The events of autumn 1941 on the Baltic Sea - says historian Miroslav Morozov

A huge amount of historiographic materials has been published devoted to the largest battles of the Great Patriotic War: Stalingrad, Kursk, crossing the Dnieper, etc. But against this background, events related to military operations, for example, on the Baltic Sea, are much less actively covered. The significance of the Baltic fleet and the contribution that the Baltic sailors made to the common Victory is hard to overestimate.

With the advance of the Nazis deep into the USSR - with the occupation of the Baltic republics, part of the northwestern territories of the RSFSR - the activities of the Soviet fleet in the Baltic were significantly constrained.

Numerous problems arose, one of which was associated with blocking the main supply routes. At the same time, the enemy tried to fragment the Baltic Fleet of the USSR Navy into small groups in order to provide for itself a more facilitated version of its complete destruction. For these purposes, German troops used minefields, bombing Aviation, striking from the sea and land by Soviet ships. The situation by December 1941 was not just complicated, but truly critical.

About the course of hostilities of the Soviet Union on the Baltic Sea in 1941, the historian Miroslav Morozov tells. His lecture on autumn events in the Baltic is available on the Tactic Media channel:

Comments

[svp67]

And that’s great. It is a pity that the heroes of the defense of this archipelago in 1917 are not much remembered, and if the victims of the Tserel battery are still remembered,

then the dead sailors on the battleship "Slava",

destroyers

and gunboats ...

And about the battles of 1915 ... they completely forgot

[knn54]

Repeated the feat of their fathers and grandfathers, the defenders of Mozund 1915-1917.
Glory and eternal memory to the Baltic navies.

[tihonmarine]

On December 4, 1941, in the area of ​​Nargen Island, the Iosif Stalin turbo-electric ship was blown up by mines; out of 6000 people on board, about 1700 people were rescued, the rest were captured by the Germans, the wounded were left on board and they sank together with the ship in the Lohusalu Lakht Bay. This was kept silent for 48 years. Few of the wounded were rescued by Estonian fishermen at night, and the boats that were suitable for the liner were shot by German boats. Eternal memory to the victims.

[Sergey S.]

On December 4, 1941, in the area of ​​Nargen Island, the Iosif Stalin turbo-electric ship was blown up by mines; out of 6000 people on board, about 1700 people were rescued, the rest were captured by the Germans, the wounded were left on board and they sank together with the ship in the Lohusalu Lakht Bay. This was kept silent for 48 years. Few of the wounded were rescued by Estonian fishermen at night, and the boats that were suitable for the liner were shot by German boats. Eternal memory to the victims.

Why continue the tradition of admissibility of inaccuracies in politically significant information?
1. The tragedy of "Joseph Stalin" was not silent for 48 years. I have known about her since my school years; I no longer remember which source about these events was the first.
For example, a book by N.G. Mikhailovsky "We went into the night", published in 1962 by Lenizdat.
It sets out a heroic version of this tragedy, according to which the Germans towed a blown up transport to Tallinn, and there, under the threat of surrender, those who were armed gave the last battle ... But the name of the transport is not called ... And this, certainly not right.
2. There were other sources of information about this tragedy, but the "main secret" for me during my school years in the 1960s-1970s was that the turbo-electric ship was called "Joseph Stalin". This was purposefully hushed up. But for those interested, and around, it seemed to me, everyone was like that, it was not a secret.
3. Indeed, for the first time sufficiently informative about the tragedy was written in the book by B.A. Weiner "Soviet sea transport in the Great Patriotic War", Voenizdat, 1989. It was in it that terrible figures were published: he took on board - 5589 people, managed to remove - 1740 people. The rest either died or were captured ...
4. I did not know about Estonian rescue fishermen before. Yes, and I can’t believe it ... I would like specific facts ... What they were silent for so many years, in Soviet times they could get medals ... Yes, and what kind of fishermen are in minefields ...
5. How did it happen that no one could help the vessel, which continued to hold on to the surface of the water, for me this remains not entirely clear. Or rather, why I didn’t help, but why I don’t know about desperate attempts to save people, I really don’t understand. Indeed, there, as far as I know, were, including the families of the commanders ...
6. It is not necessary to write that in Soviet times they did not write about failures and tragedies. They wrote, erected monuments, and those to whom it was important knew, remembered, discussed, mourned ...
It even seems to me that then, without the Internet and countless number of TV channels, more people knew and understood in such events. There were many fewer indifferent and insensitive people. Now, no matter how you write on Topvar, the number of initiates is rapidly approaching the number of members of the forum. And this is exactly what I consider as a national tragedy.

[Cetron]

The Navy in Russia, the USSR, and the Russian Federation has never been and never is. What was and is with difficulty falls short of the coast guard of some normal maritime states. I’m silent about the sea powers.

[Evgenijus]

Admiral Nakhimov drowned the Turkish fleet from a slingshot. etc. But the German battleship and cruisers the Germans sank themselves. Americans launched calibers from the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Caspian along the bearded. Go on, dear ...

[Cetron]

A missile boat does not pull a full-fledged fleet, all the German large ships in the WWI are sunk in mines - Coast security!
They dealt with the Ottomans, I do not argue, but only normal sea powers entered the World Cup, they themselves flooded the fleet without a fight!
What kind of kriegsmarine was sunk during WWII? There was no fleet, and the parody that was was sunk by stormtroopers - the combat fleet didn’t even bother, a lot of honor (in their understanding).
In non-sailing time, one battle with a sea power in the REV is [b] tsushima [b], the result is known.
Patriotism is good, I respect Russia myself, but Wishlist and reality are two different things.
In December, Russia was raped three times in a perverted form (WADA, SP2, Ukrainian transit), today hockey youth of the USA showed who is the boss in the world and where is the place of Russians. Here is an objective reality!

[Evgenijus]

Military-technical progress is changing the picture or understanding of the concept of the Navy or what the Navy is. The galley fleet used to divide the world into colonies and powers. A sail appeared, then steam in the engines of sea ships. Diesel fuel changed the picture of naval battles along with long-range guns of ships. Submarines also contributed to the strategy of naval operations and battles. Nuclear reactors and ICBMs in submarines have significantly changed the understanding of the Navy. Today, one submarine with ICBMs can keep the world at bay for fear of a nuclear war. And the last stage in changing ideas about the Navy was the appearance of Granites, Caliber and Zircons. The Caspian Flotilla, having launched Caliber by barmaley, has entered into world politics, becoming part of the real Russian Navy. I assume that you have old ideas about the concept of the Navy. Read materials about old naval battles, Clausewitz will not be harmful to read, even though he wrote about land wars, creating the theory of this war. You must understand that the Navy is not the amount of metal held on the sea surface.

[Sergey S.]

Quote: Cetron

The Navy in Russia, the USSR, and the Russian Federation has never been and never is. What was and is with difficulty falls short of the coast guard of some normal maritime states. I’m silent about the sea powers.

This can be written about almost any country in the world. Of course in different periods of history.
But after the "Ocean" maneuvers (1970), our fleet became oceanic, in the late 1970s it became truly oceanic with a large number of the latest ships.
In the 1980s, according to some experts, it came out on top in terms of the power of the first salvo and, even in the number of carriers of striking weapons, it included more than 1470 pennants. And the number of ships in the ocean zone was approaching the Americans.
And no one put the Navy of the USSR in the world below 2 places.

What else had to be done to become a "sea power"?