The sterns of four Russian ships of the line built between 1700 and
1763 show in detail the elaborate style of decorative wood carving still in
vogue in Russia during the first half of the eighteenth century at a time when
the sterns and quarter galleries of other European capital ships were becoming
simpler and more utilitarian in the interest of economy and efficiency in
battle. As warship design became more functional and less concerned with vulgar
(and expensive) display under Catherine II, this level of decoration declined
in the Russian navy as it had done so earlier in other European navies: top
left, Goto Predestinatsiya 1700; top right, Ingermanland 1715; below left,
Slava Rossii 1733; below right, Sviatoi Evstafii Plakida 1763.
This includes major seagoing warships present.
Shallow-draught vessels intended solely for inshore and amphibious warfare and
naval auxiliaries are not included. Coverage of the larger oared and rowing
frigates has been included here on account of their size and firepower and
their seagoing capabilities. The same reasoning applies to bomb vessels which
were designed to accompany the battle fleets at sea. The categories covered
below are all types familiar to the most casual students of sailing warships
and our remarks are largely confined to elements of their construction and
utilization unique to Russian conditions and in some degree of variance with
normal practice elsewhere.
Line of battle ships
During the formative years of naval development, Russians
followed British usage and formally divided their capital ships into four, and
later three, Rates.
Unlike the British, no attempt was made to assign rates to
cruising ships. The following official Rates were in effect prior to the reign
of Catherine II:
Inventory of 1727
First Rate 90–100 guns
Second Rate 80–88
Third Rate 66
Fourth Rate 54
Establishment of 1732
First Rate 70–100
Second Rate 66
Third Rate 54
Establishment of 1750
First Rate 80–100
Second Rate 66
Third Rate 54
It should be noted that these ratings were formal categories
and never achieved general circulation in the Russian naval circles of the
period. Formal establishments of ships after 1750 describe capital ships solely
in terms of the number of guns that they were rated as carrying. The sole
exception to this practice was that ships carrying 100 guns or more were always
referred to colloquially as First Rates within the fleet. Note also that `ships
of the line’ will also be found referenced variously throughout the text as
`line of battle ships`, `line ships` and `capital ships` solely in the
interests of avoiding rhetorical tedium. Ships of the line shared certain basic
features with several lesser warship types such as frigates, ship sloops and
corvettes. These types were all collectively referred to as `ships` or
`ship-rigged vessels` and had three square-rigged masts and from one to three
continuous gun decks. The feature that distinguishes ships of the line from
frigates and the like was their having been designed to `stand in the line` and
withstand the firepower of any and all enemy warships. Some ships of the line
were effectively rendered obsolete as ships being built in Russia and elsewhere
became larger and more powerfully armed. In the British Royal Navy, these
ships, such as 50s and 64s, were usually relegated to colonial service where
they could be usefully employed as flagships and prestige ships. Russia lacked
significant colonies throughout most of this period and dealt with their older
ships of the line by converting them to floating batteries for stationary
defence or employing them as troop transports or hospital ships. Many ships
designated as frigates were in fact more powerful than some smaller ships of
the line, but they were never intended to operate as `line ships`. No detailed
discussion of capital ship evolution is possible at this point, but the
following production table for all Russian purpose-built line of battle ships
completed between 1700 and 1860 reflects the overall production of the Russian
Navy as well as highlighting the differences in emphasis between the Baltic and
Black Sea fleets, with the Black Sea fleet leaning more heavily on larger
capital ships, and the Baltic possessing a more balanced mix of types:
*This total includes Sea of Azov ships for all categories
and treats them as components of the Black Sea fleet.
