Reconstruction of the naval forces remained one of the top priorities for Russia. Prominent domestic shipbuilders A.N. Krylov, N.N. Kuteinikov, I.G. Bubnov and others. For the needs of the fleet, a voluntary fundraising was announced among the population. A "Committee to Strengthen the Fleet on Voluntary Donations" was established. For five years, the Committee has collected a substantial amount - 17 million rubles. With these funds, it was decided to build 20 destroyers of the "General Kondratenko" and "Ukraine" type. They laid the foundation for a new fleet. In 1913, a significant event took place in the development of the class of domestic destroyers. On September 4, in St. Petersburg, the Putilov Shipyard handed over to the fleet the lead destroyer Novik, which brought well-deserved fame to Russian military shipbuilding. For several years, Novik was the fastest ship in the world (37.5 knots).

The Novik project was created in accordance with the specifications developed by the Marine Technical Committee under the leadership of A.N. Krylova, I.G. Bubnov, and G.F. Schlesinger.

The lead was followed by the construction of serial ships with some elements of improvement. They were built by three factories in St. Petersburg, as well as factories in Revel, Riga and Nikolaev. By the beginning of World War I, there were 75 destroyers in all Russian fleets. different types and 11 were being completed. In addition, the fleets had 45 destroyers of earlier construction. In total for 1913-1917. 17 destroyers of the Novik type entered the Baltic Fleet, and 14 destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet.

The experience of the war with Japan showed the important role of cruisers in squadron battles. The necessity of every possible increase in their speed and maneuverability, as well as the strengthening of artillery weapons, was revealed. A subclass of battlecruisers appeared in foreign fleets. In Russia, their construction began only in 1913-1915, when the cruisers Izmail, Kinburn, Borodino and Navarin were laid down, but the outbreak of the World War did not allow them to be completed.

And immediately after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, cruisers were built for the Russian fleet at domestic and foreign shipyards, the prototype of which was Bayan, which proved itself well as a squadron cruiser and showed high survivability of combat and technical means. So, the cruiser "Admiral Makarov" was built in France, the new "Bayan" and "Pallada" - in St. Petersburg, the cruiser "Rurik", built in England, differed from the cruiser "Bayan" in the main caliber (instead of two 203-mm guns, four 254 mm guns).

In 1913, 6 light cruisers of the Svetlana type with a displacement of 6800-7800 tons, armed with fifteen 130-mm guns, were laid down. Of these, only three cruisers were completed (during the Soviet period) (“Svetlana”, “Admiral Nakhimov” and “Admiral Lazarev”).

By the beginning of the war, the Russian fleet had 14 cruisers of various types.

From the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, and, above all, from the circumstances and causes of the death of squadron battleships, England was the first to draw a conclusion for itself. Already at the end of 1905, British shipbuilders began building the original Dreadnought armored ship with a displacement of about 13,000 tons, with steam turbines, classified as a battleship. The main battery artillery on the Dreadnought consisted of ten 305-mm guns located in two-gun turrets. Four towers, controlled from one central post, could simultaneously participate in the side salvo of the battleship. The ship's side was fully armored.

Russian shipbuilders built dreadnought battleships designed by I.G. Bubnov and with the participation of A.N. Krylov, which in many respects surpassed the English prototype. In 1909, the ships of the line Sevastopol, Gangut, Poltava and Petropavlovsk were laid down at St. Petersburg shipyards.

The linear arrangement of twelve 305-mm guns placed in three-gun turrets made it possible to fire from any side simultaneously with all barrels. If the weight of a volley of one of the first English dreadnoughts "Vengard" was 3003 kg, then on the "Sevastopol" it reached 5650 kg. In one minute, the domestic battleship produced up to 11.5 tons of metal and explosives. The main armor belt had a thickness of 225 mm. For the Black Sea in Nikolaev in 1915-1917. the dreadnought battleships "Empress Maria", "Emperor Alexander III" and "Catherine II" were also built. The fourth battleship "Imperator Nikolai 1", laid down in 1915, was not completed.

In connection with the construction of the battleships, the Russian Naval Ministry noted that the test results of these ships showed the complete readiness of our factories, which were the first to build ships of such a significant displacement, as well as very powerful turbine-type mechanisms.

The battleships of the pre-dreadnought type “Andrew the First-Called”, “Emperor Pavel 1”, laid down during the Russo-Japanese War, became part of the Baltic Fleet in 1912. During their construction, a number of significant changes were made to the initial project, taking into account the experience of the past Russian-Japanese war. Japanese war.

The use of mine weapons in the Russo-Japanese War and its further development required the fleet to take effective measures to ensure mine defense. First of all, the fleet needed ships equipped with minesweepers. Such ships were envisaged by a small shipbuilding program. The world's first minesweepers of special construction "Minrep" and "Vzryv" were laid down at the Izhora plant in 1909. In accordance with the tactical and technical requirements, the minesweepers had a displacement of 150 tons. There was also one 57 mm gun. The ships entered service in 1911. Before the First World War and during the war years, minesweepers of a slightly larger displacement of the Kluz (190 tons) and Capsule (248 tons) type were built.

In 1909-1910. two ships specially designed for setting mines were put into operation. These are minelayers "Amur" and "Yenisei" with a displacement of 2926 tons. They could take on board 324 mines. Artillery included five 120 mm guns and two 75 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Gunboats with a displacement of 600-400 tons with artillery of 120-152-mm caliber were built for the Caspian and river flotillas.

Gained momentum and submarine shipbuilding. The first combat boat "Dolphin", designed under the direction of I.G. Bubnova, entered service in 1904. I.G. Bubnov also designed the Akula submarine, which was built at the Baltic Shipyard (1910). The submarine was armed with eight torpedo tubes.

After the Shark, the Russian fleet included submarines of the Kalmar type (according to an American project), the Lamprey (displacement 123/150 tons) and the Walrus (displacement 630/790 tons).

However, the main core of the Russian submarine fleet was made up of Bars-type submarines - also designed by I.G. Bubnov. Their construction began in 1913-1914. Petersburg and Revel. Surface displacement "Bars" was 650 tons, underwater - 782 tons. Two diesel engines with a total capacity of 3000 hp. allowed the submarine to develop a surface speed of 18 knots, its cruising range was within 2250 miles. In a submerged position, the full speed reached 9.6 knots. It was provided by the operation of two electric motors with a capacity of 900 hp. At this speed, the submarine could travel 25 miles underwater. The working depth of immersion was limited to 50 m, the maximum -100 m. The armament consisted of four torpedo tubes (two in the bow and stern) and two guns of 57-mm and 37-mm calibers.

A special place in the domestic underwater shipbuilding is occupied by the world's first underwater minelayer "Crab" designed by M.P. Naletov. Developments to create it, begun by the designer back in Port Arthur, were interrupted by the Russo-Japanese War. However, after the war, work was continued at the Nikolaev shipyards, and in August 1912 the ship was launched, and in June 1915 it was accepted into the Black Sea Fleet. Up to 60 minutes were taken on board the Crab. The armament includes two bow torpedo tubes and a 76-mm gun.

In July 1915, the Crab made its first military campaign. Near the Bosphorus, they set up a minefield, on which the enemy cruiser Breslau was blown up.

According to the type of "Crab" for the Baltic Fleet, the underwater minelayers "Ruff" and "Trout" were built, as well as three minelayers of a smaller displacement were laid. By the beginning of World War I, the Russian fleet had 15 combat submarines.

The main naval theaters of military operations for Russia during the First World War were the Baltic and Black Sea. From the beginning of the war, the Baltic Fleet equipped the central mine and artillery position Nargen - Porkkala-Udd in order to prevent the enemy from breaking into the Gulf of Finland. The entrance to the Gulf of Riga was covered by another mine-artillery position. With the help of mine laying in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, enemy sea communications were disrupted, damage was caused to the German fleet. It was especially important to limit the functioning of the sea route, along which strategic raw materials were brought from Sweden to Germany.

The mine threat created by the Russians in the Baltic turned out to be so effective that the Germans, having lost a large number of warships and transport ships, at the end of 1914 abandoned naval combat operations for a long time. During the First World War, the Baltic Fleet deployed about 40 thousand mines. An important task of the fleet was also to assist the groupings of ground forces on the coastal flanks, which it successfully solved.

In 1915, the Black Sea Fleet was inferior in combat power to the Turkish fleet, reinforced by the German battlecruiser Goeben and the cruiser Breslau. However, later, replenished with new battleships, he managed to block the German-Turkish fleet in the Bosphorus and drastically reduce the enemy's maritime transport. Operating on the coastal flanks. The Black Sea Fleet provided significant assistance to the army with artillery fire, supported it with landings, and provided transportation of troops and equipment. During the war years, his ships laid more than 13 thousand mines.

During the First World War, the Russian fleet did not participate in major naval battles like Jutland. At the same time, there were numerous combat clashes with the enemy of individual formations and ships of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets (battles near Cape Sarych and Gotland, the Moonsund operation, etc.).

Created in September 1916, the flotilla of the Arctic Ocean provided sea transportation with the allies, fought against enemy submarines and mine danger. After the October events of 1917, Russia withdrew from the war.

On March 3, 1918, a peace treaty was concluded between Soviet Russia on the one hand and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria on the other. According to the agreement, all Russian ships were to be transferred to domestic ports or disarmed on the spot. The ships and vessels of the Baltic Fleet, located in Finland, had to remain there until navigation began. So there was a threat of loss of naval forces in this maritime theater, the main core of which was concentrated in Helsingfors.

leadership Soviet Russia it was decided, despite the heavy ice situation in the Gulf of Finland, to transfer all ships to Kronstadt.

During March-April 1918, the legendary Ice Campaign of the ships of the Baltic Fleet took place. 226 ships and vessels were saved for Russia, including 6 battleships, 5 cruisers, 59 destroyers and destroyers, 12 submarines. In addition, two brigades of the air fleet and various military equipment were taken out by ships and vessels.

In May 1918, the German command, threatening to disrupt the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, demanded that Russia surrender its ships of the Black Sea Fleet. To prevent this, by order of V.I. Lenin in June 1918, in the regions of Novorossiysk and Tuapse, the battleship “Free Russia” (formerly “Catherine II”), 11 destroyers and destroyers, 6 transports, who had moved here from Sevastopol, were flooded.

With the beginning of the civil war and foreign intervention, a revolutionary-minded part of the sailors, junior commanders, officers and admirals of the fleet went over to the side new government, the other part, primarily admirals and officers, went over to the side of the White Army. The former commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A.V. Kolchak in November 1918 self-proclaimed himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia, leading the counter-revolutionary struggle in Siberia. Most of the ports and bases of the domestic fleet ended up in the hands of interventionists from the Entente countries and Japan. The Russian naval forces practically ceased to exist. To assist the ground forces of the command of the opposing forces in civil war The sides created river and lake flotillas that conducted active hostilities. The flotillas, as a rule, included gunboats converted from steamships, armed with two to four 75-130-mm guns, as well as armed tugs, floating batteries, messenger ships and cutters. In some cases, the flotillas were replenished with ships transferred from the fleets along inland waterways. The fleets attacked the flanks and rear of the enemy, ships and vessels, defended or destroyed crossings, landed troops, and provided transportation.

After the defeat of the White Army, Lieutenant General P.M. Wrangel in the Crimea in 1920, the bulk of the ships and vessels of the Black Sea Fleet (33 pennants) under the command of Vice Admiral M.A. Kedrov went to the French naval base of Bizerte (Tunisia).

St. Andrew's flags on these ships were lowered on October 24, 1924 after the recognition of the USSR by the French government. Russian sailors switched to the position of refugees.

Although the exact date of Italy's entry into the country remained a mystery, its intentions did not go unnoticed by the Austrian side.

As early as May 19, the cruisers Admiral Spaun and Helgoland, accompanied by destroyers, began patrolling the central part of the Adriatic.

