Pioneer of the Russian submarine fleet. Sergey Nikolaevich Vlasyev
Sergey Nikolaevich was born 18 in May 1880. The exact place of his birth, unfortunately, has not been established. The sailor's great-grandfather, Alexey Borisovich, was from Yaroslavl Province. But since both he and Vlasyev’s grandfather and father were naval officers and served on the Black Sea, naturally, they lived in different periods of time with their families in the Black Sea towns. In most cases, their children were born there too. For example, Sergey's elder sisters — Evgenia and Anastasia — were born in Nikolaev. In the service records of Sergei Nikolaevich for different times in the column “Which province is a native,” the marks are not the same — in some it is not indicated where he was born (only that the sailor came from hereditary nobles), in others Kherson, and Tverskaya, and Yaroslavl, and even Mogilyov provinces.
Historians know little about childhood and adolescence of the future submariner. The first mentions of Sergey Nikolaevich date back to 1893 - the time when he arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the Naval Cadet Corps founded by Peter the Great. He graduated from the privileged naval educational institution Vlasyev in May 1900 with the award of the prize to them. Admiral Nazimov and the work of the midshipmen. The whole next year the young man served in the Black Sea navy on the Danube mine transport; on the Pendirakliya and Kazbek transport as a watch officer. In 1901, Sergei Nikolaevich was sent to courses in the Naval Training and Rifle Command, which he attended until 1902, and then was sent to the Mines Officer Class. At the beginning of September 1903, Vlasyev was enlisted in mine officers of the second rank, and in October of that same year he was seconded to the Far East to serve on the ships of the Pacific squadron.
It should be noted that Sergei Nikolaevich was a student of the great Russian scientist and inventor Alexander Popov, and it was he who brought the first radio station to Port Arthur in December 1903. According to some reports, three days before the legendary battle of "Varyag" between Port Arthur and the cruiser, an attempt was made to radio communications. The Russian-Japanese war found warrant officer Vlasyev on the mine-laying vessel “Yenisei”, where a sailor from the end of 1903 served as a senior mine officer. Already on the second day of the war, the ship was sent to Talienwan bay, protected from the winds and convenient for the parking of large ships, to put minefields. The vessel successfully completed its combat mission, however, due to the underwater currents unknown to the sailors, it was demolished by its own mine. After the explosion, the Yenisei began to sink, there were not enough boats at all, and people independently reached the coast, swimming in icy water. Part of the crew died, including the captain of the second rank Stepanov, the commander and designer of the Yenisei, until the last minute, according to the ancient maritime tradition, remained on the bridge and controlled the descent of rescue equipment. Sergei Nikolaevich himself was seriously wounded, but managed to get out. He was awarded the Order of Saint Anne of the Fourth Degree with the inscription “For Bravery” for his stewardship during the barrage of the Talienwan raid, as well as courage during the rescue of the mine-laying team.
After the death of the Yenisei, Vlasyev was transferred to the battleship Peresvet, where the junior flagship Prince Ukhtomsky held his flag. From the beginning of February to April 1904, Sergey Nikolayevich served as a mine officer of the battleship Tsesarevich, taking part in all his naval bombardments with the Japanese fleet. In mid-April, Vlasyev was appointed a mine officer on the battleship Pobeda with the headquarters of the incoming wireless telegraphy stations. Throughout May and June, Sergei Nikolaevich was engaged in the trawling and destruction of Japanese mines, often under enemy fire. In mid-June, he was on the battleship Victory in the battle with the Japanese navy during an attempt to break through the Russian squadron into Vladivostok. A few months later, the midshipman visited a fierce new battle, known as the Battle of the Yellow Sea. Rear Admiral Wilhelm Witgeft, who was in command of the Tsarevich flagship battleship, commanded the compound, took a terrible death in this battle - the enemy’s large-caliber missile landed right in the middle of the foremast, and the brave sailor was torn to pieces. After the battle, a small part of the shabby ships continued to move to Vladivostok, but the main forces (the battleships Pobeda, Peresvet, Sevastopol, Retvisan, Poltava and other ships) did not tempt fate and returned to Port Arthur .
More than a squadron at sea did not go out, and the commander, dissatisfied with the passive tactics of the commander, languishing from inaction, Vlasyev repeatedly volunteered to plant mines "from the raft" - by the way, a very risky and dangerous occupation. Here, in Port Arthur, the sailor first became acquainted with submarines. The fortress had an old-aged submarine of the Drzewiecki system, built back in 1881 and brought to Port Arthur in 1900 at the request of Vitgeft. On the boat there were two torpedo tubes designed for captured Chinese mines. The commander of the boat was appointed midshipman Dudorov and a number of officers from the squadron battleships, including Vlasyev, helped him in every way to repair and use this in fact this semi-submarine in combat operations. Writer Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, brother of the famous theatrical figure, in his work “The Year of War” led Sergei Nikolayevich to a conversation with another Russian officer: “I would be able to approach the Japanese unnoticed on our“ petrol stationery ”. Neither the mast nor the pipes — you will not see her from anywhere, but she has healthy mines. ” "Well, so ask." “I thank meekly, our fathers-commanders have only one answer:“ Gentlemen, please, without adventures. In due time you will need. " "When will you need?" When all the warmer? ". Vlasyev, however, went for permission to the new commander Robert Viren, but received a categorical refusal.
In the fall of 1904, when the position of the besieged fortress became extremely difficult, Vlasyev asked for a direction in the composition of the sea landing. Together with a company of sailors, he got to the second fort and took part in the development of mining plans for approaches to the fortifications. It should be noted that after the direct assault failed, the troops of General Nogi began engineering work, which consisted in the gradual approximation of their positions to the defensive structures of the Russian army. By the beginning of September, the distance between the positions of opponents in individual sections reached 50-30 steps. The use of artillery in such conditions became unsafe, and the defenders arose a need for a new weapons close combat. Very soon, Sergei Nikolaevich had thoughts about creating such a weapon. Vlasyev expressed his ideas to the chief of land defense, General Roman Kondratenko, who introduced him to Leonid Gobyato, a young captain of the Russian troops, and part-time head of the artillery workshops of the fortress. The most talented engineer Leonid Nikolaevich, highly appreciating the offer of the midshipman, introduced a number of improvements, and the work began to boil. Under difficult conditions, the sieges of Vlasyev and Gobyato developed a hitherto unprecedented weapon - a super-caliber mortar. His device was very original. For firing, a trimmed light gun (47 or 75 mm) set on a “Chinese” wheel carriage (for obtaining large elevation angles) was used. A cone-shaped shell of mines was riveted from sheet iron, which was stuffed with 6,5 kilograms of wet pyroxylin and equipped with a shock fuse from a Whitehead mine. A wooden pole with a stabilizer impeller mounted on it was attached to the tail of the case. A wooden pole was inserted into the barrel bore from the muzzle, and the mine remained outside the channel and, when it was charged to it, a stabilizer impeller moved along the pole. From the treasury, the cannon was loaded with a normal sleeve, blocked by a cork insert with a steel wad. When fired, powder gases pushed the wad, which pushed the pole with a fortified mine. The range of the mortars ranged from fifty to four hundred meters.
