On January 25, Russian servicemen, whose service is associated with laying the courses of ships, ships, aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Navy, navigation and monitoring the operation of navigation devices, celebrate the Day of the Navigator of the Russian Navy. The Day of the Navigator of the Russian Navy has been celebrated since 1997 - after twenty years ago, on July 15, 1996, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral of the Fleet Felix Gromov, signed order No. 253 "On the introduction of annual holidays and professional days in the specialty." It was decided to celebrate the professional holiday of navigators on January 25 - in honor of the day of the release of the Decree of Peter the Great in 1701, in accordance with which the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences was founded, as well as the navigational service in the Russian fleet. Thus, if we take 1701 as the starting point, then in 2016 Russian naval navigators celebrate 315 years of their service.
At the origins of the navigational service. Navigation school
The School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, opened by Peter the Great, became the first military educational institution that trained specialists for the Russian Navy, as well as artillerymen and military engineers for the land army. The school was located in Moscow, in the Sukharev Tower and was originally subordinated to the Armory Chamber of the Pushkar Prikaz, which was led by Field Marshal Fyodor Golovin (1650-1706). The school was headed by Yakov Vilimovich Bruce (1669-1735). In fact, his name was James Daniel Bruce, he was a Scottish by birth, a representative of the noble Scottish Bruce family, whose representatives had lived in Russia since 1647. Jacob Bruce himself was educated at home, then in 1683 he enrolled in the Amusement Regiment, then gradually rose in ranks in the army. Bruce accompanied Peter on his trip abroad in 1697. In 1700, on the eve of the opening of the school, he already had the rank of Major General of the Russian Service. To organize the educational process, highly qualified foreign teachers were invited to the school, but Russian officers who had experience in artillery and engineering services also worked at the school.
Among the first teachers of the school - Englishman Henry Farvarson - professor at the University of Aberdeen, mathematician and astronomer; Englishmen Stephen Gwynne and Richard Grace, the famous Russian mathematician Leonty Filippovich Magnitsky - the author of the first Russian encyclopedia in mathematics "Arithmetic, that is, the science of numerals translated from different dialects into the Slavic language …", published in 1703. The School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences focuses on was given to the preparation of students in mathematics, engineering, artillery and marine sciences. School graduates were sent to the army and navy, but also to the civil service - as teachers in other schools, construction engineers, architects, officials in various departments. The school was divided into lower and upper schools. At the lower school they taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geometry and trigonometry. The upper school taught German, mathematics and special disciplines - naval, artillery and engineering. Children of nobles, clerks, clerks, from the homes of noblemen and other officials at the age from 11 to 23 years old were admitted to school. Naturally, representatives of many noble families of Russia - Volkonsky, Dolgoruky, Golovins, Khovansky, Sheremetyevs, Urusovs, Shakhovsky and many others - hastened to give their children to this educational institution, unique for that period. By September 28, 1701, 180 people were recruited, by November 19, 1701 - 250 people, by April 1, 1704 - 300 people. The term of study at the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences was approximately 10-15 years. At the same time, students underwent practical training in the army, at gunpowder and cannon factories, in the navy and abroad. Those students who did not show much zeal and were distinguished by low academic performance were given to artisans, sailors, soldiers, gunners, and so on. In 1706, after the death of Fyodor Golovin, the school was reassigned to the Order of the Navy, and in 1712 - to the Admiralty Chancellery. During this period, the control of the school was carried out by General-Admiral Count Fyodor Apraksin (1661-1728).
On January 16 (27), 1712, Peter the Great signed a decree on expanding the school by creating additional engineering and artillery classes: when they finish arithmetic, study geometry as much as it is necessary to engineering; and then give the engineer to teach the fortification and always keep the full number of 100 people or 150, of which two-thirds, or out of need, were from the nobility … "(Decree of Peter I, January 16, 1712). However, already in the same 1712, students of artillery and engineering classes were transferred to St. Petersburg, where engineering and artillery schools were created as independent military educational institutions. The development of the navy of the Russian Empire also required improving the quality of training of officers and specialists for ships and ground services. In 1715, the navigator classes, as well as the artillery and engineering classes, were transferred to St. Petersburg, where the Naval Academy was created on their basis. The very School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, of which Captain Brunz was appointed head in 1717, turned into a preparatory school at the Naval Academy. In 1753 the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences was abolished. In parallel with the development of naval education, the service of navigators in the fleet was also improved. Back in 1701, Peter the Great introduced the position of captain over navigators, whose competence included the general management of hydrographic and pilotage services. At the same time, Peter the Great ordered to carefully monitor the behavior of navigators, whose discipline he was very suspicious of: "Navigators should not be allowed into taverns, because they, boorish brat, do not hesitate to get drunk and make a brawl" or "Navigators during a battle do not let them go to the upper deck, because they upset the whole battle with their vile appearance”. In 1768, Catherine II issued the "Regulations on the management of the admiralties and fleets", which also provided for the post of captain over navigators. In 1797, the new Charter of the Navy was approved, according to which the position of professor of astronomy and navigation, who was on the ship of the chief commander of the fleet, appeared at the headquarters of the fleet, to manage all navigators and training of midshipmen, calculate the location of the fleet, harbors, straits, watch the tides, changing the magnetic needle, etc.