Frigates
Russian frigates were more functionally specialized than
those found in Western navies. Readers accustomed to thinking in terms of Fifth
Rates and Sixth Rates or 9pdr frigates, 12pdr frigates, 18pdr frigates and the
like will need to familiarize themselves here with terms appearing in the body
of the text, such as `battle frigates’, `heavy frigates’, `training frigates’,
`small frigates’, `rowing frigates’, and even `newly invented frigates` (Novoizobretennye
Fregaty). While it is true that standard 12- and 18pdr frigates of the type
built in Western European navies were also built in moderate numbers throughout
the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Russia, they were steadily
eclipsed after 1785 by much heavier 24pdr ships of a type not found elsewhere
in significant numbers until the post-Napoleonic period.’
Part of the explanation for the Russian predilection for
specialized frigate categories lies in the very different and variable
operating environments experienced by their regional navies in both the Baltic
and the Black Sea. Not only were there differences between the operational
demands and expectations placed on cruising vessels in inland sea environments
in general, with fewer opportunities for engaging in the traditional scouting,
raiding and commerce protection functions of frigates operating in oceanic
environments, and greater opportunity for inshore operations of an amphibious
nature, there were also significant differences between the requirements
imposed by the very different Baltic and the Black Sea environments, both
natural and political.
It should be borne in mind that the categories presented
below do not necessarily represent formally established categories. They do,
however, reflect clearly defined lines of development in the Russian navy, and
are being described here for the sake of clarity of communication in the pages
that follow. Numerical totals for the frigate category are subject to
considerable interpretation and the figures given below should be treated as
informed approximations, especially with respect to the smaller and older
categories. Many ships classed as frigates by Russia were too small to merit
this classification by Royal Navy standards, but most of the ships included
here were designed for cruising and scouting purposes, regardless of their size
or armament. A total of 274 ships fall within the frigate category, 190 in the
Baltic, 78 in the Black Sea, and 6 in the Caspian.
Battle frigates
A term briefly in vogue in the Black Sea to describe ships
falling below the level of line of battle ships, but intended to participate in
the line of battle against similar Turkish ships. In practice, this term
quickly gave way to the following term:
Heavy frigates
A term applied to large and heavily armed 24-, 30- and 36pdr
frigates found in significant numbers in both the Baltic and the Black Sea
fleets. These larger ships were more numerous in both theatres than the smaller
standard 18pdr frigates; but their respective popularity in the Baltic and the
Black Seas arose from rather different tactical requirements and emphases. In
the Black Sea, where the type was first introduced, heavy frigates were not
regarded as traditional cruisers suited for scouting and raiding, but were
rather the direct descendants of the previously described battle frigates and
were intended to supplement the line of battle against similar Turkish ships.
In the Baltic, on the other hand, heavy frigates were quite ironically the
direct design descendants of the captured Swedish heavy frigate Venus,
specifically designed by af Chapman to take its place in the line of battle,
and captured by the Russians during the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-91. Russian
heavy frigates built along the lines of the Venus were utilized in traditional
frigate roles and not as battle line adjuncts as was the case with the Black
Sea heavies.
During the period between 1770 and 1860, a total of 85 heavy
and battle frigates joined the two Russian fleets, almost all of them armed
with 24pdr cannon and ranging between 141 ft and 174 ft in length.
Standard frigates
These were similar to frigates found elsewhere in terms of
size and capabilities. The same distinction between the older cruising vessels
having two fully or partially armed gun decks and the later `true’ or `classic’
frigates of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic War periods, with unarmed lower
decks and improved speed and handling characteristics, was found in the Russian
Navy as elsewhere. The difference for Russia was that the design transformation
that occurred in the 1750s for the navies of France, Spain and Great Britain
apparently did not make its way to Russia until the Vos’moi class of 12pdr
frigates entered service in the late 1770s in the then Sea of Azov flotilla and
the Briachislav class of 18pdr frigates in the mid-1780s for the Baltic. The
inspiration for the first Russian 18pdr frigates of the Briachislav class in
1784 probably came from ideas absorbed by Russian students returning from Great
Britain in the early 1780s, quite possibly with the plans for the British
Arethusa class frigates in hand – their armament and dimensions were
suspiciously similar. As indicated above, these `true frigates’ were built in
smaller numbers proportionally than in other navies where there was an ongoing
requirement for large numbers of cruising vessels in scouting and commerce
protection (and commerce destruction of course). Russian frigates had smaller
areas to patrol in their confined inner seas and very little in the way of
merchant ships requiring escort in the navy of a country lacking any
significant investment in overseas trade, and so they were never required in
the numbers found in the Atlantic navies.
