contradict the idea that Peter was personally It is possible that
brave.
he was an arrant coward.
If so, of course, the greater his greatness.
There Sound and
is
doubt that when he not the slightest o
Britisli
Channel up the
The Russian Fleet under Peter '
tlie
Straits into the Mediterranean."
Great.
Vol.
XVI. Navy Records
Rather strong evidence in the case of a
He was
man
Society.
like Peter the Great.
singularly disposed in other instances to jiardon failings that were
his own, while to
(See Appendix.)
any
failing that
was not his own he was
merciless.
—
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
548
and Charles
(another but more
xii.
erratic genius)
embarked on war, Sweden bad the balance of courage on her but
The Russian showed dogged perseverance,
side.
all
the wild, rash, dare-devil bravery was shown
by the Swedes.
Russia ^vas an army of sheep led by a
an army of
to finish the proverb,
but strategically this
is
them men
Little
like Kruyis,^
— incompetents,
ability.
Besides
lion,
lions led
"-
:
and Sweden,
by a sheep
The Russians had
pretty true.
no Loschern,^ no Ehrenskiold lead
point to say that
It is stretching the
they had instead to
Gordon, Rays, Scheltigna,
or worse, both in courage and
had
Peter
himself,
no
Apraksin,^ and possibly Sievers,^ and so
one far
lower rank would allow, the Englishman Deane the Tsar's personal force that led
blundered often
and how
self
wonder
;
but he knew
to learn
from
him
how
evil,
in
the Russian
his blunders.
Navy
he will probably be so
P. 48.
-
P. 61.
"
to-day
till
:
his
it
was
He
to extricate him-
have passed since then, Peter the Great force
as
to victory.
though over a hundred and
that,
:
save
It is little fifty
is still
and
for
years
a living
good or
the end of time.
See biograjjhies of these in Appendi.x.
XXXVII ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS
nnHE
future of the Russian
Navy
allied to Russia's relations
is
in great
measure
with that Power which
has been nurse, doctor, schoolmaster, and foster-parent to the
On whether England and much of the map-making
Russian Navy.
are friends or enemies
future
must depend.
therefore, be
Anglo -Russian
Russia of the
relations must,
viewed from more than one standpoint,
and the more or
less
Russian one
perhaps the best to
is
begin with.
Probably there world of
whom
secured
refugee,
is
no country and no people in the
know
the British
so little as Russia
The Russia of the minor
the Russians.
has
is
a
little
local
novelist
and
who
colour from some Nihilist
the Russia of the ordinary British citizen,
and, one cannot help thinking, also in the eyes of certain of
our
about that everything
likely
more
Hence
rulers.
to
or less Russia
produce
it
comes
ill-feeling
against the land of the Tsar grows lustily in England,
and
in
the great Northern
return spirit in
is
Empire something of a
sedulously cultivated.
England that one day, sooner or
force
war upon us
;
in
It is a later,
canon
Russia will
Russia exactly the same idea
prevalent with regard to England. 549
is
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
550
naval ofticer< arc
lJussi;in
Russian naval
men
tlie
of wlidm, time
officers.
after time,
heyond
—
one reads
English newspapers thai
in
war with England
thirsting for a
all othei's, are.
the)',
a statement, Ijy the ^vay, usually published in close
with
connection
the
Peace proposals.
Tsar's
owing to circumstances connected with Russia,
I
my
Noav, to
visit
was thrown into a position of peculiar and
considerable intimacy with these men, and the relations of Russia
and England
Nothino" could
lie
w-ere discussed freely
more striking than the
and
often.
ditferentiation
between their sentiment to the English as a nation and Just as in our navy one
the English as individuals. finds that
whom
is
the one for
most respect and regard,
so with the
of all foreigners the Russian
there
is
Russians the feeling
is
of the two countries
know
of the
communitv do
Russia,
it
exists in,
their officers are
and only
taken
not the slightest trace. essentially
ideals
officers
the other sections
;
not.
may
in,
there,
;
"opinion" to be found.
is
each other
far as " public opinion "
So
The naval
reciprocated.
be said to exist in
the class from which
and there
Of longing
Beyond
prone to be a
man
all
for
alone,
is
any
war there
men
of peace
is
the Russian
— the
Tsar's
on that subject are no more the copyright of the
Emperor than of the meanest moujik
in his empire.
