Russian submarine fleet (part 3)

Part 2

On the eve of the October Revolution into the Russian naval fleet In addition to surface ships, they included 52 submarines, of which 41 were in service, 7 in construction and assembly, 4 in storage at the port.
In terms of the number of submarines, the Russian fleet was not inferior to the fleets of many major maritime powers. However, a significant drawback was the multiplicity of submarines, as well as the technical and moral obsolescence of almost half of them.
There were 32 PL 6 types on the Baltic Sea, 19 PL 7 types on the Black Sea. One submarine was part of the flotilla of the Arctic Ocean (\ "St. George \").
Only about 60% of the submarine fleet (31 PL subtype \ "Killer whale \", \ "Lamprey \", \ "Walrus \", \ "Bars \" and \ "Crab \") were built on domestic shipyards by the projects of Russian designers. The remaining submarines were either built in Russia for foreign projects or purchased from foreign firms. From 52, the submarines 49 were torpedoes and 3 - minelayers. In the Baltic submarines, who were in the ranks were consolidated in the division, on the Black Sea - in the brigade.

By the beginning of 1918 in the Baltic, the submarines were located in the following bases:
In Revel - 17 PL (such as \ "Catfish \" - \ "Minnow, \" \ "Beluga \", \ "Pike \", \ "Sterlet \", type \ "Caiman \" - \ "Caiman \", \ "Alligator \", \ "Crocodile \". \ "Dragon \"; type \ "Leopard \" - \ "Tiger \", \ "Panther \", \ "Lynx \", \ "Cougar \", \ "Jaguar \", \ "Unicorn \", \ "Tour \", \ "Snake \", \ "Eel \".
In Helsingfors - 4 PL (type \ "Leopard \" - \ "Wild boar \", \ "Wolf \", \ "Leopard \", \ "Ruff \").
In Hange - 4 PL (type \ "AG \" - \ "AG-11 \", \ "AG-12 \", \ "AG-15 \", \ "AG-16 \").
In Petrograd - 7 PL (\ "Minoga \", type \ "Killer Whale \" - - \ "Killer Whale \", \ "Keta \", \ "Mackrel \", \ "Perch \", type \ "Bars \" - \ "Trout \". \ "Ide \"). Submarine \ "Trout \" and \ "Ide \" were transferred from Revel in November 1917 Propulsion \ "Minogue \", \ "Orca \", \ "Keta \", \ "mackerel \" and \ "Perch \ "arrived from Finland for the overhaul of 19 December 1917 of the PL \" AG-16 \ "until 21 in July 1917 was called \" AG-13 \ ", \" Keta \ "before 17 in August 1917 of the city - \" Field Marshal Count Sheremetev. "
In connection with the recognition of 18 of Finland’s state independence by 31 (1917) in December, the head of the Soviet government, Lenin, considered the absolute redeployment of the Baltic Fleet ships to the new base system - Kronstadt, Petrograd, Sestroretsk, Luga Bay absolutely necessary.

15 February 1918 received orders to the fleet to prepare all the icebreakers in Revel. February 16 The chief of the 1 th cruiser brigade in Revel received orders to bring the ships into two-day readiness to go to Helsingfors. On the same day, the Maritime General Headquarters issued an urgent directive to the command of the fleet, which, in particular, provided for the redeployment of ships from forward bases (Revel and Helsingfors) to Kronstadt. February 17 on behalf of the SNK to the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet (Tsentrobaltu) was transmitted by telegraph directive Board of the People's Commissariat for Maritime Affairs, which ordered the transfer of ships from Revel to Helsingfors and then to Kronstadt. strategic operation of the Soviet AMP - Arctic campaign, carried out in February - April 1918 g.
On February 17, the head of the scuba diving division (these duties were temporarily performed by the captain of the 2 rank, V.F.Dudkin) was ordered to immediately begin transferring all the submarines to Helsingfors, as well as to the floating bases and other auxiliary vessels hibernating in Revel.
Almost all submarine division submarines that wintered in Reval underwent repairs

