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THE NAVY IN MOTHERLAND'S SERVICE

Дата публикации: 08 сентября 2018
Автор(ы): Zhores ALFEROV, Anatoly RODIONOV
Публикатор: Шамолдин Алексей Аркадьевич
Рубрика: RUSSIA (TOPICS)
Номер публикации: №1536414582


Zhores ALFEROV, Anatoly RODIONOV, (c)

Three centuries ago our country found itself at a crossroads of history. To begin with, it had to become a large sea power capable of influencing the course of world developments. This obvious truth came to be queried every now and then, though. Simultaneously, a good deal was being accomplished on the domestic scene to boost Russia's economy. Today we shall continue the topic which the authors of the present contribution raised on the pages of our magazine.

(Science in Russia, No. 6, 2001).

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By Academician Zhores ALFEROV, RAS Vice-President, Nobel Prize Winner; Anatoly RODIONOV, Dr. Sc. (Tech.), President of the RAS Science Center, St. Petersburg, and head of its Applied Geophysics Council

The beginning of Russia's naval strategy dates back to the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, with Czar Peter the Great, the architect of this policy. The new city he founded, St. Petersburg (which became the Russian capital soon after) was to play a key role: it was there, on the banks of the Neva, that ground was broken for the country's Chief Admiralty. St. Petersburg became the seat of naval schools and of the Academy of Sciences. It was from St. Petersburg that the Russian pioneers set out to explore the northern, eastern and southern frontiers of their homeland. They discovered new lands, they blazed new sea routes, they built new ports and wharves, and fathered the traditions of the Russian navy.

It took Russia an incredibly short time to emerge as one of the world's leading sea powers. That was manifest in our major military victories both on land and at sea, in the booming shipbuilding industry, and in the rapidly growing ranks of seamen.

But the Petrine time-when "young Russia matured by Peter's genius"- came to an abrupt end with the emperor's death in 1725. His great accomplishments were not carried on. Things took a particularly bad turn during the reign of Empress Anna Ivanovna (1730-1740). But the young Russian navy was still there, and it enabled Russia to fulfill her policy objectives all through the 18th century. The reign of Empress

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Elizabeth (1741-1761), Peter's daughter, saw a revival of Petrine traditions materialized in Russian victories in the Baltic and in the defeat of Prussia during the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. Under Empress Catherine the Great (1762-1796) our country secured its interests along its southern frontiers: it annexed the Crimea and, gaining command of the Black Sea, got access to the Mediterranean.

The reforms of Catherine's successor, Paul I (1796-1801), added to Russia's naval might. New schools were opened for sea navigators and shipbuilders, and a new admiralty was founded for building big men-of-war. At the end of the 18th century the navy was playing an active role in defending Russia's interests abroad.

Early in the 19th century, during the Napoleonic wars, Russia's interests shifted to the land theaters of military operations at the expense of the navy. Land forces became a priority. In consequence of the short-sighted policies of Emperor Alexander I (1801- 1805) Russia lost her naval bases in the Adriatic and on the Ionian Islands, and she ceded her positions in Greece to Britain. In its technical and war equipment the Russian navy was lagging behind the world's leading sea powers.

There were no essential changes either under Nikolai I (otherwise known as Nicholas I, 1825-1855). While screw steamers supplanted sailships abroad, Russia still stuck to its old guns, that is sailing vessels. She suffered a heavy defeat in the Crimean War of 1853-1856 as a

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result of her economic difficulties and blunders in industrial and diplomatic activities, namely in negotiating the status of the Black Sea and straits. Therefore our country was unable to withstand a coalition of the advanced European powers and the Ottoman Empire in that war.

It was only in the latter half of the 19th century, under Alexander II (1855-1881) and Alexander III (1881 -1894), that this country entered an era of industrial growth, in the shipbuilding industry too. New shipyards were built in St. Petersburg (in 1856 and 1857) and at Kronstadt (in 1858, for steamships). Two large steel mills, the Putilov and the Obukhovo, were commissioned in 1862. The system of naval schools was updated. In 1862 the Marine Corps School upgraded its status and later, in 1877, it was reorganized into a marine academy. The best naval officers, military and civilian teachers, representatives of His Majesty's Academy of Sciences were on the faculty and sat on a permanent conference handling problems of the Admiralty and of the adequate training of cadets. All these steps, in conjunction with reforms in the country's body politic, worked toward the strengthening of our country's positions in the Black Sea region and stabilizing situation in the world.

Late in the 19th century Russia faced new challenges, now in the Far East: Japan was getting ready for attack. Relying on financial sup-

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port from Britain and the United States, that country had built up a well-equipped army and navy. In a bid to counter this threat, Russia set to building a strong navy in the Pacific. However, because of economic hardships and financial blunders committed by the government, the shipbuilding program had not been realized by the beginning of hostilities. Besides, the government assigned a secondary role to the navy in that war. Small wonder that our country lost crucial sea battles despite the highest combat morale of the seamen.

In the first two decades of the 20th century Russia lost nearly all of its war-making potential in a period of social and economic instability. We had to begin from scratch. Toward the end of the 1920s it became obvious to the Soviet leadership that our state would be unable to counter an external threat unless it had a strong navy. In 1926 the government approved a shipbuilding program for the navy which provided for the first Soviet submarines and surface vessels to be built as of 1927. A five-year program was adopted in 1933 which was followed by another one, endorsed in 1938: this country was to build up a qualitatively new navy superior to the navies of the world's leading states. All the available potential was mustered toward realization of these vital projects, including that of the rehabilitated shipbuilding industry, central design offices, research centers, the Academy of Sciences, and naval and civilian schools. Thank to this purposeful, goal-oriented engagement of many departments, of basic and applied science, and of naval officers, designers and teachers, our country could build up an efficient submarine and surface fleet by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. Our victory showed that our naval strategy proved correct.

With the end of World War II our country moved into a new period. In the mid-1950s we got down to building an atomic-powered oceanic fleet equipped with nuclear missiles, one that was to incorporate the best achievements of the day and capable of meeting the challenges of the era of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, global systems of early warning, communication and navigation. This work called for concerted effort in basic and applied research in mathematics and mechanics, nuclear physics, solid-state and hydrophysics, oceanology and hydrography, underwater acoustics and radar, electronics and in the control theory. And in many other areas.

Today this potential allows to maintain the combat efficiency of our Navy at a proper level and develop new kinds of weapons and war materiel.

Опубликовано на Порталусе 08 сентября 2018 года

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