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120-458: Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak ( Russian : Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Колча́к ; 16 November [ O.S. 4 November] 1874 – 7 February 1920) was a Russian military leader and polar explorer who held the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia from 1918 to 1920 during the Russian Civil War , though his actual control over Russian territory was limited. In this role, he was one of

240-582: A Menshevik organ, Vsegda Vperyod , alleging that Kolchak's men used mass floggings and razed entire villages to the ground with artillery fire. 4,000 peasants allegedly became victims of field courts and punitive expeditions and that all dwellings of rebels were burned down. Kolchak also allowed Boris Annenkov to massacre 2,000 to 3,000 Jews. In an excerpt from the order of the government of Yenisei county in Irkutsk province, General. S. Rozanov said: Those villages whose population meets troops with arms, burn down

360-589: A lieutenant , in 1900 Kolchak took part in Baron Eduard von Toll 's Russian Polar expedition on the ship Zarya as a hydrologist and cartographer. During the winter of 1901 Kolchak and Toll rode on dog sleds for 500 km to make a topographic survey of the Taymyr Peninsula , and in the spring they took dog sleds to make a geologic and hydrographic study of the New Siberian Islands . In 1902 he studied

480-765: A cartographic expedition to the Bering Strait and Cape Dezhnev . Kolchak commanded the Vaigach during this expedition and later worked at the Academy of Sciences with the materials collected by him during expeditions. His study, Ice of the Kara and Siberian Seas , was printed in the Proceedings of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences and is considered the most important work on this subject. Extracts from it were published under

600-682: A city, like winter lamb and pork carcasses. Those who suffered were mainly soldiers of the garrison and the workers. Even the Czech-Slovaks, who had spearheaded the anti-Bolshevik uprising in Siberia, became appalled by Kolchak's regime in Omsk. On November 15, 1919, they delivered a memorandum to the Allied representatives in Vladivostok : List of Russian admirals This list of Russian admirals includes

720-603: A consequence, the 1825 Committee to Organise the Fleet was formed, which outlined an ambitious shipbuilding project which aimed to create the third largest navy in Europe. The growth of the Russian navy in the years after this greatly bolstered Russian naval capability, expanding both the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. A Russian squadron under the command of Dutch Admiral Lodewijk van Heiden fought at

840-414: A gesture of helplessness. He is bursting to be with the people, with the troops, but when he faces them, has no idea of what to say. Politically naive and an inept administrator, Kolchak described himself as a "military technician" who knew nothing of politics, described power as a "cross", and in a letter to his wife wrote about the "terrifying burden of Supreme Power" and admitted that as "a fighting man he

960-562: A heavy storm and was lost at sea. During the Russo–Swedish War, 1656–1658 , Russian forces seized the Swedish fortresses of Dünaburg and Kokenhusen on the Western Dvina . They renamed the former as Borisoglebsk and the latter as Tsarevich-Dmitriyev . A boyar named Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin founded a shipyard at Tsarevich-Dmitriev fortress and began constructing vessels to sail in

1080-465: A light high-speed galley) and 143 brigantines . The ships were being constructed at 24 shipyards, including the ones in Voronezh , Kazan , Pereyaslavl , Arkhangelsk , Olonets , Petersburg and Astrakhan . The naval officers came from dvoryane (noblemen, aristocrats who belonged to the state Russian Orthodox Church). The regular sailors were conscripts , drafted into military service. The service in

1200-648: A term of 5 years imprisonment for "individuals considered a threat to the public order because of their ties in any way with the Bolshevik revolt." In the case of unauthorized return from exile, there could be hard labour from 4 to 8 years. Articles 99–101 allowed the death penalty, forced labour and imprisonment, repression by military courts, and imposed no investigation commissions. Kolchak acknowledged all of Russia's debts, returned nationalized factories and plants to their owners, granted concessions to foreign investors, dispersed trade unions, persecuted Marxists, and disbanded

1320-451: Is so uncontrolled and impulsive, he himself often unintentionally transgresses against the law, and this mainly when seeking to uphold the same law, and always under the influence of some outsider. He does not know life in its severe, practical reality, and lives in a world of mirages and borrowed ideas. He has no plans, no system, no will: in this respect he is soft wax from which advisers and intimates can fashion whatever they want, exploiting

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1440-432: Is to know about him. He is a big, sick child, a pure idealist, a convinced slave of duty and service to an idea and to Russia. An indubitable neurotic who quickly flares up, exceedingly impetuous and uncontrolled in expressions of displeasure and anger; in this respect he has assimilated the highly unattractive traditions of the naval service, which permit in high naval ranks behavior that in our army has long since passed into

1560-662: The Karp class . These vessels, as well as Forelle were transported along the Trans-Siberian Railway en route to the war zone. Germaniawerft, under the supervision of Spanish naval architect Raymondo Lorenzo d'Euevilley-Montjustin, continued his work on the Karp -class submarines, improving and modifying one into Germany's first U-boat , U-1 , which was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy on 14 December 1906. U-1

1680-936: The Aegean Sea by destroying the Turkish fleet in the Battle of Chesma in 1770. In 1771, the Russian army conquered the coasts of the Kerch Strait and fortresses of Kerch and Yenikale . After having advanced to the Danube , the Russians formed the Danube Military Flotilla for the purpose of guarding the Danube estuary. In 1771 they were guests to the Republic of Ragusa . The Beluga caviar from

1800-841: The Arctic Ocean . Rounding the Chukotsk Peninsula , Dezhnev passed through the Bering Sea and sailed into the Pacific Ocean. Peter the Great established the modern Russian Navy. During the Second Azov campaign of 1696 against Turkey, the Russians for the first time used 2 warships, 4 fireships , 23 galleys and 1300 strugs , built on the Voronezh River . After the occupation of the Azov fortress,

