Modern combatant warships carry a great number of radio and radar antennas in the forward and in the after parts. They are located on the masts, on the superstructures and on the funnels. There are two masts in large ships-the foremast and the mainmast. The foremast is a tall tower with bridges and plat forms. The conning tower, captain's bridge, chartroom, signal bridge, fire control top and other commanding posts are all located there. Different lights are also located on the masts: top lights, head and stern lights, and position lights-green on the starboard, red on the port side. All these lights are used for safe navigation in darkness. While at anchor in the base or in the roadstead the ship's anchor lights are turned on after sunset. Every warship wears the following flags: the jack at the stem, the ensign at the stern and the national ensign on the mainmast. A ship in commission has a personal flag (or pennant) which she wears at the maintop during the day and night. Запомните следующие слова и словосочетания: hull, compartment, bulkhead, magazine, bottom, superstructure, keel, stem, sternpost, bow, midships, stern, forecastle, waist, quarterdeck, gun, torpedo tube, mine, armament, part, foremast, mainmast, bridge, conning tower, charthouse, living quarters, mess- decks, crew, cabin, wardroom, petty-officer, watertight, forward, after (part), main, different to protect, to locate, to be situated, power-plant, equipment, auxiliary machinery, framework. side, explosion, combat information centre, gun turret, missile launcher, bombthrower, antisubmarine mortar, funnel, commanding post, pennant, starboard, port, double, upper, lower to turn on, to turn off, to consist, to carry a ship in commission. 49
УПРАЖНЕНИЯ 1. Найдите в текстах эквиваленты следующих слов и словосочетания: 1. корпус корабля, надстройка, форштевень, ахтерштевень, нос, корма, фок-мачта, грот-мачта, бак, шканцы, жилые помещения, дно (днище), отсек, гюйс, национальный флаг, силовая установка, дизельное (машинное) отделение, штурманская рубка, правый борт, левый борт; 2. бронировать, защищать, вооружать, состоять, нести (флаг); 3. водонепроницаемый, главный, передний (носовой), задний (кормовой), противолодочный. 2. Дополните предложения по смыслу: 1. The forward part of the ship is called the . . . . 2. The after part of the ship is called the . . . . 3. The main deck is divided into three parts: the .... the . . . the . . . . 4. There are two masts in capital ships: the . . . and the .... 5. The hull of the ship is divided into . . . by decks or by bulkheads. 3. Задайте вопросы к предложениям: 1. The armour belt protects the magazines, shell rooms, diesel and engine rooms. What belt? What? What rooms? 2. All the compartments in a surface ship are made watertight. What? What compartments? 3. The main deck is divided into three parts. What deck? Into how many parts? 50
4. Ответьте на вопросы: 1. By what is the ship's hull divided into compartments? 2. Are the compartments made watertight? 3. Are modern warships armoured? 4. What does the armour belt protect? 5. What is the bow (the stern, the midships)? 6. Into what parts is the main deck divided? 7. How many masts are there in large ships? 8. What is the armament of capital surface ships? 9. Where do the crew live in a ship? 5. Переведите предложения: 1. Корабль состоит из различных частей. 2. Его корпус делится на отсеки. 3. Передняя часть корабля называется носом, задняя часть - кормой. 4. Отсеки корабля водонепроницаемы 5. На корабле несколько палуб и тралов. 6. Где располагаются боевая рубка, капитанский мостик и штурманская рубка? 6. Переведите без словаря: The hull of the ship is divided by decks or bulkheads into watertight compartments. There are several decks in a ship: the main deck is the highest deck, then there is the second deck, the third deck, the fourth deck, etc. \"The weather deck\" includes parts of all decks that are exposed. to include - включать weather deck - открытая палуба to expose - открывать(ся) 51
7. Переведите 1. The flight deck of the aircraft carriers is long and wide. 2. The deck of our ship is rather short and narrow. 3. The funnels of that vessel are round and tall, the funnel of this ship is oval and low. 4. The armour of the battleship is thick; the armour of the cruiser's sides is not so thick, it is much thinner. 5. The hull of the ship is dark grey. 6. The funnel is white with a red band at the top. 7. The position lights are green on the starboard and red on the port side. The head of the ship is the bow, the rear end is the stern. When a man stands at the centre of the ship and faces the bow, he faces forward; if he turns around, he faces aft. Facing forward, the right side of the ship is the starboard, the left side is the port. An imaginary line from bow to stern is the centreline, it runs fore and aft. The length of this line is the length of the ship. The greatest width of the ship is the beam. The floors of the ships are decks; the walls are bulkheads, stairs are ladders, corridors are passageways. There is no ceiling in a room aboard ship, only the overhead of the compartment. Openings in the outside of the ship are ports. Openings through bulkheads for entering or leaving compartments are called doors, openings in a deck for passing from one level to another are hatches. head=bow= forward=fore (part) – передняя (носовая) часть rear=stern=aft (after part) - задняя (кормовая) часть корабля right side=starboard-правая сторона left side=port- левая сторона fore and aft -по всей длине корабля beam - бимс, ширина bulkhead - переборка ladder-тpaп passageway-проход, коридор opening - отверстие port - иллюминатор level - уровень hatch-люк 52
9. Переведите со словарем: CHARACTERISTICS OF WARSHIPS Colour. In all countries naval vessels are painted grey. Ships of the Royal Navy are painted a light grey with white topmasts if they are in commission, in reserve the topmasts are grey. On service in certain Middle East areas the ships are painted white. All British submarines are painted black. Protection. The battleship is protected amidships by armour plating up to 16 inches in thickness, but the average armour now used for cruisers and aircraft carriers is not more than 3 or 4 inches thick for the ships' sides, and about 2 inches for the deck plating. Fleet escorts, destroyers and frigates are not armoured at all. General appearance. The warship's long, low outline is broken by gun turrets and controls, the main superstructure is built up around the foremast. This mast and other projections has a number of antennae and aerials, and unlike the cargo ship the warship never has a high stern or poop deck. She is generally flush-decked and may have a long forecastle deck which extends aft. Subdivision of the hull. The hull of the warship is divided by many transverse and longitudinal watertight bulkheads into a great number of compartments which can be sealed off, by watertight doors if there has been flooding through accident or naval action. Small warships do not have longitudinal bulkheads but they are nevertheless divided into a large number of compartments by numerous transverse bulkheads. aerial ['ariǝl] - радиоантенна poop deck - палуба полуюта controls - посты управления flush-decked - гладкопалубный transverse - поперечный longitudinal – продольный 53
CRUISER AURORA The cruiser of the Baltic Fleet Aurora built at a naval shipyard in St. Petersburg was named after the frigate Aurora, the crew of which heroically repulsed the attack of a joint Anglo-French Squadron in the port of Petropavlovsk in 1854. Cruiser played an important role in the Great October Socialist Revolution. On the 25th of October 1917 the Aurora gave a signal with her gun for a general assault on the Winter Palace. Commissioned in 1903 the Aurora had the displacement of 6,731 tons, a speed of 20 knots and was armed with eight 152-mm guns, twenty-four 75-mm guns, eight 37-mm guns and three torpedo tubes. During the Russo-Japanese war it was attached to the Second Pacific Squadron. In the Tsushima sea battle in May 1905 it repulsed an attack of nine Japanese cruisers. Seriously damaged the ship had to sail to Manilla. During World War I (in 1916) the ship was sent to Petrograd for repairs. Members of the crew connected with the Petrograd Bolshevik Committee took an active part in all the revolutionary events. When the February Revolution of 1917 broke out, the Aurora's crew rose against the officers and took over the command of the ship. During World War II the cruiser took part in the defence of Leningrad. In 1948 the vessel was anchored for good at the Petrograd Quay. 54
PART 2 TEXTS FOR ADDITIONAL READING SEA AND WAR EPISODES \"The Battle of Chesma\" I.K.Aivazovskiy 55
