The guard crew was formed in 1810 from teams of court rowers and yachts, sailors of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets (originally 410 people, in 1910 over 2 thousand people). Stationed in St. Petersburg [until 1820 in the Lithuanian Castle, then in ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

Formed in 1810 from teams of court rowers and yachts, sailors of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets (originally 410 people, in 1910 over 2 thousand people). Stationed in St. Petersburg (until 1820 in the Lithuanian Castle, then in the barracks on ... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

Guards crew- GUARDS CREW, established in the reign of Alexander I, February 16. 1810; it included teams of the court. rowers and yachts, why G. eq. and considers himself descended from the first Court rowing team, formed under Peter I. ... ... Military Encyclopedia

GUARDS, guards, guards (pre-revolutionary and foreign). adj. to the guard. Guards Regiment. Guards crew (marine). Guards officer. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

1. The coastal part, which serves to replenish ship teams. E. F. receives and gives initial naval training to those drafted into the fleet, and during mobilization serves as a concentration point for incoming replacements. E. F. are located in ... ... Marine Dictionary

Guards is the name of a number of settlements and other geographical objects on the territory of the former USSR. The name is derived from Guard. Russia Guards military town in the Novosibirsk region. Guards Island in ... ... Wikipedia

In pre-revolutionary times, the naval crew that manned the royal yachts and specially dedicated warships. In the land formation he was attached to the guards corps. Samoilov K.I. Marine Dictionary. M. L .: State Naval Publishing House of the NKVMF ... ... Marine Dictionary

- (maritime): 1) in a general sense, all ship ranks of the ship: captain, officers, sailors, machinists, servants, etc .; 2) in the navy (naval E.) coastal combatant, administrative and economic unit, which includes all officers and lower ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Aya, oh. to the Guard and the Guardsman. G th part. Badge badge. G. uniform. Gaya correction. G. mortar (reactive mortar of the period of the Great Patriotic War, called Katyusha). Oh banner. G. Col. G. crew (mor.). G. officer ... encyclopedic Dictionary

guards- oh, oh. to the guard and the guardsman. G th part. Badge of the guards / th badge. Guards / th uniform. Gaya correction. Guards / th mortar (rocket mortar of the period of the Great Fatherland ... Dictionary of many expressions

Books

• Marine Guard of the Fatherland, Chernyshev Alexander Alekseevich. The prototype of the Guards crew was created by Peter I back in 1710. The court rowing team, which was engaged in servicing the watercraft of the imperial court. From the middle of the 18th century...
• Naval Guard of the Fatherland, Chernyshev A. From the middle of the 18th century...

Naval Guards crew and

75th naval crew

in the Patriotic War of 1812 and

Foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1813-1814.

(Nomination - Historical)

Participation in the foreign campaign of the Russian army

In the campaign of 1813, this crew worked in the construction of bridges and crossings, and where necessary, rendered them unusable.

From the first days of January, the Russian army moved after the retreating remnants of the enemy troops. Not all sailors crossed the border. 165 people remained on treatment in the cities of Russia. On January 25, the crew arrived in Plock on the Vistula. Here, by the Highest order, the Guards crew had to build a bridge and ensure the crossing of our troops, due to the almost continuous ice drift, strong wind and lack of materials, the construction of the bridge was very slow. Therefore, before the construction of the bridge, a flying ferry was introduced. Once the rope broke and the ferry with 50 hussars and horses was carried downstream. Immediately, the officers and sailors who were on the shore rushed into the boats and towed the ferry. The work was so hard that up to 40 patients appeared, some of whom died. From the first days of February to March 16, 6568 people, 1116 horses, an artillery company with 12 guns, three horse regiments, and a significant amount of other cargo were transported by boat. On March 16, the construction of the bridge came to an end and the effective crossing of troops began. The length of the bridge was 187 fathoms. The bridge was floating on 33 ships. The crossing required supervision of order and security. On April 5, the 75th ship's crew arrived, which took over supervision, and the Guards crew set out to connect with the 5th Guards Corps and the Main Apartment, which had gone ahead.

On March 27, the Headquarters and the army, located in Kalisz, moved through Silesia, the cities of Steinau, Bunzlau, Bautzen and Dresden, where they arrived on April 12. The death of the commander-in-chief was a heavy blow to our troops. Mikhail Illarionovich died in the arms of his associates, as well as the Guards crew of doctor Kerner and paramedic Galkin who were with him. The crew had the honor to say goodbye to Kutuzov when the crew passed through Bunzlau.

The army continued to move now in alliance with the Prussian troops, since an agreement on joint actions was concluded with Prussia. On May 1, the crew joined the army in Bautzen, and this time he had to meet the enemy in battle in full view of the Sovereign. By this time, Napoleon managed to gather troops that outnumbered the troops of the allies: Russia and Prussia. Napoleon's superiority in strength and his capture of fortresses on the Elbe forced the Allies to abandon the defense of Dresden and retreat to Bautzen. The position of the Allies was aggravated by their defeat in the battle of Lutzen on April 20. On May 8, Bautzen, occupied by the troops of Miloradovich, was taken by attack by the sailors of the Kompan division. The Allies fortified near Bautzen. The marine crew was part of the main reserve under the command of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Our sailors were in the following composition: 2 staff officers, 8 chief officers, 14 non-commissioned officers, 18 musicians and 179 lower ranks. The artillery team consisted of 2 chief officers, 4 non-commissioned officers and 19 lower ranks. Total: 12 officers and 234 lower ranks.

The French launched an offensive on May 8 at 10 am. The course of the battle turned out to be unsuccessful for us and there was a proposal to retreat further, to the city of Görlitz. But Emperor Alexander I insisted on the need to continue the battle for fear of a drop in morale in the troops and the evasion of Austria from an alliance with us, with which negotiations were held.

May 9 came, a memorable day for the crew - the day of the battle on the temple regimental holiday. The relocation of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the patron saint of sailors, was celebrated. The crew was in the location of the main apartment, where he was on guard duty. The sovereign rode up on a horse to the ranks and said: “Hello sailors! I congratulate you on the occasion! Today is your holiday and I want to amuse you for the holiday: go to work. I will look at you." Unanimous "Hurrah!" and “Glad to try!” was the answer. The well-aimed fire of our batteries stopped the French attacks, but they, reinforced by fresh reinforcements, began to overcome. The sovereign sent a detachment of Lieutenant General Cheglokov to replace the Prussian General Count York. The detachment included the Naval Guards crew. The battalions and with them the crew stood in their positions when most of the allied troops were forced to retreat. At about 5 o'clock, Lieutenant Commander Grigory Kononovich Goremykin was killed, Lieutenant Alexander Andreevich Kolzakov was mortally wounded in the legs by a cannonball, midshipman Nikolai Petrovich Khmelev was seriously wounded. At 5 o'clock the general retreat began. The sun was already setting when it was the turn of Lieutenant General Cheglokov's battalions to retreat. The crew covered the retreat of the battalions, taking the last enemy cannonballs and grenades. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The losses of the Guards crew amounted to: 2 officers killed, 1 wounded; 6 lower ranks killed, 10 seriously wounded, as well as 4 non-commissioned officers and 5 sailors slightly wounded.

On May 23, an armistice was concluded, which ended on July 28. By this time, Napoleon's forces numbered 260 thousand people. The Allies gathered about 400 thousand people. On August 14, the allies attacked Dresden, but Napoleon inspired the besieged with his presence and the attack was repulsed. On August 15, the besieged, in turn, attacked the allied forces. Despite some success of this offensive, the French had to withdraw. The corps of the French General Vandamme was ordered to go behind the lines of the Allies. On the night of August 15-16, the allied troops, fearing to be surrounded, began to retreat to Bohemia to the city of Teplitz. During the retreat, the Guards crew, with the participation of the Jaeger regiment, as well as the Preobrazhensky, Semenovsky and Izmailovsky regiments, repulsed the attacks of the French. In order to prevent Vandam's maneuver, a detachment of guard units numbering 10 thousand people was allocated, which included the Guards crew. The command of the detachment was entrusted to Lieutenant General Count Osterman-Tolstoy. Vandam's corps numbered 35 thousand people, that is, three times our strength. It was decided to stop Vandam near the village of Kulm. Napoleon promised Vandam a marshal's baton if successful. General Yermolov played an important role in organizing the defense near Kulm. Alexander I was sure that his Guard would not allow the path of the Allied army to be cut. Additionally, the Sovereign ordered that the Prussian corps of General Kleist would separate from the main forces and rush to the aid of Count Osterman-Tolstoy. The Austrian emperor, whose troops had joined after the armistice, also sent two of his corps. The guards crew was first sent to the reserve, but did not stay there for long. The guards agreed to have a certain gathering place in case they were separated - a fruit tree in a meadow. Further this place, it was decided not to retreat.

On August 17, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, French rifle chains began to descend from the mountains. Behind them flashed the bayonets of the columns of Vandam's corps. Soon there was a clash and our vanguard was forced to leave Kulm and retreat into the valley to the next position. The French twice approached the main line of defense, but the Guard repulsed the attacks. The crew operated alongside the Semenovtsy. Captain-Lieutenant Alexander Egorovich Titov was seriously wounded, the commander of the 1st company, Lieutenant Konstantin Konstantinovich Konstantinov was killed, Lieutenants Nikolai Petrovich Rimsky-Korsakov and Nikolai Petrovich Khmelev were wounded. Killed and seriously wounded up to 30 lower ranks. Repeatedly during the day, the French renewed their attacks, but to no avail. Of the officers in the crew, the commander and two officers remained. Therefore, the wounded lieutenants Dubrovin, Lermontov and Ushakov remained with the crew. Musicians, drummers and clerks took the guns of the dead and went into battle.

By the end of the day, reinforcements began to arrive. This made it possible to withdraw the guard to the reserve. The sailors gathered under the agreed fruit tree. The French, seeing a fierce rebuff, withdrew to Kulm. Thus ended the first day of the Kulm battle. It became known that the convoys that lagged behind during the accelerated march of the guard were looted, including the convoy of the Guards crew. The Prussian corps of Kleist, who was going to help, was the first to find the convoy in this form. The Prussians helped the wounded and posted guards.

Among the losses that day was also the commander of our detachment, Count Osterman-Tolstoy, whose arm was torn off. The command was taken by Major General Yermolov. The total losses of the crew that day amounted to 3/4 of the officers and more than 1/3 of the lower ranks.

On August 18, early at dawn, the main forces began to approach the Kulm position. The commander of the Russian army, Barclay de Tolly, and Yermolov, who arrived, did not start the battle, waiting for Kleist's corps to come into view. The French opened artillery fire. Around 10 o'clock it became known that Kleist was approaching. The battle began with a French cavalry charge. The infantry followed the cavalry. At first, the French bravely attacked our positions. Seeing the appearance of Kleist's troops, Vandam assumed that this was reinforcements from Napoleon. But when he recognized the Prussians and saw himself surrounded, it happened around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, then Vandamme decided to surrender. The Allies captured 12,000 Frenchmen, Vandamme and two of his generals. Two banners, three eagles were captured; all his artillery fell into the hands of the allies - 84 guns and 200 charging boxes, the entire convoy. Up to 10,000 French were killed or wounded. Our losses were also heavy. The Guards alone lost 3,000 killed and wounded in just one day on 17 August. . In this battle, the Guards crew lost 70% of the officers and more than 30% of the privates killed and wounded. The sovereign congratulated his guards on a brilliant victory. Officers and lower ranks were awarded Russian, Prussian and Austrian awards. The naval guards crew received the St. George banner - the highest military award on a par with the oldest regiments of the guard. The place where the victory was won is decorated with three monuments: Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops.

It is interesting to note that the first to whom Vandamme offered his sword was an officer of the Guards crew, Captain 2nd Rank Pavel Andreevich Kolzakov, adjutant of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. first brought him to the Grand Duke, and then delivered him to the Sovereign.

The allies began to gather their forces to Leipzig, where the Battle of the Nations broke out on October 5-7, which decided the fate of Europe. Before that, the crew, together with the Prussian detachment, carried out an operation to destroy the bridge, which prevented the connection of enemy forces. The crew spent the days of preparation for the battle in non-stop work on the construction of crossings, as the French destroyed bridges and dams. The Battle of Leipzig finally turned the tide of hostilities in favor of the Allies. A disorderly retreat of the French troops began.

Until November 15, the crew stood in Frankfurt am Main, when he was ordered to go to Würzburg am Main, where it was necessary to build a crossing. On November 22, the crew arrived at the site and in a short time built two bridges: a floating one for artillery and cavalry, and on a goat for infantry. Before the construction of the bridges was completed, a ferry crossing was organized. Then the crew, along with the guards, proceeded to Basel and on January 1, 1814 entered France. Rain and sleet flooded the roads, and the cavalry and artillery smashed them to the bone. Before entering France, all regiments of the guard received reinforcements. The crew, having lost many of its officers and lower ranks, remained understaffed. Therefore, a small detachment of a sapper company was attached to it, as well as a party of warriors from the militia. In this composition, the crew was able to provide an important service to our troops. Napoleon, having thrown back the Silesian army of Blucher, moved on the corps of Count Wittgenstein, intending to break the allies in parts. When this became apparent, the crew was immediately sent to the French city of Nogent to arrange a crossing over the Seine, ensuring the withdrawal of Wittgenstein's corps. On February 6, the floating bridge, made up of river boats, was ready and the 7th Corps was transported. The sailors immediately set about destroying the crossing. Moreover, this had to be done under the fire of French soldiers. After that, the crew was sent to Saint-Louis, where, as well as in Nogent, he transported the Austrian troops of Field Marshal Wrede. Having united with the Guards Corps near the city of Troas, the crew no longer parted with it and on March 20, together with the entire guard, entered Paris. In Paris, he was housed in the Babylonian barracks in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and the officers and non-commissioned officers in private houses in the neighboring streets.

