We must start with the commanders of the Pacific Fleet - such a position was received alternately by Makarov, Skrydlov and Birilev. The first one died, the second one …
N. I. Skrydlov
Nikolai Illarionovich Skrydlov is a controversial figure. He didn't make it to Port Arthur, that's a fact. He did not want to break through there, this is also a fact. But the VOK managed to direct the actions from the shore, and he did well. Well, I also gained good command experience during the war. But this experience turned out to be unclaimed - on December 20, 1904, Skrydlov was recalled and appointed to the Sharashkin office as a member of the Admiralty Council and to the Imperial Society for Rescue on Waters. In 1906, however, they remembered him: in the conditions of the revolution, a knowledgeable and tough commander was needed on the Black Sea. But in 1907, the admiral was thrown into retirement with a uniform and a pension. In 1918 he will die in Petrograd in hunger and poverty. The grave is lost. The knowledge and experience of one of the best sailors in Russia turned out to be unclaimed: pure politics, someone had to leave, and these someone are those who took part in the war.
A. A. Birilev
Birilev Aleksey Alekseevich, strictly speaking, did not command the fleet. He was appointed to the post on May 8, 1905, and arrived in Vladivostok to inquire about Tsushima. The same Tsushima, in the preparation of which there is also his fault - it was he who was responsible for the equipment of the Second and Third Squadrons.
But, unlike those who stood on the bridges and lost their lives and health, Birilev made a career - he became the naval minister of the Empire immediately after returning from the Far East on July 29, 1905. He did not distinguished himself in anything special in the post, and his reforms were extremely fragmentary and inconsistent, and in early 1907 he resigned, continuing to pursue politics in the State Council until his death in 1915.
Buried at the Nikolskoye cemetery, the grave, as usual, has not survived.
Skrydlov, who fought, is in rescue on the waters, and Birilyov, who has not fought, is a minister.
The squadrons managed to command and stay alive - Stark, Viren, Bezobrazov, Rozhdestvensky and Nebogatov.
With the latter, it is clear - surrender and trial.
Z. P. Rozhestvensky
With Zinovy Petrovich, in principle, too - it was impossible to leave him in an official post after the Tsushima disaster, nevertheless there was such an attempt, and Rozhdestvensky was dismissed from the post of chief of the General Music School only on February 6, 1906. During the time allotted to him, he advocated the construction of battleships, the strengthening of mine artillery up to 120 mm, for extensive reforms in the fleet …
All this was not useful in any way, and after the trial the admiral simply lived out, dying in 1909, cursed by Russia for what his fault was minimal. The grave, as usual, has not survived. And the knowledge and experience of the organizer of an unparalleled campaign and a participant in the largest naval battle at that time turned out to be unclaimed.
You can treat him in different ways, but not use at least as a consultant and not prepare a generalized work on the experience of organizing the transition and preparation for battle … We needed an extreme one, they found it, which was reflected wherever possible: from documents to journalism.
P. A. Bezobrazov
Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov, who personally led the VOK on a military campaign, seemed to be promoted, but … The senior flagship of the Baltic Fleet after the departure of Rozhestvensky's squadron sounds mocking, and the acting chief of the General Staff before Zinovy Petrovich's return is a purely technical position.
Why he did not lead the Second Squadron, in principle, it is clear - oncology, the man lived out, however, managed to be the chairman of the Tsushima court and died in the same year. The grave has traditionally not been preserved.
What to say? The man did everything he could.
O. V. Stark
And the last admiral in command of the squadron - Oscar Viktorovich Stark - is another example of the extreme and guilty for everything. His fault in the poor preparation of the First Squadron is minimal, if not zero: how much money they gave, so they prepared. He did not set up the boats, but did not find the money for the dock. It was not he who invented an armed reserve, he did not forbid not to succumb to provocations by installing anti-mine nets. He, a geographer-researcher, a participant in the Russian-Turkish war, a brilliant connoisseur of the Far East, was simply removed and became the anti-hero of Port Arthur, who, from the point of view of society, slept and ruined everything. And in 1908, the man, after whom the bay and the strait were named, was completely thrown into retirement.
Why was his experience and knowledge not useful either during the war or after? Big mystery.
R. V. Viren
Well, and Robert Nikolaevich Viren, a brilliant cruiser commander, but a man who became the commander of what was left of the First Pacific Ocean, in many ways by accident and not particularly shining with anything: neither before nor after. Still, Kronstadt is a training course for which a person with a similar characteristic is more than suitable:
Eminently disciplined and fulfilling. An excellent naval officer who knows and loves naval affairs. He is very strict and demanding when he leaves the service, he is a great pedant. Little trusting in his subordinate officers. He is very careful about his ship, as well as about the ranks of his subordinates.
But as a naval commander, he did not take place. And he could not take place - the jump from the commander of the cruiser to the commander of a blocked and beaten squadron just does not work, and the talents …
Diligence is good for a subordinate. Nevertheless, unlike many, he did not disappear and stayed in the cage.
Younger flagships
With the junior flagships it is much more interesting: the commander of the VOK Iessen, the commander of the cruiser squadron of the Second Squadron Enquist, the junior flagship of the First Squadron Ukhtomsky - all took off to retire.
Jessen, who was the only one who had a relatively successful battle against the Japanese (after all, losing only "Rurik" in those conditions is almost a victory), immediately after returning to the Baltic, he received a reprimand, and then - resignation.
Enqvist was seriously thinking about trying to judge … For the rescue of three cruisers and the crime that, unlike Nebogatov, he thought with his head and did the right thing. But in the end - just resignation.
Ukhtomsky is simply at first at the disposal of Alekseev, and then - resignation.
The only one who passed this cup, and then not for long, was the organizer of the mine defense of Port Arthur Mikhail Fedorovich Loshchinsky. There are no complaints against him, on the contrary. But - resignation in 1908, at exactly the same time, the commander of the Vladivostok port, Greve …
There were also examples of the opposite, more precisely - an example. This is Admiral Grigorovich, who jumped from the port commander in six years to the Minister of the Navy, having not been in a single naval battle, but being a good business manager.
The rest of our naval commanders of the Great War - in the Russo-Japanese maximum, commanders of ships of the second rank. There were many brilliant sailors among them, but accelerated careers are not good for them. And knocking out a whole generation of admirals for the sake of public opinion - even more so.
Let's discard Rozhestvensky, although, as for me, his experience was invaluable for the fleet, especially such experience and bought at such a price.
But what have the others been guilty of?
Even most of the ship commanders who survived Tsushima were thrown into retirement - although the same Dobrotvorsky, Shvede (senior officer of the Eagle), Ozerov (the commander of Sisoy the Great, appointed … commander of the floating beacon), Popov (the commander of Vladimir Monomakh, appointed head of the pilotage service)?
In fact, after the Russo-Japanese pogrom, when the fleet lost a large number of admirals and officers in battles, a second pogrom took place, already post-revolutionary, when the culprits of Port Arthur and Tsushima were found.
They found, of course, not in Petersburg, but among those who led squadrons and ships into battle, who received wounds and risked their lives. Than they struck at the fleet, no worse than Tsushima, in many respects interrupting the continuity of generations. Instead of objectively studying the problems, they simply found extreme ones and appointed heroes, among whom were often people without special abilities.
All this influenced the restoration of the fleet, and discipline, and the events of the times of the revolution. But that's okay, politics won out over common sense. Well, it was not Alexei Alexandrovich who was to be judged, in fact? And not to cover the role of the future passion-bearer Nikolai Alexandrovich?