Marine Academy
In 1715, as we noted above, the Maritime Academy was created, located in St. Petersburg - in the house of A. V. Kikina on the banks of the river. Not you. At present, the building of the Winter Palace is located there. To study at the Maritime Academy, students of the Moscow Mathematics and Navigation School and the Narva Navigation School that existed by that time were transferred to St. Petersburg. Basically, these were young people from noble families who were officially in military service and sent to the academy to improve their knowledge in naval affairs. Thus, the Naval Academy became the first purely naval educational institution in Russia (the mathematics and navigation school trained personnel for the navy, for the land army, and for industry and the civil service). It is noteworthy that the list of academic disciplines of the Maritime Academy was compiled by Emperor Peter the First. The structure of the Naval Academy was militarized. The cadets were united in 6 teams of 50 people each. Experienced officers assigned from the Guards regiments were appointed as brigade commanders. They were assisted by assistants - one or two officers and two sergeants per brigade. Also, several "uncles" were assigned to each brigade - old experienced soldiers, distinguished by their positive personal qualities. Their duties included ensuring discipline among the students of the academy. By the way, many of the students did not live in the academy barracks, but in private apartments. The leadership of the academy was carried out by the director, who was appointed to the post of Lieutenant General Baron P. Saint Hilaire. The direct management of the educational process itself was carried out by Henry Farvarson, who previously taught at the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation. The main teaching staff of the Maritime Academy was also transferred from the mathematics and navigation school. However, already in February 1717, Lieutenant General Saint-Hilaire was replaced as director of the Naval Academy by Count Andrei Artamonovich Matveyev (1666-1728), a famous Russian diplomat and politician, a former envoy of the Russian Empire in Vienna, at the court of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. However, already in 1719, Matveev was transferred to the post of senator and president of the Justitz Collegium, and Captain Grigory Grigorievich Skornyakov-Pisarev, who had previously taught artillery sciences at the Naval Academy and the Moscow Mathematics and Navigation School, became the head of the Naval Academy. “He was a stern, strict man, a clear example of which is at least the fact, even from the time of his youth, that the only escape, which was in 1706 in a bombarding company, was made by a young soldier out of fear that“he had lost his lieutenant's cane”; in the service he was a cold and pedantic performer of duty, a lover of all rituals and formalities,”contemporaries recalled about Grigory Skornyakov-Pisarev.
The Naval Academy trained specialists for the Russian fleet in the field of navigation, ship construction, fortification, and naval artillery. In 1718, the training of surveyors, topographers and cartographers also began. For a long time, the Maritime Academy did not have a fixed period of study as in modern educational institutions. The duration of study depended on the individual knowledge and abilities of each individual student. During his studies at the academy, he had to master mathematics, trigonometry, astronomy, navigation, artillery sciences and a number of other disciplines. In 1732, Empress Anna Ioannovna presented a large stone house on the corner of the Bolshaya Neva embankment and the 3rd line for the needs of the Maritime Academy.
Naval Cadet Corps - from Elizabeth to Revolution
By the middle of the 18th century, the training of specialists for the navy of the Russian Empire was carried out by three educational institutions - the Naval Academy, the Navigation School and the Midshipmen Company. Nevertheless, the question of improving the system of training officers for the fleet continued to be discussed. Ultimately, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna agreed with the position of Vice Admiral Voin Yakovlevich Rimsky-Korsakov, who proposed creating one educational institution for the fleet with a broader program - like the Land Gentry Corps, which trained junior officers for the ground forces. December 15, 1752Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree on the creation of the Marine gentry cadet corps on the basis of the Naval Academy. After that, the Navigation School and the Midshipmen Company were abolished. Only persons of noble origin who were trained there in military and civil sciences and received a naval rank had the opportunity to enter the Marine gentry cadet corps.