THE BATTLE OF CHESMA The famous battle of Chesma took place on the 25th-26th of June 1770, in the Bay of Chesma in the Aegean Sea during the Russian- Turkish War of 1768 1774. In July 1769, a squadron under the command of Admiral Spiridov sailed out from Kronshladt to the Mediterranean theatre of war. On the 23rd of June, 1770, the Turkish fleet was located at the island of Thasos, anchored in two parallel lines. The enemy had 16 battleships, 6 frigates and up to 60 smaller ships against 9 Russian warships. Nevertheless, Spiridov decided to attack the Turkish fleet. His tactics were new. Commanding the advance guard, which sailed perpendicularly to the front-line of the enemy instead of sailing in the usual way - parallel to the front-line, Spiridov ordered the ships to open fire at the shortest range, then approach within musket- shot and start a hurricane fire, closing up with hand-to-hand fighting. The Turkish fleet was defeated and, pursued by the Russians, had to take shelter in the Bay of Chesma where it was blocked up. To inflict the final blow on the enemy Spiridov sent out a Squadron consisting of 11 ships. On the night of June 26th Admiral Spiridov ordered the battleship Yevropa (Europe) to enter the bay and open fire on the Turkish fleet. After this the rest of the squadron joined in the battle. The artillery fire of the Russian warships and the outspread of the fire in the bay led to the total destruction of the Turkish fleet. In Chesma Bay the Russians destroyed 15 enemy battle ships, 4 frigates and more than 50 other warships of the enemy. Besides, I battleship and 6 galleys were captured. The Turks lost about 10,000 men while the Russians lost only eleven. The victory of the Russian Navy at Chesma testified to the high level of Russian seamanship at that time. In memory of this victory a monument - the Chesma Column - was erected in the middle of a lake in Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin). 56
TWICE HERO A. SHABALIN Many daring torpedo attacks were delivered by Alexander Shabalin. Since the first days of the Great Patriotic War the MTB under his command had been a great menace to the fascist ships. On September 11, 1941, his first attack brought the first victory. Then came other ones. On October 22, 1943, five MTBs of the Northern Fleet put to sea to locate and destroy an enemy convoy. Its approximate location was given by reconnaissance. Enemy ships were proceeding in darkness. There were no lights on them, therefore the Soviet MTBs had to be very careful. Suddenly the engines of MTB N13 under the command of Senior Lieutenant Shabalin stopped. It took half an hour to make necessary repairs. When the repairs were over Shabalin rushed to join his comrades, who were engaging superior enemy forces: four MTBs against the convoy escort of fascists. When he came to the battle area firing ceased. It meant that all their torpedoes had been fired. At some distance Shabalin sighted the enemy ships. He started closing the enemy cautiously. Now the fascists sighted his MTB and opened fire but heavy swell precluded well-aimed firing. Shabalin came to the enemy as close as possible and having fired all torpedoes one after another turned back and soon his MTB disappeared in darkness. Two enemy ships were sent to the bottom. On February 22, 1944 A. Shabalin was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. On the whole seven enemy ships were sunk by A. Shabalin who was often referred to as a \"master of the sea.\" But the brightest attack was still ahead. It was delivered by him in Pecheng landing operation which took place in October 1944. It was necessary to get to the port which had been fortified by the enemy for three years. The MTBs under the command of famous Shabalin success fully carried out that complicated operation and for that heroic deed A. Shabalin got his second Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. 57
SUBMARINER-HERO OF THE BALTIC FLEET (The author of this article, captain 2n d Rank O. Baranov, now a military journalist, was a member of the submarine crew under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union 1. Travkin during the Great Patriotic War) After the end of World War II the book \"Operations of Soviet Submarines in the Baltic in 1939-1945\" was published in West Germany. The book states that the Soviet Shch-303 submarine (commanding officer Captain 3d Rank I. Travkin) was sunk during the attempts to break through the main line of antisubmarine defence in 1943. But in fact the submarine was not sunk and her captain, Hero of the Soviet Union, now living in Moscow, told us some episodes. It happened in the Gulf of Finland. In the narrowest place of the Gulf of Finland, about 20 miles wide, the enemy laid 8.500 mines and put antisubmarine nets from one shore to the other. This place was patrolled by more than 100 German patrol ships. In May 1943 the Shch-303 submarine was caught in the antisubmarine nets. The fascist ships and planes discovered and dropped more than 2,000 depth charges on her. The sub could not surface to recharge her batteries because of the enemy ships above. The crew were suffocating in the small compartments and seemed to be doomed. But the commander found the way out: he steered the submarine along the bottom of the Gulf of Finland to the enemy's mine field which the enemy ships did not dare to approach. There, among the mines, at the risk of blowing up at any moment, the submarine surfaced. With great difficulty Travkin climbed the ladder to the hatch of the conning tower and gathering his last strength opened the massive lid. The submariners filled their lungs with fresh sea air for the first time in many days. Travkin and his courageous crew brought their damaged submarine, which the enemy declared to have been sunk, to their home base. Frankly speaking, the submarine was no longer expected at the base. Commanding first the Shch-303 Guards submarine, and then the Red Banner K-52 submarine, Ivan Travkin sank during the war 14 enemy transports with a total displacement of 97,000 tons and torpedoed a destroyer. 58
ON THE ENEMY'S SEA ROUTES The success of the Northern Fleet's operation on the enemy's sea routes, and the seriousness of the threat which they constituted to the German fleet is best shown by the measures adopted by the Germans to protect (more correctly to save) their ships from Soviet submarines and aircraft. Convoys as a rule were made up of transports escorted by a smaller number of war ships. As the convoys approached the shore where the danger was the greatest the number of escort vessels was increased to equal that of the transports and even in some cases to double that number. In the north, however, the Germans were compelled to augment the number of their escort vessels until the latter outnumbered the transports several times over. The following is the case in point. At 15.45, on October 12, 1943, scouts of the North ern Fleet sighted three large German transports accompanied by a double line of escorts including 2 destroyers, 12 patrol boats. 5 minesweepers and 10 patrol launches - altogether 29 escort vessels. By dawn next day, the number of escorts had been diminished by 6 patrol boats and 3 launches, but they still outnumbered their transports by seven to one while their aircraft protection had been perceptibly increased. Yet, our naval aircraft, despite intense anti-aircraft fire, smoke- screens, abrupt enemy manoeuvres to avoid our torpedoes sank one of the three transports and one escort ship. The two other transports were badly damaged. Fifteen enemy aircraft were brought down. 59
THE \"OCEAN\" MANOEUVRES In accordance with the plan for combat and operational training of the Soviet Navy, manoeuvres were being held in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during April and May, 1970, with the participation of surface vessels, submarines, the air naval forces and marines. These manoeuvres were a serious test for the Soviet Navy, a time for the Navy to report to the Soviet people on its readiness to fulfil any assignment to defend the country's security. The fact that such major manoeuvres were taking place testified to the supreme readiness of our Navy, its tactical maturity, the skill of our commanders and HQs. Taking part in the manoeuvres were many ships and units, among them the antisubmarine cruiser Moskva, the cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov, submarines and units of the fleet-air-arm. The backbone of the combat power of our Navy were atomic powered submarines and the naval air force capable of fulfilling a broad range of offensive operational and strategic tasks. Therefore, atomic-powered submarines were participating in the manoeuvres, along with other services of the Navy. And in some operational areas they formed the task force. The \"Ocean\" manoeuvres spread over immense expanses of ocean and sea theatres: in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in the adjoining seas the Barents, the Norwegian and North seas, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan, the Philippine Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black and the Baltic Seas. All the tasks having great significance for the further combat and operational training of the Soviet Navy were successfully carried out. The aims of the manoeuvres were completely achieved. The Soviet Navy reported the country its readiness to defend our state interests. The conditions of the manoeuvres were exceedingly hard: under unfavourable weather conditions ships and aircraft 60