February 20 from Revel in tow an icebreaker \ "Volynets \" out the first 3 PL. Two days later, an icebreaker \ "Yermak \" led another 2 PL and two loaded vehicles to Helsingfors.
February 24 transport came out of Revel \ "Europe \" together with the submarine \ "Tiger \" and \ "Cougar \".
German aviation tried to prevent the passage of ships by bombing, but she failed. The Baltic sailors in extremely difficult conditions withdrew from the Revel 9 submarine type \ "Bars \". At the transition to Helsingfors, the defective submarine \ "Unicorn \" sank. This boat, which did not have a course, was driven by the tug \ "Germanmark \", mooring it at its side. Water entered the boat all the time, so a water pump was constantly working in tow. When the pump became clogged and the submarine began to quickly fill with water, the moorings had to be returned. PL went to the bottom. The submarine \ "Unicorn \" was a very peculiar fate. On September 25, 1917, she sat on the rocks near the island of Eryo (Abo-Alan archipelago), having received a hole in this. After removing from the stones, following in tow, she again ran into the underwater reefs and sank. Was lifted by a rescue ship \ "Volkhov \" October 7, 1917
At noon on February 25 German troops entered Revel. Here they captured submarines of the \ "Som \" training squad of \ "Beluga \", \ "Peskar \", \ "Sterlet \" and \ "Pike \" (were commissioned in 1905 - 1906), and also 4 Submarines of the \ "Caiman \" type, which were commissioned in 1911, are obsolete and therefore delivered to the port (the submarine \ "Crocodile \" was reequipped into a charging station). Failed to withdraw from Reval transport \ "St. Nicholas \", which was the property of the 4-th division of the submarine type \ "AG \", based in Hange, a tug \ "Grenin \" with the property and some of the submarine \ "Eel \" , floating workshop of the Baltic Shipyard.
In all, 56 warships and ships were withdrawn from Revel. Several ships were covered with ice; they arrived at Helsingfors in early March.

In Helsingfors there was an intensive preparation for the redeployment of ships to Kronstadt.
March 12 released the first squadron of ships in the 4 battleships and 3 cruisers. Wiring carried out icebreakers \ "Ermak \" and \ "Volynets \". But soon the military-political situation in Finland was significantly complicated. On April 3, the German division landed in Hangge.
Therefore, the sailors of the 4 Division were forced to blow up the submarine A-11, A-12, A-XNumx and A-XNumX and destroy the Oland base ship, so they did not get the interventionists.

By this time, the 12 PL type \ "Bars \", the floating base \ "Tosno \" and \ "Warrior \", the training ship \ "Peter the Great \", used as a floating base and a rescue vessel \ "Volkhov \" were concentrated in Helsingfors. Go under its own power could only 7 PL. Especially difficult was the state of the submarine \ "Cougar \" and \ "Eel \"

