Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia - Naval Reform

Naval Reform

Plans for naval reform took Konstantin's attention at the start of his brother's reign. He visited England and France in 1857 to study modern navies. Knowing Russia was an inferior military power, Konstantin made concerted efforts to modernize the Russian fleet. Under his orders, old wooden frigates equipped with cannon were replaced with new iron and steel vessels outfitted with modern French and German artillery. Beginning in 1857, he supervised a comprehensive building program that completely transformed the Imperial Navy and made it into a world superpower. Under his plans, the Baltic fleet received eighteen battleships, twelve frigates, and one hundred cannon boats, while the Pacific Fleet was reinforced with twelve new armored vessels, nine transport ships, and four frigates. Only the Black Sea Fleet was largely neglected due to the restriction forced upon Russia after the Crimean War. Nevertheless, he added nineteen new vessels, the maximum allowed to the Empire.

Konstantin's spirit of reform had to confront an overstaffed bureaucracy which obstructed his every move. "I want shipwrights and sailors, no crowds of clerks ", he said. He was energetic and determined. As he pushed forward his plans for the navy, he was involved in the reform of the naval and military colleges, as well as a thorough investigation of corruption in the army and the revision of the county's censorship laws. Abrupt, quick-tempered, and utterly contemptuous of anyone who opposed him, he could forge through problems that daunted his more sensitive elder brother.

As is usual with reformers, Konstantin was both praised and despised. One critic called him "the most intelligent and able of Alexander II's brothers", but declared that he was "too self-centered to take any real interest in the welfare of others". However, Konstantin's work had a lasting influence on the Russian Imperial Navy. Under his tenure, it was rebuilt and strengthened, with new armored, steam powered vessels replacing the old wooden frigates of his father's reign. He left Russia with the world's third largest sea power, a naval force recognized for its strength and feared for its disciplined approach.