Verestchagin
he merely put
is
no anomal}^, no freak
on canvas what every Russian voice of the Tsar or the
hand
;
feels in his heart,
— the
of the artist Verestchasfin
speaks a national, rather than an individual, sentiment.
But
— and
here
we verge on
that part of the matter
;
ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS which wc as a nation is
of " sentiment,"
not one
Were
word.
there any
Tsar's proposals
"
as
—the matter
we understand
sentiment
" in
the
the matter, the
would not be worth the paper they are
Possibly they are not so now, but that
written on.
on a side
utterly to grasp
fail
551
The Tsar
issue.
the painter,
may
be
is
himself, or Verestchagin
with personal antipathv to
filled
the " horrors of war," but that
is
not the root-feeling in
the fighting class of the Russian Empire.
Indeed,
I
doubt whether any men view the awful side of war so
There are ships
calmly as the Russians.
Navy with
Imperial
number
a great
unprotected, and in action the
in those batteries
no
fear,
quite
carnage around these
have stood
I
and discussed the matter with the
men who would have case there
of guns
to be somethino; frieiitful.
o-uns is sure
the
in
to stand there in action.
was the one
single sentiment
lu every
no enthusiasm,
;
merely a simple recognition of the
fact that to
stand there in action will be almost certain death, that, if
dutv necessitates that standing,
And done it will man is left to stand.
be done. long as a
where
I
have noticed
British Navy.
That
is
the
"The
for
bring it is
my
down
rest
There
is
only one place
sentiment paralleled
must carry
—
in the
on."
—no
la
gloire,
no
from Heaven promised by a Kaiser,
country" or other sentiment such as the gallery
— merely a bald "duty."
that bald duty which carries a
anything
have to
without flinching, so
whole sentiment
special protection
no "
this
be,
will
it
liut
else in this world.
La
man
gloire
will
But
further than
is all
very well
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
OD-
but
runs out wlieu Ijlood hc^ius to flow
it
— duty docs
not.
This, tlicn,
war as seen
is
the Faissian fighting
liy
man, somewhat as the British fighting man with the
A
ofiicers, so
moujik
sees
with the men, sailors or
As
it.
soldiers.
told to march, and march he does, and on
is
be will go, nothing but death able to stop him, though all
the time he had rather not
who
sort are the people
Apart from
war with, or
On
but
;
it
is
is
England
Not
lust for battle. is
no desire
in Russia,
plenty,
and
makes
it
A
only on the surface.
of virulence to be
retorts in the Russian Press.
motion, there are no roots
difterenees are not
pathies
way
;
the Russian
and an codes,
Enojlish
certain
is
many
of looking at
;
certainly
matched only by the Still, it
it
shown
an
is
is
only surface
artificial
culture,
Between England and Russia
not a natural growth. racial
any
collection of
when taken en masse, represented
a coUecriou
for
grand
a
cuttings from English newspapers such as I w^as in Russia,
of this
hate for Russia in England.
real
is
the surface there
show
however, there
real antipathy to,
more than there
and
idly shriek
this,
all
fighting.
Ije
enough
to create racial anti-
very like the Englishman in his things.
sfentleman
ideas, that
A
have
Russian gentleman in
common
certain
the upper classes of other
nations have not got in exactly the same way. English and
"
Your
officcrs,
you
scc, are
gentlemen," a Russian
Russian nauat officers.
^\\{ say^
and that
is
exactly the specific characterisa-
tion of a Russian officer that one hears in any British
man-of-war's wardroom.
For example, a German
officer
ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS is
553
recruited from exactly the same class as an English
or a Russian one,
much
a gentleman
and by
canons of
all
but there
;
just that difference which
is
l)irth is
obtains with one class obtains, more or
That peculiar,
less,
invisible racial bar
Euoiishman and the usual
feel
he
is is
And what
not the same as themselves, and vice versa.
others.
