With the outbreak of the First World War, the Baltic Fleet was subordinated to the command of the 6th Army. This army was supposed to defend the coast of the Baltic and White Seas, as well as the approaches to the capital of the empire. Its commander was General Constantin Fan der Fleet. The main forces of the fleet, as outlined in the pre-war plan of 1912, were deployed at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland to protect Petersburg from a possible attack by the German fleet.
The Baltic Sea became the main battle theater of the Russian and German fleets. The Germans could threaten the entire Baltic coast of Russia and the capital of the empire. In addition, the northern flank of the Eastern Front faced the sea, which needed to be protected. The peculiarity of this theater of military operations was the natural and geographical factor. The Baltic Sea had the mouths of large bays - Finnish, Riga, Bothnian, and numerous islands, which made it possible to create powerful mine and artillery positions. But the measures of the Russian command to create coastal batteries, accumulate mines, and create a deployed fleet basing system were not fully implemented by the beginning of the war. On the eve of the war, the Baltic Fleet consisted of a brigade of battleships (squadron battleships - "dodreadnoughts"), a brigade of cruisers, two mine divisions, a brigade of submarines, a detachment of minelayers, a trawling party and a detachment of gunboats. It was an active fleet, in reserve there was a brigade of old cruisers, a combined destroyer battalion and training detachments - artillery, mine, diving. The fleet was commanded by the talented Vice Admiral Nikolai Ottovich von Essen (1860 - May 7, 1915). The main base of the Baltic Fleet was Helsingfors (Helsinki), but it was not sufficiently equipped and fortified for basing large ships. The battleships had to stand in an unprotected outer raid. Already during the war, extensive work was carried out to build fortifications for defense from the sea and from land. The cruiser brigade was based in Reval, it was planned to convert it into the main base of the Baltic Fleet. The forward bases of the Navy were Libava and Vindava - they had to be abandoned with the beginning of the war. In addition, the Baltic port, Rogokul, Ust-Dvinsk were the bases of the light forces. Reserve ships were stationed in Kronstadt, and the fleet's repair base was located.
The command of the Baltic Fleet foresaw the beginning of the war, therefore, began to implement plans for the mobilization and deployment of forces at the end of July 1914 in accordance with the plan of 1912 and the combat schedule of the fleet. On July 12 (25), an increased readiness of the fleet was announced, the protection of roadsteads and harbors was strengthened. On July 13, a permanent patrol of 4 cruisers was set up at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. On July 14, a minesag detachment and a destroyer division reached a position in Porkkala-Udd, preparing to place mines on the orders of the command. The reserve brigade of cruisers was put on alert, and the partial evacuation of Libau began. At midnight on July 17 (30), with the announcement of general mobilization, minelayers - Amur, Yenisei, Ladoga and Narova, under the cover of battleships, destroyers and submarines, began laying mines at the Central position (Nargen island, peninsula Porkkala-Udd). In four and a half hours, 2119 minutes were exposed.
Mine layer "Cupid"
The Germans were better prepared for the war. Germany carried out more targeted preparations for a common European war, starting a large-scale program of building a fleet at the end of the 19th century, and later only improved it. The Russian leadership has long believed that war can be avoided. The German Navy had well-equipped bases and bases in the Baltic: Kiel, Danzig, Pilau. In addition, there was the Kiel Canal - it connected the Baltic and North Seas, runs from the Bay of Kiel, near the city of Kiel to the mouth of the Elbe River, near the city of Brunsbüttel, made it possible to maneuver the forces of the Navy, transfer additional forces. For the Germans, the resources of Sweden were of great importance - iron ore, timber, agricultural products, so the German command tried to protect this communication well (it went along the southern coast of the Baltic and along the coast of Sweden). On this sea, Germany had a Baltic Sea fleet: it consisted of the Coastal Defense Division and the Port Flotilla in Kiel under the general command of Grand Admiral Heinrich of Prussia (1862-1929). I must say that he was a man of innovative views, the prince defended the idea of developing the submarine fleet and naval aviation, on his initiative, the first aircraft carrier was developed in the German Empire.
