Isn't it always interesting to know what and how our ancestors wrote about, say, 100 years ago? Today we are worried about the problems with Turkey, but then Russia was at war with her at all, and the journalists of that time also wrote about this war. How? How exactly did they write about her, what did they pay attention to, what was their language? Today we will just show you, dear readers of TOPWAR materials, one such article, written exactly 100 ago and published in the Niva magazine. Its author is M. Kataev, but it itself is devoted to the most relevant topic at that time: the military operations of the Black Sea Fleet in the war with Turkey. Of course, this is not one-to-one material. From the original it was necessary to throw out all the yati, fit and izhyts, but in all other respects the text was transmitted unchanged, so that, while reading it, one could be imbued with the “spirit of the era”.
“Among the sea space, among the endless water desert, the ships of the Black Sea squadron stretched out in single file, going in wake formation one after another. The smoke from them spreads in black stripes over the undulating, seething dark green sea abyss. Occasionally shaggy rain clouds appear in the sky, and when they cover the sun, the surface of the sea goes out, ceases to bloom and sparkle.
The ships with their entire bulk are pressed into the broad, powerful chest of the titan lying in front of them, and he, meekly making way, incessantly passes the Russian armored knights who are on their way to Constantinople.
Around, as far as the eye can see, nothing can be seen from the ships, except for the boundless kingdom of water and sky - the kingdom of two worlds diametrically opposed to each other, but equally full of unsolved mysteries. And how inexpressibly beautiful is the kingdom of water and sky!
But now its beauty does not cause the usual delight in those on the ships. The weathered, stern and gloomy faces of sailors keep a complete, bordering on contempt, indifference to the enchantments of the sea expanse, which seems to have no end and end, but in which mortal dangers lie in wait for them and this green monster that splashes under them and around them, can send any underwater giant, any floating fortress to your insatiable womb at any moment.
But the fearful feeling was not prompted to the sailors by the fear for their own lives - oh no! They worry about themselves the least. On the contrary, they, without hesitation, will give their lives if it will ensure the safety of the fleet, whose integrity in their eyes is more important and dearer than their life.
That is why people on ships remain deaf and blind to the beauty spilled around them. Their eyes slide past everything that in another time would fill their souls with sweet dreams and dreams, a proud and joyful consciousness of being. Now they drive all this away from themselves, as something criminal, interfering and distracting them from their work, from their goal. And the business and the goal is, firstly, to keep a sharp eye on the horizon, whether smoke will appear out there, somewhere, or whether the contour of an enemy ship merging with the azure distance will be outlined, and, secondly, with even greater vigilance and inquisitiveness peer into the depths of the treacherous abyss of the sea, for there, in its depths, there may be the most dangerous monsters - enemy submarines and mines.
On a clear sunny day, when the horizon is visible in all directions for tens of miles, the ships are good to go: the enemy can neither appear nor attack suddenly. But when the sea begins to secrete "milk whey" from itself, i.e. fog and envelop it, like an impenetrable shell, all visible space and cover the sun, like a veil or a chador hiding the face of a Mohammedan woman, when, thanks to the "milk" spilled in the air, absolutely nothing is visible, not only a few fathoms from the ship, but also on the ship itself cannot really understand what is being done, or who is 5-10 steps away from you - then in broad daylight you can collide chest to chest with the enemy, or walk side by side and not notice each other. But the worst thing is that in this "milk" you can easily take your own for an enemy and let him go to the bottom, or vice versa - an enemy for his, and he will send you to "catch crayfish."
It was on one of these treacherous "milky" days that a sudden meeting took place, and then the battle of the Black Sea squadron with the German dreadnought "Goeben" near Sevastopol followed. As our ships approached their base, the fog, as if on a signal, suddenly dispersed and betrayed the enemy hiding in it with his head.
Fortunately, this unexpected, which came as a complete surprise for both sides, the meeting ended for our fleet, in terms of the combat state of its ships, quite well. But for the "Goeben" it had a very tragic consequence: apart from other serious injuries, one of the aft towers was shot down by a shell from the "Eustathius". In addition, a series of fires broke out on the "German" from successful hits in his corps, and he escaped final death in this battle only thanks to his enormous superiority in speed, which gave him the opportunity to get out of the sphere of fire in time and hide from pursuit.