An interesting incident happened to the crew officer, now Captain 1st Rank Pavel Andreyevich Kolzakov. Even during the retreat of the French from Russia, not far from the road, Kolzakov saw a team with a fallen horse. Several Frenchmen were lying in the wagon, and between them a young officer, Kolzakov involuntarily approached the wagon and noticed that the young officer was still alive. With the help of a Cossack, the officer was transferred to the hut, where he was brought to his senses. Later, Kolzakov got him 100 chervonets for the journey when sending prisoners to Russia. After the occupation of Paris by our troops, Kolzakov fell to lodge with an old woman, from whom he learned that her only son had been saved by some naval officer. Kolzakov promised to make inquiries. The young man was found. The old woman received a notice about the return of her son from captivity and learned that her lodger was his savior.

Meanwhile, the time has come for the troops to return to their borders. The frigate "Archipelago" from the squadron of Admiral Tet was appointed to deliver the Guards crew to Russia. The crew set out on May 22 from Paris to Le Havre, where they were placed on the frigate. On the passage, the crew and officers took part in shipboard work with great satisfaction. On July 20, all the troops were delivered from Kronstadt to Oranienbaum, and on June 30, the Naval Guards crew and its artillery team entered the capital through the Triumphal Gates, specially installed for this. On these gates the name of the Guards crew is placed among the oldest horseshoes of the Imperial Guard, who distinguished themselves in the Patriotic War and on a campaign through European countries.

In connection with the return of Napoleon from Fr. Elba and the resumption of hostilities, the crew was ordered to set out on a campaign. On June 9, 1815, the crew was the first to leave St. Petersburg and on August 4 arrived in Vilna. However, since the battle of Waterloo finally decided the fate of Napoleon, on August 10 the crew undertook a return trip.

2. The 75th naval crew in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army in 1813-1814.

From the Black Sea Fleet, the 75th naval crew actively participated in the hostilities on land. During the retreat of the French, four companies of the crew as part of the vanguard of the Russian army carried out engineering and pontoon service, distinguished themselves in a number of battles and reached Paris.

The commander-in-chief of the Moldavian army, Admiral Chichagov, in an order to Vice-Admiral Yazykov dated 01.01.01 from Bucharest, writes that, finding it necessary to have a full naval crew with his army, to use it when crossing rivers, he recommends sending one under the command of a captain of the 2nd rank Dodt to Odessa. This crew should be made up of healthy, reliable and capable people for the designated business and equipped with guns and everything that the sailors should have. Upon arrival in Odessa, he must take the road to Altaki, which is opposite Mogilev on the Dniester, where he will receive further orders.

The combat path of this unit approximately looked like this: Sevastopol-Odessa-Ackerman. Further to Lutsk, its path is still not known for certain. Either he, in full force, fell into the army of the admiral, or he could, having divided into two parts, join the army of Kutuzov and the army of Chichagov. Then the Kutuzov army was led by the famous commander himself, after the death of the latter, Barclay picked up his banner and led the army through the victory at Kulm, Dresden to Leipzig.

Chichagov, on the other hand, reached Kovno, from where he was seconded to Wittgenstein's army as an engineer, the admiral's adjutant - Lieutenant Fong. It is possible that part of the crew left with him, and he participated in the battles of McKern, Lucin, Bautzen, and was during the capture of Paris.

Admiral Chichagov himself moved through Gumbinen, the fortress of Thorn (Torun), Poznan, Berlin, Leipzig. In the last city, all parts of the crew could reconnect with the Allied troops.

With the active army, the Black Sea sailors, along with the pontoon and pioneer companies, performing the same duties and with the same success as the guards crew, participated in some battles and were at the capture of Paris. Sometimes there were business trips of individual officers and small naval teams to the army, for example, the commander of the Black Sea ship Pravy, captain of the 2nd rank Dodt, sent to Poland to the army of Barclay de Tolly, armed 6 gunboats on the Vistula and was with them in the spring of 1813 during the siege and capture of the fortress of Thorn, then participated in several battles.

Conclusion

It can be seen from the above that the sailors, once on land, did an excellent job with the assigned tasks, which mainly boiled down to engineering and pontoon service, but if they had to fight, they did it with calmness and courage, sometimes even differing more than regular land units, as, for example, in the battle of Kulm. Unfortunately, the actions of the Naval Guards somewhat overshadowed the participation of other naval teams, although they also fought with courage and stamina. This is confirmed by the results of the 75th naval crew in the campaign of 1812, so that part of it was sent to Wittgenstein's corps. Since, as a result of all the upheavals, the Naval Guards crew still continued to exist, I hope that for it, and for other parts of the fleet, there will be people who will increase the glory of our ancestors!

Bibliography

1. Military encyclopedia: [In 18 volumes] / Ed. and others - St. Petersburg: T-vo, 1911-1915

2., Byakin Guards Crew: Pages of History. SPb., 1996

3. Chronicle of the Russian Imperial Army, volume I, 1851. St. Petersburg, Military Printing House

Appendix

Naval Guards crew

Officer uniform

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Standard-bearer of the Naval Guards crew

The sacred coronation of the Emperor of All Russia, the Tsar of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland Alexander Nikolaevich (Alexander II) with his wife was scheduled for August 26, 1856.

A month before this event, on July 26, 1856, the first company of the Crew in full force with the Guards crew banner went by rail to Moscow to participate in the coronation celebrations. On the day of the solemn arrival of Alexander Nikolayevich with Maria Alexandrovna in Moscow, the company of the Crew was sent to meet Their Highnesses in the guard of honor in the Kremlin Palace and at the Spassky Gate. After the completion of the Holy Coronation and the parade on the Khodynka field, the first company returned to St. Petersburg in early September, having celebrated the 25th anniversary of patronage of the Crew of His Highness General Admiral Konstantin Nikolayevich back in Moscow on August 22.

Portrait of Emperor AlexanderII. Hood. A.I. Gebbens. 1861.
State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, 2010.

Vasily Timm. Coronation of the Empress. 1856. History of the Romanov dynasty.
Painting. Seventh part. Alexander Nikolaevich (1818-1881).

Unknown artist. Portrait of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich.
State Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich is depicted in the uniform of a staff officer of the Naval Guards Crew. In 1846, he was promoted to captain of the 1st rank in the Guards crew and appointed commander of the frigate Pallada. The following year, this 20-year-old general-admiral, commanding the Pallada, together with the ship Rossiya and the corvette Olivuts, went from Kronstadt on a visit to England. (Most likely, it was then that this portrait of the Grand Duke was made by an unknown artist. Author).

In 1849, the August chief of the Guards crew, Konstantin Nikolayevich, married and was promoted to rear admiral, and in 1853 to vice admiral.

KrugerFranz. Portrait of Grand Duke Rear Admiral Konstantin Nikolaevich
in the uniform of the Guards crew. 1849-1853 Website: www.sammler.en

By the end of 1856, the number of steam-powered wheeled and propeller-driven ships had already increased significantly. The duties of sailors on steam ships differed significantly from their previous service on sailing ships and yachts. Therefore, in 1857, a special engine company was formed in the Guards crew from the teams of steam ships assigned to the Crew. They were the steamers: Izhora, Konstantin, Nevka, Onega and the two-pipe Petersburg and steam yachts: Alexandria and Strelna (which was built for Admiral General Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich). Numerous imperial boats also became steam, the crews of which were also recruited from the Guards crew.

Photo postcard. Steamboat "Petersburg" (1862). Edition N. Apostoli. 1862-1909 From the funds of TsVMM.

Beggrov A.K. The Strelna yacht and imperial boats in the Peretgof harbor.

Alekseev A.P. Steam yacht Strelna and boats Golubka and Dagmar.
Catalog Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

In the summer of 1858, the Sovereign made a week-long journey on the ships of the Guards crew from Arkhangelsk to St. Petersburg. After the White Sea, on Lake Onega, the Sovereign, accompanied by the Duke of Württemberg, crossed on June 24 on the steamer Ilmen from the Black Sands pier to the city of Petrozavodsk. Then he proceeded along the Svir River and along Lake Ladoga to the town of Lodeynoye Pole. There, Alexander II was met by the Empress Maria Alexandrovna with the entire August family, who arrived from St. Petersburg on the steam yacht Alexandria, accompanied by the steam yacht Strelna. Then, having visited the Valaam and Konevetsky monasteries, located on the islands in Lake Ladoga, the imperial family returned, on the same ships along the Neva, to St. Petersburg.

Standard of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II. Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

Under Alexander II, sea passages of the highest persons increased in duration and range, so it became necessary to build a new large seaworthy imperial yacht-steamer. In July 1857, a large steam wheeled yacht was laid down in Bordeaux, France, and was named Alexandra. She was distinguished not only by excellent seaworthiness, but also by the luxury of finishing.

A large steam wheeled yacht - the steamer "Alexandra". Model. Catalog.

Mortgage board of a steam wheeled yacht - the steamer "Alexandra".
Catalog. Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

At the end of the construction, the yacht "Alexandra" was renamed "Standard". Earlier, under Peter the Great, the name "Standart" was given to the first 28-gun frigate of the Baltic Fleet, which was built in 1703 (the year St. Petersburg was founded) at the Olonets shipyard on the Svir River. The new yacht was built under the supervision of Captain 1st Rank P.Yu. Lisyansky, who was adjutant to Admiral General Konstantin Nikolaevich. In October 1858, the high-speed yacht-steamboat Shtandart arrived from France to the Kronstadt roadstead and in 1861 became part of the Imperial yachts of the Guards crew. All subsequent 31 years of service, until 1892, the "Standart" made sea voyages with the Crew for the summer voyages of the August persons and the Grand Dukes in all the northern and southern seas around Europe with calls and visits to different countries. The yacht "Standard" sailed every summer in the Finnish skerries, called in Helsingfors (now Helsinki), Friedrichsgam (now Khameni), and sometimes reached Abo (Alan Islands).

Beggrov A.K. Imperial yacht "Standard" (1858-1879). Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

On June 29, 1859, on the day of the unveiling of the monument to Emperor Nicholas I, a squadron of 40 Imperial yachts was lined up on the Neva. This parade included all sailing and steam yachts, as well as gunboats. The squadron under the leadership of the Commander of the Guards Crew, Rear Admiral Arkas, stood in three lines opposite the monument to Peter I, stretching from the Palace to the Nikolaevsky Bridge (now the Blagoveshchensky Bridge). Emperor Alexander II received a naval parade, after which a salute was given from the guns of the yachts and ships of the Squadron, as well as from the Peter and Paul Fortress. After the opening of the monument, the Sovereign proceeded to Peterhof on the yacht "Alexandria" with the command of the Guards crew.

Almost all of their trips by sea Russian emperors, starting with Nicholas I, made by steamboats and steam yachts. Less often, they took trips on sailing yachts such as the Queen Victoria. This yacht, presented to Emperor Nicholas I by the English court in 1846, was named after the Queen of England and served in the Guards crew until the end of 1884. Subsequently, sailing yachts were built for the Grand Dukes, whose service to the Russian state was associated with the sea. So, for the period from 1848 to 1862, two sailing yachts were built in England: the first - "Wave" for the 20-year-old Grand Duke Admiral General Konstantin Nikolayevich in 1848, and the second - "Nyx" in 1852, for 9- Summer Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich. In 1860, in Finland, for the 10-year-old Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (the future and last Russian Admiral General), the largest of the court sailing yachts, Zabava, was built, which was created as a racing schooner yacht. For all these yachts, officers and ship crews were recruited exclusively from the Guards crew. In addition to traditional voyages along the Gulf of Finland, sailing yachts made long journeys. In the summer of 1864, the yachts "Niksa" and "Zabava" as part of a practical squadron under the command of Rear Admiral K.N. Posyet participated in the campaign from Kronstadt to the Norwegian port of Bergen with calls to the ports of the Baltic and North Seas.

Picture. Yachts "Queen Victoria", "Slavyanka", "Zabava". Hood. N. Putyatin.

Photo from 1856. The yacht "Niksa" of the heir to Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich on the Neva near the Admiralteyskaya embankment.
Catalog Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

Most of the imperial yachts had excellent seaworthiness and often, getting into stormy weather, endured pitching and wind with minimal heels and trims. One of such moments for Shtandart was captured by the artist A.P. Bogolyubov in the picture.

Bogolyubov A.P. "Standard". Imperial steam yacht. 1858.
Catalog Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

A photograph of officers and sailors of the Guards crew on the deck of the Shtandvrt yacht, taken in the 1870s, has also been preserved.

Photo from the 1870s. On the deck of the yacht "Standard".
Catalog Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". Saint Petersburg, 1997

On February 10, 1860, Emperor Alexander II, by his Decree, granted the Guards crew the St. Andrew's ribbon on the banner. This award was presented to the Crew on its 50th birthday, February 16, 1860. The presentation of the St. Andrew's Ribbon was held taking into account that more than 100 years have passed since the formation of the rowing and yachting team, which became part of the Guards crew. Such a high award was presented to all regiments of the Russian army that have existed for 100 years or more. In the same Decree, the Sovereign ordered the crew holiday to be postponed from May 9 to December 6 (the day of the patron saint of all sailors - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker).

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Guards crew took place on February 16, 1860. The entire crew at 13 o'clock was lined up in the courtyard for the church parade with a deployed front. On the left flank there were more than 200 old-timers of the lower ranks, among whom were old men - participants in the Kulm battle of 1813.

All admirals, generals, headquarters and chief officers who had previously served in the Crew were invited to the celebration. The command of the parade was taken over by the August Chief of the Crew, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (future Emperor Alexander III) commanded 1 platoon, and Grand Dukes Alexei Alexandrovich and Nikolai Konstantinovich were in the ranks of 1 platoon.

After the thanksgiving service, the Sovereign Emperor tied with his own hand the St. Andrew's Ribbon, granted to the Crew. On the front side of the ribbon were inscriptions embroidered in gold: "Guards crew"; on two internal - "For the feats rendered in the battle of August 17, 1813 at Kulm"; on the back - "1710 of the team of Court rowers and yachts", and on the bow the year of the award of the ribbon "1860".

Ribbon anniversary Andreevskaya to the banner of the Guards crew,
granted in 1860. From the funds of TsVMM.