And on the evening of May 23, two hours before the official declaration of war, the main forces Austrian Navy launched a long-planned operation to attack the Italian coast.

Since the old battleships of the Habsburg type had the smallest draft and could come close to the enemy coast, Admiral Gaus transferred his flag from the dreadnought Viribus Unitis to the Habsburg.

On May 24, at four in the morning, from a distance of 35 cable, the Austrian dreadnoughts, together with the battleship "Archduke Ferdinand Max", began to fight with coastal batteries, coal depots and ships in the harbor of Ancona.

The rest of the battleships of the "Archduke" and "Habsburg" types got auxiliary targets.

"Archduke Ferdinand Max" began firing at the semaphore station with the main caliber, and at the local oil storage with the middle caliber.

"Archduke Kart" fired at the local shipyard and city fortifications, "Archduke Friedrich" fired at the Enrico Cialdini battery at the entrance to the harbor and at the barracks.

"Habsburg" fired at the coastal battery, the monastery of St. Stephen and the station, "Arpad" - the barracks and shipyard "Cantieri Ligurie Anconiati", "Babenberg" fired at the power plant.

The shooting lasted forty minutes - until five in the morning, after which the Austrians withdrew. At the same time, six battleships of the "Archduke" and "Habsburg" types fired over one and a half hundred shells.

The raid took the Italians by surprise, they simply could not answer. As a result, 63 people died, but more importantly, the coastal Railway was seriously damaged, and traffic in many places stopped.

This seriously affected the timing of the deployment of the Italian army ...

Austrian fleet at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries.

The accession of Italy to the dual alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary was at one time the most important diplomatic victory for Austrian politicians.

The country no longer needed to pay attention to the fleet, and it became possible to focus on the land army.

The fleet of this period could only solve purely defensive tasks to protect its coast.

But, starting from the end of the 19th century, information began to flow through numerous intelligence channels that in the case new war Italy is likely to remain neutral or take a clear anti-Austrian stance.

This circumstance forced a rather sharp change in naval policy. Now the Austrian sailors were simultaneously working out two plans of military operations: against Italy and together with Italy against a third country.

In any case, the fleet needed seaworthy battleships, which were urgently needed to be created.

Photo 1. "Arpad" in the sea

Soon after the construction of the Monarchs, the shipbuilding department, under the leadership of the naval engineer Siegfried Popper, began designing the next three ships of this class.

Unlike the previous types, which were designed with a clear eye on coastal defense, these battleships were created in accordance with the new program, which provided for the construction of no less than twelve battleships (four divisions of three pennants), very ambitiously called the "high seas fleet".

In addition to its main power, the program also included an order for twelve cruisers, the same number of destroyers, 24 large and 48 small destroyers, and twelve monitors for the Danube.

However, even after the adoption of the program, the "soldiers" were able to achieve a redistribution of financial flows in their favor, which made it difficult to implement the program.

In protest, Admiral Shpaun even resigned ...

Although the pace of rearmament of the Austrian fleet turned out to be not as fast as the sailors wanted, in the period from 1899 to 1904 Art. all three of the first "battleships of the high seas" were nevertheless built.

Photo 2. "Babenberg" shortly after commissioning

All three battleships were built in Trieste by the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) factory, and all three were named after the ruling Austrian or Hungarian dynasties: Arpad, the first Christian monarch of Hungary, the founder of the dynasty, who was on the throne from 890 to 1301; Babenberg, the founder of the Austrian Empire, whose descendants ruled from 976 to 1246, and the Habsburgs, who at that time had been on the throne of Austria-Hungary since 1745.

As with the previous type, the shipbuilders were faced with the task of minimizing the volume and displacement of the new ship in order to make the ships as cheap as possible.

At the same time, the experience of the Japanese-Chinese and Spanish-American wars showed the dominance of medium-caliber rapid-fire artillery in naval battles.

Even without sinking the enemy, it could be easily disabled by a hail of shells on superstructures and unprotected extremities.

Compared to the "Monarchs" on the designed units, the number of medium artillery doubled.

Since the designers were in severe restrictions within the selected displacement, they had to pay with the main artillery, the number of barrels of which decreased to three, like that of the Crown Prince Archduke Rudolf.

A spoon of honey in this barrel of tar was the fact that the 240-mm guns, chosen as the main caliber, became rapid-fire for the first time in the Austrian fleet.

From type to type, the Austrian battleships had an increase in displacement.

Outwardly, this was reflected in the fact that there was only one pipe on the Monarchs, there were already two on the Habsburgs, and three on the third series (Archduke).

Design features of Austrian ships

As for the hull design, the shipbuilders took the path of least resistance.

Taking Monarch's contours as a basis, they simply shortened the bow ram a little and added another deck, thereby killing several birds with one stone: increasing seaworthiness and giving space to accommodate twice as strong medium artillery.

As a result, the estimated displacement of the new battleships was 8,340 tons (the Arpad turned out to be slightly larger - 8,360 tons), and the total displacement was 8,780 tons.

Later, in the process of restructuring, the displacement of the Habsburg and Arpad was reduced to 8,250 tons.

Despite the obvious increase in size and displacement, the Austrian opponents in the Adriatic still far outnumbered them.

The displacement of the Italian "Regina Margherita" under the project amounted to 13,215 tons, during operation it came close to 14 thousand.

The dimensions of the Habsburg hull were: length -113.1 m, width - 21.2 m, maximum draft - 7.2 m.

In the middle part of the hull there was a high superstructure, which housed the casemates of medium artillery.

It was she who predetermined one of the most significant shortcomings of the new ship.

Photo 3. "Habsburg"

In battle, a large area of ​​​​the sides increased the likelihood of being hit by an enemy projectile. She also gave a quite tangible minus in everyday service - the stability of the new battleship was beyond criticism.

Therefore, in 1911-1912. the height of the superstructures was reduced. Initially, the battleships were equipped with two combat masts, equipped with combat mars and crane beams, in the fashion of that time.

But this "decoration" also fell under the reduction during the mentioned struggle with the upper weights in 1911-1912. So the ships entered the world war with light signal masts.

The greatest bewilderment of the sailors was caused by the dismantling of the usual teak deck and its replacement with a lighter, but inconvenient linoleum in everyday life.

According to the project, two four-cylinder triple-expansion machines with a capacity of 11,900 hp were installed on battleships. With. had to create a speed of up to 19 knots. But all ships exceeded this value.

Even the worst “walker” “Habsburg” showed 15,063 hp during tests. With. and 19.62 knots, and the Babenberg cars came close to 16,000 hp. s., giving 19.85 knots.

As on the Monarchs, the designers chose Belleville water-tube boilers to generate steam, which were installed in 16 pieces.

Regular coal pits could take up to 811 tons of coal, and in overload it was possible to place another 388 tons in the space between decks.

As a result, the maximum range at 12 knots was up to 3,600 miles.

Since the Habsburgs received armor made using Krupp technology, it became possible to make it thinner compared to the Harvey of the Monarchs.

This made it possible to extend the main belt to the bow and stern. As a result, at the waterline, its thickness ranged from 180 to 220 mm, decreasing towards the extremities to 80 mm.

Photo 4. "Habsburg", 1918

The armored deck in the central part had a thickness of 66 mm, decreasing towards the stern to 40 mm.

The gun turrets are the most heavily armored -280 mm in the front, decreasing to 210 mm towards the rear.

The commander's cabin had an armor thickness of 200 mm.

The casemates of medium artillery were armored with 135 mm plates, and the space between the casemates and the belt was 100 mm.

Significant progress in Austrian industry was associated with ironclad artillery.

If the first two ships, like the Monarchs, received imported 240-mm guns, however, the L40 K / 97 models (barrel length 40 calibers, Krupp gun model 1897), then the Babenberg for the first time in the Austrian fleet received a domestic rapid-fire 240-mm cannon manufactured by Skoda K / 01 (Krupp model of 1901).

The bow turrets of all battleships were two-gun, and the stern turrets were single-gun.

But one should not think that the Austrians received underarmed ships, obviously worse than their opponents in the Adriatic.

On the contrary, in a battle with lightly armored Italians, a heavy Austrian projectile weighing 215 kg could become a very serious argument.

An armor-piercing projectile of this caliber had a contact fuse, which, when its moving part was compressed, sharply increased the temperature inside itself, which turned out to be sufficient to ignite the powder charge.

In addition to extreme reliability, the Austrian projectile exploded almost instantly, unlike foreign ones, with a delay of only a few microseconds, that is, it was more similar to foreign high-explosive ammunition, with the only difference being that this slowdown was quite enough to get into the armored space of the Italian battleship.

Austrian designers clearly looked to the future.

A 45-kilogram charge with gunpowder grade K / 97 provided a muzzle velocity of up to 765 m / s and a maximum range of up to 16,000 m at an elevation angle of 15 °. And gun mounts could provide those angles!

Since such a range was considered excessive, firing tables for the Austrian gunners were compiled only for angles up to 12.85 °.

The next important feature of the Austrian guns was that 240-mm systems were on most of the Austrian battleships and cruisers.

Model C186 - on cruisers: armored type "Franz Joseph" and armored "Maria Theresa", C / 94 - on battleships of the "Monarch" type, C / 97 - on the "Habsburg", "Arpad" and the cruiser "Karl VI", finally , K / 01 - on the "Babemberg", the subsequent battleships of the "Archduke" type and the cruiser "St. Georg".

Despite such diversity, all ammunition was quite interchangeable, and each new model of shells was created so as to fit all guns.

Photo 5. "Archduke Karl"

In 1905, the Austrian Navy began the development of a new armor-piercing ammunition, eventually, according to some naval historians, reaching a leading position in the world.

It was during this period that the Austrian projectile acquired a ballistic cap, increasing the mass of an already heavy ammunition to 229 kg.

Despite the increase in the propellant charge to 46.15 kg, the muzzle velocity decreased to 705 m/s. But the main "know-how" was the alloying of steel for the cap (primarily with bronze), which made it very effective in punching newly appeared plates with surface hardening.

Finally, obviously under the impression of Tsushima and Japanese explosive shells, in 1908 a new 215-kg shell with a large charge of trinitrotoluene entered service.

The muzzle velocity when firing this projectile was 765 m/s.

But the most unpleasant surprise awaited the Allies during the World War.

If before war time shells of these types were indicated only on ships with guns of the K / 01 brand, then after the start of hostilities it turned out that they could just as successfully be used by older 240-mm guns!

So the Austrian old men could snap very painfully even at the Italian dreadnoughts.

In general, in 1901 the Austrians began their own production of shells. Of course, initially it was the same Krupp C / 80 model.

This was the case when the students were able to surpass their teachers!

The Italians, who also borrowed the technology for the production of ammunition (only in England), until the end of the Second World War, could not solve a number of very important points.

For example, shells fit together only if they have the same mass, but there are always dimensional tolerances in manufacturing technology, and therefore all shells, even in the same batch, will turn out to be of different mass.

And the Italian guns have always been distinguished by an unusually large dispersion, while the Austrian ones are at the level of the world's leading manufacturers, in some ways even ahead of them.

The medium artillery of the Habsburg-class ironclads consisted of twelve 150-mm guns (model L40 Krupp C/96) and had to be placed on two floors to avoid crowding.

To fight the destroyers, the battleships received ten 66-mm (L45), six 47-mm (L44) and two 47-mm (1.33) guns manufactured by Skoda.

Initially, it was supposed to purchase twelve 37-mm Vickers guns, but already in the process of completion they were quite prudently replaced by domestic ones that were practically in no way inferior to them.

The armament was supplemented by two 8-mm machine guns, which gained unexpected popularity during the war for shooting floating mines and fighting aircraft.

In the fashion of that time, each battleship was equipped with two 66-mm landing guns on a gun carriage.

The war made its adjustments: all landing guns, due to their rather problematic value, were transferred to the shore, and in return the ships received two more needed anti-aircraft guns of the same caliber.