The first experimental shooting at enemy positions took place in the month of September. Gobyato wrote that at the first shots frequent breakage of the pole occurred, but soon they managed to find the reasons for this - the lack of normalization of the weight of the mine and a sharp blow to the pole at the moment of the shot. Soon the mines were refined, and the use of mortars in the defensive positions of Port Arthur began. The new weapon was nicknamed by the Russian soldiers "the frog cannon", and the Japanese - the "flying death". Unfortunately, the mortars did not meet with support in the Main Artillery Directorate. As soon as the generals did not call them - "guns that have no future", "toy guns", "surrogates of artillery". As a result of such a development at the beginning of the First World War, the Russian army did not have mortars. But similar tools were used by German troops.
Sergey Nikolaevich, after finishing work on the production of the first above-caliber mortars, took part in practical combat shooting and also helped other active officers in the organization of firing. However, only this activity of Vlasyev in the last days of the defense of Port Arthur was not limited. In the ship's battleship of the battleship Peresvet, a midshipman organized the manufacture of “bombs” - self-made hand grenades, which were widely spread both among Russians and Japanese. In addition, according to the record in his service record, Sergey Nikolayevich “together with the artillery captain Gobyato organized re-equipping of the fortress shrapnel into high-explosive charges, together with him also organized the production of a new type of high-explosive projectile intended for field-firing guns according to his own drawings”.
At the end of December, 1904 Vlasyev, not wanting to be captured during the surrender of Port Arthur, on a mine boat of the battleship Victory broke through the enemy blockade on a dark night and reached the Chinese port of Chefu. Then, after passing through the lands of China, he arrived at the headquarters of General Kuropatkin, and from January to June 1905 was at his disposal. In February, Sergey Nikolaevich took part in the Mukden battle. For the differences in the defense of Port Arthur, in addition to the Order of St. Anna of the Fourth Degree, he was awarded with St. Stanislav of the third degree (November 1904), St. Anna of the third degree (December 1904), St. Vladimir of the fourth degree (December 1905). In mid-June, 1905 Vlasyev departed from the army and went on leave to cure numerous wounds and contusions. After rethinking what he saw during the war, at the end of 1905, the sailor sent a note to the Minister of Marine Affairs about the state of the mine in the Russian fleet, about the design flaws of mines being built and under construction, as well as artillery barriers. In this paper, he, based on the analysis of the development of the mine business in the country since the Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878, proposed a number of measures to develop this area.
Having returned from vacation 1905 in September, Sergey Nikolaevich, unexpectedly for him, turned out to be connected with the submarine fleet. He was appointed assistant to the commander of the Mackrel submarine and in December of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant. And in January, 1906 Vlasyev was awarded a silver medal on the Alexander St. George ribbon in memory of the war that had ended. Soon his enthusiasm for scuba diving received a new impetus. The rear admiral and former commander of the Retvizan battleship Edward Shchennovich, with whom Sergei Nikolayevich was well acquainted, was appointed to lead the Scuba diving training squad established at the end of March. Eduard Nikolaevich selected twenty sailors and seven officers into the Training detachment. At the same time, he was guided by the following criteria: "Every person selected to serve in submarines must be highly moral, brave, courageous, courageous, cold-blooded, not drinking, not subject to motion sickness, calm, resourceful and well aware of his business." In this magnificent seven diving officers and was among the first enrolled Vlasyev. At the same time, he came to the detachment not so much to learn as to teach: with 1906 he was the commander of the "Mackrel", and with 1907 - the submarine "Pescari". In December, 1907 with the rank of lieutenant Sergey Nikolayevich was enrolled in the first list of submarine officers at number twenty-five.
It should be noted that in those years, in the highest military circles of Russia, they looked at the submarines very skeptically. Since the submarine designs were very imperfect, the chances of surviving the submariners in a difficult situation remained small, and the submarine crews were looked upon as suicide bombers. It is known that when the question arose of increasing the salaries of submarine fleet sailors, Alexei Birilev, the former naval minister, cynically answered: “You can add. All the same, all drowned. At the end of 1907, Captain-Lieutenant Kolchak delivered a rather sensational report in the sea circle under the heading "What kind of Russia does the fleet need?" In it, Alexander Vasilyevich, in particular, argued that there was no place for submarines in the fleet of any naval power. He said: "The idea of replacing a linear fleet with a submarine may be of interest only to amateurs ... Especially the underwater or mine fleet is a fictitious force." In order to neutralize the harmful effects of Kolchak agitation, in the same audience the scuba diving officer Riznich made a report “Scuba diving and its significance for Russia”. A week later, Lieutenant Vlasyev, proving the importance of the submarine forces, read out his “Report of the submarine commander“ Peskar ”on maneuvers and voyages”, which made a favorable impression on the listeners. Other officers also came out in defense of the submarine fleet: Podgorny, Krzhizhanovsky and Tieder, who prophetically stated that "submariners are sailors of the future, and the country's sea power is inevitably connected with the development of the submarine fleet."
The tsarist officials did not tolerate free thinking and decided to launch the discussion very simply - the troublemakers of Krzhizhanovsky, Tieder and Riznich were expelled from the fleet, and the rest, including Vlasyev, who did not allow personal attacks against the tycoon, sent Nicholas II himself for rejecting "Interfere with prerogatives that are not theirs." However, quite unexpectedly, the proposals of the brave sailor were supported by the largest domestic shipbuilder, academician Alexei Krylov. With his direct participation in 1907, Sergei Nikolayevich became the commander of the submarine under construction under the name "Shark", by the way, the most modern and largest submarine of the national fleet at that time. In the course of its construction (1908-1911) Vlasyev proposed and implemented his numerous improvements, and also compiled a detailed description of the submarine with an atlas published by the Baltic Shipyard. During this time, his authority grew so much that a sailor was invited to construct the mines of the first in the world underwater layer “Crab”. At the end of September, 1909 reported to Captain Second Class Schreiber in a report to the Chairman of the Marine Technical Committee: “The creation of mines for placing them from submarines at Izhora Plant was crowned with success ... ". At the same time, Sergei Nikolaevich, summarizing the experience of sailing small submarines, gave evidence of the need to build larger submarines with increased cruising range and enhanced torpedo armament (in the future these proposals were reflected in the creation of submarines of the Morz and Bars type). Vlasyev also took part in meetings and commissions organized by the Marine Minister and the Main Naval Staff, as well as in the technical council meetings of the Main Shipbuilding Department on the organization of submarine brigades in the Baltic, teaching diving, upgrading existing submarines and choosing new types for the Black Sea. Sailor also distinguished himself in the development of methods for conducting underwater battles, as well as the joint (group) use of submarines in fleet operations. For his efforts to develop the submarine fleet in 1910, he was awarded the Order of Stanislav of the second degree.
