Fighting on the maritime theaters in 1914: the Baltic and Black Seas

5

With the outbreak of World War I, the Baltic Fleet was subordinate to the command of the 6th Army. This army was supposed to defend the coast of the Baltic and White Seas, as well as the approaches to the capital of the empire. Her commander was General Konstantin Fan der Fleet. Main forces fleetas outlined by the pre-war plan of 1912, were deployed at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland to protect Petersburg from a possible strike from the German fleet.

The Baltic Sea has become the main theater of the struggle of the Russian and German fleets. The Germans could threaten the entire Baltic coast of Russia and the capital of the empire. In addition, the northern flank of the Eastern Front, which was necessary to defend, reached the sea. A feature of this theater of war was the natural-geographical factor. The Baltic Sea had the mouths of large bays - the Finnish, Riga, Bothnian, numerous islands, which made it possible to create powerful mine-artillery positions. But the activities of the Russian command to create coastal batteries, the accumulation of mines, the creation of a deployed fleet-based system were not fully implemented by the beginning of the war. On the eve of the war, the Baltic fleet consisted of a brigade of battleships (squadron battleships - “dodrednoutouts”), a brigade of cruisers, two mine divisions, a brigade of submarines, a mine-laying unit, a trawling party, and a squad of gunboats. It was an active fleet, in reserve was a brigade of old cruisers, a combined division of destroyers and training detachments - artillery, mine, diving. The fleet was commanded by talented Vice-Admiral Nikolai Otovich von Essen (1860 - 7 in May 1915). The main base of the Baltic Fleet was Helsingfors (Helsinki), but it was not sufficiently equipped and fortified for basing large ships. Battleships had to stand on an unprotected external raid. Already during the war, great work was carried out on the construction of fortifications for defense from the sea and from land. The cruiser brigade was based in Reval, it was planned to be converted into the main base of the Baltic Fleet. The advanced naval bases were Libau and Vindava - they had to be abandoned when the war began. In addition, the Baltic port, Rogokul, and Ust-Dvinsk were the basing points of light forces. In Kronstadt there were reserve ships, and the fleet repair base was located.

The command of the Baltic Fleet foresaw the start of the war, therefore began to implement plans for the mobilization and deployment of forces in late July 1914, in accordance with the plan of the 1912 year and the fleet's combat schedule. The 12 (25) of July announced an increased readiness of the fleet, and the guarding of raids and harbors was strengthened. On July 13, at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, a permanent patrol of 4 cruisers was established. On July 14, the Minzag detachment and the destroyer division entered the position at Porkkala-Udd, preparing to place mines on orders from the command. The reserve brigade of cruisers was brought to combat readiness, the partial evacuation of Libava began. At midnight on July 17 (30), with the announcement of a general mobilization, minelayers - Amur, Yenisei, Ladoga and Narova, under cover of battleships, destroyers and submarines, began laying mines at the Central position (Nargen Island, peninsula Porkkala-Udd). For four and a half hours 2119 mines were set.

Fighting on the maritime theaters in 1914: the Baltic and Black Seas

Minelayer "Amur"

The Germans were better prepared for war. Germany carried out more focused preparations for a pan-European war, having begun a large-scale program for the construction of the fleet at the end of the 19th century, and only improved it in the future. The Russian leadership has long believed that war can be avoided. The German Navy had well-equipped bases and bases in the Baltic: Kiel, Danzig, Pilau. In addition, there was the Kiel Canal - it connected the Baltic and North Seas, passes from Kiel Bay, near the city of Kiel to the mouth of the Elbe River, near the city of Brunsbüttel, it allowed maneuvering by the Navy, to transfer additional forces. For the Germans, Sweden’s resources were of great importance - iron ore, timber, agricultural products, so the German command tried to protect this communication well (it ran along the southern coast of the Baltic and along the coast of Sweden). Germany had a Baltic Sea fleet on this sea: it consisted of the Coast Defense Division and the Port Flotilla in Kiel under the general command of Grand Admiral Heinrich of Prussia (1862-1929). I must say that this was a man of innovative views, the prince defended the idea of ​​developing a submarine fleet and a marine aviation, on his initiative, the development of the first aircraft carrier was carried out in the German Empire.

The relatively small size of the sea made it possible to quickly deploy forces for operations. At the same time, the Baltic Sea is characterized by complex hydrometeorological and navigational conditions, which made it difficult to conduct military operations. Thus, the combat activities of the Russian Navy were held back by prolonged freeze-up in the Gulf of Finland and the Abo-Aland skerry area.

