Pacific squadron of Admiral S. S. Lesovsky

With the completion in 1878 of the conquest by Chinese army of Zuo Tszintang of Xinjiang , which had previously separated from China, the issue of the return by Russia of Iliysky Krai, occupied by Russian troops in 1871, became relevant. The Russian government expressed readiness to return the land to China, but it was stipulated by a number of conditions. The Chinese side, in turn, demanded the speedy and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Gulja.

The Russian-Chinese negotiations ended with the signing in September 1879. The Livadia Treaty, which, however, the Chinese government refused to recognize, began military preparations near the borders of Russia - both in Turkestan and in the Far East, where Russian military forces at that time were clearly insufficient.

In view of the possibility of a war with China, a squadron from the Baltic Fleet was sent to strengthen the Russian military presence in the Far East. The significance attached to this action is indicated by the appointment of Vice-Admiral Stepan Stepanovitch Lesovsky, who commanded the naval ministry commander of the Naval Ministry, who resigned from the ministerial post on June 23, 1880 to lead the Pacific naval forces.

Almost all the ships available to Russia capable of withstanding round-the-world voyage were allocated for shipment to the Far East. Earlier, the Baltic Fleet sent to the Far East the so-called “Amur detachments” of 5-6 wooden screw corvettes and clippers each, sometimes creating together significant compounds of non-permanent composition. Lesovsky's squadron differed from them by a significantly larger number of personnel (it was supposed to concentrate about 20 pendants on the Pacific Ocean at the same time), as well as by the fact that, in addition to clippers of the newest construction and auxiliary cruisers purchased in America (called then simply cruisers) and mobilized steamboats of the Voluntary Fleet, the squadron was first included heavy armored ships.

The transfer to the Pacific Ocean of such a significant compound was not a general march of a squadron, but was a combination of small detachments, or, more often, individual ships, which were to assemble in the ports of Japan in the summer of 1880 and then in Vladivostok.

Since 1877, a detachment of Rear Admiral O. R. Stackelberg was already operating in the Pacific Ocean as part of the Bayan screw corvette, the Gaidamak and the Horseman old wooden clippers. In 1878, they were joined by a new steel Clipper " Cruiser ", and in 1879 - the same type " Dzhigit ". In the beginning of 1879, with the departure of the Bayan to the Baltic, the Cruiser became the flagship of Shtekelberg. In October of the same year, a detachment of the rank 1 captain M. P. Novosiltsev came out of the Baltic as part of the cruiser Asia , the clippers Rogue and Rider . From Le Havre "Asia" and the clipper moved to the Far East separately. Soon, under the flag of Rear Admiral A. B. Aslanbegov , Kronstadt reached the Far East the most powerful Russian ship of the cruiser class - the Minin armored frigate, which became the first Russian armored ship in the Far East.

The order to go to the Pacific Ocean was also received by an armored frigate " Prince of Pozharsky " on the Mediterranean Sea, which departed from Piraeus in April 1880 to the Far East. The squadron commander, Vice-Admiral S. S. Lesovsky went on a campaign, raising his flag on the cruiser " Europe ". The ships of the Voluntary Fleet “Moscow”, “ Petersburg ” and “ Vladivostok ” went with him. The “Cruiser” clipper, which had returned to Alexandria by May 1880, was also sent back to the Far East. The cruiser Africa also headed toward the Pacific Ocean, on June 1, 1880, the cruiser Zabiyak departed from Kronstadt, arriving at its destination at a speed “unprecedented for Russian ships”. Following the trip went clipper " Plastun " and " Shooter ." Only in August , the General-Admiral, a half-armored frigate that had left the Baltic for the Pacific, was already late for the time when the troops marching through half the world gathered in a single squadron.

By the beginning of the autumn of 1880, Russia had in the Far East an impressive cruiser squadron: two armored frigates, four auxiliary cruisers, six clippers. The Vice Admiral Lesovsky, as the commander of all Russian naval forces in the Pacific Ocean, was also subordinated to the ships of the Siberian Flotilla - the old wooden screw clippers " Abrek " and "Gaydamak", small wooden gunboats " Morzh ", " Sobol ", " Gornostai ", " Nerpa ", as well as the old transports " Japanese ", " Manchu " and the wheeled steam-ship corvette " America ". According to British data, the Russians at that moment had 26 ships in the Far East (four large ships, four cruisers, a corvette, nine clippers, four canoners, three schooners and armed vehicles) ^[1] . In the article “Baltic Fleet” in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron , it was stated that the Lesovsky squadron even consisted of 28 ships (including, perhaps, mobilized transports) ^[2] .

For operational purposes, two squadrons were created as part of the squadron: the 1st squad, under the command of Rear Admiral O. R. Shtakelberg: Minin, Europa, Africa, Djigit, Raider, Plastun , "Shooter"; 2nd Detachment, Rear Admiral A. B. Aslanbegov: "Prince Pozharsky", "Asia", "Cruiser", "Rogue", "Bully" and "Abrek".