However, the main offspring and the purpose of the life of a sailor continued to be his "Shark", which was launched at the end of August 1909 in the presence of the emperor himself and high-ranking officials of all kinds of classes. Tests of the submarine were extremely difficult, and the boat repeatedly got up to the dock to eliminate malfunctions. At that time, an offensive was born in Kronstadt, but to some extent a truthful saying: “The submarine“ Shark ”swam for one year and three sank”. Indeed, in October, the 1909 submarine went to the strait in the Gulf of Bjorkesund in order to carry out preliminary factory inspections. The tests revealed the need to increase the power of the propeller motor (from 230 horsepower to 300), replace the propellers, as well as install breakwater boards for underwater torpedo tubes. In May, the 1910 "Shark" under the command of Vlasyev entered the Kronstadt dock, in which the alterations were made. In July, the 1910 submarine again went to Bjorkesund for tests, during which a complete discrepancy between new propellers purchased abroad was discovered. In August, the Shark again went to the dock, and there its new screws were replaced with the old ones, with which the preparatory tests were successfully completed. However, due to the absence of mines, there were no shooting at that moment. October 20 submarine went to the campaign of St. Petersburg-Revel. In the Sea Channel, the ship flew into the sunken barge, as a result of which the right propeller, the middle propeller guard was seriously damaged, and the left diesel engine bearing burned down. For this reason, submariners reached Revel on one average diesel engine, and there they were already engaged in repairs, which lasted until the end of the year. All acceptance tests were postponed to the following year and 1911 passed in March after the Shark installed the third set of screws in the local floating dock. However, this was not the end of the trouble - the foundation frame broke at the left-hand diesel engine, and the submarine had to return to St. Petersburg for a replacement. Only in early August did she reappear in Revel, where in September she completed the tests. By the way, the speed of the “Shark” never reached the estimated calculated values: the surface, instead of sixteen knots, was eleven and a half, and the submarine, instead of seven nodes, was six and a half. In November, the 1911 submarine was enrolled in the active Navy. It should be noted separately the resilience of its commander, who successfully overcame all fallen misfortunes.
In December, 1911 Sergey Nikolaevich, after analyzing his own experience of sailing on the "Makrele", "Pescara" and "Shark", developed the very first recommendations in our country on the implementation of torpedo firing from submarines. In the meantime, he never stopped swimming on his Shark. In the 1912, the submarine made forty-five dives, passed over water over 1400 miles, under water — over 170 miles, fired sixteen torpedoes at moving targets and fifty six at fixed targets. In those days, these were very impressive numbers. In December, 1912 Vlasyev was given the rank of captain of the second rank, and in 1914 he was awarded the badge of defender Port Arthur.
Before the start of the war in June, the Bayan and Pallas cruisers were attached to the Baltic Sea Submarine Brigade. This was done with the aim of practicing commanders in firing mines. The crew of the "Shark" under the leadership of Sergei Nikolayevich produced a full torpedo salvo from 1914 mines, three of which "hit" the "Pallas". The commander of the cruiser Sergey Magnus made a strong impression, which, according to contemporaries, “turned very pale and went for several days“ not himself ”, apparently filled with a premonition of the coming death” (October 5 11 returning from the patrol, the cruiser was torpedoed by an enemy submarine and sank along with the crew).
By the beginning of the First World War of the eleven submarines that are in service with the Baltic Fleet, only one "Shark" of Vlasyev could truly be considered combat-ready. The rest, old and worn, belonged to the structures of a decade ago and could not leave the limits of the Gulf of Finland. Initially, all submarines were used at the patrol positions at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland - in the morning they occupied them, and in the evening they returned to the port. This senseless activity of submariners, and in early August 1914 had developed two schemes for the use of submarines. The first, proposed by the second division, was to build submarines in two lines across the Gulf of Finland and so expect an enemy to appear. The second one, presented by Sergey Nikolayevich, consisted in that his “Shark”, as the most inhabited, high-speed and seaworthy ship, accompanied by destroyers was sent to the Baltic Sea to hunt. It was assumed that the destroyers will have to lure the Germans and carry them past the positions of "Shark".
However, the authorities decided to do differently. At the end of August, the Shark, being in position, took the radio order from the brigade commander to go on reconnaissance to Cape Dagerort (border of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea), and act there as she sees fit. This voyage was marked by the first torpedo attack of the Russian submarine. On August 26, near the island of Gotska-Sanden, the Shark found the German cruiser Amazone, accompanied by destroyers. Stopping the diesel engine, the submarine began to dive, and the destroyers, covering it from the left side and the stern, rushed to the attack. "Shark", plunging, managed to turn around and fired a single mine, forcing the ships to depart and abandon the ram attack. At a depth of fifteen meters, submariners walked away with the slightest speed, but the destroyers did not let the submarine out of sight. For a long time, the crew puzzled, and finally found that an oil track, which due to calm weather, accurately indicates the direction of its movement under water, stretches behind the submarine. The traitor’s trail was destroyed by temporarily pumping water from the hold. At the risk of wetting the electric motor, losing buoyancy and going to the bottom, the crew stopped the pump and changed course. This allowed to get rid of the prosecution. On the surface "Shark" surfaced after a seven-hour course under water with an almost discharged battery.
