Russian Battleship Slava
In 1914 and 1915, the British navy contained the German navy
on the North Sea. The story was similar in the Mediterranean. The British,
working with the French, exercised a somewhat loose control in the fall of 1914
that tightened in May 1915 when Italy joined the Allies. The Austrian navy
posed a threat from its bases along the Adriatic coast but it was so badly
outnumbered that its ships remained at their moorings for the next four years,
except for several raids.
While on the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Aegean the Allied
navies were superior to the forces of the Central Powers, the Germans did carry
out one successful operation with two cruisers, the battle cruiser Goeben and
the light cruiser Breslau. The two warships eluded Allied patrols on their way
to Istanbul, which they reached at the end of August. The German government
donated the ships to the Ottoman Empire as part of its effort to recruit
another ally. The German cruisers were reflagged as Ottoman ships but retained
their German officers and crews. The donation played an important part in the
Ottoman decision to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers in October
1914. The German ships also played an important part in defending Istanbul from
attack by the British and French from the west and the Russians from the north
and east. While the Russian navy controlled the Black Sea, its inferior ships
were not a match for the Goeben and the Breslau.
Russian naval forces improved over the course of 1915, yet
at no point were they able to contemplate action against Istanbul. This was
mainly for reasons that had to do with geography and technology. Istanbul is
situated at the eastern opening of the narrow, fortified waterway that connects
the Black Sea to the Aegean. Not only were the German cruisers still
formidable- so were the fortifications along the straits. The closure of the
straits had serious economic consequences for Russia. Merchants in Russia's
southern ports were not able to export grain to markets overseas, nor were they
able to import needed war supplies. Russia's northern ports remained open for
commerce but ice closed them for most of the long winter. While Russia
controlled its coastal waters, including the Black Sea, it was effectively
blockaded by the Ottoman Empire's decision to join the Central Powers.
The Russians had ports on the Baltic, to the north, but the
German navy controlled the outlets to the North Sea. Even so, the Germans had
little success on the Baltic. The Germans chose to send their best ships to the
North Sea, leaving a smaller force of old ships on the Baltic. The Russians,
who had lost many ships in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, had a numerical
advantage on the Baltic, but everyone recognized that, should the Germans
choose to shuttle ships from the North Sea to the Baltic, the Russians would
face a formidable enemy. They responded by employing their ships in defensive
positions, particularly around the capital, St. Petersburg, and by laying
extensive minefields. The Baltic became a stalemate that was different in one
key respect from the North Sea, where the British successfully blockaded
Germany: the Germans were still able to use the Baltic Sea to transport goods.
Sweden became a key trading partner with Germany, supplying the Germans with
iron ore and other essential goods.
The lessons learned at Tsushima resulted in some positive
changes in the navy. The draft period for sailors was reduced to five years,
the officers corps was renewed by the influx of new officers, and proposals
were outlined to increase the fleet's budget. The State Council of Defense and
the recently created State Duma were, however, not inclined to allocate funds
to restore the navy. The Naval Department delayed building new battleships
until 1909, and comprehensive renewal of the fleet's equipment was put off
until 1913. According to government plans for 1908-1914, Russia had scheduled
the construction of eight battleships, four battle cruisers, ten light
cruisers, 53 destroyers and 30 submarines. Two light cruisers and six
submarines were intended to augment the Siberian Flotilla, which replaced the
Pacific Fleet in the Far East. A special naval committee was established to
organize the construction of the large turbine destroyer Novik (1910-1913),
which then set the trend for many future innovations in shipbuilding.
The projections and construction of the ships met the very
highest requirements. Battleships of the Sevastopol-class, with a displacement
of 26,000 tons, had a top speed of 24 knots and were armed with twelve 305
millimeter guns; 356 millimeter guns were designed for battle cruisers of the
Ismail-class. The submarines of the Morzh and Bars-classes were designed to
maintain a speed of sixteen to eighteen knots, each armed with twelve torpedo
launchers.
