Major naval battles

Black Sea Navy was one of the most prepared formations of our army at the beginning of the war. The fleet consisted of about three hundred ships and boats different classes. Among them are 1 battleship, 6 cruisers, 16 leaders and destroyers, 47 submarines. The Air Force of the Black Sea Fleet included 600 aircraft of various types. The fleet had five bases: Odessa, Nikolaev, Novorossiysk, Batumi and the main one in Sevastopol.

The Chernomorians were among the first to enter the Great Patriotic War. Relying on surprise, at about 3 am on June 22, 1941, enemy aircraft launched a massive air strike on the main base of the fleet - Sevastopol. The hopes of the Germans to take our sailors by surprise did not come true. The fleet was ready, and the ships were in full combat readiness. The attack was repelled.

On June 25, 1941, the Soviet forces of the fleet, together with aviation, carried out a raid operation to shell Constanta, the main base of the Romanian fleet, which was an ally of the Germans. In total, during the battles on the Black Sea, three such raids were carried out. The second and third were committed in December 1942 and October 1943, respectively.

The fleet showed itself heroically in the defense of Odessa, Sevastopol and Novorossiysk. The Black Sea Fleet and the Azov Flotilla provided fire support to the defending cities, carried out supplies, the transfer of reinforcements, and the evacuation of the wounded. Black Sea sailors joined the ranks of the marines and garrisons defending the cities. For your form and fury in battle the Germans called them the "Black Death". Odessa withstood 73 days of siege. Sevastopol was defended for almost 10 months, taking on significant enemy forces that the enemy could not use at Stalingrad. For comparison, it took the Germans a little over a month to capture France, Belgium and Holland.

The Black Sea Fleet included a unique ship - Anti-aircraft floating battery No. 3. Steel square with cannons and anti-aircraft machine guns.
Came up with this unusual ship Captain 1st Rank Grigory Alexandrovich Butakov. The steel hull of an unfinished battleship was taken as the basis, which the sailors used as a target for training torpedo launches and firing.

The steel box had been stripped of rust, the holes patched up, and painted sea-coloured for camouflage. On a deck area of ​​600 square meters equipped observation post, put searchlights and placed the battery. The Iron Island was armed with three 76mm anti-aircraft guns, four 37mm guns, one quadruple machine gun and two anti-aircraft machine guns. In the compartments below deck, a cockpit, a weapons and an autonomous power plant were equipped. The crew consisted of 120 people. "Iron Island" was towed to the outer roads in front of Sevastopol at a distance of 300 meters from the coast.

On August 3, 1941, the floating battery took over the first duty. The battery was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Moshensky S. Ya.

Our sailors called the ship "Calambina" or according to the first lines of the song invented in the battery - "Don't touch me." The Germans called the battery "death square", "God carry it" or "black square".

During the 9 months of the battery's combat operations, more than 20 downed aircraft were only documented. The battery commander left her only once in all this time in order to receive the “Order of the Red Star”. The end of June 1942 was the most difficult. By the 26th, only half of the crew remained alive, and less than half of the barrels could fire. But the battery held on sailors died right at the guns, fighting until the last seconds of their lives.

On June 27, the battery commander died. The bomb hit right on command post. By that time, there were no more shells, only cartridges for machine guns remained. The next day, the battery was disbanded, and two weeks later, Sevastopol fell, which she defended so courageously.

In this difficult, initial period of the war, the Black Sea Fleet heroically fulfilled the duties assigned to it. Plans for the rapid capture of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia were thwarted: the enemy did not get to Baku oil, important industrial facilities were evacuated, new fleet bases were created in Batumi, Poti, Sukhumi and Tuapse, where the fleet later withdrew. The main bases were lost, the fleet lost many ships, but the enemy failed to destroy (as Hitler planned) the Black Sea Fleet.

The preservation of the combat-ready Black Sea Fleet was of exceptional military importance. The loss of the fleet would mean the loss of the entire Caucasus and Transcaucasia, and possibly defeat in the war. As a result, at the beginning of 1943, most of the Black Sea coast was in the hands of the German army, and from the opposite coast of the Black Sea, the Romanian army threatened the Soviet troops an ally of Germany.

But the Black Sea Fleet and our military presence on the Black Sea were important not only in the military aspect. The fleet played a huge role in the geopolitical issue. There was another power in the Black Sea region - Turkey. Having a serious fleet and a million-strong army right on our border, Turkey's position could play a decisive role. She was ready to take the side of the Axis. But the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad and the active offensive of our troops on the Caucasian front forced Turkey to remain neutral.

Submarines of the Black Sea Fleet provided invaluable assistance. Acting on the enemy's communications from the first days of the war, they seriously complicated the delivery of cargo, fuel and soldiers. An attempt to arrange the supply of oil and oil products by Italian and Romanian tankers through the Bosphorus was thwarted by our submariners. On September 29, 1941, the crew of the Shch-211 submarine (commander - Lieutenant Commander A.D. Devyatko) distinguished themselves: they managed to sink the Superga tanker. And the submarine under the command of Evgeny Petrovich Polyakov sank as many as four enemy transports. Submarine S-33 long time pursued failures. She had the most contacts with enemy ships on the Black Sea, but was listed as one of the lagging behind in the fleet. However, on April 20, 1943, luck finally smiled at the crew under the command of Boris Aleksandrovich Alekseev. The submarine attacked the Romanian transport "Suceava" with a displacement of about 7000 tons, which quickly sank.

One of the most famous submariners on the Black Sea was the captain of the 3rd rank Greshilov Mikhail Vasilyevich. On the M-35 submarine, he, together with the team, sank 4 enemy transports. And at the end of 1942, switching to the Shch-215 boat, he added 4 more enemy transports and two barges to his combat account. May 16, 1944 he was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.

Our submarines until the very end of hostilities in the Black Sea patrolled sea ​​routes, causing serious difficulties in supplying the ground grouping of the Germans.

The end of 1942 - the beginning of 1943 became a turning point both for the Black Sea theater of operations and for the entire Soviet-German front. The landing on Malaya Zemlya was the first offensive operation of the Black Sea Fleet in 2 years of fighting in this region.

Stronger than armor

The boat of the foreman Moravina was supposed to throw a group of scouts behind enemy lines.

The landing site was already not far away when the Germans noticed the boat. The enemy opened heavy machine-gun and mortar fire. Fire trails rushed to the shore. One enemy machine gun fell silent, another, but the rest continued to shoot. The boat has already received a dozen bullet holes. Water flowed through them. Mattresses flared up in the living quarters from incendiary bullets. Several sailors were wounded. Machine-gunner Zhukov was hit in the leg by a bullet, mechanic Menshikov was wounded in the head.

The Red Navy quickly put out the fire, patched up the largest holes, pumped out water in the cockpits. The wounded did not leave the combat posts. Bleeding, Zhukov continued to fire and suppressed another firing point. Machine gunner Shlykov silenced three enemy firing points. Motorist Menshikov bandaged his wound and continued to keep watch.

Having broken the resistance of the Germans, the boat approached the shore, landed the first batch of scouts, then returned, took the second group and, in the same way, under fire, transferred it to the rear of the enemy.

The crew of the boat under the command of Moravin carried out the combat order brilliantly.

The enemy continued to attack, despite the huge losses in people and equipment. Already hundreds of corpses of fascist soldiers and officers, dozens of burnt tanks and downed aircraft were lying around, but the Germans again and again went forward, urged on by officers.

The company of senior lieutenant Martynov moved imperceptibly at night and occupied the most critical sector of the defense.

Let's congratulate the Fritz on the Black Sea sunrise! - the senior lieutenant passed along the chain.

The Marines waited for the enemy to come closer and boldly entered the battle. With friendly fire, they cut off the German infantry from the tanks, and then began to destroy it with volleys. Several dozen fascists have already sprawled on the ground. But the tanks continued to move towards our positions.

The Red Navy soldier Steinberg, who had previously destroyed several Germans with a machine gun, crawled forward and began to correct the fire on the tanks. The Germans opened heavy mortar fire. Steinberg was killed by a fragment of a mine. Senior Sergeant Vershinin immediately took his place. Artillerymen and armor-piercers, on the instructions of the spotter, knocked out one tank. Gaps began to grow in front of other German machines. The tanks turned back. The enemy infantry, deprived of cover, also withdrew.

In this battle, the division of Senior Lieutenant Martynov destroyed half of the enemy company. The Germans launched several more violent counterattacks, but they were also successfully repulsed with heavy losses for the enemy.

Captain V. Vakulin.
Novorossiysk region.

The only way to supply the bridgehead was the sea. Under heavy artillery fire and continuous air raids, our ships performed their tasks with honor: they brought reinforcements and weapons, and evacuated the wounded.

The success of the offensive operations of the Soviet troops on the North Caucasian front in April-May 1943 led to the fact that on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front the German troops lost most of the land communications. Under these conditions, communication with a group of German troops isolated on the Taman Peninsula became possible only by sea. Therefore, the Germans significantly increased their activity at sea, the intensity of transport traffic increased, additional military boats were deployed to escort cargo and troops. The main directions in which the German ships moved were the routes: Odessa - Sevastopol, Constanta - Sevastopol, Sevastopol - Kerch, Feodosia - Anapa, Kerch - Anapa, Kerch - Taman. In May-June 1943, on average, about 200 convoys per month passed along these routes.

Day raid by torpedo boats

BLACK SEA FLEET. May 17th. (By telegraph from our correspondent). Air reconnaissance reported that self-propelled landing barges, torpedo boats and other small vessels were concentrated in the enemy port. Our torpedo boats were ordered to raid.

Unlike most similar operations, in this case it was necessary to operate during daylight hours.

Having carefully worked out the task and prepared the materiel, the boats left the base. The weather promised to be favorable: there was a calm, over the sea hung thick fog. But he soon dissipated.

The boats went along the coast occupied by the enemy. Soon the fog again lay in large strips, like smoke screens, over the water. The commander of the lead boat, Senior Lieutenant Smirnov, used this for covert movement.

In time, the ships were already approaching their intended target. This was also evidenced by the discovered anti-boat barrier. Coming out of the fog, the commanders decided on a coastal landmark and headed for the port. Soon they were on the enemy raid. A large barge appeared. A little further along the pier there were many small ships. From a short distance, Smirnov fired a torpedo at the barge. Under its deafening explosion, the next torpedo, fired by Lieutenant Stepanenko, hit the watercraft concentrated there.

Having made a turn, the boats lay down on the retreat course. Only now the enemy came to his senses and opened fire, but the boats left without damage. On the way back, they were fired twice unsuccessfully by coastal artillery.

The next day, the commander of the fleet visited the katernikovs. He highly appreciated the results of the operation and awarded the crews of the boats participating in the daring raid with orders and medals of the Soviet Union. Senior Lieutenant Smirnov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, Lieutenant Stepanenko - the Order of the Red Star.

Captain I. Vlasov.

Under the circumstances one of the main tasks of the Black Sea Fleet was to disrupt enemy maritime transport. At the same time, the Germans tried in every possible way to protect their communications from the invasion of our forces, for which they used coastal artillery batteries, radar equipment, and mined the approaches to the ports. The movement of transport ships took place in convoys under the cover of aviation and surface ships. In addition, there was a wide network of coastal airfields, so enemy aircraft were able to quickly fly to the target. One of these airfields was located near the village of Su-Psekh near Anapa. According to intelligence data, up to 60 light fighters of the Green Heart squadron and a group of aircraft of the 52nd squadron were based at the airfield. A group of missile boats was given the task of attacking the airfield. These boats, built with the money of employees of vocational schools, for the first time received civilian names - "Moscow Artisan" and "Labor Reserves" (the full name is "Young Patriot of Labor Reserves"). In late May - early June, the armament of torpedo boats was improved with a rocket launcher. The new boats had elongated cabins, on which the Katyusha rocket launcher was mounted.

The link, which included the boat "Moscow craftsman" under the command of V. Pilipenko and "Labor reserves", captained by V. Kvartsov, was supposed to launch a missile attack from the sea on a ground airfield located at an altitude of 30 meters. On May 29, 1943, under the cover of night, the boats approached the coast of Anapa and brought down the hurricane fire of their Katyushas on the enemy airfield. The enemy was completely unprepared for such a turn of events: not only was the attack on the airfield delivered from the sea, but also using rocket launchers. As a result, the airfield and dozens of enemy aircraft were put out of action for a long time, many aircraft were destroyed.