This campaign was a good test of the crew training, and also showed the low suitability of the Whitehead torpedoes (self-propelled mines) in service. In the course of the forced diving of the “Shark” to thirty-meter depth, their charging compartments were crumpled, and water got into the capsules. By the way, even in peaceful years, submariners repeatedly told the authorities that it was necessary to create special mines for submarines that could withstand water pressure at great depths (at depths of up to fifteen meters, Whitehead mines did not allow water to pass, and their charging compartments were not deformed). Vlasyev reported that, perhaps for some reason, the submarine would have to take more depth before firing at the enemy, and then she would lose her only weapon. The mine department, demanding the brigade, did not agree, pointing out that there are no such strong mines in the world, to make them so incredibly difficult and an increase in their weight will inevitably follow. Further conversations that lasted from year to year did not go well, and as a result, the submarines went to war with exactly the same mines as on other ships of the Russian fleet. After returning to Moonzund, the “Shark” of Vlasyev, in the presence of a specially assembled commission, attempted to shoot one such deformed mine. The result was the saddest. Coming out of the apparatus, she immediately rushed to the bottom, explaining to everyone why the mine, released from a distance of just 250-300 meters into the German destroyer, did not hit him. After that, at the initiative of mine officers of the second division, the voids in the charging compartments were filled with pieces of wood cut out according to the pattern, and the capsules were filled with a thick layer of mastic, making the mine's reliability slightly increased. From now on, the team itself was engaged in adapting self-propelled mines to the increased demands made by the peculiarities of their use in submarines.
Until the end of 1914, the Shark, under the command of Vlasyev, made several more trips to the Baltic Sea. The crew carried out two more torpedo attacks - on November 9, in the bay of Danzig, a submarine attacked and routed enemy vehicles. The mine, released from the nasal apparatus, passed under the very nose of the steamer, which, barely having noticed its foamy trail, immediately rushed to all banks at all pairs. And in early December, near the island of Gotland, performing a cover for a group of ships engaged in mine-barrage, the submarine attacked the cruiser Ausburg, firing six torpedoes at it, but they all passed by. This was explained by the lack of maneuvering techniques and the disadvantages of torpedoes, and the shooting of single mines, often without aiming (that is, at the eye). Assessing the work of the crew of the Shark in the 1914 campaign of the year, the fleet commander awarded the team six St. George medals.
In mid-February, Sergey Nikolayevich 1915 passed the command of the Akula (which, by the way, led for almost eight years) to one of the best domestic submariners, second rank captain Nikolai Gudim, and was appointed commander of the fifth division of the submarine of the Baltic Fleet. At the same time (March 1915), the fleet commander presented the valiant sailor to the award “For Excellent Patrol Service”, and at the end of June Vlasion was awarded with swords to the Order of St. Stanislav of the second degree. It is worth noting that at the end of November, the Shark, having gone on a regular mission, disappeared along with its entire crew, becoming the first Russian submarine killed in the war. Among the most likely causes of her death is a mine blast. Since the end of May, Sergey Nikolayevich himself was the commander of the “Narova” minelayer. The appointment of a larger ship on the one hand seemed to be an increase, but on the other - he was not given command of a large and new Bars-type submarine.
And then in the life of a naval officer there was a drama that almost cost him not only his career, but also his freedom. At the end of September 1915 for the fleet, an order was issued under the number 1479, in which it was reported: “By a sentence of a fortress court of the Sea Fortress ... it was determined: second-order captain Vlasyev ... to imprison for one year and four months with limited rights and advantages in service ". For a long time, biographers were wondering what did Sergei Nikolayevich do? As it turned out, love was the culprit. Back in 1902, Vlasyev tied himself in marriage to John Alexandrovna Jan, the daughter of retired Major General Artillery Alexander Jan. From this union three children were born - Rostislav, Tamara and Nikolai. However, in 1914 the relationship between the spouses cracked. John Alexandrovna fell in love with the chief mechanic "Shark" midshipman Konstantin Terletsky. In the life of Sergei Nikolaevich also appeared another woman. She became Maria Vasilyevna Chizhova - the legal spouse of collegiate assessor Vasily Vasilyevich Chizhov, who is a doctor of a separate naval company. According to the stories of the submariner's son, Rostislav Sergeevich, the husband of Maria Vasilyevna insulted her in the presence of outsiders. Sergei Nikolayevich stood up for the honor of the lady, the quarrel turned into a fight, during which Vlasyev wounded Chizhov with a pistol shot. The very next day, the captain was removed from Narova’s command and put on trial. Sentence from 12 September 1915, which took into account the laws of war, was very harsh: "Deprivation of the nobility, military rank, orders, medals and other differences. Link to hard labor for twelve years ... ". However, upon confirmation of the commander of the armies of the northern front, this sentence was replaced by a softer one.
Sergei Nikolayevich was not imprisoned in the fortress — the execution of the punishment was postponed until the end of the war. By order of the head of the Baltic Fleet in October, Vlasyev was sent to the team of the head of the mine defense, and then, remaining in the BF, seconded to the Black Sea transport fleet. Already at the end of October, 1915 arrived from the Baltic Vlasyev was appointed commandant of Chios transport, and in December, the commandant of the first landing base of the Black Sea transport fleet. Later he became the head of the second landing base, and then the head of the landing force squad. In the 1916 campaign of the year, the units led by him participated in three amphibious assault operations, re-equipped Trapezond port, served the rear and combat needs of the center and right flank of the Caucasian army. It is curious that in October 1917, as ordered by the Revel Interim Naval Court, Vlasyev was released from his punishment with the restoration of all rights.
Maria Chizhova, for whose honor Vlasyev interceded, moved to his place on the Black Sea with her daughter Irina. She was next to the sailor until his death, although they never had children together. The fate of the first wife Vlasyev was tragic. In 1915, she began to live with Terletsky. The divorce process was started, which was never completed - 1 December 1916 John Alexandrovna, returning from the Alan Islands on the Shifett transport, where the Terletsky received at the command of the Okun submarine, died as a result of a mine blast.
During the Civil War, Sergei Nikolaevich was in the south of the country and fought in the Volunteer Army, and then in the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. In November, 1918 he worked as the head of the maritime defense of the Odessa Volunteer Brigade, and in February 1919 was appointed head of the newly formed detachment of ships to act on the rivers, the initiator of the formation of which he, in fact, was. In February and June, Vlasyev was involved in the retrofit, acquisition and repair of the detachment's ships. Subsequently, his unit was replaced by a division of river boats, and the submariner was sent to the reserve commander of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. In August, Vlasyev received the destroyers "Captain Saken" and "Restless" from the French. At the end of the year he already served on the battleship "General Alekseev", and from April to July 1920 commanded the training and messenger ship "Berezan". At the same time he was promoted to captain of the first rank.