There
a difference.
makes the others
just as
with
all
between the
does
not
exist
between the Englishman and the Russian as
it
exists
l)etween the Eno'lishman and the German.
There
not that intanarible o
Much, of the " peculiar
foreiQiier
" difference." o of and often has been, said about
feelino-
course,
is,
charm of the Russians,"
who have come
across
them may
individual charm of Englishmen.
no such
is
man
has ever noticed it?
common
thing;.
the
just as Russians
talk of the peculiar It
is all
What German
there
uothino; save
is
nonsense
The "peculiar charm"
unrecoo-nised
;
or even French-
existence
is
of certain
instincts sufiicientlv strouo- to outweigh other
natural racial divero-encies. racially, are natural allies,
The two
with no conflicting feelings
other than those (momentous enouoh
have been
nations, regarded
it is
true) which
artificially created.
It is a theory, little short of a belief, in this country
that the Peace Rescript was a purely personal ideal of
the Tsar's, in which his people, had neither place nor part.
moved war.
We have
heard a good deal about " the Book that
the Tsar," and about his personal antipathy to
On
the other hand, various newspapers have
given currency to statements to the
effect
that no one
Peace Rescript.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
554
Russia
else in
is
peacea])ly disposed, and one of our
leading newspapers stated
there was " feverisli
tliat
activity in the Russian doclcyards."
One can emphatically deny As an
instance, I
where the
was
still
may
this " feverish activity."
New
cite the
Admiralty Works,
from which the Osliabia was launched
slip
vacant months
later, "
of the Peace Conference.
'
waiting to see the result
Men
^
were, of course, at
work upon the ships under construction, but everything was
normal as possible.
as
Railway works are being pushed forward with as
Railways.
much
expedition
as
but railways are as
possible,^
essential in peace as in war,
and the colonisation of
Greater Russia can only be effected by these means. appears,
It
however, to be a
"menace"
interests for Russia to construct a railway
dominions, so this jDarticular sword
in her
to British
anywhere is
not yet
turned into a ploughshare.
A
Canals.
furtlier
Russia
is
thing that
being pressed forward in
is
This was lately
officially
Duke Alexander
i\iihailo-
a system of canals.
inaugurated by the Grand vitch,
and
design
"
opine
that neither
in
will
another " military
no doubt become
due course to England. these
railways
For myself,
I
nor canals have
anything to do with war preparations beyond the fact that
it
would be possible to transport troops by them.
The ^
''
fact of the
matter
Tlje Borodino lias since been laid
is
that
down
Russian expenditure on railways, 1899,
navy and army combined.
all
these railways
here. is
greater than that on the
ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS and canals are
al).solutely essential to tlic threat
of the North.
Russia, unlike
not enough people to to
grow
people,
jjicture
:
she needs peace
peojile to develop all
To properly understand
Russian
modern, but they are only so many islands
toT\Tis are
in a sea of undeveloped country.
here and there, there is
Russia,
Elizabethan England, with two or
three railways and electric light in the towns.
tion
Empire
other countries, has
her borders
and railways and
her latent resources.
one has to
fill
all
555
is
There
a railway
the telegraph, but communica-
Roads such
well-nioii limited to these.
are accustomed to
is
as
we
do not exist in Russia, where there
are hundreds of square miles of virgin forest.
where are the things that
will
make
a
Every-
most prosperous
country a hundred or two hundred years hence, but at present
these things are latent, because there are
all
not enough people to
Simply, from the
the place.
fill
most practical everyday point of view, anytliing tending growth of population in Russia
to check the hete noire of is
a
Russian statesmen.
Hence
is
the one
to avoid
war
canon of their statesmanship. It is true that
1877
;
made war
against Turkey in
but that war was a religious war, and in Russia
religion
where
Russia
a
is
power that has no similar existence any-
else in
Europe.
It is
not possible to conceive
of any other cause for which Russian statesmen would willingly
embark
in war, for the simple reason that
the whole needs and interests of the country, and of
everybody course.