Concluding the review of armaments, we should mention the weapon that never came in handy: two 450-mm torpedo tubes and 20 anchor mines of the barrier.

All ship systems and weapons were served by a crew of 638 people, including 32 officers.

Combat operations involving Austrian ships

Since in the Austrian fleet the most powerful battleships were traditionally assigned to the First Division, after their acquisition of the Habsburgs from it, the Monarchs automatically transferred to the Second Division.

In 1904-1905. all three units took part in numerous maneuvers as part of the fleet, during which the crew got to know the capabilities and shortcomings of their materiel better.

The result of this preparation was a great voyage of the First Division, accompanied by the latest cruiser St. Georg and the destroyer Hussar, to the eastern Mediterranean, after which maneuvers took place in the presence of the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand himself.

In 1908, after the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austrian politicians, who predicted a powerful political crisis, demanded the mobilization of the entire fleet.

In this regard, long-distance cruises of ships this year were postponed, and all ships remained in the Adriatic.

However, everything went extremely calmly, and soon the fleet was able to return to its usual routine.

By 1911, the Austrian fleet was replenished with a significant number of newer ships, which raised the question of the future fate of the Habsburg-class battleships.

Photo 6. "Archduke Friedrich"

To give them greater combat value "Habsburg" and "Arpad" in 1911-1912. underwent a serious restructuring, due to which, at the end, they were again introduced into the core of the active ships of the fleet, after which they were transferred to the reserve.

At the same time, "Arpad" in 1913-1914. used as a floating barracks for non-commissioned officers.

With the outbreak of World War II, all three ships re-commissioned as the Fourth Division of the Second Squadron.

The flagship of the division of Rear Admiral Karl Seidensacher was the battleship Habsburg, commanded by the then captain of the 1st rank Nikolaus (or in Hungarian Miklós) Horthy, who in 1915 was transferred to command the Novara cruiser and made a fairly quick career, rising to the rank a couple of years before the commander-in-chief of the fleet.

Unlike Horthy, the career of the battleships was by no means rich in bright episodes.

Initially, the commander-in-chief of the Austrian fleet, Anton Gaus, concentrated battleships in Pol in anticipation of a war with Italy.

Finally, with Italy's entry into the war, on May 23, 1915, he decided to launch a long-planned operation against the Italian coast, which turned out to be the only one in the entire war when the Habsburgs were able to open fire on the enemy.

As the brunt of the war fell on the more modern and fast units, the older ironclads spent the remainder of the war in the armed reserve at Pola.

At the same time, "Arpad" again returned to the role of training for non-commissioned officers.

And after the sinking of the battleship Vien, to replace it in support of the coastal flank of the army, the Arpad was transferred to Trieste along with the remaining Budapest.

The leadership soon considered this step inappropriate, and on December 21, 1917, the Arpad returned to Polu.

After the uprising of Austrian sailors in Cattaro in February 1918, the leadership decided to exclude all old ships from the lists of the fleet.

As a result, the Habsburg turned into a training ship. The Arpad became a blockhouse-prison, imprisoning the participants of the uprising in Cattaro on its board.

Unlike them, Babemberg, which hosted the headquarters of the flotilla, nevertheless took part in another action.

On April 4, 1918, he was recruited to participate in the unsuccessful operation of the Austrian sabotage forces aimed at destroying torpedo boats in Ancona.

Photo 7. "Archduke Friedrich"

The only one of all its twins, the Babenberg received quite real combat damage.

On July 17, 1918, an Italian pilot dropped several bombs on the Babenberg moored at the side, but hit the battleship.

In the autumn of 1918, all three battleships came under Allied control.

Under the terms of the distribution of the Austrian fleet, all three twins fell into the UK, but she refused such a very dubious acquisition, eventually selling them in 1920 to an Italian company.

Until 1922, "Habsburg" and "Arpad" were in the Field, after which they were taken to Italy for scrapping.

Unlike them, it was decided to use the Babenberg for the needs of the local naval arsenal.

Renamed the Oliva, the ship was seriously rebuilt, turning it into a wreck.

The old ship successfully survived another world war, this time becoming the Yugoslav Ulyanik.

As a result, in 1964 it was handed over to the Technical Museum of Zagreb, and it was scrapped only in the 1980s, after an examination that showed that the technical condition of the vessel was emergency, beyond repair and restoration.

Austrian flotilla during World War I

The first years of the twentieth century became a period of intensive construction of battleships in the leading maritime powers.

The austerity policy in the fleet has already borne fruit.

Even an amateur, comparing the characteristics of the latest battleships of the Monarch and Habsburg types with similar foreign ships, could not help but note the frank weakness of the former.

This was especially clearly seen against the background of the Italian fleet. If the battleships of the "Saint Bon" type were extremely slightly outperforming the Austrians, then when they met with the latest Italian battleships of the "Regina Margherita" type, the Austrians no longer had any chance: they simply could not win or run away.

As a result, the chief designer of the Austrian fleet, Popper, got to design a ship capable of withstanding the Italian counterpart.

Realizing that the country could not yet afford the same large ship, the bet was made on an extremely strong medium artillery, consisting of twelve 190-mm guns (against four 203-mm from the Regina Margherita).

A similar composition of medium artillery did not become an Austrian innovation; rather, it was a global trend.

If at the end of the nineteenth century. The “standard” battleship carried four 305-mm and ten to twelve 152-mm guns, then the British King Edward VII, which appeared at the turn of the century, carried four 234-mm guns, while maintaining a battery of ten 152-mm guns.

Similar ships were built by France, Russia and Japan.

Photo 8. "Archduke Ferdinand Max" at sea

And neighboring Italy went even further: on the latest battleships of the Regina Elena type, although the number of main battery guns was reduced to two, the intermediate battery included no less than twelve 203-mm guns in six twin-gun turrets.

Therefore, on the designed Austrian battleships, the 240-mm caliber was still left as the main one, increasing, as already mentioned, the intermediate one to 190-mm (four in the towers and eight in the casemates).

The financing of these battleships was again managed to break through only after long discussions in both parliaments - the Austrian in Vienna and the Hungarian-Croatian in Budapest.

Despite protests from some parliamentarians, the 120-million budget for new battleships was nevertheless approved.

Although a year later, faced with the problem of a radical reduction in the expenditure side of the budget, both parliaments again cut the fleet, which, by the way, was the reason for the removal of Admiral Spaun.

Three ships of the "Archduke Karl" type were also built in Trieste by STT.

Their construction took place between 1902 and 1907, and they entered service already hopelessly outdated, since all the world's naval leaders had already joined the dreadnought arms race.

In the literature, these ships are also referred to as the "Archduke" type due to the fact that they all received names in honor of the most prominent archdukes of the Habsburg dynasty.

Archduke Karl, brother of Emperor Franz I, served as Minister of the Navy since 1801, but he went down in history as a field marshal of the Austrian army, the winner of Napoleon at Aspern.

His son, Archduke Frederick, commanded the frigate Guerrier during the campaign against the rebellious viceroy of Egypt, Mehmed Ali.

Under the overall command of the British admiral Stopford, he, among other things, participated in the capture of the Lebanese fortress of Sayda.

3and his Friedrich received the rank of vice-admiral, but on October 6, 1847, he died suddenly in Venice. At this point, the vice admiral was only 26 years old!

Finally, Archduke Ferdinand Max, brother of Emperor Franz Joseph, also vice-admiral and commander-in-chief of the Austrian fleet, in 1864 accepted the offer to take the Mexican throne.

But after being defeated in the ensuing civil war, he was executed by the soldiers of Mexican President Juarez in Querétaro on May 15, 1867.

At the time of construction, the Archdukes, with their 10,600 tons of displacement, became the largest Austrian battleships.

The increased power of the machines required a corresponding increase in the number of boilers, due to which the number of pipes increased to three.

The length of the underwater ram was further reduced to improve seaworthiness and increase speed.

According to the fashion of that time, the masts were equipped with combat tops with the placement of quick-firing guns on them.

At the end of the World War, these sites turned out to be the most suitable for placing the latest rangefinders there.

In the front part there were two anchors and one more reserve, in the stern there were two more anchors of smaller sizes.

The steam generated in twelve water-tube boilers of the Yarrow system was supplied to two vertical four-cylinder triple-expansion machines with a design capacity of 18,000 hp. With.

According to the project, the ships were supposed to reach a speed of 19.5 knots, but, like on the Habsburg, this bar turned out to be easily overcome during sea trials.

"Archduke Karl" and "Archduke Ferdinand Max", although they did not reach their design capacity, developing only 17,962 hp. sec., however, accelerated to a speed of 20.36 knots.

Only the "Archduke Friedrich" exceeded the contractual figures, giving out 18,130 hp. With. and a speed of 20.57 knots.

The battleships were driven by two propellers and had a semi-balanced steering wheel.

Regular pits could take up to 550 tons of coal, bringing this figure to 1,315 tons when taken into overload. And Ferdinand Max, in addition, also took 35 tons of fuel oil to intensify combustion in the boilers.

The autonomy of the ships at a 10-knot speed was up to 4,000 miles.

The main 210 mm armor belt extended from the front to the rear turret, beyond which it was only 50 mm thick.

Above it was a second belt 150 mm thick and 170 mm casemates.

In the bow and stern, the main belt ended with a 200 mm transverse bulkhead.

The armor deck was from 40 to 55 mm and had a maximum thickness above the powder magazines, engine and boiler rooms.

The main caliber turrets were 240 mm thick, the commander's turrets were 220 mm thick, and the medium caliber turrets were 150 mm thick.

Although the naval handbooks indicated that all the armor of the battleships was Krupp, this is not entirely true.

In fact, it was already the next generation of armor - cemented and alloyed with nickel.

To increase survivability, the Archduke had a double bottom in the middle part of the hull, approximately for 73 m.

In addition, the entire hull was subdivided by 14 watertight bulkheads into 15 compartments.

As on the Babenberg, the main caliber was a 240-mm gun manufactured by the Skoda company, model 1901.

But, unlike him, the guns were located in two twin-gun turrets.

The medium caliber was also produced by Skoda and was a 190-mm gun with a barrel length of 42 calibers.

Photo 9. At the main caliber "Archduke Ferdinand Max"

Four of the guns, located in the towers, were high enough above the water to be all-weather, but the remaining eight, located in the casemates, could take part in the battle only when the sea was calm.

For the first time in the Austrian Navy, all guns were electrically powered.

The anti-mine artillery also consisted of Skoda guns: twelve 66-mm 45-caliber and six 47-mm (four 44-caliber and two 33-caliber) guns, which complemented four 37-mm Vickers guns and two 8-mm machine guns Schwarupose.

During the war, it was necessary to create anti-aircraft weapons on ships, and two 66-mm guns were replaced by the same number of 7-mm anti-aircraft guns of the 1909 model.

Directly under the front barbette were 450-mm torpedo tubes, one from each side.

The crew of battleships ranged from 700 to 740 people, including officers, during the war the number increased to 748 people.

The Erzherzog-class ironclads began the campaign in 1908 with a long-distance voyage, cruising the Mediterranean, visiting Malta, Barcelona, ​​Gibraltar, Tangier and Corfu.

And the next year they were put on full alert in connection with the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For the first time in Austrian history, her high seas fleet consisted of six homogeneous new ironclads.

Practical voyages revealed a number of defects that could only be eliminated in the shipyard.

Therefore, in 1909, when political tension subsided, the whole trinity went for revision.

They were equipped with new rangefinders, personally for 190-mm guns, since it was not always possible to correct their firing at rangefinders for the main caliber.

The ventilation system has also been substantially rebuilt. Training swimming in the autumn of 1909 showed the effectiveness of the work carried out.

The following year, the ships again undertook long-distance voyages, visiting a number of Greek and Turkish ports.

In 1912, due to the outbreak of the Balkan War, the Archdukes were again put on high alert.

