Arctic Ocean Flotilla in the Civil War
By the beginning of the First World War, there was, in addition to hydrographic vessels, only one Russian military vessel (the “Bakan” messenger ship), which served the service of protecting fisheries. The appearance of German mines in 1915 in the White Sea, on which merchant ships were undermined, forced the Marine Ministry to start organizing the “White Sea Trawling Party”. The help from England, to which Russia has repeatedly appealed, was sporadic and extremely weak.
The results of the 1915 campaign showed that trawling, the protection of communications and the defense of the coast of the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea should be provided by Russian forces fleetwithout relying on the English. Meanwhile, the possibility of replenishing the fleet in the North with ships was extremely limited, since the largest fleets of Tsarist Russia (the Baltic and Black Sea) during the war were isolated from the North. The North had relatively free communication only with Vladivostok, but the Siberian flotilla based on it was not numerous. Under the circumstances, the tsarist government was forced to buy at least outdated ships. Therefore, negotiations began on the purchase of three former Russian ships from Japan: the battleships Poltava and Peresvet and the cruiser Varyag, sunk in 1904, and then raised and rebuilt by the Japanese. The acquisition of these ships, as well as the transfer of some warships from the Siberian flotilla to the North, allowed the Ministry of the Sea in February 1916 to decide on the organization of a flotilla of the Arctic Ocean (SLO).
In March, 1916 was both battleships and Varyag arrived in Vladivostok. "Poltava" was enrolled in the class of battleships, renamed the "Chesma" and sent to the Mediterranean Sea to replace the cruiser "Askold", which was intended to transfer to the North. The cruiser "Varyag" in November 1916 arrived in the Kola Bay, where in January 1917 came and the battleship "Chesma", since the need for it in the Mediterranean Sea passed. Peresvet, following to the North, in December 1916, after leaving Port Said, hit a mine and sank .. Finally, the cruiser "Askold", after repairing in France, arrived in Kola Bay in June 1917.
From the Siberian Flotilla to the SLO Flotilla were transferred: minelayer "Ussuri" (arrived in December 1915), the destroyers "The Imperious" and "Thunderstorm" (arrived with the transport "Xenia" in 1916), the squadron destroyers "Captain Yurasovsky" , "Lieutenant Sergeev." Silent and Fearless (arrived in 1917) and the outdated submarine Dolphin (arrived in 1916).
Among the new military ships that were ordered abroad, in England, the 12 minesweepers were built and in Italy, the submarine “St. George ”(arrived in Arkhangelsk in September 1917).
Unable to produce new orders or purchase ready-made military ships abroad, the tsarist government was forced to buy trawlers, whalers, yachts and steamboats there and convert them into military ships. So, back in 1915, six Norwegian and English trawlers were acquired. Later, five more trawlers were bought in Spain, and Argentine trawlers, one French and two Norwegian whalers, and finally three American trawlers. 14 yachts and steamboats converted into messenger ships were also acquired.
Replenishment fleet SLO was extremely slow. Purchased yachts, steamers and trawlers, intended as messengers of ships and minesweepers, were, as a rule, refitted and repaired abroad, since the fleet's own repair facilities were extremely limited. The warships of the flotilla were also idle under repair. Thus, the destroyers Vlastny and Thunderstorm, the cruiser Varyt were delayed with repairs in England in 1917.
On 7 in October 1917 the 89 combat and auxiliary ships 1 were listed in the SLO flotilla.
battleships 1 ("Chesma")
cruisers 2 ("Askold" and "Varyag")
4 destroyers
2 destroyers
submarines 1 ("St. George")
ship messengers 18
mine layer 1 ("Ussuri")
Minesweeper 43
hydrographic vessels 4
3 transports
port ships 8
icebreaker 2 (Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich)
Of them, one cruiser and two destroyers were under repair abroad, and six messenger vessels and three minesweepers were under refurbishment.
The establishment of Soviet power in the North and the exit of the republic from the war resulted in the reduction of the SLO flotilla. By order of the Naval Department of the Central Committee of the SLO Flotilla (Zeledflot) from 26 in February 1918, the following estimated composition of the flotilla for the 1918 campaign was announced:
1. Trawling Division - 16 minesweepers.
2. Messengers vessels for the protection of industries ("Gorislava", "Yaroslavna", "Kupava", "Taimyr" and "Vaigach").
3. Transport workshop "Xenia".
4. Communication service - two messenger vessels (“Hoarfrost” and “Orlik”) and two minesweepers.
5. The Directorate of lighthouses and loci - “Solombala”, “Polar”, “Ussuri” and two minesweepers.
6. The White Sea Hydrographic Expedition - two hydrographic vessels (Murman and Lieutenant Ovtsyn) and three minesweepers.