Later, the crew under the command of Vladimir Stepanovich Pilipenko proved that it was possible to use the fire of rocket launchers not only on ground targets, but also to destroy enemy aircraft and surface ships. The crew of the boat was repeatedly awarded, and the commander was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Another task of the Black Sea Fleet at that time was to provide sea transportation to supply our troops with equipment, food, ammunition and manpower. These transportations were carried out from the ports of Batumi, Poti, Sukhumi, Tuapse and were of exceptional importance for ensuring the vital activity of the coastal group of our troops.

Military convoys did not always end well. On May 22, 1943, at 9:45 am, the Soviet transport "International" left Tuapse in the direction of the port of Gelendzhik. It was guarded by two base minesweepers "Harpoon" and "Mina" and a sea hunter "SKA-041". On the way, the convoy was attacked by a group of 17 enemy bombers and 7 fighters. The International was hit by two bombs, resulting in damage to the undercarriage and a fire. The crew coped with the fire, but lost 3 sailors. The minesweeper "Mina" was pierced through by a bomb weighing half a centner, which exploded already in the water. There was a huge hole measuring 2 × 2.3 meters, a fire started, the telegraph and machine gun on the starboard side stopped functioning, and the left side machine gun was washed overboard along with its calculation. Nevertheless, the crew of the Mina, having lost two, managed to put out the fire and keep the ship afloat by restoring the work of the fire pumps and repairing the hole. Thanks to their heroic efforts, the crippled ship was still able to return under its own power to the port of Tuapse at two o'clock in the afternoon. Sea hunter "SKA-041" suffered the saddest fate. Yu-87 dived onto the ship and dropped three bombs that sank it. Together with the ship, 18 crew members were killed, six managed to escape. As it turned out later, the sea hunter, already on a mission, had problems with the propulsion system: two of his motors did not work, which made it impossible for him to quickly maneuver and avoid deadly air strikes.

To save the transport from Tuapse, the patrol ships "Storm" and "Shkval", the sea hunter "SKA-105" and the tugboat "Petrash" came to the rescue. Ten of our Yak-1 planes fought off air attacks on the convoy. By joint efforts at 18 hours 50 minutes the transport "International" was delivered to the port of Tuapse.

"Admiral Graf Spee" became the third German "pocket battleship" built after the cruisers "Deutschland" ("Lützow") and "Admiral Scheer". In the early months of World War II, she sank British merchant ships with impunity, becoming the most famous ship of her type. And the results of his first and last battle provide rich material for analyzing the effectiveness of artillery weapons and armor protection of German heavy cruisers.Why is the battle at La Plata and its results still causing such heated debate?

At the start of World War II, the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee under the command of Captain zursee Hans Langsdorf was in the Central Atlantic. He received the order to open a cruising war only on September 25, 1939 - until that moment, Hitler still expected to peacefully resolve the conflict with Great Britain. The war had to be fought strictly according to the prize rules, so there was no talk of unexpected artillery or torpedo attacks.

For almost two and a half months, the Spee and Deutschland, along with several supply ships, operated with impunity in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To search for them, the British and French had to allocate 3 battlecruisers, 3 aircraft carriers, 9 heavy and 5 light cruisers. In the end, Commodore Henry Harewood's G Group (heavy cruiser Exeter, light cruisers Ajax and Achilles) intercepted the Spee off the coast South America, near the mouth of the river La Plata.

This battle became one of the few classic artillery naval battles of World War II, providing a clear illustration of the old debate about which is more effective - the caliber of guns or the weight of a volley?

"Admiral Graf Spee" passing through the Kiel Canal, 1939
Source: johannes-heyen.de

In terms of total displacement, the three British cruisers outnumbered the Spee by about twice, in terms of the weight of a minute salvo - more than one and a half times. To extol the achievements of their side, some British researchers compared the weight of a single volley of ships without taking into account the rate of fire - these figures reached the Soviet press and for some time disorientated lovers of naval history. According to these data, a ship with a standard displacement of 12,540 tons was twice as powerful as three cruisers with a total standard displacement of 22,400 tons.

Scheme of the heavy cruiser "Admiral Graf Spee", 1939
Source - A. V. Platonov, Yu. V. Apalkov. Warships of Germany, 1939–1945. St. Petersburg, 1995

"Spee" carried only six guns, but 283-mm caliber, releasing 4500 kg of metal per minute. In addition, he had eight 150-mm guns in light mounts, placed four on board (another 2540 kg of metal per minute, 1270 kg per side).

Stern tower "Admiral Count Spee"
Source: commons.wikimedia.org

The Exeter also carried six guns, but only 203 mm, as it was originally considered a B-class scout, not an A-class. The weight of his minute salvo was only 2780 kg - more than two times less than that of the enemy. The same type of Ajax (Harewood flag) and Achilles had eight 152-mm guns in two-gun turrets and, at a maximum rate of fire (8 rounds per minute), could fire 3260 kg of metal per minute (more than the flagship). Thus, the total side salvo of the British squadron was 9300 kg, that is, it exceeded the Spee salvo, if not two, then at least one and a half times (taking into account the fact that the average caliber of the German could only fire on board half of the guns) . Undoubtedly, the Spee was much better protected, but it had 5 knots less speed. Thus, there was a classic example of an "asymmetrical" battle, in which each side had its own advantages.

One against three

The opponents discovered each other on the morning of December 13, 1939, almost simultaneously (around 5:50 GMT), but the Germans quickly realized that they were warships in front of them. True, they mistook light cruisers for destroyers, so the raider willingly moved closer. In the first minutes, no one opened fire, although the distance was a little more than a hundred cables.

At 6:14 a.m., Commodore Harewood gave the order to split up to take the enemy in pincers. The heavy Exeter moved straight at the German, approaching to her left, while both light cruisers went in a wide arc, bypassing the enemy on the right and keeping a good distance from him. This maneuver looks strange: keeping at a distance of a hundred cables, the British had little chance of hitting the enemy, while the enemy 283-mm guns remained very dangerous for them. On the contrary, the most effective tactic for them was to quickly close the distance and close to such a distance that 152-mm shells could penetrate the side of the Spee. In addition, this would allow the British to use torpedo tubes - the Germans were afraid of such an opportunity (this is evidenced by the behavior of Lutzow and Hipper in the New Year's Battle on December 31, 1942). "Exeter" really fired torpedoes at the beginning of the battle, but "Ajax" used them only at the end of the battle (about 7:30), when the distance was reduced to 50 cab; a little earlier, Spee fired one torpedo. Even if the torpedoes hadn't hit the German cruiser, dodging them would somehow reduce her accuracy.

English cruisers "Ajax" and "Exeter" (in the background). Montevideo, November 1939

In turn, the Exeter, with its longer-range guns, had no need to close the distance. The only explanation for his maneuver is that the British exaggerated the defense of the "Admiral Count Spee" and tried to get closer to him. However, this does not justify the division of forces: alone, the heavy cruiser was significantly inferior to the "pocket battleship". In addition, by approaching from different sides, the British allowed the enemy to bring into action all eight 150-mm guns instead of four.

The first phase of the battle: a crushing blow to the Exeter

At 06:18 Spee opened fire on the Exeter from the nose turret of the main caliber from a distance of approximately 90 cab. Exeter answered at 6:20 - first from two bow towers, then, turning a little to the left, put the aft tower into action. At 6:21 Ajax began firing, at 6:23 Achilles. All British ships fired with semi-armor-piercing shells ("common") - for 203-mm guns this was quite justified, but 152-mm shells did not have a chance to penetrate the armor of the "German". It would have been more logical to use high-explosive shells, which had a greater damaging effect, but at the beginning of the war the British simply did not have enough of them.

The Germans fired with a "ladder" - they fired the next salvo without waiting for the previous one to fall - but for greater accuracy, they first fired from the towers in turn, and switched to full six-gun salvos only after they had achieved the first cover. At first, the Spee fired semi-armor-piercing shells, but after the first covers, it switched to high-explosive instantaneous shells: the chief gunner of the German cruiser, Paul Ascher, expected to achieve maximum destruction, considering the Exeter's protection weak and incomplete.

The heavy cruiser Exeter in 1941

"Exeter" was already covered by the third salvo, having received significant fragmentation damage to unprotected equipment (in particular, an aircraft on a catapult was destroyed). The fourth volley gave one hit to the bow, but a semi-armor-piercing 283-mm projectile pierced through the hull before it exploded. The next hit was just as ineffective - perhaps the Germans noticed this and therefore switched to firing high-explosive shells.

The first 283-mm high-explosive projectile that hit the Exeter (at 6:25) exploded, hitting the second tower - its light 25-mm armor was not penetrated, but the tower was still out of order until the end of the battle. The fragments mowed down the people on the bridge (the commander of the ship, Captain Frederick Bell miraculously survived), and the cruiser lost control for some time, and most importantly, the artillery fire control system failed. It is unlikely that even an armor-piercing projectile could cause more damage.

After that, the Spee divided the fire, redirecting the bow turret to the light cruisers - especially since after 06:30 the Exeter was covered by a smoke screen. The distance to the new target at that moment was about 65 cab. At 6:40 a.m., a 283-mm projectile exploded near the bow of the Achilles, damaging the rangefinder command post and injuring the commander of the ship, Edward Perry (some sources write about the wounding of an artillery officer), as well as disabling the radio station, which disrupted communication with the spotter aircraft . Shortly after that, two more shells hit the Exeter: one of them disabled the first tower (moreover, a charge caught fire in the breaker, and the British had to flood its cellars to avoid an explosion), and the second pierced the hull above the belt, destroyed the radio room and exploded under deck on the port side. The second hit disabled the 102-mm gun and caused a fire in the fenders of the first shots.

Battle of La Plata December 13, 1939
Source - S. Roskill. Fleet and war. Volume 1. M .: Military Publishing, 1967

At 6:42, the last shell hit Exeter - the place of impact is unknown, but, apparently, it was in the bow in the waterline area, since by the end of the battle the cruiser had a meter trim on the bow and roll to the port side, and her the speed dropped to 17 knots, although the cars remained intact. Finally, at 07:30, the water shorted out the power cables of the aft tower and disabled it - the cruiser lost all her artillery.

In response, Spee received only two 203-mm shells from Exeter. One of them pierced through the high tower-like superstructure and did not explode. But the second cab, from a distance of about 65, entered the side almost at a right angle (at that moment the Spee turned sharply to the left, changing course by almost 90 ° from 6:22 to 6:25), pierced 100 mm of the armor of the upper part of the belt above the armor deck, then pierced the 40-mm upper longitudinal bulkhead and at a very sharp angle came into contact with the 20-mm armored deck, where it exploded in the food pantry. The main fire main was broken, a local fire broke out, but in general the German ship was lucky: the damage was minor. The "spaced" reservation system worked - it can be argued that it provided protection against 203-mm armor-piercing shells at a distance of at least 65 cabs and with hits at angles close to 90 °.

The second phase of the battle: "Spee" against light cruisers

At about 0645, Spee transferred all her fire to the light cruisers, which had been firing at her for a long time and scored several hits (albeit with little to no damage). Before them at that moment there were about 90 cabs, and this distance increased, since the Spee was moving away from the British exactly on the traverse. Seeing this, Harewood, who was on the Ajax, ordered his ships to turn around and catch up with the enemy, still keeping to his right.

At 0655, Harewood's ships swerved 30° to the left to bring all their turrets into action. At this point, the distance between the opponents was 85–90 cab. According to the assurances of the British, after that the second salvo hit, but the German ship began to maneuver, knocking down the sight. After 7:10 "Spee" for some time again fired at the "Exeter" that appeared from the smoke from a distance of 70 cabs, but did not achieve any hits.

The actions of the German commander were extremely unsuccessful - by maneuvering, Langsdorf interfered with shooting not only the enemy, but also his own gunners. At the same time, Harewood, taking advantage of the advantage in speed, was steadily closing the distance, and this brought more benefits to light cruisers, all of whose 152-mm guns were now put into action.