This time, the core of the Austrian fleet included, in addition to them, a couple of the latest battleships of the Radetzky type.

At the end of the war, all the "Archdukes" went to the reserve. At the beginning of the First World War, the Third Division of the Second Squadron was formed from the battleships of the "Archduke" type.

But their first and last combat use was the shelling of Ancona on May 24, 1915. But for the most part, the battleships were anchored in the Field.

In February 1918, the division of the "Archdukes" in full force was sent to the Bay of Qatar to help suppress the uprising of the sailors.

Although at the end they returned to Pola, they were soon attached as a support division for the cruiser detachment, replacing even older ironclads and armored cruisers in this role.

In June 1918, the division in full force was supposed to launch an attack on the Otranto barrage, along with the light forces of the fleet and dreadnoughts, but after the sinking of the Sent Istvan dreadnought, the operation was curtailed.

At the end of the war, like other ships in Cattaro, the Archdukes raised the Croatian flag until the French occupied the bay.

In accordance with the post-war division of the Austrian fleet, "Archduke Ferdinand Max" went to Great Britain, and the rest - to France.

As with the Habsburgs, the British abandoned such a very dubious acquisition and also sold it for scrap to Italy.

The French did the same with their "Archduke Friedrich".

As for the Archduke Charles, it was supposed to be towed to Toulon. But during this voyage, the caravan made a stop in Bizerte, where the old battleship anchored in the bay of Sidi Abdalah.

Here, during a storm in 1920, the Archduke Karl sank in shallow water. It was deemed inexpedient to raise it, and the ship was dismantled on the spot in 1921.

Indefatigable

The battlecruiser Indefatigable became the first English ship to die in the Battle of Jutland. During a duel of battlecruisers, the ship was hit by heavy shells from the German battlecruiser Von der Tann, causing an explosion of ammunition. Out of a team of 1019 people, only two survived, picked up by a German ship.

Queen Mary

The second British battlecruiser to die in the Battle of Jutland was the Queen Mary, which was lost just over 20 minutes after the Indefatigable. The ship received a combined salvo from the battlecruisers Derflinger and Seydlitz, which also caused an explosion in the artillery cellars. Of the team of 1275 people, 9 were saved.

Invincible

This battlecruiser was Admiral Hood's flagship at the Battle of Jutland. When Beatty's formation, which had already lost two battlecruisers in battle with the Germans, retreated to the main forces of the British fleet, Hood's detachment was the first to come to his aid. The fire of the Invincible severely damaged the German light cruiser Wiesbaden, which later sank. But then the lighting changed, and the ship became clearly visible to the gunners of the German battlecruisers. At 18.31, the ship received a hit in the main battery turret, which caused the explosion of the cellars. From the explosion, the ship broke in half, and since it sank at a depth of less than 30 meters, each half rested on the bottom, and the stern and bow remained sticking out above the water. For several years after the war, fishermen could see this terrible monument, until a storm overturned both parts of the skeleton. Admiral Hood, Captain 1st Rank E. L. Clay and more than 1000 people were killed; 6 survivors from the cruiser were picked up by the destroyer Badger.

The German cruiser Blucher was a transitional ship between armored and battlecruisers. Due to a shortage of ships, she often took part in operations alongside newer battlecruisers. During the Dogger Bank on January 24, 1915 with the English battlecruisers, the Blucher, which was the last in the German detachment, received several heavy hits and lost speed. The British preferred to finish off the lagging German ship and let the rest leave. After receiving from 70 to 100 shell hits, and then several torpedoes, the cruiser capsized and sank. The loss of the crew amounted to 792 people, 281 sailors were picked up by British ships.

The French battleship was part of the Allied squadron, which was trying to break through the Turkish fortifications in the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915. The duel of coastal batteries and ships proved fatal for the latter. Bouvet received several hits that destroyed her forward gun turret and one of the masts. Then the battleship stumbled upon a mine, the explosion of which caused the detonation of ammunition. The ship sank within two minutes. Out of a team of 710 people, only about 50 were saved.

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One of four ships of the King George V class. The first dreadnought in history to die in action. October 27, 1914, "Odeyshes", following for training artillery firing, at 08:05 ran into a mine, installed by the German auxiliary mine layer "Berlin". The captain tried to bring the sinking ship to the shore and throw it aground, but at 10:50 the engine room was flooded and the Odeishes lost speed. At 21:00, the Odeishes capsized, exploded and sank. A foreman on the Liverpool cruiser, located at a distance of more than 700 meters from the explosion site, was killed by shrapnel. This is the only human sacrifice at the death of the Odeishes.

Irresistable

The battleship Irresistable (Irresistible) was part of a series of eight British battleships built at the beginning of the 20th century. Participating in the attack by the allied squadron of the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915, the ship hit a mine and lost its course. The current carried him to the Turkish batteries, which finished him off and three hours later the ship went to the bottom. The loss of the team amounted to about 150 people. In total, from this series of battleships, in addition to the Irresistable, two more ships died in the First World War.

The battlecruiser Inflexible picks up the crew of the cruiser Gneisenau

The armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were the core of the German East Asia Squadron based in Qingdao, China. With the outbreak of the First World War, the German squadron went to sea so as not to be destroyed by superior enemy forces in the port. Off the coast of Chile, she defeated the English squadron of Admiral Craddock sent to search for her, sinking two old armored cruisers, but off the Falkland Islands she stumbled upon a much stronger enemy - Strady's squadron, which consisted of an armadillo, 2 linear, 3 armored and 2 light cruisers. In an unequal battle, both German armored and 2 light cruisers were destroyed. The Scharnhost perished along with the entire crew and Admiral Count Spee, while 680 of the Gneisenau crew died and 187 people were rescued.

Saint Stephen

The battleship "Saint-Istvan" (Saint Stephen) was part of a series of four dreadnoughts of Austria-Hungary of the Viribus Unitis type. He spent most of his service at the base of the Austrian fleet in Pole. On June 15, 1918, the main forces of the Austrian fleet went to sea to attack the Allied anti-submarine forces in the Otranto area. The operation failed, and at 3.25 the Szent Istvan received two torpedoes from the Italian torpedo boat MAS-15. The ship received a strong roll to starboard. Attempts to take her ashore and put her aground were unsuccessful, and at 0605 the ship capsized and sank. Of the 1094 crew members, 89 drowned along with the dreadnought, the rest were picked up by escort ships. After the war, the Italians put the MAS-15 boat on public display in Rome's Museo di Risorgimento, where it remains to this day.

Viribus Unitis

On October 31, 1918, during the collapse of Austria-Hungary as a single state, flags were lowered on the decks of the ships of the former Austro-Hungarian fleet, after which the fleet came under the jurisdiction of the Yugoslav National Council. On the same day, the flagship of the former fleet, the Viribus Unitis, sank in the harbor of Pola as a result of a sabotage by the Italian combat swimmers R. Rosetti and R. Paolucci, who laid mines on board the battleship. Janko Vukovich Podkapelsky, captain 1st rank, part-time commander of the new Yugoslav fleet, refused to leave the ship and died with him, sharing the fate of almost 400 crew members. The question of whether the Italians knew that they were going to blow up, in fact, not an enemy battleship, but a ship of a completely different fleet, remains open to this day.

Before the outbreak of the First World War, the great powers paid great attention to their naval forces, and large-scale naval programs were being implemented. Therefore, when the war began, the leading countries had numerous and powerful ones. A particularly stubborn rivalry in building up naval power was between Great Britain and Germany. The British at that time possessed the most powerful navy and merchant fleet, which made it possible to control strategic communications in the oceans, to link together numerous colonies and dominions.

In 1897, the German Navy was significantly inferior to the British Navy. The British had 57 class I, II, III battleships, the Germans had 14 (4:1 ratio), the British had 15 coastal defense battleships, the Germans had 8, the British had 18 armored cruisers, the Germans had 4 (4.5:1 ratio). ), the British had 125 cruisers of classes 1-3, the Germans had 32 (4: 1), the Germans were inferior in other combat units.

Arms race

The British wanted not only to maintain the advantage, but also to increase it. In 1889, Parliament passed a law that allocated more funds for the development of the fleet. London's naval policy was based on the principle that the British Navy was to outperform the two fleets of the most powerful maritime powers.

Berlin initially did not pay much attention to the development of the fleet and the capture of colonies, Chancellor Bismarck did not see much point in this, believing that the main efforts should be directed to European politics, the development of the army. But under Emperor Wilhelm II, priorities were revised, Germany begins the struggle for colonies and the construction of a powerful fleet. In March 1898, the Reichstag passed the "Law on the Navy", which provided for a sharp increase in the Navy. Within 6 years (1898-1903) it was planned to build 11 squadron battleships, 5 armored cruisers, 17 armored cruisers and 63 destroyers. The shipbuilding programs of Germany were subsequently constantly adjusted upwards - in 1900, 1906, 1908, 1912. According to the law of 1912, the size of the fleet was planned to be increased to 41 battleships, 20 armored cruisers, 40 light cruisers, 144 destroyers, 72 submarines. Particular attention was paid to battleships: in the period from 1908 to 1912, 4 battleships were laid in Germany annually (in previous years, two).

In London, it was believed that German naval efforts posed a great threat to Britain's strategic interests. England intensified the naval arms race. The task was to have 60% more battleships than the Germans. Since 1905, the British began to build battleships of a new type - "dreadnoughts" (after the name of the first ship of this class). They differed from squadron battleships in that they had stronger weapons, were better armored, with a more powerful power plant, large displacement, etc.

Battleship Dreadnought.

Germany responded by building its own dreadnoughts. Already in 1908, the British had 8 dreadnoughts, and the Germans had 7 (some were in the process of being completed). The ratio of "pre-dreadnoughts" (squadron battleships) was in favor of Britain: 51 against 24 German. In 1909, London decided to build two of its own for every German dreadnought.

The British tried to maintain their naval power through diplomacy. At the 1907 Hague Peace Conference, they proposed limiting the scale of building new warships. But the Germans, believing that only Britain would benefit from this step, rejected this proposal. The naval arms race between England and Germany continued until the First World War. By its beginning, Germany had firmly taken the position of the second military maritime power overtaking Russia and France.

Other great powers - France, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary, etc., also tried to build up their naval armaments, but due to a number of reasons, including financial problems, they could not achieve such impressive success.

The Importance of the Fleets

The fleets had to perform a number of important tasks. Firstly, to protect the coast of countries, their ports, important cities (for example, the main purpose of the Russian Baltic Fleet is the protection of St. Petersburg). Secondly, the fight against enemy naval forces, the support of their ground forces from the sea. Thirdly, the protection of sea lanes, strategically important points, especially Britain and France, they owned huge colonial empires. Fourthly, to ensure the status of the country, a powerful navy showed the position of the power in the world informal table of ranks.

The basis of the then naval strategy and tactics was a linear battle. In theory, the two fleets were supposed to line up and in an artillery duel to find out who was the winner. Therefore, the fleet was based on squadron battleships and armored cruisers, and then dreadnoughts (from 1912-1913 and superdreadnoughts) and battlecruisers. Battlecruisers had weaker armor and artillery, but were faster and had a longer range. Squadron battleships (battleships of the pre-dreadnought type), armored cruisers were not written off, but they were brought to the background, ceasing to be the main striking force. Light cruisers were supposed to carry out raids on enemy sea lanes. Destroyers and destroyers were intended for torpedo strikes, the destruction of enemy transports. Their combat survivability was based on speed, maneuverability and stealth. The Navy also included special-purpose ships: minelayers (set sea mines), minesweepers (made passages in minefields), seaplane transports (hydrocruisers), etc. The role of the submarine fleet was constantly growing.