had to use their armament, to make landings, to transfer cargoes and to refuel at sea and in the air. The seamen had to operate in stormy weather, but that did not affect the results - ships' and aircraft crews overcame all the difficulties demonstrating high combat, political, moral and physical training. THE ACTION OF A BRITISH DESTROYER In the afternoon of 15th May, 1942, the 26th Destroyer Flotilla operated off the north end of Sumatra. In the company with the leader, the Sanmarcts, were four destroyers of the V-class. This force had to “locate and report”, “allack and destroy” the enemy. They went at full speed to intercept the enemy after dark. They got reports from the shadowing aircraft but when darkness came the reports ceased.The Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro steered a southerly course at high speed. Towards the end of the first watch the radar operator of one of the British ships reported a contact. Now the commanding officer enemy could manoeuvre the flotilla so that they closed round the enemy. After midnight the Saumarets sighted the enemy and went into attack. The attack was successful. The Japanese cruiser could not break through the \"Star\" formation of the British ships. She got eight hits and sank at 0117. The British casualties were three killed and three wounded. British Destroyer Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro 61
THE SINKING OF THE SCHARNHORST All the afternoon the Duke of York was moving up from the south- west at high speed to intercept and at 4.15 p. m made contact with the Scharnhorst. Shortly after opening fire at extreme range, the Duke of York obtained a hit and the German ship then turned to an easterly course and the British fleet went in chase: The Scharnhorst with her superior speed, could escape her pursuers, but the British destroyers obtained a position from which to deliver a torpedo attack. Unsupported I by gunfire of other ships they delivered their attack at close range, obtaining three hits. This attack reduced the Scharnhorst's speed. In a short time the Duke of York's heavy, well-directed salvoes had set on fire and almost stopped the German ship. The fast blow was delivered by a torpedo fired by the cruiser Jamaica in a position 60 miles north-east of North Cape. The Sinking of Sharnost 62
ON THE WAY TO GIBRALTAR On September 16, a convoy of freighters and colliers was making its way through the Atlantic on the way to Gibraltar from Wales. The ships were moving ahead at top speed, for there had been reports of enemy submarines in these walers. The convoy was protected by only one ship, the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca. Suddenly at 11.30 a.m, a shaking explosion lifted the collier Wellington partly out of the water. A few minutes later a submarine appeared close to her bow and then submerged. The Wellington was badly hit. The torpedo had struck close to the stem on the starboard bow, tearing away the forefoot and flooding the Number One hold. The ship listed badly, and began to sink immediately the crew of the Wellington took to the boats and made for the Seneca. Before the crew of the Wellington reached the Seneca they signalled that the ship would probably float for a while but the crew refused to remain on board. Then Lieutenant Brown, the navigating officer on the Seneca decided to try to bring the crippled Wellington into port with her cargo. Every man, who could, volunteered to accompany him. On the way to the torpedoed ship, Lieutenant Brown outlined his plan and the men were given specific assignments, including the formation of a gun crew. After a few repairs the ship was able to move away under her own power. All went well during the afternoon, but toward sun down the wind rose, and the seas ran high and heavy, making it impossible to keep the Wellington on her course. Lieutenant Brown tried to manoeuvre the vessel stern first, but it was im possible to do so. The force of the wind and sea increased. Now it became apparent that the Wellington could not survive the gale. USCGC Seneca, probably circa 1920s 63
A COLLISION On the night of December 6, 1917, the French ship Mont Blanc loaded with TNT. was moving slowly through the darkened harbour at Halifax. Her progress was cautious. With her load of explosives, she was a gigantic bomb moving through the water. As the ship crept forward, the shape of a freighter loomed up ahead, moving toward the Mont Blanc. It was the Imo, loaded with some supplies for Belgium. As soon as Imo was sighted and approached, the Mont Blanc signalled she was turning to starboard (the right). The Imo should have swung to its starboard, but some confusion or misunderstanding of signals took place. The horrified men on the Mont Blanc saw the Imo swing sharply to port. In some seconds the two ships collided. The Mont Blanc exploded. The flames swept a mile into the air. Although the ships were in the harbour when the collision took place, the explosion caused a fire that had wasted a third of the city. Over two thousand people were killed, three thousand houses were demolished together with the ships in the harbour. SS Imo aground on the Dartmouth side of the harbour after the explosion A picture of the pyrocumulus cloud 64 A view across the devastation of Halifax
THE BATTLE OF NARVIK Saturday the 13th of April 1940 dawned with a drizzle and the mountainous Norwegian coast could barely be seen away on Warspite's starboard beam. Then suddenly we were told, over the loudspeakers, that the Captain would broadcast to the ship's company at 10 o'clock. We waited the appointed time with impatience. At last came the familiar. \"Do you hear there,\" and the Captain was telling us that we were to have the honour of the gaging in a very important operation - the clearing of the harbour of Narvik of enemy naval craft. We knew some of our destroyers had been to Narvik fjord a little time before, but that no decisive result had been obtained. What we were not sure about was the extent of German mine. fields. shore batteries and submarine dispositions. The fjord itself is some 20 miles in length and narrows between precipitous mountains until the actual port of Narvik is reached. This would be a battle which could only end in the complete annihilation of one side or the other. In that narrow fjord there could be no escape for the enemy - there was only one way in and out. The action was expected to start about 1400 and on this account lunch was to be served an hour earlier. I had joined HMS Warspite four months before as meteorological officer and apart from a few bombs as yet had seen no effect of blast from a 15-inch salvo, so I now hurried to my deck office, and wrapped my delicate instruments in blankets and stowed them below. I asked permission to be near the Central Communications Office to deal with my weather messages as they came in over the radio. We were fortunate that arrangements had been made for an officer on the bridge to broadcast a running commentary on the ker on action over the ship's loudspeaker. About 1300 we were informed that an enemy destroyer was in sight. Upon seeing us she turned and we kept courses in pursuit. Presently we heard we were about to open fire on an enemy destroyer. 65
Thus our guns were ranged and ready to fire in anticipation, and the moment she appeared round the headland, and before she could fire her torpedoes, she received a 15-inch salvo from about half-a- mile range. This was our first blood of the war, and even at that range it was a well planned and neatly executed manoeuvre. A few seconds too late. or a small error in spotting or gunnery, and the Battle of Narvik might have gone the other way. After that the Fleet Synoptic Weather Message started coming in, and I was busy decoding, plotting and drawing the weather chart. However, I kept an ear open to the broadcast, and learnt that more enemy destroyers had been sunk or disabled, and the remaining ones had turned tail. Of seven formidable Maas-class destroyers only three were now fighting units. These made up into Rombaks fiord, which had a narrow entrance but no outlet. Shortly only one could fire, and the Eskimo was detailed to go in and finish her off, but as she went through the narrow approach her bow was blown off by a torpedo. It was not long, however, before this last surviving unit was put out of action. Meanwhile, some other destroyers of ours had attacked the harbour, and blown up several enemy munition and supply ships. They had also discovered another destroyer, which had taken no part in the battle and proceeded to sink her. All this time Warspite had been engaged in supporting her destroyers by bringing her guns to bear where required, and keeping the shore batteries under control. When I came up on deck I saw a German destroyer burning astern and the final scene in Rombaks fjord. The Cossack was having a duel with a couple of shore batteries which had suddenly sprung to life. However, after a salvo from us no more annoyanceе was experienced from that quarter. Group of Norwegian soldiers on the Narvik front HMS Eskimo after losing her bow 66