On the night of April 5 began the transition to Kronstadt the second squad. On the tug of the battleship "Andrew the First-Called" was the submarine "Tur", the cruiser "Oleg" - the submarine "Tiger", the cruiser "Bayan" - the submarine "Rys". On the traverse of the lighthouse Grohar about 6 miles from Helsingfors, the submarine Lynx was covered with ice and its hull was damaged. The cruiser "Bayan" gave tug. By the evening of April 6 this submarine was able to return to Helsingfors.
Submarines "Tour" and "Tigr" at noon on April 11 entered the ice-breaker "Ermak" in Kronstadt. At the PL "Tur" the nasal ballast tanks and superstructure were seriously damaged, while at the "Tiger" submarine the nasal tip was broken. The transition of the third unit was carried out 5 echelons from 7 to 12 April. This squad included 48 destroyers, 10 PL, 5 minelayers, 6 minesweepers, 11 patrol ships. This was the most difficult and difficult stage of the Ice Campaign. The German government ultimately demanded to disarm all Soviet warships located in the ports of Finland before 12 watches 12 hours of April.
At dawn 7 on April, patrol ships "Yastreb" and "Ruslan" were launched together with the tugboat "Arkona" from Helsingfors 8 PL. April 9 left the submarine submarine "Eel" 9 on the tug at the transport "Izh") and submarine "Kuguar" (in tow at the floating base "Tosno"). On the last Kuluar submarine, the captain of the 2 rank, VF Dudkin, was temporarily in charge of the division.
At the crossing, ships were often compressed by ice. Bars-type submarines did not have watertight bulkheads and the appearance of holes in the robust case could lead them to death. The boats were so covered with ice that sometimes only logging over the clumps that were piled up on the decks. Submariners constantly cleaved the ice. Often the way the ships had to break in chunks. Especially dangerous was the movement of ice. Ice crawled on the submarine, squeezed them. Dents were formed in the cases, rivets flew out, seams were spreading. For many submarines, the covers of the nose torpedo tubes were damaged, the bow and ballast tanks and superstructures were bent, the vertical and horizontal rudders were bent, the propeller blades were broken off.
15 April at nightfall PL “Wild boar”, “Wolf”, “Jaguar”, “Lynx”, “Ersh”, “Snake”, “Leopard” and the floating base “Tosno” with the submarine “Kuguar” in tow in Kronstadt, and the next day they moved to Petrograd.

April 17 came submarine "Eel", April 18 - Submarine "Panther", April 22 - mother ship - "Warrior".
Thus, the transition of the third detachment of ships was successfully completed. In Helsingfors, the Europe submarine division, the Memory of Azov floating base and the Volkhov rescue ship, which could not leave due to the shortage of coal and a significant shortage of crews, remained from the diving division.
The last ships of the third detachment left on April 12, when German troops had already entered the outskirts of the city. The following day, the German dreadnoughts Westfalen, Posen, and the battleship Beowulf entered the Helsingfors roadstead and opened artillery fire on the shore.
In the Ice Campaign, exceptional exceptional courage and dedication were shown by VF Dudkin, S. P. Yazykov, G. V. Vasiliev, B. M. Voroshilin, N. A. Gornyakovsky, G. I. Gutta, A. A. Zhdan- Pushkin, Ya.K.Zubarev, A.A.Ikonnikov, N.K.Kechegi, M.V.Lashmanov, Yu.V.Puare, MF Storozhenko, G.M.Trusov, G.A. Schroeder and many others
The rescue vessel "Volkhov" left the Helsingfors 11 in May 1918.
The last to leave it was 28 in May, the Memory of Azov vessel, which was used as the flagship of the senior naval commander in Finland.
Rescued submarines, along with a small number of submarines, were in Petrograd, formed the core of the Soviet submarine forces.

The Soviet government took urgent measures to protect Kronstadt and Petrograd. In connection with the aggravation of relations with Germany on May 14 Fort Ino was blown up.
The Baltic naval forces brought on high alert, 16 in May 1918 were divided into 3 categories:
Active fleet
Armed reserve
Ships in long-term storage.

The command of the submarine division of the fleet of the Baltic Sea 22 in May was taken over by the captain of the 2 rank K.E. I.Vvedensky, mine engineer I.Vladimirov was appointed chief commissar of the division for political affairs.
Instead of the 6 divisions, of which the division previously consisted, two were formed.
First Division (Chief - Senior Lieutenant KL Sobolev, Commissioner I.Ye. Ivanov) was a reserve and consisted of 11 PL: "Wolf", "Vepr", "Yorsh", "Snake", "Trout", "Kuguar" , "Ide", "Eel", "Keta", "Killer Whale" and "Perch". All of them were in need of repair or were in construction.