Then the Guards crew passed twice a ceremonial march in front of those present and guests, for which they received the gratitude of His Majesty. After the parade, a dinner was held in the barracks for the lower ranks along with the old-timers and their families. Their Highnesses honored the dinner in each company with their presence, and drank to the health of the lower ranks of the Crew. On the same day, in the Marble Palace of the August Chief of the Crew, Konstantin Pavlovich, a dinner was held for all the officers of the Crew. Emperor Alexander II was present at this dinner.

From 1855 to 1860, under Emperor Alexander II, the uniform of the Guards crew also changed significantly.

In 1863, an uprising broke out again in Poland. The 4th company of the Crew, as part of the troops of the Russian Guard, as in previous wars, set out on a campaign against the theater of operations. This company, under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Nebolsin, spent only a day to prepare for the campaign, and on February 6, 185 people left for Warsaw by rail. Two days later, on February 8, the 4th company was already presented to the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich and the August Chief of the Crew. His Highness instructed the sailors of the Guards this time a slightly different kind of activity compared to the previous tasks of the Crew in the war. It was ordered to create military and customs supervision along the Vistula, both near Warsaw and on the entire navigable part of this river. The sailors had to organize the flotilla from a limited number of watercraft: two metal single-gun gunboats, four metal and eight wooden boats. Moreover, all these ships were supposed to serve on 14 versts along the length of the river, on 6 of its sections. Two guardhouses were also arranged on the river: the first in Belyaki below Warsaw, the second in Chernyakov - above the Polish capital. At the same posts, 44 crew sailors served, who inspected every boat on the river to prevent an armed clash with the rebels and their possible penetration into Warsaw. In the remaining areas of military and customs supervision, the sailors of the Crew walked around and inspected the river bank and all the watercraft of local residents.

February 26 from St. Petersburg for the crew flotilla sent 4th twelve oar boats. Each of them was equipped with one one-pound gun and two rocket machines. As early as March 15, this made it possible to establish strict military and customs control on the Vistula River. At the same time, a steamboat suitable for navigation on the river was purchased from abroad (in Elbing), which arrived in Warsaw on April 17 and was named the Vistula. They also sent from St. Petersburg: the Izhora Plant - the Narova steamer, and the Baltic Shipyard - the Bug steamer, which were then assembled in Warsaw and lowered onto the Vistula River. So by September 1863, the crew already had a fairly significant flotilla and provided essential services to the army in pacifying the rebellion. These services were mainly in the supervision of the river, in the transportation of military cargo and military teams for the fortress of Novogireevsk and in the protection of the floating bridge in Warsaw. The service of the guard sailors on the flotilla was not easy, since the locals were hostile to all measures to pacify the rebellion and entered into constant armed skirmishes with the sailors. Moreover, part of the ships of the flotilla of the Guards crew participated in 6 land expeditions of troops against the rebels, firing at them from the river with guns and rockets and participating in bloody skirmishes on the shore.

On October 14, the 4th company of the crew was sent to rest in St. Petersburg, replacing it with the 3rd company, which occupied all military and customs posts and replaced the teams of guard sailors on the ships of the temporary Vistula flotilla. On November 21, 1863, after the pacification of the Polish uprising, the 3rd company of the crew returned to St. Petersburg.

The subsequent service in the Crew before the start of the Russian-Turkish war, the service went on as usual.

On April 28, 1866, in the presence of Emperor Alexander II, General-Admiral Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and Minister of the Sea Krabbe, the last wooden wheeled imperial yacht "Derzhava" was laid down at the Novo-Admiralteyskaya Shipyard. It was the largest Russian yacht, modeled on the British royal yacht Victoria and Albert. The traditional double-headed eagle was approved as the bow decoration of the yacht. The team of the Guards crew of the yacht was 238 people.

On July 31, 1871, the Derzhava was solemnly launched into the water in the presence of the Emperor and a large retinue. On the Neva, the new yacht was welcomed by the ships of the Baltic Fleet and the yachts "Alexandria" and "Standard".

Tkachenko M.S. Imperial steam yacht "Derzhava". Catalog Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

Beggrov A.K. Yachts "Derzhava" and "Alexandria" on the Small Kronstadt roadstead. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

The ship's bell of the imperial yacht "Derzhava" with the monogram of AlexanderII.
Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

By this time, the crew included the following vessels: steam yachts: Derzhava, Shtandart, Alexandria, Strelna, Slavyanka; steamer "Onega"; sailing yachts: "Queen Victoria", "Nixa", "Zabava", "Volna", "Kostya"; the small boat "Uvalen", as well as steam and row boats.

Moreover, the Onega steamer, built back in 1852, was used all subsequent years until the beginning of the 20th century as the headquarters ship of the Guards crew, and the boat "Uvalen" was the last of the purely sailing yachts built to develop the naval skills of the Grand Dukes.

Vsevolozhsky S.D. Steamboat "Onega". 1905 Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

Boat model "Uvalen", made in 1872. Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

The yacht "Slavyanka" was built in 1873-1874 for the Tsarevich Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich and became the first screw iron yacht of the Russian fleet.

The flotilla of the Guards crew over the years has also replenished with warships.

For sailing abroad, the frigate "Svetlana" was enrolled in the crew, on which Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich made a long voyage in 1871-1873, who became Admiral General of the Russian Navy on May 15, 1883. However, His Highness took control of the fleet a little earlier, namely, immediately after the retirement of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich in 1880.

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich

The frigate "Svetlana", the corvette "Bogatyr" and the clipper ship "Abrek" set off in 1871 on a long journey to Russian America and Japan. Vice Admiral K.N. was appointed head of the entire detachment. Posyet.

Photo Counter - Admiral K.N. Posyet from the Album of photographic portraits
The most august persons and persons known in Russia. February, No. 2. 1865

Beggrov A.K. (1841-1814). Screw frigate "Svetlana". Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

Beggrov A.K. (1841-1814). On the deck of the frigate Svetlana. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

The Svetlana frigate was built in France (Bordeaux) and launched on May 3, 1858. The frigate had elegant contours, with a displacement of 3187 tons, it developed a speed of 12 knots. Artillery weapons consisted of six- and eight-inch rifled guns and landing guns with a total of 40 units. In addition to sailing armament, the frigate had a Creso steam engine with a capacity of 450 hp, a desalination plant, a magneto-electric apparatus for lighting decks and ship premises at night, and other technical innovations.

With the arrival of the frigate in Kronstadt on May 9, 1858, his many years of service in the Russian fleet began. For 34 years of service (excluded from the lists on February 15, 1892), the Svetlana frigate made 3 round-the-world voyages and about 20 long-distance cruises.

Marine painter Alexander Karlovich Beggrov served on this frigate. At first, he studied at the Engineering School of the Naval Academy, where his ability to draw was clearly manifested. Becoming a naval officer, in 1866 and 1868 he made long-distance travel abroad and around the world. Somewhat later, as commander of the frigate Svetlana, he traveled around Europe from Kronstadt to Greece and back.

That is why in the paintings of A.K. Beggrov about the frigate "Svetlana" and other ships, all the little things of the ship's service and life of that time are drawn in detail, when, for example, the officer's cabin and the gun casemate were combined, and only a thin bulkhead separated them from the wardroom.

Beggrov A.K. (1841-1814). Gun casemate of the frigate "Oslyabya".
Second half Xninth century. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

Marine painter V.V. also served on the frigate Svetlana. Ignatius, who was still a midshipman, was enrolled in the Guards crew in 1878. For 8 years of service in the Crew, V.V. Ignatius was a mine and watch officer on the yachts "Alexandria" and "Druzhba".

He professionally depicted in the paintings the yacht "Alexandria" and the frigate "Svetlana".

Ignatius V.V. Picture. Frigate "Svetlana". 1874-1888 Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

In 1871–1873 as part of a detachment of ships under the command of Vice Admiral K.N. Posyet frigate "Svetlana" made a round-the-world voyage across the Indian and Pacific Ocean, along the route: Kronstadt - Havana - Rio de Janeiro - Cape of Good Hope - Saigon - Singapore - Hong Kong - Nagasaki - raid about. Kobe - Yokohama - Hakodate - Vladivostok.

In May 1873, the young city of Vladivostok received its first August guest, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov. Residents solemnly welcomed the squadron and their distinguished guest. In honor of this event, the public self-government decided to give the name Svetlanskaya to the main street of the Vladivostok naval post.

After the completion of the foreign campaign in the summer of 1873, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was appointed commander of the Guards crew. In 1876-1877, with the 5th and 6th crew companies, he made another annual trip from Kronstadt to New York and back, carrying out cruising service in the Atlantic Ocean on the Svetlana frigate as part of the squadron and being already its commander.

Bogolyubov A.P. Russian squadron on the way. 1863 1880s Paper, watercolor. 162x250.
Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

At the same time, the Guards crew was needed for ground operations in the Balkans. To support the demands of Russia to Turkey in defense of Serbia, they began to mobilize the army in Chisinau. On October 26, 1876, the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, wished for the upcoming military operations to have a detachment of sailors of the Guards crew as part of his army. For this, two special companies were formed from all the companies of the Crew, which were assigned numbers 7 and 8. The commander of the half-battalion of two companies in the amount of 313 lower ranks with musicians was appointed lieutenant commander Tuder K.I., and the commanders of the companies: 7th - Lieutenant Skrydlov N.I., 8th - Lieutenant Dubasov F.V.

Two weeks later, on November 13, 1876, in the arena of the Engineers' Castle, the Emperor arranged a review of the half-battalion of the Crew, and on November 18, the detachment marched from St. Petersburg to the south into the active army. The winter stay in Chisinau for the Guards sailors took place in preparation for the upcoming military operations on land: they were engaged in firing, drills and maneuvers.

With the beginning of April, the detachment moved to the town of Parkany on the banks of the Dnieper and began to solve problems more characteristic of sailors. Both companies were engaged in building bridges from pontoons, exercising in laying barrage mines on the Danube River, arming high-speed steam boats "Joke" and "Mina" with pole mines, transported from St. Petersburg to the southern army to counter the Turkish fleet. Another 7 steam boats arrived here from the Black Sea Fleet (from Odessa) on railway platforms. The mine training of the Crew was carried out under the leadership of Major General Borikov, who paid special attention to the sailors on equipping and setting up new galvanic mines and Hertz automatic mines. There were also training detonations of these mines and training of special swimmers in combat operations in Boyton suits.

In April, the Sovereign arrived in Chisinau, and on April 12, 1876, at the army review in Tiraspol, a manifesto was read out declaring war on Turkey, after which the Russian troops crossed the border with Romania. On the same day, the first detachment of the Guards crew departed for the lower Danube, in which there were 4 steam boats under the command of lieutenants Dubasov F.V., Shestakov N.M. and Loman. A week later, a team of combat swimmers departed for the Danube along with midshipman Persin V.

With the outbreak of war, the Guards sailors set up minefields at the mouth of the Seret River to protect the very important Barbosh bridge for the army. Serious opposition to the crossing of troops across the Danube could be provided by nearby Turkish monitors. Therefore, on May 18, the first two echelons of the Crew (out of four) left Bendery for the Ungheni and Iasi stations, where they were reloaded into cars of the Romanian railway, the gauge of which was narrower than the Russian one. In total, 4 echelons were loaded: 18 boats, 8 boats of sixes, 5 boats, 150 galvanic mines. In covered wagons followed 26 officers and 436 lower ranks of the Crew.

The Turkish flotilla on the Danube had well-armed warships and boats that could seriously oppose the crossing of the 260,000th Russian army across the Danube, threatening to frustrate all the plans of the Russian command. So, the Turkish flotilla included: large 2-tower monitors "Lufti-Jelil" and "Khevzi-Rahman", having 5 large-caliber guns, 211 team members with 12 officers; gunboats of the latest construction "Khivzar" and "Sakri", having 2 large-caliber guns with a crew of 51 people and up to 10 officers; small battleships "Fadha-Islam", "Bukhvar-Delen", "Selendra", "Skondra" and "Padyuritsa"; the large monitor "Safe" and the small monitor "Feth-ul-Islam", the paddle steamer "Kiliji-Ali" and other combat boats. Moreover, the right bank of the Danube (Turkish) was high, had coastal batteries that covered the actions of the flotilla on the river. And the left bank (Romanian), from which the Russian army was supposed to cross, was low, and in the spring it was flooded with water, turning into a stagnant swamp. So the crossing of the largest river in Europe by the large Russian army presented a very difficult strategic task for the command.

Therefore, in the second half of May 1877, the Commander-in-Chief demanded that at least 1,000 sailors be sent to the theater of operations to organize crossings, landings and mine laying. As a matter of urgency, such a detachment was formed in St. Petersburg. It included the 5th and 6th companies of the Crew from among the sailors of the frigate "Svetlana" who returned from a foreign trip, the company of Her Majesty from the Guards crew (175 people under the command of Lieutenant Paltov) and the sailors of the 4th naval rifle companies of the Baltic Fleet. Captain 1st rank Schmidt was appointed commander of the combined detachment. On May 27, the detachment departed from St. Petersburg by rail to Romania, and on June 12, this second detachment of sailors arrived in Zimnitsy to the place of the alleged crossing of the Russian army.

The first minefields were placed by the Guards crew in the lower reaches of the Danube near the city of Reni on April 17 and 18 and near the city of Barbosh on April 18-21, 1877. These barriers blocked the exit of the Turkish flotilla to the Black Sea and free passage along the Danube. Mine laying across the Danube was continued by the Crew on April 28 in the region of Brailov, but on the morning of April 29, a Turkish 2-tower Lufti-Dzhelil monitor came to the laying area. The Russian battery, covering the mine setting, covered the monitor from the second salvo and it exploded. The combat account of the sunken Turkish ships on the Danube was opened. After the departure of other Turkish monitors, Lieutenant Dubasov F.V. removed the flag from the sunken monitor "Lufti-Dzhelil" and handed it over, as the first military trophy, to St. Petersburg.

Bogolyubov A.P. The explosion of the Turkish battleship Lufti-Jelil on the Danube on April 29, 1877.
1877. Oil on canvas, 155x245. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

During the minelaying on the Danube, the Guards sailors also performed several heroic deeds.