Great Britain

The British at the beginning of the war had 20 dreadnoughts, 9 battlecruisers, 45 old battleships, 25 armored and 83 light cruisers, 289 destroyers and destroyers, 76 submarines (most outdated, they could not operate on the high seas). I must say that, despite all the power of the British fleet, its leadership was very conservative. New items hardly found their way (especially those not related to liner fleet). Even Vice-Admiral Philip Colomb, a naval theorist and historian, author of the book “Naval Warfare, Its Basic Principles and Experience” (1891), said: “There is nothing that would show that the laws of naval warfare established long ago by any have changed in a way." The admiral substantiated the theory of "ownership of the sea" as the basis of the imperial policy of Britain. He believed that the only way to achieve victory in the war at sea was to create complete superiority in naval forces and destroy the enemy's navy in one pitched battle.

When Admiral Percy Scott suggested that "the era of dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts was over forever" and advised the Admiralty to focus on development and the submarine fleet, his innovative ideas were sharply criticized.

The general management of the fleet was carried out by the Admiralty, headed by W. Churchill and the First Sea Lord (Chief of the Main Naval Staff) Prince Ludwig Battenberg. British ships were based in the harbors of Humberg, Scarborough, Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow. In 1904, the Admiralty considered relocating the main naval forces from the English Channel north to Scotland. This decision removed the fleet from the threat of a blockade of the narrow strait by the growing German Navy, and allowed for operational control of the entire North Sea. According to the British naval doctrine, which was developed shortly before the war by Battenberg and Bridgman, the basing of the main forces of the fleet in Scapa Flow (a harbor in Scotland on the Orkney Islands), outside the effective range of the German submarine fleet, should have led to a blockade of the main forces of the German fleet, which and happened during the First World War.

When the war began, the British were in no hurry to meddle with the German shores, fearing attacks by submarines and destroyers. The main fighting took place on land. The British limited themselves to covering communications, protecting the coast and blockade Germany from the sea. The British fleet was ready to join the battle if the Germans brought their main fleet to the open sea.

Germany

The German Navy had 15 dreadnoughts, 4 battlecruisers, 22 old battleships, 7 armored and 43 light cruisers, 219 destroyers and destroyers, and 28 submarines. According to a number of indicators, for example, in speed, the German ships were better than the British. Much more attention was paid to technical innovations in Germany than in England. Berlin did not have time to complete its naval program, it was supposed to be completed in 1917. Although the German naval leaders were quite conservative, Admiral Tirpitz initially believed that it was "frivolous" to get involved in the construction of submarines. And dominance at sea is determined by the number of battleships. Only realizing that the war would begin before the completion of the battle fleet construction program, he became a supporter of unlimited submarine warfare and the forced development of the submarine fleet.

The German "High Seas Fleet" (German: Hochseeflotte), it was based in Wilhelmshaven, was supposed to destroy the main forces of the British fleet ("Grand Fleet" - "Big Fleet") in an open battle. In addition, there were naval bases in Kiel, Fr. Helgoland, Danzig. The Russian and French navies were not perceived as worthy opponents. The German "High Seas Fleet" created a constant threat to Britain and forced the English Grand Fleet to be constantly in the North Sea region in full combat readiness throughout the war, despite the shortage of battleships in other theaters of operations. Due to the fact that the Germans were inferior in the number of ships of the line, the German Navy tried to avoid open clashes with the Grand Fleet and preferred the strategy of raids into the North Sea, trying to lure part of the British fleet, cut it off from the main forces and destroy it. In addition, the Germans focused on waging unrestricted submarine warfare to weaken the British Navy and lift the naval blockade.

The lack of autocracy affected the combat capability of the German Navy. The main creator of the fleet was Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849 - 1930). He was the author of the "risk theory", which argued that if the German fleet was comparable to the British in strength, then the British would avoid conflicts with the German Empire, because in the event of war, the German Navy would have a chance to inflict sufficient damage on the Grand Fleet for the loss of the British fleet supremacy at sea. With the outbreak of war, the role of the grand admiral fell. Tirpitz became responsible for building new ships and supplying the fleet. The "High Seas Fleet" was led by Admiral Friedrich von Ingenol (in 1913-1915), then Hugo von Pohl (from February 1915 to January 1916, before that he was chief of the General Naval Staff), Reinhard Scheer (1916-1918). In addition, the fleet was the favorite brainchild of the German Emperor Wilhelm, if he trusted the generals to make decisions about the army, then the Navy controlled himself. Wilhelm did not dare to risk the fleet in an open battle and allowed only a "small war" to be waged - with the help of submarines, destroyers, mine productions. The battle fleet had to stick to a defensive strategy.

France. Austria-Hungary

The French had 3 dreadnoughts, 20 battleships of the old type (battleships), 18 armored and 6 light cruisers, 98 destroyers, 38 submarines. In Paris, they decided to focus on the "Mediterranean Front", since the British agreed to defend the Atlantic coast of France. Thus, the French saved expensive ships, because there was no big threat in the Mediterranean Sea - Navy Ottoman Empire were very weak and connected by the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Italy was neutral at first, and then went over to the side of the Entente, the Austro-Hungarian fleet chose a passive strategy. In addition, there was a rather strong British squadron in the Mediterranean.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had 3 dreadnoughts (the 4th entered service in 1915), 9 battleships, 2 armored and 10 light cruisers, 69 destroyers and 9 submarines. Vienna also chose a passive strategy and "defended the Adriatic", almost the entire war the Austro-Hungarian fleet stood in Trieste, Split, Pula.

Russia

Russian fleet under the emperor Alexandra III second only to the Navy of England and France, but then lost this position. The Russian Navy received a particularly large blow during the Russo-Japanese War: almost the entire Pacific squadron was lost and best ships Baltic Fleet sent to Far East. The fleet needed to be rebuilt. Several naval programs were developed between 1905 and 1914. They provided for the completion of 4 previously laid down squadron battleships, 4 armored cruisers and the construction of 8 new battleships, 4 battleships and 10 light cruisers, 67 destroyers and 36 submarines. But by the beginning of the war, not a single program had been fully implemented (the State Duma also played its role in this, which did not support these projects).

By the beginning of the war, Russia had 9 old battleships, 8 armored and 14 light cruisers, 115 destroyers and destroyers, 28 submarines (a significant part of the old types). Already during the war, the following entered service: in the Baltic - 4 dreadnoughts of the Sevastopol type, all of them were laid down in 1909 - Sevastopol, Poltava, Petropavlovsk, Gangut; on the Black Sea - 3 dreadnoughts of the Empress Maria type (laid down in 1911).

The Russian Empire was not a backward power in the naval field. It even took the lead in a number of areas. In Russia, excellent destroyers of the Novik type were developed. By the beginning of the First World War, the ship was the best destroyer in its class, and served as a world model in the creation of destroyers of the military and post-war generation. The technical conditions for it were created at the Marine Technical Committee under the leadership of the outstanding Russian shipbuilders A. N. Krylov, I. G. Bubnov and G. F. Schlesinger. The project was developed in 1908-1909 by the shipbuilding department of the Putilov Plant, which was headed by engineers D. D. Dubitsky (for the mechanical part) and B. O. Vasilevsky (ship building part). At Russian shipyards, in 1911-1916, in 6 standard projects, a total of 53 ships of this class were laid down. The destroyers combined the qualities of a destroyer and a light cruiser - speed, maneuverability and rather strong artillery armament (4th 102-mm guns).

Russian railway engineer Mikhail Petrovich Nalyotov was the first to implement the idea of ​​a submarine with anchor mines. Already in 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War, participating in the heroic defense of Port Arthur, Naleytov built a submarine with a displacement of 25 tons, capable of carrying four mines, at his own expense. He conducted the first tests, but after the surrender of the fortress, the apparatus was destroyed. In 1909-1912, a submarine was built at the Nikolaev shipyard, which received the name "Crab". She became part of the Black Sea Fleet. During the First World War, the "Crab" made several combat exits with mine productions, even reached the Bosphorus.

Already during the war, Russia became the world leader in the use of hydrocruisers (aircraft carriers), since this was facilitated by the factor of dominance in the creation and use of naval aviation. Russian aircraft designer Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich, since 1912 he worked as the technical director of the plant of the First Russian Aeronautics Society, in 1913 he designed the world's first seaplane (M-1) and immediately began to improve the aircraft. In 1914, Grigorovich built the M-5 flying boat. It was a two-seat biplane of wooden construction. The seaplane entered service with the Russian fleet as a reconnaissance and spotter of artillery fire, and in the spring of 1915 the aircraft made its first sortie. In 1916, Grigorovich's new aircraft, the heavier M-9 (sea bomber), was adopted. Then the Russian nugget designed the world's first seaplane fighter M-11.

On Russian dreadnoughts of the Sevastopol type, for the first time, they used the installation system of not two, but three-gun turrets of the main caliber. In England and Germany, they were initially skeptical of the idea, but the Americans appreciated the idea and Nevada-class battleships were built with three-gun turrets.

In 1912, 4 Izmail-class battlecruisers were laid down. They were intended for the Baltic Fleet. These would be the most powerful battlecruisers in the world in terms of artillery armament. Unfortunately, they were never completed. In 1913-1914, eight light cruisers of the Svetlana type were laid down, four each for the Baltic and Black Sea fleets. They were going to be put into operation in 1915-1916, but did not have time. Russian submarines of the Bars type were considered one of the best in the world (they began to be built in 1912). A total of 24 Bars were built: 18 for the Baltic Fleet and 6 for the Black Sea.

It should be noted that in the pre-war years in the West European fleets little attention was paid to the submarine fleet. This is due to two main reasons. Firstly, previous wars have not yet revealed their combat significance, only in the First World War did their enormous significance become clear. Secondly, the then dominant naval doctrine of the "high seas" assigned submarine forces one of the last places in the struggle for the sea. Dominance in the seas was to be won by battleships, having won a decisive battle.

Russian engineers and artillery sailors made a great contribution to the development of artillery. Before the start of the war, Russian factories mastered the production of improved models of naval guns of caliber 356, 305, 130 and 100 mm. The production of three-gun turrets began. In 1914, the engineer of the Putilov factory F.F. Lender and the artilleryman V.V. Tarnovsky became pioneers in the field of creating a special anti-aircraft gun with a caliber of 76 mm.

AT Russian Empire before the war, three new types of torpedoes were developed (1908, 1910, 1912). They surpassed similar torpedoes of foreign fleets in speed and range, although they had a lower total weight and charge weight. Before the war, multi-tube torpedo tubes were created - the first such tube was built at the Putilov plant in 1913. He provided salvo fire with a fan, Russian sailors mastered it before the start of the war.

Russia was a leader in the field of mines. In the Russian Empire, after the war with Japan, two special minelayers "Amur" and "Yenisei" were built, and the construction of special minesweepers of the "Zapal" type also began. In the West, before the start of the war, no attention was paid to the need to create special ships for setting and sweeping sea mines. This is also proved by the fact that in 1914 the British were forced to buy a thousand ball mines from Russia to protect their naval bases. The Americans bought not only samples of all Russian mines, but also trawls, considering them the best in the world, and invited Russian specialists to teach them how to mine. The Americans also bought Mi-5, Mi-6 seaplanes. Before the start of the war, Russia developed galvanic and shock-mechanical mines of the 1908 and 1912 models. In 1913, they designed a floating mine (P-13). She was kept underwater at a certain depth due to the action electrical appliance swimming. The mines of the previous models were kept at a depth due to buoys, which did not give much stability, especially during storms. P-13 had an electric shock fuse, a charge of 100 kg of tola and could stay at a given depth for three days. In addition, Russian specialists created the world's first river mine "Rybka" ("R").

In 1911, undercutting kite and boat trawls entered service with the fleet. Their use shortened the time of minesweeping, because the undercut and pop-up mines were immediately destroyed. Previously mines had to be towed into shallow water and destroyed there.

The Russian fleet was the cradle of radio. Radio became a means of communication and control in combat. In addition, before the war, Russian radio engineers designed radio direction finders, which made it possible to use the device for reconnaissance.