Like the Naval Academy, the corps was organized on a paramilitary basis. Cadets and midshipmen (students of the second and third grades were called cadets, and students of the graduating first grade were called midshipmen) were brought together into three companies, educationally identical to the three classes. In 1762, ten years after its creation, the corps was renamed simply the Naval Cadet Corps. After the fire of 1771, he was transferred to Kronstadt, placed in the building of the Italian Palace, in which the educational institution was located until December 1796, when it was transferred back to St. Petersburg. The decree on the transfer to St. Petersburg was signed by Emperor Paul I, who was convinced that the naval educational institution should be located in the immediate vicinity of the command of the fleet. Alexander I also adhered to this line. He agreed with the opinion of the authors of the report of the Fleet Education Committee, dated 1804, and asserting the need to control the quality of training for navigators, encouraging additional education for navigators after graduating from the Naval Cadet Corps, organizing practical training for midshipmen undergoing training in the navigational specialty, inviting the most experienced and educated navigators.
Gradually, the number of students in the building grew, the organization of the educational process improved. So, in 1826, 505 cadets and midshipmen were trained in the corps. In 1827, Officer classes were created at the corps, and in 1862 they were transformed into the Academic Course of Marine Sciences. In 1877, on the basis of the Academic Course of Marine Sciences, the Nikolaev Naval Academy (now the Naval Academy) was created. Back in 1827, Emperor Nicholas I approved the "Regulations on the Corps of Naval Navigators". In accordance with this provision, the post of inspector of the Naval Navigators Corps was approved, which was occupied by the General-Hydrograph (in 1837, the Office of the General-Hydrograph was transformed into the Geographical Department). The inspector of the Naval Navigation Corps was subordinate to two inspectors of the fleets - the Black Sea and the Baltic. In the Caspian and Okhotsk flotillas, the duties of navigational service inspectors were performed by the senior navigational officers of the flotillas. On April 13, 1827, the staff of the Naval Navigators Corps was approved - 1 general, 4 colonels, 6 lieutenant colonels, 25 captains, 25 command captains, 50 lieutenants, 50 second lieutenants, 50 warrant officers, 186 conductors. Personnel training for the navigator corps was carried out in the Nikolaev and Kronstadt navigational schools. In 1853, the Naval Regulations ordered the chief of navigators to be at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the fleet. However, already in 1857, all management of the navigational service was transferred to the level of fleets and flotillas. In 1885, the corps of navigators was abolished, after which the navigational activity turned from a special service of the fleet into the activity of naval specialists of ships and flotillas.
In the 1860s. The Naval Cadet Corps has undergone major new changes. It was renamed the Naval School and a new charter was introduced. However, already in 1891 the former name of the educational institution - the Naval Cadet Corps - was returned. So it was called until 1906, when it was renamed as His Imperial Highness the heir to the Tsarevich Naval Corps. From 1916 to 1918 the building was again called the Naval School. In 1861, new rules for admitting pupils to the Marine Corps were established, initiated by the Admiral-General Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. In accordance with these rules, young men aged 14 to 17 years old were admitted to the corps - children of nobles, honorary citizens, honored army and naval officers, civil officials. In the corps, corporal punishment was abolished in order to raise the consciousness of the personnel of cadets and midshipmen.
By the beginning of the twentieth century. the corps was managed by the director (he was also the head of the Naval Academy), the number of cadets and midshipmen was determined at 320 people, brought together into 6 classes - 3 junior (general) classes and 3 senior (special) classes. Young men who had knowledge at the level of the first three grades of a real school could enter the junior general class. For admission, it was required to pass an entrance exam on a competitive basis. Children of naval officers enjoyed the preferential right to enroll in an educational institution. After completing the full theoretical and practical course, the corps midshipman received the military rank of midshipman. In 1906, compulsory ship training was introduced on operating ships of the Russian fleet. Graduates of the corps, heading to ships, received the title of naval midshipman and only after completing a year of practice passed exams and received the military rank of midshipman. Those who could not pass the practical exams and demonstrated unfitness for service on the ship were dismissed from the naval service with the title of second lieutenant in the admiralty or civil rank of the 10th class. Over the years of the existence of the Naval Cadet Corps, thousands of officers of the Russian Navy have been trained in it, among its graduates are practically all key figures in the history of the Russian fleet of the 18th - early 20th centuries. At various times, the Naval Cadet Corps graduated from Admirals Fyodor Ushakov and Mikhail Lazarev, Alexander Kolchak and Pavel Nakhimov, Vice Admirals Vladimir Kornilov and Andrei Lazarev, Rear Admirals Vladimir Istomin and Alexey Lazarev, the future Soviet Vice Admiral Alexander Nemitts and many, many others outstanding naval commanders and heroes of sea battles.