By the outbreak of hostilities, the Baltic Fleet was stronger than the German forces in the Baltic. In the Baltic Fleet there were 4 doddornauta, 3 armored cruisers, 7 cruisers, 70 destroyers and destroyers, 6 minzags, 11 submarines, 6 gunboats. In the German fleet of the Baltic Sea there were 8 cruisers (including training), 16 destroyers, 5 minelayers, 4 submarines, 1 gunboats. But we must take into account the fact that the German command could at any time transfer additional forces from the North Sea, including new dreadnought battleships and battle cruisers.


Prince Heinrich of Prussia

1914 campaign of the year in the Baltic

July 20 (August 2) German Navy put 100 mines at Libau and fired at it. Then they put the 200 mines at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, but they were discovered on time by the Russian ships. 13 (26) August German light cruisers "Augsburg", "Magdeburg" and three destroyers tried to attack the Russian patrol at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. But the attempt failed - "Magdeburg" in the fog sat on the stones near the island of Odenholm. The Germans sent a destroyer and a cruiser to help, but managed to remove only part of the crew. They were discovered by the Russian cruisers “Bogatyr” and “Pallas” - they drove off the enemy ships and captured 56 people led by captain Richard Habenicht. The signal books and the cruiser cryptographic table have become the most valuable "gift" for the Baltic Fleet. According to the regulations, the Germans were supposed to burn them in the firebox, but it was flooded, and they were thrown overboard. The Russian command sent divers to search for books, and after a brief search, their work was crowned with success. In this case, the Russian command was able to keep it secret. Habenicht was kept under heavy guard in order to rule out the possibility of transferring the news of the seizure of secret data to Germany. One book and a copy of the code table were transferred to Britain. The disclosure of the German cipher subsequently had a great influence on both the fighting in the maritime theater and the course of the war as a whole.


Stranded "Magdeburg".

The nature of the actions at the beginning of the war showed that the German command was not going to bring significant forces of the Baltic fleet into battle and conduct major operations. Therefore, the Russian fleet began to act more actively. In early September, Essen ordered the fleet to be active in the southern and middle Baltic. Parts of the fleet advanced to the west — both cruiser brigades moved into Finnish Lapvik, the 1 mine division from Revel switched to Moonzund, and the 2 mine division into the Abo-Aland region. In September and October, cruisers and destroyers carried out several reconnaissance campaigns, and minefields from Libau and Windawa were put up.

The Germans, concerned about the activation of the Russian Navy, decided to carry out a major operation - two battleships of the battleships (14 ships) and other ships were supposed to cover the landing of troops in Kurland. The 10 (23) of September forces were ready to start the operation, but a message was received about the appearance of significant British forces in the Danish straits, the operation was turned off, the ships were returned to Kiel.

German submarines began to pose a great danger to the Baltic Fleet. So, on September 28 (October 11), two Russian cruisers Pallas and Bayan returned from the patrol and were attacked by the German U-26 submarine under the command of Lieutenant Commander von Borkheim. The armored cruiser Pallas, commanded by the captain of the 1 rank of S. R. Magnus, was torpedoed and drowned with the whole crew - 537 people died.


German postcard of the First World War with the image of the moment of the explosion of the Pallas cruiser from the hit of a German torpedo.

But this tragedy did not paralyze the actions of the Russian fleet. In October, a plan was developed active minefield obstacles. By the end of the year, around 1600 mines were installed - 14 active barriers, moreover, more than 3600 defensive mines were installed. This caused considerable damage to the German naval communications, forced the German command to focus all its attention on the mine danger. On November 17, an armored cruiser Friedrich Karl exploded on Russian mines in the region of Memel and sank after hours of fighting for survivability after 5. The cruiser “Augsburg” took off the crew, 8 people died during the explosions. In addition, on Russian mines in 1914-1915 years, the 4 minesweeper, 2 (3) guard, 14 steamers were damaged, two cruisers, the 3 destroyer and the 2 minesweeper were damaged. It should be noted that the Russian mine forces were more active, not only German, but also British. Mine-barrage operations have become the main combat activity of the Baltic Fleet. Russian sailors were world leaders in the use of mine weapons and made a great contribution to the art of mine warfare.

The Germans for 1914 year put up more than 1000 mines - 4 active barriers and 4 defensive.


The cruiser "Frederick Karl".

Results of the fighting for 1914 year

- The Baltic Fleet from passive waiting at the Central Mine-Artillery Position moved to action and seized the initiative.

- The Germans abandoned demonstrative actions showing the strength of their fleet (they were not going to break through to St. Petersburg), and switched to more passive tactics. The main reason is the active setting of mines by the Russian Navy.