-in the country, are antagonistic to such a
—
;
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
556
Turkcy, Austria, ricrmaiiy, Japan, and England
Russia and other Powers.
these five are the countries with which Russia stands
In no case can the
to Le possibly involved in war.
antagonist do any real harm to her, while England
and Japan are the only two that would not run a certain chance of such injury to themselves that they
England
do everything possible to avoid war.
will
alone
by war put
could
not only in
more
life,
monev, precious
heavy drain on Russia,
a
but in
than
her
to
England alone out of the
waste
the
five
human
of
And
money.
has no real conflict
of interest with Russia, though she has fancy ones
by
the score. I
at
would not say that the Peace Rescript was aimed
England and England only, but there was behind
surely,
some hope that out of the discussion something
might come to put a stop
war
"
it,
constant " verge of
to the
England
condition between Russia and
knows perfectly vital hurt, the
possible oftensive
in a conflict with her.
but there
is
England could do her no
well that
England that would stand
is
to lose
She knows
very slight
—
most and gain
it
is
least
this perfectly well
a large section of the English Press which
appears lamentably ignorant of
war with them long ago
:
it
and the important
their interests,
it.
Were
the Russians
England would have been
a people like the French,
to peace,
Russia
?
is
their natural tendency
fact that peace
is
more
that has so far averted that war
which the thoughtless speak so thousand odd years ago,
may
at
lightly.
So,
Darius have
to
of
some two clone.
So
ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS Not
did Napoleon.
we have
till
557
flying macliines will
Russia be vulnerable.
To-day the flying machine than a dream, yet not only in time,
wot
but already
museum
In a
of.
it
is
is it
may
regarded as
little
better
Ftymg machines.
almost bound to come
many folk may be seen
be nearer than
at St. Petersburg
an explosive bullet invented long before the explosive
sxpioswe bullets.
was barred by the Geneva Convention.
bullet that
This bullet and
its secret
by Russia many years it
any other nation
Is there
has done the
She bought
ago.
like, or
I3um-dum
Asia.
?
terrible
Russia has.
been a serving out
ec[uivalent, quite
its
we had, but she did not adopt
found that we intended to stick to adopted, but
laid
bullets to the Russian troops in Central
Russia had this bullet, or
as soon as
and
Europe that
in
which would do so
It is true that there has recently
of
it,
museum, makius; no use of the
aside in a
weapon.^
were bought up and possessed
its
adoption
is
it till
Now
it.
it
she is
confined to those troops
which, in the event of war with England, would have to face the
Dum-dum.
There was, therefore, nothing
out of the way, so far as Russia Tsar's appeal that
some stop
is
concerned, in the
shall be
put to the further
development of " killing devices."
-
In that clause there are two things of far more
moment than 1
It
is
at first sight apparent.
should be stated, however, that this bullet
First, there
may have been used by At least, certain
Russian troops towards the end of the Crimean War.
wounds gave colour 2
to that idea.
Written before the
Hague.
Dum-dum
bullet question
was
raised at the
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
55S
is
reference
a
to
Hying
machines,
how much
;
they suppressing at present
(or
machine are
living
The submarine boat was
?
At the present moment Russia
also barred.
to
least,
The Russians suppressed
balloons filling that metier.
the explosive bullet
at
or,
possesses
claims to possess) designs for a submarine boat
superior
to
projected.
the design.
anv
Thev
and
other,
fifty
are not yet
of these
craft
are
commenced, but there
is
It is said that goes a great deal further
to\Yards a practical solution of the
problem than any-
thing yet boasted about in the French newspapers. Altogether, so far as improved slaughtering machines are concerned, Russia
in a position to be
is
every other nation
—
possession, she
able to use
is
if
she chooses, and
be overlooked altogether).
them
AYe
we may put
it
assuming
thing not to
may put
situation as regards a desire for peace
or nattiral instinct, or
(a
if,
ahead of
down
her present to
humanity
to Russia's credit
that, unlike certain other nations, she recoo-nises that
no new invention can be kept a secret once into use,
and that a Russian flying machine
it
is
put
this decade
would be her possible enemy's most serious weapon the next. as
The
abolition of flying machines of
implements of war
is
more than any nation's There
is
any
in
sort
to Russia's ultimate interest
— even
more than
to
ours.
no opening to accuse her of claptrap sentiment
in this matter.