Higher Naval School named after M. V. Frunze
After the revolution, cardinal changes took place in the life of the Naval Cadet Corps, which, at first glance, did not promise anything good for it. In 1918, the cadet corps was closed, and in its place the Courses for the command staff of the fleet were opened. The courses were designed for 300 students recruited from specialist sailors - the Soviet government planned to prepare them for the duties of commanders and specialists in 4 months. But soon it became obvious to the Soviet leadership that for the full functioning of the country's naval forces, it was necessary to create a full-fledged system of naval education, and at the same time - the development of navigational service. After June 3, 1919, in accordance with the order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR, the headquarters of the commander of all the Sea, River and Lake Armed Forces of the Republic was created, the position of the flagship navigator was introduced in it, which was occupied by N. F. Rybakov. But already in 1921 this post was abolished. As for the training of the navigator staff of the fleet, for this purpose in 1919 the courses for the command staff of the fleet were transformed into the School for the command staff of the fleet with a training period of three and a half years. The school was divided into a naval department, which trained navigators, artillery commanders and miners, and a technical department, where mechanics, electromechanics and radiotelegraphists were trained. The rules for admission to the school were also improved - now, unlike the courses, not only the sailors of the RKKF, but also civilian young people got the opportunity to enter there. The age of applicants was determined for civilian youth - 18 years old, for military sailors - 26 years old. Applicants were required to have a secondary education and successfully pass the entrance exams. On June 18, 1922, the first graduation from the school took place. The workers 'and peasants' Red Fleet received 82 new commanders and specialists. In the same 1922, military engineering specialties were withdrawn from the school - from that time, engineers - mechanics and engineers - electricians began to be trained at the Naval Engineering School (currently - the Military (Polytechnic) Institute of the Admiral of the Fleet Naval Academy Soviet Union N. G. Kuznetsova). In the fall of 1922, the Naval Command School was renamed the Naval School, where training provided for the training of fleet commanders without division into specialties. Graduates of the school could command ships up to ships of rank 2, further knowledge was supposed to be improved and strengthened at the Courses for the Improvement of the Command Personnel (then - the Higher Special Officer Classes of the Navy) and at the Naval Academy.
In 1926, the growing need of the RKKF for qualified navigational personnel led, on the one hand, to the further improvement of the navigational education system, and on the other hand, to the restoration of the position of the flagship navigator in the Soviet navy. The flagship navigator of the RKKF was K. A. Migalovsky (soon the position was renamed to the inspector of the navigational service). In 1926, the Naval Command School received a name that remained until 1998 - for more than seventy years it was called the V. I. M. V. Frunze (since 1939 - the MV Frunze Higher Naval School). The school formed 4 departments - navigational, hydrographic, artillery and mine-torpedo. As in tsarist Russia, higher naval education became extremely prestigious in the Soviet Union. In 1940, 3,900 applications from applicants were received for 300 cadets. In 1930, the functions of managing the navigational service and monitoring the training of navigators were assigned to the Hydrogeographic Directorate. Under the management, a Permanent Navigation Commission was created. In 1934, the post of chief of the navigational service of the Red Army Navy Directorate was introduced.
Flag navigator Bulykin
In 1937, the People's Commissariat of the Navy was created, in which, as part of the combat training department, the position of the flagship navigator was introduced. In 1938, Philip Fedorovich Bulykin (1902-1974) was appointed to this position. Graduate of the Naval Academy named after V. I. M. V. Frunze 1928 release, Philip Bulykin began service as a navigator of the cruiser "Comintern", then moved as a navigator to the submarine "Politruk", where he served until 1930. In 1930 Bulykin became a junior navigator of the battleship "Paris Commune", and two years later he was promoted and appointed commander of the navigational sector. In 1934-1935. Bulykin served as navigator of a special destroyer battalion, in 1935-1936. - the flagship navigator of the cruiser brigade. In 1936-1937. Philip Fedorovich commanded the destroyer Nezamozhnik, and in August 1937 Captain 3rd Rank Bulykin was appointed the flagship navigator of the Black Sea Fleet. From this position he was promoted to the flagship navigator in the General Staff of the RKKF USSR. The navigational service of the fleet (navigational inspection, inspection of the navigator service, inspection of navigational training) Bulykin headed in 1938-1947, in 1943-1947. served as chief navigator of the USSR Navy, where in 1946 he received the shoulder straps of a rear admiral, and then was removed from his post and transferred as a senior lecturer to the Department of Navigation of the Higher Special Officer Classes. Since August 1949, Bulykin headed the Department of Navigation of the Navigation Faculty of the Higher Naval School named after V. I. M. V. Frunze. In 1954 he retired for health reasons.