So, in mid-May, in order to lay mines in the Machinsky sleeve, it was necessary to neutralize some of the Turkish monitors, which in every possible way prevented these works. It was decided to strike at the monitors, despite their tactical superiority in armament, a preemptive strike on the night of May 13-14 on 4 steam boats of the Crew. This daring and courageous operation was conceived as follows. On the mine boat "Tsarevich" Lieutenant Dubasov F.V. was supposed to be the first to attack with a pole mine a detachment of Turkish ships consisting of: a large monitor "Safe", a small monitor "Feth-ul-Islam" and a paddle steamer "Kiliji-Ali", and Lieutenant Shestakov N.I. on another mine boat, the Xenia was supposed to support this attack. The boats "Dzhigit" and "Tsarevna" under the command of midshipmen Persin V. and Balya were in reserve for subsequent attacks. The mine attack of the boats was planned to be quick and decisive.

This feat is best evidenced by a telegram from the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, to Admiral General Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich:

“Today he himself laid the St. George crosses on Dubasov and Shestakov. Only God saved them from destruction. The first blow was struck by Dubasov from the boat "Tsarevich", which was immediately flooded with water. The second blow, which completed the death of the monitor, was delivered by Shestakov from the boat "Xenia". Both blows were delivered under a hail of bombs and bullets from three monitors at close range. The boat "Xenia" was bombarded with debris from the monitor, which clogged the propeller. I had to clean it at the very side of the sinking monitor, from the tower of which the Turks continued to shoot. The midshipman Persin’s “Dzhigit” boat, pierced by a cannonball in the stern, flooded with water, had to withdraw to be repaired and cast off to the enemy shore, the “Tsarevna” boat was always ready to receive the people of the “Tsarevich” boat, which was threatened with complete immersion. Being about 20 minutes under fire at close range, our heroes, by the will of the Almighty, did not lose a single person and returned to Brailov at dawn. After removing the remaining two monitors, Dubasov, Persin and Bal again went to the sunken monitor on three boats and removed the flag from it. The sailors behaved like heroes, no fuss, no conversation, as in training.

Midshipmen Persina V. and Bal were awarded the insignia of the Military Order for this battle.

Photo by Franz Duszek. The first Knights of St. George of the war of 1877-1878
lieutenants Dubasov and Shestakov. 1877 Website: www. mkrf.en/news/region .

Having lost two large monitors "Lufti-Jelil" and "Selfie", Turkish ships no longer appeared at the Russian crossing in the Brailov area. This allowed the sailors to complete the minelaying on the lower Danube by May 28, 1877, and to begin arranging a crossing for the Russian army to the Turkish coast.

The guards sailors also distinguished themselves by heroism when laying minefields on the middle Danube. Hertz mines were laid there on June 7-8 by a detachment of the Guards crew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Tuder K.I. near the island of Mechka, in the area where the Olta River flows into the Danube. With these installations of mines, the sailors of the Crew blocked the Danube between the island and its two banks. Turkish ships could not now freely pass from their base from Ruschuk, located downstream of the island, upriver to the place of the second alleged crossing of Russian troops near the village of Zimnitsa.

Bogolyubov A.P. Setting spheroconic mines on the Danube. 1878 40x58.
Paper, charcoal. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

These minelayings involved the high-speed boats "Mina" and "Joke", as well as 8 steam boats with rowboats-sixes in tow. All boats and boats had Hertz mines. On June 7-8, the planned laying of mines from the boats of the Crew near the island of Mechka began to be hindered by a Turkish steamer, but violently attacked by the boat "Joke" with a pole mine under the command of Lieutenant Skrydlov N.I. did not wait for the second attack and retreated to Roschuk. At the same time, the pole mine did not explode, and the boat "Joke" was fired upon with such deadly rifle fire from the monitor that it seemed that water was boiling around. Among the sailors of the Crew were wounded, and Lieutenant Skrydlov N.I. was wounded in both legs. At the same time, minefields were finally set. For the courage shown, Lieutenant Skrydlov N.I. was awarded the Order of St. George 4th degree.

The artist Aleksey Petrovich Bogolyubov, who came to the Danube a little later than these events to write about the “Skrydlov case,” says in his diary:

“On the third day of my arrival, I was given a steam boat, on which our brave men went to undermine the Turks, and we went to the tributary of the Danube, where we could see the masts of sunken battleships. Having sketched out the area, I prepared a study with oil paints and ended the day by sawing off the flagpoles of both monitors and taking pieces of wire gear from the masts as a keepsake. I have been doing this for 3 days in a row. Here, near the shore, fishermen stood in the reeds. They were all handsome men who had not lost anything from their nationality. Thanks to them, I walked knee-deep in the mud through the reeds, where a huge chimney of one of the battleships lay on the shore. What an explosion must have been, if such a weight flew across the entire tributary and collapsed to the ground in steps.

Then I went for about a week to the landing site of our troops in Dobrudzha of the corps of General Zimmerman, which was carried out on barges and 7 steamers, dragging them with many all kinds of small rowing ships full of troops. From all this it was necessary to make sketches. There were no more steamers, they went up the Danube, and therefore they had to be chased either to Galati or higher.

I have seen sea and earth fire in my lifetime, but I have never seen a powder underwater explosion of a mine. Thanks to Bekleshov and the commandant of the port of Brailov, they gave me 2 poods of gunpowder. They pitched all this in a box, tied it to a buoy, ran an influx of electricity, and one fine evening they treated me to this spectacle. After that, I was already free to write a night explosion on the Sovereign's order.

I had to travel several times up the Danube on a steamboat with Lieutenant Petrov. It was a difficult duty. Each time they brought up to 100 sick and wounded Russian soldiers and Turks. Of course, they did not stand on ceremony with them, and therefore it happened that during the journey a person died in twos and threes. There were few orderlies, the heat was terrible, so that the officers and sailors quenched the thirst of these unfortunates. But it was military time, and therefore looked at everything in cold blood and did what was possible. Each time the steamer arrived, it was disinfected, sulfur was burned, smoke was smoked, and the walls were washed with carbolic acid.

We also passed the minefields on the Danube, reluctantly, because the devil knows, the fast current could carry them to the place where they calculated the passage for ships. But God was merciful. Working in the reeds and often meeting with handsome fishermen, I bought fish from them, which I gave to the sailors of the steamer or steam boat. There is a lot of it in the Danube, but the taste is muddy, disgusting. The sterlet is not amber, which is on the Volga or on the Don, but brown. Cancers although huge, but completely empty. However, they hardly eat it in Brailov in the summer, because they are afraid of fevers.

After living here for more than a month, I finished my work from nature. And he wanted to go to Sistovo in order to get into the headquarters of the Heir to the Tsarevich. But suddenly I was seized with a fever after being soaked in the strait. The naval doctor gave me a huge dose of cinchona. I became weak and dope, and I decided to return home, because it was impossible to write the case of Lieutenant Skrydlov and Vereshchagin because the Danube was not yet occupied by us near Ruschuk and there were two Turkish monitors.

A week before my departure, a train arrived carrying the wounded Skrydlov, whom I visited and found out in detail how he made his valiant raid on the Turk, for which he paid with a wound in his leg and adorned his chest with the Order of St. George. But his appearance was quite cheerful, and we parted, saying goodbye to each other.

A picture with this plot is an attack by a boat "Joke" on a Turkish steamer on the Danube Bogolyubov A.P. performed only in 1882, after a second visit to Bulgaria in 1881 (after the death of Emperor Alexander II).

Bogolyubov A.P. The attack by the boat "Joke" of the Turkish steamer on the Danube on May 14, 1877.
1882 Canvas, oil. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

Another daring attack on the Turkish monitor by boats of the Guards crew was soon carried out on the Danube on June 11, 1877 near the village of Flamuda. When laying a minefield, which was carried out by a detachment of the Crew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Tudor K.I., midshipman Nilov K.D. was entrusted with ensuring the security and protection of the place of setting. on the boat "Joke". The boats "Mina" and "Firstborn" were allocated at his disposal. Soon after the start of work, a Turkish monitor began to approach the mine-laying site under the cover of its coastal artillery. The first to attack the monitor was the boat "Mina" under the command of midshipman Arens, but his mine pole was killed by rifle fire from the monitor and the boat lost its main weapon. Then midshipman Nilov K.D. went on the attack at maximum speed, on the boat "Joke", armed with towed winged mines, which were launched under the attacked enemy ship and exploded when they hit its hull. But this attack also failed. The boat "Joke" slipped past the monitor and crashed into the shore, as it was not properly repaired after the recent attack on June 8 near Mechka Island. The boat was dragged aground under fire from the monitor and the Turkish infantry that had fled on the shore. Further midshipman Nilov K.D. again went on the attack on the monitor, but already opening rifle fire from the boat. Nilov himself fired a revolver at the commander's bridge of the monitor. The Turkish monitor did not wait for the third daring attack of the boat "Pervenets" and quickly retreated to Nikopol. Thus, minelaying was successfully completed in this section of the Danube.

The minelaying task assigned to the Guards crew was brilliantly accomplished. For the courage shown, midshipman Nilov K.D. was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree, and midshipman Ahrens - the badge of distinction of the Military Order. The teams of the boats "Joke" and "Mina" - St. George's crosses with a bow (for the team "Jokes" - already the second for this company).

Bogolyubov A.P. Attack of the Turkish steamer by the destroyer boat "Joke" on June 16, 1877.
Not earlier than 1881. Oil on canvas. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

After the installation of minefields, the Turkish flotilla was no longer able to have a noticeable impact on the crossings of the Russian army across the Danube.

The general command of all naval detachments in the theater of operations was entrusted by the Sovereign to Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, who was promoted to Rear Admiral on June 9, 1877. The Grand Duke had just returned from a military campaign of Russian ships in the Atlantic Ocean, where he was commander of the frigate Svetlana. The 27-year-old rear admiral and commander of the Guards crew was called to the active army on the Danube. Upon arrival in Romania, he demanded from St. Petersburg to send another detachment of sailors of the Guards crew.

Therefore, at the beginning of June 1877, the third detachment of the Crew in the amount of 504 people (miners, commanders, helmsmen, marshals, machinists and other naval specialists) under the banner of the Guards crew with an orchestra of 49 people, as well as 29 officers (including 25 from the frigate "Svetlana") set out on an overland campaign to Chisinau. The third detachment of the Crew was commanded by Captain 1st Rank D.Z. Golovachev and soon his detachment successfully connected with other detachments of the guards crew and naval teams in a common camp near the village of Slobodzeya, which was located near the town of Zhurzha on the left bank of the Danube.

Thus, a very significant number of naval teams and detachments of marine specialists were concentrated on the left bank of the Danube. The head of all naval teams on the Danube, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, stood with his tent in the camp of the Guards crew. The main tasks for the sailors remained: countering the Turkish flotilla with minelaying and ensuring the crossing of the Russian army across the Danube, for its subsequent military operations in the Balkans.

Map of the combat area of ​​the Guards crew in the Russian-Turkish war in 1877-1878.

After the installation of the main minefields on the Danube, the Guards crew, together with the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th pontoon battalions of Major General Rizter, went to Slatina, on the Olta River, to prepare wooden pontoons and guide them through the water to the crossing point. At the same time, part of the crew was sent to repair and prepare for the crossing of the Danube steamer "Anneta", which was leased from Romania and staffed by guards sailors from the detachment of Lieutenant Commander Tudera K.I.

The place for the crossing of Russian troops across the Danube was personally chosen by the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich. He finally announced his decision to start crossing the avant-garde from June 14 to 15 from Zimnitsa (Romanian coast) to Sistovo (Bulgarian coast). To do this, by June 14, 4 corps of the Russian army were concentrated near Zimnitsa. The first division from the vanguard, which was supposed to cross the Danube, was the 14th division of Major General Dogomirov.

All troops for the crossing were divided into 7 flights, while in each flight 12 companies, 60 Cossacks with horses and part of the artillery were to be crossed. The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th engineer battalions of the third engineer brigade were assigned for transportation. The 3rd, 4th, 5th battalions transported infantry in pontoons, and the 6th battalion transported Cossacks, artillery and officer horses on ferries. All preparations for the crossing were carried out by the Russian troops quietly and covertly, so they did not cause the Turks the slightest alarm.

The first flight at the crossing began at about 2 am on June 15. The officers of the Guards crew were commanders on every 5th pontoon, directing the entire flight, and the Quartermasters of the Crew were on the rudders of all pontoons. But due to the strong current, the pontoons and ferries did not land on the Turkish coast at the same time, and most of them were not in the appointed place. The Turks raised the alarm and began to intensively fire on those crossing from their high bank with artillery and rifles.

This is how the commander of the company of the Guards crew, Lieutenant Paltov S.I., recalls this: “The hottest time for those crossing was at the end of the first flight and approximately until the end of the seventh, after which there was no rifle fire on the crossings and only two batteries operated, one in Sistovo, and the other on the heights against the island of Vardin. Their artillery fired at the crossing at the troops preparing for the crossing, moving along a canvas pontoon bridge near Zimnitsa itself, a dressing station deployed at the very crossing.

Dmitriev - Orenburgsky N.D.The crossing of the Russian army across the Danube at Zimnitsa on June 15, 1877.
Website:www.gallerix.ru

From the third voyage, little by little, everyone got used to the situation at the crossing, and after the fifth voyage, the rifle fire had already stopped, as the Russian troops who had crossed pushed the Turkish infantry back from the coast. At about 6 a.m. on June 15, the steamer Annette approached the crossing with barges and steam boats and began to ferry troops to the Turkish coast. The crossing went much faster. The subsequent onslaught of Russian troops on the Turkish coast was so strong that after 4 hours (closer to noon) the city of Sistovo was taken. Further, with the help of the Annette steamer and 4 steam boats, the entire 8th Corps was transported on June 15, followed by other troops, but without shelling from the Turkish side.

During the first seven flights, which were carried out by the sailors of the Guards crew under heavy enemy fire, the losses of the Russian army amounted to: 30 officers and 782 lower ranks.