Then there was quiet and I became aware of the beauty of the surrounding scene. Our damage was slight and casualties low. We took aboard the wounded. who required expert medical attention. We also took on board some German prisoners, including officers. These latter were firmly convinced that the Warspite was the only battleship in the British Navy remaining unsunk, and when later, at sea, were shown other British battleships, were still sceptical. They did not believe the Graf Spee had been and when shown photographs of the scuttled ship, laughed and said they were Takes. It was dark before we left the scene. The port of Narvik was now free of enemy ships. (After \"The Battle of Narvik\" by W. S. Date) Narvik during the Second World War The wreck of the scuttled Bernd von Arnim in the Rombaksfjord 67
BATTLES BETWEEN PT BOATS AND DDS Battles between PT boats and destroyers are not new in naval warfare. Small conventionally armed torpedo boats had shown a willingness to challenge larger ships with superior Trepower on the high seas. The attacks had been conducted from 16 to 65 miles at sea at times over 100 miles from PT boat bases, often in rough seas, and almost always at night - attesting to the sea keeping ability to these boats. Each of these attacks had proved that naval guns can drive off attacking PT boats if the boats are ineptly used or taken under fire early in their attacks runs. If enemy air superiority existed and weather did not preclude a cover the target ship, the chances of a PT boat reaching attack position were limited. In the mid-afternoon the destroyer M. was attacked about 30 miles off the coast by three torpedo boats. The PT boats used conventional tactics, firing their torpedoes from abeam the destroyer at approximately 5,000 yards. The destroyer, when torpedoes were detected in the water, stored a direct hit on one PT boat with her 5-inch battery, and aircraft from an aircraft carrier engaged the other two PT boats and drove them off. The entire firing time of the engagement was twenty-one minutes. Two nights later, the destroyer M. in company with the destroyer J. again participated in a running battle, this time for over three hours against surface units from coast. The night was dark, the seas were rough, and the PT boats never got into firing position before being taken under fire by the destroyers, assisted by aircraft from carriers. Seven weeks later, in another night incident, two destroyers were approached by four high-speed PT boats forty-two miles from the coast. They were approaching from the stern, splitting into two groups, and closing on the flanks of the two destroyers. At about 10,000 yards, they were taken under fire by the 5-inch gun batteries of the destroyers, and shortly thereafter dis appeared from the radar scopes, Although aircraft were on the scene, low ceilings and poor visibility precluded active participation or visual sightings. 68
The US PT boat Four Missiles - Four Hits The destroyer V. was the victim of missiles fired from PT boats when the former was on a war patrol manned for battle and well equipped. The crew was alert and actually sighted the incoming missiles at a range of five or six miles, which allowed sufficient time to maneuver the ship, to begin increasing speed. and to bring antiaircraft guns to bear on the missiles. When first observed, the missiles appeared to be off course, but shortly after the sighting, they altered course directly from the destroyer. Striking the superstructure, the first missile destroyed the ship's radio antennae, and moments later, the second missile hit the engine-room, leaving the destroyer dead in the water, on fire, and listing heavily. The crew attempted to save their ship and had made some progress when an hour and a half later, a third missile was sighted heading for the ship. It exploded on the stern and as the destroyer sank, a fourth missile exploded in the scene. 20-Minute Fight A PT boat-destroyer action took place about 16 miles off the coast. A force consisting of a destroyer and two torpedo boats engaged force of two PT boats at about 11.30 p. m. After exchanging gunfire with the torpedo boats, the force split: one PT boat turned west and one east. While being pursued, the western PT boat exploded about 15 yards from the destroyer Pater om damage caused by the destroyer's guns. The PT boat was caught between the two torpedo boats and sunk by gunfire in a 20-minute fight. There were no torpedoes fired by the opponent. 69
THRESHER TRAGEDY The tragedy happened on April 10, 1963, when USS Thresher with 129 men on board sank in 8.400 feet of water 260 miles off the New England coast. Her men were carefully selected and trained and were prepared to react instinctively and effectively in case of an emergency. But something happened shortly after 9 a. m. on that April morning that neither training nor courage could help. USS Skylark, a surface vessel working with Thresher on her test dives, received at 9.13 this message through underwater telephone: \"Experience minor difficulties. Am attempting to blow. Will keep you informed.\" The world does not know the exact nature of Thresher's difficulties. Four minutes later her last message was heard aboard Skylark- the words \"Test depth,\" the submarine's lower most diving limit. Apparently Thresher was in serious trouble and heading toward the bottom. Every resource of the USN was thrown into the search operation. But it was clear that rescue and recovery at that depth, if she lay on the bottom, were impossible, with existing techniques and equipment. When Thresher went down one could only hope that she could be found and thus learn the cause of the disaster, but even that hope was slim. Thresher at sea on 24 July 1961 Tje New York Times. USS Thresher sinks in the Atlantic 70
A VOICE FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA USS Arizona Fifty feet below the surface of the sea, at the mouth of the channel leading into Pearl Harbor twenty-four year old lieutenant of the Japanese submarine fleet steered his midget sub straight toward the battleship, USS Arizona. His fingers rested on the firing buttons of the small sub's two torpedoes, he was ready to die. Seventeen year old seaman, the only other person on board, at that moment was the most terrified man on earth. That was on that \"day of infamy,\" December 7, 1941. Now it is possible to trace the remote past of ill-fated sub that went dead on that day, only to recently rise from its waterly grave thanks to the efforts of the U. S. Navy divers. Japanese submarines were ordered into impossible useless and wasteful duties by men who understood nothing about them. True to their instincts and training most of the Japanese submariners tried loyally to carry out futile orders from the high command, and in so doing lost practically every ship and every man in their force by the end of the war. The two-man subs became notoriously well known since they were first employed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were powered by electric motors that ran from 400 batteries. They carried two torpedoes that had to be loaded from the outside. Protruding from the bow, they were fired by compressed air. The operation plans provided for the return of the two-man vessel to the parent submarine. But it was not realized. Practically it was a suicide submarine. 71
The job of the second of the two-man crew was to crawl on his hands and knees through the sub moving ballast weights about to control the trim and he was also in charge of blowing the trim tanks. On the night of December 6, five miles offshore the two-man sub was preparing for its attack on Pearl Harbor. Since the midget craft could not go deeper than 250 feet, the mother sub had to be careful not to exceed that depth. The boat went on sinking. It almost disappeared in the depths of the Pacific before they had even begun their mission. At 7.55 a. m. the air attack on Pearl Harbor started. The sea. got rough and the waves grew high, Although the crew made. every effort to keep her down, the little boat bobbed up and down in the huge ground swells. She got heavy and started to sink until the lieutenant could not see through the periscope. Then they trimmed her and she rose again, this time breaking the surface. Then they spotted the USS Arizona. Once again the midget broke the surface. They were at the entrance to the harbor. All the trimming tanks were Hooded but the sub refused to sink. Then she started down and struck bottom in ninety feet of water at the harbor entrance with no power and torpedoes still intact. All the batteries were dead. Everything had gone wrong. There was the escape hatch in the conning tower. Nine hours the lieutenant and the seaman sat there in that sinking tomb, waiting for darkness. The lieutenant lit a burning fuse which was attached to an explosive charge that would blow the ship to bits after their departure. Then the conning tower was flooded and the two men attempted their escape. The seaman reached the surface, he swam lake hell for shore. Fires raged everywhere, sirens wailed in the night. When he reached the beach he collapsed. When he awoke he was in a prison camp where he spent the duration of the war. He never saw the lieutenant again. Twenty-six years later the U.S. divers 72 discovered and salvaged a Japanese two-man sub of World War II.