War and post-war periods
After the transformation of the combat training department in May 1939 into the Combat Training Directorate of the RKKF, a navigational inspection was established within it (from 1942.was called the inspection of the navigational service), which was led by the head of the inspection in the status of the chief navigator of the Combat Training Directorate of the RKKF. Actually, the position of chief navigator was introduced in 1943, and in 1945 the navigational training inspection was transformed into the navigational training department of the Combat Training Directorate of the USSR Navy. It should be noted that while in 1943-1945. As part of the Navy, there was a Scuba Diving Directorate, in its staff there was a senior scuba navigator, and in 1954-1960. the staff had the post of chief navigator of diving. Underwater navigation is considered one of the most difficult, therefore, underwater navigators can be safely attributed to the elite of this maritime profession. After the introduction of the post of chief navigator in 1943, the scope of his duties was also determined. The chief navigator of the Navy was a senior specialist in charge of navigational affairs. In a special respect, the chief navigator of the Navy was subordinate to the flagship navigators of the fleets, flotillas and the chief of the navigator's department of the Higher Special Classes of the Navy. The competence of the chief navigator included: control over the level of navigational training and navigation in fleets and flotillas, inspection of the navigator service and combat training of ships and formations, control over the material security of fleets and flotillas with navigational equipment, over the distribution of navigational equipment among fleets, fleets and ships. He was also responsible for organizing the training of navigators at the Higher Special Classes of the USSR Navy, inspected naval educational institutions for the control of navigator training. Since then and up to the present time, the official competence of the chief navigator of the Navy of the USSR (then - the Russian Federation) has generally remained unchanged.
The direct training of navigators in the period under review, as before, was carried out at the V. I. M. V. Frunze. During the Great Patriotic War, the school was evacuated to Astrakhan. The graduates of the school took an active part in defending the Soviet country from the aggression of Nazi Germany and its allies. 52 graduates of the school during the Great Patriotic War were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the cadets of the school took part in the Victory Parade on Red Square. In the postwar years, further improvement of naval education continued. In the early 1960s. Higher Naval School named after M. V. Frunze switched to a command and engineering profile, a faculty system was introduced and the term of study increased to 5 years. From 1959 to 1971 the school included the faculty of political composition, which trained officers with a higher military-political education and the qualifications of a ship navigator. In 1967, on the basis of the Faculty of Political Composition, a separate Kiev Higher Naval Political School was created. In the same 1967, the rocket and artillery faculty of the VVMU im. M. V. Frunze was transferred to Kaliningrad, where a branch of the school began work, later transformed into the Kaliningrad Higher Naval School (now the FF Ushakov Baltic Naval Institute).
Not only at the Higher Naval School. M. V. Frunze in the post-war years, the training of the navigator staff of the USSR Navy was carried out. So, in 1947, the Baku Naval Preparatory School was transferred to the Konigsberg conquered from the Germans, renamed Kaliningrad, in 1948 it was renamed the Kaliningrad Naval School, in 1954 - to the Baltic Higher Naval School, then - to the Baltic Higher Naval School of Diving. During this period, officers - navigators and hydrographs for the Soviet submarine fleet were trained here at the engineering-hydrographic and navigational faculties. In 1967 g. The 58th naval officer courses created instead of the school under the training programs for commanders of navigational combat units and chiefs of RTS missile boats and small missile ships were renamed into a branch of the Leningrad Higher Naval School named after M. V. Frunze as part of the navigational and artillery faculties. On April 7, 1969, the Kaliningrad Higher Naval School was formed, which at that time included two faculties - artillery and navigational. That is, in addition to Leningrad, navigators were trained at the Kaliningrad School. In 1998, the Kaliningrad Higher Naval School was renamed the Baltic Naval Institute, which in 2002 was named after Admiral F. F. Ushakov.