The second division (the chief of the 2 captain of the rank of Ya.K. Zubarev, Commissioner S.P. Yazykov) included the most combat-capable submarines - Tiger, Panther, Lynx, Tour, Jaguar, Leopard, "Lamprey" and "Mackrel".
The division had 5 auxiliary vessels.
During the 1918 campaign, the composition of the division underwent significant changes. In July, only the 6 PL ("Tiger", "Panther", "Jaguar", "Leopard", "Lynx" and "Tour") were retained in a separate fleet in the current fleet. In reserve in Petrograd were submarines "Wolf", "Wild boar", "Ersh", "Trout", "Minoga" and "Mackrel", and the rest of the submarines (from the beginning of August also "Minoga" and "Mackrel" _ - stored in Petrograd port.
Submarine "Keta" was completely excluded from the fleet.

Four submarines of the current division conducted reconnaissance in the Gulf of Finland and Narva, and two in the Lake Ladoga in order to prevent the landing of enemy landings on the nearest approaches to Petrograd. The first came 3 July 1918 in Lake Ladoga submarine "Vepr", the second - August 23 - submarine "Panther".

In the autumn of 1918, the military-political situation changed dramatically. The troops of the Entente defeated the exhausted German army. 13 November The All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution to annul the Brest peace treaty. However, the defeat of Germany in the war allowed the United States, Great Britain and France to use the liberated forces to strengthen the armed struggle against Soviet Russia.

In the summer of 1918, the Eastern Front became the main front, resting its southern flank on the Caspian Sea. Holding the Volga delta in their hands and controlling the northern part of the Caspian, the Soviet troops did not allow the armies of General Denikin and Admiral Kolchak to join up. By order of Lenin, measures were taken to strengthen the naval forces in the north of the Caspian Sea.
In August, 1918 began the transfer of a detachment of destroyers from the Baltic through the Mariinsky water system to the Caspian Sea. However, in connection with the exacerbation of the situation on the Eastern Front, the destroyers were incorporated into the Volga Flotilla.
Lenin insisted on the transfer of several other destroyers and submarines here.

In Petrograd, they urgently prepared to send the submarines "Minoga", "Makrel", "Kasatka" and "Okun" to the Caspian by rail. Soon these submarines were delivered to Saratov and released into the Volga water. On November 15, the submarines "Minoga" and "Makrel" arrived in Astrakhan and became part of the Astrakhan-Caspian flotilla, formed in October 1918, in the submarine "Kasatka" and "Okun", wintering near Saratov.
30 on April 1919, the landing party, landed by the ships of the Astrakhan-Caspian flotilla took possession of Fort-Aleksandrovsky (Fort-Shevchenko), located in the Tub-Karagan gulf of the Mangyshlak peninsula. Thus, the flotilla received a maneuverable base on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. By mid-May, the ships concentrated in the Tub-Karagan Bay, but soon the main forces of the flotilla switched to the Astrakhan raid. Only a few ships remained at Fort Alexandrovsky, including the submarine "lamprey" and "Mackrel," the Revel "mother ship."
20 May 1919. An enemy reconnaissance aircraft appeared over the bay, and around noon the next day 11 interventionist and White Guard ships were found on the horizon. Six enemy ships, in 14.20 approaching the bay, opened fire. An unequal battle ensued. Submarine "Mackrel" at this time took torpedoes. Its commander GA Schroeder ordered to immediately dive. Having quickly gone under water, the Mackrel headed for the exit from the gulf to meet the enemy ships. The depth of the fairway did not exceed 7 meters, and the draft of the submarine going under the periscope was 6,6 meters. To increase the water supply under the keel, the submarine Makrell left the bay in a lowered periscope. The commander led the submarine blindly. Steering officer M.V. Lashmanov stood on horizontal rudders. High skill allowed him to keep the depth of immersion, despite the continuous change in the trim of the boat due to the fact that the glands and rivets let water through.