However, new ships were commissioned only in the second half
of 1914, and the majority, only between 1915 and 1917. With outdated equipment,
the training of skilled crews, which in the Russian Navy had always been given
the very highest priority, acquired even greater importance. Improvements in
tactical training and maritime studies were assigned to Admiral Nikolay Essen,
successor of the traditions of Lazarev and Butakov. Navigation under a variety
of weather conditions, opening skerries and channels, and high level gun and
torpedo training were all taught at the school. Great efforts to secure combat
readiness were made by Admirals Lev Brusilov, Alexander Liven, Alexander Rusin,
Andrey Ederguard, and Genrikh Tsyvinsky.
In the years preceding the war, the Naval Cadets Corps and
Naval Engineers' School turned out midshipmen who were then promoted to
officers' ranks for service in the Mediterranean. In December 1908, during one
such cruise, the seamen of the battleships Slava and Tsessarevitch, the
cruisers Bogatyr and Admiral Makarov, and the gunboats Gilyak and Koreyets were
the first to assist the Italian town of Messina after it suffered an
earthquake. A special medal was designed to commemorate the event.
Eventually the Nikolayevsky Naval War College was granted
full independence. Among the classes for officers was a specialized navigation
course, and among the training units was the Training Detachment of Underwater
Navigation. In 1910 at Sevastopol the Officers' Aviation School was opened for
the preparation of maritime aviation. The graduates of the school were
instructed in flying the M-5 seaplane, which, after 1915, operated from
air-carrying transports - the predecessors of present-day aircraft carriers.
The Baltic
By the outbreak of World War I, the Russian Baltic Fleet,
with its four pre-dreadnought battleships, was outmatched in size by the German
fleet, which possessed thirteen of the latest dreadnoughts along with other
ships. Using mainly minefields and coastal batteries, the Russian Navy was
assigned the special task of protecting the Gulf of Finland. Mines were planted
on the very eve of the declaration of war, 18 July 1914. Due to the persistence
and energy of Admirals Nikolay Essen and Viktor Kanin, a minelaying detachment
under the latter's command laid 2,124 mines in only four hours, thus barring
the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. However, the German Command concentrated
its main forces against the British in the North Sea, restricting itself in the
Baltic to occasional operations by its force of cruisers-raids that were, for
the most part, unsuccessful.
On the night of 13 August 1914, one of the best German
cruisers, Magdeburg, ran aground in the fog on the reefs off Odensholm Island.
The Russian sailors from the Pallada and Bogatyr captured the Magdeburg's
commander and 56 crewmen. The most valuable items confiscated were signal logs
and code tables that were later used for decoding radio transmissions
throughout the entire war.
In late September, at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, the
German submarine U-26 torpedoed the cruiser Pallada. The explosion detonated
the ship's ammunition, and within a few minutes the cruiser disappeared into
the water along with all 597 crewmembers. Following the tragedy of the Pallada,
Admiral Essen ordered that all ships be escorted by destroyers. Furthermore, he
ordered the shifting of operations to the southern area of the Baltic, closer
to the German sea lanes. Under Admirals Ludvig Kerber, Viktor Kanin, Captain
Alexander Kolchak and others, the detachments of cruisers and torpedo boats
laid 1,500 mines in enemy waters. Germany's armored cruiser Friedrich Karl,
four mine-sweepers, and fifteen steamships were subsequently destroyed and the
cruisers Augsburg and Gazelle seriously damaged.
In the spring of 1915, the commander of the Baltic Fleet,
Admiral Essen, died of pneumonia. Vice-Admiral Kanin, who replaced him,
expanded the zone of the fleet's operations, strengthened the defenses at Aland
and Moonsund Islands, and took control of the Gulf of Riga. The German U-26
sank the mine-layer Yenisei, but three months later she herself struck Russian
mines and sank in the Baltic.
Organized by Signal Officer-in-Chief Adrian Nepenin and
Commander Ivan Rengarten, radio intelligence proved invaluable to Russian
seamen in the Baltic; by using it Rear Admiral Mikhail Bakhirev and his cruiser
brigade managed to intercept the German detachment of Commodore Karf on 19 July
1915, as it returned from planting mines off Gotland Island. In the ensuing
battle the cruisers Admiral Makarov, Boyan, Bogatyr and Oleg sent the cruiser
Augsburg into retreat and forced the damaged mine cruiser Albatross to run
aground. Under Captain Alexander Pyshnov, the cruiser Ryurik severely damaged
the German cruiser Rhoone, forcing it to withdraw.
