History Repeats Itself: The Captures of Soviet Ships as a Lesson for the Future
Seizures of Soviet ships
Starting in 2025, the US, Britain and France, putting pressure on Russia to capitulate on the Ukrainian front, began seizing ships of the so-called "shadow" fleet", transporting sanctioned oil.
For example, on January 22, 2026 came news French President Macron announced that the French Navy had detained an oil tanker "arriving from Russia." Previously, Western politicians had repeatedly advocated increasing pressure on Russia's "shadow fleet."
There is nothing new about this, really. History It's happening again. In the 20th century, our Western and Eastern "partners" have repeatedly seized Russian ships. For example, during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1936), Franco's navy, with the support of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, sank 53 and captured 348 ships delivering aid to the Republicans.
Let me remind you that during the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, while almost all the powers of the "collective West" took a non-interventionist stance, supported the Republicans. Mussolini's fascist regime in Italy and Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany supported General Franco and his nationalists (the Francoists). The USSR aided the Republicans with equipment. weapons, various supplies and military specialists. Hundreds were delivered to Spain tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, artillery pieces and mortars, hundreds of thousands of units of small arms, as well as provisions, medicines, fuel, ammunition, ammunition, etc.
In response, Italian and Francoist ships and submarines detained and sank Soviet transport vessels chartered by the Union. Overall, the Italian pirates, as they were then called in Moscow, were able to block most of the supplies coming from the USSR. Thus, the Soviet "History of the Second World War" reports that while Moscow was able to send 52 military cargo ships to the Spanish Republic before September 1937, only 13 in 1938, and just three in January 1939.
For example, on December 14, 1936, the Spanish heavy cruiser Canarias detained the Soviet steamship Komsomol, which was the first Soviet vessel to break the fascist blockade and was supplying the Republicans with weapons and other material aid under the guise of ordinary cargo. In December 1936, the Komsomol was en route to Belgium with a cargo of manganese ore.
A Spanish warship fired upon a Soviet steamship, arresting its 36-man crew and imprisoning them. The Soviet sailors were interrogated, beaten, and subjected to mock executions. Initially, they were given death sentences, which were later commuted to 30 years' imprisonment. After protracted negotiations, in October and November 1938, they secured the release of two groups (29 people in total). The remaining sailors remained in prison for nearly three years.
The losses of the Soviet transport fleet were great:
From October 1936 to July 1937, fascist pirates detained 96 Soviet ships, sinking three of them (Komsomol, Timiryazev, and Blagoyev – Author). In 1960, Franco's Admiral F. Bastorreche openly admitted that during the Spanish Civil War, the fascist fleet (primarily Italian-German) sank 53 and captured 348 ships with a total displacement of almost 650,000 tons. In addition, they detained approximately 1000 ships at sea.
Most of the ships were released after inspection. The crews of the arrested ships were held in prisons and concentration camps. They were usually exchanged after negotiations for Germans and Italians detained in the USSR.
During this period, the Soviet Navy was unable to ensure the safety of the merchant fleet.
The successful diplomatic and naval blockade of the Spanish Republic and the sharp reduction in military support from the USSR became one of the leading factors that led to the Francoists' victory on the Iberian Peninsula in 1939. Thus, in February 1939, Britain recognized Franco's regime as the sole legitimate national government of Spain. Other countries followed suit. Moscow was no longer able to assist the Republicans, who found themselves completely isolated.
Several Soviet ships were detained by the Germans under various pretexts in the period leading up to the attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941. Those sailors who did not die in concentration camps returned home after the victory on May 9, 1945.
Japanese militarists
During World War II, Imperial Japan, despite its neutrality pact with the USSR, acted aggressively in the Far East. The Japanese acted as masters of the seas, systematically capturing and sinking Soviet merchant ships, and interfering with navigation. After military supplies began arriving from the United States to Vladivostok under Lend-Lease in August 1941, Japan began interfering with free navigation in the Strait of Tartary and the La Perouse Strait.
On December 8, 1941, the Japanese authorities declared the La Perouse, Tsugaru, and Korean Straits to be their “maritime defense zones” with limited access.
On December 14, 1941, the Japanese, violating all international rules and laws, seized the Soviet ships Svirstroy, Sergey Lazo, and Simferopol, which were undergoing repairs in Hong Kong. The transport Krechet was sunk by shore fire. The Japanese did everything they could to prevent the Soviet sailors from returning home.