On this occasion, one can judge how really dangerous the "milky veil", even during the day, not to mention at night. However, dark nights and without "milk". For on such nights, all sorts of misfortunes and catastrophes are possible with ships, since all ships go at night without lights, and no visible signaling is required. It is terribly difficult for ships to navigate and identify each other in the impenetrable darkness of the night. You have to go literally by groping, guided by flair, experience and a compass. Communication between ships is maintained exclusively by radiotelegraph. And if under such difficult sailing conditions at night there are no major misfortunes, then this should - and indeed it is - be attributed to the exceptionally high personal merits and qualities of the squadron's command staff.
On a dark night, it is very difficult to see and identify an enemy ship. To illuminate an enemy warship encountered at night with searchlights is extremely dangerous and risky, since, on the one hand, the light of the searchlight will serve the enemy as a sure point for aiming, and on the other, the same light will facilitate the task of the enemy mine flotilla in finding an object for attack and sending mines into it. … "Breslau", who dared to illuminate our ship that discovered it and opened fire on it, paid for this mistake by the fact that our gunners "extinguished" its searchlight with a successful salvo.
In general, naval combat is an extremely beautiful and effective spectacle. But at night he is truly "terrible and great." And the more ships and cannons participate in a night battle, the brighter, more formidable and majestic the picture. Whoever saw such a battle at least once in his life will never forget neither the terrible roar of steel monsters, nor the benefit of the lightning flame tearing the night darkness to shreds, nor the terrible whistle of flying "death", nor the grandiose water columns raised from the depths of the sea by explosions falling there. shells. The impression of such a spectacle, full of beauty and horror, can neither be eradicated nor eradicated from one's memory: it will die along with the one into whom it entered and whose soul received it.
To all the hardships and anxieties of the sea voyage, a storm is added. The fact is that the main cargo of military ships - towers and guns - is not inside the hull, not in the holds, which makes the ships more stable, but above, on the deck. Therefore, warships of the old type, the hull of which is piled high above the water, shakes during a storm, i.e. shakes from side to side.
And this, mind you, on big ships. But what is done during a storm on small ships, i.e. on destroyers! We can only say that these ships are literally thrown like chips in all directions so that only their "hair" is visible from the depths of the sea, that is. smoking pipes and masts.
Generally speaking, due to the tightness of the premises and the small staff, it can be very difficult for the destroyer teams, and during storms they have to strain all their physical and spiritual forces.
Torpedo boats are naval cavalrymen, Cossacks, carrying reconnaissance, patrol and rearguard service. Possessing a forty-knot speed, they rush through the water desert, making sudden raids on the Turkish coast, somewhere they fire at an enemy battery, then overtake and let down the enemy "merchant", then they will destroy a caravan of feluccas mobilized by the Turkish government to transport food by sea and items of equipment for the troops of the Zhorokh region.
These operations for the destroyers, of course, are secondary and are carried out by them, by the way, so to speak, in passing, and therefore in no way distract them from their direct purpose, do not compromise the tasks of the imaginary fleet, at the same time constituting a significant plus in the total amount of merits and the success of the Black Sea squadron.
Tireless cruising off the enemy shores of the Black Sea Fleet in general and the brave actions of its dashing cavalrymen in particular achieved, first of all, the fact that the Turks lost their entire commercial fleet, part of which was intercepted and sunk on the open sea between Constantinople and the ports of Anatolia, and the other part, more significant, "covered" and destroyed by our ships in the bays of their own coast.
So, for example, in December last year in the Bay of Surmine over 50 large Turkish schooners were exterminated in one day. These ships were burned. The fact of their extermination is outstanding. A bonfire made from them is a whole sea of fire and smoke and was visible for tens of miles in a circle. The local residents, whom the Turkish government had previously assured of the domination of their fleet in the Black Sea, he made a proper impression, and they fled in panic horror through the mountain gorges.
The destruction of the commercial fleet of the Turks is of great, unaccountable importance, because with the loss of it, the Turkish government was deprived of the opportunity to bring everything necessary for its troops by sea. And since absolutely nothing can be delivered through the mountains by dry road in winter, the Turkish army, advancing on us from the Zakorokhsky region, was put in an almost hopeless position, because it did not have a sufficient amount of ammunition, neither provisions, nor ammunition, nor even guns.