The second submarine, the Lamprey, which had malfunctioning diesel engines, approached an electric motor to board the Revel base station, which was stationed at the pier. At that time, one of the shells landed in Revel. A fire broke out at the base, the flames spread to the submarine. The commander of the "Revel", in order to protect the wooden pier, ordered to cut off the mooring lines. The burning mother ship spun in the wind, and she piled on the Mist artillery vehicle. Nearby was the messenger ship "Helma". The ships were in flames.
Submariners quickly dropped you water mooring "Lamprey", brought on board the "Revel". But when the submarine made a move, he accidentally wound on a steel mooring screw. Then the commander of "Lampor" Yu.V.Puare, divisional mechanical engineer A.N. Kalinin with three sailors, jumping into the boat, took the submarine in tow, and struggled to paddle. Barely managed to pull the submarine "Lampa" from the burning ships, as the "Mist" rang out an explosion. The transport, the floating ship and the messenger ship sank almost simultaneously.
A submarine "Bakinets" hurried to the aid of the submarine. Submarine "Minoga" was assigned to one of the marinas. Soon an enemy seaplane appeared over the bay, which began to fire at ships and drop bombs. Having opened a rifle and machine-gun fire, the Soviet sailors repulsed the attack of this aircraft.

At night, it became known that the enemy landed a naval landing force in 30-40 km from Fort-Alexandrovsky. Enemy ships still held near the Tub-Karagan Bay. The flotilla command sent a land detachment against the landing force, reinforced by naval sailors removed from ships. The commander of the submarine "Minoga", which lost its course due to the cable wound on a screw, received an order to destroy it. But the divers decided to save their ship. Communist helmsman V.Ya. Isaev volunteered to release the screw from the steel cable. Working in cold water, he showed perseverance and endurance. After 2 hours the screw was cleared from the cable, and the submarine was able to move. Meanwhile, the Mackrel submarine, which had left the bay, was discovered by an enemy plane, bombarded, but unscathed from the impact. The appearance of the submarine at sea alarmed the enemy. In his report, the commander of the submarine "Mackrel" wrote that the enemy, having discovered it, "turned back, concentrating all his fire on the square of finding the Soviet submarine, which saved the ships with mines and barriers from the harbor." Fearing the torpedo attack of the POL, the enemy ships were quick to leave.
In this difficult situation, especially the steering officer, L "Makrel", MV Lashmanov, distinguished himself for standing on a watch on horizontal steering wheels. He 8 hours in a row kept the ship at a given depth in shallow water. At the request of the submarine commander G.A. Schroeder and division commissar S.N. Naumov M.V.Lashmanov for courage and skill shown in this battle, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. GAShreder in the petition from 2 of January 1924 for awarding MVLashmanov with the Order of the Red Banner indicated: "Upon returning to the fort, it turned out that the only assistant on the submarine

Renoyan has gone mad from his experiences, and on the march comrade. According to my orders, Lashmanov had to replace the retired assistant, which he did brilliantly and fulfilled. "The awarding of V.Lashmanov took place only in April 1928.
The Mackrel submarine failed to pass through Astrakhan due to a sharp drop in water on the so-called 24-foot raid formed by the Volga delta. The boat had to stay on the raid. Along with her was a river tug armed with a machine gun. On the Mackell submarine, the entire 6 man remained, including the commander and commissioner. Over the course of the week, submariners successfully repelled attacks by enemy aircraft and motor-sailing boats — rybnitsa, armed with torpedo tubes. Only with the rise of water, removing part of the mechanisms from the submarine and pumping out the ballast, the sailors managed with the help of a tug to bring the submarine Mackrel to Astrakhan. Has safely reached Astrakhan and submarine "Lamprey".

The Baltic submariners, performing the task of Lenin, acted decisively and selflessly in the Caspian. The submarine crews were almost entirely composed of communists and their sympathizers.
On the submarine submarine submarine, the 10 submariners were communists, 8 sympathizers and only 2 non-party members. The crew of the submarine Mackerel consisted of 9 communists, 8 sympathizers, 2 non-partisans.
Commanded the submarine battalion (and at the same time the submarine submarine) Yu.V.Puare. The commissar of the division was the communist motor foreman S.N. Naumov, the commissar of the submarine “Minoga” - the communist V.I. Zhukovsky, the commissar “Makreli” - the communist I.V. Kellner.

Part 4