Given the fact that the new battleships in the Baltic did not enter service, besides the Germans had complete superiority in the forces of the battle fleet, the Russian command adhered to a defensive strategy. Baltic Fleet was supposed to defend the capital of the empire. Minefields were the basis of naval defense - during the years of the war, 39 thousand mines were put up at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. In addition, there were powerful batteries on the coast and islands. Under their cover, cruisers, destroyers and submarines made raids. The battleships were supposed to meet the German fleet if it tried to break through the minefields.

By the beginning of the war, the Black Sea Fleet was the master of the Black Sea, since the Turkish Navy had only a few relatively combat-ready ships - 2 old squadron battleships, 2 armored cruisers, 8 destroyers. The attempts of the Turks before the war to change the situation by buying the latest ships abroad did not bring success. The Russian command planned to completely block the Bosphorus and the Turkish coast from the beginning of the war, to support the troops of the Caucasian Front (if necessary, the Romanian) from the sea. The issue of conducting a landing operation in the Bosphorus region, to capture Istanbul-Constantinople, was also considered. The situation was somewhat changed by the arrival of the newest battlecruiser Goeben and the light Breslau. The cruiser "Goeben" was more powerful than any Russian battleship of the old type, but together the squadron battleships of the Black Sea Fleet would have destroyed it, therefore, in a collision with the entire squadron, "Goeben" retreated, using its high speed. In general, especially after the commissioning of dreadnoughts of the Empress Maria type, the Black Sea Fleet controlled the Black Sea basin - it supported the troops of the Caucasian Front, destroyed Turkish transports, and attacked the enemy coast.

Naval arms race

Stubborn rivalry in building up naval power unfolded before the First World War between Germany and England. England, which owned vast colonies on all continents, occupied the first place in the world in terms of naval forces and merchant marine. The German navy was significantly inferior to the English, as can be seen from the table.

Despite its naval superiority, England continued to build up its naval forces. In 1889, Parliament passed a law that increased loans for the construction of the fleet. This law was based on the principle that the fleet of England was to surpass the two fleets of the most powerful other countries (137).

Table. The composition of the fleets of England and Germany by 1897*

* "Comparative tables of the navies of England, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, the USA and the republics South America". SPb., 1897, pp. 66 - 71. The table includes only ships that had combat value in 1897.

German imperialists, who became in the last quarter of the XIX century. on the path of colonial conquest, they decided to intensively develop their navy. Adopted in March 1898 by the Reichstag, a special "Law on the Navy" provided for a sharp increase in it. Within six years (1898 - 1903) it was planned to build 11 squadron battleships, 5 large armored cruisers, 17 cruisers with an armored deck and 63 destroyers (138). German shipbuilding programs steadily expanded in 1900, 1906, 1908 and 1912. According to the law of 1912, the size of the German fleet was supposed to be increased to 41 battleships, 20 armored cruisers, 40 light cruisers, 144 destroyers and 72 submarines (139). The pace of construction of battleships was especially accelerated. From 1908 to 1912, 4 battleships were laid down in Germany annually (instead of 2 in the previous period) and a corresponding number of cruisers and destroyers (140).

The British bourgeoisie understood that the decisions of the German government in the development of the navy threatened the naval power of England. Not wanting to lose her superiority on the seas, England also intensified the naval arms race. She set a goal of having 60% more battleships than there were in the German fleet (141). In addition, in 1905 the British government began building battleships of a new type - "dreadnoughts", which had a significant advantage over previous ships. By building dreadnoughts, England intended to make a major leap in the development of her naval power and force Germany to admit that she was powerless to shake England's naval hegemony.
However, Germany sought not only to catch up with England in the number of ships, but also not to be inferior to her in their quality and "to build ships so that in the event of a conflict they would be at least equivalent in combat power to the ships of the enemy" (142). Therefore, as soon as the first dreadnought was built in England, Germany began to build similar ships. Already in 1908, England had 8 dreadnoughts (some of them were under construction), and Germany - 7. The ratio of the old type of battleships was as follows: 51 for England and 24 for Germany (143).

In view of the growing threat to British naval power from Germany, England in 1909 decided to build two ships for every newly laid down German ship (144). Adopted in March 1909, the naval budget for 1909/10 allowed the government to build up to eight dreadnoughts, not counting a large number of smaller ships. In fact, nine dreadnoughts were laid - one ship of this type was built at the expense of New Zealand (145).
England also sought to preserve its naval power through diplomacy. After the adoption in Germany of the Naval Law of 1906, the British government came up with a proposal to limit the scale of construction of new warships. At the Hague Peace Conference in 1907, British diplomacy came up with a proposal to limit naval armaments (146). But this diplomatic step of England was rejected by Germany. German diplomacy spoke out extremely sharply and rudely against any kind of arms limitation.
The competition in the construction of the navy between Germany and England continued until the outbreak of the First World War. By 1914, the German fleet firmly took second place among the fleets of the largest maritime powers.

The frenzied arms race that engulfed England and Germany marked the approach of war. V. I. Lenin, noting this in 1911 in the article “Congress of the British Social Democratic Party”, wrote: “It is known that in recent years both England and Germany have been arming extremely intensively. The competition of these countries in the world market is becoming more and more aggravated. The military clash is approaching more and more menacingly” (147). This scientific prediction of V. I. Lenin came true only three years later.
Other states (France, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary) also sought to increase their fleets by building new, more modern ships. However, the financial and economic capabilities of these countries did not allow the full implementation of the adopted shipbuilding programs. Russia can serve as a typical example in this respect.
The tsarist government, which lost during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. almost the entire Pacific squadron and the best ships of the Baltic Fleet, sent to the Far East, directed efforts towards the restoration and further development of the navy. To this end, in the period from 1905 to 1914, several shipbuilding programs were developed, which included the completion of the previously laid down 4 squadron battleships, 4 armored cruisers, 4 gunboats and 2 submarines, 2 minelayers and the construction of new 8 battleships, 4 battleships and 10 light cruisers, 67 destroyers and 36 submarines. However, by the beginning of the war, none of these programs had been completed (148).

Ship classes, combat assets and weapons

The experience of the first wars of the era of imperialism, especially the Russo-Japanese war, presented new requirements for various classes of ships, weapons and military equipment of the navies.

For battleships, it became necessary to strengthen the artillery of the main caliber 305 - 381 mm to 8 - 12 guns and the anti-mine caliber 120-150 mm to 14-18 guns due to the abandonment of the medium caliber, strengthening the armor of the main belt to 305 - 350 mm and expanding the armor area in order to increase the survivability of the ship in battle, increase the displacement to 25 - 27 thousand tons and speed to 23-25 ​​knots.
The first battleship of a new type called the Dreadnought was built in England (commissioned in 1907) and, in terms of its tactical and technical data, differed sharply from the squadron battleships of the period of the Russo-Japanese War. Table 10 provides a visual representation of this.

Table 10. The performance data of the Russian squadron battleship "Borodino" and the English battleship "Dreadnought" *

* A. P. Shershov. The history of military shipbuilding from ancient times to the present day. M. - L., 1940, pp. 144, 241-242, 346 - 347; S. P. Moiseev. List of ships of the Russian steam and armored fleet (from 1861 to 1917). M., 1948, pp. 58 - 59.

The table shows that the English ship was significantly superior to the Russian battleship in terms of machine power, speed, main caliber artillery and armor.
Following England, other major maritime powers began building battleships of the "dreadnought" type.
It should be noted that two trends were observed in the development of the class of battleships, which were most clearly manifested in the English and German fleets. They were explained by different operational and tactical considerations. The Germans, expecting an attack by a stronger, English fleet near their coasts, paid their main attention to strengthening the armor and increasing the number of guns, neglecting to a certain extent even the speed of movement. The British, on the other hand, attached paramount importance to the speed and caliber of the guns, so that they could deprive the enemy of the initiative in choosing the time and place of the battle. These trends can be traced by comparing the performance data of the English battleship Queen Elizabeth and the German battleship Koenig (Table 11), which were built at the same time (1911-1914).

Table 11 Tactical and technical data of the battleships "Queen Elizabeth" and "Koenig"*

* F. Jane. Fighting Ships, 1915; AT. Weger. Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten, 1914; x.wilson. Battleships in battle. Per from English. M., 1936, pp. 414, 422; "Operational-tactical views of the German Navy". Digest of articles. M. - L., 1941, p. 16.

French and Italian battleships of pre-war construction also had quite good tactical and technical elements. A characteristic feature of the Italian battleships was the advantage in speed with the same power equipment and armor. The battleships of the Austro-Hungarian fleet were somewhat inferior to the French and Italian ones.
The idea of ​​creating a new type of battleship was first developed by Russian sailors and shipbuilders S. O. Makarov, A. N. Krylov, I. G. Bubnov. But due to the economic backwardness of tsarist Russia and the inertia of its ruling circles, this idea was not implemented in a timely manner. The construction of new battleships in Russia began with a great delay and was carried out at a slow pace.
The first Russian dreadnought ships ("Sevastopol", "Gangut", "Petropavlovsk" and "Poltava") were laid down in the summer of 1909 at the Baltic and Admiralty plants in St. Petersburg in accordance with the shipbuilding program of 1908. Their construction was delayed, and they entered into operation only in November - December 1914, that is, after the start of the world war (149). The battleships of the Sevastopol type, designed taking into account the experience of the Russian-Japanese war and the achievements of advanced Russian shipbuilding science, surpassed not only the first dreadnoughts of England, Germany and other states, but also the battleships of foreign fleets built simultaneously with them or even later.
On the eve of the war, a new type of heavy cruiser was born - a battle cruiser, which had a high speed for that time (almost 30 knots), strong artillery (up to 12,356 mm main caliber guns) and powerful armor (up to 300 mm). Cruisers of this type had turbine engines and took a large amount of liquid fuel. In terms of their combat qualities, they left the old armored cruisers far behind.
In Russia, the battlecruisers ("Izmail", "Borodino", "Navarin" and "Kinburn"), intended for the Baltic Fleet (laid down in December 1912), were the most powerful in the world in terms of artillery weapons. But by the beginning of the war they remained unfinished (150).
In all fleets, great attention was paid to the development of light cruisers and destroyers. An increase in the speed and anti-mine artillery of battleships and cruisers required a significant increase in speed (up to 30 knots and more) and the strengthening of artillery and torpedo weapons of light cruisers and destroyers. The old types of these ships could no longer perform their tasks in squadron combat.
In 1910, the construction of new destroyers of the Novik type began at the Putilov Plant, and in 1913 - light cruisers of the Svetlana type. The first destroyer entered service in 1913, but the cruisers could not be completed during the war (151) .
The experience of using mine weapons in the Russo-Japanese War revealed the need to create special ships for setting and sweeping minefields - minelayers and minesweepers

However, in all fleets, with the exception of the Russian fleet, no attention was paid to the construction of such ships. It was believed that with the outbreak of war, merchant ships could be equipped for such ships. In Russia, after the war with Japan, two special minelayers "Amur" and "Yenisei" were built, and in 1910 the world's first underwater minelayer "Crab" was laid. The construction of special minesweepers of the Zapal type also began.
In the prewar years, insufficient attention was paid in the West European fleets to the construction of submarines. This was due to two reasons. Firstly, the then dominant naval doctrine of "ownership of the sea" assigned the submarine one of the last places in the struggle at sea, since victory was achieved, as she believed, by linear forces in a pitched battle. Secondly, in previous wars, the submarine has not yet revealed its combat capabilities. This happened already during the First World War. As a result, by the beginning of the war, its main participants had a small number of submarines in their fleets. France had 38 of them, Germany - 28, Russia - 23. And only England had 76 boats, but among them there were many obsolete ones. One of the best submarines of pre-war projects was considered to be Russian submarines of the Bars type, laid down in 1912.