In November, Sergey Nikolaevich 1920 was evacuated to Constantinople, and then from there he headed the transfer of Russian tugs and minesweepers, requisitioned by the French government to pay off the debt, to Marseille. After long ordeals in Europe in 1923, Vlasyan settled in Paris. There he led an unremarkable life - got a job in the office of a car company, worked as a taxi driver. Sergei Nikolaevich retired before World War II, and after the war ended he received a Soviet passport at the USSR Embassy, but he never returned to his homeland. Why? Perhaps he was afraid to see a completely different country where he would be a stranger. The submariner 3 September 1955 died and was buried at Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois - the cemetery of Russian émigrés.
According to the materials sites http://polit.ru/ and http://alerozin.narod.ru
Historians know little about childhood and adolescence of the future submariner. The first mentions of Sergey Nikolaevich date back to 1893 - the time when he arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the Naval Cadet Corps founded by Peter the Great. He graduated from the privileged naval educational institution Vlasyev in May 1900 with the award of the prize to them. Admiral Nazimov and the work of the midshipmen. The whole next year the young man served in the Black Sea navy on the Danube mine transport; on the Pendirakliya and Kazbek transport as a watch officer. In 1901, Sergei Nikolaevich was sent to courses in the Naval Training and Rifle Command, which he attended until 1902, and then was sent to the Mines Officer Class. At the beginning of September 1903, Vlasyev was enlisted in mine officers of the second rank, and in October of that same year he was seconded to the Far East to serve on the ships of the Pacific squadron.
It should be noted that Sergei Nikolaevich was a student of the great Russian scientist and inventor Alexander Popov, and it was he who brought the first radio station to Port Arthur in December 1903. According to some reports, three days before the legendary battle of "Varyag" between Port Arthur and the cruiser, an attempt was made to radio communications. The Russian-Japanese war found warrant officer Vlasyev on the mine-laying vessel “Yenisei”, where a sailor from the end of 1903 served as a senior mine officer. Already on the second day of the war, the ship was sent to Talienwan bay, protected from the winds and convenient for the parking of large ships, to put minefields. The vessel successfully completed its combat mission, however, due to the underwater currents unknown to the sailors, it was demolished by its own mine. After the explosion, the Yenisei began to sink, there were not enough boats at all, and people independently reached the coast, swimming in icy water. Part of the crew died, including the captain of the second rank Stepanov, the commander and designer of the Yenisei, until the last minute, according to the ancient maritime tradition, remained on the bridge and controlled the descent of rescue equipment. Sergei Nikolaevich himself was seriously wounded, but managed to get out. He was awarded the Order of Saint Anne of the Fourth Degree with the inscription “For Bravery” for his stewardship during the barrage of the Talienwan raid, as well as courage during the rescue of the mine-laying team.After the death of the Yenisei, Vlasyev was transferred to the battleship Peresvet, where the junior flagship Prince Ukhtomsky held his flag. From the beginning of February to April 1904, Sergey Nikolayevich served as a mine officer of the battleship Tsesarevich, taking part in all his naval bombardments with the Japanese fleet. In mid-April, Vlasyev was appointed a mine officer on the battleship Pobeda with the headquarters of the incoming wireless telegraphy stations. Throughout May and June, Sergei Nikolaevich was engaged in the trawling and destruction of Japanese mines, often under enemy fire. In mid-June, he was on the battleship Victory in the battle with the Japanese navy during an attempt to break through the Russian squadron into Vladivostok. A few months later, the midshipman visited a fierce new battle, known as the Battle of the Yellow Sea. Rear Admiral Wilhelm Witgeft, who was in command of the Tsarevich flagship battleship, commanded the compound, took a terrible death in this battle - the enemy’s large-caliber missile landed right in the middle of the foremast, and the brave sailor was torn to pieces. After the battle, a small part of the shabby ships continued to move to Vladivostok, but the main forces (the battleships Pobeda, Peresvet, Sevastopol, Retvisan, Poltava and other ships) did not tempt fate and returned to Port Arthur .
More than a squadron at sea did not go out, and the commander, dissatisfied with the passive tactics of the commander, languishing from inaction, Vlasyev repeatedly volunteered to plant mines "from the raft" - by the way, a very risky and dangerous occupation. Here, in Port Arthur, the sailor first became acquainted with submarines. The fortress had an old-aged submarine of the Drzewiecki system, built back in 1881 and brought to Port Arthur in 1900 at the request of Vitgeft. On the boat there were two torpedo tubes designed for captured Chinese mines. The commander of the boat was appointed midshipman Dudorov and a number of officers from the squadron battleships, including Vlasyev, helped him in every way to repair and use this in fact this semi-submarine in combat operations. Writer Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, brother of the famous theatrical figure, in his work “The Year of War” led Sergei Nikolayevich to a conversation with another Russian officer: “I would be able to approach the Japanese unnoticed on our“ petrol stationery ”. Neither the mast nor the pipes — you will not see her from anywhere, but she has healthy mines. ” "Well, so ask." “I thank meekly, our fathers-commanders have only one answer:“ Gentlemen, please, without adventures. In due time you will need. " "When will you need?" When all the warmer? ". Vlasyev, however, went for permission to the new commander Robert Viren, but received a categorical refusal.
In the fall of 1904, when the position of the besieged fortress became extremely difficult, Vlasyev asked for a direction in the composition of the sea landing. Together with a company of sailors, he got to the second fort and took part in the development of mining plans for approaches to the fortifications. It should be noted that after the direct assault failed, the troops of General Nogi began engineering work, which consisted in the gradual approximation of their positions to the defensive structures of the Russian army. By the beginning of September, the distance between the positions of opponents in individual sections reached 50-30 steps. The use of artillery in such conditions became unsafe, and the defenders arose a need for a new weapons close combat. Very soon, Sergei Nikolaevich had thoughts about creating such a weapon. Vlasyev expressed his ideas to the chief of land defense, General Roman Kondratenko, who introduced him to Leonid Gobyato, a young captain of the Russian troops, and part-time head of the artillery workshops of the fortress. The most talented engineer Leonid Nikolaevich, highly appreciating the offer of the midshipman, introduced a number of improvements, and the work began to boil. Under difficult conditions, the sieges of Vlasyev and Gobyato developed a hitherto unprecedented weapon - a super-caliber mortar. His device was very original. For firing, a trimmed light gun (47 or 75 mm) set on a “Chinese” wheel carriage (for obtaining large elevation angles) was used. A cone-shaped shell of mines was riveted from sheet iron, which was stuffed with 6,5 kilograms of wet pyroxylin and equipped with a shock fuse from a Whitehead mine. A wooden pole with a stabilizer impeller mounted on it was attached to the tail of the case. A wooden pole was inserted into the barrel bore from the muzzle, and the mine remained outside the channel and, when it was charged to it, a stabilizer impeller moved along the pole. From the treasury, the cannon was loaded with a normal sleeve, blocked by a cork insert with a steel wad. When fired, powder gases pushed the wad, which pushed the pole with a fortified mine. The range of the mortars ranged from fifty to four hundred meters.