1920-665: The Baltic governorates . The Russian Navy went into a period of decline due to the Empire's slow technical and economic development in the first half of the 19th century. It had a revival in the latter part of the century during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II ( r.  1894–1917 ), but most of its Pacific Fleet (along with the Baltic Fleet sent to the Far East) was destroyed in the disastrous Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Nicholas II, who

2040-740: The Battle of Navarino in 1827. The Navy was used to great effect during the subsequent Russo-Turkish War (1828-29) , utilising the Mediterranean squadron and the Black Sea Fleet to gain command of the Sea from the Ottomans, which contributed to Russian victory and the signing of the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829. In 1826 the Russians built their first armed steamboat Izhora (73.6  kW (98.7  hp )), equipped with eight cannons . In 1836, they constructed

2160-526: The Battle of the Yellow Sea . The remnant of the Russian fleet remained in Port Arthur, where the ships were slowly sunk by the artillery of the besieging army. Attempts to relieve the city by land also failed, and after the Battle of Liaoyang in late August, the Russians retreated to Mukden ( Shenyang ). Port Arthur finally fell on 2 January 1905, after a series of brutal, high-casualty assaults. By 25 June,

2280-599: The Boyar Duma looked into Peter's report of this military campaign. It passed a decree on October 20, 1696, to commence construction of a navy. This date is considered the official founding of the Imperial Russian Navy. During the Great Northern War of 1700–1721, the Russians built the Baltic Fleet . The construction of the oared fleet (galley fleet) took place in 1702–1704 at several shipyards ( estuaries of

2400-569: The East Siberian Sea while he was onboard Zarya . After considerable hardship, Kolchak returned in December 1902; Eduard Toll, along with three other explorers continued further north and were lost. Kolchak took part in two Arctic expeditions to look for the lost explorers (who were not found) and for a while was nicknamed "Kolchak-Poliarnyi" ("Kolchak the Polar"). For his explorations Kolchak received

2520-521: The February Revolution . When Emperor Nicholas II asked the commanders of each army group and fleet for their opinion on abdicating the throne, Kolchak was the only one who opposed his abdication. During the events of the Russian Revolution in 1917 he was popular among conservative newspapers, who saw him as a potential military dictator. Early in the civil war, Kolchak briefly served as

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2640-538: The Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. The Soviet Navy , established as the Red Fleet in 1918 after the Revolution, took over the available surviving ships that did not evacuate from Crimea. Strategically , the Imperial Russian Navy faced two overarching issues: the use of ice-free ports and open access to the high seas. Saint Petersburg and the other Baltic ports, as well as Vladivostok , could not operate in winter, hence

2760-622: The Tartar Strait . Keta could not submerge quick enough to obtain a firing position and both adversaries broke contact. The Russians had already been preparing to reinforce their fleet the previous year by sending elements of the Baltic Sea fleet ( The Second Pacific Squadron ) under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky around the Cape of Good Hope to Asia, a voyage of over 18,000 mi (16,000 nmi; 29,000 km). On 21 October 1904, while passing by

2880-620: The Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan, in the early morning of 27 May 1905. Although both battleship fleets were on nearly equal footing in regards to the latest in battleship technology, with the British warship designs representing the Imperial Japanese Navy , and predominately the French designs being favored by the Russian fleets; it was the combat experience that Togo had accrued in

3000-548: The Volunteer Army , he agreed to become a minister in the (White) Siberian Regional Government . Joining a 14-man cabinet, he was a prestige figure; the government hoped to play on the respect he had with the Allies, especially the head of the British military mission, General Alfred Knox . Knox wrote that Kolchak had "more grit, pluck and honest patriotism than any Russian in Siberia". According to historian Richard Pipes , Kolchak

3120-485: The 1860s, the Russian fleet which had relied upon sails lost its significance and was gradually replaced by steam. After the Crimean War, Russia commenced construction of steam-powered ironclads , monitors , and floating batteries. These vessels had strong artillery and thick armor , but lacked seaworthiness, speed and long-distance abilities. In 1861, they built the first steel-armored gunboat Opyt (Опыт). In 1869,

3240-457: The 1904 naval battles of Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea , that gave him the edge over the un-tested Admiral Rozhestvensky during the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May. By the end of the day on 27 May, nearly all of Rozhestvensky's battleships were sunk, including his flagship, Knyaz Suvorov ; and on the following day, Admiral Nebogatov, who had relieved Rozhestvensky due to his wounds, surrendered

3360-581: The Allies wanted a Constituent Assembly to decide the future of Russia, they had decided in advance in their conditions that, for instance, there would be no restoration of the monarchy as well as many other matters that properly should have been decided by the Constituent Assembly. Because Kolchak was entirely dependent upon supplies from Britain—the British had shipped him in the period October 1918-October 1919 about 600,000 rifles, 6,831 machine guns, and about 200,000 uniforms—he had to accept nearly all of

3480-665: The Baltic Fleet had 23 ships of the line and 130 frigates (1788). In the early 19th century, the Russian Navy consisted of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, Caspian Flotilla , White Sea Flotilla and Okhotsk Flotilla . During the Napoleonic Wars , the Russian Navy had limited sea-going capability, with the 1802 Committee to Improve the Condition of the Navy concluding that the dire state of

3600-609: The Baltic Sea. In 1661, however, Russia lost this and other captured territories by the Peace of Cardis. Russia agreed to surrender to Sweden all captured territories, and it ordered all vessels constructed at Tsarevich-Dmitriev to be destroyed. Boyar Ordin-Nashchokin turned his attention to the Volga River and Caspian Sea. With the Tsar's approval, the boyar brought Dutch shipbuilding experts to