In the prewar years, work began on the creation of seaplanes in the largest imperialist states. Several types of such machines were designed and built, but almost all of them did not leave the stage of experimental testing before the start of the war. Only in the course of the war did the fleets begin to receive aircraft suitable for solving combat missions, among them the Avro (England), Borel (France), Flugbot (Germany) (154).
The situation was different in Russia. Russian aircraft designer D. P. Grigorovich in 1912-1913. created several models of the M-type seaplane (M-1, M-2, M-4, M-5), which immediately found practical application in the fleet. The M-5 aircraft turned out to be especially successful. He had high tactical flight qualities (flight weight - 660 kg, payload - 300 kg, ceiling - 4450 m, speed - 128 km / h). In 1914, he was accepted into service with the fleet as a naval reconnaissance officer. It remained in the hydroaviation until 1921. The M-9 aircraft, created by Grigorovich in 1916, had higher tactical flight data.

Russian engineers also took care of special ships - carriers of seaplanes. In 1913, engineer Shishkov designed a high-speed air transport that could take up to seven aircraft. Since the beginning of the war, the Black Sea Fleet was equipped with several such aircraft, the aircraft of which conducted aerial reconnaissance and covered the ships of the squadron from the air in remote areas of the sea.
The development of various classes of ships, the increase in the number of submarines in the fleet and their combat capabilities, as well as the emergence of naval aviation, required further improvement of all types of weapons and the creation of new means of combat. Particular attention was paid to improving the tactical and technical data of naval artillery, since it continued to be the main weapon of the fleet. By the beginning of the First World War, the caliber of heavy guns had increased to 356 - 381 mm, mine artillery - up to 152 mm; anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of up to 76 mm appeared. The initial speed of the shells also increased - up to 950 m / s, the rate of fire of large guns - up to two rounds per minute, the firing range - up to 120 cables (156).
At the same time, the relative weight of the shells increased, their penetrating and high-explosive actions increased, as the shells began to be filled with stronger explosives; improved methods of controlling artillery fire. The art of fire control has always been the most important factor in the battle of surface ships.

Speaking of this, it should be noted that the English fleet entered the First World War less prepared for artillery combat than the German fleet. In terms of range, the British and German guns of the main calibers were approximately the same. But the high-explosive shells of the British, which had sensitive fuses, did not penetrate the armor of the German ships, and in the event of penetration they did not cause major damage. The German shells, on the other hand, pierced the weaker armor of the English ships and caused severe damage. The British were also unable to develop their own artillery fire control system before the war. Already in the course of the war, they realized that they were lagging behind in this matter, and used many of the Russian methods of controlling fire (157).
A major contribution to the development of artillery weapons was made by Russian engineers and gunners-sailors. Before the war, Russian factories mastered the production of improved models of naval guns of caliber 356, 305, 130 and 100 mm (158). The production of three-gun ship turrets also began. In 1914, the engineer of the Putilov factory F.F. Lender and the artilleryman V.V. Tarnovsky were pioneers in the creation of a special anti-aircraft gun with a caliber of 76 mm (159).

The Russo-Japanese War had a particularly great influence on the development of torpedo and mine weapons. The improvement of the torpedo went along the line of increasing its destructive power, firing range and speed. The most common in all fleets was the 450-mm torpedo, which had a range of 16 cables (about 3000 m) at a speed of 29 knots. In some fleets during the war, ships were armed with torpedoes of larger calibers (500, 530 and 550 mm), with a speed of 45 knots at a distance of 15 cables.
In Russia, in the prewar period, three new models of torpedoes were developed (1908, 1910 and 1912), which surpassed the same type of torpedoes of foreign fleets in speed and range, despite the fact that they had a slightly lower total weight and charge weight (160) .
Before the war, multi-tube torpedo tubes appeared. The first such (three-pipe) apparatus was produced in 1913 at the Putilov plant in St. Petersburg. He provided volley fire with a fan, the methods of which were developed and mastered by Russian torpedoists before the start of the war.
The development of mine weapons was characterized by an increase in the mine charge to 150 kg, which consisted of a stronger explosive(tola), improved fuses, increased speed and depth of setting. On the eve of the war, the fleets were armed with shock and galvanic impact mines. During the war, antenna mines appeared, and at the very end of it, magnetic mines.

The first place in the development of mine weapons was occupied by the Russian fleet. Before the World War, the Russian fleet developed galvanic and shock-mechanical mines of the 1908 model and the 1912 model. According to the tactical and technical data, these mines were much superior to foreign ones, especially in the reliability of action. In 1913, a floating mine "P-13" was designed, which was kept under water at a certain depth due to the action of an electric navigation device. Mines of old samples of this type were kept under water with the help of buoys that did not ensure the stability of the mine, especially in stormy weather. "P-13" had an electric shock fuse, a charge of 100 kg of tol and could stay at a given recess for three days. None of the foreign fleets had a similar mine. Russian miners created the world's first river mine "R" ("Rybka").
At the beginning of the war, Russian designers of mine weapons and practical miners provided great assistance to the allied English fleet in organizing the production of mines and training personnel methods of using mine weapons, since the British were far behind in this matter. At the request of the British Admiralty, a group of miners was sent to England with a supply of mines in 1000 pieces.

The Russian fleet went ahead of foreign fleets also in the creation of more advanced models of minesweeping weapons. In 1911, undercutting kite and boat trawls entered service. The use of these trawls significantly reduced the time of minesweeper work, since mines that were cut and floated to the surface were immediately destroyed. Previously, mines had to be towed to a shallow place and destroyed there, which took a lot of time.
The Russian fleet was the cradle of radio. Radio has become a common means of communication in the navy in general, and in particular it has found wide application in command and control of forces in battle. Before the war, Russian radio engineers created radio direction finders, which made it possible to use radio as a means of reconnaissance.

Organization and management

The navies of the major imperialist states (Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and others) consisted of fleets (flotillas) deployed in different maritime theaters. The fleet (naval forces of the theater) was the highest operational formation, which, depending on the composition of its forces, goals and the nature of the war, could solve not only operational, but also strategic tasks.

The squadron was the main operational formation of battle forces (battleships, battleships and armored cruisers) in all fleets, with the exception of the Turkish one. Squadrons could be homogeneous, consisting of ships of the same class (for example, battleships or cruisers), and mixed, which included ships of different classes (battleships, cruisers, destroyers). If there were several squadrons in one theater, they were reduced to large operational formations (for example, the British 1st, 2nd and 3rd fleets). From light surface forces (light cruisers, destroyers, destroyers), submarines and special-purpose ships (minelayers, minesweepers, patrol ships, gunboats, etc.), homogeneous or mixed were created (again, depending on the availability of ships of these classes ) operational and tactical formations - flotillas, divisions, brigades, divisions, detachments. At the same time, it should be noted that the same type of formations in different fleets had different names. For example, formations of destroyers and destroyers in the English, German, French and Austro-Hungarian fleets were called flotillas, in Russian - divisions, and in Italian - brigades, regardless of the number of ships that were part of them. The numerical composition of associations and formations was the most diverse.

Naval command organization different countries was also different. In England, the main governing body of the fleet was the Admiralty, which in the fall of 1911 was headed by W. Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty (Minister of the Navy). The Admiralty was engaged in planning the construction of the fleet and its combat training, developing plans of operations and managing combat operations on an operational-strategic scale. In the English naval forces there was still the post of the first sea lord, that is, the commander in chief of all fleets. This post was held by Admiral Lord Fisher from October 1914. In 1912, the Naval General Staff was created, but before the start of the war it did not find its place in the fleet management system. Head of the Marine general staff at the beginning of the war was Vice Admiral Sturdee, and from November 1, 1914 - Rear Admiral Oliver (163). The rights and obligations of the commanders of individual fleets were limited to the development and conduct of combat operations on an operational-tactical scale, the combat training of the personnel of ships and formations and their maintenance in a combat-ready state.

The supreme command of the naval forces in Germany belonged undividedly to the Kaiser, who was subordinate to: the Naval Ministry (State Secretariat of the Imperial Naval Administration), headed by Grand Admiral Tirpitz, the Kaiser's Naval Cabinet, headed by Admiral Müller, and the Admiral Staff (Naval General Staff) , led by Admiral Pohl. The Naval Ministry was in charge of the organization, management and material support of the fleet. It had no direct influence on the management of the combat activities of the fleet during the war. The Naval Cabinet dealt mainly with the recruitment and service of officers. The Admiral Staff, as an organ of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (Kaiser), carried out the development of plans for operations, the distribution of forces among naval theaters in accordance with the tasks assigned to the fleet. The commanders of forces in the North and Baltic Seas were directly subordinate to the Kaiser. They were responsible for combat training, staffing, technical condition ship's composition, and in wartime and for the conduct of hostilities of their fleets (164). As can be seen from the above structure of the fleet control bodies and the functions they performed, in Germany, in fact, there was no high naval command that would be fully responsible for waging war at sea. This circumstance had an extremely unfavorable effect on the combat activity of the fleet.

At the head of the management of the naval forces of France was the Minister of Marine with his operational body - the Naval General Staff. He was directly subordinate to the commander of the fleet of the Mediterranean Sea and the commander of the naval forces of the Channel. The General Staff developed plans for operations and supervised their implementation.

The commander-in-chief of the Italian fleet (he is also the commander of the first squadron), the Duke of Abrutsky, was subordinate to the chief of the Naval General Staff, Admiral di Rivel, who was in charge of the combat activities of the fleet. The Naval Ministry, with its directorates and departments, was in charge of shipbuilding, manning and mobilization, all types of weapons, the development of coastal defense, as well as the equipment of naval bases and ports and the logistics of the fleet, i.e., everything related to general preparation of the fleet for war (166).
In Austria-Hungary, the fleet was subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces. The Maritime Ministry did not exist. Its functions were performed by the Naval Department of the War Ministry. The head of this department had great independence and could personally report to the emperor on all the most important issues of building, maintaining and managing the fleet.

In Turkey, the fleet management system was violated before the start of hostilities in the Black Sea. With the arrival of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau, the German Admiral Souchon became the commander of the naval forces, who often gave orders over the head of the Minister of the Navy, Ahmet Dzhemal.
The Naval Ministry, which since 1911 was headed by Admiral I.K. Grigorovich, was the governing body of the naval forces of Russia as a whole. The Naval Ministry included: the Admiralty Council, which was directly chaired by the Minister of Marine, the Main Naval Headquarters, the Main Naval Court, the Main Naval Ship Administration, the Main Shipbuilding Administration, the Main Hydrographic Administration, the Main Maritime Economic Administration and other administrations, departments and divisions (169).

In 1906, the Naval General Staff was created, which was entrusted with solving strategic problems, planning the construction of the fleet, conducting its mobilization, and directing the general preparation of naval forces for war. The establishment of the Naval General Staff was a positive factor in the restoration of the Russian naval forces. With its creation, the functions of the Main Naval Staff changed significantly, which now was in charge of the personnel of the fleet, the combatant, administrative and military training units, as well as the legislative part of the naval department (170).
In addition to naval formations and formations, the naval command in England, Germany and Italy was completely subordinate to the coastal defense of the country, including sea fortresses, naval bases and military ports with their garrisons.

