January 26, 1878 mine boats "Chesma" and "Sinop" for the first time in history sank an enemy steamer with torpedoes
The honor of developing the first combat torpedoes belongs to the Englishman Robert Whitehead, they were even called officially "Whitehead mines". But the honor of the first successful torpedo attack belongs to the Black Sea sailors, who, during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, turned the novelty into a formidable weapon.
But at first, the mine war did not seem worthy of attention to the highest ranks of the Russian fleet. The practical value of torpedoes was not yet known, no fleet in the world had any real experience in using them by that time, and classical tactics required completely different actions and other ships. But Russia did not have them on the Black Sea: the Paris treatise of 1856, which ended the Crimean War, prohibited having a navy in those waters. And although in 1871 the treatise was canceled, for six years Russia physically did not have time to recreate the Black Sea Fleet. By the beginning of the last Russian-Turkish war, it had only two "popovka" - unique round artillery battleships of coastal navigation, five steam frigates and corvettes and three dozen auxiliary ships. And Turkey had 15 battleships, five propeller-driven frigates, 13 propeller-driven corvettes, eight monitors, seven armored gunboats and about eight dozen auxiliary small ships on the Black Sea.
To combat this threat, new effective methods were needed that could hit the enemy in the literal and figurative sense of the word. And the young lieutenant Stepan Makarov managed to find them: he made a bet on mine warfare, suggesting the use of high-speed steamers - carriers of mine boats. These babies could be quickly launched into the water (the mechanism that made it possible to do this in seven minutes was also Makarov's development) and released at night to hunt Turkish ships standing in open roadsteads.
Makarov not only put forward the idea of a mine war, but also clearly substantiated it by proposing a carefully developed plan, but it was not immediately accepted. Only at the end of 1876 he received approval, and then the restless sailor was made responsible for the implementation of his plans. On December 13, Makarov was appointed commander of the steamer Grand Duke Constantine, hastily converted into a mine transport, and on December 26, his order was issued to enroll four steam mine boats in the armament lists and assign names to them. Of these four, only one boat - "Chesma" - was new, built exactly as a mine. The second - "Sinop" - was previously measured (that is, hydrographic), and two more - "Navarin" and "Miner" (later renamed "Sukhum") - served as traveling crews on other ships.
Proving the effectiveness of the idea, the commander of the mine transport "Grand Duke Constantine" from the very beginning of the war began active attacks. At first, they used pole and towed mines, having achieved, although not immediately, noticeable successes. And on the night of December 16, 1877, mine boats attacked the enemy for the first time with the help of "Whitehead self-propelled mines." Shortly before that, Makarov had difficulty in getting four torpedoes from those purchased by the Naval Department in 1876 to be handed over to him. This is not surprising: for the purchase from Robert Whitehead of "the secret of the device of the automatic fish-shaped mine invented by him" and a batch of a hundred torpedoes, the treasury paid 9000 pounds - a very substantial money at that time!
These four "goldfish" Makarov and his officers used to the fullest. According to the reports of the Russian sailors, during the first attack they managed to damage the battleship Mahmudiye standing on the roadstead of Batum (the Turks first reported that they had picked up torpedoes that had passed by on the shore, and only two years later did they admit that they had hit the ship). And on the night of January 26 (new style), 1878, the Black Sea men sank the Turkish steamer Intibakh with two torpedoes, which, according to the classification of that time, was a gunboat.
We will give the right to tell about the attack to Lieutenant Izmail Zatsarenniy, the commander of "Chesma", who headed it. Here is an excerpt from his report: “… Having rolled away from the side of the steamer, the boats went in the indicated direction to the Batumi roadstead … Having approached the patrol ship … I gave the smallest speed and from a distance of 40-30 soot. shot a mine at Whitehead, at the same time Lieutenant Shcheshinsky (the commander of the Sinop - RP) fired his own mine. The subsequent two simultaneously explosions to the starboard side, mine in the direction of the mainmast, and Shcheshinsky to the right, raised a high and wide black column of water half a mast, a terrible crack was heard, and the steamer, leaning to the right side, a minute later completely disappeared under the water, and then and the masts were not visible, and only a large circle of debris indicated the place of his death; the friendly "hurray" of the boats informed the enemy squadron of the sinking of his patrol steamer … At the beginning of 4 o'clock the boats landed on board the steamer Grand Duke Constantine. During the attack, the behavior of the crews of both boats was impeccable."
Two days later, the chief commander of the Black Sea Fleet and ports, Vice Admiral Nikolai Arkas, signed order No. 31: "Yesterday I had the good fortune to receive a telegram from His Highness, Admiral General, with the following content:" The Tsar instructs you to convey his tsarist thanks to the commander, officers and crew of the steamer. " Konstantin ", Makarova bestows his aide-de-camp with his wing, Zatsarennogo with the next rank (lieutenant-captain. - RP), and Shcheshinsky with the 4th degree St. George cross. Congratulate them from me on this new royal favor and tell them how proud I am to be a general -admiral of such sailors "".
It is worth telling about their fates separately. Stepan Makarov became one of the most famous Russian sailors, whose name is still borne by ships and naval academies. He rose to the rank of vice admiral, became famous as a developer of the theory of unsinkability and a pioneer in the use of icebreakers, and died on April 13, 1904, along with the battleship Petropavlovsk, which was blown up by a Japanese mine.
Izmail Zatsarennyi, born in 1850 and graduated from the Naval School in 1870, made his maiden voyage under Makarov's command on the schooner Tunguz. In 1877, he graduated from the Mine Officer class and voluntarily went to the Black Sea to apply his new knowledge in practice. In less than two years, Zatsarenny managed to earn the Order of St. George, 4th degree, the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree with swords and a bow, as well as the St. George weapon with the inscription "For Bravery." In 1880, Lieutenant Commander Zatsarenniy received a brand new destroyer Batum in England and after a two-month voyage brought it to the Baltic, where in 1883-1886 he served as a senior officer of the armored frigate Dmitry Donskoy, and after another year - as the commander of the Batum ". In the spring of 1887 he fell ill and died in November. In honor of the famous sailor, the mine cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet "Lieutenant Zatsarenny" was named, which entered service in 1909.
Polish nobleman Otton Scheshinsky, born in 1847, served until 1905. For the first, December attack on the Batumi roadstead, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree with swords and a bow, for the sinking of the steamer "Intibakh" - the Order of St. George of the 4th degree. In 1879, the lieutenant commander retired from service "for domestic reasons", and seven years later he returned to the sea. In 1889 he took command of the destroyer Libava, in 1894 - the mine cruiser Posadnik. In 1902, Shcheshinsky was transferred from the Black Sea to the Baltic, where he commanded the 19th naval crew for a year, after which he retired with the title of Rear Admiral and the right to wear a uniform, and died in 1912.