3720-714: The Baltic, the Black Sea, the Russian Far East and the Arctic. Under Tsar Mikhail I ( Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov) , the first three-masted ships built within Russia were finished in 1636. Danish shipbuilders from Holstein built it in Balakhna according to contemporary European design. The ship was christened Frederick ; during its maiden voyage on the Caspian Sea , the ship sailed into

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3840-567: The Black Sea Fleet. The total Russian naval expenditure from 1906 to 1913 was $ 519 million, in fifth place behind Britain, Germany, the United States and France. The re-armament program included a significant element of foreign participation with several ships (including the cruiser Rurik ) and machinery ordered from foreign firms. After the outbreak of World War I, ships and equipment being built in Germany were confiscated. Equipment from Britain

3960-651: The Bolsheviks, he explained that as a supporter of the Provisional Government , he considered himself honour bound to continue to fight the war with Germany, and, understanding that there was no suitable role in the British Navy for a Russian admiral, he would be prepared to fight as a private in the British army. His offer was referred up to the Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour , and accepted on 29 December. He

4080-405: The British and French navies in the case of an outbreak of war, and thus dispatched the Atlantic and Pacific fleets to North America, including San Francisco and from 1863 New York —with sealed orders to attack British naval targets in case war broke out between Russia and Britain. The Imperial Russian Navy continued to expand in the later part of the century becoming the third largest fleet in

4200-412: The Constantine Medal, the highest award of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society . In December 1903, Kolchak was en route to St. Petersburg to marry his fiancée, Sophia Omirova, when, not far from Irkutsk , he received notice of the start of war with the Empire of Japan and hastily summoned his bride and her father to Siberia by telegram for a wedding, before heading directly to Port Arthur . In

4320-429: The Danube was famous, and merchants from the Republic of Ragusa dominated the import-export business in Serbia with the Habsburg monarchy . In 1773 the vessels of the Azov Flotilla (created anew in 1771) sailed into the Black Sea. Russia defeated Turkey in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, gaining control of the Sea of Azov and a part of the Black Sea coastline between the rivers Bug and Dniester . The Crimea

4440-442: The Great , Feodor Apraksin , Alexey Senyavin , Naum Senyavin , Admiral Mikhail Golitsyn and others are generally credited for the development of the Russian art of naval warfare . The main principles of naval warfare were further developed by Grigory Spiridov , Feodor Ushakov , and Dmitry Senyavin . Between 1688 and 1725, a period spanning most of Peter's reign, some 1,260 seagoing vessels were built in Russian shipyards for

4560-411: The Greek Ivan Botsis , or the Scotsman Thomas Gordon . In 1718, the Admiralty Board (Адмиралтейств-коллегия) was established as the highest naval authority in Russia. The organizational principles of the Russian Navy, educational and training methods for preparing future staff, and methods for conducting military action were all summarized in the Naval Charter (1720), written by Peter I himself. Peter

4680-470: The Holland Company by the Neva Shipbuilding Company located in St. Petersburg , Russia. In 1903, the German ship building firm Germaniawerft at Kiel completed Germany's first fully functioning engine powered submarine; Forelle . The submarine was toured inspected by Kaiser Wilhelm II , and Prince Heinrich of Prussia was given a brief cruise in the vessel. In April 1904, the Imperial Russian Navy purchased Forelle , and ordered two more submarines of

4800-413: The Imperial Navy had amassed a fleet of 55 submarines, used to varying degrees of success. In the Baltic Sea , Germany and Russia were the main combatants, with a number of British submarines sailing through the Kattegat to assist the Russians, including E9 commanded by Max Horton . With the German fleet larger and more modern (many High Seas Fleet ships could easily be deployed to the Baltic via

4920-406: The Imperial Russian Navy had secretly purchased its first naval submarine, known as Madam, from Isaac Rice 's Electric Boat Company . This submarine was originally built under the direction of Arthur Leopold Busch as the American torpedo boat Fulton . It was a prototype of the Holland Type 7 Design known as the Adder -class/ Plunger -class submarines. By 10 October, this first Russian submarine

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5040-416: The Imperial Russian Navy. Fleets were launched successively on the White Sea , the Sea of Azov (with access to the Black Sea ), the Baltic Sea , and the Caspian Sea ( Russo-Persian War of 1722-1723 ). In 1700, the majority of sailors in the Imperial Russian Navy were foreigners at the start of the Great Northern War . But by 1721, at the end of the same war, the navy had 7,215 native-born sailors. In

5160-480: The Kolchak government adopted Regulation 428, "About the dangers of public order due to ties with the Bolshevik Revolt", which was published in the Omsk newspaper Omsk Gazette (no. 188 of July 1919). It provided a term of 5 years of prison for "individuals considered a threat to the public order because of their ties in any way with the Bolshevik revolt". In the case of an unauthorized return from exile, there could be hard labor for 4 to 8 years. Articles 99–101 allowed

5280-510: The Minister of War and Navy in the Provisional All-Russian Government – the first government that was recognized by all White military and political forces east of Urals , at least nominally – until a November 1918 coup saw him installed as leader and all authority was transferred to his own government . His authority was eventually recognized by the other leaders of the White movement , and he served as its principal leader, although Anton Denikin enjoyed more power than Kolchak. His government

5400-409: The Ottoman government much hardship. In 1916, in a combined Army-Navy assault, the Russian Black Sea fleet aided the Russian army's capture of the Ottoman city of Trebizond (modern Trabzon ). One notable disaster took place under Kolchak's watch: the dreadnought Imperatritsa Mariya exploded in port at Sevastopol on 7 October 1916. A careful investigation failed to determine whether the cause of