Light cruiser Ajax in 1939
Source - S. Patyanin, A. Dashyan, K. Balakin. All cruisers of World War II. Moscow: Yauza, Eksmo, 2012

Thanks to high speed shooting and the presence of a spotter aircraft, the British, already from a distance of 80 cabs, began to achieve more and more hits. By 7:10 in the "Spee" hit from 4 to 6 shells. One hit the 150-mm installation No. 3, destroying it along with the calculation, the other hit the stern behind the armored citadel, killed two people, but did not explode (according to English data, it was a training blank). Two more shells hit the tower-like superstructure: one exploded above the upper director of the main caliber (three people died, but the damage again turned out to be minimal), the other destroyed the right rangefinder and damaged the directors of the anti-aircraft and main calibers (for some time the connection of the latter with the towers was broken) . The explosion disabled the weakly protected system for feeding shells to the nose group of 150-mm guns.

To get close to the enemy, after 7:10 Harewood changed course, and now only the bow towers could fire on his cruisers. At this time, the German ship was also strictly astern to the British. As a result, despite the reduction in distance, the hits stopped. However, at 7:16 Spee began to maneuver, bringing both turrets into action and achieving coverage. The distance between the opponents began to shrink rapidly.

The British fired again: one of their shells hit the stern of the Spee and disabled the remote control equipment for torpedo tubes, another disabled the 105-mm universal installation, and the third exploded at the base of the catapult, destroying the aircraft standing on it. Two more shells hit the aft turret without harming it. Finally, it is known that one of the 152-mm shells hit the surface of the armor belt (thickness - 100 mm) in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe aft turret, but did not penetrate it.

At 07:25, a German 283-mm projectile from a distance of about 50 cabs pierced through the barbette of the third Ajax turret and hit the barbette of the fourth turret, incapacitating both (it is not clear whether an explosion occurred). At the same time, the feed to one of the guns in the second turret failed. Only three intact guns remained on the cruiser, but Harewood did not withdraw from the battle.

Mutual maneuvers again knocked down the tip to both sides for a while, but at 7:34 from a distance of 40 cabs, Spee again achieved coverage: fragments from a close gap demolished the top of the mast along with antennas on the Ajax (S. Roskill describes this as a hit and refers to 7:38).

"Admiral Graf Spee" enters the Montevideo raid after the battle
Source - V. Kofman, M. Knyazev. Hitler's Armored Pirates. Heavy cruisers of the Deutschland and Admiral Hipper classes. Moscow: Yauza, Eksmo, 2012

During this period of the battle, Spee received three hits at once in the superstructure, which destroyed the galley, but again did not cause serious damage. Another shell hit the forward turret, without penetrating its armor, but, according to some reports, jamming the middle gun - perhaps temporarily.

On the ships of both sides, ammunition began to come to an end, they fired more slowly and more carefully, so no one else achieved hits. On the Ajax there were 7 killed and 5 wounded, on the Achilles - 4 killed and 7 wounded. At 7:42 a.m., Harewood set up a smoke screen, and under its cover, the British ships zigzagged to sharply increase the distance to the enemy. The British tried not to let the German ship out of their sight, but at the same time to keep a distance of one and a half cable lengths from it, and as a result they "escorted" the enemy almost to Montevideo itself.

Results of the battle

For the entire duration of the battle, two 203-mm and up to eighteen 152-mm shells hit Spee. The latter is explained by the large number and high rate of fire of six-inch guns: in a minute, the British cruisers could fire over a hundred shells and by the end of the battle they had almost exhausted their ammunition. But the 203-mm shells "Exeter" could release only two dozen per minute, and he did not participate in the firefight until the end of the collision.

Not all 152-mm shells had any effect on the Spee. Some of them did not explode, and some simply passed through the high superstructure without much harm to the ship.

Damage received by "Admiral Count Spee" during the battle at La Plata
Source - V. Kofman, M. Knyazev. Hitler's Armored Pirates. Heavy cruisers of the Deutschland and Admiral Hipper classes. Moscow: Yauza, Eksmo, 2012

The places and consequences of hits by 14 shells out of 18 are known (they are described above). At least one shell (possibly more) hit the main belt without penetrating it. Three shells hit the turrets of the main caliber, which had a 140-mm forehead (one in the bow, two in the stern), also not penetrating the armor and only temporarily putting out of action one 283-mm gun. A more or less serious effect was produced by the hit of only two 152-mm shells: one of them destroyed the 150-mm gun, the other disabled the supply of 150-mm shells and for some time disrupted the fire control of the main caliber. It is known that "Spee" had two holes with an area of ​​about 0.5 m2 each (above the waterline and at its level), completely removable at sea. Thus, the main impact of six-inch shells affected only the deck and superstructures of the German ship.

The impact of the 203rd shells was even less significant. One of them also went right through the superstructure, as the British used semi-armor-piercing shells. The other one (most likely not a “common”, but purely armor-piercing) hit the Spee at a very good angle, pierced the belt and the internal bulkhead, but exploded on the 20-mm armored deck.

Most of the German losses in people fell on the hits of 152-mm shells: 36 people were killed (including one officer), another 58 were wounded (though most of them were lightly). However, damage to the ship itself practically did not reduce its survivability and had very little effect on its combat capability. At the same time, the fact of almost complete penetration of the armor suggests that only 203-mm shells posed a real danger to the survivability of the "pocket battleship" (at least in theory).

The effect of the German 283 mm shells on the British ships was much more tangible. Although the Spee, even firing with the whole side, could fire no more than twelve main-caliber shells per minute, six such shells hit the Exeter (although two of them pierced the ends and did not explode). As a result, the British heavy cruiser lost all her artillery, slowed down and took a significant amount of water, and her flow could not be stopped for quite some time. 61 people died on the ship (including 5 officers), and another 34 sailors were injured. If Langsdorf had acted more decisively, had not “pulled” his ship from side to side and constantly changed targets, it would not have been difficult for him to overtake and sink the “wounded animal” (in extreme cases, with torpedoes).

Exploded and burning "Spee"
Source: Illustrated London News, Dec. 30, 1939

Shooting "Spee" on light cruisers turned out to be much less successful - in fact, the Germans achieved only one hit with the main caliber in the "Ajax" and two very close falls, mainly causing damage to the control and communication systems of both cruisers (in particular, the communication with the corrector). But only one successfully hit 283-mm projectile disabled half of the artillery of the flagship Ajax, forcing Harewood to actually stop the artillery battle. It is noteworthy that the Spee 150-mm guns did not make a single hit - partly because their fire control system worked much worse (largely due to the fact that they had limited aiming angles and were forced to constantly change when maneuvering the ship goals).

In general, the second half of the battle (battle with light cruisers) "Spee" was noticeably worse than the first. The British achieved twice the percentage of direct hits - and despite the fact that at a distance of 70-80 cabs, the German 283-mm guns should have significantly exceeded the enemy's 152-mm guns in accuracy. Such poor shooting is partly due to unsuccessful and ill-conceived maneuvering. On the other hand, the only German 283-mm shell that hit the target directly inflicted more damage on the enemy than two dozen English 152-mm shells did Spee itself.

The sunken Spee. Photo taken by the British in 1940
Source - V. Kofman, M. Knyazev. Hitler's Armored Pirates. Heavy cruisers of the Deutschland and Admiral Hipper classes. Moscow: Yauza, Eksmo, 2012

Langsdorff's erroneous decision to go to Montevideo, which became a deliberate trap, was made not because of losses and damage, but after the Spee commander received a message that 60% of the shells had been used up. Perhaps the psychological effect of the unsuccessful course of the second phase of the battle, which began so promisingly for the Germans, also played a role. On the evening of December 17, 1939, the Spee was blown up and sunk by his own team in neutral waters, four kilometers from the Uruguayan coast. The commander of the ship, Langsdorf, shot himself. This also testifies to the emotional instability of the German commander, which prevented him from adequately leading the battle and achieving victory.

Bibliography:

1. V. Kofman, M. Knyazev. Hitler's Armored Pirates. Heavy cruisers of the Deutschland and Admiral Hipper classes. Moscow: Yauza, Eskmo, 2012
2. S. Roskill. Fleet and war. Volume 1. M .: Military Publishing, 1967
3. http://www.navweaps.com

Gangut battle
The Gangut battle is a naval battle of the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, which took place on July 27 (August 7), 1714 near Cape Gangut (Hanko Peninsula, Finland) in the Baltic Sea between the Russian and Swedish fleets, the first naval victory of the Russian fleet in the history of Russia.
By the spring of 1714, the southern and almost all of the central parts of Finland were occupied by Russian troops. In order to finally resolve the issue of Russia's access to the Baltic Sea, which was controlled by the Swedes, it was necessary to defeat the Swedish fleet.
At the end of June 1714, the Russian rowing fleet (99 galleys, scampaways and auxiliary vessels with a 15,000-strong landing force) under the command of Admiral General Count Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin concentrated off the east coast of Gangut (in Tverminna Bay) with the aim of landing troops to reinforce the Russian garrison in Abo (100 km northwest of Cape Gangut). The path to the Russian fleet was blocked by the Swedish fleet (15 battleships, 3 frigates, 2 bombardment ships and 9 galleys) under the command of G. Vatrang. Peter I (Shautbenacht Pyotr Mikhailov) used a tactical maneuver. He decided to transfer part of his galleys to the area north of Gangut through the isthmus of this peninsula 2.5 kilometers long. To fulfill the plan, he ordered the construction of a perevolok (wooden flooring). Upon learning of this, Vatrang sent a detachment of ships (1 frigate, 6 galleys, 3 skerry boats) to the northern coast of the peninsula. The detachment was led by Rear Admiral Ehrenskiold. He decided to use another detachment (8 battleships and 2 bombardment ships) under the command of Vice Admiral Lillier to strike at the main forces of the Russian fleet.
Peter expected such a decision. He decided to take advantage of the division of the enemy forces. The weather also favored him. On the morning of July 26 (August 6), there was no wind, which caused the Swedish sailing ships to lose their maneuverability. The vanguard of the Russian fleet (20 ships) under the command of Commander Matvey Khristoforovich Zmaevich began a breakthrough, bypassing the Swedish ships and remaining out of reach of their fire. Following him, another detachment (15 ships) made a breakthrough. Thus, the need for crossover was eliminated. Zmaevich's detachment blocked Ehrenskiöld's detachment near Lakkisser Island.

Believing that other detachments of Russian ships would continue to break through in the same way, Vatrang recalled the Lillier detachment, thus freeing the coastal fairway. Taking advantage of this, Apraksin with the main forces of the rowing fleet broke through the coastal fairway to his vanguard. At 2 pm on July 27 (August 7), the Russian avant-garde, consisting of 23 ships, attacked the Ehrenskiöld detachment, which built its ships along a concave line, both flanks of which rested on the islands. The Swedes managed to repulse the first two attacks with the fire of naval guns. The third attack was made against the flank ships of the Swedish detachment, which did not allow the enemy to use the advantage in artillery. Soon they were boarded and captured. Peter I personally participated in the boarding attack, showing the sailors an example of courage and heroism. After a stubborn battle, the Swedish flagship, the frigate Elefant, surrendered. All 10 ships of the Ehrenskiöld detachment were captured. Part of the forces of the Swedish fleet managed to escape to the Aland Islands.

The victory near the Gangut Peninsula was the first major victory for the Russian regular fleet. She provided him with freedom of action in the Gulf of Finland and Bothnia, effective support for Russian troops in Finland. In the Gangut battle, the Russian command boldly used the advantage of the rowing fleet in the fight against the Swedish linear sailing fleet, skillfully organized the interaction of the forces of the fleet and the ground forces, flexibly responded to changes in the tactical situation and weather conditions, managed to unravel the maneuver of the enemy and impose their tactics on him.

Side strengths:
Russia - 99 galleys, scampaways and auxiliary vessels, 15,000 troops
Sweden - 14 battleships, 1 provision ship, 3 frigates, 2 bombardment ships and 9 galleys

Military casualties:
Russia - 127 killed (8 officers), 342 wounded (1 brigadier, 16 officers), 232 captured (7 officers). In total - 701 people (including - 1 foreman, 31 officers), 1 galley - captured.
Sweden - 1 frigate, 6 galleys, 3 skherbots, 361 killed (9 officers), 580 prisoners (1 admiral, 17 officers) (of which 350 were wounded). In total - 941 people (including - 1 admiral, 26 officers), 116 guns.

