Russian Navy

“ Discipline is good, but not so strict as in the German Navy. The officers are, as a rule, men of high scientific attainments and very keen on their work.
RUSSIA.—The Russian Navy is manned almost exclusively by conscripts, who serve for five years afloat. Although his education generally leaves much to be desired, the Russian sailor has many excellent qualities. He is obedient, courageous, and never gets into a panic. Since the disastrous war with Japan, the Navy has been purged of many of the elements which impaired efficiency. The officers are now capable and zealous. ”

“ Admiral Greig now returned to Russia with the fleet, and for many years devoted himself entirely to the improvement of the Russian marine, and the development of the naval resources of the Empire—remodelling its code of discipline, relaxing its barbarity, civilizing and educating its officers and men, by training the marine cadets on board of two frigates or floating academies, and thus justly earning for himself the honourable and endearing sobriquet of the Father of the Russian Navy. ”

“ Preparation for war was never thought of. Why should it be? The French Navy had no aggressive designs, and was much below our own, both in material strength and in personnel, while the Russian Navy was partly confined in the Black Sea, the other part being in the Baltic. And so we, both officers and men, set out to have a good time. Our ships were kept up to yacht-like perfection as regards their paintwork, while their bright work shone like gold, and the road to promotion lay not through professional efficiency, but the state of cleanliness and splendour of one's ship. ”

“ Russia has a most effective fleet of torpedo-boats, some of which have attained very high speeds under the usual test conditions of carrying 141⁄2 tons of ballast, coal sufficient for 1200 miles, and a crew of eighteen. The Russian officers have already shown their skill and daring in this system of warfare, and, should they be called upon, there is no doubt that the whole capacity of these boats will be tested under the guidance of a courage and an intelligence which are unsurpassed in any other navy of the world. ”

“ Russia has little maritime commerce, at least in her own bottoms; her merchant flag is rarely seen; she has a very defective sea-coast; can in no sense be called a maritime nation. Yet the Russian navy had the decisive part to play in the late war; and the war was unsuccessful, not because the navy was not large enough, but because it was improperly handled. Probably, it also was intrinsically insufficient—bad in quality; poor troops as well as poor generalship. ”

“ Eight small cruisers laid down under the “Minor Programme” were building, two of them in a German yard, and the remainder in Russia, and there was besides a large flotilla of torpedo craft under construction. With all these vessels in commission, the Russian Navy would have become once more a factor to be reckoned with. As it happened, Russia faced the war practically without any considerable sea power.
When hostilities had begun, a dramatic incident reminded the world that Japan, the ally of Great Britain in the Far East, was not viewing the course of events unconcerned. ”

“ Greig's services to the Russian navy consisted in remodelling the discipline, civilising and educating the officers, and gradually forming a navy which enabled Russia to boast of some maritime strength. ”

“ Russia. The Russian navy really dates from the time of Peter the Great, though the dwellers in the lands now belonging to Russia along the shores of the Baltic have been seafaring people from time immemorial. The navy and Navy Department are presided over by the general admiral, who is always one of the Imperial family. He has under his orders an Under-Secretary of State having the rank of vice-minister and called the director of the Ministry. ”

“ If she went out of commission and her armament were taken out of her for a temporary purpose, she would nevertheless be a ship of war of the Russian navy. Being, as we have already held, a ship, she must be either a ship of war or merchant vessel, and as she was clearly not a merchant vessel, the only other alternative applies. ”

“ The Japanese fleet, on the other hand, because it is directed with an intelligence more highly trained than that which directs the Russian fleet, and because, in consequence, the officers and enlisted men perform their various duties not only in the actual battle, but in preparation for it, with a skill greater than that used in the Russian fleet, suffers but little damage in the fight—though the advantage in number and size of ships is slightly with the Russians. ”