- The war revealed a number of deficiencies in the material and technical equipment of the fleet, the equipment of bases and coastal fortifications, and combat training. They had to be urgently eliminated.





Black Sea

The Black Sea is distinguished by rather large depths - the average depth is more than 1200 m, only the north-western part has depths less than 200 m. This feature imposed restrictions on the possibilities of waging a mine war. At the same time, the Black Sea, like the Baltic, is relatively small, so fleets of the warring powers could quickly deploy their forces for operations. There was an important communication along the Turkish coast, with the help of which reinforcements were sent, and the Caucasus Front was supplied (land communications were not developed and required a lot of time for transportation). In addition, oil and coal came into the Ottoman Empire from Romania (before its entry into the war). Therefore, one of the main tasks of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was the blockade of the Bosphorus and the violation of Turkish sea communications.

Russia and the Ottoman Empire poorly prepared their coastal infrastructure for war. Only Sevastopol met the standards of that time. Among the Turks, only the area of ​​the Bosphorus had a satisfactory coastal defense.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet consisted of a brigade of battleships, a mine division (it included a cruiser, destroyers, and minzagi), a submarine division, and a trawling party. Total 7 dodrednoudou (flagship fleet "Evstafy", "John Chrysostom", "Panteleimon", "Rostislav", "Three Saints", "Sinop", "George," and the last two battleships were in reserve), two cruisers, 29 destroyers and destroyers, 4 submarines, several minzagov and gunboats. The commander of the fleet from 1911, was Admiral Andrei Avgustovich Ebergard. The main base of the fleet was Sevastopol, other points of deployment - Odessa and Batum, the rear repair base - Nikolaev. By the opening of hostilities in this theater to protect Odessa and the entrance to the Dnieper-Bug estuary was created a special detachment of ships (canoners "Donets" and "Kubanets", minzagi "Beshtau", "Danube").

Before the arrival of the German cruisers “Goeben” and “Breslau”, the Turkish Navy were de facto ineffective (the ships are old, in poor condition, with an almost complete lack of combat training). Ports, in a more or less operational condition, had two squadron battleships, the 2 armored cruisers, the 22 destroyer and the destroyer. The only base was Istanbul. After the entry of Bulgaria into the war, Berlin began to use Varna on the Berlin side to base German submarines. The situation changed with the arrival of the German cruisers, the Germans led the Turkish Navy, reinforced them with their officers and sailors. As a result, the German-Turkish fleet was able to conduct cruising operations.


Minelayer "Prut"

1914 Campaign

The fighting on the Black Sea began without a declaration of war - early in the morning of 16 (29) in October, German-Turkish ships fired on Odessa, Sevastopol, Feodosia and Novorossiysk. On the whole, the enemy did not achieve any serious success, although he intended to seriously damage the Russian battleships and completely paralyze the actions of the Black Sea Fleet. Two Turkish destroyers attacked Odessa, using the effect of surprise, they sank the gun "Donets", damaged the gun "Kubanets" and the minzag "Beshtau", 4 steamer, port facilities. The linear cruiser “Goben” bombarded Sevastopol without much success. During the withdrawal, the destroyer and the “Prut” landlayer attacked, a strong fire started on the minzag, and the crew sank it. The light cruiser “Gamidiye” fired at Theodosius, and the German “Breslau” Novorossiysk. In addition, the enemy ships set up several dozen mines, two steamboats exploded and sank on them.



The very next day, the Russian battleships and cruisers went in search of the enemy and cruised for three days in the southwestern part of the sea. The Russian high command repeated the mistake of Port Arthur, admiral Aberhard was banned from active actions, until the last trying to preserve the neutrality of Ports. If Sushona had more powerful forces, and he did not spray the existing ships for different purposes, the outcome could have been more disastrous.

The attack of the enemy sharply intensified the Black Sea Fleet. Until the end of the year, more than 4,4 thousand mines were exposed for the defense of Sevastopol, Odessa, in the Kerch Strait, off the Caucasian coast and in a number of other areas. Great work was done to strengthen the coastal batteries. The Black Sea Fleet did not confine itself to defense and led offensive operations. Until the end of 1914, the ships of the main squadron six times went on a campaign. 22-25 of October (4-6 of November) The Black Sea Fleet delivered 240 mines at the Bosporus, fired on the strategic port of Zonguldak - it carried coal and various raw materials to Istanbul and carried out various military shipments from west to east, sank 5 transports.