Naturally, all this significantly diminished the combat effectiveness of the enemy army, introduced a spirit of despondency, displeasure and murmur into its ranks, making it possible for our valiant Caucasian troops to win a number of brilliant victories over the numerous enemy with less effort and sacrifice.
Thus, having destroyed the Turkish transport flotilla, the Black Sea squadron thereby inflicted a bloodless, but very painful blow on the Ottoman army, which fundamentally undermined its forces and made it easier to deliver a decisive blow from land.
But the main task of our squadron was accomplished and, of course, consists not in this, but in the destruction of its direct enemy - the Turkish fleet. And if this main task has not yet fully succeeded her, then, in any case, she has so much time to weaken and neutralize her adversary that the importance of the latter in the Black Sea is now equal to zero. For those Turkish ships that have not yet been completely disabled, if they sometimes dare to crawl out of the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, then they sneak back and forth, like night tati, and perish, hitting a mine, as happened with the Turkish battleship " Medzhidie ", preparing a robber raid on peaceful Odessa.
Yes, our and only our fleet at the moment can consider itself the master of the Black Sea. Only he is able to walk freely on it at any time and in any direction. And thanks only to this exceptional position at sea, his ships have repeatedly provided active assistance to our Caucasian army, sweeping the Turkish troops from the inaccessible mountain heights with their well-aimed fire and expelling them from deep gorges.
Such assistance, by the way, was provided by the fleet during the occupation of Hopa, from where the Turks were driven out only after Hopa was subjected to the most thorough bombardment from the sea.
A day or two earlier, one of our warships, from a 20-verst distance in the Hopa region, successfully fired at the Turkish positions with throwing fire, which were obscured from the sea side by mountains reaching a third of versts in height and covered with eternal snow. The fire from this ship was directed according to the instructions emanating from our troops. His action was terrible. The Turks partly died, partly fled, partly they were taken prisoner by our soldiers who came.
Our fleet, if it wanted to follow the pirate example of its enemies, of course, it would cost nothing to destroy the entire Turkish coast at any moment. In the actions of the Black Sea Fleet there was no error against humanity, and the indication that our sailors had to overshadow humane considerations during the shelling of Trebizond only proves their increased knightly scrupulousness towards the interests of the civilian population of the enemy city they fired.
The fact is that Trebizond has a certain value in military terms, since military cargo went there by sea, which was transported further by dry route to Erzurum - the main base of the Turkish army of Asia Minor. In addition, Trebizond is protected by coastal batteries. Consequently, its shelling from any side does not contradict the generally accepted international ethics and rules of waging war by cultural peoples and therefore has full justification.
Meanwhile, the shelling of our Yalta, which is known to the whole world as a resort, as a refuge for the sick and the weak, is unjustifiable, in no way caused by cruelty, i.e. barbarism for the sake of barbarism. And with this, the Germans once again "had a hand" in their renunciation of belonging to the cultural and civilized peoples of both parts of the world.
The activity of our fleet in general and the Black Sea squadron in particular in the current war does not differ from the outside in the effectiveness of its manifestation, and in general it lacks any striving for vivid episodicity, for a risky but "winning" posture. But it was precisely thanks to its intensity and energy that our fleet secured its dominance in the Black Sea.
The fact that the Black Sea Fleet is acting so energetically, and that it really, and not just in words, is the master of the situation, is best known to Admiral Souchon and his associates from the wrecked and blown up German-Turkish ships.
The time has not yet come for Russia to learn all that has been done by the Black Sea Fleet for its benefit and benefit: it will learn about it later and then appreciate its merits. Now it is enough for her to be sure that his Black Sea armored knights are not asleep in their responsible post, of which the most tangible and convincing proof is their integrity and intact, despite the tricks and intrigues of the enemy.
The Black Sea Fleet was able - and this is its great service to the homeland - to completely preserve itself, its forces necessary for Russia to deliver the last and most decisive blow, which should forever remove all the obstacles that had been on its way to Constantinople for centuries.
On March 15, the Black Sea Fleet began to cross the Bosporus and destroy its forts, i.e. to the implementation of the most important task for which he saved his strength. Let us wish the Lord to preserve his strength until the victorious end, as He has kept them until now.
God help you, valiant Chernomorets."