5520-404: The Russian Navy, formed in the times of Admiral Ushakov. The Battle of Sinop in 1853 the Black Sea Fleet under Nakhimov made a number of tactical innovations. During the Siege of Sevastopol in 1854–1855, the Russian sailors used all means possible to defend their base from land and sea. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris , Russia lost the right to have a military fleet in the Black Sea. In

5640-401: The Russians began the construction of one of the first seafaring ironclads, Petr Veliky (Пётр Великий). On the night of 8 February 1904, the Japanese naval fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo opened the war with a surprise attack by torpedo boat destroyers on the Russian ships at Port Arthur, badly damaging two Russian battleships. The attacks developed into the Battle of Port Arthur

5760-523: The Russians soon learned the Japanese tactic of offensive minelaying and decided to play the strategy too. On 15 May, two Japanese battleships – Yashima and Hatsuse , were both lured into a recently laid Russian minefield off Port Arthur, both striking at least two mines. Hatsuse sank within minutes taking 450 sailors with her, while Yashima sank under tow a few hours later. The Russian fleet attempted to break out from Port Arthur and proceed to Vladivostok , but they were intercepted and dispersed at

5880-447: The Russians use of the port. On the night of 13/14 February, the Japanese attempted to block the entrance to Port Arthur by sinking several cement-filled steamers in the deep water channel to the port. But the steamers, driven off course by Russian gunfire were unable to sink them in the designated places, rendering them ineffective. Another attempt to block the harbor entrance on the night of 3/4 May with blockships also failed. In March,

6000-496: The SRs opened negotiations with the Bolsheviks and in January 1919 the SR People's Army joined up with the Red Army . Kolchak pursued a policy of persecuting revolutionaries as well as Socialists of several factions. His government issued a decree on 3 December 1918 stating, "In order to preserve the system and rule of the Supreme Ruler, articles of the criminal code of Imperial Russia were revised, Articles 99 and 100 of which established capital punishment for assassination attempts on

6120-496: The Supreme Ruler and for attempting to overthrow his government." Insults written, printed, and oral, are punishable by imprisonment under Article 103. Bureaucratic sabotage under Article 329 was punishable by hard labour from 15 to 20 years. Although the news of Kolchak's ascension to power spread very slowly behind Bolshevik lines, it caused considerable excitement among anti-communist Russians living there. Ivan Bunin wrote in his diary, "4/17 June 1919. The Entente has named Kolchak

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6240-440: The Supreme Ruler of Russia. Izvestia wrote an obscene article saying: 'Tell us, you reptile, how much did they pay you for that?' The devil with them. I crossed myself with tears of joy." On 11 April 1919, the Kolchak government adopted Regulation no. 428, "About dangers to public order due to ties with the Bolshevik Revolt". The legislation was published in the Omsk newspaper Omsk Gazette (no. 188 of 19 July 1919). It provided

6360-419: The United Kingdom (an ally of Japan but neutral in this war), they nearly provoked a war in the Dogger Bank incident by firing on British fishing boats that they mistook for Japanese torpedo boats . The duration of the Baltic Fleet's journey meant that Admiral Togo was well aware of the Baltic Fleet 's progress, and he made plans to meet it before it could reach port at Vladivostok . He intercepted them in

6480-400: The Volga. During much of the 17th century, independent Russian merchants and Cossacks, using koch boats , sailed across the White Sea , exploring the rivers Lena , Kolyma and Indigirka , and founding settlements in the region of the upper Amur . The most celebrated Russian explorer was Semyon Dezhnev who, in 1648, sailed along the entire northern expanse of present-day Russia by way of

6600-469: The admirals of all ranks , serving in the Russian Imperial Navy , the Soviet Navy and the modern Russian Navy . See also the categories Category:Imperial Russian Navy admirals and Category:Soviet admirals . Ivan Ivanovich Stronskiy, Kontr Admiral , (1846 - 1901), famous in Russian - Turkish war 1877-1878, also followed the Order of service to Duke of Edinburgh Alfred in 1876. Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Navy drew its officers from

6720-443: The aristocracy of the Empire, who belonged to the state Russian Orthodox Church . Young aristocrats began to be trained for leadership at a national naval boarding school, the Naval Cadet Corps . From 1818 on, only officers of the Imperial Russian Navy were appointed to the position of Chief Manager of the Russian-American Company , based in Russian America (present-day Alaska ) for colonization and fur-trade development. Although

6840-446: The cabinet for British recognition of Kolchak's government, but the Prime Minister David Lloyd George would only do so if the United States likewise recognized Kolchak. The American president Woodrow Wilson was strongly hostile towards Kolchak, openly doubted his word, and was against diplomatic recognition. Wilson's main adviser on Russia was the former head of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, who told Wilson that Kolchak

6960-591: The campaigns of Kolchak, Yudenich, Denikin and Wrangel otherwise than as tragic blunders of colossal dimensions. On the contrary, a former chief of staff to Admiral Kolchak wrote, They (Kolchak, Kornilov , Denikin and Wrangel ) were first of all patriots with a deep love for their country and worked for its salvation without any regard for self-advancement. Political intrigues were unknown to them and they were ready to work with men of any political party, so long as they knew that these men were sincere in their endeavours to free Russia... and to make it possible, after

7080-411: The chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia, Maurice Janin , and the Czechoslovak Legion , who handed him over to local Socialist-Revolutionaries in January 1920; the Bolsheviks executed him the next month in Irkutsk. Kolchak was born in Saint Petersburg on 4 November 1874. His family was of Moldavian origins. Both of his parents were from Odessa . His father was a retired major-general of

7200-435: The coal supply to Constantinople and threatened the Ottoman Empire 's ability to stay in the war . The Russian Revolution marked the end of the Imperial Navy; the Russian Provisional Government carried out reforms to the navy and its command structure, including the removal of imperial references from its rank insignia. Its officers had mostly aligned with the emperor , and the sailors split to fight on either side during