Another naval educational institution, where training of navigators for the USSR Navy began in 1951, was the Pacific Higher Naval School (TOVVMU). Its history began in 1937, when, in accordance with the decision to create a naval school in the Far East, the Third Naval School (3rd Naval School) was created, located in Vladivostok. The first year of the school was formed by the first-year students of the Frunze Naval School, sent from Leningrad to the Far East to continue their studies. On May 5, 1939, the school was renamed the Pacific Naval School (TOVMU), and in 1940 it was given the status of a university, after which the word "higher" was added to the name of the school. In September 1951, the navigational and mine-torpedo faculties were opened at the school, in 1969 - the radio engineering faculty, in 1978 - the radio communication faculty, in 1985 - the coastal troops and naval aviation armament faculty. In 1998, the school was renamed the S. O. Makarov Pacific Naval Institute, but in 2014 the name of the V. I. S. O. Makarov. At present, the school retains the main faculties - navigator, mine and torpedo, radio engineering, radio communications, coastal troops and naval aviation weapons, but in addition, a school of technicians operates under it. In it, future warrant officers of the Russian Navy are trained, including those who will serve in a navigator warhead and work with navigation devices.
In parallel with the modernization of the naval education system, the improvement of the navigational service of the USSR Navy continued. So, in 1952, the charters of the navigator service were revised and finalized, new means of navigation and combat control were supplied to the fleet. In 1975, the then Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S. G. Gorshkov (1910-1988) introduced ship navigation departments in the fleets, headed by the flagship navigators of the fleets and subordinate to the chiefs of staff of the fleets. The chief navigator of the USSR Navy was subordinated to an apparatus consisting of navigator officers and organizing the navigational service. The innovations of Admiral Sergei Gorshkov were aimed at improving the navigator's service and were explained, among other things, by the fact that the admiral himself knew firsthand about the navigator's service. After graduating from the Naval School. M. V. Frunze in 1931, Sergei Gorshkov began his service as a naval officer precisely in navigational positions - first as navigator of the destroyer Frunze in the Black Sea Fleet, then, in the Pacific Fleet, as navigator of the minelayer 2Tomsk, flagship navigator of the brigade, then as the commander of a patrol ship destroyer, naval brigade.
Service and training of navigators in modern Russia
On November 1, 1998, as a result of the merger of the MV Frunze Higher Naval School and the Lenin Komsomol Higher Naval Diving School, a new naval higher educational institution was created - the St. Petersburg Naval Institute. On January 25, 2001, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, which laid the foundation for military education in Russia, the St. Petersburg Naval Institute received a new double name - "Peter the Great Naval Corps - St. Petersburg Military Marine Institute ". Currently, the institute trains officers of the Russian Navy at the following faculties: 1) navigator (surface ships), 2) navigator (submarines), 3) hydrographic, 4) anti-submarine and trawling weapons of surface ships, 5) missile armament of submarines, 6) anti-submarine, torpedo and mine armament of submarines. Graduates of secondary educational institutions at the age of 16-22 years and military personnel of compulsory and contract service at the age of up to 24 years have the opportunity to enter the school and become a naval officer. Graduates of the institute receive the military rank of "lieutenant" and, in addition to the military, also a civilian specialty in the field of navigation, hydrography, automated control systems, electronics and automation of physical installations. Thus, the Marine Corps of Peter the Great - St. Petersburg Naval Institute remains one of the main military educational institutions of the Russian Federation, training navigators for surface and submarine ships of the Russian Navy.
At present, the navigator service performs the most important functions in the field of organizing the combat control of the Navy of the Russian Federation. It closely cooperates with all central command and control bodies of the Navy, primarily with the Hydrographic Service of the Navy - the Main Directorate of Navigation and Oceanography of the RF Ministry of Defense. The navigator service performs important tasks to ensure the maintenance, maintenance, and correct operation of technical navigation aids. In addition, the navigational service organizes special training for the personnel of navigational combat units. Many prominent figures of the Russian navy began their military careers as navigators on ships of various ranks. Navigators make a huge contribution to improving the management of the Russian fleet, to ensuring its daily activities at the present time. Therefore, on January 25, the command of the Russian Navy congratulates all navigators and veterans of the navigational service on their professional holiday, and we can only join these congratulations and wish all the best to the Russian acting, reserve and retired navigators, success to those who are studying or are just going to enter the training institution to join the ranks of representatives of this wonderful and necessary profession.
