Imperial Russian Navy - Reign of Peter The Great

Reign of Peter The Great

The creation of the regular Russian Navy took place during the reign of Peter the Great. During the Second Azov campaign of 1696 against Turkey, the Russians employed for the first time 2 warships, 4 fireships, 23 galleys and 1300 strugs, built on the Voronezh River. After the occupation of the Azov fortress, the Boyar Duma looked into Peter's report of this military campaign and passed a decree on commencing the construction of the navy on October 20, 1696. This date is considered the official birthday of the regular Russian Navy.

During the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, the Russians built the Baltic Fleet. The construction of the oared fleet (galley fleet) took place in 1702-1704 at several shipyards (estuaries of the rivers Syas, Luga and Olonka). In order to be able to defend the conquered coastline and attack enemy's maritime communications in the Baltic Sea, the Russians created a sailing fleet from the ships built in Russia and imported from abroad. From 1703-1723, the main base of the Baltic Fleet was located in Saint Petersburg and then in Kronstadt. The bases were also created in Reval (Tallinn) and in Vyborg after it was ceded from Sweden after the war of 1741-43. At first, Vladimirsky Prikaz was in charge of shipbuilding. Later on, these functions were transferred to the Admiralteyskiy Prikaz.

In 1745 the Russian Navy had 130 sailing vessels, including 36 ships of the line, 9 frigates, 3 shnyavas (шнява — a light two-mast ship used for reconnaissance and messenger services), 5 bombardier ships and 77 auxiliary vessels. The oared fleet consisted of 396 vessels, including 253 galleys and semi-galleys (called скампавеи, or scampavei; a light high-speed galley) and 143 brigantines. The ships were being constructed at 24 shipyards, including the ones in Voronezh, Kazan, Pereyaslavl, Arkhangelsk, Olonets, Petersburg and Astrakhan.

The naval officers for the fleet were supplied from among the dvoryane (noblemen) and regular sailors — from recruits. The service in the navy was lifelong. Children of noblemen were educated for naval service at the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, which had been founded in 1701 in Moscow's Sukharev Tower. Students were often sent abroad for training in foreign fleets. It was also customary to hire foreign nationals, who had significant naval experience, to serve in the Russian Navy, such as the Norwegian-Dutch Cornelius Cruys, the Greek Ivan Botsis or the Scotsman Thomas Gordon. In 1718, the Admiralty Board (Адмиралтейств-коллегия) was established as the highest naval authority in Russia.

The organizational principles of the Russian Navy, educational and training methods for preparing future staff, and methods for conducting military action were all summarized in the Naval Charter (1720) penned by Peter I himself. Peter the Great, Feodor Apraksin, Alexey Senyavin, Naum Senyavin, Mikhail Golitsyn and others are generally credited for the development of the Russian art of naval warfare. The main principles of naval warfare were further developed by Grigory Spiridov, Feodor Ushakov, and Dmitry Senyavin.