Battle of Grengam
The Battle of Grengam - a naval battle that took place on July 27 (August 7), 1720 in the Baltic Sea near Grengam Island (the southern group of the Aland Islands), was the last major battle of the Great Northern War.

After the Gangut battle, England, preoccupied with the growth of the power of the Russian army, formed a military alliance with Sweden. However, the demonstrative approach of the combined Anglo-Swedish squadron to Revel did not force Peter I to seek peace, and the squadron retreated to the coast of Sweden. Peter I, having learned about this, ordered the Russian fleet to be moved from the Aland Islands to Helsingfors, and several boats were left near the squadron for patrolling. Soon one of these boats, which ran aground, was captured by the Swedes, as a result of which Peter ordered the fleet to be returned back to the Aland Islands.
On July 26 (August 6), the Russian fleet under the command of M. Golitsyn, consisting of 61 galleys and 29 boats, approached the Aland Islands. Russian reconnaissance boats noticed the Swedish squadron between the islands of Lameland and Fritsberg. Because of strong wind it was impossible to attack her, and Golitsyn decided to go to Grengam Island in order to prepare a good position among the skerries.

When on July 27 (August 7) ​​Russian ships approached Grengam, the Swedish fleet under the command of K.G. Sheblada, having 156 guns, suddenly weighed anchor and went to approach, subjecting the Russians to massive shelling. The Russian fleet began to hastily retreat into shallow water, where the Swedish ships pursuing it fell. In shallow water, more maneuverable Russian galleys and boats went on the attack and managed to board 4 frigates (34-gun "Stor-Phoenix", 30-gun "Venker", 22-gun "Kiskin" and 18-gun "Dansk-Ern" ), after which the rest of the Swedish fleet retreated.
The result of the battle of Grengam was the end of the undivided Swedish influence in the Baltic Sea and the establishment of Russia on it. The battle hastened the conclusion of the Peace of Nystadt.

Side strengths:
Russian Empire - 61 galleys and 29 boats
Sweden - 1 battleship, 4 frigates, 3 galleys, 3 skherbots, shnyava, galliot and brigantine

Military casualties:
Russian Empire - 82 killed (2 officers), 236 wounded (7 officers). In total - 328 people (including - 9 officers).
Sweden - 4 frigates, 103 killed (3 officers), 407 captured (37 officers). In total - 510 people (including 40 officers), 104 guns, 4 flags.

Chesme battle

Battle of Chesme - a naval battle on July 5-7, 1770 in the Chesme Bay between the Russian and Turkish fleets.

After the start Russian-Turkish war in 1768 Russia sent several squadrons from Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean to divert the attention of the Turks from the Black Sea Fleet - the so-called First Archipelago Expedition. Two Russian squadrons (under the command of Admiral Grigory Spiridov and English adviser Rear Admiral John Elphinstone), united under the general command of Count Alexei Orlov, discovered the Turkish fleet in the roadstead of Chesme Bay ( West Coast Turkey).

July 5, battle in the Chios Strait
After agreeing on a plan of action, the Russian fleet, under full sail, approached the southern edge of the Turkish line, and then, turning around, began to take up positions against Turkish ships. The Turkish fleet opened fire at 11:30-11:45, the Russian - at 12:00. The maneuver failed for three Russian ships: "Europe" skipped its place and was forced to turn around and stand behind the "Rostislav", "Three Saints" rounded the second Turkish ship from the rear before being able to become operational and was mistakenly attacked by the ship "Three Hierarch", and "St. Januarius "was forced to turn around before he became in service.
"St. Evstafy, under the command of Spiridov, began a duel with the flagship of the Turkish squadron Real Mustafa under the command of Gassan Pasha, and then tried to board it. After the burning mainmast of the Real Mustafa fell on the St. Evstafiy", he exploded. After 10-15 minutes, Real Mustafa also exploded. Admiral Spiridov and the commander's brother Fyodor Orlov left the ship before the explosion. The captain of the St. Evstafiya Cruz. Spiridov continued command from the ship "Three Saints".
By 14:00, the Turks cut off the anchor ropes and retreated to Chesme Bay under the cover of coastal batteries.

July 6-7, battle in Chesme Bay
In the Chesme Bay, Turkish ships formed two lines of 8 and 7 ships of the line, respectively, the rest of the ships took a position between these lines and the coast.
During the day on July 6 Russian ships fired at the Turkish fleet and coastal fortifications from a great distance. Of the four auxiliary vessels, fireships were made.

At 17:00 on July 6, the bombardment ship Grom anchored in front of the entrance to the Chesme Bay and began shelling Turkish ships. At 0:30 it was joined by the battleship "Europe", and by 01:00 - "Rostislav", in the wake of which the fireships came.

"Europe", "Rostislav" and approached "Do not touch me" formed a line from north to south, engaging in battle with Turkish ships, "Saratov" stood in reserve, and "Thunder" and the frigate "Africa" ​​attacked batteries on the western coast of the bay . At 1:30 or a little earlier (at midnight, according to Elphinstone), as a result of the fire of the "Thunder" and / or "Do not touch me", one of the Turkish battleships exploded due to the transfer of flame from burning sails to the hull. The burning debris from this explosion pelted other ships in the bay.

After the explosion at 2:00 of the second Turkish ship Russian ships ceased fire, and fire-ships entered the bay. The Turks managed to shoot two of them, under the command of Captains Gagarin and Dugdale (according to Elphinstone, only Captain Dugdale's fireship was shot, and Captain Gagarin's fireship refused to go into battle), one under the command of Mackenzie grappled with the already burning ship, and one under the command of Lieutenant D. Ilyina grappled with an 84-gun battleship. Ilyin set fire to the firewall, and he, along with the team, left it on a boat. The ship exploded and set fire to most of the remaining Turkish ships. By 2:30, 3 more battleships exploded.

At about 04:00, Russian ships sent boats to save two large ships that had not yet burned, but only one of them, the 60-gun Rhodes, was able to be taken out. From 4:00 to 5:30, 6 more battleships exploded, and at 7 o'clock, 4 at the same time. By 8:00, the battle in Chesme Bay was completed.
After the Battle of Chesme, the Russian fleet managed to seriously disrupt the communications of the Turks in the Aegean Sea and establish a blockade of the Dardanelles. All this played an important role in the conclusion of the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace treaty.

Side strengths:
Russian Empire - 9 battleships, 3 frigates, 1 bombardment ship,
17-19 small craft, ca. 6500 people
Ottoman Empire - 16 battleships, 6 frigates, 6 shebeks, 13 galleys, 32 small ships,
OK. 15,000 people

Losses:
Russian Empire - 1 battleship, 4 firewalls, 661 people, 636 of them - during the explosion of the St. Eustathius ship, 40 wounded
Ottoman Empire - 15 battleships, 6 frigates, big number small craft, ca. 11.000 people. Captured: 1 battleship, 5 galleys

Rochensalm battles

The First Battle of Rochensalm is a naval battle between Russia and Sweden, which took place on August 13 (24), 1789 on the roadstead of the Swedish city of Rochensalm and ended with the victory of the Russian fleet.
On August 22, 1789, the Swedish fleet with a total of 49 ships under the command of Admiral K. A. Ehrensverd took refuge on the Rochensalm raid among the islands near the modern Finnish city of Kotka. The Swedes blocked the only strait of Rochensalm accessible to large ships, sinking three ships there. On August 24, 86 Russian ships under the command of Vice Admiral K. G. Nassau-Siegen launched an attack from two sides. The southern detachment under the command of Major General I.P. Balle for several hours diverted the main forces of the Swedes, while the main forces of the Russian fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Yu.P. Litta made their way from the north. The ships fired, and special teams of sailors and officers cut through the passage. Five hours later, Rochensalm was cleared, and the Russians broke into the raid. The Swedes were defeated, losing 39 ships (including the admiral, captured). Russian losses amounted to 2 ships. Antonio Coronelli, commander of the right wing of the Russian avant-garde, distinguished himself in the battle.

Side strengths:
Russia - 86 ships
Sweden - 49 ships

Military casualties:
Russia -2 ships
Sweden - 39 ships

The Second Battle of Rochensalm is a naval battle between Russia and Sweden that took place on July 9-10, 1790 on the roadstead of the Swedish city of Rochensalm. The Swedish naval forces inflicted a crushing defeat on the Russian fleet, which led to the end of the Russo-Swedish war, which was practically won by Russia, on unfavorable terms for the Russian side.

An attempt to storm Vyborg, undertaken by the Swedes in June 1790, was unsuccessful: on July 4, 1790, the Swedish fleet, blocked by Russian ships in the Vyborg Bay, escaped from the encirclement at the cost of significant losses. Having withdrawn the galley fleet to Rochensalm (the main part of the sailing warships that survived the breach of the Vyborg blockade went to Sveaborg for repairs), Gustav III and flag-captain Lieutenant Colonel Karl Olof Kronstedt began preparations for the alleged Russian attack. On July 6, final orders were made to organize the defense. At dawn on July 9, 1790, in view of the approaching Russian ships, the order was given to start the battle.
Unlike the first Battle of Rochensalm, the Russians decided to break through to the Swedish raid from one side of the Rochensalm Strait. The head of the Russian rowing fleet in the Gulf of Finland, Vice Admiral Karl Nassau-Siegen, approached Rochensalm at 2 a.m. and at 9 a.m., without prior reconnaissance, began the battle - probably wanting to make a gift to Empress Catherine II on the day of accession to the throne. From the very beginning of the battle, its course turned out to be favorable for the Swedish fleet, which was entrenched in the Rochensalm raid with a powerful L-shaped anchor formation - despite the significant superiority of the Russians in personnel and naval artillery. On the first day of the battle, Russian ships attacked the southern flank of the Swedes, but were driven back by hurricane winds and fired from the shore by Swedish coastal batteries, as well as Swedish galleys and gunboats anchored.

Then the Swedes, skillfully maneuvering, moved the gunboats to the left flank and mixed the formation of the Russian galleys. During the panicked retreat, most of the Russian galleys, followed by frigates and shebeks, were wrecked by storm waves, sank or capsized. Several Russians sailing ships, anchored in combat positions, was boarded, captured or burned.

On the morning of the next day, the Swedes consolidated their disposition with a new successful attack. The remnants of the Russian fleet were finally driven away from Rochensalm.
The second battle of Rochensalm cost the Russian side about 40% of the Baltic coastal defense fleet. The battle is considered one of the largest naval operations (in terms of the number of ships involved) in all of naval history; a larger number of warships - if you do not take into account the data of ancient sources about the battles of the island of Salamis and Cape Eknom - took part only in the battle in Leyte Gulf on October 23-26, 1944.

Side strengths:
Russian Empire - 20 battleships, 23 galleys and shebeks, 77 battle sloops, ≈1400 guns, 18,500 people
Sweden - 6 battleships, 16 galleys, 154 battle sloops and gunboats, ≈1,000 guns, 12,500 men

Military casualties:
Russian Empire - more than 800 killed and wounded, more than 6,000 prisoners, 53-64 ships (mainly galleys and gunboats)
Sweden - 300 killed and wounded, 1 galley, 4 small craft

Battle at Cape Tendra (battle at Gadzhibey)

The battle at Cape Tendra (the battle at Gadzhibey) is a naval battle on the Black Sea during the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791 between the Russian squadron under the command of F.F. Ushakov and the Turkish squadron under the command of Gasan Pasha. It happened on August 28-29 (September 8-9), 1790 near the Tendra Spit.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, a new Russian-Turkish war began. Russian troops launched an offensive in the Danube region. A galley flotilla was formed to help them. However, she could not make the transition from Kherson to the combat area due to the presence of a Turkish squadron in the west of the Black Sea. The squadron of Rear Admiral F. F. Ushakov came to the aid of the flotilla. Having under his command 10 battleships, 6 frigates, 17 cruising ships, a bombardment ship, a rehearsal ship and 2 fireships, on August 25 he left Sevastopol and headed for Ochakov to connect with the rowing fleet and give battle to the enemy.