In late July 1915, the situation in the Baltic Sea changed
radically. The German Command decided to transfer half its fleet to the Baltic
to break through to the Gulf of Riga and destroy the Russian ships anchored
there. Under the command of Vice-Admiral Eggard Schmidt, numerous
mine-sweepers, fifteen German battleships, three battle cruisers eleven
cruisers, and 56 destroyers approached the Irben Strait. This German armada was
held in the Strait for ten days by the comparatively outdated Russian
battleship Slava, under Captain Sergey Vyazemsky. Supported by the armored
gunboats Khrabry and Grozyaschy and several destroyers, the Slava repulsed all
enemy attempts to break through the minefield. On the night of 4 August,
Schmidt sent his newest large destroyers, V-99 and V-100, into the Gulf, where
they were met by the destroyer Novik under Captain Mikhail Berens. In the short
battle that followed, the Novik damaged both German ships, and V-99 was driven
into the minefields, where she struck a mine and sank.
The German dreadnoughts Nassau and Pozen managed to force
the Slava aside and enter the Gulf of Riga, where Admiral Schmidt lost the
destroyer S-31. Russia's only loss was the gunboat Sivuch, commanded by Captain
Pyotr Cherkasov. The Sivuch had fought in the darkness for nearly an hour in an
unequal battle with the cruiser Augsburg, two destroyers and the newly-arrived
Nassau and Pozen. The heroic vessel fought to the last, then sank under the ensign
of St. Andrew. The year closed in the Baltic to the accompaniment of exploding
Russian mines, striking the enemy cruisers Bremen, Danzig, Lubek and the
destroyers V-191 and S-177.
In May of 1916, the submarine Volk, commanded by Captain
Ivan Messer, destroyed three German transports, while, with the destroyers
Novik, Pobeditel and Grom, Rear Admiral Alexander Kolchak sank the enemy
auxiliary cruiser German in the Norrkoping Gulf. The Germans attempted to
attack the Russians at the mouth of the Gulf of Riga in October, but this
retaliatory action proved to be a disastrous miscalculation. Of Captain
Viting's eleven newest destroyers, seven struck mines and sank.
The Black Sea
Before dawn on 16 October 1914, sudden explosions were heard
at the port of Odessa and off the coast of Sevastopol. The Commander-in-Chief
of the allied German-Turkish Fleet, Rear Admiral Wilhelm Suschon, decided to
surprise the Russian seamen with another attack similar to the one at Port
Arthur. At Odessa the Turkish destroyer Gairet fired a torpedo that sank the
gunboat Donets, while, off Sevastopol, the battle cruiser Geben forced the
sailors of the minelayer Prut to scuttle their vessel. A bold attempt by
Captain Vladimir Trubetskoy to stop the Geben with a division of small destroyers
failed because the leading destroyer, Lieutenant Pushchin, became seriously
damaged at the outstart. The Geben began to shell the Sevastopol but was driven
off by shore batteries and the older battleship Georgy Pobedonosets.
The success of this surprise attack by German and Turkish
forces was largely due to new restrictions imposed by the military-political
leadership on the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Andrey Ebergard.
The Black Sea Fleet was superior in strength, but the large and fast Geben
proved to be an important advantage to the German-Turkish Command.
The primary mission of the Black Sea Fleet was to blockade
the Bosporus and Zongulak, a region that produced coal for fuelling ships. From
October 1914 to February 1915, Admiral Ebergard made ten voyages to the
Anatolian coast with a total squadron of five battleships, cruisers and torpedo
boats. Having planted mines on the approaches to the Bosporus, the Russian
sailors sank fourteen Turkish steamships and over 50 sailing vessels. On 5
November 1914, Admiral Suschon once again tried to take the Black Sea Fleet by
surprise, but this time the German attempt failed. Under Captain Valery
Galanin, the flag battleship Evstafy hit the Geben with the first salvo and
forced her to retreat.
After a failed attempt to cross the Dardanelles in early
1915, the English and French landed a large force on the Galliopoli Peninsula.