On June 16, Emperor Alexander II arrived at Zimnitsy with his heir Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich and crossed on a pontoon with rowers of the Guards crew under the command of Lieutenant Paltov S.I. to the Bulgarian coast, where he thanked the Russian troops for their courageous actions. He addressed the sailors of the Guards crew with the words: "You may not realize what an important thing you have done by crossing the troops."

Moreover, the Sovereign sent a telegram about the actions of the sailors to the Commander-in-Chief Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich on June 17 from Zimnits: “Yesterday the rowers of the Guards crew with their commander and lieutenant on the helm ferried me across the Danube, where he thanked the troops on the battlefield itself and was in Sistov. The delight is hard to describe. Alexey will tell you about the rewards of the sailors who, during the crossing, covered themselves with new glory. Alexander".

On June 16, the construction of the "lower" permanent bridge began near Zimnitsa with the participation of the Guards crew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Tuder K.I. This detachment of the Crew not only created wooden pontoons, but also delivered them by steam boats along the Olta River to the bridge construction site.

Materials for the "upper" bridge at Machin near Nikopol arrived only by July 6, its laying was completed on July 28, and on July 29 the crossing of the rest of the avant-garde began on it.

Bogolyubov A.P. Crossing of Russian troops across the Danube near Machin. 1877
1878. Oil on canvas. 150x260. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

Thus, the successful forcing of the Danube along the main crossings and the transition of the vanguard of the Russian army to the Bulgarian coast made it possible to capture the bridgehead and significantly expand it.

Kovalevsky P. Crossing the Danube. Website:www.gallerix.ruAlbum: 200 Russian painters.

Russian losses during the crossing amounted to 1.1 thousand people. (killed, wounded and drowned).

The troops of the vanguard of the Russian army, after forcing the Danube, without waiting for the crossing of the main forces, launched a rapid offensive in Bulgaria in three directions at once.

For the main offensive through the Balkans, an advance detachment under the command of General Joseph Gurko (12 thousand people) was intended. To ensure the flanks, two detachments were created - the Eastern (40 thousand people) and the Western (35 thousand people).

The eastern detachment, led by the heir Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich, held back the main Turkish troops from the east, who were in the fortresses: Silistria - Ruschuk - Burgas - Kovarna, located in a quadrangle.

The western detachment, led by General Nikolai Kridiger, had the goal of expanding the invasion zone in a westerly direction.

During the first two weeks of fighting, Russian troops occupied: on July 3, 1877, the city of Nikopol and besieged Plevna, on July 5 - Byala, and on July 25 - Tarnovo.

Dmitriev - Orenburgsky N.D. Surrender of the Nikopol fortress on July 4, 1877. Website:www.gallerix.ruAlbum: 200 Russian painters.

Dmitriev - Orenburgsky N.D.Entry of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich to Tarnovo
June 30, 1877. Website: www.gallerix.ruAlbum: 200 Russian painters.

To cross the Danube, the main Russian army of many thousands, it was decided to build a large stationary crossing across Batin Island. The only builder of this bridge was the Guards crew, which so far partially camped in the Slobodzeya forest and in which in early August, after the construction of the crossings near Zimnitsa, all the detachments of the Crew gathered.

On August 4, the crew was reorganized into a 4-company from all its teams and detachments. Company commanders were appointed: Lieutenant Paltov S.I., Podyapolsky A.P., Lavrov A.M. and Kuzmin K.P. After that, the crew moved in two stages (August 14 and September 2, 1877) from the Slobodzeya camp to the village of Petroshany, located opposite Batin Island and not far from the Danube coast. On the island itself, 6 steam mine boats were based, as well as premises for the crews of boats and a mine station. The fairway of the Danube on both sides of Batin Island was blocked by Hertz mines.

On September 5, the crew began construction of a 5-verst road from Petroshan to Batin Island, to the place of the future crossing. In mid-September, it became known that the Turks wanted to build a floating bridge across the Danube to the Romanian coast near Silistria for a counterattack on the rear of the Russian army. For this bridge, the Turks prepared materials on the Danube, which it was decided to destroy. The operation was entrusted to the Guards crew. September 23, 1877 at night from Petroshan (from the island) Lieutenant Dubasov F.V. brought 3 steam boats and the Romanian gunboat Fludzherul. On the boats were also three midshipmen who arrived from the frigate "Svetlana", Obolensky, Shcherbatov, Ebilinch and midshipman - Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who participated in this operation. A detachment of ships of the Crew lowered burning fire-ships downstream the river, which reached the materials prepared for the bridge with Turkish ships, and burned them.

Subsequently, from September to December 1877, the wintering of the Guards crew in Petroshany was calm. The crew built a road from Petroshan to the low bank of the Danube, then a pontoon drawbridge to Batin Island, and finally built a pile dam from the island to the Bulgarian coast. The guard and defense of the crossing was also entrusted to the Crew, under the command of Captain 1st Rank Golovachev D.Z.

Pontoon bridge over the Danube. 1878. Paper, charcoal. 40x58. Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

On November 17, 100 people of the lower ranks of the Crew arrived in Petrosany from St. Petersburg to replace the dead, the dead and the sick.

On November 28, the Turkish fortress of Plevna was finally taken, which withstood the siege of Russian troops from July 8, 1877. Military action with the Turks in the main Balkan direction was not completed until the end of 1877 and continued until January 19, 1878, when a truce was concluded. The main battles unfolded on the mountain passes of Shipka, Karlovo, Sheinovo, as well as in Eski-Zagra, Yeni-Zagra and Philippopolis. On December 23, Sofia was taken, and on January 8, 1878, Adrianople fell.

Dmitriev - Orenburgsky N.D. Capture of the Grivitsky redoubt near Plevna. Website: www.gallerix.ruAlbum: 200 Russian painters.

Kivshenko A. The battle at Shipka-Sheinovo on December 28, 1877. Website: www.gallerix.ruAlbum: 200 Russian painters.

With the fall of Plevna after the second assault, the need for the personal presence of Emperor Alexander II in the theater of operations disappeared. On December 4, 1877, the sovereign, returning to St. Petersburg, visited Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich in Petroshany. The guards crew greeted their Sovereign, who on December 6 granted Golovachev D.Z. rank of rear admiral, and later appointed him head of all naval commands on the Danube.

In January 1878, the ice on the Danube melted, and the Batinsky crossing of the Guards crew began to work more intensively. However, in early February 1878, by order of the Commander-in-Chief, the crew was urgently sent to the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara to the city of San Stefano, which is located 7 miles from Constantinople. On February 8, the Karabia steamer with a huge barge in tow under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Skrydlov N.I. transported the crew to the other side of the Danube. Then the sailors set off on a land crossing through Bala, Tarnovo and Elena to the Balkans.

The crew overcame the Eleninsky Pass in one day and from Eski-Zagra by rail moved to Adrianople, from where it arrived on the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara three days later. Finally, on the morning of February 28, 1878, the crew camped between the camps of the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments located in the city of San Stefano.

Here the reason for the urgent call of the Guards crew to the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the Balkans, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, became clear. To influence the terms of the negotiations that began between Russia and Turkey, England sent 4 battleships to the San Stefano raid, threatening Russia to bring its fleet into the Black Sea. From Russia, only the imperial steam wheeled yacht "Livadia" stood in the roadstead. The threat of the entry of the English fleet into the Black Sea was real and it had to be prevented at all costs.

This yacht got its name even during the design in 1869, when Emperor Alexander II built his new estate “Livadia” on the southern coast of Crimea and began to spend a lot of time there. The official laying of the yacht took place at the Nikolaev shipyard in 1870, since this yacht was built for the August family's trips along the Black Sea.

It is appropriate to note that the 4-gun yacht "Livadia" was not only beautiful and had not only good seaworthiness. She was the only one of all the imperial yachts that ever participated in the hostilities of the Russian fleet. So, during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the Livadia, under the command of Captain 1st Rank F.E. Crown, cruised off the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts, and on August 21, 1877, she sank a Turkish two-masted poker. At the same time, being seen by two Turkish armored ships, the yacht withstood an 18-hour chase and safely left under the protection of the Sevastopol batteries.

Meanwhile, the threat of the entry of the English fleet into the Black Sea became real and it had to be prevented at all costs.

Upon arrival at San Stefano, the Guards crew was ordered, in the event of an attempt to enter the English battleships into the Black Sea, to mine the Bosporus and not let them go further than Turkey. To prepare this operation, 200 galvanic mines were urgently delivered from the Black Sea Fleet by rail to Burgas, from where the mines were transported by the Crew to a warehouse in Adrianople.

At the end of March, relations between the Headquarters of the Russian Army and Constantinople improved slightly, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the Balkans, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, decided to pay a personal visit to the Turkish Sultan Abdul-Hamid.

To do this, on March 13, 1878, he departed on the imperial yacht Livadia, accompanied by the steamer Konstantin from San Stefano, and arrived at the roadstead of Istanbul. All ships stationed there raised Russian flags and welcomed the Winner Country in this war. Together with the Commander-in-Chief, a company of the guard of honor of the Guards crew arrived with a banner and an orchestra. Tall sailors, participants in the last war and St. George Knights were specially selected for this company.

The yacht "Livadia" anchored in front of the palace of the Turkish Sultan Dolma-Bahce. The Grand Duke and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army was given a marble palace on the banks of the Bosphorus, where he met the return visit of the Sultan. This ceremony was attended by a company of the guard of honor of the Guards crew with a banner and an orchestra. So the only combat banner of the Russian army deployed in the capital of defeated Turkey in the war of 1877-1878 was the St. George banner of the Naval Guards Crew.

At the end of April 1878, peace was concluded with Turkey. The crew departed for Russia on April 23 and arrived on the Lazarev steamer in Odessa on May 1, and in St. Petersburg on May 5 was met by their commander, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. The Russian-Turkish war ended.

Photo "Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich".
1880s. St. Petersburg. Photographer of Bergamasco.

The glorious deeds of the officers and lower ranks of the Guards crew in the last war and the contribution to the victory of the Russian army were duly noted. The emperor awarded each company of the Crew with a silver St. George's horn. At the same time, on the horn of the 1st company, which transported the Emperor on June 16, 1877 across the Danube, the inscription was engraved: "For crossing the Danube at Zimnitsa in 1877", and on the horns of other companies - "For distinction in the Turkish war of 1877-1878 .". The same inscriptions appeared on special plates under the signs on the crew officers' caps and under the sailors' shako signs.

Moreover, Alexander II ordered: “So that the most merciful award to the Guards Crew of insignia for the past Turkish war could be seen during the company on ships, all the lower ranks of the Guards Crew should be replaced with St. .

Kepi ​​of the Admiral of the Guards crew with the inscription "For distinction in the Turkish war of 1877-1878". From the funds of TsVMM.

Kepi ​​officer of the 1st company of the Guards crew with the inscription "For the crossing of the Danube near Zimnitsa in 1877". From the funds of TsVMM.

Guards ribbons of the lower ranks of the Guards crew, granted after the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878.
Russian imperial yachts. Publishing house "EGO". St. Petersburg, 1997.

Later, on June 6, 1883, the coat of arms and a stone memorial plate of the Turkish fortress Ruschuk were also handed over to the Guards crew, which were immured at the entrance to the officer's wardroom, located at the address: St. Petersburg, Rimsky-Korsakovy Avenue, house 22. the letter stated that the inspector general for engineering was handing over these plates to the Crew, "... which will serve to commemorate the glorious deeds performed on the Danube during the last Turkish war to gentlemen officers and lower ranks."

All participants in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 were also awarded a special medal. The medal was established by the Highest Decree of Emperor Alexander II, announced by the military department, on April 17, 1878.

The statute lists three types of metal medals: silver, light bronze and dark bronze (copper).

The light bronze medal was awarded to all military ranks from the general (admiral) to the ordinary soldier (sailor), the ranks of the maritime department and the police, volunteers and Bulgarian militias, who during 1877-1878 were directly involved in military operations against the Turks on the Danube, the Balkans , the Black Sea and the Caucasus, as well as officials of the military and civilian departments who were with the troops and took part in hostilities against the enemy with weapons in their hands. The same medal was awarded to all medical personnel and clergy who performed their duties in a combat situation. There were 635,921 such light bronze medals minted at the St. Petersburg Mint. They wore a medal on the chest on a combined ribbon of two orders - St. Andrew the First-Called and St. George the Victorious (Andreevsky-George).

The silver medal was awarded only to those military ranks who were in the troops defending the Shipka Pass (in Bulgaria) and who were in Bayazet (in Transcaucasia) during the blockade, as well as to persons temporarily staying on Shipka on business during the defense of the Shipka Pass.

Obverse. From the collection of S. V. Alipov. Photo of the author. 2010.

Light bronze medal "For the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878".
Reverse. From the collection of S. V. Alipov. Photo of the author. 2010.

Upon the return of the Guards crew from the Turkish war of 1877-1878 to St. Petersburg, the teams immediately joined in the development of naval skills. Guards crew Literally a year after the war, in the autumn of 1879, races of imperial sailing yachts - the schooners Zabava, Nixa and Queen Victoria - already took place on the Small Kronstadt roadstead. The races were watched by: Emperor Alexander II, who was on the steam wheeled yacht "Derzhava", and the August Chief of the Guards Crew, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich.

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich

In winter, imperial yachts and steamships moored along the Neva River embankment, were repaired at the shipyards of St. Petersburg, and crews from yachts were recruited to carry guards and other city outfits of the crew, like a guards battalion. Communication across the Neva passed either on ice or on pontoon bridges.

Beggrov A.K. (1841-1914). View of the Neva and the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island from the Stock Exchange. 1879.
Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg.

Emperor Alexander II died on March 1, 1881 in the Winter Palace after being mortally wounded on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg from the explosion of a second bomb thrown under his feet by a "People's Volunteer" when the Emperor was assisting the wounded from the explosion of the first bomb.

• 12.12.2013

,
suppression of the Polish rebellion of 1863,
Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878,
Russo-Japanese War,
World War I

Guards crew- Naval unit of the Russian Imperial Guard.

Location: St. Petersburg, nab. Catherine's Canal, 133.