“ The Russian Navy consists of two large fleets in the Gulf of Finland and the Black Sea; but the exact amount of their force and their available resources has been a subject of dispute among naval men and politicians. Some idea of the size of the navy may be derived from the number of hands employed. The crews of the Baltic fleet amounted in 1837, to not less than 30,800 men; and those of the fleet in the Black Sea to 19,800, or altogether 50,600. The Austrian Navy consisted in 1837, of 8 ships of the line, 8 frigates, 4 sloops, 6 brigs, 7 schooners or galleys, and a number of smaller vessels ”

“ The Russian fleet is numerically strong, but weak in seamanship, and in the seaman’s spirit. The navy of France again, so great have been the care and forethought bestowed upon it, has been brought up to so high a point of efficiency, that many competent judges have doubted what would be the first results of a conflict between it and the maritime armaments of England. ”

“ Those of the navy are hydro-aëroplanes, or capable of being so arranged. In number, the Russian navy has about a dozen. Of military aëroplanes Russia has probably from 250 to about 300, many of them of modern type, and built in Russia, the principal types being Rumpler, Albatross, Aviatik, Nieuport, Farman, Bristol and Deperdussin. ”

“ I came from the Palace with a heavy heart. The next day, Petersburg was startled by the publication of a ukase recalling Vice-Admiral Stark and Rear-Admiral Molas, his second in command, from the Pacific.
Immediately on hearing this news I sent a telegram in cipher to Lord Bedale. For obvious reasons [Pg 144] I never take copies of my secret correspondence, but to the best of my recollection the wire ran as follows:
Germany instigating Russian Navy to raid your shipping on the pretext of contraband. Object to provoke reprisals leading to war. ”

“ Tea was made and served out, with regular army rations. The men's drawn faces [Pg 113] relaxed. They warmed their half-frozen limbs. Rough jokes passed. The terrors of the lake-crossing were forgotten. "On to Harbin!" they roared out in chorus, as their colonel passed. "Long live the Czar!"
[Pg 114]
CHAPTER X. THE FIRST BLOW.
On the evening of February 8th a fleet of dark-hulled ships moved silently westward across the Yellow Sea. In the harbour of Port Arthur lay the pride of the Russian navy, most of the ships riding peacefully at anchor in the outer roads. ”

“ The Danish navy, at this time, consisted of twenty-three ships of the line with about thirty-one frigates and smaller vessels, exclusive of guardships. The Swedes had eighteen ships of the line, fourteen frigates and sloops, seventy-four galleys and smaller vessels, besides gun-boats, and this force was in a far better state of equipment than the Danish. The Russians had eighty-two sail of the line and forty frigates. Of these there were forty-seven sail of the line at Cronstadt, Revel, Petersburg, and Archangel; but the Russian fleet was ill-manned, ill-officered, and ill-equipped. ”

“ In 1854, on the outbreak of war with Russia, 3000 men were drafted into the Navy from the Coastguard, their places being filled by pensioners. During the war considerable service was also rendered by the Revenue cruisers, by capturing the Russian ships in the Northern Seas, for we must recollect that, just as in the wars with France, there were two centres to be dealt with, viz., in the north and south. ”

“ Previous to the Japanese-Russian War, ten years ago, the strategy of the British navy may be characterized as physical rather than mental, depending on a superior number of ships and men; those ships and men being of a very high grade individually, and bound together by a discipline at once strict and sympathetic. ”

“ Whether any one man secured really valuable information is doubtful; the benefits were secured rather by the patient sifting of everything at Tokio.
It is said that the Japanese torpedo craft reached the Russian battleships on February 8th by using Russian signals that they had stolen the secret of. Far more probable is it that they had learned them by long and patient observation. [Pg 256]
FINANCE The expenditure upon the Japanese Navy for the years preceding the war with Russia was—
In 1903 the new programme was authorised, to spread over a series of years. ”