This would have allowed the Russian troops to land in the Bosporus and
radically alter the outcome of the war with Turkey. However, the Russian
landing did not take place because of poor cooperation between the allies and
the weakness of the Russian High Command, which did not effectively coordinate
the actions of its army and navy.
Only three times, in the spring of 1915, did the Black Sea
Fleet bombard fortifications in the Bosporus from the battleships Tri
Svyatitelya, Panteleymon and Rostislav. On its March voyage to the Bosporus,
the seaplane carrier Emperor Nicholas I saw its first military action, while
aircraft carriers patrolled the coast and shelled enemy batteries.
In retaliation for the bombardment of the Bosporus, Suschon
decided to fire upon Odessa, but the cruiser Madzhidie was blown up and sunk by
Russian mines. The Geben was also damaged by a mine and consequently rendered
temporarily inoperable.
On 27 June 1915, the submersible mine-layer Crab, commanded
by Senior-Lieutenant Lev Fenshow, planted 58 mines off the Bosporus. Later, in
July 1916, the officer in charge, Captain Vyacheslav Klochkovsky, directed the
Crab's mine laying expeditions in the mouth of the Strait. For his success in
these operations, Klochkovsky was awarded the golden sword of St. George.
In August 1915, during the Battle of Kefken, the submarine
Nerpa, together with the destroyers Pronzitelny and Bystry, under Captain
Trubetskoy, attacked a Turkish convoy consisting of the cruiser Gamidie, two
destroyers and four transports. All enemy transports were sunk, while the
escort ships barely escaped.
In the campaign of 1916 the submarine Tulen, under
Senior-Lieutenant Mikhail Kititsin, distinguished herself when she destroyed
and captured six steamships, three launches and 21 sailing vessels. In
September 1916, Kititsin attacked the heavily armed German transport Rodosto,
forced it to surrender and towed it to Sevastopol. In September 1915, Admiral
Ebergard hoisted his flag on the Empress Maria, the fleet's newest dreadnought,
for its first campaign against the Turks; the powerful ship was fully capable
of competing single-handedly against the Geben. On 24 January 1916, the Empress
Maria appeared at the head of the fleet off Zongulak, but remained in a
screened position since the main blow was delivered by eleven seaplanes from
two seaplane carriers. Lying at the pier, the Turkish steamship Irmingard was
sunk during the bombardment.
In the summer of 1916, energetic Vice-Admiral Alexander
Kolchak took command of the Black Sea Fleet. Under his leadership, exit from
the Bosporus was almost completely blocked by Russian mines. Constantinople
remained without coal, and passage out of the Strait became difficult for all
German cruisers and submarines. Under Admiral Kolchak's command, the naval
approaches to Varna were also mined. In October the cruiser Pamyat Mercuria,
under the flag of Rear Admiral Kazimir Porembsky, and the destroyer Pronzitelny
destroyed the supply of oil left in Constantsa by the retreating Rumanians.
However, the Black Sea Fleet also suffered significant
losses. The destroyers Lieutenant Pushchin and Zhivuchy struck enemy mines and
sank. Especially devastating was the loss of the Empress Maria at Sevastopol
after an onboard explosion on 7 October 1916.
1917
Russian sailors not only fought in the Baltic and Black Seas
but also in the Mediterranean and Pacific. By 1914, together with Allied ships,
the Siberian cruisers Askold and Zhemchug had already begun escorting
transports and pursuing German raiders. The campaign ended badly for the
Zhemchug. After hoisting the British ensign and mounting a false funnel, the
German cruiser Emden, took the Zhemchug unawares and sank her at the port of
Penang. The Zhemchug's Commander Ivan Cherkasov was reprimanded and demoted for
his carelessness.
The fate of the Askold proved more fortunate. In late 1914
she was already fighting in the Mediterranean, and in December, commanded by
Captain Sergey Ivanov, the Askold captured the German transport Haifa and
destroyed two Turkish steamships. During the next year the Askold joined the
newly formed Allied British-French fleet to fight in the Dardanelles. In 1915, the
cruiser sailed approximately 17,000 miles. In late 1916, after repairs at
Toulon, the Askold joined the Arctic Flotilla.
