This material is, in some sense, an anniversary one. According to the VO account, it is the 800th, that is, the next "round number". As always, for the "holiday" I want to write about something unusual, leaving aside the tanks - the next publishing house again demands a book about them, they say, "there are never too many tanks", rifles, knights handed over to the publishing house!), all the same samurai (next in line "Samurai-2", a continuation of the first book), and the Bronze Age. I thought I should write … about the ships. Not mine, in general, this is a topic, but I love ships. At the age of five, he loved to look at the pictures in Raphael Sabatini's novel "The Odyssey of Captain Blood", where there were very spectacular images of galleons, then he read Laurence Olivier's book "The Viking Campaign", and other marine literature, including the historical series M-K and T-M … He made models: the same galleons and Viking ships, and both of them from plasticine, including sails. It’s a pity, I didn’t know how to take pictures - the models were impressive, and so that the masts and yards did not bend, straws were inserted into them. He made floating models of battleships from plasticine and shot them in duels with his comrades from a cannon. I even wrote about these models in my books "From everything at hand" and "When the lessons are done", but … somehow I didn't do much more with ships. But they are still interesting to me, but, alas, there is no time to delve into this topic.
Imperial yacht "Standart"
But here, one might say, I was lucky. Among my students was a correspondence student from St. Petersburg, who brought me a book of memoirs of Captain Sablin about his service on the imperial yacht Shtandart. It was assumed that he would write my thesis "PR of the imperial yacht" Shtandart ". The topic was, of course, very interesting and as a result pulled even for a candidate's dissertation for the degree of candidate of historical sciences, but "something did not grow together." Nevertheless, the materials contained in it seemed to me interesting and worthy to tackle this topic and give material on it on VO, corresponding to secret interests in the marine theme and a clear interest in the sea, in which we all love to swim!
Yacht "Standart" in Toulon.
So, what was she like - the last yacht of the Emperor Nicholas II?
However, here it must be said that - firstly, the fashion of having yachts for royalty went from Holland, to Russia, like many other things, it was brought by Peter the Great, that yachts were first sailing, and then steam, in the family of Russian tsars of the XIX there were quite a few, by no means just one, but it was the "Shtandart" that turned out to be the last Russian vessel of this type, and at the same time the most beautiful, causing the legitimate envy of both Kaiser Wilhelm and even the British royal family!
Imperial yacht "Standart". In Sevastopol, 1914.
Well, this masterpiece of shipbuilding (which was recognized by all experts!) Was built not in Russia, but in Denmark, where the yacht was laid down in Copenhagen in 1893 for Emperor Alexander III. It was intended for sailing in the Black Sea, but the emperor did not have time to use it, and it went to his son. Her hull was made of shipbuilding steel, and the displacement was almost 6,000 tons, that is, like a small cruiser. That is, "Standart" turned out to be the largest such yacht in the world, not counting commercial steamers converted into yachts. The yacht had excellent seaworthiness and could even sail in the ocean. The presence of powerful steam engines allowed "Shtandart" to develop a high speed of movement and easily overcome considerable distances. He repeatedly circled Europe in his voyages and always successfully crossed from the Baltic to the Black Sea and back. Well, since it was the yacht of the emperor, then, among other things, it was a real "floating palace with offices, directorates, headquarters and many courtiers", - recalled what he saw on the yacht "Standart", officer N. V. … Sablin, who served on it for more than one year.
Schematic sections of the yacht "Shtandart".
And it is not surprising that the yacht became the favorite ship of Emperor Nicholas II, but its name had a deep meaning. The standard is the flag of the head of state, which is hung over the place where it is located. In Europe, this custom dates back to the Middle Ages. The standards were distinguished by their splendor, which once again emphasized the importance of their crowned owner. Well, at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian standard, rising above the yacht of Emperor Nicholas II, looked like this: a cloth of golden silk with the image of a black two-headed eagle against the background of nautical maps. As soon as the emperor entered the deck of the yacht, this standard was hoisted over it.
The yacht's characteristic clipper stem and bow figure.