7. Sea icebreakers ("Svyatogor" and "Mikula Selyaninovich").
8. Submarine - “St. George "(before sending to the Baltic).
9. Murmansk survey - the Pakhtusov hydrographic vessel.
10. Two destroyers (most serviceable).
“Courts and institutions,” the order said, “those not included in this list are subject to either liquidation or reduction ...”.
24 May on the basis of the directive of the Board of the People's Commissariat for Maritime Affairs was followed by a new order, according to which the composition of the flotilla was further reduced, and some vessels (minesweepers) were replaced. Instead of a division, a detachment of minesweepers from 12 units was left, all minesweepers were excluded from the hydrographic expedition, the submarine “St. George ”surrendered to the port for long-term storage 2.
However, the “peace period” in the North did not last long. The British, firmly established in the North during the war, were not going to evacuate. They viewed the North as one of the important bases in the implementation of their plan of military intervention against Soviet Russia. In Murmansk, the British found support for the counter-revolutionary elements led by the deputy chairman of the Murmansk Regional Council Yuryev. Most of the naval officers were hostile to the Soviet government and closely connected with the officers of the Anglo-French ships stationed in the port of Murmansk.
In March, the 1918 of the White Finns launched an offensive in order to capture Karelia and Murman, but the Red Army units threw them back. An icebreaker Mikula Selyaninovich was sent to the Kemi area from Arkhangelsk, which on April 6 approached Fr. Rombak, landed on the ice partisan detachment, headed for Kemi, and the next day unloaded weapon. Then "Mikula Selyaninovich" opened fire on the enemy, forcing him to retreat 3.
However, the advent of the White Finns took advantage of the "allies". Under the pretext of "helping" the defense of the Murmansk region from the Germans and the White Finns, the Anglo-French troops occupied the entire line of the railway from Murmansk to Kemi. In March, the 1918 of the English squadron stationed in the port of Murmansk (the battleship Glory, the cruiser Iphidzhenia, and others) was joined by the English cruiser Cockren, and a little later the French cruiser Amiral Ob. In May, the American cruiser Olympia arrived in Murmansk.
Yuriev and his accomplices, hiding behind the order of Celedflot to reduce the fleet of SLO, hastily carried out the demobilization of the personnel of the Murmansk detachment of ships of the flotilla, trying to get rid of the revolutionary-minded sailors. In response to the demand of the Soviet government to remove the interventionists from Murman, the Regional Council 30 of June officially announced a break with the Soviet government and then concluded an agreement with representatives of England, the United States and France "for joint action ... in defense of the Murmansk region from the powers of the German coalition »4. In the period from 2 to 12 in July, the "allies" moved to open occupation of the region from Murmansk to Soroki inclusive. By August, more than 10 thousand were in the Murmansk region. Interventional soldiers and officers.
August 1 English cruisers "Cockren" and "Attentive" and transport with seaplanes approached about. Mudyug. The cruisers opened artillery fire on the island’s batteries, and the hydroplanes fired at them with machine guns. Despite the successful battery fire back o. The Mudyug were suppressed, and the British got free access to the Northern Dvina. In order not to allow enemy ships to Arkhangelsk, the icebreakers Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich, and then the minelayer Ussuri, were flooded at the mouth of the river. However, despite this, the Soviet authorities had to evacuate Arkhangelsk.
On August 2, an “interim government” of the Northern Region was established in Arkhangelsk, headed by Tchaikovsky. Subsequently, hostilities between the Red Army and the White Guards and the interventionists turned on the land front, as well as on the Northern Dvina and Lake Onega. The SLO flotilla vessels that were in the hands of whites, with a few exceptions of 5, did not directly participate in the civil war.
The whole period of white power in the North is characterized by the complete decline of the SLO flotilla.