The relatively small size of the sea made it possible to deploy forces fairly quickly for operations. At the same time, the Baltic Sea is characterized by difficult hydrometeorological and navigational conditions, which made it difficult to conduct hostilities. So the combat activities of the Russian Navy were restrained by prolonged freeze-up in the Gulf of Finland and the Abo-Aland skerry area.
By the beginning of hostilities, the Baltic Fleet was stronger than the German forces in the Baltic. The Baltic Fleet had 4 pre-dreadnoughts, 3 armored cruisers, 7 cruisers, 70 destroyers and torpedo boats, 6 minesags, 11 submarines, 6 gunboats. In the German fleet of the Baltic Sea there were 8 cruisers (including training), 16 destroyers, 5 minelayers, 4 submarines, 1 gunboat. But we must take into account the fact that the German command could at any time transfer additional forces from the North Sea, including new dreadnought battleships and battle cruisers.
Prince Henry of Prussia
1914 campaign in the Baltic
On July 20 (August 2), the German Navy placed 100 mines near Libau and fired at it. Then they set 200 mines at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, but they were discovered in time by Russian ships. On August 13 (26), the German light cruisers Augsburg, Magdeburg and three destroyers tried to attack the Russian patrol at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. But the attempt failed - "Magdeburg" in the fog sat down on the stones near the island of Odenholm. The Germans sent a destroyer and a cruiser to help, but managed to remove only part of the team. They were discovered by the Russian cruisers "Bogatyr" and "Pallada" - they drove away enemy ships and captured 56 people, led by Captain Richard Khabenikht. The most valuable "gift" for the Baltic Fleet was the signal books and the cruiser's cipher table. According to the charter, the Germans were supposed to burn them in the furnace, but it was flooded and they were thrown overboard. The Russian command sent divers to find the books, and after a short search, their work was crowned with success. At the same time, the Russian command managed to keep this secret. Khabenicht was kept under heavy guard in order to exclude the possibility of transmitting the news of the seizure of classified data to Germany. One book and a copy of the cipher table were given to Britain. The disclosure of the German cipher subsequently had a great influence both on the hostilities in the naval theater and on the course of the war as a whole.
Run aground "Magdeburg".
The nature of the actions at the beginning of the war showed that the German command was not going to bring significant forces of the fleet into battle in the Baltic and conduct major operations. Therefore, the Russian fleet began to operate more actively. At the beginning of September Essen ordered to expand the active zone of the fleet to the southern and middle Baltic. Parts of the fleet moved to the west - both cruising brigades moved to the Finnish Lapvik, the 1st mine division from Reval moved to Moonsund, and the 2nd mine division to the Abo-Aland region. In September-October, cruisers and destroyers made several reconnaissance missions, minefields were set up near Libava and Vindava.
The Germans, worried about the activation of the Russian Navy, decided to conduct a major operation - two squadrons of battleships (14 ships) and other ships were to cover the landing in Courland. On September 10 (23), the forces were ready to begin the operation, but a message was received about the appearance of significant British forces in the Danish Straits, the operation was curtailed, the ships were returned to Kiel.
German submarines began to pose a great danger to the Baltic Fleet. So, on September 28 (October 11), two Russian cruisers "Pallada" and "Bayan" were returning from patrol and were attacked by the German submarine "U-26" under the command of Lieutenant Commander von Borkheim. The armored cruiser "Pallada" under the command of Captain 1st Rank SR Magnus was torpedoed and drowned with the whole crew - 537 people were killed.
German postcard from the period of the First World War depicting the moment of the explosion of the cruiser Pallas from being hit by a German torpedo.
But this tragedy did not paralyze the actions of the Russian fleet. In October, an active minefield plan was developed. By the end of the year, about 1,600 mines were placed - 14 active obstacles, in addition, more than 3,600 defensive mines were installed. This caused significant damage to the naval communications of the Germans, forcing the German command to pay full attention to the mine danger. On November 17, the armored cruiser Friedrich Karl was blown up by Russian mines near Memel and sank after 5 hours of survivability. The command was removed by the cruiser "Augsburg", the explosions killed 8 people. In addition, on Russian mines in 1914-1915, 4 minesweepers, 2 (3) patrol boats, 14 steamers were blown up and killed, two cruisers, 3 destroyers and 2 minesweepers were damaged. It should be noted that the Russian mine forces were more active not only the German, but also the British. Mine-protection operations became the main type of combat activity of the Baltic Fleet. Russian sailors were world leaders in the use of mine weapons and made a great contribution to the art of mine warfare.