The commander of the Turkish fleet, Hasan Pasha, having gathered all his forces between Hajibey (now Odessa) and Cape Tendra, was eager for revenge for the defeat in the battle near the Kerch Strait on July 8 (19), 1790. With his determination to fight the enemy, he managed to convince the Sultan of the imminent defeat of the Russian naval forces in the Black Sea and thus earned his favor. Selim III, for fidelity, gave his friend and relative (Hasan Pasha was married to the Sultan's sister) the experienced Admiral Said Bey to help, intending to turn the tide of events at sea in favor of Turkey.
On the morning of August 28, the Turkish fleet, consisting of 14 battleships, 8 frigates and 23 other vessels, continued to anchor between Cape Tendra and Hajibey. And suddenly, from the side of Sevastopol, Gasan discovered Russian ships sailing under full sail in a marching order of three columns. The appearance of the Russians confused the Turks. Despite the superiority in strength, they hastily began to cut the ropes and retreat in disorder to the Danube. Ushakov ordered to carry all the sails and, remaining in the march order, began to descend on the enemy. The advanced Turkish ships, having filled the sails, retired to a considerable distance. But, noticing the danger hanging over the rearguard, Gasan Pasha began to unite with him and build a battle line. Ushakov, continuing the rapprochement with the enemy, also gave the order to reorganize into a battle line. As a result, the Russian ships "very quickly" lined up in battle formation in the wind at the Turks.

Using the change in order of battle, Fedor Fedorovich withdrew three frigates from the line - "John the Warrior", "Jerome" and "Protection of the Virgin" to provide a maneuverable reserve in case of a change in the wind and a possible enemy attack from two sides. At 15 o'clock, having approached the enemy at the distance of a grape shot, F.F. Ushakov forced him to fight. And soon, under the powerful fire of the Russian line, the enemy began to evade into the wind and become upset. Coming closer, the Russians with all their might attacked the advanced part of the Turkish fleet. Ushakov's flagship "Christmas" fought with three enemy ships, forcing them to leave the line.

By 17 o'clock the entire Turkish line was finally defeated. Pressed by the Russians, the advanced enemy ships turned their stern towards them in order to get out of the battle. Their example was followed by other ships, which became advanced as a result of this maneuver. During the turn, a series of powerful volleys were fired at them, causing them great destruction. The two flagship Turkish ships, which were against the Nativity of Christ and the Transfiguration of the Lord, were especially affected. On the Turkish flagship, the main topsail was shot down, the yards and topmasts were killed, and the stern was destroyed. The fight continued. Three Turkish ships were cut off from the main forces, and the stern of the Hasan-Pashinsky ship was smashed to pieces by Russian cannonballs. The enemy took to flight towards the Danube. Ushakov pursued him until the darkness and the increased wind forced him to stop chasing and anchor.
At dawn the next day, it turned out that the Turkish ships were in close proximity to the Russians, whose frigate Ambrose of Milan was completely among the enemy fleet. But since the flags had not yet been raised, the Turks took him for their own. The resourcefulness of the commander - Captain M.N. Neledinsky - helped him get out of such a difficult situation. Having weighed anchor with other Turkish ships, he continued to follow them without hoisting the flag. Gradually lagging behind, Neledinsky waited for the moment when the danger was over, raised the St. Andrew's flag and went to his fleet. Ushakov gave the command to raise anchors and set sail to pursue the enemy, who, having a windward position, began to disperse in different directions. However, the heavily damaged 74-gun ship "Kapudania", which was the flagship of Said Bey, and the 66-gun "Meleki Bahri" lagged behind the Turkish fleet. The latter, having lost his commander Kara-Ali, who was killed by a cannonball, surrendered without a fight, and Kapudaniya, trying to break away from persecution, directed his course to the shallow water that separated the fairway between Kinburn and Gadzhibey. The vanguard commander, captain of the brigadier rank G.K., was sent in pursuit. Golenkin with two ships and two frigates. The ship "St. Andrey was the first to overtake the Kapudaniya and opened fire. Soon arrived "St. George", and after him - the "Transfiguration of the Lord" and a few more courts. Approaching from under the wind and firing a volley, they replaced each other.

Said Bey's ship was practically surrounded, but continued to bravely defend itself. Ushakov, seeing the useless stubbornness of the enemy, at 14 o’clock approached him at a distance of 30 fathoms, knocked down all the masts from him and gave way to the St. George." Soon, the "Christmas" again boarded against the nose of the Turkish flagship, preparing for the next volley. But then, seeing his hopelessness, the Turkish flagship lowered the flag. Russian sailors boarded the enemy ship already on fire, first of all trying to select officers to board the boats. With a heavy wind and thick smoke, the last boat, with great risk, again approached the board and removed Said Bey, after which the ship took off into the air along with the remaining crew and the treasury of the Turkish fleet. The explosion of a large admiral's ship in front of the entire Turkish fleet made a strong impression on the Turks and completed the moral victory won by Ushakov at Tendra. The intensifying wind, damage to the spars and rigging did not allow Ushakov to continue pursuing the enemy. The Russian commander gave the order to stop the pursuit and join the Liman squadron.

In a two-day naval battle, the enemy suffered a crushing defeat, losing two battleships, a brigantine, a lancon and a floating battery.

Side strengths:
Russian Empire - 10 battleships, 6 frigates, 1 bombing ship and 20 auxiliary ships, 830 guns
Ottoman Empire - 14 battleships, 8 frigates and 23 auxiliary ships, 1400 guns

Losses:
Russian Empire - 21 killed, 25 wounded
Ottoman Empire - 2 ships, more than 2 thousand killed

Battle of Kaliakria

The Battle of Kaliakria is the last naval battle of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791 between the fleets of Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which took place on July 31 (August 11), 1791 in the Black Sea near Cape Kaliakra (northern Bulgaria).

The Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Fedor Fedorovich Ushakov, consisting of 15 battleships, 2 frigates and 19 smaller ships (990 guns), left Sevastopol on August 8, 1791, and at noon on August 11 discovered the Turkish-Algerian fleet under the command of Hussein Pasha, consisting of 18 battleships, 17 frigates (1,500-1,600 guns) and a large number smaller ships anchored near Cape Kaliakra in northern Bulgaria. Ushakov built his ships in three columns, from the northeast, between the Ottoman fleet and the cape, despite the fact that there were Turkish batteries on the cape. Seit-Ali, commander of the Algerian fleet, weighed anchor and sailed east, followed by Hussein Pasha with 18 ships of the line.
The Russian fleet turned south, forming one column and then attacking the retreating enemy fleet. Turkish ships were damaged and fled from the battlefield in disarray. Seit-Ali was severely wounded in the head. Losses of the Russian fleet: 17 people were killed, 28 were injured and only one ship was badly damaged.

The battle hastened the end of the Russian-Turkish war, which ended with the signing of the Iasi peace treaty.

Side strengths:
Russian Empire - 15 battleships, 2 frigates, 19 auxiliary ships
Ottoman Empire - 18 ships of the line, 17 frigates, 48 ​​auxiliary ships, coastal battery

Losses:
Russian Empire - 17 killed, 28 wounded
Ottoman Empire - Unknown

Sinop battle

Sinop battle - the defeat of the Turkish squadron by the Russian Black Sea Fleet on November 18 (30), 1853, under the command of Admiral Nakhimov. Some historians regard it as the "swan song" of the sailing fleet and the first battle of the Crimean War. The Turkish fleet was defeated within a few hours. This attack served as a pretext for Britain and France to declare war on Russia.

Vice Admiral Nakhimov (84-gun ships of the line "Empress Maria", "Chesma" and "Rostislav") was sent by Prince Menshikov to cruise to the shores of Anatolia. There was information that the Turks in Sinop were preparing forces for landing troops near Sukhum and Poti. Approaching Sinop, Nakhimov saw a detachment of Turkish ships in the bay under the protection of 6 coastal batteries and decided to closely block the port in order to attack the enemy with the arrival of reinforcements from Sevastopol.
On November 16 (28), 1853, the squadron of Rear Admiral F. M. Novosilsky (120-gun battleships Paris, Grand Duke Konstantin and Three Saints, frigates Cahul and Kulevchi) joined the Nakhimov detachment. The Turks could be reinforced by the allied Anglo-French fleet, located in the Beshik-Kertez Bay (Dardanelles Strait). It was decided to attack with 2 columns: in the 1st, closest to the enemy, the ships of the Nakhimov detachment, in the 2nd - Novosilsky, the frigates were supposed to watch the enemy ships under sail; consular houses and the city in general, it was decided to spare as much as possible, hitting only ships and batteries. For the first time it was supposed to use 68-pound bomb guns.

On the morning of November 18 (November 30), it was raining with gusty winds from OSO, the most unfavorable for taking possession of Turkish ships (they could easily be thrown ashore).
At 9.30 in the morning, holding the rowboats at the sides of the ships, the squadron headed for the raid. In the depths of the bay, 7 Turkish frigates and 3 corvettes were located moon-shaped under the cover of 4 batteries (one with 8 guns, 3 with 6 guns each); behind the battle line were 2 steamers and 2 transport ships.
At 12.30 p.m., fire was opened from all Turkish ships and batteries on the 1st shot from the 44-gun frigate Aunni Allah.
The battleship "Empress Maria" was bombarded with shells, most of its spars and standing rigging were broken, only one guy remained intact at the main mast. However, the ship moved forward non-stop and, acting with battle fire on enemy ships, anchored against the frigate "Aunni-Allah"; the latter, unable to withstand the half-hour shelling, threw himself ashore. Then the Russian flagship turned its fire exclusively on the 44-gun frigate Fazli-Allah, which soon caught fire and also washed ashore. After that, the actions of the ship "Empress Maria" focused on the battery number 5.

The battleship "Grand Duke Konstantin", anchoring, opened heavy fire on battery No. 4 and the 60-gun frigates "Navek-Bakhri" and "Nesimi-Zefer"; the first was blown up 20 minutes after the opening of fire, showering debris and bodies of sailors on battery No. 4, which then almost ceased to function; the second was thrown ashore by the wind when its anchor chain was broken.
The battleship "Chesma" demolished batteries No. 4 and No. 3 with its shots.

The battleship "Paris", while at anchor, opened battle fire on battery No. 5, the corvette "Gyuli-Sefid" (22 guns) and the frigate "Damiad" (56 guns); then, blowing up the corvette and throwing the frigate ashore, he began to hit the frigate "Nizamie" (64-gun), whose fore and mizzen masts were shot down, and the ship itself drifted to the shore, where it soon caught fire. Then "Paris" again began to fire at the battery number 5.

The battleship "Three Saints" entered the fight with the frigates "Kaidi-Zefer" (54-gun) and "Nizamie"; the first enemy shots broke his spring, and the ship, turning to the wind, was subjected to well-aimed longitudinal fire from battery No. 6, and its mast was badly damaged. Turning the stern again, he very successfully began to act on the Kaidi-Zefer and other ships and forced them to rush to the shore.
The battleship "Rostislav", covering the "Three Saints", concentrated fire on battery No. 6 and on the corvette "Feize-Meabud" (24-gun), and threw the corvette ashore.

At 1 ½ o'clock in the afternoon, the Russian steam frigate Odessa appeared from behind the cape under the flag of Adjutant General Vice Admiral V. A. Kornilov, accompanied by the steam frigates Crimea and Khersones. These ships immediately took part in the battle, which, however, was already drawing to a close; Turkish forces were very weak. Batteries No. 5 and No. 6 continued to disturb the Russian ships until 4 o'clock, but "Paris" and "Rostislav" soon destroyed them. Meanwhile, the rest of the Turkish ships, lit, apparently, by their crews, took off into the air one after another; from this, a fire spread in the city, which there was no one to extinguish.

About 2 hours Turkish 22-gun steam frigate "Taif", armed with 2-10 dm bombers, 4-42 fn., 16-24 fn. guns, under the command of Yahya Bey, escaped from the line of Turkish ships, which were suffering a severe defeat, and took to flight. Taking advantage of the speed of the Taif, Yahya Bey managed to get away from the Russian ships pursuing him (the frigates Kagul and Kulevchi, then the steam frigates of the Kornilov detachment) and inform Istanbul about complete extermination Turkish squadron. Captain Yahya Bey, who was expecting a reward for saving the ship, was dismissed from service with deprivation of his rank for "unworthy behavior."