The first experimental shooting at enemy positions took place in the month of September. Gobyato wrote that at the first shots frequent breakage of the pole occurred, but soon they managed to find the reasons for this - the lack of normalization of the weight of the mine and a sharp blow to the pole at the moment of the shot. Soon the mines were refined, and the use of mortars in the defensive positions of Port Arthur began. The new weapon was nicknamed by the Russian soldiers "the frog cannon", and the Japanese - the "flying death". Unfortunately, the mortars did not meet with support in the Main Artillery Directorate. As soon as the generals did not call them - "guns that have no future", "toy guns", "surrogates of artillery". As a result of such a development at the beginning of the First World War, the Russian army did not have mortars. But similar tools were used by German troops.
Sergey Nikolaevich, after finishing work on the production of the first above-caliber mortars, took part in practical combat shooting and also helped other active officers in the organization of firing. However, only this activity of Vlasyev in the last days of the defense of Port Arthur was not limited. In the ship's battleship of the battleship Peresvet, a midshipman organized the manufacture of “bombs” - self-made hand grenades, which were widely spread both among Russians and Japanese. In addition, according to the record in his service record, Sergey Nikolayevich “together with the artillery captain Gobyato organized re-equipping of the fortress shrapnel into high-explosive charges, together with him also organized the production of a new type of high-explosive projectile intended for field-firing guns according to his own drawings”.
At the end of December, 1904 Vlasyev, not wanting to be captured during the surrender of Port Arthur, on a mine boat of the battleship Victory broke through the enemy blockade on a dark night and reached the Chinese port of Chefu. Then, after passing through the lands of China, he arrived at the headquarters of General Kuropatkin, and from January to June 1905 was at his disposal. In February, Sergey Nikolaevich took part in the Mukden battle. For the differences in the defense of Port Arthur, in addition to the Order of St. Anna of the Fourth Degree, he was awarded with St. Stanislav of the third degree (November 1904), St. Anna of the third degree (December 1904), St. Vladimir of the fourth degree (December 1905). In mid-June, 1905 Vlasyev departed from the army and went on leave to cure numerous wounds and contusions. After rethinking what he saw during the war, at the end of 1905, the sailor sent a note to the Minister of Marine Affairs about the state of the mine in the Russian fleet, about the design flaws of mines being built and under construction, as well as artillery barriers. In this paper, he, based on the analysis of the development of the mine business in the country since the Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878, proposed a number of measures to develop this area.
Having returned from vacation 1905 in September, Sergey Nikolaevich, unexpectedly for him, turned out to be connected with the submarine fleet. He was appointed assistant to the commander of the Mackrel submarine and in December of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant. And in January, 1906 Vlasyev was awarded a silver medal on the Alexander St. George ribbon in memory of the war that had ended. Soon his enthusiasm for scuba diving received a new impetus. The rear admiral and former commander of the Retvizan battleship Edward Shchennovich, with whom Sergei Nikolayevich was well acquainted, was appointed to lead the Scuba diving training squad established at the end of March. Eduard Nikolaevich selected twenty sailors and seven officers into the Training detachment. At the same time, he was guided by the following criteria: "Every person selected to serve in submarines must be highly moral, brave, courageous, courageous, cold-blooded, not drinking, not subject to motion sickness, calm, resourceful and well aware of his business." In this magnificent seven diving officers and was among the first enrolled Vlasyev. At the same time, he came to the detachment not so much to learn as to teach: with 1906 he was the commander of the "Mackrel", and with 1907 - the submarine "Pescari". In December, 1907 with the rank of lieutenant Sergey Nikolayevich was enrolled in the first list of submarine officers at number twenty-five.
It should be noted that in those years, in the highest military circles of Russia, they looked at the submarines very skeptically. Since the submarine designs were very imperfect, the chances of surviving the submariners in a difficult situation remained small, and the submarine crews were looked upon as suicide bombers. It is known that when the question arose of increasing the salaries of submarine fleet sailors, Alexei Birilev, the former naval minister, cynically answered: “You can add. All the same, all drowned. At the end of 1907, Captain-Lieutenant Kolchak delivered a rather sensational report in the sea circle under the heading "What kind of Russia does the fleet need?" In it, Alexander Vasilyevich, in particular, argued that there was no place for submarines in the fleet of any naval power. He said: "The idea of replacing a linear fleet with a submarine may be of interest only to amateurs ... Especially the underwater or mine fleet is a fictitious force." In order to neutralize the harmful effects of Kolchak agitation, in the same audience the scuba diving officer Riznich made a report “Scuba diving and its significance for Russia”. A week later, Lieutenant Vlasyev, proving the importance of the submarine forces, read out his “Report of the submarine commander“ Peskar ”on maneuvers and voyages”, which made a favorable impression on the listeners. Other officers also came out in defense of the submarine fleet: Podgorny, Krzhizhanovsky and Tieder, who prophetically stated that "submariners are sailors of the future, and the country's sea power is inevitably connected with the development of the submarine fleet."
The tsarist officials did not tolerate free thinking and decided to launch the discussion very simply - the troublemakers of Krzhizhanovsky, Tieder and Riznich were expelled from the fleet, and the rest, including Vlasyev, who did not allow personal attacks against the tycoon, sent Nicholas II himself for rejecting "Interfere with prerogatives that are not theirs." However, quite unexpectedly, the proposals of the brave sailor were supported by the largest domestic shipbuilder, academician Alexei Krylov. With his direct participation in 1907, Sergei Nikolayevich became the commander of the submarine under construction under the name "Shark", by the way, the most modern and largest submarine of the national fleet at that time. In the course of its construction (1908-1911) Vlasyev proposed and implemented his numerous improvements, and also compiled a detailed description of the submarine with an atlas published by the Baltic Shipyard. During this time, his authority grew so much that a sailor was invited to construct the mines of the first in the world underwater layer “Crab”. At the end of September, 1909 reported to Captain Second Class Schreiber in a report to the Chairman of the Marine Technical Committee: “The creation of mines for placing them from submarines at Izhora Plant was crowned with success ... ". At the same time, Sergei Nikolaevich, summarizing the experience of sailing small submarines, gave evidence of the need to build larger submarines with increased cruising range and enhanced torpedo armament (in the future these proposals were reflected in the creation of submarines of the Morz and Bars type). Vlasyev also took part in meetings and commissions organized by the Marine Minister and the Main Naval Staff, as well as in the technical council meetings of the Main Shipbuilding Department on the organization of submarine brigades in the Baltic, teaching diving, upgrading existing submarines and choosing new types for the Black Sea. Sailor also distinguished himself in the development of methods for conducting underwater battles, as well as the joint (group) use of submarines in fleet operations. For his efforts to develop the submarine fleet in 1910, he was awarded the Order of Stanislav of the second degree.
