| Baltic Naval War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofRussian Civil War,Estonian War of Independence,Latvian War of Independence | |||||||||
 British squadron inKoporye Bay in October 1919 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 United Kingdom Estonia Latvia White movement |  Russian SFSR | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Edwyn Alexander-SinclairWalter CowanAugustus AgarJohan Pitka | Nikolai KuzminFyodor Raskolnikov (POW)Sergey ZarubayevAlexander ZelenoyLev Galler | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| : 1 aircraft carrier 1 monitor 23 light cruisers 85 destroyers 20 submarines 2 minelayers 18 minesweepers 10 coastal motor boats 4 depot ships[3][4] :2 destroyers 1 gunboat | 2 battleships 1 pre-dreadnought 1 cruiser 17 destroyers 7 submarines 3 minelayers 9 minesweepers 2 depot ships | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| : 111–128 killed[3][5] at least 60 wounded[5] 9 captured 1 cruiser sunk 2 destroyers sunk 1 submarine sunk 2 minesweepers sunk 8 coastal motor boats sunk or stranded 1 destroyer damaged 7 other ships lost[5] 60 other ships damaged :23 killed 3 missing[3] 1 icebreaker-tug sunk | at least 483 killed 251 captured 1 battleship damaged 1 pre-dreadnought damaged 1 cruiser sunk 3 destroyers sunk 2 destroyers captured 1 submarine damaged 1 minesweeper defected 1 depot ship sunk[3] | ||||||||
TheBritish campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919 was a part of theAllied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of theRoyal Navy campaign wasOperation Red Trek.[6] The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states ofEstonia andLatvia.[7] It failed to secure the control ofPetrograd byWhite Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.[1]
Launched in the wake of theArmistice of 11 November 1918 which endedWorld War I and theGermanmilitary occupation of theBaltic countries, the purposes of Operation Red Trek were to stop the rise ofBolshevism in the area, to support the newly independent countries ofEstonia andLatvia,[8] to protectBritish interests, and to extend thefreedom of the seas.
The situation in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Estonia in theaftermath ofWorld War I was chaotic. The Russian Empire had collapsed and BolshevikRed Army, pro-independence and pro-German forces were fighting across the region.Riga had been occupied by the German army in 1917 andGerman Freikorps andBaltic-GermanBaltische Landeswehr units were still active in the area.Estonia had established a national army and, with the support ofFinnish volunteers, was defending against an attack by the7th Army of theSoviet RussianRed Army.[2]
The RussianBaltic Fleet was the key naval force available to the Bolsheviks and essential to the protection ofPetrograd. The fleet was severely depleted after the First World War and Russian revolution but still formed a significant force. At least oneGangut-classbattleship, as well as severalpre-dreadnought battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines were available. Many of the officer corps were on the White Russian side in the Civil War or had been murdered, but some competent leaders remained.
ARoyal Navy squadron was sent underRear-AdmiralEdwyn Alexander-Sinclair. This force consisted of modernC-class cruisers andV- and W-class destroyers. In December 1918, Sinclair sallied into Estonian and Latvian ports, sending in troops and supplies, and promising to attack the Bolsheviks "as far as my guns can reach". In January 1919, he was succeeded in command by Rear-AdmiralWalter Cowan. The deployment was unpopular among the Royal Navy sailors and there were minormutinies in January and again in the autumn of 1919.
The British intervention began soon after the Armistice which ended the First World War. Within a week of the war ending, an Estonian delegation had arrived in London asking for help in the shape of troops, ships and arms. TheWar Cabinet quickly took the decision to send a substantial naval force to the Baltic but on no account to provide troops.[9]
British forces denied the Bolsheviks the ability to move by sea, Royal Navy ships bombarded the Bolsheviks on land in support of Estonian and Latvian troops, and provided supplies.
On the night of 4 December, the cruiserHMS Cassandra struck a German-laid mine while on patrol duties north ofLiepāja, and sank with the loss of 11 of her crew.
At this time, the new Estonian government was weak and desperate. The Estonian Prime Minister asked Britain to send military forces to defend his capital, and even requested that his state be declared aBritish protectorate. The British would not meet these pleas.[10]
British cruisers and destroyers soon sailed up the coast close to the Estonian-Russian border and laid down a devastating barrage on the advancing Bolsheviks' supply lines.[10] On 26 December, British warships captured the Bolshevik destroyersAvtroil andSpartak,[11] which at the time were shelling the port ofTallinn. Both units were presented to theEstonian Provisional Government and, asLennuk andVambola, formed the nucleus of theEstonian Navy. Forty Bolshevikprisoners of war were executed by the Estonian government onNaissaar in February 1919 despite British protests.[12] The newCommissar of the Baltic Fleet—Fedor Raskolnikov—was captured onboardSpartak. He was exchanged on 27 May 1919 for 17 British officers captured by the Soviets and later appointed Commissar of theCaspian Flotilla byTrotsky.[13] In the Baltic, Raskolnikov was replaced byNikolai Kuzmin.
In April 1919, Latvian Prime MinisterKārlis Ulmanis was forced to seek refuge on board theSaratov under the protection of British ships.