Story

Military campaigns

• in the campaigns of 1812 and 1813-1814, as part of six companies and an artillery team, he was with the Army in the field and served as a pontoon battalion (built, repaired and destroyed bridges), then as an infantry unit he took part in affairs near Bautzen and Kulm, in 1814 entered Paris.
• in 1828 he was sent to the active army, participated in the storming of Varna, was used as a marine corps.
• in 1831 the 6th company participated in the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1831
• in the campaign of 1854-56, the ranks of the crew took part in the hostilities as a naval unit, making up the crews of naval ships of the Baltic Fleet.
• in 1863 one company participated in the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863 as a pontoon unit (providing crossings).
• in the campaign of 1877-78 he was in the army, was used as a pontoon part, and also completed teams of mine boats.
• in 1905 part of the crew took part in the Battle of Tsushima.
• in the Great War he completed the ships of the river military flotillas.

Participation in the Guards coups

as formed in the 19th century, took part only in the Decembrist Uprising on December 14, 1825.

Insignia to 1914

• St. George banner with the inscription "For the feats rendered in the battle of August 17, 1813 at Kulm" with the jubilee St. Andrew's ribbon
• St. George ribbons on peakless caps at the lower ranks
• St. George's horns in the 1st company "For crossing the Danube at Zimnitsa on June 15, 1877", in other companies "For distinction in the Turkish war of 1877 and 1878"

Chiefs

• 08/22/1831-13/01/1892 - His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich
• 07/22/1892-03/02/1917 - Her Imperial Majesty Empress Empress Maria Feodorovna

commanders

• 02/16/1810-01/27/1825 - captain of the 2nd rank (later rear admiral) Kartsov, Ivan Petrovich
• 01/31/1825-10/27/1826 - captain of the 1st rank Kachalov, Pyotr Fedorovich
• 06/10/1826-12/06/1830 - Rear Admiral Bellingshausen, Faddey Faddeevich
• 12/06/1830-10/02/1835 - Rear Admiral Shishmarev, Gleb Semenovich
• 11/20/1835-11/26/1847 - Rear Admiral Kazin, Nikolai Glebovich
• 11/23/1847-12/02/1857 - Rear Admiral Mofet, Samuil Ivanovich
• 12/02/1857-05/14/1866 - Rear Admiral Arkas, Nikolai Andreevich
• 04/11/1866-04/08/1873 - Adjutant General, Vice Admiral Perelishin, Pavel Alexandrovich
• 04/08/1873-06/22/1873 - Rear Admiral Falk, Pyotr Vasilyevich
• 06/26/1873-05/27/1881 - Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich
• 08/03/1881-01/01/1886 - Retinues of the EIV Rear Admiral Golovachev, Dmitry Zakharovich
• 01/01/1886-11/11/1895 - Rear Admiral Navakhovich, Nikolai Alexandrovich
• 11/17/1895-09/24/1899 - Retinues of the EIV Rear Admiral, Prince Shakhovsky, Yakov Ivanovich
• 11/29/1899-01/20/1903 - Rear Admiral Abaza, Alexei Mikhailovich
• 04/06/1903-04/21/1908 - Rear Admiral Nilov, Konstantin Dmitrievich
• 04/21/1908-03/16/1915 - Rear Admiral Tolstoy, Nikolai Mikhailovich
• 03/16/1915-03/04/1917 - Retinue of the EIV Rear Admiral, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich

Expeditions

Many officers of the Guards crew brought all sorts of rarities from around the world trips, which formed the basis of the Maritime Museum, created in 1805 on the basis of the famous Peter's "model-camera".

Returning at the end of 1806 from a round-the-world voyage, Lieutenant Commanders P. Povalishin and Yu. F. Lisyansky transferred to the museum an ethnographic collection of 13 items of culture and everyday life of the indigenous inhabitants of the Sandwich and Marquesas Islands and North America. A significant collection of 230 items was received by the museum in 1821-1824. from F. F. Bellingshausen, leader of the expedition to the Southern Hemisphere. There were bows, quivers, arrows, battle axes, spears and other weapons.

Islands, straits and numerous other geographical points are named after O. E. Kotzebue, Yu. F. Lisyansky, B. A. Vilkitsky and other guards officers.

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Notes

Literature

• Polivanov V. T., Byakin G. I. Naval Guards Crew: Pages of History. SPb., 1996
• Badeev N. A. When the "Joke" is not joking // I accept the fight. - M .: Children's literature, 1973.

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Guards crew

Prince Andrei stood directly opposite Kutuzov; but from the expression of the commander-in-chief's only sighted eye, it was clear that thought and care occupied him so much that it seemed as if his vision was obscured. He looked directly at the face of his adjutant and did not recognize him.
- Well, are you finished? he turned to Kozlovsky.
“Just a second, Your Excellency.
Bagration, short, with an oriental type of hard and motionless face, dry, not yet an old man, followed the commander-in-chief.
“I have the honor to appear,” Prince Andrei repeated rather loudly, handing the envelope.
“Ah, from Vienna?” Good. After, after!
Kutuzov went out with Bagration to the porch.
“Well, good-bye, prince,” he said to Bagration. “Christ is with you. I bless you for a great achievement.
Kutuzov's face suddenly softened, and tears appeared in his eyes. He pulled Bagration to himself with his left hand, and with his right hand, on which there was a ring, he apparently crossed him with a habitual gesture and offered him a plump cheek, instead of which Bagration kissed him on the neck.
- Christ is with you! Kutuzov repeated and went up to the carriage. “Sit down with me,” he said to Bolkonsky.
“Your Excellency, I would like to be of service here. Let me stay in the detachment of Prince Bagration.
“Sit down,” said Kutuzov and, noticing that Bolkonsky was slowing down, “I myself need good officers, I myself need them.
They got into the carriage and drove in silence for several minutes.
“There is still a lot ahead, a lot of things will be,” he said with an senile expression of insight, as if he understood everything that was going on in Bolkonsky’s soul. “If one tenth of his detachment comes tomorrow, I will thank God,” added Kutuzov, as if talking to himself.
Prince Andrei glanced at Kutuzov, and involuntarily caught in his eyes, half a yard away from him, the cleanly washed-out assemblies of a scar on Kutuzov's temple, where an Ishmael bullet had pierced his head, and his leaky eye. “Yes, he has the right to speak so calmly about the death of these people!” thought Bolkonsky.
“That is why I ask you to send me to this detachment,” he said.
Kutuzov did not answer. He seemed to have already forgotten what he had said, and sat in thought. Five minutes later, swaying smoothly on the soft springs of the carriage, Kutuzov turned to Prince Andrei. There was no trace of excitement on his face. With subtle mockery, he asked Prince Andrei about the details of his meeting with the emperor, about the reviews heard at court about the Kremlin affair, and about some mutual acquaintances of women.

Kutuzov, through his spy, received on November 1 news that put the army under his command in an almost hopeless situation. The scout reported that the French in huge forces, having crossed the Vienna bridge, headed for the route of communication between Kutuzov and the troops marching from Russia. If Kutuzov decided to remain in Krems, Napoleon's 1500-strong army would cut him off from all communications, surround his exhausted 40,000-strong army, and he would be in the position of Mack near Ulm. If Kutuzov decided to leave the road leading to communications with troops from Russia, then he would have to enter without a road into the unknown regions of the Bohemian
mountains, defending themselves against superior enemy forces, and abandon all hope of communication with Buxhowden. If Kutuzov decided to retreat along the road from Krems to Olmutz to join forces from Russia, then he risked being warned on this road by the French who crossed the bridge in Vienna, and thus being forced to accept the battle on the march, with all the burdens and wagons, and dealing with an enemy who was three times his size and surrounded him on two sides.
Kutuzov chose this last exit.
The French, as the scout reported, having crossed the bridge in Vienna, marched in a reinforced march to Znaim, which lay on the path of Kutuzov's retreat, more than a hundred miles ahead of him. To reach Znaim before the French meant to get a great hope of saving the army; to let the French warn oneself at Znaim meant probably to expose the whole army to a disgrace similar to that of Ulm, or to total destruction. But it was impossible to warn the French with the whole army. The French road from Vienna to Znaim was shorter and better than the Russian road from Krems to Znaim.
On the night of receiving the news, Kutuzov sent the four thousandth vanguard of Bagration to the right by the mountains from the Kremsko-Znaim road to the Vienna-Znaim road. Bagration had to go through this transition without rest, stop facing Vienna and back to Znaim, and if he managed to warn the French, he had to delay them as long as he could. Kutuzov himself, with all the burdens, set off towards Znaim.
Having passed with hungry, barefoot soldiers, without a road, through the mountains, on a stormy night forty-five miles, having lost a third of the backward ones, Bagration went to Gollabrun on the Vienna Znaim road a few hours before the French approached Gollabrun from Vienna. Kutuzov had to go for another whole day with his carts in order to reach Znaim, and therefore, in order to save the army, Bagration, with four thousand hungry, exhausted soldiers, had to hold the entire enemy army that met him in Gollabrun for a day, which was obviously , impossible. But a strange fate made the impossible possible. The success of that deception, which without a fight gave the Vienna bridge into the hands of the French, prompted Murat to try to deceive Kutuzov in the same way. Murat, having met the weak detachment of Bagration on the Tsnaim road, thought that it was the whole army of Kutuzov. In order to undoubtedly crush this army, he waited for the troops that had lagged behind on the road from Vienna and for this purpose proposed a truce for three days, on the condition that both troops did not change their positions and did not move. Murat assured that peace negotiations were already underway and that therefore, avoiding the useless shedding of blood, he proposed a truce. The Austrian general Count Nostitz, who was standing at the outposts, believed the words of Murat's truce and retreated, opening Bagration's detachment. Another truce went to the Russian chain to announce the same news of peace negotiations and offer a truce to the Russian troops for three days. Bagration replied that he could not accept or not accept a truce, and with a report on the proposal made to him, he sent his adjutant to Kutuzov.
A truce for Kutuzov was the only way to gain time, to give Bagration's exhausted detachment a rest and to skip the wagon trains and loads (the movement of which was hidden from the French), although there was one extra transition to Znaim. The offer of an armistice provided the only and unexpected opportunity to save the army. Having received this news, Kutuzov immediately sent Adjutant General Wintsengerode, who was with him, to the enemy camp. Winzengerode had not only to accept the armistice, but also to offer terms of surrender, and meanwhile Kutuzov sent his adjutants back to hurry the movement of the carts of the entire army along the Kremsko-Znaim road as much as possible. The exhausted, hungry detachment of Bagration alone had to, covering this movement of carts and the entire army, remain motionless in front of the enemy eight times stronger.
Kutuzov's expectations came true both that the non-binding offer of surrender could give time for some of the convoys to pass, and that Murat's mistake should have been discovered very soon. As soon as Bonaparte, who was in Schönbrunn, 25 versts from Gollabrun, received Murat's report and the draft of a truce and surrender, he saw the deceit and wrote the following letter to Murat:
Au Prince Murat. Schoenbrunn, 25 brumaire en 1805 a huit heures du matin.
"II m" est impossible de trouver des termes pour vous exprimer mon mecontentement. Vous ne commandez que mon avant garde et vous n "avez pas le droit de faire d" armistice sans mon ordre. Vous me faites perdre le fruit d "une campagne . Rompez l "armistice sur le champ et Mariechez a l" ennemi. Vous lui ferez declarer, que le general qui a signe cette capitulation, n "avait pas le droit de le faire, qu" il n "y a que l" Empereur de Russie qui ait ce droit.
“Toutes les fois cependant que l" Empereur de Russie ratifierait la dite convention, je la ratifierai; mais ce n "est qu" une ruse. Mariechez, detruisez l "armee russe ... vous etes en position de prendre son bagage et son artiller.

MARINE GUARDS CREW IN THE WAR 1914-17.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia sought to keep up with other maritime powers. She ordered modern warships for her fleet abroad, showed ships built in her shipyards, but at that stage the main thing was to demonstrate the presence of her war flag in the oceans, as evidence of her growing sea power.
The creation of military-political groupings in Europe increased the tension in the international situation, caused an increase in military budgets and a sharp increase in armaments. The arms race inevitably led to a military clash as the only means of resolving contradictions, both between individual countries and between military-political alliances. And this was confirmed by the wars of 1912-1913. in the Balkans, where the Balkan countries fought, but the countries of the military-political groups: the Entente and the Triple Entente also took an indirect part.
However, before the start of the Russian-German war of 1914, all the imperial yachts of the Guards crew provided recreation in the Baltic and Black Seas, as well as foreign voyages of Emperor Nicholas II and members of his August family.

Nicholas II in the uniform of the Guards crew. 1911

The year 1914 has come. On June 15, in the capital of Serbia, Sarajevo, a member of the Serbian nationalist organization killed the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It was a very suitable occasion. For a whole month there was a "war of diplomats", in which Russia acted on the side of the Slavic-Serbs.
In June 1914, a squadron of the English fleet arrived in Russia (Kronstadt) under the flag of Vice Admiral David Beatty, consisting of:
- battleships Queen Mary, Princess Royale, New Zealand, Lion;
- two light cruisers and a yacht, on which Lady Beatty, the wife of the squadron commander, arrived in Russia.
And in July there was a visit of the French fleet, headed by Raymond Poincaré, elected in 1913, President of France, and Viviani, Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
At that time, the armed forces were already being deployed in the theaters of the upcoming military operations, where each side was planning its victory.
On July 15, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and began shelling the capital Belgrade, and on July 17 began mobilization. Following her, Russia announced the mobilization of the army and navy. Germany demanded that Russia stop mobilization and, having received no answer, on July 18 declared war on her. The optimists believed that it would end in three months, the pessimists - in a maximum of six months. No one imagined that an unusual war had begun - a world war, unprecedented in the history of mankind. In October, Turkey entered the war against Russia on the side of Germany.
By the beginning of the war, by mid-July 1914, according to the list, the Guards crew consisted of: admirals and generals - 7; chief officers: combatants - 52, various corps - 17, doctors - 9, according to the Admiralty - 12, lower ranks - about 2000.