Between 1773 and 1860, only 36 standard or `classic’
frigates armed with 18pdr guns and ranging between 121 ft and 150 ft in length
were completed for both the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, less than half the
number of 24pdr heavy frigates completed for the two regional fleets during the
same general period. In the interests of completeness, it should also be noted
that a total of 60 earlier cruising ships, all bearing the multifunctional name
of `frigate’ were also completed for service in the Baltic between 1705 and
1785, including 18 obsolescent 12pdr ships of the Pavel type constructed
between 1773 and 1785, just prior to the introduction of true frigate types.
Small frigates
A descriptive term rather than a formal category, these
ships were intermediate in size and power between standard frigate types and
corvettes and sloops. In the British Royal Navy, the vessels constructed after
1770 would probably have been rated as ship sloops. Between 1702 and 1761, 17
small ships classed as frigates and ranging between 65 ft and 94 ft in length
were completed in the Baltic. Between 1762 and 1845, an additional 38 small
frigates of the more classic type with a single gun deck, but ranging between
90 ft and 130 ft were completed, 19 in the Baltic, 13 in the Black Sea and 6 in
the Caspian. Armament varied widely in this category, with small frigates carrying
between 8 and 32 guns of as little as 6pdr calibre to as much as 30pdr (when
rebuilt as `newly invented frigates’; see below).
Training frigates These purpose-built ships were limited to
the Baltic fleet. They would normally have been rated as sloops or corvettes in
most Western navies and are included in the totals given above for the larger
`small frigate’ category. These ships were not intended to act as naval
combatants, but rather as fully equipped peacetime training ships for young
naval recruits. Fourteen ships were formally designated as training frigates
during the age of sail.
`Newly invented frigates` (Novoizobretennye Fregaty) The
phrase `newly invented’ does not transfer well from Russian to English and
might more readily be rendered as `rebuilt` or `redesigned’. The frigate
designation is probably not entirely appropriate for this small collection of
short-lived Black Sea ships, five of which originally fell within the category
of purpose built shallow draught frigates, while the others were comprised of a
hotch-potch of converted pinks, cutters and merchantmen that were rebuilt as
`frigates’. The purpose-built frigates chosen for the conversion programme were
originally shallow-draught ships built in shipyards along the Don River and
armed with 12pdrs and generally resembled conventional deep-water frigates.
These highly specialized warships were found to be incapable of dealing with
more heavily gunned Turkish ships in the opening phases of the Russo-Turkish
War of 1788-90 in the Liman. In order to derive some value from their
construction when their deficiencies became apparent, they were rebuilt in 1788
with reinforced hulls and enormously powerful (for their size) 30pdr batteries
bored out hurriedly from available guns of lesser calibre. The concept of adding
very heavy guns to shallow draught vessels in order to use their enhanced
combination of firepower and manoeuverability to compensate for the Russian
lack of line of battle ships in the Liman was the result of the fruitful and
co-operative relationship that grew up between Samuel Bentham, a British
mechanical engineer and later Inspector General of the Royal Navy, and the
formidably talented Prince Potemkin. The resulting vessels resembled later
nineteenth-century ships armed with gunnades and they proved an effective
short-term solution for the Black Sea fleet, although they sacrificed a good
deal of their scouting and cruising capabilities in their search for greater
short-range firepower, becoming de facto coastal defence ships. A total of
twelve `newly invented frigates’ of all types were converted in 1788 to meet
the demands of the Russo-Turkish War. They were all disposed of in the early
1790s as newer, more carefully thought-out heavy frigate types began entering
service in the Black Sea; but they set the tone for future generations of
heavily armed Black Sea frigates with their deliberate substitution of heavy
ordnance for more conventional cruiser qualities.
