Imperial Russian Navy

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For the modern term, see Russian Navy.
Imperial Russian Navy
Российский императорский флот
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
EngagementsRusso-Turkish War (1686–1700)
Great Northern War
Russo-Persian War (1722–1723)
Nikolai von Essen
Alexander Kolchak
Insignia
Ensign
Jack
Pennant
Navies of Russia

The Imperial Russian Navy (

Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917.[1] Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a smaller force that had existed prior to Tsar Peter the Great's founding of the modern Russian navy during the Second Azov campaign
in 1696. It expanded in the second half of the 18th century and reached its peak strength by the early part of the 19th century, behind only the British and French fleets in terms of size.

The Imperial Navy drew its officers from the aristocracy of the Empire, who belonged to the state

Russian America (present-day Alaska) for colonization and fur-trade development. Although the early Imperial Navy initially employed paid foreign sailors, the government began to recruit native-born sailors as conscripts, drafted (as were men to serve in the army). Service in the navy was lifelong.[citation needed] Many naval commanders and recruits came from Imperial Russia's non-Russian lands with maritime traditions—Finland and (especially) the Baltic governorates
.

The Russian Navy went into a period of decline due to the Empire's slow technical and economic development in the first half of the 19th century. It had a revival in the latter part of the century during the reign of Emperor

Nicholas II (r. 1894–1917), but most of its Pacific Fleet (along with the Baltic Fleet sent to the Far East) was destroyed in the humiliating Russo-Japanese War
of 1904-1905.

The navy had mixed experiences during the

emperor, and the sailors split to fight on either side during the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922. The Soviet Navy
, established as the Red Fleet in 1918 after the Revolution, took over the available surviving ships.

Bosphorus and the Dardanelles
. As a result, separate naval groupings developed in relative isolation in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Russian Far East and the Arctic.

Background

Under Tsar Mikhail I (Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov), the first three-masted ships built within Russia were finished in 1636. Danish shipbuilders from Holstein built it in Balakhna according to contemporary European design. The ship was christened Frederick; during its maiden voyage on the Caspian Sea, the ship sailed into a heavy storm and was lost at sea.

During the

Western Dvina. They renamed the former as Borisoglebsk and the latter as Tsarevich-Dmitriyev. A boyar named Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin
founded a shipyard at Tsarevich-Dmitriev fortress and began constructing vessels to sail in the Baltic Sea. In 1661, however, Russia lost this and other captured territories by the Peace of Cardis. Russia agreed to surrender to Sweden all captured territories, and it ordered all vessels constructed at Tsarevich-Dmitriev to be destroyed.

"Flag of the Tsar of Moscow" raised in 1693

Boyar Ordin-Nashchokin turned his attention to the

Stepan Razin
. The Cossacks ransacked Орёл and abandoned it, half-submerged, in an estuary of the Volga.

During much of the 17th century, independent Russian merchants and Cossacks, using

Chukotsk Peninsula, Dezhnev passed through the Bering Sea
and sailed into the Pacific Ocean.

Reign of Peter the Great

Goto Predestinatsia, flagship of the Azov flotilla until 1711

Boyar Duma
looked into Peter's report of this military campaign. It passed a decree on October 20, 1696, to commence construction of a navy. This date is considered the official founding of the Imperial Russian Navy.

During the

Olonka). In order to defend the conquered coastline and attack enemy's maritime communications in the Baltic Sea
, the Russians created a sailing fleet from ships built in Russia and others imported from abroad.

From 1703 to 1723, the main naval

Admiralteyskiy Prikaz
(admiralty in St. Petersburg).

In 1745 the Russian Navy had 130 sailing vessels, including 36 ships of the line, 9 frigates, 3 shnyavas (шнява — a light two-mast ship used for reconnaissance and messenger services), 5 bombardier ships, and 77 auxiliary vessels. The oared fleet consisted of 396 vessels, including 253 galleys and semi-galleys (called скампавеи, or scampavei; a light high-speed galley) and 143 brigantines. The ships were being constructed at 24 shipyards, including the ones in Voronezh, Kazan, Pereyaslavl, Arkhangelsk, Olonets, Petersburg and Astrakhan.