7320-527: The conditions. In a telegram to Paris sent on 4 June 1919, Kolchak accepted every condition except for the independence of Finland, which he accepted only de facto , not de jure , saying he wanted the Constituent Assembly to grant Finland its independence. As the Allies were especially opposed to a return of the House of Romanov, Kolchak emphatically declared "that there cannot be a return to the regime which existed in Russia before February 1917." The British War Secretary Winston Churchill pressed very strongly in

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7440-461: The death penalty, forced labor and imprisonment, and repression by military courts, and they also imposed no investigation commissions. An excerpt from the order of the government of Yenisei county in the Irkutsk Governorate , General. Sergey Rozanov said: Those villages whose population meets troops with arms, burn down the villages and shoot the adult males without exception. If hostages are taken in cases of resistance to government troops, shoot

7560-459: The disaster was accident or sabotage. The Black Sea fleet descended into political chaos after the onset of the 1917 February Revolution . Kolchak was relieved of command of the fleet in June and traveled to Petrograd (St. Petersburg) . On his arrival at Petrograd, Kolchak was invited to a meeting of the Provisional Government . There he presented his view on the condition of the Russian armed forces and their complete demoralisation. He stated that

7680-427: The early Imperial Navy initially employed paid foreign sailors, the government began to recruit native-born sailors as conscripts, drafted (as were men to serve in the army). Service in the navy was lifelong before the 1874 decree on conscription limited the service term to six years at most. Many naval commanders and recruits came from Imperial Russia's non-Russian lands with maritime traditions— Finland and (especially)

7800-433: The early stages of the Russo-Japanese War , he served as a watch officer on the cruiser Askold , and later commanded the destroyer Serdity . He made several night sorties to lay naval mines , one of which succeeded in sinking the Japanese cruiser Takasago . He was decorated with the Order of St. Anna 4th class for the exploit. As the blockade of the port tightened and the Siege of Port Arthur intensified, he

7920-434: The eastern seaboard of Siberia . These voyages produced important scientific research materials and discoveries in Pacific, Antarctic and Arctic theatres of operations. During the American Civil War, Anglo-Russian relations were worsened by Russian perceptions that the British were covertly supporting the January Uprising against Russian rule in Poland. The Russian admiralty feared that the Russian navy could be blockaded by

8040-454: The end of the war, for a National Assembly, chosen by the people, to decide the character of the future Government of Russia. In November 1918, after seizing power in Siberia , Kolchak pursued a policy of persecuting revolutionaries as well as socialists of several factions, Jews and dissidents. Kolchak's government issued a broadly worded decree on December 3, 1918, revising articles of the criminal code of Imperial Russia "in order to preserve

8160-512: The energetic Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov (1849–1904) took command of the First Russian Pacific Squadron with the intention of making plans to break out of the Port Arthur blockade. By then, both sides began a policy of tactical offensive mine-laying by laying mines in each other's ports. This was the first time in warfare that mines were used for offensive purposes. In the past, mines were used as purely defensive purposes by keeping harbors safe from invading warships. The Japanese mine-laying policy

8280-470: The fact that it is enough to disguise something as necessary for the welfare of Russia and the good of the cause to be certain of his approval. Another who knew him wrote of Kolchak: He is kind and at the same time severe, responsive and at the same time embarrassed to show human feelings, concealing his gentleness behind make-believe severity. He is impatient and stubborn, loses his temper, threatens and then calms down, making concessions, spreads his hands in

8400-508: The first paddle steam frigate of the Russian Navy called Bogatyr (displacement – 1,340  t (1,320 long tons ), power – 177 kW (237 hp), armament – 28 cannons). The Imperial Russian Navy also sent out exploratory expeditions. Between 1803 and 1855, their ships undertook more than 40 circumnavigations and long-distant voyages, most of which were in support of their North Americans colonies in Russian America (Alaska) and Fort Ross in northern California, and their Pacific ports on

8520-412: The first half of the 19th century caused her to fall behind other European countries in the field of steamboat construction. By the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853, Russia had the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, Arkhangelsk Flotilla, Caspian Flotilla and Okhotsk Flotilla (altogether, 40 battleships, 15 frigates, 24 corvettes and brigs , 16 steam frigates etc.). The combined number of staff of all

8640-448: The fleets equaled 91,000 people. Despite all this, the reactionary serfdom system had an adverse effect on the development of the Russian Navy. It was especially typical of the Baltic Fleet, which was known for its harsh military drill. Thanks to admirals Mikhail Lazarev , Pavel Nakhimov , Vladimir Kornilov , and Vladimir Istomin , the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet were taught the art of warfare and upholding of military traditions of

8760-532: The government. Some of these organisations asked Kolchak to accept the leadership. When news of these plots found their way to then Naval Minister of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky , he ordered Kolchak to leave immediately for America. Admiral James H. Glennon , a member of American mission headed by Senator Elihu Root , invited Kolchak to the United States to brief the American Navy on

8880-555: The great ideas of liberty which are now proclaimed in the whole world. I summon you, citizens, to unity, to struggle with Bolshevism, to labor and to sacrifices" The Left SR leaders in Russia denounced Kolchak and called for his assassination. Their activities resulted in a small revolt in Omsk on 22 December 1918, which was quickly put down by Cossacks and the Czechoslovak Legion , who summarily executed almost 500 rebels. Subsequently,

9000-492: The head of government with emergency powers. He was named Supreme Ruler ( Verkhovnyi Pravitel ), and he promoted himself to full admiral . The arrested SR politicians were expelled from Siberia and ended up in Europe. The program of the Kolchak government included: ending Bolshevism and restoring law and order; re-establishing the Russian armed forces; convoking a new Constituent Assembly; introducing economic reforms; and maintaining