Oared or rowing frigates The shallow coastal waters of the
northern Baltic mandated the construction by both Swedes and Russians of large
fleets of small rowing vessels similar in function to Western gunboats. These
small craft could not operate in deepwater environments, but they could do
serious damage to larger sailing ships becalmed in the shallow-water
environments of the northern Baltic and made helpless by the vagaries of the
Baltic winds. Rowing frigates provided something of a link between the
traditional deep-water sailing navy and the gunboat squadrons. They were as
large and well armed as true frigates, but were at the same time shallow-draft
vessels unsuitable for deep-water use and with sweeps capable of facilitating
movement during calms and of manoeuvring successfully against smaller and more
agile gunboats. Twenty-six of these handsome and unusual ships were completed
between 1773 and 1823, ranging between 130 ft and 144 ft in length. The early
ships carried 24pdrs and the final rowing frigates carried 36pdrs, an
unprecedented armament for a frigate.
Corvettes and ship
sloops
To English-speaking readers, corvette is simply the name
used by the French for the British ship sloop and both designations refer (in
this time period at least) to three-masted ships similar in layout to frigates
but smaller and with fewer and lighter cannon. Both terms were in use in the
Russian sailing navy, but they had separate and distinct meanings, although
both types were alike in being three-masted ships of generally similar size and
armaments.
Corvettes were purely combat ships with sharper lines than
corresponding sloops. They were operationally attached to battle groups and
employed as scouts, avisos and cruising ships. Corvettes were more popular in
the Black Sea where they took on many of the functions reserved to frigates in
the Baltic in the absence of adequate numbers of standard frigate types. A
total of 15 corvettes entered service in the Black Sea after 1800 as opposed to
only 3 for the Baltic and 4 for the Caspian.
Russian ship sloops were broader of beam and better suited
for carrying cargo and supplies than corvettes. They retained the capability
for assuming scouting and cruising functions if called upon, but were generally
employed as armed store ships. After the Napoleonic Wars ended, ship sloops
came into their own when they were found to be ideally suited for hydrographic
survey work, foreign exploration and global circumnavigation. No sloops are
found in the Russian Baltic or Black Sea fleets in the eighteenth century
(unless one includes the `small frigates’), although three were built in
Kamchatka. Between 1804 and 1818, 21 ship sloops were built for the Baltic and
one lone sloop joined the Black Sea fleet in 1823. Ship sloops were not built
in quantity in the Black Sea fleet because the closing of the Bosporus to
Russian warships negated their potential for long-range service.
Snows and brigs
Snows and brigs were close cousins. Both had two large square-rigged
masts; but the snow in its final incarnation in the second half of the
eighteenth century also carried a small, short third mast called a trysail mast
immediately abaft the main mast carrying a spanker that could be operated
independently of the main mast’s sails. The trysail mast was not readily
apparent to the uninformed observer due to its close proximity to the main mast
and snows were sometimes referred to as `two- and-a-half mast’ ships. Russian
snows built in the first quarter of the eighteenth century were originally
based upon Dutch designs and were equipped with sweeps for inshore operations.
Illustrations indicate that the rig of at least three early snows, two Lizets
and the similar Munker (My Heart), all designed by Peter I and named after his
daughter Elizabeth, carried traditional three-masted ship rig with a fully
developed mizzen mast in place of the trysail. Other contemporary snows, such
as Adler of 1705, are shown with more traditional snow rig. This may indicate
Peter’s personal preference for three-masted ships, whatever their size, or it
may reflect a variability in the rigging of early snows that would indicate that
the designation may have had more to do, at this time, with hull design, size
and intended employment than with a particular rig. Russian snows were popular
in both the Baltic and Sea of Azov during the first quarter of the eighteenth
century, but are not found thereafter. Their decline in popularity in later
years mirrors a similar phenomenon in the Royal Navy during the same period and
one wonders if there was a connection here, as in other areas, with the Russian
employment of large numbers of British shipwrights and officers. A total of 22
snows were completed between 1700 and 1711, 16 in the Baltic and 6 in the Sea
of Azov. One final snow was completed for the Baltic in 1723, almost as an
afterthought.