From 1941 to 1944, the Japanese detained 178 ships and sank the transports Krechet, Svirstroy, Maikop, Perekop, Angarstroy, Kola, Belorussiya, Pavlin Vinogradov, Ob, Ilmen, and Transbalt. Japanese aircraft sank the transport Perekop, which was en route from Vladivostok to the port of Surbay (Java Island). Soviet sailors spent long periods in prisoner-of-war camps, enduring hunger, disease, and abuse. They were only liberated in November 1943. Three transports were attacked by Japanese submarines. Only when it became clear that Germany had lost the war and the Russians would soon end the war in Europe did the Japanese cease attacking our ships.
Interestingly, between 1941 and 1945, American submarines sank six Soviet ships in the Pacific Ocean. 128 Soviet citizens died. During this period, the Americans operated in the Pacific under the motto: "Sink them all!" Some believe that this was the US's way of provoking the Russians into a premature war with the Japanese.
Tanker "Tuapse"
The most famous case of the seizure of a Soviet vessel after World War II was the seizure of the Soviet tanker Tuapse by the Navy of the Republic of China (Chiang Kai-shek's regime in Taiwan) on June 25, 1954.
During their confrontation with the Chinese Communists on the mainland, the Kuomintang imposed a naval and air blockade on China. They operated not only in Chinese but also in international waters, violating international law and attacking civilian vessels. Such incidents became widespread, leading the international press to label them pirates.
The Republic of China Navy seized a Soviet transport carrying fuel from Odessa in the corridor between Taiwan and the Philippines. Several Soviet sailors were injured during the boarding, and 49 crew members were detained.
The international community's attempts to put pressure on Taipei have been unsuccessful. Even Washington hasn't listened to Chiang Kai-shek.
The tanker crew was divided into several groups and subjected to informational and psychological indoctrination. They spent a long time trying to break the sailors, urging them to seek political asylum in the United States. The abuse and torture began. The Russian sailors were starved, beaten, and deprived of sleep for several days. At the same time, they were promised a "sweet life" in the United States. Ultimately, some of the crew was broken. More than 20 men sought asylum in the United States. Later, some requested to be returned to the USSR.
Those who remained returned to the USSR with the help of French mediation. The fates of many varied. Some returned to work. Others were sentenced for treason (later amnestied), while others were placed in psychiatric clinics. Several were convicted and remained in Taiwan.
In 1958, a film about the tanker hijacking was made called "ChP - Emergency Incident", which became the top-grossing film of 1959 in the Union.
In 1968, the Ghanaian Navy seized two trawlers belonging to the Sevastopol fishing expedition, the Kholod and the Veter, in the Gulf of Guinea. The crew members were thrown into the port prison. After diplomacy and economic sanctions failed to suffice, the USSR sent warships to the shores of Ghana. This proved successful: the crew and vessels were released.
The Soviet Navy reached oceanic levels and could address strategic and operational challenges, including protecting the USSR's merchant fleet.
For example, in 1973, the Chilean junta seized the research vessel Ecliptic with 13 crew members. The Soviet citizens were beaten, staged a demonstration of their execution, and then thrown into a naval prison.
Moscow warned the Chilean regime that all Chilean vessels in Soviet and Warsaw Pact ports would be seized. It also warned the Soviet Navy was prepared to seize Chilean vessels in international waters. The Soviet vessel and crew were soon released.
Appendix. The ship "Komsomol." The music was written by composer V. Solovyov-Sedoy, the lyrics by poet V. Belov, and the performer was Leonid Utesov.
The ship of my beloved country
He was transporting ore to the Belgian coast.
He sailed peacefully across the Mediterranean Sea
On wide slow waves.
And on it is my comrade
He was at the helm.
He has a badge of honor
It was shining on his chest.
The blue desert breathes with heat,
Silence everywhere you look.
Only suddenly under the fascist pennant
A cruiser appeared behind.
My friend read it
The ship's name is -
He squeezed his hand even tighter
Steering wheel handle.
The fatal volleys thundered,
The water roared with fury.
A ship shot through by a pirate,
Plunged into the sea forever.
"Are you with him, my comrade?
Send me a message.
My soul grieves for you
The entire Soviet region."
On land, in the seas and oceans
There will be a day when we are full of faith.
We will pass through like a victorious hurricane
And let us dispel the ghosts of war!
For you, my comrade,
For the Soviet flag,
The enemy will answer with his head
In future battles!
Information