2-5 (15-18) November, the fleet covered the laying of mines at Trebizond, Platany, Unye, Samsun (delivered 400 mines). In addition, Trabzon was bombarded. 5 (18) on November, when the squadron returned, it met with "Geben" and "Breslau". There was the first open battle. He walked all 14 minutes, and in general it was a shootout of the Russian flagship "Eustache" with "Geben." The Germans could not chase because of the significant difference in the course. The German battleship received 14 hits (3 projectile 305 mm guns, 11 from 203, 105 guns), losing a dead 105 man and wounded 59. The ship was out for two weeks of repair. The gunners of "Goeben" got into the Russian battleship three times from 280 mm guns - 33 people died, 25 were injured. The battle showed that the crew of the old Russian battleships could well withstand the new type of cruiser. If one battleship is likely to be defeated, then in the compound they represent great power, especially if the crews are well prepared.


The battleship "Evstafy" under fire from the German battle cruiser Geben. Fight at Cape Sarych. Painting by Denis Bazuev.

November 19 (December 2) Russian squadron made the next trip. At the Bosphorus in December put more than 600 min. Bombing of Turkish ports was carried out. 13 (26) December “Goeben” blew up on a mine and dropped out of the 4 month. The Batumi detachment played a large positive role - it supported the Caucasian front with artillery fire, landed troops, stopped the transfer of Turkish units, ammunition, and weapons.

The Germans continued to make raids, but did not achieve significant success. Thus, in November, Breslau and Hamidiyet fired on Poti and Tuapse, and in November Goben bombarded Batum. At the very end of 1914, from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, the 5 of German submarines crossed over, which complicated the situation.

The sailors of the Black Sea Fleet also fought on the Serbian front. Belgrade asked for help, asked to send small arms, mine specialists, mine-torpedo weapons to fight the enemy on the Danube, and engineers for arranging ferries. In August, 1914 was sent a special unit to the Danube - the Special Purpose Expedition (EON) under the command of Captain I Veselkin. A squad of combat and transport ships, a block detachment, an engineering squad and a number of other formations entered EON. Russian sailors had a great help to the Serbs, they installed mine, network and other barriers, which greatly limited the actions of the Danube Austro-Hungarian flotilla. October 10 (23) Austrian flagship monitor died on Russian mines. The creation of river ferries made it possible for the Serbian command to maneuver in time on its own. In addition, 113 threw thousands of rifles, 93 million ammunition, 6 radio stations and other property to the Serbs. This helped the Serbs withstand the Austrian offensive in the 1914 year and even go on the counteroffensive.

First results

- The Germans failed to paralyze the actions of the Black Sea Fleet.

- The Russian fleet was also unable to completely seize the initiative in its own hands, although it was very active - the Russian ships attacked the coast of the enemy, put minefields near the Turkish coast, sank dozens of transports, supported the actions of the Caucasian front.
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  1. 0
    28 February 2012 10: 36
    All of the above indicates that the Baltic and Black Seas were no longer suitable then, and now even more so are not suitable for basing large naval surface ships. another example of this is the far-sighted German High Seas Fleet, which left the harbors to the North Sea on holidays ....
    1. Kibb
      0
      28 February 2012 12: 05
      How does the North Sea relate to the Baltic?
      Quote: max73
      Baltic and Black Seas

      Completely different theater of operations, with completely different tasks. "Sevastopoli" were intended for combat in a mine-artillery position, "Maria" to neutralize possible Turkish dreadnoughts and support the fleet during the assault on the Bosphorus, "Izmail" in general were not planned to be based on these theaters - what's the problem? Only in the fact that real events did not go as planned by the Russian General Music School, so in this he is not alone.
  2. 755962
    0
    28 February 2012 11: 32
    The Germans abandoned the demonstrative actions showing the strength of their fleet (they did not intend to break through to Petersburg) and switched to a more passive tactic. The main reason is the active placement of mines by the Russian Navy.
    Comparing the actions of the Russian cruisers and the German Baltic detachment, one cannot fail to see that while the Germans remained on the same course of action, the Russians systematically and systematically carried out their plan to mine enemy shores and at the end of the campaign undoubtedly snatched the initiative from the hands of the enemy. "Further accidents with mines - writes the German historian (Firle. War on the Baltic Sea, vol. I) - forced the chief of the (Baltic) detachment to postpone any offensive actions."
    1. Kibb
      0
      28 February 2012 11: 43
      Quote: 755962
      Comparing the actions of Russian cruisers and the German Baltic squad
      Comparing the actions of these forces, it is impossible not to notice what the "German Baltic Detachment" was, therefore, it is senseless to discuss further "military operations in the Baltic", Essen, began the planned work, which after his death was systematic ...
  3. Georg Shep
    0
    28 February 2012 11: 58
    Both sides fought decently.

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