Empress Catherine the Great: "May the fate of Sevastopol and our fleet on this blessed land be the winged sails of goodness and creativity, valor and courage!" With these words, a theatrical performance begins in the city of Russian naval glory, dedicated to the 320th anniversary of the founding of the Fatherland's fleet. In the calendar of memorable dates in Russia, the day of the foundation of the Russian fleet is marked on October 30. And this date is connected with the events of 1696, when Tsar Peter, as they would say now, pushed through the boyar Duma the decision to start forming a regular fleet. The phrase "There will be ships for sea!", In fact, became the starting point for the Russian Navy, which today we call the Russian Navy.
Active shipbuilding developed near Arkhangelsk, as well as on the Don shores. Voronezh is rightfully considered the real cradle of the Russian fleet. It was in Voronezh that the first Russian Admiralty was established, and in 1696 the first school of navigational sciences appeared in the state. Historical materials contain evidence that Voronezh is also the first Russian city in which the main symbol of the Russian fleet, the St. Andrew's flag, was raised. We are talking about raising the Andreevsky flag on the 58-gun battleship Goto Predestinatsiya built in Voronezh, which was recreated several years ago according to the original drawings, and which today is a museum with a rich thematic exposition.
By the way, when it comes to the first raising of the St. Andrew's flag (and it was in 1700), it is necessary to clarify that initially the cross of St. Andrew the First-Called appeared at the flagstaff - on the so-called canton (canton) - in the upper left quarter of the admiral's banner. Over time, a blue cross on a white background occupied the entire area of the Russian naval flag. An interesting historical episode can be considered the fact that for almost 15 years after the October Revolution, the graphic image of St. Andrew's Cross was used by the navies of Soviet Russia and the USSR. We are talking about the jack of the Imperial Russian Navy, in which the changes affected the central part, where a red star with a sickle and a hammer appeared.
Returning to shipbuilding in the era of the beginning of the creation of the Russian fleet, it is necessary to touch on the very exposition, which is presented on an exact copy of the Peter's ship with a difficult fate - "Goto Predestination". The exposition is interesting not only for lovers of naval history, but also for people interested in retrospective cartography. On the ship-museum, in particular, there is a copy of the map of Tartary, around the existence of which (I mean this territorial entity) hot discussions are going on today.
The exposition of the museum presents panoramas of the construction of ships on the banks of the Don. In particular, it tells about the use of tall ideally straight pines to create masts, for which the forests of the Voronezh land are famous to this day.
In a short time, Russia turned from a state with a complete absence of a navy into a naval power, which made it possible not only to defend its interests at sea approaches, but also to grow in territories. The presence of a sufficient number of ships allowed Russian navigators to discover and explore new lands. In particular, by decree of Peter I, an expedition to the east was organized in 1724, which confirmed the existence of a strait between the Eurasian and North American continents, discovered in 1628 by Semyon Dezhnev, and also made it possible to explore Chukotka and Kamchatka. During the expedition, detailed "general" maps of northeast Asia were compiled. In fact, it was the first scientific expedition in Russia, organized on behalf of the state, and embodied by outstanding scientists and sailors, among whom was Vitus Bering, a man whose contribution to the development of the fleet and in confirmation of the importance of having a large fleet for a country like Russia can hardly be overestimated.
The history of the Russian Navy is also a history of glorious victories. Legendary military naval commanders Fyodor Apraksin, Fyodor Ushakov, Pavel Nakhimov wrote bright pages in the history of the Navy.
Fedor Matveyevich Apraksin is rightfully considered one of the founders of the Russian fleet. In 1717, General-Admiral Apraksin was appointed by Emperor Peter to the post of head of the Admiralty Board. The Collegium subordinate to the Senate combined the functions of several naval organizations that existed at that time in Russia at that time, including the Order of the Navy, the Naval Commissariat, the Navy Chancellery, as well as the naval provisions, uniform and forestry services (the name of the support services). It was Apraksin who, while Peter was in Europe, was involved in the control of shipbuilding in Russia, including the aforementioned Voronezh shipyards.
Monument to General Admiral Apraksin in Vyborg:
The Russian Navy today is the basis of the country's maritime potential. It ensures the security of Russia's maritime borders and provides support to the allies, in particular in the fight against international terrorism. The activity of Russian warships in the oceans has recently turned into a real "reality show" for the Western media. Take the same carrier strike group, which includes the TARK "Admiral Kuznetsov" to the shores of Syria. The Western press does not know how to present information about the long voyage of the ships of the Northern Fleet of Russia.
Either a vacuous (if not stupid) irony is published about the smoke over the deck of an aircraft carrier, then suddenly the publications are replaced by notes "about the threat to the NATO states." All these "sensual throwings" and streams of Western consciousness speak only of the fact that the Russian fleet has rightfully returned to the international arena and is ready to carry out any tasks to protect the interests of Russia.
Happy birthday, Navy!