THE FATE OF THE ATALANTA Frigate Atlanta, 1880 The afternoon of November 7, 1879 was warm and clear. The Portsmouth embankment was crowded with people from all parts of the British Isles, they were the families and friends of the 290 officers, ratings, and midshipmen who were going to sail in HMS Atalanta, the recently recommissioned training frigate of the Royal Navy. The Atalanta under the command of Captain Sterling, was going on a training cruise to the West Indies. She was expected back in Portsmouth by the beginning of April, 1880. After the ceremony the Atalanta sailed out of Portsmouth and headed south around Spain to the islands off the Gold Coast of Africa. She was only two days out when Captain Sterling realized that his frigate tended to roll sharply at unexpected times. The Captain's fear for the safety of his command caused him to spend many hours on deck. The passage to the Canary Islands was not a pleasant one for either midshipmen or officers. The rolling of the ship made the crew sick. However, the Atalanta reached the Canary Islands in good condition and after replenishing her stores, she sailed on December 4th for Barbados in the West Indies. The Atalanta a little more than a week out of her last port of call when a seaman fell into the stormy sea. A boat was immediately launched but the inexperienced oarsmen failed to reach him in time. 73
As the frigate headed through the stormy Atlantic, Captain Sterling remained on deck most of the time. The bad weather and constant rolling again filled the crew with sickness. After a slow and painful crossing, the Atalanta reached the clear warm waters of the West Indies. The crew, happy at having made the crossing scrubbed and polished the ship for their arrival in Barbados. All aboard the frigate looked forward to a few days of liberty after over a month's sailing through bad weather. At Barbados the Atalania stayed a week to replenish supplies and give the crew a rest. On January 9th she left Barbados for Halifax and home. When the Atalanta reached Halifax, it was winter, the mid shipmen could hardly wait until they were home, for it had been a very hard voyage for all. At Halifax Captain Sterling received orders to return to England by way of Bermuda. After a fast passage, she reached Bermuda on January 19th. The Atalanta stayed only two days since she was expected in England by early April. It was that time of the year when the Atlantic was at her worst and Captain Sterling was determined to get his ship home in time. But April came upon England and the Atalanta had not reported to the Admiralty. Hearing no word, the families of her crew enquired about her for they had grown uneasy. The days passed but no news of the Atalanta was reported. The store ship Wye was dispatched to the Azores to search the area for any news of the Atalanta and then ordered the enfire Channel Squadron to search the Atlantic from Bantry Bay, Ireland, to the Azores. While the Channel Squadron was searching, the Wye returned and reported that she found no sign of the Atalanta. After the Channel Squadron returned with no word of the Atalanta, the Admirally announced that an inquiry would be held in the first week of June. This was almost an open admission to public that the Atalanta was lost. 74
While the inquiry was going on in England, the bark Exile arrived in New York. Her Captain reported that he had sighted a large ship floating keel up 400 miles west of Cape Finisterre, Spain. Although there had been many ships lost during February and March of that year, the Captain had for some reason associated this hulk with the Atalanta. A few days later a traveller picked up a bottle drifting about a mile off the New England coast. When the captain opened the bottle he found a hastily written note inside dated April 17, 1880. It stated that the Atalanta was sinking at Lat. 32 N and Long. 27°W. This is south of Fayal in the Azores. Shortly after the bottle was found, a barrel stave was discovered by children playing on a beach at Cow Bay, Nova Scotia. The stave had a message written in pencil on it. All the message. contained was the date, April 5, 1880 and that the Atalanta was sinking. By the time the news of these discoveries reached England, the inquiry was over and the books closed. In all probability the Atalanta had rolled over on her side and slowly inched her way under, taking all hands. 75
TORREY CANYON On 18th March 1967, the super-tanker Torrey Canyon ran hard aground on the Seven Stones Reef, some 15 miles off Land's End. Seven Stones is an infamous hazard to navigation; its evil reputation is recorded on charts dating back four centuries to the days of Spanish Armada. The Torrey Canyon was one of the ten largest tankers displacing over 118.000 tons. She had been purchased by the Barracuda Tanker Corporation. California. Flying the Liberian flag, manned by all-Italian crew, the Torrey Canyon was under charter to the British Petroleum Corporation. Seven Stones Reef is located between the Scilly Isles and the mainland of Great Britain. It is marked by 11 navigational lights and a lightship. Legally, the reef and the wreck lie in international waters. On previous voyages, the Torrey Canyon and other tankers had passed through this area rather than lengthen the voyage by going around the Scillies. On the morning of 18 March 1967, at high tide, the Torrey Canyon was passing through a calm, sunlit sea. The 974-foot ship was sighted by the Seven Stones lightship which promptly began to warn the Torrey Canyon away from her collision course with the reef by means of flares, flags, and rocket signals. 76
The tanker did not notice, however, and shortly thereafter hit the reef and teared a gash in her hull approximately 500 feet in length. A vast oil slick soon appeared in the sea around the ship. The slick was spreading hourly and was carried by the currents toward the coast of Cornwall, a British resort area noted for its excellent beaches. Efforts were initiated by a Dutch salvage crew in an attempt to recover at least part of the Torrey Canyon's cargo of crude oil. Unfortunately, the Dutch salvage master was killed on 21March, in an explosion on board, halting for three days the effort to refloat her. A proposal to transfer the cargo to other tankers was ruled out by the Admiralty as too dangerous. The Torrey Canyon was a floating bomb. The leaking continued, however. and the Cornish beaches were polluted, fish in the area were killed, and the sea life of all kinds was destroyed. A week's efforts were in vain. The Royal Air Force, in con junction with the Royal Navy were ordered to bomb and destroy the Torrey Canyon. The tanker had succeeded in polluting some 350 square miles of sea, covering a 120-mile strip of beach with black ooze, killing unnumbered sea animals and birds, and costing the British Government nearly a million pounds to destroy her. 77
SHIPS 78
A RESEARCH VESSEL Nowadays a research ship can be distinguished at once by her appearance. Some carry many winches for deep-sea sounding along their sides, or a lot of antennas, or complex automatic instruments on their masts. The new appearance of these ships, their structure and design reflect the growing sophistication of the investigations carried out by their scientific crews. Today ships are provided with equipment capable of registering processes under the bottom of the ocean, in the atmosphere above and even in outer space. The tasks of our research fleet have become much greater. More than three-quarters of the globe is covered by water and therefore much work has to be carried out on board ships at sea. In the last few years, the Soviet Academy of Sciences research fleet has received many ships. Now the biggest ship of them all is the Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov with a displacement of more than 17.500 tons, a length of 156 metres and beam of 23.3 metres, a crew of 115 and 125 research personnel (physicists, astronomers, mathematicians, engineers and technicians). The research teams carry out a wide range of investigations, including studies of the upper atmosphere, the propagation of radio waves and the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. The ship has laboratories and equipment for all this work. The ship has a great variety of antennas for communication with space crews and the mainland measuring the parameters of sputniks and outer space craft and other purposes. The sailors and the researchers on board these ships carry out their tasks far from home, on long cruises at sea. The Soviet Union is carrying out a large programme for the exploration and peaceful utilization of outer space in the name of scientific progress and the needs of all humanity. The crews and the scientists of research ships are contributing to this important work. 79