"Shtandart" had three inclined masts, which imparted swiftness to its silhouette, as well as two inclined pipes, a displacement of 5480 tons, a length of 112.8 m, a width of 15.4 m, a draft of 6.6 m and a design speed of up to 22 knots, which was provided 24 coal-fired boilers and two propellers. The yacht's crew consisted of 373 people. The sharp stem of the Standard, borrowed from the clipper, was adorned with a gilded bow figure of a two-headed eagle flying over the waves.
Engine room.
The name of the yacht was given again from the tradition that existed in the Russian fleet, that is, even under Peter the Great, one of the frigates of the Russian fleet was called this way. It was launched on March 21, 1895, and commissioned in 1896. And then it was like this: on August 29, 1893, Alexander III, together with Empress Maria Fedorovna and Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, arrived in Copenhagen on the yacht "Polar Star". The ceremony of handing over the yacht to its owner took place here. But on October 20 (November 1), 1894, Alexander III died, and the completed yacht passed to his son.
Dining room on the main deck.
Already on September 8, 1896, Shtandart, without completing the entire cycle of sea trials, took on board Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and accompanied by the yacht Polar Star sailed to England. This was followed by an official visit to France, and this is how the twenty-year honorary service of this yacht began.
Gallery on the lower deck.
And she had to swim a lot. So, already in the summer of 1897, the King of Siam, the German Emperor and Felix Faure, the President of the French Republic, visited Kronstadt on a new imperial yacht. By the way, Wilhelm II visited the yacht twice: in July 1902, during the maneuvers of the Baltic Fleet training artillery detachment in the Baltic, and then in June 1912, when he arrived in Revel on his yacht "Hohenzollern" to lay the new port of Peter the Great. In August of the same 1912, Nicholas II received the Prime Minister of France Raymond Poincaré on his Standart and conducted diplomatic negotiations with him. In addition, Nikolay II almost every year made either long or short voyages on board the "Standart" with his whole family, enjoying the sea air and the nature of the Baltic skerries.
Wardroom.
Since there is little left from that time today, it makes sense to take a closer look at the decoration and decoration of this yacht, since this speaks a lot about the tastes of its owners, which, of course, are of interest to us.
Crew pantry on lower deck.
Thus, the entire interior decoration of the ship's interiors was sustained in strict English taste. There was no gilding, unnecessary decorations or stucco on the yacht. But everyone noted the good taste shown at the same time, so that the yacht's premises looked much richer than any ostentatious and deliberate luxury and splendor. " In 1905, the yacht "Shtandart" was assigned to the Marine Guards Crew. The crew for the service was selected carefully. The selected team members were necessarily introduced to the imperial couple before the beginning of their service.
Dressing room for staff.
Interestingly, for the decoration of the emperor's chambers, much less different valuable types of wood were used than on the old yacht "Polar Star". The rooms of the sovereign himself were decorated with cherry wood and walnut, the rooms of the dowager empress, as well as the rooms of the grand dukes and princesses - with ordinary birch, the dining room - with ash, the corridors - with oak and maple wood "under the bird's eye", as well as white beech. In the imperial living quarters, the walls were clad in embossed leather, or they were covered with cretonne. The crew quarters were finished with oak and pine, which were painted with white paint. Aft on the upper deck housed a large wheelhouse, which was a tradition for Russian imperial yachts. It had a large dining room for official receptions, as well as a study and a reception room for the emperor. In the bow on the upper deck, right in front of the first chimney, there was a navigational cabin, two wheelhouses for the command staff, and above them there was also a navigating bridge with a spacious wheelhouse.
The iconostasis on the gallery.
The Imperial Apartments were located on the main deck, directly above the engine room. The cabins that belonged to the Emperor, Empress and Dowager Empress included a living room, bedroom and bathroom. Here on the deck there was a dining room, a salon, separate cabins for the grand dukes and princesses, as well as yacht officers and an officer's wardroom. On the lower deck were the cabins of the children of the imperial family, servants' rooms, crew quarters and showers. It also housed a radio room, rooms for dynamos, ship workshops and some of the storerooms.
In the bow of the yacht, below this deck, there was a cargo hold and a cargo compartment, and at the stern there were refrigerated refrigerators for storing perishable food. It should be noted that for the lower ranks of the crew and service personnel (355 people), living conditions were much better than on all previous imperial yachts.