However, the main offspring and the purpose of the life of a sailor continued to be his "Shark", which was launched at the end of August 1909 in the presence of the emperor himself and high-ranking officials of all kinds of classes. Tests of the submarine were extremely difficult, and the boat repeatedly got up to the dock to eliminate malfunctions. At that time, an offensive was born in Kronstadt, but to some extent a truthful saying: “The submarine“ Shark ”swam for one year and three sank”. Indeed, in October, the 1909 submarine went to the strait in the Gulf of Bjorkesund in order to carry out preliminary factory inspections. The tests revealed the need to increase the power of the propeller motor (from 230 horsepower to 300), replace the propellers, as well as install breakwater boards for underwater torpedo tubes. In May, the 1910 "Shark" under the command of Vlasyev entered the Kronstadt dock, in which the alterations were made. In July, the 1910 submarine again went to Bjorkesund for tests, during which a complete discrepancy between new propellers purchased abroad was discovered. In August, the Shark again went to the dock, and there its new screws were replaced with the old ones, with which the preparatory tests were successfully completed. However, due to the absence of mines, there were no shooting at that moment. October 20 submarine went to the campaign of St. Petersburg-Revel. In the Sea Channel, the ship flew into the sunken barge, as a result of which the right propeller, the middle propeller guard was seriously damaged, and the left diesel engine bearing burned down. For this reason, submariners reached Revel on one average diesel engine, and there they were already engaged in repairs, which lasted until the end of the year. All acceptance tests were postponed to the following year and 1911 passed in March after the Shark installed the third set of screws in the local floating dock. However, this was not the end of the trouble - the foundation frame broke at the left-hand diesel engine, and the submarine had to return to St. Petersburg for a replacement. Only in early August did she reappear in Revel, where in September she completed the tests. By the way, the speed of the “Shark” never reached the estimated calculated values: the surface, instead of sixteen knots, was eleven and a half, and the submarine, instead of seven nodes, was six and a half. In November, the 1911 submarine was enrolled in the active Navy. It should be noted separately the resilience of its commander, who successfully overcame all fallen misfortunes.
In December, 1911 Sergey Nikolaevich, after analyzing his own experience of sailing on the "Makrele", "Pescara" and "Shark", developed the very first recommendations in our country on the implementation of torpedo firing from submarines. In the meantime, he never stopped swimming on his Shark. In the 1912, the submarine made forty-five dives, passed over water over 1400 miles, under water — over 170 miles, fired sixteen torpedoes at moving targets and fifty six at fixed targets. In those days, these were very impressive numbers. In December, 1912 Vlasyev was given the rank of captain of the second rank, and in 1914 he was awarded the badge of defender Port Arthur.
Before the start of the war in June, the Bayan and Pallas cruisers were attached to the Baltic Sea Submarine Brigade. This was done with the aim of practicing commanders in firing mines. The crew of the "Shark" under the leadership of Sergei Nikolayevich produced a full torpedo salvo from 1914 mines, three of which "hit" the "Pallas". The commander of the cruiser Sergey Magnus made a strong impression, which, according to contemporaries, “turned very pale and went for several days“ not himself ”, apparently filled with a premonition of the coming death” (October 5 11 returning from the patrol, the cruiser was torpedoed by an enemy submarine and sank along with the crew).
By the beginning of the First World War of the eleven submarines that are in service with the Baltic Fleet, only one "Shark" of Vlasyev could truly be considered combat-ready. The rest, old and worn, belonged to the structures of a decade ago and could not leave the limits of the Gulf of Finland. Initially, all submarines were used at the patrol positions at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland - in the morning they occupied them, and in the evening they returned to the port. This senseless activity of submariners, and in early August 1914 had developed two schemes for the use of submarines. The first, proposed by the second division, was to build submarines in two lines across the Gulf of Finland and so expect an enemy to appear. The second one, presented by Sergey Nikolayevich, consisted in that his “Shark”, as the most inhabited, high-speed and seaworthy ship, accompanied by destroyers was sent to the Baltic Sea to hunt. It was assumed that the destroyers will have to lure the Germans and carry them past the positions of "Shark".
However, the authorities decided to do differently. At the end of August, the Shark, being in position, took the radio order from the brigade commander to go on reconnaissance to Cape Dagerort (border of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea), and act there as she sees fit. This voyage was marked by the first torpedo attack of the Russian submarine. On August 26, near the island of Gotska-Sanden, the Shark found the German cruiser Amazone, accompanied by destroyers. Stopping the diesel engine, the submarine began to dive, and the destroyers, covering it from the left side and the stern, rushed to the attack. "Shark", plunging, managed to turn around and fired a single mine, forcing the ships to depart and abandon the ram attack. At a depth of fifteen meters, submariners walked away with the slightest speed, but the destroyers did not let the submarine out of sight. For a long time, the crew puzzled, and finally found that an oil track, which due to calm weather, accurately indicates the direction of its movement under water, stretches behind the submarine. The traitor’s trail was destroyed by temporarily pumping water from the hold. At the risk of wetting the electric motor, losing buoyancy and going to the bottom, the crew stopped the pump and changed course. This allowed to get rid of the prosecution. On the surface "Shark" surfaced after a seven-hour course under water with an almost discharged battery.
This campaign was a good test of the crew training, and also showed the low suitability of the Whitehead torpedoes (self-propelled mines) in service. In the course of the forced diving of the “Shark” to thirty-meter depth, their charging compartments were crumpled, and water got into the capsules. By the way, even in peaceful years, submariners repeatedly told the authorities that it was necessary to create special mines for submarines that could withstand water pressure at great depths (at depths of up to fifteen meters, Whitehead mines did not allow water to pass, and their charging compartments were not deformed). Vlasyev reported that, perhaps for some reason, the submarine would have to take more depth before firing at the enemy, and then she would lose her only weapon. The mine department, demanding the brigade, did not agree, pointing out that there are no such strong mines in the world, to make them so incredibly difficult and an increase in their weight will inevitably follow. Further conversations that lasted from year to year did not go well, and as a result, the submarines went to war with exactly the same mines as on other ships of the Russian fleet. After returning to Moonzund, the “Shark” of Vlasyev, in the presence of a specially assembled commission, attempted to shoot one such deformed mine. The result was the saddest. Coming out of the apparatus, she immediately rushed to the bottom, explaining to everyone why the mine, released from a distance of just 250-300 meters into the German destroyer, did not hit him. After that, at the initiative of mine officers of the second division, the voids in the charging compartments were filled with pieces of wood cut out according to the pattern, and the capsules were filled with a thick layer of mastic, making the mine's reliability slightly increased. From now on, the team itself was engaged in adapting self-propelled mines to the increased demands made by the peculiarities of their use in submarines.