Point two clause limiting
is
even more important.
means
Should this
of killing to those at present in
use ever be adopted, universal peace will be practically
ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS And
accompli.
a fait
for
Given no
reason.
this
559
further advances to reckon with, the construction of invulnerable, or nearly invulnerable, warships will soon
On
come about.
armoured troops
it is
do away with
its
limited,
is
They do not yet
will quickly appear.
do so because
of offence,
land, too, if the bullet
so easy to conceive of inventions to
advantages
and armour
;
but once check invention
come
will
At present the
in.
major portion of a fighting man's time, particularly of a naval one's,
is
taken up with unlearning the facts of
But given
yesterday.
finality, w^ar
must come rapidly
to the level of chess, or at anyrate of
medium
of
level
The
reached.
excellence
will
war games.
be
fairly
Fmanty
A
quickly
between the armaments of
disparities
the diff"erent countries are such that the issue of a war
down
could be calculated
to
two
possible results
— the
certain defeat of one belligerent, or else possibly, but
not so probably, something very like mutual annihila-
War,
tion.
in fine,
and
sciences,
it is
would become one
most exact
the chances of war and the fortunes
of war which render fighting likely to accept
of the
possible.
Homeric conditions
We
are not
in these days.
remains to be seen whether or no Europe will
It
follow the lead ofiered
eye to her
own
Russia, principally with an
b}''
At present
interests.
the world appears
too conscious of the sentimental side of the question.
That
it
world
should be so
is
is
unfortunate, in part because the
prone to disbelieve in other people's sentiment,
in part because sentiment
and nothing more.
A
is
so apt to remain sentiment
feeling that
war
is
a wicked,
m war.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
56o
may
awful, and atrocious thing
be
very well in
all
its
way, but where the achievement of actual permanent results
bound it
-
and
make
will
it
question
loss
-
is
minds, even though
to bulk largely in men's
And an agreement
be absent from their tongues.
which to
concerned the profit
is
a matter of calculable certainty as
whether a nation
will
win or
lose
(presumably
is
at least) better than the present condition of " almost
"Eliminate
certain."
eliminate war,"
AVhether
Possible
unwersai Peace,
is
the
you
and
chance,
will
nigh
or
more
a pretty true proverb.
world will
be a better
comfortablc placc whcu the military element has been abolished, and the
company promoter,
and the business man put mighty,
too
is
deep
it
of the
upon
enter
into here.
fancy that Universal Peace,
Personally, I incline to
when
to sit in the seats of the
question to
a
the shopkeeper,
does come, will eventually bring about a reign
Jew
Capitalist,
and a mighty premium be put
fraud, lying, deceit,
and kindred
qualities
:
a reign
no easier than the militarv one, and culminatino- in
some
frightful upheaval of society in
and most other things Still, is
will perish.
" Blessed are the peace-makers": the bother
that no one seems to take the trouble to realise that
war can be carried on without
sailors
that commercial war, just because
pomp and
glory, the chivalry
war proper,
is
none the
less
is
and
it is
soldiers,
and
stripped of the
and codes of honour of deadly and
cruelty comes in a different way, that it
which civilisation
is all.
cruel.
The
Practically
the old savage warfare with different weapons,
ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS
561
but every whit as exterminating and as merciless.
And
UniA^ersal
if
Peace
is
to increase the field for
commercial wars, we are better better
to
perish
on
the
field,
off
without
with
such
it.
It is
dramatic
accompaniments as patriotism and glory can
afford,
than to starve in helpless misery in a garret in order that another in
Jew
or
two may build himself a palace
Park Lane/ 1
These
last
two paragraphs have been added
of this article in serial
36
form in the Daily
since the publication
Chronicle.
XXXVIII SOME CONCLUSIONS "
TT7HAT
does Russia want with a navy at
all
She
?
has hardly any coast and practically no trade." This
common
is a
question in England, where
apt to regard the Imperial
Indeed,
to us.
Russian ones
;
earned a " reply to
all
Navy
as a direct "
we
are
menace
"
our big cruisers are "replies" to
even the French have only recently "
—the new " mighty
match the Jeanne
d'Arc.