This had a positive effect on the organization and conduct of coastal defense in these countries. This was not the case in other states. In France, for example, there was a dual system of subordination of coastal defense. The entire coast of the country was divided into maritime districts, each of which was divided into several sectors. At the head of the district was the naval chief, but in relation to the command of the ground forces of his district, he reported directly to the Minister of War. Naval or army officers were appointed as heads of sectors, depending on which forces prevailed there. In Austria-Hungary, coastal defense was the responsibility of the War Ministry. As for Russia, before the start of the war, there was no unified system of coastal defense on a national scale. The land defense of most naval fortresses and naval bases and ports was under the jurisdiction of the War Ministry. The commanders of naval bases (ports) and the heads of their garrisons (commandants) were independent of each other. Only in one Sevastopol the commandant of the fortress was subordinate to the chief commander of the port (171).
Picking system
There was no unified system for manning fleets with rank and file. In some countries, it was carried out by free hiring (recruitment), in others - by military service, and in others - by a mixed system, partly by recruitment, partly by military service.
In England, the rank and file of the fleet was completed by free hiring. Those who wanted to serve in the Navy signed a contract for 5 or 12 years, with subsequent continuation of service with a positive certification for another 6 years for the first and 10 years for the second. Those who signed a contract for 5 years were immediately sent to the ships as sailors of the 2nd article, and those who had a contract for 12 years entered junior schools, after which they were sent to ships and continued to serve as sailors there, receiving a promotion in the articles. The best of them were promoted to non-commissioned officers. For the training of junior specialists in artillery and mine specialties, there were schools for foremen, where cadets who graduated from schools were accepted. In other specialties, there were no schools for either foremen or for officers. Personnel on them were prepared in a practical way, right on the ships. After passing the relevant exams, non-commissioned officers were promoted to officers. To improve the skills of artillerymen, miners and navigators, there were special classes. In England there was a Naval Academy, but with a very short training period - only 4 months. Senior officers and admirals were accepted into it.

The fleet manning system adopted in England had that positive side that as a result of a long service, the personnel received great experience and good seamanship. But this system did not ensure the accumulation of the reserve. That is why, already during the war, the British were forced to partially introduce military service.
The German fleet was recruited for military service, as well as at the expense of the Jung and volunteers. The term of service in the Navy was set at three years, after which enrollment in the reserve of various degrees followed until the age of 40. The junior officers and specialists of the fleet were recruited from young graduates of the school and volunteers after appropriate training. Mechanical engineers for the fleet were trained from persons who graduated from secondary technical schools and had experience practical work in shipyards. They were sent to serve on ships, and then, after a year of training in the class of marine engineers, they were promoted to the exam in the mechanical engineer of the fleet. The German Naval Academy had a two-year term of study.

The officers of the English and German fleets were recruited according to the class principle - from the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Only mechanical engineers of the German Navy could come from other classes.
In France, the fleet manning system was quite complicated. The rank and file of the fleet was completed on the basis of the so-called naval record, the recruitment of "hunters" and general military service. The “maritime record” was that the entire male population of the coastal strip of France aged 18 to 50 years in relation to military service attached to the fleet. However, in practice, the "recorded" served in the Navy for no more than 45 months, and then they could, if desired, either continue their service or be transferred to the reserve. The "recorded" enjoyed a number of privileges in receiving pensions, awards and sea fishing. In 1912, the period of compulsory service for them was reduced to 2 years. Those who remained to serve further had the right of their choice to enter the schools of naval specialists and advance in the service up to the officer rank.
When recruiting "hunters", a contract was concluded for 5 years according to the naval specialty chosen by them. The missing number of recruits after the admission of "recorded" and "hunters" was replenished through military service with a mandatory service period of 2 years. In French navy, as in other fleets, there was a junior school, which provided the main contingent for schools of junior fleet specialists.

The Austro-Hungarian and Italian fleets were recruited for military service from the population of coastal districts or persons who, before being drafted, had something to do with the sea (merchant sailors, fishermen) or the fleet (shipbuilders). In the Italian Navy, in addition, there was a cabin boy school. Terms of service: in the Austro-Hungarian fleet - 12 years, of which 4 years in active service, 5 years in the reserve and 3 years in the militia; in Italian, 4 years in active service and 8 years in reserve. For the training of junior specialists and officer cadres, there were appropriate schools and colleges (175).
The officer corps of the Austro-Hungarian fleet was formed taking into account not only the class, but also the national principle. The vast majority were Austrian Germans.

The rank and file, in addition to the Germans, was made up of Hungarians, Italians and representatives of the Slavic peoples.
The recruitment system of the Russian fleet was almost entirely based on conscription. According to the regulation approved in 1912, upon reaching military age and fit for health reasons, all persons who had navigational ranks and the ranks of ship mechanics, as well as those who sailed on merchant ships as sailors, helmsmen and stokers, were necessarily involved in the service in the navy upon reaching military age and fit for health reasons. Further, preference was given to recruits from factory workers who had specialties in metalwork and assembly, turning, boiler and blacksmithing, minders, electricians, telegraph operators and other specialists.

Therefore, among the rank and file of the fleet there was always a significant layer of factory workers, which created favorable conditions for the development of the revolutionary movement in the fleet. The missing part of the rank and file was recruited from the inhabitants of the coastal and riverine regions of the country.
The total service life for the ratings of the fleet was set at 10 years, of which 5 years in active service and 5 years in reserve (177).
In the prewar years, a Jung school was opened for the Baltic Fleet in Kronstadt. By creating it, the Naval Ministry not only had in mind the improvement of the quality of training of the fleet personnel, but also pursued political goals. Through the Jung school, it hoped to train servicemen devoted to the tsarist autocracy, who could be used in the fight against the revolutionary movement in the navy. However, the calculations of the tsarist authorities did not come true in this case either. Despite the brutal repressions and attempts to create a certain layer of trustworthy among the personnel, the revolutionary movement in the navy grew more and more.

For the training of non-commissioned officer rank specialists in the Baltic and Black Seas, there were training detachments, which included artillery and mine schools. In addition, various schools, classes and training teams were created that were not part of the training detachments: engine schools and schools for helmsmen and signalmen of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, a diving school (common for both fleets), a diving school for the Baltic Fleet, paramedic schools in Kronstadt and Nikolaev, training teams of non-commissioned officers of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, etc.

The officers of the fleet were recruited from the children of the nobility, the bourgeoisie, and officials. People from other strata of the population were also admitted to engineering schools. Training of officers was carried out in the Naval Corps, special classes and the Naval Academy.
During the First World War, in many countries the system of manning the fleets with privates and officers underwent significant changes. The war caused a large expenditure of naval personnel. Recruitment and training of replacements could not be carried out according to pre-war norms and principles. The terms of training were reduced, some qualification restrictions were abolished in the service of officers, and admission to the officer corps was expanded for people from petty-bourgeois strata.

combat training

In the British and German fleets, combat training was carried out practically all year round. It usually began with a single preparation of the ship, then tactical exercises of homogeneous and heterogeneous formations followed, and as a result, final maneuvers of large formations and formations were carried out. In England, the maneuvers were predominantly operational in nature; Germany conducted bilateral tactical and operational maneuvers.
In the German Navy, much attention was paid to artillery firing, which was carried out at long distances against shields equal in area to ships. In terms of the level of artillery training, the British fleet was significantly inferior to the German one. The well-known English naval historian X. Wilson later admitted that "in the first period of the war, British ships ... showed in this regard a significant and very dangerous weakness compared to the German ones."

In both fleets, the destroyers carried out salvo torpedo firing, and the German destroyers, in addition, practiced daytime torpedo attacks. The Germans set up training minefields, and then they were cleared out by minesweepers equipped with obsolete destroyers.
In the English and German fleets great importance was attached to the naval training of personnel and the training of formations in joint navigation. A major shortcoming in the combat training of both fleets was that they did not prepare for joint operations with the ground forces. If we talk about the level of combat training in general, then in the German fleet it was somewhat higher than in the English, especially in the field of tactics and the use of weapons. In other Western European fleets, combat training did not have any significant differences, except that it was carried out at a lower level compared to the fleets of Germany and England.

The Turkish fleet occupied a special position in terms of combat training. The rank and file of the fleet was recruited mainly at the expense of peasants of the Muslim faith. Cadres of junior specialists of the fleet and non-commissioned officers were not being trained. The states of the officers on the ships and in the units were incredibly inflated. By the beginning of the war, there were 8 for 10 sailors.
According to the testimony German officer Herman Lorey, who served in the Turkish Navy during the war years, Turkish warships were "mainly" floating barracks ", and life on them was reduced to food, uniforms and theoretical training ... Only a small part of the personnel was on the ships, but she did not swim but spent her time idle in sheltered harbors” (180). After the war with Russia 1877-1878. Turkish ships did not leave the Bosporus for the Black Sea until the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). “... Therefore,” Lorey continues, “the personnel were not used to the sea and had no maritime experience” (181).

He goes on to point out major shortcomings in the organization certain types combat training (artillery and torpedo firing, ensuring the survivability of a ship in battle, navigation, etc.), poor provision of the fleet with combat stock, fuel and other types of supplies. Finishing the characterization of the Turkish fleet by the beginning of the war, Lorey writes that “by the time the German ships arrived, mobilization was in full swing, but neither the ships nor the shipyards showed any preparations for hostilities” (182). In many ways, Lorey was, of course, right. However, one cannot ignore the fact that Lorey and other Germans, who arrived in the Turkish fleet along with the Goeben and Breslau or later, tried in every possible way to inflate their role in the “transformation” of the Turkish fleet after the war. fighting on the Black Sea during the war showed that if we exclude the German ships that were part of the Turkish fleet, then the latter made very little progress in its combat capability.
A little more detail should dwell on the combat training of the Russian fleet, since it had some characteristics. The advanced officers of the Russian fleet had a hard time experiencing the tragedy of Tsushima. They paid attention primarily to the combat training of personnel. And, I must say, we have achieved considerable results in this direction, especially in the Baltic Fleet.

In the Baltic Sea, the combat training of the fleet was led by Vice Admiral N. O. Essen, who largely adhered to the views of S. O. Makarov. Since 1906, he commanded the 1st mine division of the fleet, based on the ice-free port of Libau. The ships of the division sailed all year round, regardless of meteorological conditions, which contributed to the development of endurance, courage, initiative and perseverance in the personnel in achieving the set goal, that is, those combat qualities that were required in the war. The 1st Mine Division became a combat training school; many commanders of ships and fleet formations passed through it in the prewar years (183). In November 1908, N. O. Essen was appointed head of the united detachments of the Baltic Sea. The first important event that he carried out on a fleet scale was to bring together previously disparate ships and detachments into formations capable of solving operational and tactical tasks.

A major shortcoming in the combat training of the Russian fleet over a long period was the practice of predominantly raid exercises. Due to the economy of material resources, ships went to sea, as a rule, only in summer time, and even then not for long. Now fundamental changes were made to the organization of combat training. A stage-by-stage training system was introduced: first, a single ship was trained, then a tactical formation (a division, a brigade of ships), then a large formation (a division of ships) and, finally, at the end of the campaign, maneuvers of the entire operating fleet.
Much attention in the Baltic Fleet was paid to artillery preparation. The Russian ships of the pre-war period, in terms of the power of their artillery weapons, were somewhat inferior to the ships of the same type of the German fleet (184). Therefore, equality or superiority over the enemy could only be achieved through the art of artillery shooting. The number of practical shootings was significantly increased, and the provision of their ammunition was improved. In 1910, special devices were introduced for training gunners to control the fire of a single ship and devices for quick loading of guns.

An important place in terms of the war on the Baltic Sea was given to defensive minelaying. To implement them, advance and thorough preparation was required, especially since the Baltic Fleet did not have a sufficient number of special minelayers. In the autumn of 1909, a detachment of minelayers was formed, which, in the spring of the following year, began intensive combat training aimed at carrying out minelaying, determined by the war plan. The ships of the detachment and destroyers of the 1st mine division practiced laying training mines in the areas of future defensive minefields.
No less seriously organized in the Navy was training for the use of torpedo weapons in a future war. New types of torpedoes (1908, 1910, 1912) were put into service, which required a comprehensive test. The carriers of torpedo weapons - destroyers and submarines - also became others. It was necessary to develop more advanced methods of torpedo firing. The center for combat training in the use of torpedo weapons was the 1st mine division of the fleet. Here, new torpedoes were tested and a method was developed for salvo fire on the area from three destroyers armed with three single-tube devices. Since 1910, combat training in the use of torpedo weapons has also been developed in the submarine brigade of the Baltic Fleet.