The naval officers came from

Thomas Gordon
. In 1718, the Admiralty Board (Адмиралтейств-коллегия) was established as the highest naval authority in Russia.

Bosphorus.
By M. M. Ivanov
The naval cathedral in Kronstadt was one of several cathedrals of the Imperial Russian Navy.

The organizational principles of the Russian Navy, educational and training methods for preparing future staff, and methods for conducting military action were all summarized in the Naval Charter (1720), written by Peter I himself.

Feodor Ushakov, and Dmitry Senyavin
.

Between 1688 and 1725, a period spanning most of Peter's reign, some 1,260 seagoing

Russo-Persian War of 1722-1723).[3] In 1700, the majority of sailors in the Imperial Russian Navy were foreigners at the start of the Great Northern War. But by 1721, at the end of the same war, the navy had 7,215 native-born sailors.[3]

18th century

In the second half of the 18th century, the Russian Navy was built up to support the government's foreign policy. The nation conducted the

Yenikale
.

After having advanced to the Danube, the Russians formed the Danube Military Flotilla for the purpose of guarding the Danube estuary. In 1771 they were guests to the Republic of Ragusa.[4] The Beluga caviar from the Danube was famous, and merchants from the Republic of Ragusa dominated the import-export business in Serbia with the Habsburg monarchy.[5]

In 1773 the vessels of the Azov Flotilla (created anew in 1771) sailed into the Black Sea. Russia defeated Turkey in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, gaining control of the Sea of Azov and a part of the Black Sea coastline between the rivers Bug and Dniester. The Crimea was pronounced independent under Russia's protectorate and was annexed by Russia in 1783. In 1778, the Russians founded the port of Kherson. The first battleship of the Black Sea Fleet was commissioned here in 1783. A year later, a squadron had been developed.

19th century

Admiralty Board
, 1810s

By the second half of the 18th century, the Russian Navy had the fourth-largest fleet in the world after Great Britain, Spain and France. The Black Sea Fleet possessed 35 line-of-battle ships and 19 frigates (1787), and the Baltic Fleet had 23 ships of the line and 130 frigates (1788). In the early 19th century, the Russian Navy consisted of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, Caspian Flotilla, White Sea Flotilla and Okhotsk Flotilla.

During the

St Petersburg. The Committee's chairman, Vorontsov, concluded that "It is impossible for Russia to be considered a major naval power, but there is no predictable need or advantage in this status."[6] Consequently, the Committee recommended nothing more than limited measures to rectify the state of the fleets, and the Russians retained limited capability at sea thereafter, relying on their land power to defeat Napoleon. In 1802, the Ministry of Naval Military Forces was established (renamed to Naval Ministry in 1815).[7]

Battle of Navarino, by Ivan Aivazovsky, showing the Russian squadron, in line ahead (left-centre, white flags with blue transversal crosses) bombarding the Ottoman fleet (right, with red flags)

This attitude changed with the accession of Nicholas I in 1825, who less than a month into his reign declared that "Russia must become the third naval power after England and France and must be more powerful than any coalition of secondary naval powers."[8] As a consequence, the 1825 Committee to Organise the Fleet was formed, which outlined an ambitious shipbuilding project which aimed to create the third largest navy in Europe.

The growth of the Navy in the years after this greatly bolstered Russian naval capability, expanding both the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. A Russian squadron under the Dutch Admiral

Russo-Turkish War (1828-29), utilising the Mediterranean squadron and the Black Sea Fleet to gain command of the Sea from the Ottomans, which contributed to Russian victory and the signing of the Treaty of Adrianople
in 1829.