Yet
cruisers " destined
actually, Russia in
her naval plans no more contemplates meeting us at
we contemplate meeting the United
sea than It
is
a
possibility,
programme
is
it
States.
might happen, but the naval
not governed by
it
in
any way
:
if
Russia wars with us, her warring will be on the land as
much It
Russia 's sea riuals.
as possible.
happens, however, that there are other nations
who have
navies against which the Russian fleet would
be on a numerical ecpality, and there occasion to ask to ask
why
why Germany
is
no more
Russia should have a
fleet,
real
than
should, or Sweden.
Further, of course, Russia has always in view the possibility of eventualities in
which her ships would be
against us in connection with one or two other acting "" 662
:
SOME CONCLUSIONS Powers.
But
England,
is
Russian Navy. ability not
bogey we well know
this, tliough a
a secondary raison
quite
563
d'etre
For the Russians, with a
some of our
possessed by
iu
of the
reasoning-
politicians, re-
cognise that, unless given an overwhelming majority,
such a combination would have but a poor chance.
And
p
,
.
^,
.
must
variety of diflerent t3^pes
and the
its
his
own views on
Every
sailor
landsman must perforce accept tion to all this
we have
a
each side
Our eight
"'
and
on
if
there
would probably
understands it
composed
— are more im-
of different nationalities,
harder.
little
;
a fleet of a dozen
"
were eighteen the " walking through be
.
tactics,
civilian can possibly grasp.
Majesties would " walk through hostile vessels
-,
fleet so
ships fitted for diff'erent tactics
mense than any
,
necessarily be included
handling a big
difficulties of
— each admiral with with
combination an immense
In a
for this reason.
faith.
why
;
the
In addi-
strategical advantage in
position.
the Russian
Navy
without further regard to this particular
issue.
However, itself,
let
us briefly
The Russian Navy the Great
;
is
sum up
spoken of as created by Peter
actually, however, the early Russians
a reputation as sailors a thousand years ago.
had Still,
Peter was practically the King Alfred of the Russian
Navy, and he performed the Russian
Scotsmen service,
them
Navy
in
is,
in fine, a child of the British one.
particular
and there
to this day.
is
his task with English aid
had a kink
for
the Russian
a Russian ship called after one of
unukeiihood 0/ a successful combination against England.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
564
reckon up navies hy the ships and
It is usual to
tonnage, by a judicious manipulation of which anything
can be proved.
\vliatc\-er
of Iteing at the total
better.
For what
already been
a worthless sj'stem of comparison,
Itest
and the
energy of it
ten minutes
in
fire
made ad nauseam
than the ships themselves.
I jjropose to
;
is
of far
another; the difference
And
in
In action, so far as materiel
with the
lies
this
confine
more account
much
like
men who do
the
concerned, one battleship will prove pretty
handling.
little
is
worth, these comparisons have
is
myself to the jyersonnel, which
is
disadvantage
It has the
handling the ability of the
ofiicers
and the amenability to
are the
two chief
discipline of the
men
things.
customary nowadays to assert that " the battle
It is
of the future will be fouo-ht in the eno^ine-room," but
catch-phrase
this
nonsense
— at
of
any rate where ironclads
The engine-room takes wants to run away the
mere
for the """''"'
Till
present agitation
a
;
same reason the pursuer recently
when one
and the run-away side
fact of its electing to trv is
and
Finlanders
chiefiy
are concerned.
place only
first
is
and
is
side
beaten by
" evade,"
and
victor.
Courlanders consti-
bluejackets.
tuted the bulk of the
Now, however, men from into sailors.
men all
in
the Russian service.
over the empire get
The true Slav
is
made
said to have certain
privileges that are denied to the less Russian sailors,
matters of leave and so forth.
he
is
more
On
the other hand,
given leave in a foreign port he likely to
come back
to the ship
is ;
if
a good deal
but this
is
a
SOME CONCLUSIONS
565
thing upon which opinions as to cause and eftect vary.
On
whole,
the
fancy
I
thinks being a sailor
it
more "fun."
is
Boyish cveatnres
are these big Russian sailors,
more
own
shed at
the
In
"blues."
drill
noticed that the mere
seemed a joke
in fours nearly every
his
One
fellow.
stranger
Now trivial
Kroustadt^
^'"eJ^cMs.