In 1914, the Germans deployed more than 1000 mines - 4 active barriers and 4 defensive ones.
The cruiser "Friedrich Karl".
The results of hostilities for 1914
- The Baltic Fleet from passive waiting at the Central mine and artillery position switched to active actions and seized the initiative.
- The Germans abandoned demonstrative actions showing the strength of their fleet (they were not going to break through to Petersburg), and switched to more passive tactics. The main reason is the active laying of mines by the Russian Navy.
- The war revealed a number of shortcomings in the material and technical equipment of the fleet, equipment of bases and coastal fortifications, and combat training. They had to be urgently eliminated.
Black Sea
The Black Sea is quite deep - the average depth is more than 1200 m, only the northwestern part has a depth of less than 200 m. This feature has imposed restrictions on the ability to conduct mine warfare. At the same time, the Black Sea, like the Baltic, is relatively small, so the fleets of the belligerent powers could quickly deploy their forces to conduct operations. Important communications ran along the Turkish coast, with the help of which reinforcements were transferred, and the Caucasian Front was supplied (land communications were not developed and required a lot of time for transportation). In addition, oil and coal were supplied to the Ottoman Empire from Romania (before its entry into the war). Therefore, one of the main tasks of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was the blockade of the Bosphorus and the violation of Turkish sea communications.
Russia and the Ottoman Empire poorly prepared their coastal infrastructure for war. Only Sevastopol met the standards of that time. Among the Turks, only the Bosphorus region had a satisfactory coastal defense.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet consisted of a brigade of battleships, a mine division (it included a cruiser, destroyers and mine loaders), a submarine division, and a trawling party. A total of 7 pre-dreadnoughts (the flagship of the fleet "Eustathius", "John Chrysostom", "Panteleimon", "Rostislav", "Three Saints", "Sinop", "George the Victorious", and the last two battleships were in reserve), two cruisers, 29 destroyers and torpedo boats, 4 submarines, several mine loaders and gunboats. The fleet commander since 1911 was Admiral Andrey Avgustovich Eberhard. The main base of the fleet was Sevastopol, other bases were Odessa and Batum, and the rear repair base was Nikolaev. For the opening of hostilities in this theater to protect Odessa and the entrance to the Dnieper-Bug estuary, a special squadron of ships was created (gunboats "Donets" and "Kubanets", minesags "Beshtau", "Danube").
Before the arrival of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau, the Turkish Navy was de facto incapable of combat (the ships are old, in poor condition, with an almost complete lack of combat training). The Port had two battleship battleships, 2 armored cruisers, 22 destroyers and a torpedo boat in a more or less combat-ready state. The only base was Istanbul. After Bulgaria entered the war on the side of Berlin, they began to use Varna for basing German submarines. The situation changed with the arrival of German cruisers, the Germans led the Turkish Navy, reinforced them with their officers and sailors. As a result, the German-Turkish fleet was able to carry out cruising operations.
Mine layer "Prut"
Campaign of 1914
The hostilities on the Black Sea began without a declaration of war - in the early morning of October 16 (29), German-Turkish ships fired on Odessa, Sevastopol, Feodosia and Novorossiysk. In general, the enemy did not achieve serious successes, although he intended to seriously damage the Russian battleships and completely paralyze the actions of the Black Sea Fleet. Two Turkish destroyers attacked Odessa, taking advantage of the surprise effect, they sank the gunboat Donets, damaged the gunboat Kubanets and the minesagh Beshtau, 4 ships, and port facilities. The battle cruiser "Goeben" bombarded Sevastopol without much success. While retreating, the destroyer and the minelayer "Prut" attacked, a strong fire broke out at the mine layer, and the crew drowned him. The light cruiser "Hamidie" fired at Feodosia, and the German "Breslau" at Novorossiysk. In addition, enemy ships deployed several tens of mines, two steamers were blown up and sank on them.