In 1826 the Russians built their first armed

kW (98.7 hp)), equipped with eight cannons. In 1836, they constructed the first paddle steam frigate of the Russian Navy called Bogatyr (displacement – 1,340 t (1,320 long tons
), power – 177 kW (237 hp), armament – 28 cannons).

The Imperial Russian Navy sent out exploratory expeditions. Between 1803 and 1855, their ships undertook more than 40 circumnavigations and long-distant voyages, most of which were in support of their North Americans colonies in Russian America (Alaska) and Fort Ross in northern California, and their Pacific ports on the eastern seaboard of Siberia. These voyages produced important scientific research materials and discoveries in Pacific, Antarctic and Arctic theatres of operations.

In 1863, during the American Civil War, the Russian Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets wintered in the American ports of New York and San Francisco, respectively. Some historians credit this visit as a major factor in deterring France and the UK from entering the war on the Confederate side.[9] Delahaye states that besides supporting the Union, Russia was also preparing for a war with France and the UK should they intervene in the Polish insurrection of 1863. The Russian Navy was weak and could easily be blockaded in its home ports, but if it was in the US when the war started it could more easily attack British and French commerce.[10]

The Imperial Russian Navy continued to expand in the later part of the century becoming the third largest fleet in the world after the UK and France. The expansion accelerated under Emperor Nicholas II who had been influenced by the American naval theoretician Alfred Thayer Mahan. Russian industry, although growing in capacity, was not able to meet the demands and some ships were ordered from the UK, France, Germany, US, and Denmark. French naval architects in particular had a considerable influence on Russian designs.

Crimean War and aftermath

Clash between the Russian steam frigate Vladimir (ship, 1848) [ru] and the Turkish steam frigate Pervaz-ı Bahrî on 5 November 1853 – the first naval battle between steam ships in history

Russia's slow technical and economic development in the first half of the 19th century caused her to fall behind other European countries in the field of steamboat construction. By the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853, Russia had the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, Arkhangelsk Flotilla, Caspian Flotilla and Okhotsk Flotilla (altogether, 40 battleships, 15 frigates, 24 corvettes and brigs, 16 steam frigates etc.).

The combined number of staff of all the fleets equaled 91,000 people. Despite all this, the reactionary serfdom system had an adverse effect on the development of the Russian Navy. It was especially typical of the Baltic Fleet, which was known for its harsh military drill.

Thanks to admirals

Mikhail Lazarev, Pavel Nakhimov, Vladimir Kornilov, and Vladimir Istomin
, the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet were taught the art of warfare and upholding of military traditions of the Russian Navy, formed in the times of Admiral Ushakov.

The

Siege of Sevastopol in 1854–1855, the Russian sailors used all means possible to defend their base from land and sea. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris
, Russia lost the right to have a military fleet in the Black Sea. In the 1860s, the Russian fleet which had relied upon sails lost its significance and was gradually replaced by steam.

After the Crimean War, Russia commenced construction of steam-powered

armor, but lacked seaworthiness, speed and long-distance abilities. In 1861, they built the first steel-armored gunboat Opyt (Опыт). In 1869, the Russians began the construction of one of the first seafaring ironclads, Petr Veliky
(Пётр Великий).

Russo-Japanese War

Main article: Russo-Japanese War

On the night of 8 February 1904, the

Stepan Osipovich Makarov
on 13 April 1904.

After the attack on Port Arthur, the Japanese attempted to deny the Russians use of the port. On the night of 13/14 February, the Japanese attempted to block the entrance to Port Arthur by sinking several cement-filled steamers in the deep water channel to the port.[13] But the steamers, driven off course by Russian gunfire were unable to sink them in the designated places, rendering them ineffective. Another attempt to block the harbor entrance on the night of 3/4 May with blockships also failed.