USS CONYNGHAM USS Conyngham is a member of the Cruiser-Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Ship's primary mission is antiair warfare. For this she is equipped with the Tartar missile system and 5″/54 caliber automatic guns. She also has strong Antisubmarine Warfare defences and is equipped with the torpedoes and ASROC (Antisubmarine Rocket) which is capable of delivering either a torpedo or depth charge against high speed nuclear submarines. Radar and Sonar installations allow Conyngham a detection ability for air, surface and sub-surface targets. After detecting a target at long range, fire control radars lock onto the target, a missile is launched and guided to the target which it then destroys. Her guns are versatile and may be used for Antiair Warfare, shore bombardment and conventional surface warfare. These guns may be controlled by either radar or visual means. The operation department is an essential part of the Conyngham team. The mission of this department is to plan, schedule and coordinate the operations of the ship. The department provides external communications both electronic and visual, ope rates the ship's Combat Information Center, and maintains the majority of the ship's electronic equipment. Communication facilities include modern equipment which is found on many of the larger combatant ships in the fleet. 80
The Combat Information Center, actually the heart of a fighting ship has the responsibility of collecting, evaluating and disseminating information to the ship's command. The ship has a modern main propulsion plant designed to give maximum performance. At the optimum cruising speed the ship is capable of steaming across the Atlantic without refuelling. The speed is about 30 knots. Auxiliary equipment includes four turbo-generators capable of producing enough electric power to light a small town, two distilling plants with a capacity of 24,000 gallons of fresh water per day and an air conditioning plant. SUBMARINE The essential feature of the submarine is its long cigar-shaped hull which has no large projection except the bridge and the conning tower which forms a single, compact shape. On each side of the hull are the blisters which contain the ballast tanks. The torpedo tubes are fixed at the bows and stern, frequently 4 21- inch tubes each and in the more recent vessels they are of the homing type. (This new type of the torpedo can be directed on to its target, by radio or by other means after it has been fired). The conventional submarine is propelled by diesel engines for surface cruising and electric motors underwater, but the British experimental class ships are propelled by a new type of turbine using hydrogen peroxide as the main component of the fuel. With this development underwater speeds of about 25 knots are obtained. With the tremendous advantage of an almost limitless cruising range without refuelling, the atomic submarine can remain at sea for months and operate in any part of the world, even under the Polar ice. 81
Another important development is the Polaris guided missile which can be launched either from the surface or from underwater. The introduction of the \"snort\" breathing tube makes for fresh air to be taken in while the submarine is cruising submerged just below the surface. The big US nuclear-powered submarines can usually be distinguished by the diving planes which project from the conning tower (sail or fin as it is now called in connection with the big new ships). The world's largest submarine is the nuclear-powered U.S. N. Triton which has a length of 447 ft. and a speed of 30 knots both surface and submerged, so that she could keep station with destroyers and aircraft carriers and take her part as an early warning picket for task forces. The first British nuclear-powered submarine, with a length of was 265 ft launched in 1960 and named Dreadnought. Instead of the traditional cigar-shaped hull she is more like a whale with a silhouette forward blunter than the usual submarine. Some submarines have a dome or other projection in the bows at deck level; this structure contains the underwater detection equipment known as asdic. British submarines of the Oberon class have an underwater speed of about 25 knots, and for the first time glass fibre laminate is used for the superstructure. Guided missile 82
FRENCH SUBMARINES la Redoutable la Gymnote The first nuclear submarine recently named Redoutable, was laid down at Cherbourg at the beginning of 1963; she is 420 feet long and will have a surface displacement of 8,000 tons. Her streamlined hull and single screw will allow speeds of 20 knots Her reactor of enriched uranium and pressurized natural water will provide 15,000 horsepower. Her range will be up to 5,000 nautical miles. The Redoutable will have four torpedo tubes with the latest fast ASW torpedoes for close defence, but her main armament will be 16 nuclear-tipped missiles. The range of these missiles will be 1,000 to 1,600 miles and their atomic power will be up to 100 kilotons. Built of steel, with high elasticity, the Redoutable's maximum submergence will be 300 meters plus. Two 135-man crews will take turns on 90-day cruises. Her automatic pilot system and inertial navigation system will ensure her the best possible accuracy of navigation. The installation of equipment for radio satellite guidance is being considered. The Gymnote is primarily an experimental submarine whose mission is to conduct the numerous tests necessary on materials planned for the nuclear submarines (missiles, inertial guidance. system, electric computer). Built on the hull of the first nuclear submarine whose building had been abandoned, the Gymnote has a surface displacement of 3,800 tons. Her 2,600 - CV electric generators and two screws give her a submerged speed of 10 knots. She is 275 feet long, 35 feet wide, her draft is 25 feet, and she has a complement of live officers and 60 men besides accommodations for 40 scientists or technicians. 83
Her main armament consists of four vertical missile launchers. Her missiles are com parable to the American Polaris. Mock-up missiles have already been successfully launched from a submerged caisson. The Gymnote entered the service at the end of 1965. THE FIRST NOISELESS SUBMARINE The white 10-ft long, 850-pound sub was lowered into the sea and she sank three feet. Only the top of its sail (conning tower) protruded above the surface as it \"steamed\" at one and three quarters knots. The people on the pier watched the soundless craft run without any visible means of propulsion. The sub had no propellers, no waterjets or any other moving parts. It moved as directed in circles, diagonal and straight lines. Steering was accomplished by manual adjustment of its rudder. The craft propels itself by producing a magnetic field in the sea by means of its magnetic coil-a-half-mile long heavy aluminium wire, which carries the current supplied by five lead-acid storage batteries. Performing a dual simultaneous function, the batteries send electric currents through the water, perpendicularly to the magnetic field. The same principle that interacts the magnetic field and electric fields to generate power in an electric driven motor, causes the tiny sub to move electromagnetically. The \"shakedown\" was the second attempt to launch the sub. In the first try a heavy swell caused it to take on water. The test was called off and it was towed ashore. Damage was minor and repairs were completed that night. The following morning, the craft was trailed to Yacht Harbor, where the water is calmer and launched again. It performed all phases satisfactorily. As a naval warship its silence would make detection by sonar virtually impossible. 84