Guard crew. Non-commissioned officers and sailors. 1911

The warships of the Guards crew in these years were constantly at sea. So the cruiser of the Guards crew "Oleg" every summer was usually part of the Detachment of the Naval Corps, and in the fall went on foreign voyages. The destroyers "Voiskovoy" and "Ukraine" alternately carried guards during the voyages of the imperial family or stood ready on the roadstead in the area of ​​​​the naval royal residences.
In His Majesty's Own Consolidated Regiment, one officer and about half a company of lower ranks were appointed from the crew to guard and guard duty.
The crew commander from April 1908 to March 1915 was His Majesty's Retinue, Rear Admiral, Count N.M. Tolstoy.

Guard crew. Boatswain's jacket. 1912

Guard crew. Quartermaster, sailor and escort. 1912

Guard crew. Boatswain. 1913

In mid-July, general mobilization also began in Russia, and on July 18, 1914, war was declared on Germany. Therefore, all the imperial yachts, except for the "Alexandria" 2nd, were put on coastal heating, and the officers and crews of the yachts were sent to the crew barracks.
On July 18, an order to mobilize was received in the Guards crew. The Naval Minister was presented with a memorandum stating that His Imperial Majesty the Sovereign Emperor was pleased to express a desire for the participation of the Guards Crew in hostilities and joining the land campaign as part of the Guards Corps.
Not wanting to distribute officers and sailors from the imperial yachts to the ships of the fleet, it was decided to form two separate battalions from the Crew, based on the experience of previous wars, which would fight on the land front along with the guards. Each battalion had two companies, as well as machine-gun, demolition and searchlight teams, with 37 mm guns and convoys. The first battalion was made up of the company "Her Majesty" and the 2nd company, and the second battalion - from the 3rd and 4th companies of the Guards crew. From the army commissariat, protective uniforms were obtained for officers and sailors.
During the outbreak of the Great War of 1914-1917. the cruiser "Oleg" and the destroyers "Voyskovoy" and "Ukraine" together with the Baltic Fleet solved the main strategic task - to prevent the enemy fleet from reaching Kronstadt and St. Petersburg, and also to provide protection from the sea of ​​the flanks of our army in the south and north of the Gulf of Finland. They carried out security and patrol service, were engaged in laying mines in their own and enemy waters. The destroyers also participated in the defense of the Gulf of Riga and Moozund.
With the declaration of war, the cruiser "Oleg" under the command of Captain 1st Rank P.L. Trukhachev was a member of the 2nd reserve cruiser brigade and took part in operations:
- August 19, 1914 on a campaign to the island of Gogland, and December 30, 1914 in the installation of a minefield south of the Stolze Bank, after which he returned to Revel for the winter;
- On June 18, 1915, as part of a detachment of cruisers, he went on a campaign to Memel and took part in the battle with the German cruisers Ron and Bremen and in the destruction of the German minelayer Albatross;
- On October 28, for the first time and on November 30, 1915, for the second time, he laid minefields (about 700 mines) south of the tip of about. Gogland, after which he again went to winter parking in Revel.

Guards crew of the cruiser "Oleg" sailor Matveev A.I., 1915

Guards crew cruiser Oleg, 1914

The destroyers "Voyskovoy" and "Ukraine" throughout the war participated in all operations, first as part of the 2nd division, and then as part of the 6th division of the 1st mine division. At the same time, on May 12, 1915, the captain of the 1st rank of the Guards crew P.L. Trukhachev was appointed Head of this mine division.

Guards crew destroyer Troop, 1914

Guards crew destroyer Ukraine, 1915

In August 1914, both battalions completed a course of field maneuvers and firing practice, and at the end of the month they were ready to march. To distinguish sailors from land units, anchors were embroidered on the left sleeve above the elbow.
The Dowager Empress and August Chief of the Crew - Maria Feodorovna blessed everyone for the trip, and presented the officers with an image.
The captain of the 1st rank A.S. Polushkin was appointed commander of the 1st battalion of the Crew, the captain of the 1st rank, Prince S.A. Shirinsky-Shakhmatov was appointed commander of the 2nd battalion.

1st Battalion Guards crew in the courtyard of the barracks, August 1914

At the end of August, the 2nd battalion of the Crew set out on a land campaign and on September 1, 1914 arrived in Kovno by rail.

As soon as the 2nd battalion was disembarked from the wagons, it was immediately distributed among the river steamers and the sailors were ordered to collect barges on the Neman River, lower them downstream and flood them near the town of Ilgovo. However, the barges had to be flooded a little earlier, defending themselves from the advancing Germans, near the town of Sredniki, where a pontoon bridge was built for the Russian regiments and refugees retreating behind the Neman. At the end of the operation, the sailors took the wounded soldiers to the ships and returned to Kovno.
After that, the 2nd battalion, mainly on steamboats, provided protection for communications along the Neman to the German border at Schmalenniken. In addition, high-explosive barriers were set up near the Kovno fortress by sailors, and mines were launched downstream, on which several German ships were blown up. Then the 2nd battalion was transferred to Novogireevsk, from where part of the battalion under the command of senior lieutenant Butakov was temporarily attached to the 1st battalion of the Crew.
Somewhat earlier, on September 7, 1914, the 1st battalion of the Crew was loaded onto trains and three days later arrived at the Novogeorgievskaya fortress on the Vistula River. There, the sailors of the Crew were armed with the steamship Narevsky Miner, which belonged to the fortress. Four 47 mm were put on it. cannons and four machine guns, and the sides and cabin were covered with steel shields.
Soon, in the fortress of Novogiorgeevsk, two more steamers were armed by the crew for operations on the Vistula. The first, requisitioned from the Germans, "Fürstenberg" and renamed "Vislyanin", under the command of Lieutenant Khvoshchinsky. The second before armament was a small passenger steamer "Plotchanin", the commander of which was appointed midshipman Kern. Additionally, two motor boats were delivered to the Vistula from Petrograd. One was equipped with two 37 mm. guns, the second was intended for communication.
St. Andrew's flags were hoisted on all ships and boats of the Crew.
In November 1914, while carrying out a planned trawling of German mines discovered in the Vlotslavsk region on the Vistula, the Furstenberg steamer was blown up on one of them, and its stern was torn off by an explosion. Lieutenant Khvoshchinsky managed to remove cannons and machine guns from the ship, load them onto carts and join the battalion in Vyshegrod. However, during this blowing up of the ship on a mine, a sailor of the 1st article S. Redko died and a sailor of the 1st article A. Fedorov was wounded.
In early December 1914, some units from the Vyshegrod fortress were attached to the 1st battalion and a Separate Vyshegrod Detachment was formed, under the command of the commander of this battalion, Captain 1st Rank Polushkin.
The composition of the Separate Vyshegrod detachment is interesting:
- 1st Separate battalion of the Guards crew;
- 3rd battalion of the border regiment;
- 8th hundred of the 1st border regiment;
- 2nd battery of the 79th artillery brigade;
- 6th fortress howitzer battery;
- 6th light and 11th cavalry militia battery;
- 3rd squadron of the 6th hussar Klyastitsky regiment.
The interest is that a ship officer was appointed commander of this motley detachment, who until that moment and shortly thereafter commanded only the warships of the Crew (the destroyer "Ukraine", the yacht "Alexandria" and the cruiser "Oleg").
The multifaceted task of this Detachment was to guard the right bank of the Vistula, prevent the Germans from crossing the river and support our armies in this area. The battalion of the Crew with a unit carried out this combat mission from November 1914 to March 1915.
On November 7, the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich visited the Separate Vyshegrodsky Detachment, who on October 27, 1914 was appointed Head of Naval Battalions in the Army, instead of the ill Rear Admiral Count N.M. Tolstoy. A little later, on March 16, 1915, Kirill Vladimirovich was appointed Commander of the Guards crew, after the illness and death of Rear Admiral Count N.M. Tolstoy.
In the winter of 1914-1915, the 2nd separate battalion of the Crew was constantly transferred from subordination to the Vyshegrod fortress, then to the army corps and back.

Sailor and lieutenant of the Guards crew in summer uniform, 1914

Midshipman and sailor of the Guards crew in winter uniform, 1915

Sailors of the Guards crew in the trenches. 1916

Finally, on March 7, 1915, the 1st Battalion was called to Odessa to take part in the alleged landing of Russian troops near the Bosphorus in Turkey. Soon, on March 13, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Crew gathered in Warsaw, where they were replenished with two companies of young sailors from the Crew who had completed drill courses in Petrograd. On March 18, the battalions were loaded onto trains and sent to Odessa.
The idea of ​​landing near the Bosporus was born after the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sazonov managed to obtain the consent of the Allied Command that in the event of the victory of the Allies, Constantinople and the straits would be provided to Russia under a peace treaty. Therefore, the Headquarters began preparations for the landing operation in Turkey, and in connection with this, a special Transport Flotilla of 60 steamers was formed on the Black Sea under the command of Rear Admiral A.A. Khomenko. In the areas of Odessa and Sevastopol, troops began to concentrate for this alleged landing.
It was assumed that the Guards crew would be the first to land on the Turkish shores and occupy a bridgehead for the further landing of the main landing forces (7th Army under the command of Adjutant General Shcherbachev).
Upon arrival in Odessa, both battalions of the Crew were consolidated into one, which was called the "Separate Battalion of the Guards Crew." To distinguish sailors from land units, anchors were embroidered on the left sleeve above the elbow.

Quartermaster Gv. crew I.A.Polyakov, May 1915

Quartermaster Gv. crew I.A. Polyakov (back of photo), May 1915

Captain 1st rank A.S. Polushkin took command of this separate battalion of the Crew, and the commander of the former second battalion of the Crew, captain 1st rank, Prince S.A. Shirinsky-Shakhmatov, was appointed commander of the detachment in the Transport Flotilla to Rear Admiral A.A. .Khomenko. During the preparation of the "Separate Battalion of the Guards Crew" for the landing, midshipman Kern was sent to Petrograd, who brought the banner and the orchestra of the Guards crew to Odessa.
On April 14, 1915, Emperor Nicholas II arrived in Odessa. He reviewed the battalion and presented 20 St. George Crosses to the lower ranks who had distinguished themselves in battle. Addressing the personnel of the battalion, the Emperor said:
“I am happy that I can admonish the Guards Crew before setting out on their second campaign .... During the last Turkish war, the Guards crew occupied Constantinople. I am sure that the Lord God will lead you and now enter Tsargrad, at the head of our victorious troops.
The fact is that in January 1915 the Anglo-French command decided to break through the forces of the fleet through the Dardanelles to the Sea of ​​Marmara, capture Constantinople and, thus, withdraw Turkey from the war and take possession of the Black Sea straits. But the German-Turkish command received information about the impending breakthrough and strengthened the defense of the strait from the Aegean Sea, removing troops and artillery from the Black Sea. As it turned out later, the allies could not overcome the Turkish defenses and a year later the operation was stopped.
The command of the Black Sea Fleet submitted to the Headquarters of the Supreme Command a proposal to conduct a landing operation in the Bosporus region with the aim of quickly capturing Constantinople, withdrawing Turkey from the war, and then Austria-Hungary, and began preparations for this. The naval department of the Headquarters, represented by Admiral Rusin, supported the proposal of the Black Sea Fleet command. But the Headquarters of the High Command set a condition: troops should be landed only in the nearest equipped port in Bulgaria, and this turned out to be Burgas, located at a considerable distance from the Bosphorus. In addition, it was still necessary to obtain the consent of the pro-German-minded Bulgarian authorities.
On July 17, 1915, a separate battalion of the Guards Crew in the amount of 28 officers and 1460 lower ranks arrived in Sevastopol at the disposal of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A. Eberhard, and began preparing a landing operation. On July 20, the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A. Eberhard, sent a special secret order to the commandant of the Sevastopol fortress: disembarkation and return landings on ships.
To inspect and select a possible landing site on the Anatolian coast of Turkey in the Samsun region, Lieutenant Khvoshchinsky was seconded to the destroyer, who bypassed the entire coast on this ship to Batum, and then returned to Sevastopol.
On July 25, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich arrived in Sevastopol and the next day he fulfilled the order of Emperor Nicholas II. He handed over to the Guards crew a cross made of copper pennies, donated for candles by soldiers of the troops when they passed through Odessa to Sevastopol back in 1854, for hoisting it over the Church of St. Sophia in Tsargrad (Constantinople). A separate battalion accepted this cross at a solemn ceremony in the courtyard of the Belostotsky barracks in Sevastopol, where it was built with the St. George banner and an orchestra, and promised to fulfill this important order of the Emperor.
On July 31, in the Khersones Bay near Sevastopol, the battalion landed on the transports "Jerusalem", "Athos", "Saratov". A detachment of transports under the escort of the cruisers "Cahul", "Memory of Mercury", a detachment of destroyers, accompanied by two auxiliary cruisers and a messenger ship "Almaz" with hydroplanes, went to the landing site, made a conditional passage by sea. Before the convoy approached the landing area, aerial reconnaissance was carried out. At 7 o'clock in the morning on August 1, the detachment approached the mouth of the Kacha River and landed on a steep high bank "capturing the enemy's fortified heights." The landing was observed by the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, who spent the night from July 31 to August 1 on the Saratov transport and went out to sea on it.
From the beginning of August to the end of November 1915, other training sessions were held to improve the combat skills of the Separate Battalion of the Guards Crew.
Preparations for the landing operation continued. To participate in the landing planned:
- in the first landing of the Guards Crew;
- 2 regiments of the 16th building;
- 3rd Turkestan Rifle Brigade;
- Caucasian Cavalry Division;
- Separate Don Cossack Brigade;
- aviation division.
It was planned to deliver the landing force to the landing site by the Transport Flotilla of Rear Admiral A.A. Khomenko, numbering about 60 transports, under the cover of all the forces of the Black Sea Fleet.
However, it was not possible to reach an agreement on the provision of the port of Burgas. The Bulgarian authorities for this "service" to Russia demanded that it put pressure on Serbia to give Bulgaria the part of Macedonia that belongs to it. Serbia categorically refused to comply with Russia's request. Upon learning of this, Nicholas II allegedly said bitterly: "I started the war because of them."
In November 1915, the command of the Russian army refused to land troops in Constantinople. A separate battalion of the Guards crew was loaded onto transports and delivered to Nikolaev, from where on December 12 it arrived in Podvolochisk. Later, he was assigned to the 3rd Life Guards Rifle Regiment, which was part of the 2nd Guards Corps, which, together with the 1st Guards Corps, was merged into the Guards Detachment under the command of Adjutant General Bezobrazov.
Later, the battalion of the Guards crew, together with the Guards detachment, was transferred from south to north, put in reserve in February 1916 and stood near the town of Ryzhitsa, Pskov province in the Adamov estate until the end of May 1916, after which, together with the Guards, arrived in the Kovelsky district.
In the summer of 1916, the Headquarters planned the offensive of the Russian armies against German positions along the entire Northwestern Front. According to this plan, in early June, 2 corps of the 8th Army were attached to the Guards Detachment, and the Special Army of General Bezobrazov was formed. This Special Army was to attack Kovel on both sides of the Rovno-Kovel railway from the south, and the 3rd Army from the east and north.
In the Kovel region, the crew battalion was always at the forefront in the trenches under enemy fire and suffered minor losses - 15 people were killed and wounded.
The general offensive of the armies was scheduled for July 15th. After 4 hours of artillery preparation, the Guard went on the offensive. The crew battalion was in the first line of trenches opposite the village of Shchyurino, between the Life Guards Pavlovsky Regiment on the left and the Life Guards 3rd Rifle Regiment on the right.
The crew battalion was assigned a combat mission - to drive the Germans out of the village of Shchyurino and push the enemy back beyond the city of Stokhid.
At about 10 a.m., the 3rd Rifle Regiment launched an offensive and occupied several lines of German trenches to the right of Shchyurino. The Germans, having grouped their reserves, counterattacked the shooters and their attack bogged down. Then Lieutenant of the Guards crew Khvoshchinsky with his 2nd company of sailors attacked the Germans on the flank with bayonets, which they did not expect at all and began to retreat, incurring losses. The riflemen joined the attack of the sailors and, with the support of the guards artillery, captured eight rows of German trenches. The Germans began a retreat that followed along the entire front. Having passed the German trenches, the crew battalion took up new positions by evening and dug in. This victory was not easy, the losses of the Separate Battalion of the Guards Crew amounted to: 50 people killed and 120 wounded. The trophies captured two batteries of artillery, several machine guns, weapons, equipment and about 160 prisoners. A survey of prisoners established that in front of the Crew was one of the Hanoverian regiments.
Lieutenant Khvoshchinsky was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, for decisively preventing a counter-attack by the enemy, which allowed other units of the Russian army to defeat the enemy and push him back 10 miles. About 70 sailors-guardsmen were awarded the St. George Crosses, including sailors A.I. Polyakov and A.V. Shinkarenko.