Mine-laying

In March, the energetic[14] Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov (1849–1904) took command of the First Russian Pacific Squadron with the intention of making plans to break out of the Port Arthur blockade. By then, both sides began a policy of tactical offensive mine-laying by laying mines in each other's ports. This was the first time in warfare that mines were used for offensive purposes. In the past, mines were used as purely defensive purposes by keeping harbors safe from invading warships.

The Japanese mine-laying policy was effective at restricting the Russian movement of its ships outside Port Arthur when on 12 April 1904, two Russian battleships; the flagship, Petropavlovsk, and Pobeda ran into a Japanese minefield off Port Arthur with both striking mines.[15] Petropavlovsk sank within an hour, while Pobeda had to be towed back to Port Arthur for extensive repairs. Makarov died on Petropavlovsk.

However, the Russians soon learned the Japanese tactic of offensive minelaying and decided to play the strategy too. On 15 May, two Japanese battleships – Yashima and Hatsuse, were both lured into a recently laid Russian minefield off Port Arthur, both striking at least two mines. Hatsuse sank within minutes taking 450 sailors with her, while Yashima sank under tow a few hours later.[16]

The Russian fleet attempted to break out from Port Arthur and proceed to Vladivostok, but they were intercepted and dispersed at the Battle of the Yellow Sea.[17] The remnant of the Russian fleet remained in Port Arthur, where the ships were slowly sunk by the artillery of the besieging army. Attempts to relieve the city by land also failed, and after the Battle of Liaoyang in late August, the Russians retreated to Mukden (Shenyang). Port Arthur finally fell on 2 January 1905, after a series of brutal, high-casualty assaults.

Russian submarines

By 25 June, the Imperial Russian Navy had secretly purchased its first naval submarine, known as Madam, from

St. Petersburg
, Russia.

In 1903, the German ship building firm

Prince Heinrich of Prussia was given a brief cruise in the vessel.[18] In April 1904, the Imperial Russian Navy purchased Forelle, and ordered two more submarines of the Karp class.[19] These vessels, as well as Forelle were transported along the Trans-Siberian Railway[20]
en route to the war zone.

Germaniawerft, under the supervision of Spanish naval architect Raymondo Lorenzo d'Euevilley-Montjustin, continued his work on the Karp-class submarines, improving and modifying one into Germany's first U-boat, U-1, which was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy on 14 December 1906.[21] U-1 was retired in 1919, and is currently on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.[22]

Due to the ongoing blockade of

Tartar Strait. Keta could not submerge quick enough to obtain a firing position and both adversaries broke contact.[23]

Battle of Tsushima

The Russians had already been preparing to reinforce their fleet the previous year by sending elements of the Baltic Sea fleet (The Second Pacific Squadron) under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky around the Cape of Good Hope to Asia, a voyage of over 18,000 mi (16,000 nmi; 29,000 km). On 21 October 1904, while passing by the United Kingdom (an ally of Japan but neutral in this war), they nearly provoked a war in the Dogger Bank incident by firing on British fishing boats that they mistook for Japanese torpedo boats.

The duration of the Baltic Fleet's journey meant that

Admiral Togo was well aware of the Baltic Fleet's progress, and he made plans to meet it before it could reach port at Vladivostok. He intercepted them in the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan, in the early morning of 27 May 1905. Although both battleship fleets were on nearly equal footing in regards to the latest in battleship technology, with the British warship designs representing the Imperial Japanese Navy, and predominately the French designs being favored by the Russian fleets;[24] it was the combat experience that Togo had accrued in the 1904 naval battles of Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea, that gave him the edge over the un-tested Admiral Rozhestvensky during the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May.[25] By the end of the day on 27 May, nearly all of Rozhestvensky's battleships were sunk, including his flagship, Knyaz Suvorov
; and on the following day, Admiral Nebogatov, who had relieved Rozhestvensky due to his wounds, surrendered the remainder of the fleet to Admiral Togo.