TORPEDO RETRIEVERS The boats, called torpedo retrievers, go to sea in fair and foul weather to keep Submarine Flotilla up during submarine training exercises. The 63-foot boats, which have the speed of 20 knots, operate with the Flotilla submarines during torpedo firing operations. Their main task is to track down and retrieve torpedoes fired from the boats. Hours before a scheduled training exercise for a submarine, one of the small retrievers heads out to sea. Once in the area where the torpedoes will be fired, the crew makes ready for one of two methods of operation. During the first method the retriever waits in the approximate area that the torpedo is expected to surface. Once sighted it is chased down until it expends itself, then hauled aboard. The other method employed in picking up the \"fish\" is put into operation with the retriever underway approximately 1000 yards behind the designated target. Once the torpedo's wake is spotted the retriever tracks it down and picks it up. Both electrical and manual winches are used in hoisting the torpedo aboard. Sets of rollers, allached to the sloping deck in the cutaway stern of the boat, speed up the operation. As the winch pulls the torpedo glides across the rollers and up the stern ramp until it is placed completely in boats. Each retriever has a capacity to carry four torpedoes. When the operation is completed and the crew has accounted for all the torpedoes fired by the submarine, it then begins its way back to the harbour. Arriving at the tender, the torpedoes are unloaded and stored aboard the ship. Each of the retrievers carries a six-man crew of two engineers, two seamen, a cook and a senior petty officer, who is the skipper. 85
LIGHT COASTAL CRAFT These small ships are assigned to many duties in inshore waters: antisubmarine patrol, reconnaissance, harbour defence, air-sea rescue and offensive patrol with guns or torpedoes. They are powered by diesels, petrol engines or gas turbines. 1. French Le Fougueux class patrol vessel (1954-1959) is comparatively large with a tonnage of 325 and an overall length of nearly 180 ft. Their outline may in difficult light appear like a frigate. Armament consists of 2 Botors AA. guns and antisub marine mortars. Speed 18.5 knots. 2. Italian fast gunboat Saetta. 1966. This is a 40-knot boat propelled by diesel and gas turbines and can be used in one or three roles: gunboat with 3 Bofors guns and rocket launcher; torpedo boal with 4 21-in. torpedoes and 1 Bofors guns: fast minelayer with 1 Bofors and 8 mines. 3. British Brave class fast patrol boat. 1960. Also a convertible vessel used either as a motor torpedo boat with 4 side launched 21-in. torpedoes or as a motor günboat with two Bofors guns and only 2 torpedoes, 89 tons' standard displacement, a length of 98 ft. o. a. and remarkable speed of 50 knots, powered by gas turbines. 4. British seaward defence boat, Ford class. 1956 onwards. 120 tons. 117 ft. o. a. 15 knots. This new type of coastal warship is designed to defend estuaries and harbours from enemy submarines and it is therefore well equipped with electronic detection gear of the latest kind. It is armed with a single Bofors gun and a triple-barrelled Squid or depth charges. 5. Danish seaward defence craft Rota. 1965. 170 tons. 121 ft. Armed with a Bofors gun and depth charges and propelled by diesel engines giving a speed of about 20 knots. 6. Swedish torpedo boat Regulus. 1960. 155 tons. 157 ft. These diesel boats have speeds up to 37 knots and can be used either as motor torpedo boats or gunboats. Other Swedish torpedo boats are capable of more than 40 knots. 86
THE ADMIRALTY When the Peter and Paul Fortress had been completed in 1703, it was decided to create yet another bastion at the mouth of the Neva. The Admiralty Yard,\" a shipyard already under construction, was used for the purpose. It was erected on the site where the Admiralty stands today. Like the modern building, the \"Admiralty Yard\" was shaped like a broad letter U, opening towards the Neva. Constructed of wood and plaster the single storey structures of the Admiralty could not themselves serve as a fortress. It was therefore decided to surround it with a line of fortifications. The work was treated urgently and by 1705 a semicircle of earthworks with cannon mounted on them had been thrown up. The earthworks were surrounded by moats, which were spanned by draw-bridges. In the broad Admiralty yard opening on to the Neva there were storehouses, workshops and 10 large covered shipways. The Admiralty shipyard was one of St. Petersburg's most important enterprises in those days. The first 18-gun warship to be built there was launched in April 1706. Small ships were built rapidly. In 1706 the yacht Nadezhda was completed in less than five months. After the victory at Poltava, in 1709, the Admiralty yard began building large ships, the first of which the 54-gun Poltava was launched in the summer of 1712. The launching of ships was an occasion for rejoicing, Troops were paraded at the Admiralty and a salute was fired as the ship went down the slipway. The Admiralty retained its importance as a shipyard and fortress until the beginning of the nineteenth century. The modern building was erected in 1806-23 by the Russian architect Zakharov. Sculpture plays a large part in the decoration of the Admiralty. The sculpture of the Admiralty façades is united in a single theme- the glorification of the Russian navy. Zakharov's masterpiece is carefully preserved by the people of Saint Petersburg. 87
VOYAGES 88
RUSSIAN EXPEDITIONS The easternmost part of Asia is separated from the USA by Bering Strait. South of the Chukotski Peninsula is the sea bearing the same name the Bering Sea. When reading that name on the map of the world one should remember that he, a former graduate of a Russian Naval College, made a great contribution to the world geography. In the first half of the 18th century Rus sian expeditions headed by Bering made two voyages to that sea which later was named after this great explorer. During his first voyage Bering sailed into the Arctic Ocean via the strait, thus discovering that Asia and America were not connected. But it was not at that time that some 80 years before a Russian expedition led by Semyon Dezhnev had passed through the same strait on their way from the Arctic to the Pa cific Ocean on small sailing vessels. Now the cape lying to the extreme east of Asia is named after him. During the second voyage Bering and his assistant Chirikov, a graduate of the same college, reached the north-western coast of America and discovered a number of islands there. On their way back Bering fell ill and died on one of the islands near Kamchatka. Another well-known name which can be found on any map is that of Chelyuskin - Cape Chelyuskin, the easternmost point of Eurasia, named after the navigator, a member of the Great Northern Expedition. That Russian expedition explored and charted in the first half of the 18th century the northern coastline of Russia, a region unexplored by that time. Chelyuskin was the first to determine the position of this northernmost cape. Bering strait Cape Chelyskin 89