Even on June 20, the conciliatory Tsentromur (Central Committee of the Murmansk detachment of ships), hiding behind "wartime circumstances", agreed to the "temporary occupation" of the British under the shelter of the messenger vessel Sokolitsy 6. On July 12 in Murmansk the Englishmen were “temporarily” transferred to the cruiser Askold, which after a counter-revolutionary coup came to Arkhangelsk under the Russian flag, but with an English crew. A few days later the English flag was hoisted on the cruiser. Later "Askold" went to England and was not transferred to the "Russian command". Already 5 of August, the “government” of Tchaikovsky, having satisfied the request of the “allied command” in the person of English admiral Kemp, transferred to the English for “temporary use” the messenger ship “Gorislava”, the icebreakers Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich and eight minesweepers. Formally, the ships of the SLO flotilla were transferred on the grounds that the "interim government", recognizing itself in a state of war with Germany, provides its ships to the British in the order of "Allied assistance." Conditions for the transfer of ships stipulated that the ships "remain Russian property" and "will float under the Russian flag" 7. But the British did not comply with these conditions at all.
"Governor General of the Northern Region" General Miller wrote in his telegram to the Russian "ambassador" in Paris in September 1919: "With the onset of winter ... Arkhangelsk with its localities, not to be cut off from the rest of the world, should be served by the whole icebreaker flotilla ... Meanwhile, of the total number of 12 icebreakers and icebreaker ships we have, there is only one at our disposal. One icebreaker died. Two icebreakers were taken by the French and one by the British without any conditions shortly after the Allies arrived in the Northern Region and have not been returned until now, despite the cessation of hostilities with Germany ... As for the other seven, they were commissioned by the British Admiralty on the charter, the term of which has now expired »8.
However, the British did not reckon with the white requests for the return of icebreakers, explaining the seizure of the latter by the need to "protect" these icebreakers from the Bolsheviks "due to the fragile position of Arkhangelsk." When in March 1919 the head of the Arkhangelsk water area protection needed an icebreaker to navigate the Polar hydrographic vessel at sea, senior English officer Commodore Heid asked for an icebreaker and said: “I regret to inform you that there is no free icebreaker ...” 9 .
Thanks to the hasty demobilization of the personnel of the courts of the Murmansk detachment, conducted at the beginning of 1918, four squadrons of the "Captain Yurasovsky" type from March to June 1918 were under the jurisdiction of the Murmansk port without commands. In early June, after the death of the ship “Fedor Chizhov” and the fishing vessel “Khariton Laptev”, which were sunk in May by the German U-22 submarine, whites appealed to Admiral Kemp to help bring the destroyers to combat submarines into combat readiness. Admiral Kemp, knowing that the whites had neither the means to repair nor the teams to staff these destroyers, suggested that they be repaired and staffed with “Allied” teams, transferring the destroyers to the English command and hoisting English flags on them.
As a result of the negotiations of the white command with the English, the destroyers "Fearless" and "Lieutenant Sergeyev" were handed over for repair: the first to the French cruiser Amir Aal and the second to the English battleship Glory. Destroyer "Captain Yurasovsky" was transferred to repair the American cruiser "Olympia". And only the destroyer "Silent" was repaired by the Russian floating workshop "Xenia". In the autumn of 1918, the destroyers Captain Yurasovsky, Lieutenant Sergeyev, and Fearless sailed under Russian flags under the command of Russian commanders, but with foreign teams. On the destroyer "Lieutenant Sergeyev" was the English team, on the "Captain Yurasovsky" - the American, and on the "Silent" - the French, transferred from the "Fearless" after his accident. Meanwhile, according to the agreement, on the destroyers approximately 1 / 5 part of the team was to be Russian 10.
Despite repeated attempts by the white command at the end of 1918 and throughout 1919 to get the captured ships back, a significant part of the latter was never returned. The minesweepers stayed with the English and sailed under the English flags: Т6, Т12, Т13, Т14, Т16, Т17, Т19, Т31, T36 and Т41. During the counter-revolutionary coup in Arkhangelsk, the French seized the minesweepers T20 and T22 and raised French flags on them, regarding these minesweepers as “war trophies” 11.
The departure of icebreakers for repairs to England often ended with the fact that they no longer returned. So, in the fall of 1918, Mikula Selyaninovich went to repair to England under the Russian flag. By the autumn of 1919, he, along with the icebreaker Ilya Muromets, was handed over to the French by the British, who manned the icebreakers with their own teams and raised French flags on them. The last of the icebreakers built in England by order of the tsarist government was “St. Alexander Nevsky ”, completed at the end of 1917, was captured by the British and the English flag was raised on it. Under the name "Alexander" this icebreaker came to 1918 in Arkhangelsk. The icebreaker Svyatogor also sailed under the English flag.