In the summer of 1919, the Royal Navy bottled up the Red fleet inKronstadt. Several sharp skirmishes were fought nearKotlin Island. In the course of one of these clashes, on 31 May, during a Bolshevik probing action to the west, the battleshipPetropavlovsk scored two hits on the destroyerHMSWalker[14] from a distance of 14,000 yards (12,802 m), when a flotilla of British destroyers attempted to catch the outgunned Bolshevik destroyerAzard.Walker, which acted as a lure, suffered some damage and two of her crew were wounded, while the other British destroyers eventually disengaged when they came too close to Bolshevikcoastal artillery andminefields.[15] Admiral Cowan soon realised that Tallinn was not an ideal base of operations and sought a base closer to Kronstadt. On 5 June Cowan and his naval units arrived at the new anchorage atBjörkö Sound, which proved ideal for actions against Kronstadt. However, on 9 June the Soviet Navy's destroyersGavril andAzard launched a raid on the location,[16] and the submarineHMSL55 was sunk with all hands in the aftermath, apparently after being cornered in a British-laid minefield by the Soviet warships.[17] The action prompted the British to lay several new obstacles and minefields to protect the anchorage.[16] Cowan also requested that Finland allocate a squadron of ships to provide additional protection for the anchorage as well as to take part in the security and patrol duties in the area. TheFinnish Navy complied and sent several gun and torpedo boats as well as motor minesweepers to Björkö.[18]
A flotilla of BritishCoastal Motor Boats under the command of LieutenantAugustus Agarraided Kronstadt Harbour twice, sinking the cruiserOleg and the depot shipPamiat Azova on 17 June as well as damaging the battleshipsPetropavlovsk andAndrei Pervozvanny in August, at the cost of three CMBs in the last attack.[19][20][21][22] The attackers also managed to sink the important Russian submarine depot ship.[23] The British claim that the motor boats damaged thePetropavlosk is dismissed by Soviet records.[24] The first raid was intended to support a significant mutiny at theKrasnaya Gorka fort which was eventually suppressed by the 12 in (300 mm) guns of the Bolshevik battleships.[citation needed] Thesecond raid resulted in the deaths of 6 officers and 9 other ratings, and 9 others were taken prisoner.[23] The action of this little unit ensured that the threat from Kronstadt to the British Baltic force was ended.[23] In early July the British received reinforcements which included the aircraft carrierHMSVindictive whose aircraft carried out bombing and strafing runs against gun and searchlight installations at Kronstadt.[16]
In the autumn of 1919, British forces—including themonitorHMS Erebus—provided gunfire support to GeneralNikolai Yudenich'sWhite Russian Northwestern army in its offensive against Petrograd. The Russians tried to disrupt these bombardments by laying mines using theOrfey-class destroyersAzard,Gavril,Konstantin, andSvoboda. The latter three ships were sunk in a British minefield on 21 October 1919, during an attempt to defect to Estonia. The British monitorErebus attempted to assist in the siege ofKrasnaya Gorka from 27 October, dislodging the defenders of the local fortress with its 15-inch guns, but by this time the White and Estonian forces were in retreat.[25] The White army's offensive ultimately failed to capture Petrograd and on 2 February 1920, theRepublic of Estonia andBolshevist Russia signed the PeaceTreaty of Tartu which recognised Estonian independence. This resulted in the withdrawal of the Royal Navy from the Baltic.
Due to a request from Cowan that the Finnish squadron remain in the region until he evacuated all his forces, three FinnishC-class torpedo boats became stuck in the ice when winter froze over the sea, and the expanding ice crushed the hulls and sank the vessels. The accompanying largerS-class torpedo boat survived because of its stronger hull while small motor minesweepers survived as they were simply pushed out of the water by the expanding ice. The last remainingC-class torpedo boats were placed in reserve after this incident.[18][26]
Significant unrest took place among British sailors in the Baltic.[7] This included small-scale mutinies amongst the crews ofHMS Vindictive,Delhi—the latter due in part to the behaviour ofAdmiral Cowan—and other ships stationed inBjörkö Sound. The causes were a generalwar-weariness (many of the crews had fought in World War I), poor food and accommodation, a lack of leave, and the effects of Bolshevik propaganda.[7]
The deaths of 112 British servicemen— 107 RN personnel and five RAF personnel fromHMSVindictive —are commemorated on a memorial plaque, which was unveiled in 2005 atPortsmouth Cathedral[27] in England, with similar memorials in theChurch of the Holy Ghost,Tallinn and inSt Saviour's Church,Riga.
В конце 1918 назначен зам. командующего 7-й армией по морской части и член РВС Балтийского флота. Поставлен во главе крупного отряда (линкор, крейсер, 2 миноносца), который должен был противодействовать английскому флоту. Проявил себя бездарным командиром и в начале 1919 был бзят в плен на миноносце "Спартак". 27.5.1919 был обменян на 17 пленных английских офицеров. В 1919–20 командовал Астраханско-Каспийской (затем Волжско-Каспийской) военной.