The very next day, Russian battleships and cruisers went out in search of the enemy and cruised for three days in the southwestern part of the sea. The Russian high command repeated the mistake of Port Arthur, Admiral Eberhard was banned from active actions, trying to maintain the neutrality of the Port to the last. If Souchon had more powerful forces, and he did not spray the available ships on different targets, the outcome could be more deplorable.
The enemy attack sharply intensified the Black Sea Fleet. Until the end of the year, more than 4, 4 thousand mines were deployed for the defense of Sevastopol, Odessa, in the Kerch Strait, off the Caucasian coast and in a number of other areas. Much work was done to strengthen the coastal batteries. The Black Sea Fleet did not confine itself to defense and conducted offensive operations. Until the end of 1914, the ships of the main squadron went on a campaign six times. On October 22-25 (November 4-6), the Black Sea Fleet placed 240 mines near the Bosphorus, fired at the strategic port of Zonguldak - they transported coal and various raw materials to Istanbul and carried out various military transportations from west to east, drowned 5 transports.
On November 2-5 (15-18), the fleet covered the laying of mines near Trebizond, Platany, Unye, Samsun (400 mines were delivered). In addition, Trebizond was bombarded. On November 5 (18), upon returning, the squadron met with "Goeben" and "Breslau". The first open battle took place. He walked only 14 minutes, and in general it was a shootout between the Russian flagship Eustathius and Goeben. They could not pursue the Germans due to a significant difference in the course. The German battle cruiser received 14 hits (3 shells of 305 mm guns, 11 out of 203, 105 guns), losing 105 people killed and 59 wounded. The ship was out for two weeks of repair. Gunners "Goeben" hit the Russian battleship three times from 280 mm guns - 33 people were killed, 25 were injured. The battle showed that a brigade of old Russian battleships could well withstand a new type of battle cruiser. If one battleship is likely to be defeated, then in combination they represent great power, especially if the crews are well trained.
The battleship Eustathius under fire from the German battle cruiser Goeben. Fight at Cape Sarych. Painting by Denis Bazuev.
On November 19 (December 2), the Russian squadron made the next campaign. More than 600 mines were set up near the Bosphorus in December. Turkish ports were bombed. On December 13 (26), a mine blew up "Goeben" and was out of action for 4 months. A large positive role was played by the Batumi detachment - it supported the Caucasian front with artillery fire, landed troops, and prevented the transfer of Turkish units, ammunition, and weapons.
The Germans continued to make raids, but did not achieve significant success. So, in November "Breslau" and "Hamidie" fired at Poti and Tuapse, "Goeben" in November bombed Batum. At the very end of 1914, 5 German submarines crossed from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, this complicated the situation.
The sailors of the Black Sea Fleet also fought on the Serbian front. Belgrade asked for help, asked to send small arms, mine specialists, mine and torpedo weapons to fight the enemy on the Danube and engineers to arrange crossings. In August 1914, a special unit was sent to the Danube - the Special Purpose Expedition (EON) under the command of Captain I Rank Veselkin. The EON included a detachment of combat and transport ships, a barrage detachment, an engineering detachment and a number of other formations. Russian sailors rendered great assistance to the Serbs, they set up mines, net and other barriers, which greatly limited the actions of the Danube Austro-Hungarian flotilla. On October 10 (23), the Austrian flagship monitor was killed by Russian mines. The creation of river crossings made it possible for the Serbian command to maneuver in a timely manner on their own. In addition, 113 thousand rifles, 93 million cartridges, 6 radio stations and other property were transferred to the Serbs. This helped the Serbs withstand the Austrian offensive in 1914 and even launched a counteroffensive.
First results
- The Germans failed to paralyze the actions of the Black Sea Fleet.
- The Russian fleet was also unable to completely seize the initiative, although it acted very actively - Russian ships attacked the enemy's coast, set minefields on the Turkish coast, drowned dozens of transports, supported the actions of the Caucasian Front.