I
and when they marched past
;
man
them
of
passed the " lugliski,"
he
so even than our
Boyishness of Russian
of their overcoats
takinsf off
them
to
who
the genuine Russ
is
strutted a bit as
and then smiled broadly
sees children
to
do the same when a
present.
is
this
thing to relate, but
importance.
is
the
man
officer
knows
that
to do things with
when he
does his best work
very
a
has a very high nautical
it
Every naval
" boyish " sailor
may seem
reader
the lay
to
—
the
a sailor
treats the whole thing as
a joke. " I
like
those chaps,"
an English naval
watching some Russian bluejackets once chuckle like children.
bad bargains."
training-ship
Vernii
"
They
That means they're good stuff"
Russia, however, gets her share " Queen's
said.
officer
told
Still,
me
of
what we
the captain
that he was
call
of the
full}^
pre-
pared to take the worst of them, and not a bit afraid of failing to of
my
make good
officers,"
he
said,
stuff of them.
" If I'm sure
" I don't trouble
about the
men."
He never had any difficulty about men into shape, he told me though of ;
1
P. 385.
licking
his
Lkiting saiiors into shape.
course
it
is
:
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
566
hard work in the case of men. who had never seen Exactly
the sea. I
how
the licking into shape
did not hear, save that
was not by a
it
violent and harsh measures. Russian
officers,
there
My
awful brutes to their men." the reverse, and
quite
Ijeen
What
on this matter. of the
my
has
eyes open
did notice was a good deal
person, prone to
The
inferiors.
But
devil," they say.
him
deal to rouse
all
Russian does get into a temper
If a
"the very
is
are
officers
encouraging smile, and a sort of " we're
sailors" spirit.
he
I
of
series
own experience
kept
I
done
this because
"Russian
that
an impression
is
mention
I
is
naturally he
;
show
a
is
takes
it
very amiable
of consideration
a lot
antithesis, in
fine,
a
to
his
Russian of
of the
fiction.
The drawbacks
Drawbacks to
Russian
the
to
are three
sailor
the Russian sailor.
service
his
time
"
is
is
short
;
owing
very curtailed
intelligent.
The
first
climate his " sea
the
to
and, finally, he
;
two
are
masts and yards as possible
;
combated by
the last
is
much
of virtues
a sailor.
The Russians firmly
Russian loue
as
one of those
defects that, properly treated, are the best in
not very
is
believe in masts
and yards
of masis
and yards.
for silly
training
purposes
they will have none of the
;
modern fad that because
motive power therefore
its drill
sail is
seaman knows, nothing can replace
is
no longer a
useless.
As every
this training.
In
the winter the Russian bluejackets do a deal of mast drill
but
on shore. it
is
This
none the
is
far
from equal to the
less useful
sea,
;
SOME CONCLUSIONS lu
the
jDarticularly
The
drills
watched
I
more
drills were, of course,
still,
men
if
Kronstadt
at
by the steadiness
struck
567
the
of
was
I
men.
or less military ones
good at one thing they are pretty
are
And
sure to be good at others.
the
drills I
watched
were particularly good.
The profession of naval
officer is a
very aristocratic
Russian
nmat
officers socially
one in Russia.
Duke
Grand
the
is
The head
Goschen
;
but he
Duke Alexander
He
Alexis.
a
is
of the navy, after the Tsar,
the
is
Eussian
The Grand
professional one.
He
also in the service.
is
is
much
He
younger, and holds at present a captain's rank. is
considered.
not (as Imperial and Royal sailors are usually under
the suspicion of being) a " feather-bed sailor," but as indefatigable
Captain
an
Louis
Prince
Indeed, his passion the
side
of
smartest
Dukes there
rather
life,
officer
and
in
consequence
service, especially
much
upon as
as
m a
possible.