9120-475: The hostages without mercy. A member of the Central Committee of the right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries, D. Rakov wrote about the terror of Kolchak's forces: Omsk just froze in horror. At a time when the wives of dead comrades, day and night looked in the snow for bodies, I was unaware of the horror behind the walls of the guardhouse. At least 2500 people were killed. Entire carts of bodies were carried to

9240-661: The key architects of the White Terror . Previously, he served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I . The son of a naval artillery officer, Kolchak graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps and went on to become an accomplished oceanographer and Arctic explorer. He was involved in several expeditions to northern Russia , including the New Siberian Islands , and became

9360-506: The man responsible for planning operations should also take part in their execution, was always on board those ships which carried out the operations and at times took direct command of the destroyer flotillas. He was promoted to vice-admiral in August 1916, the youngest man at that rank, and was made commander of the Black Sea Fleet , replacing Admiral Eberhardt . Kolchak's primary mission

9480-496: The marine artillery and a veteran of the 1854 siege of Sevastopol , who after retirement worked as an engineer in ordnance works near St. Petersburg. Kolchak was educated for a naval career, entering the Naval Cadet Corps in 1888 and graduating in 1894 with honors. After being commissioned as a midshipman in the Imperial Russian Navy he served in the Baltic and Pacific Oceans on several ships between 1895 and 1899, and began publishing articles on hydrology during that time. Now

9600-502: The naval forces in the Gulf of Riga . Commanding Admiral Essen was not satisfied to remain on the defensive and ordered Kolchak to prepare a scheme for attacking the approaches of the German naval bases. During the autumn and winter of 1914–1915, Russian destroyers and cruisers started a series of dangerous night operations, laying mines at the approaches to Kiel and Danzig . Kolchak, feeling that

9720-579: The navy was lifelong. Children of noblemen were educated for naval service at the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, which had been founded in 1701 in Moscow's Sukharev Tower. Students were often sent abroad for training in foreign fleets. The Navy also hired foreign nationals, with significant naval experience, to serve in the Russian Navy, such as the Norwegian-Dutch Cornelius Cruys ,

9840-408: The new submarine fleet sent out its first combat patrol consisting of the vessels Som and Delfin . With patrols varying from 24 hours to a few days, the sub fleets first enemy contact occurred on 29 April 1905 when Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo boats fired upon Som , withdrawing after failing to score a hit. On 1 July the Russian submarine Keta made contact with two Japanese torpedo boats in

9960-464: The next morning. A series of indecisive naval engagements followed, in which the Japanese were unable to attack the Russian fleet successfully under shore batteries ( coastal guns ) of the harbor and the Russians declined to leave the harbor for the open seas, especially after the death of Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov on 13 April 1904. After the attack on Port Arthur, the Japanese attempted to deny

10080-507: The only way to save the country was to re-establish strict discipline and restore capital punishment in the army and navy. During this time many organisations and newspapers of a conservative inclination spoke of him as a future dictator. A number of new and secret organisations had sprung up in Petrograd with the goal of suppressing the Bolshevist movement and removal of the extremist members of

10200-574: The push for Russia to establish naval facilities on the Black Sea coast and (eventually) at Murmansk . And even substantial naval forces in the Baltic Sea remained confined by the lack of free access to the Atlantic via the Øresund , just as the Black Sea Fleet could not always rely on passage through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles . As a result, separate naval groupings developed in relative isolation in

10320-420: The realm of legend. He is utterly absorbed by the idea of serving Russia, of saving her from Red oppression, and restoring her to full power and to the inviolability of her territory. For the sake of this he can be persuaded and moved to do anything whatever. He has no personal interests, no amour propre : in this respect he is crystal pure. He passionately despises all lawlessness and arbitrariness, but because he

10440-598: The remainder of the fleet to Admiral Togo. At the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Russia fell from being the third greatest naval power to sixth place. The focus of Russian naval activities shifted back from the Far East to the Baltic. The task of the Baltic Fleet was to defend the Baltic Sea and Saint Petersburg from the German Empire. Tsar Nicholas II created a Naval General Staff in 1906. At first, attention

10560-641: The rivers Syas , Luga and Olonka ). In order to defend the conquered coastline and attack enemy's maritime communications in the Baltic Sea , the Russians created a sailing fleet from ships built in Russia and others imported from abroad. From 1703 to 1723, the main naval base of the Baltic Fleet was located in Saint Petersburg and then in Kronstadt . Bases were also created in Reval ( Tallinn ) and in Vyborg after it

10680-505: The second half of the 18th century, the Russian Navy was built up to support the government's foreign policy. The nation conducted the Russo-Turkish wars for supremacy in the Black Sea . For the first time, Russia sent its squadrons from the Baltic Sea to distant theaters of operations ( see Archipelago expeditions of the Russian Navy ). Admiral Spiridov's squadron gained supremacy in

10800-482: The ships of the Baltic Fleet, suffering as they did from extensive rot and a lack of copper plating, was incapable of defending Kronstadt and St Petersburg . The Committee's chairman, Vorontsov, concluded that "It is impossible for Russia to be considered a major naval power, but there is no predictable need or advantage in this status." Consequently, the Committee recommended nothing more than limited measures to rectify

10920-541: The soviets. Kolchak's agrarian policy was directed toward restoring private land ownership. To this end former Tsarist laws concerning property were restored. On 26 May 1919, the Supreme War Council in Paris offered to provide Kolchak with unlimited supplies of food, weapons, munitions and other supplies (but not diplomatic recognition) provided that he was willing to meet the following conditions: Pipes wrote that though