THE VITYAZ'S CRUISE Admiral S.O. Makarov On August, 31, 1886, the corvette Vityaz sailed off from Kronstadt on her round-the-world cruise which was to last nearly three years and which brought the ship and her commander S. O. Makarov, the world-wide fame. Her route was: Kronstadt, Kiel, Göteborg, Portsmouth, Brest, the Bay of Biscay, the Atlantic Ocean, calling at some ports on the islands of the Green Cape. On November 20 the ship called at Rio de Janeiro harbour then having safely passed the Magellan Strait, the Vityaz called at Valparaiso and then crossed the Pacific on her way to Yokohama where she joined the Pacific Squadron cruising off the coasts of Japan. On June 8, 1887 the crew stepped on Russian soil, the ship having arrived at Vladivostok. Here the ship parted from the Squadron and put out to sea on a long and dangerous cruise. Her task was to inspect the smaller Far Eastern ports and harbours for the purpose of finding out their capacity of sheltering ships of the Pacific Fleet in case of the outbreak of the war. 90
It took Makarov half a year to carry out this task. He examined the natural features of the Far Eastern coast and found out the valuable means of its defence, at the same time he made a marine survey of several bays and harbours. On August 28, he sailed for our northern ports with a cargo of provisions on board. The ships had to withstand two terrible storms in the Okhotsk Sea. During one of them a launch was washed off by a wave. The ship had to be taken to Vladivostok and later to Yokohama for the necessary repairs of the damages made by the storms. Corvette Viyaz 91
Her home-bound voyage was made across the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea via the Suetz Canal and the Mediterranean. During this part of the voyage the Vityaz called at Hong-Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Colombo, Aden, Suez, Malta, Algier, Gibraltar, Cadiz, Sherburg and Copenhagen. On May 20, 1889 the corvette cast anchor in the Kronstadt roadstead. The cruise lasted 993 days, 526 of which had been spent in cruising proper and 467 in stationing. What a variety of lands and seas had been visited and studied, what a variety of climate zones had been passed and observed by the commander of the Vityaz and his assistants. The ships had to withstand two terrible storms in the Okhotsk Sea. During one of them a launch was washed off by a wave. The ship had to be taken to Vladivostok and later to Yokohama for the necessary repairs of the damages made by the storms. Her home-bound voyage was made across the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea via the Suetz Canal and the Mediterranean. During this part of the voyage the Vityaz called at Hong-Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Colombo, Aden, Suez, Malta, Algier, Gibraltar, Cadiz, Sherburg and Copenhagen. On May 20, 1889 the corvette cast anchor in the Kronstadt roadstead. The cruise lasted 993 days, 526 of which had been spent in cruising proper and 467 in stationing. What a variety of lands and seas had been visited and studied, what a variety of climate zones had been passed and observed by the commander of the Vityaz and his assistants. All the observations and the experience were carefully worked out, analysed and formed the foundation of his capital work “The Vityaz and the Pacific Ocean Hydrological Observations Made by the Officers of the Corvette Vityaz during the Round the-World Cruise of 1886-1889.” 92
THE FIRST VOYAGE OF RUSSIAN SEAMEN ROUND THE WORLD (1803-1806) By the beginning of the 19th century Russian possessions in the north-west of America comprised the extensive territories of Alaska. Long and difficult was the route from the centre of Russia to her Far Eastern borders and especially to her possessions in Russian America. There was an urgent need for regular sea routes between our ports in the Baltic Sea and those in the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, in 1802 the Naval Ministry accepted the offer made by Lieutenant- Captain Ivan Fyodorovich Krusenstern to organize the first Russian sea expedition round the world. Placed at the head of the round-the-world expedition Krusenstern appointed his class friend Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyanski, a learned and experienced seaman, second in command. Two ships were brought for the expedition, one having a dis placement of 450 and the other 370 tons. The bigger of the two, commanded by Krusenstern himself, was called the Nadezhda, and the smaller one, commanded by Lisyanski, was called the Neva. Ship Nadezhda Ship Neva 93
The expedition had a number of important tasks: the Far Eastern coast was to be explored, the old charts checked and corrected, oceanographic observations were to be made. The two ships left Kronstadt in August 1803 and in ten days reached Copenhagen. After a two-day stay in England they entered the Atlantic Ocean. Having crossed the Equator, they made for the coast of Brazil, the charts of which were checked and corrected. Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyanski In December 1803 both the ships entered the harbour of the Island of St. Catherine, separated from South America by a narrow strait. The ships had to stay there for 6 weeks to replace two damaged masts of the Neva. This done, the expedition passed Cape Horn and entered the Pacific Ocean. Here the ships lost each other in the dense fog. The Neva, as previously plan ned, was to sail towards Easter Island, while the Nadezhda, changing her course, sailed towards the Marquesas Islands. During his three days stay on Easter Island Krusenstern determined its coordinates and charted them. By the middle of May first the Nadezhda, then the Neva reached the Island of Nuku-Hiva, where the Russian seamen established friendly relations with the natives. 94
Krusenstern and Lisyanski were the first to give a geographical description of the island. Lisyanski made up a dictionary of the islanders' language. In this he was greatly helped by an English sailor and a French seaman who had been shipwrecked and had been living on that island for many years. At the end of May the ships crossed the Equator again, time moving from south to north. The Nadezhda, leaving Hawaiian Islands, sailed towards this Kamchatka, while the other ship headed for Alaska. Having discharged the cargo, taken the provisions and after having the ship repaired in Petropavlovsk, Krusenstern set out for Japan. Sailing southwards the ship encountered a lot of hardships- dense fogs, heavy rains and finally not far from Japan was overtaken by a typhoon. On the way Krusenstern explored and described the Island of Tsushima, and the strait bet ween it and Japan. Besides, Krusenstern's men explored all the coasts of the Island of Hokkaido, which was marked on the existing maps by a dotten line only. A map of all these unknown regions was made up. 95
Passing the Kuril Islands, the ship returned to Petropavlovsk; then, having refreshed the supplies and water, she set forth on another voyage to the west coast of Sakhalin. When attempting to pass between that island and the continent, the ship came upon a big shoal. The sea being very shallow there, Krusenstern me to the wrong conclusion that Sakhalin was a peninsula connected with the mainland by an isthmus. Only 44 years later this mistake was corrected by another outstanding Russian seaman, G. I. Nevelskoy. Having visited Alaska and some other places, the ships left the shores of Russian America, heading for the coast of China. On the way there they came upon a desert island, which was named after Lisyanski. Only in February 1806 the ships headed homeward together, but, on passing the Cape of Good Hope, they lost each other in a dense fog. The Nadezhda anchored in Kronstadt in August 1806. The first Russian cruise round the world, which had lasted about three years, ended. The first man to welcome the seamen of the Nadezhda was Lisyanski who had brought the Neva to Kronstadt two weeks earlier. The expedition was of great significance for Russia. Impor tant scientific data were obtained and a regular sea route bet ween Kronstadt and Russian America was established. 96 Ships Neva and Nadezhda
SAINT PETERSBURG, 2021
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