The few ships that were returned by the British were often in such a state that the question arose of their further service. The commission appointed to receive the Gorislav ship’s messenger after the British left it (the latter didn’t even bother to hand over the vessel), in its 25 act of April 1919 noted that “the neglect and pollution of the ship at the time of its abandonment by the British crew is beyond description” 12.
After the counter-revolutionary coup, the “government” of Tchaikovsky hastened to cancel the Soviet decree on the nationalization of the merchant fleet. Already in August, 1918 of the Arkhangelsk-Murmansk Shipping Company returned all its vessels.
Privately owned steamers that were part of the flotilla during the war on military-ship duty, were also returned to their old owners. So, in 1918 — 1919. returned to shipowners: the T7 minesweeper (“Nobleman”) - the fishing industrialist Mighty, the minersweeper T9 (“Emma”) and the floating workshop “Antony” - Antufyevu, the transport “Savvatiy” - Burkov, etc. “Moneta” steamer in November 1918 sold at auction. The minesweepers T26, T28, T30, T40 and T42 were handed over to the Bezzubikov & Sons trading house. In February, 1919. 12 minesweepers surrendered at auction for five years to 13.
As a result, the composition of the SLO Flotilla by February 1919 was reduced to 12 messengers and hydrographic vessels, four torpedo boats and nine minesweepers, not counting the old battleship Chesma 14. In September 1919, the flotilla commander, informed the naval "minister" of Kolchak's "government" in Omsk that the destroyers "Fearless" and "Kapitan Yurasovsky" were cut off due to the unreliability of the corps, and that, with the exception of four minesweepers, only "messengers of the Yaroslavna court" and “Gorislava” are kept ready to sail with 15 headquarters. It was even supposed to liquidate the naval base in Murmansk.
White “government”, trying to alleviate the difficult economic situation, in August 1919 sent a sea expedition for food to Siberia consisting of three hydrographic vessels, three steamers and one barge. After December 1, it was also decided to send four steamboats for flights abroad in order to earn much-needed foreign currency for whites. In the same 1919, attempts were made to sell some of the flotilla ships abroad. On April 4, the Russian “ambassador” in Paris telegraphed General Miller to Arkhangelsk: “Tchaikovsky asks to convey: I am negotiating the sale of Yaroslavna”. On May 5, the "interim government" decided to "recognize as desirable" the sale of messenger ships, Gorislava and Sokolitsa. On November 28, General Miller telegraphed the Russian “ambassadors” in Paris and London regarding “Yaroslavna”, “Gorislavy” and “Sokolitsy”: “Favor to find out without giving publicity whether one can sell well one of them” 16. However, they failed to sell these vessels.
White power was nearing its end. The invaders' troops left the North. In early February, the 1920 of the Red Army launched an offensive against Arkhangelsk. White began to hastily prepare for the evacuation of Arkhangelsk. February 17 flotilla command requested the availability of passenger seats on icebreakers and icebreakers, as well as on other ships, including military 17. But it was too late. February 19 General Miller, leaving his army to the mercy of fate, fled on the icebreaker Kozma Minin. Whites tried to lead the best messenger ship of the flotilla, Yaroslavna, but because of the unfavorable ice situation they were forced to abandon it. The icebreaker Canada, whose team defected to Soviet power, rushed in pursuit of Kozma Minin, caught him in the throat of the White Sea and had an artillery fire with him, but failed to detain the White Guard icebreaker Canada.
20 February Arkhangelsk was liberated by the Red Army. At the same time, an uprising of workers, sailors and soldiers led by the underground organization of the Bolsheviks took place in Murmansk, and Soviet power was restored here on February 22. The White authorities of Murmansk fled on the Lomonosov steamer. In March 1920, the liberation of the North was completed.