Until the end of 1914, the Shark, under the command of Vlasyev, made several more trips to the Baltic Sea. The crew carried out two more torpedo attacks - on November 9, in the bay of Danzig, a submarine attacked and routed enemy vehicles. The mine, released from the nasal apparatus, passed under the very nose of the steamer, which, barely having noticed its foamy trail, immediately rushed to all banks at all pairs. And in early December, near the island of Gotland, performing a cover for a group of ships engaged in mine-barrage, the submarine attacked the cruiser Ausburg, firing six torpedoes at it, but they all passed by. This was explained by the lack of maneuvering techniques and the disadvantages of torpedoes, and the shooting of single mines, often without aiming (that is, at the eye). Assessing the work of the crew of the Shark in the 1914 campaign of the year, the fleet commander awarded the team six St. George medals.
In mid-February, Sergey Nikolayevich 1915 passed the command of the Akula (which, by the way, led for almost eight years) to one of the best domestic submariners, second rank captain Nikolai Gudim, and was appointed commander of the fifth division of the submarine of the Baltic Fleet. At the same time (March 1915), the fleet commander presented the valiant sailor to the award “For Excellent Patrol Service”, and at the end of June Vlasion was awarded with swords to the Order of St. Stanislav of the second degree. It is worth noting that at the end of November, the Shark, having gone on a regular mission, disappeared along with its entire crew, becoming the first Russian submarine killed in the war. Among the most likely causes of her death is a mine blast. Since the end of May, Sergey Nikolayevich himself was the commander of the “Narova” minelayer. The appointment of a larger ship on the one hand seemed to be an increase, but on the other - he was not given command of a large and new Bars-type submarine.
And then in the life of a naval officer there was a drama that almost cost him not only his career, but also his freedom. At the end of September 1915 for the fleet, an order was issued under the number 1479, in which it was reported: “By a sentence of a fortress court of the Sea Fortress ... it was determined: second-order captain Vlasyev ... to imprison for one year and four months with limited rights and advantages in service ". For a long time, biographers were wondering what did Sergei Nikolayevich do? As it turned out, love was the culprit. Back in 1902, Vlasyev tied himself in marriage to John Alexandrovna Jan, the daughter of retired Major General Artillery Alexander Jan. From this union three children were born - Rostislav, Tamara and Nikolai. However, in 1914 the relationship between the spouses cracked. John Alexandrovna fell in love with the chief mechanic "Shark" midshipman Konstantin Terletsky. In the life of Sergei Nikolaevich also appeared another woman. She became Maria Vasilyevna Chizhova - the legal spouse of collegiate assessor Vasily Vasilyevich Chizhov, who is a doctor of a separate naval company. According to the stories of the submariner's son, Rostislav Sergeevich, the husband of Maria Vasilyevna insulted her in the presence of outsiders. Sergei Nikolayevich stood up for the honor of the lady, the quarrel turned into a fight, during which Vlasyev wounded Chizhov with a pistol shot. The very next day, the captain was removed from Narova’s command and put on trial. Sentence from 12 September 1915, which took into account the laws of war, was very harsh: "Deprivation of the nobility, military rank, orders, medals and other differences. Link to hard labor for twelve years ... ". However, upon confirmation of the commander of the armies of the northern front, this sentence was replaced by a softer one.
Sergei Nikolayevich was not imprisoned in the fortress — the execution of the punishment was postponed until the end of the war. By order of the head of the Baltic Fleet in October, Vlasyev was sent to the team of the head of the mine defense, and then, remaining in the BF, seconded to the Black Sea transport fleet. Already at the end of October, 1915 arrived from the Baltic Vlasyev was appointed commandant of Chios transport, and in December, the commandant of the first landing base of the Black Sea transport fleet. Later he became the head of the second landing base, and then the head of the landing force squad. In the 1916 campaign of the year, the units led by him participated in three amphibious assault operations, re-equipped Trapezond port, served the rear and combat needs of the center and right flank of the Caucasian army. It is curious that in October 1917, as ordered by the Revel Interim Naval Court, Vlasyev was released from his punishment with the restoration of all rights.
Maria Chizhova, for whose honor Vlasyev interceded, moved to his place on the Black Sea with her daughter Irina. She was next to the sailor until his death, although they never had children together. The fate of the first wife Vlasyev was tragic. In 1915, she began to live with Terletsky. The divorce process was started, which was never completed - 1 December 1916 John Alexandrovna, returning from the Alan Islands on the Shifett transport, where the Terletsky received at the command of the Okun submarine, died as a result of a mine blast.
During the Civil War, Sergei Nikolaevich was in the south of the country and fought in the Volunteer Army, and then in the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. In November, 1918 he worked as the head of the maritime defense of the Odessa Volunteer Brigade, and in February 1919 was appointed head of the newly formed detachment of ships to act on the rivers, the initiator of the formation of which he, in fact, was. In February and June, Vlasyev was involved in the retrofit, acquisition and repair of the detachment's ships. Subsequently, his unit was replaced by a division of river boats, and the submariner was sent to the reserve commander of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. In August, Vlasyev received the destroyers "Captain Saken" and "Restless" from the French. At the end of the year he already served on the battleship "General Alekseev", and from April to July 1920 commanded the training and messenger ship "Berezan". At the same time he was promoted to captain of the first rank.
In November, Sergey Nikolaevich 1920 was evacuated to Constantinople, and then from there he headed the transfer of Russian tugs and minesweepers, requisitioned by the French government to pay off the debt, to Marseille. After long ordeals in Europe in 1923, Vlasyan settled in Paris. There he led an unremarkable life - got a job in the office of a car company, worked as a taxi driver. Sergei Nikolaevich retired before World War II, and after the war ended he received a Soviet passport at the USSR Embassy, but he never returned to his homeland. Why? Perhaps he was afraid to see a completely different country where he would be a stranger. The submariner 3 September 1955 died and was buried at Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois - the cemetery of Russian émigrés.
According to the materials sites http://polit.ru/ and http://alerozin.narod.ru
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