Side strengths:
Russian Empire - 6 battleships, 2 frigates, 3 steamships, 720 naval guns
Ottoman Empire - 7 frigates, 5 corvettes, 476 naval guns and 44 coastal batteries

Losses:
Russian Empire - 37 killed, 233 wounded, 13 guns
Ottoman Empire - 7 frigates, 4 corvettes, >3000 killed and wounded, 200 prisoners, including Admiral Osman Pasha

Tsushima battle

The Tsushima naval battle is a naval battle on May 14 (27), 1905 - May 15 (28), 1905 in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bTsushima Island (Tsushima Strait), in which the Russian 2nd squadron of the Pacific Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Zinovy ​​Petrovich Rozhestvensky suffered a crushing defeated by the Imperial Japanese Navy under the command of Admiral Heihachiro Togo. The last, decisive naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, during which the Russian squadron was completely defeated. Most of ships were sunk or scuttled by the crews of their ships, some capitulated, some were interned in neutral ports, and only four managed to reach Russian ports. The battle was preceded by a grueling, unparalleled in history steam fleets 18,000-mile (33,000-kilometer) passage of a large Russian squadron of diverse ship types from the Baltic Sea to the Far East.

The Second Russian Pacific Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky was formed in the Baltic and was intended to reinforce the First Pacific Squadron, which was based in Port Arthur on the Yellow Sea. Starting its journey in Libau, Rozhdestvensky's squadron reached the coast of Korea by mid-May 1905. By that time, the First Pacific Squadron had already been practically destroyed. Only one full-fledged naval port remained in the hands of the Russians in the Pacific Ocean - Vladivostok, and the approaches to it were covered by a strong Japanese fleet. The Rozhdestvensky squadron included 8 squadron battleships, 3 coastal defense battleships, one armored cruiser, 8 cruisers, one auxiliary cruiser, 9 destroyers, 6 transports and two hospital ships. Artillery armament The Russian squadron consisted of 228 guns, 54 of them - caliber from 203 to 305 mm.

On May 14 (27), the Second Pacific Squadron entered the Korea Strait in order to break through to Vladivostok, and was discovered by the Japanese patrol cruiser Izumi. The commander of the Japanese fleet, Admiral H. Togo, by this time had 4 squadron battleships, 8 armored cruisers, 16 cruisers, 6 gunboats and coastal defense ships, 24 auxiliary cruisers, 21 destroyers and 42 destroyers armed with a total of 910 guns, of which 60 had a caliber from 203 to 305 mm. The Japanese fleet was divided into seven battle groups. Togo immediately began deploying his forces in order to impose a battle on the Russian squadron and destroy it.

The Russian squadron went along the Eastern Passage of the Korea Strait (Tsushima Strait), leaving Tsushima Island on the port side. She was pursued by Japanese cruisers, following in the fog parallel to the course of the Russian squadron. The Russians located the Japanese cruisers at about 7 am. Rozhdestvensky, without starting the battle, rebuilt the squadron into two wake columns, leaving transports and cruisers covering them in the rearguard.

At 1315 hours, at the exit from the Tsushima Strait, the main forces of the Japanese fleet (battleships and armored cruisers) were discovered, which sought to cross the course of the Russian squadron. Rozhdestvensky began to rebuild the ships in one wake column. During the rebuilding, the distance between the enemy ships was reduced. Having completed the rebuilding, the Russian ships opened fire at 13 hours 49 minutes from a distance of 38 cables (over 7 km).

The Japanese ships returned fire three minutes later, concentrating it on the lead Russian ships. Using the superiority in squadron speed (16-18 knots versus 12-15 for the Russians), the Japanese fleet kept ahead of the Russian column, crossing its course and trying to cover its head. By 2 p.m., the distance had decreased to 28 cables (5.2 km). Japanese artillery had a high rate of fire (360 rounds per minute versus 134 for the Russian), Japanese shells were 10-15 times superior to the Russians in terms of high-explosive action, the armor of Russian ships was weaker (40% of the area versus 61% for the Japanese). This superiority predetermined the outcome of the battle.

At 2:25 p.m., the flagship battleship Knyaz Suvorov broke down and Rozhdestvensky was wounded. After another 15 minutes, the squadron battleship Oslyabya died. The Russian squadron, which had lost leadership, continued to move north in a column, changing course twice in order to increase the distance between itself and the enemy. During the battle, the Japanese ships successively concentrated fire on the lead ships, trying to put them out of action.

After 18 hours, command was transferred to Rear Admiral N. I. Nebogatov. By this time, four squadron battleships had already died, all the ships of the Russian squadron were damaged. The Japanese ships were also damaged, but none were sunk. The Russian cruisers, marching in a separate column, repulsed the attacks of the Japanese cruisers; one auxiliary cruiser "Ural" and one transport were lost in the battle.

On the night of May 15, Japanese destroyers repeatedly attacked Russian ships, firing 75 torpedoes. As a result, the battleship Navarin sank, the crews of three armored cruisers that lost control were forced to sink their ships. The Japanese lost three destroyers in the night battle. In the dark, the Russian ships lost contact with each other and then acted independently. Only two squadron battleships, two coastal defense battleships and one cruiser remained under the command of Nebogatov.
Some of the ships and Nebogatov's detachment still tried to break through to Vladivostok. Three cruisers, including the Aurora, went south and reached Manila, where they were interned. Nebogatov's detachment was surrounded by Japanese ships and surrendered to the enemy, but the Emerald cruiser managed to break through the encirclement and escape to Vladivostok. In the Gulf of St. Vladimir, he ran aground and was blown up by the crew. The destroyer Bedovy with the wounded Rozhdestvensky also surrendered to the Japanese.

On May 15 (28), one battleship, one coastal defense battleship, three cruisers and one destroyer, who fought independently, were killed in battle. Three destroyers were sunk by their crews, and one destroyer went to Shanghai, where she was interned. Only the Almaz cruiser and two destroyers broke through to Vladivostok. In general, the Russian fleet lost 8 squadron battleships, one armored cruiser, one coastal defense battleship, 4 cruisers, one auxiliary cruiser, 5 destroyers and several transports in the Battle of Tsushima. Two squadron battleships, two coastal defense battleships and one destroyer surrendered to the Japanese.

Side strengths:
Russian Empire - 8 squadron battleships, 3 coastal defense battleships, 3 armored cruisers (2 obsolete), 6 cruisers, 1 auxiliary cruiser, 9 destroyers, 2 hospital ships, 6 auxiliary ships
Empire of Japan - 4 class 1 ironclads, 2 class 2 ironclads (obsolete), 9 armored cruisers (1 obsolete), 15 cruisers, 21 destroyers, 44 destroyers, 21 auxiliary cruisers, 4 gunboats, 3 advice letters, 2 hospital ships

Losses:
Russian Empire - 21 ships sunk (7 battleships), 7 ships and ships captured, 6 ships interned, 5,045 killed, 803 wounded, 6,016 captured
Empire of Japan - 3 destroyers sunk, 117 killed, 538 wounded

In 1914, the British navy was, as it had been for two hundred years before, the largest in the world and dominated the waters surrounding the British archipelago. The fleet of the German Empire, which was actively built for about 15 last years, overtook the fleets of other states in power and became the second most powerful in the world.

The main type of warship in the First world war was a battleship built on the model of a dreadnought. Naval aviation was just beginning its development. Submarines and sea mines played an important role.

The English fleet, maintaining a long-range naval blockade on the North Sea, conducted periodic surveillance of the southern region of the sea, and submarines reached the Helgoland Bay, reconnaissance, looking for targets for attack and more than once causing alarm in the German guards. So far, the British have not undertaken any major operations against the German fleet, concentrated in the bases of the North Sea.

However, by the end of August, in connection with the retreat and setbacks on the land front, in order to raise the resulting discouragement and, taking into account the voices that had already been expressed more than once about the possibility of light attacks on the German guards of the Helgoland Bay, the English Admiralty decided make such a run. The organization of the German guard, discovered by the U-boats, seemed to offer an easy opportunity to succeed.

By original plan it was supposed that two fleets of the best English fighters and two light cruisers from the Harwich Naval Forces would approach Heligoland Bay in the morning and attack the German flotilla guarding it, cutting off its return path. In addition, 6 British submarines were to occupy two lines to attack German ships if they went to sea to pursue the destroyers. To support the operation, 2 battleships and 6 armored cruisers were assigned, which were supposed to stay out to sea and cover the retreat of the British light forces.

In this form, the plan was assigned to implementation. Already after the light forces and submarines went to sea, the commander of the Grand Fleet Jellicoe sent a detachment of battlecruisers under the command of Admiral Beatty (3 line cruisers) and one light cruiser squadron (6 new line cruisers of the "city" type) to support under the command of adm. Goodenef.

The attack was scheduled for the morning. At this time of the day, there was a low tide in the Helgoland Bay, which meant that heavy German ships could not go out to sea during the morning, located at the mouths of the Elbe and Yada. The day was calm, with a very slight northwesterly wind blowing, and there was a fair amount of darkness. Visibility did not exceed 4 miles, and at times became less.

Because of this, the battle took the form of separate clashes and artillery duels, not connected to each other. On the morning of August 28, 9 new German destroyers of the 1st flotilla (30-32 knots, two 88-mm guns) carried patrol 35 miles from the Elba lightship. They were supported by 3 light cruisers - Hela, Stetin and Frauenlob. The 5th flotilla was located in the Helgoland Bay, out of 10 of the same destroyers and 8 submarines, of which only 2 were in full readiness. At the mouth of the Weser was the old light cruiser Ariadne, and at the mouth of the Ems was the light cruiser Mainz. Such was the balance of power.

At 7 am, the light cruisers Aretheusa and Firles, escorted by two destroyer flotillas, attacked the German patrol ships and engaged in a fierce firefight with them. The latter immediately turned and began to withdraw. Rear Admiral Maas, who commanded the light forces in Helgoland Bight, ordered Stetin, Frauenlob, destroyers and submarines to come to their aid. On the coastal batteries of Heligoland and Wangeroog, hearing the roar of shooting, they called people to the guns. The Seydlitz, Moltke, Von der Tann, and Blücher began to breed pairs, preparing to put to sea as soon as the tide would permit.

Meanwhile, the British ships continued to chase the German destroyers, firing at them from long distances on parallel courses. Soon "V-1" and "S-13" were hit and began to quickly lose speed. A little more, and the British would have finished them off completely, but at 7.58 the Stetin entered the battle. His appearance saved the 5th destroyer flotilla, which managed to retreat under the cover of Helgoland's coastal batteries.

The British ships came quite close to Heligoland. Here they came across several old destroyers from the 3rd trawling division. The British caused serious damage to the D-8 and T-33 with their fire, but the Germans were again saved by the intervention of their light cruisers. "Frauenlob" entered into battle with "Aretyuza", opening fire on her from a distance of 30 cab. (approx. 5.5 km). The Arethusa was no doubt a strong ship, completely new and armed with much more powerful artillery, but she had only been manned the day before, and this put her in a certain disadvantage. "Aretyuza" received at least 25 hits and soon only one 152-mm cannon operated on it from all the guns. However, "Frauenlob" was forced to interrupt the battle, because he received one very heavy hit - right in the conning tower.

At this time, the light cruiser "Firles" and the destroyers of the 1st flotilla attacked the "V-187", which was going to Heligoland. Finding that the path to the island was cut off, the German destroyer began to move at full speed to the mouth of the Yada and almost broke away from her pursuers when two four-tube cruisers emerged from the fog right in front of her. He mistook them for Strasbourg and Stralsund, but they turned out to be Nottingham and Lowestoft from Goodenough's squadron. From a distance of 20 cab. (3.6 km) their six-inchers literally smashed the V-187. He went to the bottom with a flying flag, still continuing to shoot. The English ships stopped to pick up the drowning Germans. However, at that moment, the cruiser Stetin intervened in the battle, and the British cruisers and destroyers disappeared in fog and smoke, leaving two boats with prisoners, among whom were many wounded.

At 11.30 a.m. the German light cruiser Mainz, sailing from the mouth of the river. Ems, entered into battle with Aretuza, Firles and destroyers. Goodenough's cruisers quickly pulled up to the battlefield, which immediately made the Mainz's position hopeless. After several hits, his rudder jammed, and he began to describe one circulation after another. Then "Mainz" received a torpedo hit in the middle of the port side from one of the British destroyers. By 13:00 he sank. 348 of his team were picked up and captured by the British.