11040-553: The state of the fleets, and the Russians retained limited capability at sea thereafter, relying on their land power to defeat Napoleon . In 1802, the Ministry of Naval Military Forces was established (renamed to Naval Ministry in 1815). This attitude changed with the accession of Nicholas I in 1825, who less than a month into his reign declared that "Russia must become the third naval power after England and France and must be more powerful than any coalition of secondary naval powers." As

11160-579: The strategic situation in the Bosphorus. On 19 August 1917 Kolchak with several officers left Petrograd for Britain and the United States as a quasi-official military observer. When passing through London he was greeted cordially by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe , who offered him transport on board a British cruiser on his way to Halifax in Canada. The journey to America proved unnecessary, as by

11280-493: The system and rule of the Supreme Ruler". Articles 99 and 100 established capital punishment for assassination attempts on the Supreme Ruler and for attempting to overthrow the authorities. Under Article 103, "insults written, printed, and oral, are punishable by imprisonment". Bureaucratic sabotage under Article 329 was punishable by hard labor for 15 to 20 years. Additional decrees followed, adding more power. On April 11, 1919,

11400-412: The territorial integrity of Russia. Kolchak issued the following appeal to the population: "I shall not go either on the road of reaction or on the fatal road of Party partisanship. I set as my main objective the creation of an efficient army, victory over Bolshevism and the establishment of law and order, so that the people may choose the form of government which it desires without obstruction and realize

11520-741: The time Kolchak arrived, the US had given up the idea of any independent action in the Dardanelles. Kolchak visited the American Fleet and its ports and decided to return to Russia via Japan. The Bolshevik revolution in November 1917 found Kolchak in Japan . In December, he visited the British embassy in Tokyo and offered his services "unconditionally and in whatever capacity" to the British. Two years later, when interrogated by

11640-713: The title "The Arctic Pack and the Polynya" in the volume issued in 1929 by the American Geographical Society, Problems of Polar Research . In 1910 he returned to the Naval General Staff, and in 1912 he was assigned to the Russian Baltic Fleet . The onset of the First World War found him on the flagship Pogranichnik , where Kolchak oversaw laying of extensive coastal defensive minefields and commanded

11760-583: The town of Dedinovo near the confluence of the Oka and Volga rivers. Shipbuilding commenced in the winter of 1667. Within two years, four vessels had been completed: one 22-gun galley, christened Орёл ("Oryol" = "Eagle"), and three smaller ships. Орёл was Russia's first own three-masted, European-designed sailing ship. It was captured in Astrakhan by rebellious Cossacks led by Stepan Razin . The Cossacks ransacked Орёл and abandoned it, half-submerged, in an estuary of

11880-416: The unpopular regional government was overthrown in a British-sponsored coup d'etat . Kolchak had returned to Omsk on 16 November from an inspection tour. He was approached and refused to take power. The Socialist-Revolutionary (SR) directory leader and members were arrested on 18 November by a troop of Cossacks under ataman Krasilnikov . The remaining cabinet members met and voted for Kolchak to become

12000-610: The villages and shoot the adult males without exception. If hostages are taken in cases of resistance to government troops, shoot the hostages without mercy. There was prominent underground resistance in the regions controlled by Kolchak's government. These partisans were especially strong in the provinces of Altai and Yeniseysk . In summer 1919 partisans of the Altai Region united to form the Western Siberian Peasants' Red Army (25,000 men). The Taseev Soviet Partisan Republic

12120-563: The world after the UK and France. The expansion accelerated under Emperor Nicholas II who had been influenced by the American naval theoretician Alfred Thayer Mahan . Russian industry, although growing in capacity, was not able to meet the demands and some ships were ordered from the UK, France, Germany, US, and Denmark. French naval architects in particular had a considerable influence on Russian designs. Russia's slow technical and economic development in

12240-539: The youngest vice admiral in the Imperial Navy. He was wounded and taken prisoner during the Russo-Japanese War at the siege of Port Arthur , and upon his return he advocated for strengthening the fleet to the State Duma , including with the introduction of submarines and aircraft . Kolchak was the Baltic Fleet chief of operations when World War I broke out and was made the commander of the Black Sea Fleet shortly before

12360-478: Was a "reactionary" who would "inaugurate a regime hardly less sanguinary and repressive than that of the Bolsheviks." Though American forces in Siberia co-operated with Kolchak, it was clear he was not the man favored by the United States as the next leader of Russia. American forces had been sent to Siberia less to help the Whites than to prevent the Japanese, who had occupied the Russian Far East, from annexing it as Tokyo

12480-451: Was a man with poor social skills, being moody, melancholic, taciturn, and very uncomfortable in dealing with people. Arriving at a dinner, Colonel John Ward described him as "a small, vagrant, lonely soul without a friend enter unbidden to a feast". One who knew him wrote: The character and soul of the Admiral are so transparent that one needs no more than one week of contact to know all there

12600-576: Was a naval enthusiast, had a major role in both the build up of the navy before the war with Japan and the rebuilding of it in the decade after. The navy had mixed experiences during the First World War , with the Germans generally gaining the upper hand in the Baltic Sea , while the Russians took control of the Black Sea . The Russian Baltic Fleet mostly stayed on the defensive, but the Black Sea Fleet 's attacks on Ottoman merchant shipping nearly cut off

12720-541: Was based in Omsk , in southwestern Siberia . After initial successes in early 1919, Kolchak's forces lost ground due to a lack of support by the local populace and a failure to unite the leaders of counterrevolutionary movements. Omsk fell to the Red Army in November 1919 during the Great Siberian Ice March , leading to Kolchak to transfer his headquarters to Irkutsk . In December, he was betrayed and detained by