Brigs did not begin to appear in the Russian navy until the
very close of the eighteenth century, but they became extremely popular during
the first half of the nineteenth, gradually edging out the slightly larger
corvettes and ship sloops in both the Baltic and Black Sea. The development of
the brig as the primary low-end ship best suited for inshore patrol, routine
escort and scouting activities parallels a similar process in the British Royal
Navy from about 1780 on. To quote Robert Gardiner from Warships of the
Napoleonic Era, three-masted sloops were `more seaworthy, more habitable, longer
ranged and better armed than the old two-masted type, and the ship rig must
have conferred some advantages in battle – three masts would have made them
less vulnerable to damage aloft than two. But the one quality the new-style
sloops did not possess was speed.’ Besides having an important edge in speed,
brigs required smaller crews as a result of having only two masts to the ship
sloop’s three. The downside of the two-mast arrangement was a greater
vulnerability in battle since the loss of a single mast was of more importance
in a two-masted vessel than it was in a ship with three masts.
The nineteenth century saw a flowering of the type, with 37
being built for the Baltic, 26 for the Black Sea, 19 for the Caspian and six
for Okhotsk. With few exceptions, brigs were between 90 ft and 105 ft in length
and armed with all carronade batteries.
Cutters and schooners
Both cutters and schooners are small ships with largely
fore- and-aft rigs, one or two masts, and a very light armament sufficient only
for overwhelming the smallest of opponents. The two types developed in the
later part of the eighteenth century as highly manoeuverable ships capable of
patrolling close inshore and interdicting smugglers and pirates and the like.
As a largely self-sufficient nation without much in the way of trade or foreign
commerce, Russia in the eighteenth century had relatively little use for
vessels of this type. After 1800, and particularly after 1820 as Russian naval
horizons expanded, particularly in the areas of coastal surveying and
exploration, cutters and schooners found an increasing role in naval affairs.
Both types came within the same general size range, although schooners were
probably a bit larger on the average. Between 1790 and 1860, the Baltic fleet
acquired 27 two-masted schooners ranging between 35 ft and 105 ft, while the
Black Sea fleet acquired 24 between 1772 and 1849 ranging between 75 ft and 119
ft. For reasons not immediately apparent, one- masted cutters were decidedly
more popular in the Baltic, where there were a total of 42 vessels acquired
between 1786 and 1826 as against only four for the Black Sea fleet and two for
Okhotsk. Cutters in Russian service were as heterogeneous a group as schooners,
with lengths varying between 51 ft and 99 ft and armament between 12 and 32
guns. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the Russians stopped building
cutters with the accession of Nicholas I, apparently preferring the slightly
larger two-masted schooner.
Luggers and tenders
Luggers and tenders were classified as light warships by the
Russians and are included in this section for this reason.
Bomb vessels
Russian naval operations were frequently conducted in
support of amphibious objectives and bomb ships, both purpose-built and
improvised, were built in some numbers for both major fleets and for the
Caspian flotilla. Although designed for shore bombardment, these ships were
deep draught vessels, designed to accompany and work with battle fleets at sea,
and not for the close-in, shallow water work of prams and gunboats. In
appearance, they were clumsy-looking vessels, with heavily reinforced decks to
bear the weight of their heavy ordnance.
Seven bombs were built in the closing years of the
seventeenth century for the Sea of Azov. The Baltic fleet acquired a total of
18 purpose-built bombs, two converted ships and two ships purchased abroad for
a total of 22. The Black Sea built nine, converted eleven and purchased five
abroad. Bombs were quite reasonably also found in the Caspian flotilla, where
amphibious operations were common, and four ships were launched in 1808.