However, by 12.30 the position of the British became critical. 6 joined the battle at once German lungs cruisers: Stralsund, Stetin, Danzig, Ariadne, Strasbourg and Cologne. "Aretuza" and 3 British destroyers were seriously damaged. A little more and they would be finished. Tiruit urgently asked Beatty for help. Beatty had long felt that a crisis was brewing in the battle at Helgoland Bay.

In conditions of poor visibility, it was too risky to bring heavy ships into the space between Heligoland and the German coast, swarming with destroyers and submarines. A successful torpedo salvo from a destroyer emerging from the fog could have led to irreversible consequences. After much hesitation, Beatty, according to Chatfield, finally said: "Surely we must go."

The first on the way of the battlecruisers at 12.30 was the Cologne. Lyon immediately fired two salvoes after him and hit twice, turning the Cologne literally into a pile of scrap metal. A few minutes later the same fate befell the elderly "Ariadne", carried away by a shootout with English destroyers. Lion, who was at the head of the column, immediately fired two volleys into it. The result was deplorable: "Ariadne", engulfed in a fierce fire, completely helpless, began to slowly drift in a southeasterly direction. She stayed afloat until 15.25, then quietly went under the water.

Having dealt with the German light ships in this way, Beatty gave the order to withdraw immediately. At 13.25, on the way back from Heligoland Bay, the battlecruisers again came across the long-suffering Cologne, which was still afloat. Two volleys of 13.5-inch guns instantly sent him to the bottom. Of the entire crew of the Cologne, only one stoker escaped, whom the German destroyers picked up two days after the battle.

Only in the afternoon, the commander of the High Seas Fleet, Friedrich von Ingenohl, received a report from the Strasbourg that the First Squadron of English battlecruisers had broken into Heligoland Bay. At 13.25 he ordered his 14 dreadnoughts to urgently pair up and prepare to leave, but it was too late. The withdrawal of the British passed without incident, although the damage to the Arethusa and the destroyer Laurel was so serious that they were unable to move under their own power. The cruisers Hog and Amethyst had to take them in tow.

The battle in Heligoland Bay was over, and its results for the light forces of the German fleet were deplorable. The German command made a mistake by sending light cruisers into battle one after another in foggy weather against an enemy of unknown strength. As a result, a destroyer and 3 light cruisers (of which 2 were excellent new ships) were lost.

Losses in personnel totaled 1238 people, of which 712 were killed and 145 were wounded; 381 were captured. Among the dead was Rear Admiral Maas (he became the first admiral to die in this war), and among the prisoners was one of the sons of Tirpitz.

The British lost 75 men: 32 killed and 53 wounded. Tiruit's flagship, the light cruiser Arethusa, received the most serious damage, but was safely towed to Harwich. This was the first convincing success of the British fleet in the waters of the mother country.

In 1914, the strongest German ship in the Indian Ocean was the light cruiser Königsberg. After the breakdown of the propulsion system, the Königsberg was forced to take refuge in the Rufiji Delta along with the Somali supply vessel, waiting there until the damaged parts were taken overland to Dar es Salaam for repairs.

At the end of October 1914, the Königsberg was discovered by the British cruiser Chatham. On November 5, the cruisers Dartmouth and Weymouth arrived in the area, and the German cruiser was blocked in the river delta. In early November, "Chatam" opened fire from a long distance and set fire to "Somali", but could not hit the "Königsberg", which quickly went up the river.

The British made several attempts to sink the Königsberg, including an attempt by a shallow draft torpedo boat to slip (with an escort) into attack range, but they were all easily beaten off by the German forces entrenched in the delta. In one of the branches of the delta, the Newbridge fireship was flooded to prevent the Germans from getting out of the blockade, but later the British discovered another branch suitable for their escape. The British littered some of the sleeves with mock-ups of mines.

Attempts to sink the cruiser from the 12-inch guns of the old battleship Goliath were also unsuccessful due to the impossibility of approaching within shooting range in shallow water.

By March 1915, food shortages began on the Koenigsberg, many members of the German crew died of malaria and other tropical diseases. Due to being cut off from the outside world, the morale of the German sailors began to fall.

However, a way was soon found to remedy the situation with provisions and, possibly, break through the blockade. The merchant ship "Rubens" captured by Germany was renamed "Kronberg", the Danish flag was hung out, documents were forged and a crew of Germans who spoke Danish was recruited. After that, the ship was loaded with coal, field guns, ammunition, fresh water and food. After successfully penetrating the waters of East Africa, the ship was in danger of being detected by the English Hyacinth, which drove it into Manza Bay. The ship was set on fire by the crew who abandoned it. Later, most of the cargo was rescued by the Germans, who used it in ground defense, part of the cargo was transferred to the Koenigsberg.

Two British shallow draft Humber-type monitors, the Severn and the Mercy, were specially towed from Malta across the Red Sea and arrived at the Rufiji River on 15 June. Minor details were removed, protection added, and under the cover of the rest of the fleet, they headed for the delta.

These ships took part in a long-range duel with the Königsberg with the help of ground-based spotters. Soon their 6-inch guns overwhelmed the cruiser's armament, severely damaged it and sank it.

The victory of the British fleet allowed her to strengthen her position throughout the Indian Ocean.

In October 1914, the German East Asian Cruiser Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Spee moved to the South Pacific. The Spee squadron could disrupt the supply of Chilean saltpeter to the UK, which was used to manufacture explosives.

The British Admiralty, concerned about the appearance of German raiders in these waters, began to draw forces there. As early as September 14, Rear Admiral Cradock, commanding British ships off the east coast of South America, received orders to concentrate sufficient forces to meet the armored cruisers Spee. Cradock decided to collect them at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.

Initially, the Admiralty Headquarters tried to reinforce Cradock's squadron by sending a new armored cruiser Defense with a well-trained crew to the area. But on October 14, Defense received an order to arrive not in the Falkland Islands, but in Montevideo, where the formation of the second squadron under the command of Admiral Stoddart began. At the same time, the headquarters approved Cradock's idea of ​​\u200b\u200bgathering forces in the Falkland Islands. The general tone of the headquarters' orders was interpreted by Cradock as an order to meet Spee.

On the morning of November 1, Spee received a report that the Glasgow was in the Coronel area, and went there with all his ships to cut off the British cruiser from Cradock's squadron.

At 14:00 British time, Cradock's squadron rendezvoused with the Glasgow. The captain of the Glasgow, John Luce, gave Cradock information that a single German cruiser, the Leipzig, was stationed in the area. Therefore, Cradock went northwest in the hope of intercepting the raider. The British ships were in bearing formation - from the northeast to the southwest, respectively, "Glasgow", "Otranto", "Monmouth" and "Good Hope".

Meanwhile, the German squadron was also approaching Coronel. Nuremberg was far to the northeast, and Dresden was 12 miles behind the armored cruisers. At 16:30, the Leipzig noticed smoke on the right side and turned towards them, finding the Glasgow. The meeting of two squadrons was a surprise for both admirals, who expected to meet a single enemy cruiser.

Spee waited for the sun to set, as his ships were well illuminated by the sun until sunset, and the conditions for observing the British ships were difficult. After sunset, the conditions changed, and the British ships should have loomed against the still bright horizon, and against the background of the coast, the German ships would have been practically invisible. It also played into the hands of the Germans that the British could not use part of their artillery, located in the lower casemates too close to the water, as it was flooded with waves

By 19:00, the squadrons converged on the battlefield, and at 19:03 the German squadron opened fire. The Germans "divided the targets on the left", that is, the leading Scharnhorst fired at the Good Hope, and the Gneisenau at the Monmouth. Leipzig and Dresden were far behind, and Nuremberg was out of sight. True, light cruisers would still be of little use, because they were heavily pumped and could not fire effectively. German armored cruisers had the ability to fire with all sides - from six 210-mm and three 150-mm guns. The British cruisers could not use the guns located on the main deck in flooded casemates - four 152-mm guns on the Good Hope and three 152-mm guns on the Monmouth

"Glasgow" at 19:10 opened fire on the "Leipzig", but it was ineffective due to heavy seas. Return fire on Glasgow was fired first by Leipzig, and then by Dresden. "Otranto" (the combat value of which was negligible, and big sizes made him a vulnerable target) at the very beginning of the battle, without an order, he went out of order to the west and disappeared. In fact, the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion in the first 10 minutes. Hit every 15 seconds by German shells, Good Hope and Monmouth could no longer effectively return fire on the practically invisible German ships, turning into targets.

The Good Hope was still afloat, and the Scharnhorst moved on, firing several volleys from a distance of 25 cables. At 19:56, Cradock's flagship disappeared into the darkness, and the glow of the fires disappeared. Spee turned aside, fearing a torpedo attack, although in reality the Good Hope sank, taking Admiral Cradock and about a thousand crew members with her.

"Monmouth" very quickly engulfed the fires, although before the battle everything that could catch fire was thrown overboard. At 19:40 he fell out of action to the right, with a huge fire on the forecastle. Around 19:50, he ceased fire and disappeared into the darkness, and the Gneisenau turned its fire on the Good Hope.

"Glasgow" by this time received six hits, only one of them caused severe damage, the rest fell into the waterline in the coal pits. When the Good Hope disappeared from sight, the captain of the Glasgow, Luce, decided at 20:00 to withdraw from the battle and went west. On the way, he met the agonizing Monmouth, which signaled that it would go stern forward due to a leak in the bow. Luce prudently decided not to stop and leave Monmouth to his fate.

At about 21:00, the Monmouth, which had tilted to the port side, was accidentally found by the Nuremberg lagging behind the German squadron. The German cruiser approached from the port side and, after offering to surrender, opened fire, reducing the distance to 33 cables. "Nuremberg" interrupted the fire, giving "Monmouth" time to lower the flag and surrender, but the British cruiser continued to fight. A torpedo fired by Nuremberg missed and Monmouth attempted to turn around to engage her starboard guns. But the German shells turned his side, and at 21:28 Monmouth rolled over and sank. Considering that the battle continues, the Germans went further without taking any measures to save British crew, and all the British sailors died in cold water. Despite the win, Spee was unable to build on his success, allowing Glasgow and Otranto to leave. The loss of British ships caused significant damage to the prestige of the British Navy. However, the German triumph did not last long.

4Battle of Jutland, May 31 - June 1, 1916

The British and German fleets took part in the battle. The names of the battle came from the place where the opponents clashed. The arena for this time-honored event was the North Sea, namely the Skagerrak Strait, near the Jutland peninsula. As in all naval battles of the First World War, the essence was the attempts of the German fleet to break the blockade, and the British fleet - by all means to prevent this.

In May 1916, the Germans planned to deceive the British by luring out part of the battleships of the British fleet and point them at the main forces of Germany. Thus significantly undermining the naval power of the enemy.

First Encounter opposing sides happened on May 31 at 14:48, when the squadrons of armored cruisers, which were at the head of the main forces of battleships, met in battle. The fire was opened by them at a distance of fourteen and a half kilometers.

During the Battle of Jutland, the first examples of interaction between aviation and the fleet were demonstrated. During the search operation, the English Admiral Beatty ordered the Egandina aircraft carrier to send reconnaissance aircraft, but only one took off, but he had to soon land directly on the water due to an accident. It was from this aircraft that information was received that the German fleet had changed its course.

By order of the German Admiral Scheer, German air reconnaissance was also carried out. The seaplane noticed Beatty's ships, which he reported to his commander, but Scheer, which follows from his further actions, simply did not believe the information received. Thus, a large-scale battle was based only on guesswork.

Pursuing Beatty's formation retreating to the north, the German High Seas Fleet at 18:20 came into combat contact with the main forces of the English fleet. The British opened heavy fire. They fired mainly on the terminal ships, concentrating their fire on the battlecruisers, marching in the head of the German fleet. Caught under fire from the Grand Fleet, Admiral Scheer realized that he had entered into battle with the main body of the enemy.

The British, noticing the approach of the German ships, opened fire on them at 19:10. Within eight minutes, German battleships and cruisers, marching in the head of the column, received ten or more hits from shells large caliber everyone.

Finding himself under concentrated fire from the entire English fleet and having suffered serious damage to the lead ships, Admiral Scheer decided to withdraw from the battle as soon as possible. To this end, the German fleet made a 180-degree turn at 19:18. To cover this maneuver, destroyers supported by cruisers from a distance of 50 cab. made a torpedo attack and put up a smoke screen. The attack of the destroyers was unorganized. Destroyers still used the ineffective method of firing single torpedoes, which could not give positive results at long range. The English fleet easily dodged the torpedoes, turning four points to the side.