I.A. Polyakov in the hospital, 1916

Picture. Boatswain of the Guards crew (Shinkarenko) 09/19/1916

Certificate from the archive on A.V.Shinkarenko, 1955

During these days of fighting, known in history as the “battles for Stokhid” or as the “Kovel operation”, the Russian Guard lost about 32,000 people killed, not counting the wounded. The guard suffered irreparable losses, but, dying, did not retreat.

Pavel Ryzhenko. Stokhod. The last battle of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. 2013

After the battle on July 15, the Germans twice unsuccessfully tried to attack the positions of the Separate Battalion of the Crew at night, after which they retreated behind Stokhid.
After standing for several days in the Stokhod area, the Guards Corps were replaced by rifle units and withdrawn to the rear for replenishment and rest.
A month later, on the twentieth of August, the Guards Detachment was again returned to the front, where it replaced the 5th Siberian and 25th Army Corps, which suffered very heavy losses during unsuccessful attacks on the enemy. It was the responsibility of the guards to repeat these attacks.
By the end of August 1916, the Guards took up positions. The Guards Rifle Division with the detached battalion of the Guards crew attached to it and howitzer artillery received the site of vil. Shelvova - Square forest.
In the battles for the Square Forest, which continued on September 3, 7, 19 and 21, 1916, the machine-gun teams of the Separate Crew Battalion especially distinguished themselves. About 30 St. George's crosses and medals were rewards for the courage and stamina of the sailors in these difficult and bloody battles.
At the end of September, the Separate Battalion of the Crew was sent to Odessa for rest, and then at the beginning of December it was transferred to the Danube to the Izmail fortress. The enemy on the other side of the Danube were the Bulgarians, whom in the Turkish war of 1877-1878 the Russian sailors-guards liberated, not sparing their blood, from the Turkish yoke.
On one of the January nights of 1917, about a company of Bulgarians crossed the Danube in the area of ​​​​the city of Tulchi with the aim of reconnaissance of Russian positions. The Bulgarians were given the opportunity to cross and that same night they were surrounded by part of the crew battalion. About a hundred Bulgarians were taken prisoner, the rest were killed during the capture operation.
At the end of January 1917, a separate battalion of the Guards crew was ordered to return urgently, first to Odessa, and then immediately by train to Petrograd. On February 15, the battalion arrived at the station. Alexandrovskaya near Tsarskoe Selo and sent to guard the Royal Family.
A separate battalion of the Guards crew was divided into three detachments.
The first detachment, consisting of the 1st company of Her Majesty and the 3rd company, was stationed in the Alexander Palace, where the Emperor's family lived. There was also the commander of the Separate Battalion, Captain 1st Rank S.V. Myasoedov-Ivanov and most of the officers.
The second detachment under the command of senior lieutenant V.V. Khvoshchinsky consisted of
2nd company and machine gun team. It was entrusted with the defense of the main approaches to Tsarskoe Selo from Petrograd along the seven-kilometer road from Pulkovo.
The third detachment under the command of senior lieutenant V.A. Kuzminsky consisted of
The 4th company, a subversive team, miners, telegraph operators, minders and other ship specialists were stationed 3 kilometers from the station. Aleksandrovka in the village of Redkovo-Kuzmino. This unit did not have specific missions.
On February 28, the 3rd and 2nd detachments intensively shared information about the events taking place in Petrograd, which they learned about from local residents working in the capital.
On March 1, 1917, both detachments independently left their location near Tsarskoye Selo and arrived at their barracks in Petrograd, passing through the Narva Gate in formation (as in 1814 after the war with Napoleon).
On the same day, the sailors of the 1st company of the Crew, having gathered in the living quarters of the Alexander Palace, summoned 8 of their officers and demanded that they withdraw the detachment from Tsarskoye Selo. Otherwise, the officers were promised to be shot. After the withdrawal from the palace, the sailors of the 1st detachment, as well as other detachments of the Separate Battalion of the Crew, returned independently to their barracks.
On March 2, 1917, the Naval Guards Crew, under the command of their commander, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, in full force of 4 companies, arrived at the Taurida Palace to be presented to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. In the evening of the same day, the Guards crew elected a new crew commander. Captain 1st Rank Lyalin Mikhail Mikhailovich was elected the crew commander by general vote.
In the history of the combat activities of the Guards crew in the period 1916-1917. includes not only the participation of his Separate Battalion on the land front, but also the voyage of the Varyag cruiser from Vladivostok to Murmansk.
With the outbreak of the war of 1914-1916. a significant part of the cargo from the Allies for Russia was delivered by sea through the ice-free Northern port of Romanovsk on Murman (later - Murmansk).
The German command took all measures to destroy the sea caravans coming from America and Europe with cargo for Russia, sending their cruisers and submarines to the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. The losses from the sunken ships were huge, and the German submarines behaved extremely brazenly, knowing that Russia had no cruisers in the Barents Sea.
From the Far East to the North, to protect the coast near Murmansk, only two destroyers "Vlastny" and "Grozny" were transferred, and from Italy (in Livorno) the yacht "Lyzistrata" was purchased, named in Russia "Yaroslavnaya".
Then the Russian Naval Ministry turned to Japan for the sale of new destroyers, but was refused. At the same time, the Japanese offered to sell several former Russian ships sunk in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. and restored by Japan.
Thus, at the beginning of 1916, the Russian battleships Poltava (renamed Chesma), Peresvet and the cruiser Varyag were bought back.
The cruiser "Varyag", after being sunk in 1904 in Chemulpo, was raised by the Japanese, repaired and served in the Japanese fleet from 1907 to 1916 under the name of the cruiser "Soya" for the sea practice of the cadet detachment of sailors. In 1917, the Japanese planned to scrap it due to dilapidation.
In January-February 1916, a significant part of the officers and 300 lower ranks were allocated from the battalion to recruit the crew of the Varyag cruiser, which was planned to be purchased from Japan for the Arctic Ocean Flotilla.

Japanese training cruiser "Soya" (1907-1916) (the cruiser "Varyag" bought back by the Russians), 1916.

The cruiser "Varyag" was enrolled in the Guards crew at the beginning of 1916. In March of the same year, a train with a new crew of the cruiser, assembled from specialists from the cruiser "Oleg", the destroyers "Voyskovoy" and "Ukraine", and also called up from the reserve, in total about 100 people were sent to Vladivostok under the command of Lieutenant Peshkov.
On March 9, Captain 1st Rank of the Guards Crew K.I. von Den 2nd, appointed commander of the Varyag cruiser, and 5 crew officers left Petrograd to receive the ship in Vladivostok, where they arrived on March 21.
At dawn on March 25, 1916, Chesma, Peresvet and the Varyag cruiser, accompanied by the Japanese cruiser Ibuki, appeared on the horizon and anchored in the Golden Horn Bay. On March 26, the ships were hastily handed over to the Russian teams and the Japanese immediately left Vladivostok on their Ibuki cruiser.
On March 27, 1916, the Andreevsky flag, guis and St. George's pennant were raised on the Varyag - a sign of belonging to the Guards crew. On March 30, the second Echelon of the cruiser team arrived in Vladivostok, selected at the front from the Separate Battalion of the Guards Crew, in the amount of 300 lower ranks, 5 officers and a priest.
Upon a thorough examination of the cruiser, the commission found that it needed significant repairs to bring it into combat form. These necessary works continued for the next 3 months. From the Siberian Naval Crew, 70 sailors of the necessary specialties were selected, and they were also enrolled in the Guards crew.

Officers and sailors of the Guards and Siberian naval crews on their way to Vladivostok.

In May, the Varyag cruiser underwent sea trials after repairs and carried out artillery firing. On June 18, 1916, the Detachment of Special Purpose Ships, consisting of the Chesma battleship and the Varyag cruiser, under the command of Rear Admiral A.I. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, left Vladivostok on a long voyage.
The detachment proceeded from June 18 to the end of August along the route: Hong Kong-Singapore-Colombo (Ceylon) - Aden. From Aden, passing through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the ships of the detachment arrived on September 7 in Port Said.
From Port Said, Chesma was sent to the Greek Soloniki to replace the Askold cruiser, and the Varyag, under the flag of Rear Admiral A.I. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, continued to move to the North alone. The entire rest of the route to Murmansk itself, the Varyag went along the battlefield: the team stood at the guns all the time and the cruiser was in full combat readiness.
The cruiser's calls on this route were in the following Mediterranean ports: Valletta on the island of Malta and Toulon in France. On October 5, the Varyag passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Bay of Biscay. Having received the official course from the British allies, the commander did not adhere to it due to the activity of German submarines in the area and went on his own course. During the following days, on the course given by the English Admiralty, several ships were sunk by submarines.
On October 16, the cruiser arrived in Glasgow, where she was specially prepared for sailing in the cold polar latitudes and ice. On November 7, the Varyag left Glasgow and arrived on November 17, 1916 at the port of Romanovsk (now Polyarny), which is located in the Kola Bay near Murmansk.
Parking in Polyarny was monotonous. Many officers received leave after a 5-month campaign, and the commander of the Varyag, Captain 1st Rank von Den 2nd, left for Petrograd to report on the state of the cruiser after a long transition of 15,864 miles. The ship needed a major overhaul, and it was decided to send the Varyag to England, since such a complex repair could not be done in Polyarny. The battleship Chesma, which arrived in Murmansk on January 12, 1917, entered the combat watch of the protection of the North Seas.
On January 12, 1917, the Crew Commander Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich arrived on the cruiser and stayed for three days. On February 24, the Varyag left Polyarny for repairs to England, where it arrived at the port of Liverpool on March 6, 1917.
In England, among the sailors of the Varyag, unrest began, caused by various conflicting rumors about the revolution in Russia. Finally, an order came from the General Naval Staff from Petrograd to return all the sailors called up from the reserve to Murmansk, and to send the rest, as well as part of the officers, to America to complete the yachts bought there. Dispatches were carried out throughout the spring and summer of 1917.

Sailors Gv. crew on the Varyag, summer 1917

Due to the lack of funding for the repair of the cruiser from Russia, the British decided to release the cruiser from the Russian team.

Sailors Gv. crew on the Varyag, autumn 1917. First from the left in the front row A.V. Shinkarenko

On August 28, 1917, about 30 remaining sailors of the cruiser team, led by Lieutenant for Admiralty Istomin, were sent to their homeland, and by mid-December 1917, the remaining 10 sailors of the protection of the Varyag cruiser were decommissioned ashore and replaced by one English conductor and five English sailors.
The cruiser "Varyag" after the end of the war was towed to Scotland and then sold for scrap.
At the end of 1917 - the beginning of 1918, the demobilization of older sailors - the call of 1907-1910 - was going on in the Guards crew.
The February Revolution of 1917 that took place in Petrograd and the subsequent collapse of the front subsequently stopped the further activities of not only the Separate Battalion, but also the Marine Guards Crew itself. Emperor Nicholas II signed a voluntary renunciation of power, and therefore there was no need for such a specific division of the navy.
By order No. 105 of March 03, 1918, the Commander of the Baltic Fleet, the Naval Guards Crew was abolished "as unnecessary."

The material was prepared by Candidate of Technical Sciences, Professor of the State Maritime Academy. Admiral S.O. Makarova, retired Captain 1st rank, President of the Marine Guards Crew club Leonid Aleksandrovich Malyshev.