Reconstruction prior to World War I

At the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Russia fell from being the third greatest naval power to sixth place. The focus of Russian naval activities shifted back from the Far East to the Baltic. The task of the Baltic Fleet was to defend the Baltic Sea and Saint Petersburg from the German Empire.

Tsar

Duma in 1907–1908 but was voted down. The Bosnian Crisis of 1909 forced a strategic reconsideration, and new Gangut-class battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were ordered for the Baltic Fleet. A worsening of relations with Turkey meant that new ships including the Imperatritsa Mariya-class
battleships were also ordered for the Black Sea Fleet. The total Russian naval expenditure from 1906 to 1913 was $519 million, in fifth place behind Britain, Germany, the United States and France.

The re-armament program included a significant element of foreign participation with several ships (including the cruiser Rurik) and machinery ordered from foreign firms. After the outbreak of World War I, ships and equipment being built in Germany were confiscated. Equipment from Britain was slow in reaching Russia or was diverted to the Western Allies' own war effort.

World War I

By 1917 the Imperial Navy had amassed a fleet of 55 submarines, used to varying degrees of success.[26]

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Fleet's dreadnought Poltava in 1916

In the Baltic Sea, Germany and Russia were the main combatants, with a number of British submarines sailing through the Kattegat to assist the Russians, including E9 commanded by Max Horton. With the German fleet larger and more modern (many High Seas Fleet ships could easily be deployed to the Baltic via the Kiel Canal when the North Sea was quiet), the Russians played a mainly defensive role, at most attacking convoys between Germany and Sweden and laying offensive minefields. Russian and British submarines attacked German shipping sailing between Sweden and Germany.

With heavy defensive and offensive mining on both sides, fleets played a limited role on the Eastern Front. The Germans mounted major naval attacks on the Gulf of Riga, unsuccessfully in August 1915 and successfully in October 1917, when they occupied the islands in the Gulf (Operation Albion) and damaged Russian ships departing from Riga (Battle of Moon Sound), which had recently been captured by Germany.

By March 1918, the Russian Revolution and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk made the Germans masters of the Baltic sea and German fleets transferred troops to support newly independent Finland and to occupy much of Russia, halting only when defeated in the West. The Russians evacuated the Baltic fleet from Helsinki and Reval to Kronstadt during the Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet in March 1918.

Black Sea

The Black Sea Fleet's battleship brigade in line ahead led by Ioann Zlatoust

The Black Sea was the domain of both the Russian and Ottoman Empires but the Russian fleet dominated the sea. It possessed a large fleet based in Sevastopol and it was led by two skilled commanders: Admiral Eberhart and Admiral Kolchak (who took over in 1916).

The war in the Black Sea started when the Ottoman fleet bombarded several Russian cities in October 1914. The most advanced ships in the Ottoman fleet consisted of just two German ships: the battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau, both under the command of Admiral Wilhelm Souchon. Goeben was damaged on at least four occasions and was usually chased back to port by the superior Russian Navy. By the end of 1915, the Russian fleet had nearly complete control of the sea.

The Black Sea fleet was used mainly to support

Vehip Pasha, was ordered to re-take Trebizond
. The Ottoman forces tried to march along the coast in June but the Russian fleet was able to reduce the speed of their advance to a crawl using naval bombardment to harass marching troops and destroy their supply columns. Eventually the Ottoman army gave up and withdrew.

After Admiral Kolchak took command (August 1916), the Russian fleet mined the exit from the Bosporus, preventing nearly all Ottoman ships from entering the Black Sea. Later that year, the naval approaches to Varna were also mined. The greatest loss suffered by the Russian Black Sea fleet was the destruction of the modern dreadnought Imperatritsa Mariya, which blew up in port on 7 October 1916, just one year after it was commissioned. The sinking of Imperatritsa Mariya was never fully explained; it could have been sabotage or an accident.[27]

Revolution and Civil War

The Revolution and subsequent civil war devastated the Russian Navy. Only the Baltic fleet based at Petrograd remained largely intact, although it was

Bizerta, Tunisia. Russian sailors fought on both sides in the conflict. The sailors of the Baltic fleet rebelled against harsh treatment by the Soviet authorities in the Kronstadt rebellion
of 1921.