“ It is a ship without a captain, on which the helm is fought for and seized by different hands in turn. To-day the real rulers of Russia are the men who are bent on war—and who, while we are talking, have actually begun the war!”
I gazed around the Council-Room, unable to believe my ears.
“Yes,” the stern sovereign continued, “while you, sir, were entering the Inland Sea, charged with this offer of peace”—his majesty tossed the precious piece of paper on the table with a look of disdain—“a Russian gunboat, the Korietz, was firing the first shot of the war at one of my squadrons off Chemulpo.” ”

“ An hour after dropping the Danzig we stopped our engines and prepared to run under sail. The whole crew was called on deck to hoist out the screw, a mass of copper weighing twenty-five thousand pounds, and set in a frame raised or lowered like a window sash. With strong ropes and the power of three hundred men, the frame and its contents were lifted out of water, and the Variag became a sailing ship. The Russian government is more economical than our own in running ships of war. Whenever possible, sails are used instead of steam. ”

“ She has, as her active ally, the greatest military nation in the world, whose soldiers and sailors are about, for the first time for many centuries, to fight side by side against a common enemy. Little as we are disposed to decry the strength of that navy which Russia, by her wonderful energy, has succeeded in creating during the past few years, it would be absurd to compare it with the magnificent fleets which England and France combined have at present floating in the waters of the Black Sea, and about to sail for the Baltic. ”

“ So far as we are concerned, we are seventeen ships strong, apart from our destroyers, while our friend, Hang-won, informs me that the Russian fleet consists of fourteen ships, again apart from destroyers. ”

“ Some of the other cruisers were little more than armed merchantmen, and none of them were formidable warships. Another circumstance that detracted from the fighting value of this fleet was the character of the officers and crews. All Russia's best and most highly-trained sailors and marine engineers were sent out before the war to the Pacific Squadron; and she had no adequate reserve to draw on. The modern man-of-war's-man—whether he is in the engine-room or on the gun-deck—is a highly specialized product, and he cannot be turned out at a moment's notice. ”

“ There were four modern battleships of a powerful type and of homogeneous design; but their value is much discounted by the fact that some of their consorts are distinctly less powerful; and in naval warfare the manœuvring power of a fleet becomes that of its weakest item. This was proved very signally on the occasion of the engagement between Admiral Kamimura and the Vladivostock Squadron, when the Russian cruisers Gromoboi and Rossia suffered most severely from having to stand by the Rurik, the lame duck of the squadron. ”

“ It is curious to observe the fidelity with which Russia has adhered to external armour instead of relying upon protective decks, as we have done in the 'Blake' and 'Blenheim.' Of smaller cruisers few lately have been added to her fleet. It is no doubt considered that more effect can be produced by a few vessels of great power than by distributing the force among a larger number of inferior ships. ”

“ The PT fleet was quickly disbanded after the war. Today, although the Soviet navy has more than 500 motor torpedo boats—according to Jane’s Fighting Ships—and even though Soviet-built torpedo boats ply Cuban waters almost within sight of American shores, the U. S. Navy has not a single PT in commission. ”

“ The Russian force, besides the three vessels already mentioned, included the armoured cruiser Dimitri Donskoi, the central-battery ship Kniaz Pojarski, the cruiser Pamyat Merkuriya, two of the new armoured cruisers, Mezen and Syzran, of the Rurik type, the corvette Razboynik, the torpedo gunboats Griden and Gaidamak, and the armoured gunboat Gremyastchy, with several torpedo boats. ”

“ A modern fleet consists of many units of different types—battleships, battle-cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers and submarines. Before I relinquished the command of the Grand Fleet, large sea-going submarines of high speed, vessels of the "K" class, had been built to accompany the surface vessels to sea. It is very essential that senior officers should have every opportunity of studying tactical schemes in which various classes of ships and kinds of weapons are employed. In considering the future of the Navy it is impossible to ignore aircraft. ”

“ In ordinary times it takes one hundred skilled men a full week to stow away provisions, supplies, ammunition, coal, and the thousand and one minor articles that are needed on board one of the larger war-ships. The ship's crew lend a hand, but they operate only under the direction of the staff of trained stevedores which is kept on duty at the Navy Yard. ”