Admiral Jellicoe, fearing the mines that the German ships could drop on the withdrawal route, and enemy submarines, did not pursue the German fleet, but turned first to the southeast and then to the south to cut off the path of the German fleet to the base. However, Admiral Jellicoe failed to achieve this goal. Having failed to properly organize tactical reconnaissance in battle, the British soon lost sight of the German fleet. At this, the daytime battle of the main forces of the fleets temporarily stopped.

As a result of the daytime battle of the main forces, the British lost a battlecruiser and two armored cruisers, several ships received various damage. The Germans lost only one light cruiser, but their battlecruisers were so seriously damaged that they were unable to continue the battle.

Knowing that the German fleet was to the west of the English fleet, Admiral Jellicoe hoped to cut off the enemy from their bases by moving south and force him into battle at dawn. At nightfall, the English fleet formed up in three wake columns, with battlecruisers in front and destroyer fleets five miles behind.

The German fleet was built in one wake column with cruisers advanced forward. Destroyers Scheer sent in search of the English fleet, the location of which he knew nothing. Thus, Scheer deprived himself of the opportunity to use destroyers to deliver a torpedo strike against the enemy in case of meeting him at night.

At 21:00, the German fleet lay down on a course to the southeast in order to reach their bases by the shortest route. At this time, the English fleet was moving south, and the courses of the opponents were slowly converging. The first combat contact of the opponents occurred at 22:00, when English lungs The cruisers discovered the German light cruisers ahead of their battleships and entered into battle with them. In a short battle, the British sank the German light cruiser Frauenlob. Several British cruisers were damaged, of which the Southampton were seriously damaged.

At about 11:00 p.m., the German fleet, passing astern of the Grand Fleet, came into combat contact with the British destroyers, who were five miles behind their battleships. During the night meeting with the English destroyers, the marching order of the German fleet was broken.

Several ships were disabled. One of them, the battleship Posen, rammed and sank her own cruiser Elbing when she failed. The head of the German column was in complete disarray. An exceptionally favorable environment was created for her attack by destroyers. However, the British did not take advantage of this opportunity. They lost a lot of time identifying the enemy and acted very indecisively. Of the six destroyer fleets that were part of the Grand Fleet, only one attacked, and then unsuccessfully. As a result of this attack, the British sank the German light cruiser Rostok, losing four destroyers in the process.

Total losses sides were colossal. Germany lost 11 ships and 2,500 men, Britain 14 ships and 6,100 men. In fact, the largest battle at sea in the history of mankind did not solve any of the tasks set for both one and the other. The English fleet was not defeated, and the balance of power at sea did not change dramatically, the Germans also managed to save their entire fleet and prevent its destruction, which would inevitably affect the actions of the Reich submarine fleet.

The Gangut battle, which took place on July 27 (August 7), 1714, was the first victory of the created Peter I regular Russian fleet.

The Baltic, replete with skerries, required powerful rowing forces along with sailing squadrons. By the campaign of 1714, the Russians managed to create the strongest galley fleet of 99 semi-galleys and scampaways, before which the tsar set the task of breaking through to the Aland Islands in order to facilitate the offensive of the coastal flank of the ground forces.

Opposing these plans, the Swedish fleet blocked the Russians from leaving the Gulf of Finland near the Gangut Peninsula. The rowing vessels of the enemy protected the coastal fairway, and the sailing fleet located more seaward covered them from the flank.

To avoid the attack of strong Swedish forces "on the forehead", Peter I decided to build in the narrowest part of the Gangut peninsula a "perevoloka" (wooden flooring), intended for the transfer of galleys by land to the rear of the enemy. This maneuver forced the Swedes to divide their forces, and the ensuing calm deprived their sailing ships of maneuverability.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Russian avant-garde bypassed the Swedes, remaining inaccessible to their fire, and attacked a detachment under the command of Rear Admiral Nils Ehrenskjöld, boarding enemy ships.

The victory near the Gangut Peninsula provided the Russian fleet with freedom of action in the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia, which made it possible to effectively support those operating in Finland ground troops. Since then, the Swedes have ceased to feel like masters of the Baltic Sea. Success was ensured by the ability to create superiority in forces in the main direction. Against the Swedish flagship - Prama "Elephant" - 11 galleys were concentrated.

Boarding the prama "Elephant"

In September 1714, the winners solemnly marched in St. Petersburg under the Arc de Triomphe, which depicted an eagle sitting on the back of an elephant. The allegory was explained by the inscription: "The eagle does not catch flies." Currently, the anniversary of the battle near the Gangut Peninsula (August 9) is celebrated in Russia as the Day of Military Glory.

Chesme battle on the night of June 25-26, 1770

After the start of another Russian-Turkish war in 1768, in order to divert the attention of the enemy from the Black Sea theater, Russia sent its ships to the Mediterranean Sea. This was the first group passage of ships from one sea to another in Russian history. On June 23 (July 4), 1770, two Russian squadrons (nine ships of the line, three frigates, a bombardment ship and 17–19 auxiliary ships) under the general command Alexey Orlov discovered the Turkish fleet (16 battleships, six frigates, six shebeks, 13 galleys and 32 small ships) in the roadstead of the Chesme Bay.

The next day, an artillery duel ensued between the opponents, during which the battleship Saint Eustathius tried to board the Turkish ship Real Mustafa. However, a burning mast of a Turkish ship fell on him. The fire reached the kruyt-camera, and "Evstafiy" exploded, and after 10 minutes, "Real-Mustafa" also flew into the air. After that, the Turkish forces retreated deep into the Chesme Bay under the cover of coastal batteries.

On the night of June 26, the Russian command decided to destroy the Turkish fleet with the help of fire ships, into which four ships were hastily converted. The battleships were to fire at the enemy ships crowded in the bay, and the frigates were to suppress the coastal batteries. Shortly after the incendiary shell hit, one of the Turkish ships caught fire. Enemy fire weakened, which made it possible to launch an attack with firewalls. One of them managed to set fire to a Turkish 84-gun ship, which soon exploded. Burning debris scattered across the bay, setting fires to other ships. By morning, the Turkish squadron ceased to exist.

The victory was achieved due to the skillful concentration of forces in the main direction, the bold decision to attack the Turkish fleet under the protection of coastal batteries and the use of its crowded position in the bay.

Fedor Ushakov

April 19, 1783 Empress Catherine II signed the Manifesto on the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire. In 1878, Turkey presented an ultimatum demanding the restoration of the vassalage of the Crimean Khanate and Georgia and, having been refused, again declared war on Russia.

Russian troops besieged the Turkish fortress Ochakov, and a squadron under the command of Rear Admiral left Sevastopol Marko Voinovich to to prevent the Turkish fleet from rendering assistance to the besieged. On July 3 (14), the opponents discovered each other in the area of ​​​​the island of Fidonisi. The Turkish squadron was more than twice the size of the Sevastopol one, and Marko Voinovich had no desire to fight, while confident in his victory Hassan Pasha, adhering to the classical linear tactics, began to approach the distance of an artillery salvo. However, the brigadier who commanded the Russian avant-garde Fedor Ushakov ordered his terminal frigates to add sails and take the enemy in two fires. The maneuver of the frigates put the Turks in an exceptionally difficult position. They also added sails, but this led to the fact that their formation was greatly stretched, and the ships lost the ability to support each other with fire.

At the very beginning of the battle, Fedor Ushakov cut off two Turkish ships, concentrating the fire of the St. Paul battleship and two frigates against them. The battle has already unfolded along the entire line. Unable to withstand the fire of the Russians, the Turkish ships ahead of them began to disengage one after another. Soon the flagship of Gassan Pasha also came under concentrated fire. This decided the outcome of the battle. Following the flagship, the Turkish ships began to leave the ranks and, taking advantage of the speed advantage, retreat to the Rumelian shores.

In the battle of Fidonisi, the naval talent of Fyodor Ushakov was first revealed, who perfectly implemented the principles of focusing fire and mutual support. Soon Grigory Potemkin removed Marko Voinovich, and transferred the Sevastopol squadron to Fyodor Ushakov, who received the rank of rear admiral.

Monument to Ushakov at Cape Kaliakria

The Turks prepared very thoroughly for the campaign of 1791. The fleet under the command of Kapudan Pasha Hussein consisted of 18 battleships, 17 frigates and many small vessels. An Algerian pasha, distinguished for his courage and enterprise, was appointed as an assistant to the Kapudan Pasha Saita-Ali. The Turks quite reasonably believed that with such a numerical superiority and led by such famous admirals, they would be able to defeat the Russians. Sait-Ali even promised to deliver a man in chains to Istanbul Usak Pasha(Fyodor Ushakov) and carry him around the city in a cage.

On July 31 (August 11), 1791, the Turkish fleet was anchored at Cape Kaliakria. In honor of the Ramadan holiday, some of the teams were released ashore. Suddenly, a squadron of Fyodor Ushakov appeared on the horizon, consisting of six battleships, 12 frigates, two bombardment ships and 17 small ships. The illustrious naval commander made a bold decision to attack the enemy from the shore. The appearance of the Russian fleet took the Turks by surprise. Having hastily chopped off the anchor ropes, they began to retreat more seaward in disorder. Sait-Ali with two ships made an attempt to take the vanguard of Fyodor Ushakov in two fires, but he, having guessed the maneuver, overtook the head of his squadron on the flagship "Christmas of Christ" and attacked Sait-Ali's ship, starting a battle at the closest distance. Then Ushakov skillfully entered from the stern and fired a longitudinal salvo at the Turkish ship, knocking down the mizzen mast.

Within an hour, the enemy's resistance was broken, and the Turks fled. Most of the defeated Turkish fleet scattered along the Anatolian and Rumelian coasts, only the Algerian squadron reached Constantinople, while the flagship Sait-Ali began to sink. The Russian fleet dominated the Black Sea. Residents of the Turkish capital were seized with fear. Everyone was waiting for the appearance of Usak Pasha at the walls of Constantinople. In this situation, the Sultan was forced to make peace with Russia.

Fortifications of Corfu

In 1796-1797, the French army under the command of a young and talented military leader Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Northern Italy and the Ionian Islands belonging to the Venetian Republic. Russian emperor Pavel I joined the anti-French coalition. In St. Petersburg, a plan arose to send a squadron under the command of Fyodor Ushakov to the Mediterranean Sea. This time, the famous naval commander had to act in alliance with his former opponents - the Turks. The landing of Napoleon in Egypt forced the Sultan to turn to Russia for help and open the straits for Russian ships.

One of the tasks assigned to the combined Russian-Turkish squadron was the liberation of the Ionian Islands. Soon the French garrisons were knocked out from Tserigo, Zante, Kefalonia and Santa Maura, although the enemy continued to hold the most heavily fortified island - Corfu. The French command was confident that the Russian sailors would not only be unable to take the fortress by storm, but would also be unable to conduct a long siege.

First, Fyodor Ushakov decided to storm the rocky island of Vido, which was covering Corfu from the sea. On February 18 (March 1), 1799, Russian ships began a massive shelling, under the cover of which they landed troops. With the help of skillful flank attacks, the landing force managed to capture coastal batteries on the move, and by 14 o’clock landing force were already in complete control of Vido.

Now the way to Corfu was open. Installed on the captured island of Vido, Russian batteries opened fire on Corfu itself, and the landing force began to storm the advanced fortifications of the island. This demoralized the French command, and the next day they sent parliamentarians to Fyodor Ushakov's ship to discuss the terms of surrender. 2931 people surrendered, including four generals. The trophies of the Russians were the battleship Leander, the frigate Brunet, a bombardment ship, two galleys, four half-galleys and several other ships, 114 mortars, 21 howitzers, 500 cannons and 5,500 guns. The victory was won thanks to the correct choice by Fedor Ushakov of the direction of the main attack, the creation of superiority in forces over the enemy in this area, as well as the courageous and decisive action landing.

Having learned about the next brilliant victory of Fedor Ushakov, the great Alexander Suvorov wrote: “Why was I not at Corfu, at least a midshipman!”.

On the liberated Ionian Islands, under the temporary protectorate of Russia, the Greek Republic of the Seven Islands was created, which for several years served as a stronghold for the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean.

Andrey CHAPLYGIN