As
is
the
sort
he
ours.
out-
opinion is
" the
and princes
It
is
perhaps
invariable defect
That
enters.
is
to say,
one for love of a sea
very anxious to secure
there are
OM the bibenan .T
the
in
counts
navy.
the
profession
a shore-going billet.
looked
many
does not become
n
known
as
In addition to the Grand
a good in
in
is
Petersburg
at
too fashionable, because
of a fashionable
every
while
Russia,
the navy."
commissions
holding
service
Battenberg
of
people
are
Russian
the
for his pi'ofession is
of
confines
many man in
very
in
officer
•
of exile
This feeling
many T-n
such, foreign 1
J^leet,
comes to be
to
be avoided as
is
not
absolutely
oisuke of foreign service.
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
568
but foreiou
ireneral,
service
iu
Russia
way
it
is
very difFerently to the Too
many
married
A
uavy.
lugh proportiou of
looked on
is
our
looked at in
are married
officers, too,
;
officers.
and of two
otherwise equal the celibate
oflficers
That we know
the most eflective.
An
item of interest
— and
is
that the Russians
a matter of specialism than Jacks,
iu our service.
make torpedo
matter gunnery and navigation
for that
we
"
Our
do.
though they are not called upon
'
much
keeping duties, are not
is
—more
gunnery
for watch-
from other
differentiated
and staif-commander
lieutenants;
always
is
an expiring rank
;
whereas in Russia gunnery, torpedo, and navigating
branch as staff-commanders
distinct a
officers are as
used to be in our service.
Gunnerv and executive
the
absolutely of
any
Torpedo
officers,
engineer
nothing whatever
officer"
engineer,
necessary
aud
only,
machinery
"torpedo or
navisatino- officers are selected from
so
connected
with
the
may, however, be
the
care
guns.
A
either executive
he has been through the
long
as
—a
fairly
course,
do with
to
have
officers
exhaustive
one.
As
a
matter of fact very few engineers serve as " torpedo officers,
way.
'"
there being
To
begin
a
with,
variety of difficulties
whereas
the
in
the
executive
are
allowed a twelve months' course in which to qualify as "second-class
specialists," the
through a
six
necessary
subjects, such
engineer
months' one.
officer's ordinar}-
part of his curriculum
as
It
is
engineer only goes
some
true
physics, are
curriculum
— every
;
part
also
of the of an
— again
as
engineer does a short
SOME COx\CLUSIONS course
(four weeks)
iutendiug to specialise the
engineer
and
officers,
may
executives,
engineer
rule he
officer
occupies
selected from the
is
course
for
months' one
for
This
met one engineer
much such
same
;
a position
and
as a general
class as
locomotive
;
sodai status of naval engineers.
not invariably the case,
is
officer,
spoke French and English
real.
Socially in the Russian
forty years ago
engine-drivers on shore. as I
twelve
the
Hence
not.
months"
the six
difficulties.
navy
as he did in our
or
be more apparent than
There are other
Navy an
torpedo
in
between
difference
torpedo school, whether
the
in
569
a senior engineer,
who
but the junior engineers
speak nothing but their native tongue, which, in such a linguistic country as Russia,
mechanic There
the sure
is
mark
of the
class. is
in the Russian
Navy an
engineers' agitation
nauai engineers agitation in the
exactly as there
Navy.
I spent a
is
ours or in the Lnited States
in
good deal of time trying
this question, being especially anxious to find it
exceedingly limited
knowledge
of
whether
Owing
was of home growth or imported.
probe
to
Russian,
to
my
I
was
able to get very little indeed of the engineer side of the
question
and as to the executive
;
side,
many
questions were probably half understood. as
I
could
make
out, the trouble
and arose from a officers
torpedo.
to
is
of
my
But, so far
one of long standing,
desire on the part of the engineer
be eligible for gunnery as they are for
The Administration apparently solved the
problem by taking their engineer
from a different
class
;
the junior
officers
after
that
engineers in the
""s/an
/vaui/.
3/
THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY
o
Russian service seemed to be both intellectually and
on a par with the engine-room
socially
artificers in
Nominally they
navy, and to hold an equivalent rank.
rank with, but a
after,
our
mitchmen (sub-lieutenants)
while
;
senior engineer ranks, nominally with, but after, a
kapitan
only senior engineers