Thus, White failed to take the remaining ships of the SLO Flotilla abroad. However, as mentioned above, a significant part of the ships of the flotilla was for various reasons abroad. These vessels, with the exception of the icebreakers "Svyatogor" (now "Krasin") and "St. Alexander Nevsky "(now" Vladimir Ilyich "), were not returned to the Soviet government. In England there were: the cruiser “Askold” captured as early as 1918 by the British; the cruiser Varyag, which was waiting to be repaired in England from 1917 and sold after a civil war to a former Russian naval attache in London for scrapping; the destroyers "Domineering" and "Thunderstorm"; messengers ships "Mlada", "Dawn" and "Rush", which went before the October Revolution to Russia after the conversion and repair, the first - from Italy, and the last two - from the United States. At the same time, "Mlada" already in 1920 was listed as part of the English fleet under the name "Elekriti" and served as a yacht and messenger ship for the commander of the English fleet in Chinese waters, and "Rassvet" as the "Cruise" as the yacht and messenger ship for the commander of the English fleet in the Mediterranean. Of the minesweepers captured by the British during the civil war, four minesweepers (Т13, Т14, Т16 and Т17) were part of the English fleet until the Second World War. The icebreaker Mikula Selyaninovich was sold in Cherbourg Canada for 3228 thousand francs. Two icebreakers, Kozma Minin and Ilya Muromets, were in 1928 — 1929. converted into minelayers and became part of the French fleet under the name "Castor" and "Pollux". The messenger ship "Zlata" remained in France, where it was refitted, and the messenger vessels "Voskhod" and "Rogdai" (b. Icebreaking steamer) and the minesweepers T43, T44 and T45 - in America. Their fate is unknown.
The status of the SLO Flotilla vessels after the liberation of the Soviet North left much to be desired. World and then civil war with the almost complete absence of serious repair facilities from the flotilla, as well as the barbaric rule of the White Guards and "allies" led the flotilla ships to a complete decline. The Soviet command had to create naval forces in the North from ships left after the flight of the White Guards. In this case, both the most suitable military ships and the existing icebreakers were used.
By order of 26 June 1920, the following composition of the "North Sea Marine Forces" was determined:
1. Marine detachment.
2. River flotilla.
3. Hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean.
4. Hydrographic expedition of the White Sea.
5. Directorate of lighthouses and White Sea stations.
6. Coastal defense vessels of the Murmansk region.
7. Diving and rescue party.
The naval squad included: the battleship Chesma, auxiliary cruisers Lieutenant Dreyer (former icebreaker Ivan Susanin), Lieutenant Schmidt (former icebreaker Prince Pozharsky), III International (former icebreaker " Canada ”), cruisers-barriers (former messenger ships):“ Yaroslavna ”,“ Gorislava ”and“ Sokolitsa ”, squadron“ Captain Yurasovsky ”and“ Lieutenant Sergeev ”, submarine“ Kommunar ”(b.“ St. George "), Eight patrol boats, two boats (Р5 and Р8), two minesweepers (Т15 and Т24) and motor yacht" Svetlana ".
The Coastal Defense of the Murmansk Region included seven patrol boats, four minesweepers and two steamboats, and hydrographic expeditions and the Directorate of Lighthouses and White Sea Loads included hydrographic vessels, steamboats, boats and several former minesweepers.
With the end of the civil war, unsuitable for service and obsolete ships were excluded from the system, but mainly hydrographic vessels remained. Icebreakers were transferred to trade ports.
Notes
1 TsGAVF, f. 129p, d. 64. l 47. This did not include auxiliary vessels assigned to the military ports of the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea, as well as patrol boats.
2 TsGAVMF, f. 129p, d. 89, l. 20; d. 84, l. 128.
3 Article "On the participation of the sea icebreaker" Mikula Selyaninovich "in the battle on the Kemsky front." - "News of the Arkhangelsk Soviet", April 30 1918.
4 TsGAVMF, f. 418. op. 3, d. 71. l 9.
5 For example, seven patrol boats were sent to form a flotilla of whites on Lake Onega.
6 TsGAVMF, f. 429p, d. 64, l. 60.
7 “Intervention in the North in Documents”, M., 1933, p. 38.
8 TSGAOR SS, f. 17, d. 13, ll. 208 — 209.
9 TsGAVMF, f. 164, d. 98, l. 74.
10 TsGAVMF, f. 129p, d. 64, ll. 107 — 108.
11 TsGAVMF, f. 164, d. 98, l. Xnumx
12 TsGAVMF, f. 164, d. 98, l. 7.
13 TsGAVMF, f. 129p. d. 64, ll. 60, 349; f. 164 with, d. 7, ll. 134 — 135; e. 94, l. 38 :. e. 98, l. 31.
14 TsGAVMF, f. 129p. e. 64, l. 64.
15 TsGAVMF, f. 164, d. 153, l. 192.
16 TSGAOR; f. 130, op. 12, d. 7. l 12.
17 TsGAVMF, f. 164, d. 7, l. 154.
Information