The surviving ships formed the core of the Soviet Navy on its 1918 establishment, though the remnants of Wrangel's fleet never returned to Russia.

Ranks of the Imperial Navy (English translation)

Beginning in the second half of the 19th century, ranks of the IRN were divided according to speciality and branch.

Deck ranks and rates

Seamen and NCO's

Officers

Naval Infantry
and ground service troops ranks

Ranks of these troops mirrored those of the Imperial Russian Army from Private to General, and were distinguished from those in the army.

Marine enlisted and NCOs

Marine officers

Ranks of the Naval Artillery

Marine enlisted and NCOs

  • Marine
    Marine
  • Marine Gefreiter
  • Marine Junior Gunner (formerly Marine Corporal)
  • Marine Senior Gunner
  • Marine Feldwebel (formerly Marine Sergeant)
  • Marine Junior Ensign
  • Marine Acting Ensign (from 1884 onward)

Officers

Engineering ranks

Stabs-kapitan
 (1905–1913), Naval Mechanical Engineers Corps

Until 1905 the Naval Mechanical Engineers Corps and the Fleet Engineers Corps had unique ranks. Both changed to ground-based ranks that year and in 1912 the former changed its ranks again to naval based ranks.

Rank insignia 1911–1917

See for a more detailed history, ranks and rank insignia
Main article: History of Russian military ranks
Main article:
Ranks and rank insignia of the Russian armed forces until 1917

Unlike other navies of its time, the Imperial Russian Navy sported only shoulder rank insignia for officers and ratings.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Tsardom of Russia declared itself the Empire of Russia (Russian: Российская Империя, romanized: Rossiyskaya Imperiya) in 1721.
  2. ^ Устав морской (Naval Regulations), Санкт Петербург, 1763
  3. ^ a b Cracraft 2009, p. 47.
  4. ISBN 978-86-03-99817-7
  5. ISBN 978-3-8258-9539-6
  6. ^ Beskrovny p. 294
  7. ^ "History: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation". eng.mil.ru. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  8. ^ Quoted by Beskrovny p. 296
  9. ISBN 978-0826210975
  10. ^ Delahaye, Tom (1983). "The Bilateral Effect of the Visit of the Russian Fleet in 1863" (PDF). The Loyola University Student Historical Journal. 15. Loyola University New Orleans Department of History and the Loyola University Student Historical Association. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  11. ^ Grant pp. 12, 13, 15, etc. continuous throughout the book
  12. ^ Grant pp. 46, 51, 54, 63, etc. throughout the book
  13. ^ Grant pp. 48–57
  14. ^ Grant p. 93
  15. ^ Grant pp. 127, 128
  16. ^ Grant p. 163; Diarist may have only been aware of battleship Hatsuse's sinking, as he does not mention the Yashima. However, the commander's diary was translated into two languages between 1905 and 1907 (Spanish and English), so it is highly possible that that information may have been lost during translation
  17. ^ Grant pp. 171–177
  18. ^ Showell, pp. 22, 25, 201
  19. ^ Showell, p. 25
  20. ^ Grant p. 140
  21. ^ Showell, pp. 24 & 30
  22. ^ Showell, pp. 36 & 37
  23. ^ Olender p. 175
  24. ^ Forczyk pp. 11–13
  25. ^ Forczyk pp. 41–54
  26. ^ Rzhevsky, Sergei (August 14, 2022). "Submarine fleet of the Russian Empire". Russia Travel Blog: All about Russia in English. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  27. ^ The History of the Russian Navy. Chapter 11. "The Great War – In the Black Sea"

Sources

Further reading

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External links

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