This flotilla emerged from the detachment formed in
September 1914 to defend the port area of Arkhangelsk. A new port, Romanov-on-Murman,
was constructed on the shore of the Gulf of Kola and became the terminus of the
railway that extended into the polar region. Thus, a convenient and secure
communication link was established between Russia and the Allies. The recently
formed Arctic Flotilla aimed to ensure the protection of this vital searoute
and included ships from the Pacific Fleet: the Chesma, which had been purchased
from Japan, and the cruiser Varyag [Viking]. The Siberian Fleet contributed the
minelayer Ussury and six destroyers. Afterwards, Vice-Admiral Ludvig Kerber was
appointed Commander-in-Chief over the northern fleet. The first Russian naval
success in the far North was on 20 October 1916. The destroyer Grozovoy, under
Lieutenant Korneyev, sank the German submarine U-56 in a battle in the Barents
Sea.
By early 1917, the Russian fleet was again a formidable
force and included 558 combat ships, a number of launches, and over 500
auxiliary transport vessels. In construction were fifteen battleships, fourteen
cruisers and 269 naval planes. The personnel of the Fleet totaled 168 thousand
officers and men.
However, the political crisis in February 1917, immediately
affected the Navy's efficiency. In February 1917, Emperor Nicholas II abdicated
and the Provisional Government came to power. At Helsinki and Kronstadt, the
largest Baltic ports, sailors began to riot. Dozens of admirals and officers
were killed, including the Commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vice-Admiral Adrian
Nepenin, and the Chief Officer of the Port of Kronstadt, Admiral Robert Viren.
The effectiveness of the Baltic Fleet fell sharply. Germany took advantage of
the political turmoil in Russia and began a series of attacks aimed at the
weakest link in Russia's fleet, its submarines. Within a short time six had
been destroyed, including the Bars, Lvitsa, Gepard and Yedinorog.
In late September Germany undertook a large-scale landing
operation on the Moon Sound Islands. Vice-Admiral Eggard Schmidt arrived with
more than 300 vessels carrying 25,000 assault troops. The Commander of the
Baltic Fleet, Rear Admiral Alexander Razvozov, could call up only two
battleships, three cruisers, three gunboats and 21 destroyers under
Vice-Admiral Mikhail Bakhirev. Nonetheless, the smaller Russian force mounted
strong resistance to the German squadron. Unlike the army, the navy remained
loyal to the increasingly embattled Russian government.
In Kassar Bay the Eleventh Destroyer Division of Commander
Georgy Pilsudsky distinguished itself in battle. Fighting alongside the gunboat
Khrabry, the destroyers Pobeditel, Zabiyaka, Konstantin and Grom resisted an
attack by thirteen German destroyers and the battleship Kaiser. The Grom was
lost in the fight, but while under enemy fire, the Khrabry, managed to break
through to the burning Grom and save her crew. Lieutenant Anatoly Waksmouth was
the last to leave the deck of the Grom. At Kassar Bay Russians damaged six
German destroyers while three others-B-98, B-111 and S-64- struck mines and
were damaged.
In an unequal fight at Kuivaste the 4-gun battleship Slava,
under Captain Vladimir Antonov, fought the German dreadnoughts Koenig and
Kroneprinz, each armed with ten 12-inch guns. The Slava had to be scuttled
because of the damage it incurred during the battle. However, the enemy could
not intercept the Russian ships retreating from the Gulf of Riga, and the
Battle of Moon Sound ended.
The Battle of Moon Sound was the last fought by the Russian
fleet under the ensign of St. Andrew.
The Black Sea Fleet of Vice-Admiral
Kolchak maintained its morale and continued to blockade the enemy's coast until
the summer of 1917, when revolutionary upheavals reached the Black Sea.
In Petrograd, on 25 October 1917, Vladimir Lenin and his
Bolshevik cohorts seized power. The new government brought the war to a close,
and, in December 1917, an armistice was signed with Germany. By the Decree of
the Council of People's Commissars, 29 January 1918, the Russian Fleet was
declared dissolved and the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet was
proclaimed.