12840-708: Was ceded by Sweden after Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743) . Vladimirsky Prikaz was the first organization in charge of shipbuilding. Later on, these functions were transferred to the Admiralteyskiy Prikaz (admiralty in St. Petersburg). In 1745 the Russian Navy had 130 sailing vessels, including 36 ships of the line, 9 frigates , 3 shnyavas ( шнява — a light two-mast ship used for reconnaissance and messenger services), 5 bombardier ships, and 77 auxiliary vessels. The oared fleet consisted of 396 vessels, including 253 galleys and semi-galleys (called скампавеи , or scampavei ;

12960-559: Was directed to creation of mine-laying and a submarine fleet. An ambitious expansion program was put before the Duma in 1907–1908 but was voted down. The Bosnian Crisis of 1909 forced a strategic reconsideration, and new Gangut -class battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were ordered for the Baltic Fleet. A worsening of relations with Turkey meant that new ships including the Imperatritsa Mariya -class battleships were also ordered for

13080-408: Was effective at restricting the Russian movement of its ships outside Port Arthur when on 12 April 1904, two Russian battleships; the flagship , Petropavlovsk , and Pobeda ran into a Japanese minefield off Port Arthur with both striking mines. Petropavlovsk sank within an hour, while Pobeda had to be towed back to Port Arthur for extensive repairs. Makarov died on Petropavlovsk . However,

13200-509: Was founded south-east of Yeniseysk in early 1919. By the fall of 1919, Kolchak's rear was completely disintegrating. About 100,000 Siberian partisans seized vast regions from Kolchak's regime even before the approach of the Red Army. In February 1920, some 20,000 partisans took control of the Amur region . British historian Edward Hallett Carr wrote, It is no longer possible for any sane man to regard

13320-574: Was given command of a coastal artillery battery. He was wounded in the final battle for Port Arthur and taken as a prisoner of war to Nagasaki , where he spent four months. His poor health ( rheumatism , a consequence of his polar expeditions) led to his repatriation before the end of the war. Kolchak was awarded the Golden Sword of St. George with the inscription "For Bravery" on his return to Russia. Returning to Saint Petersburg in April 1905, Kolchak

13440-653: Was instructed to join the British military mission in Baghdad, but when he reached Singapore, was ordered to turn back and go via Shanghai and Beijing to Harbin , to take command of Russian troops guarding the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria, which the British government had decided could be a base for overthrowing the Bolshevik government and getting Russia back into the war with Germany. Arriving in Omsk , Siberia , en route to enlisting with

13560-447: Was officially commissioned into service and shipped to the eastern coast near Vladivostok Russia and was renamed Som ("Catfish"). This first Russian submarine was not ready in time for the Russo-Japanese War. The reason behind this delay was partly due to a late shipment of torpedoes that was originally ordered from Germany in early 1905. Russia soon ordered more submarines of the same basic design, and they were built under contract with

13680-568: Was openly considering. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia alleges that more than 25,000 people were shot or tortured to death in the Yekaterinburg Governorate alone. In March 1919 Kolchak himself demanded of one of his generals that he "follow the example of the Japanese who, in the Amur region, had exterminated the local population." Sovietskaya Rossiya , an official organ of the Soviet Bureau established by Ludwig Martens , quoted

13800-567: Was promoted to lieutenant commander and took part in rebuilding of the Imperial Russian Navy, which had been almost completely destroyed during the war. He served on the Naval General Staff from 1906, helping draft a shipbuilding program, a training program, and developing a new protection plan for St. Petersburg and the Gulf of Finland . Kolchak took part in designing special icebreakers Taimyr and Vaigach , launched in 1909 and spring of 1910. Based in Vladivostok, these vessels were sent on

13920-490: Was pronounced independent under Russia's protectorate and was annexed by Russia in 1783 . In 1778, the Russians founded the port of Kherson . The first battleship of the Black Sea Fleet was commissioned here in 1783. A year later, a squadron had been developed. By the second half of the 18th century, the Russian Navy had the fourth-largest fleet in the world after Great Britain, Spain and France. The Black Sea Fleet possessed 35 line-of-battle ships and 19 frigates (1787), and

14040-687: Was reluctant to face the problems of statecraft". The American historian Richard Pipes wrote that Kolchak's only strengths were his courage, patriotism, integrity, and a strong sense of honor, writing that he was "...   in many ways, along with Wrangel, the most honorable White commander in the Civil War", but his weaknesses, such as his tendency to suffer from manic depression and inability to "understand people or communicate with them", made him into "an execrable administrator in whose name were committed unpardonable acts of corruption and brutality that he personally found utterly repugnant." In November 1918,

14160-585: Was retired in 1919, and is currently on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Due to the ongoing blockade of Port Arthur in 1904, the Imperial Russian Navy dispatched their remaining submarines to Vladivostok , and by the end of 1904 the last of seven subs had reached their new base there. Using the seven boats as a foundation, the Imperial Russian Navy created the world's first operational submarine fleet at Vladivostok on 1 January 1905. On 14 February 1905

14280-661: Was slow in reaching Russia or was diverted to the Western Allies' own war effort. By the time that the war broke out the Russian Baltic Fleet and the Siberian Flotilla were not a match for the German High Seas Fleet or the Imperial Japanese Navy , but the Black Sea Fleet had enough capability to threaten the Ottomans. At the outbreak of World War I, the Russian Navy consisted of the following: By 1917

14400-523: Was to support General Yudenich in his operations against the Ottoman Empire . He also was tasked with countering the U-boat threat and planning the invasion of the Bosphorus (never carried out). Kolchak's fleet was successful at sinking Turkish colliers. Because there was no railroad linking the coal mines of eastern Turkey with Constantinople , the Russian fleet's attacks on these Turkish coal ships caused

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