The main objective of the squadron was to secure the main Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok, which had just received official city status and became the center of military governorship, against attack. The stay of the main forces of Lesovsky's squadron in Vladivostok was relatively short, but during this time the port was significantly strengthened. On ships in Vladivostok were delivered new large-caliber guns - 9-inch rifled guns and 11-inch mortars. They were immediately installed on the coastal batteries, which were built mainly by the crews of the squadron. Every day, 150 people were sent from armored frigates, and from each of the other ships - 75 people for fortification work, which lasted from 7 am until late evening. Also to strengthen the defense of the port minefields were put up. Vladivostok received its own mine flotilla - they brought six small destroyers on large ships. With the approach of winter, the ships went to the Japanese ports. In February 1881, Russia and China signed a compromise Treaty of St. Petersburg that settled the problems associated with the Ili region. In the spring, the main part of the squadron was sent to the Baltic Sea as a task that had completed its mission. On the way back, the flagship cruiser "Europe" fell into a violent storm, during which S. S. Lesovsky was knocked down by a wave and severely injured his leg. Upon his return, he was made admiral and in fact sent to honorary resignation. The command of the remaining detachment of ships in the Far East — the cruiser Africa, the clipper Plastun and Vestnik — was received by Rear Admiral A. B. Aslanbegov.

Under his command, the detachment made a long voyage across the Pacific Ocean, visiting Honolulu, San Francisco, Hawaiian and Sunda Islands, ports of Australia and New Zealand. The sending and maintenance of the squadron's ships cost the treasury 10 million rubles ^[3] , which for Russia, which had not yet emerged from the financial crisis after the Russian-Turkish war, was a very significant amount.

Navigation squadron Lesovsky was an impressive demonstration of the naval power of the Russian Empire at its farthest boundaries and in the oceans. Such a demonstration was not at all superfluous after the recent Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878 , when the Turkish fleet dominated the Black Sea, and the British squadron on the Bosphorus did not allow Istanbul to be occupied by the Russian army. It is believed that the squadron Lesovsky played an important role in eliminating the threat of war with China, did not allow aggression against the poorly protected Russian possessions in the Far East. However, in this respect, the value of the “Chinese expedition” (by analogy with the earlier “American expeditions” ) of the Russian fleet is not so indisputable. Of course, the delivery of heavy weapons to the squadron in Vladivostok and the building of coastal fortifications by the teams of the ships strengthened the defense of the main Russian Pacific port. However, according to a number of historians, for this mission it was enough to have transports of the Voluntary Fleet - without warships.

It is impossible to say for sure that it was precisely the demonstration of a strong Russian squadron in the Far East that forced China to take a more flexible position in resolving a territorial dispute with Russia. Zuo Zutan, a supporter of a military solution to the conflict, believed that the Chinese fleet was superior in strength to the Russian squadron. According to British data, China at that time had about 50 combat ships, mostly - wooden cannoners of small tonnage. However, immediately before the crisis, China ordered several small modern coastal defense ships in England. I must say that in Russia the Chinese navy was not inclined to underestimate. The main advantage of the Chinese ships, in the eyes of the Russians, was their small draft, which allowed them to freely enter the shallow mouths of the rivers:

The Chinese military ships that came from England last summer, having a small draft, freely enter rivers into any water, and I, while sailing to Canton along Shu-Kyanga, saw how cannoners, like a man, were maneuvered in the river governed by European captains, between whole caravans of heavy, clumsy junks. These vessels are protected by armor, each with two long-range eight or nine-inch guns, not counting small calibers; they are fast, having a medium speed, as they hear, up to 12 knots, and are even capable of ocean swimming ^[3] .

E. Larionov, in his article, which appeared in 1882, concludes that it is practically useless to send ocean cruisers to ship against China:

To count on cruising against any junk - the game would not be worth the candle, and the British and Germans, and our “transatlantic friends”, the Americans, would not allow us to seriously block the ports, because in open Chinese ports lies a thousand times more European interests, than Chinese, and in undiscovered - for no one there are exactly no interests and least of all for the Chinese themselves. If we had started a serious blockade, diplomatic notes would have poured in from Petersburg on all sides, and the whole thing would have ended in three or four weeks, we probably would have to lift our blockade and go to Vladivostok, or walk around harmlessly, not without scandal. myself on the Chinese seas, hunting for some unfortunate junks ^[3] .

According to Larionov, the attempt of an attack by a Russian cruiser squadron on one of the Chinese ports would also be unfortunate:

All the major port cities of China, like Tianjin, Shanghai, Canton, and so on. lie not at the mouths of large rivers, but significantly, for dozens of miles, receding deep into the country, along their course, so that in the event of war, if our fleet wished to do something against these rich cities, then its deep-seated vessels inevitably would have to enter the river itself, and that would mean risking to run aground at the first ebb, representing either a fixed target for coastal armored batteries (the Chinese already have such) protecting river mouths and further access to these cities, or go to bed aground under shooting gunboats, which in this case would have that invaluable advantage over us, that for them the height of the water means absolutely nothing. Therefore, it would be a great mistake on our part to think that the Chinese ended us peacefully, because they were frightened by our squadron assembled in Vladivostok: they perfectly understood that all this beautiful ocean fleet, without having a single flat-bottomed gunboat , absolutely nothing could make them the richest port cities. It was not the squadrons that they actually got scared of, but the strong force assumed on it, which, by the way, the British also assured them of their own species ^[3] .

This assumption of Larionov is confirmed by the report of Li Hongzhan , a supporter of a peaceful compromise with Russia, which has become known today. Li Hongzhang argued that in the event of war, Russia could bring 20 thousand soldiers into Manchuria simultaneously with its fleet landing at Liaodong 6 thousand people and send them all directly to Beijing, thus taking it into ticks ^[1]

Larionov concludes that instead of a cruiser squadron, it would be advisable to send an amphibious corps from the European Russia to the Far East, which would have threatened to land in Pecheliysky Bay and march to Beijing and Mukden. At the same time, in order to support amphibious operations in China, it would be necessary to use small gunboats, rather than cruisers.

Such criticism can be objected that sending across the oceans to China and the maintenance of large amphibious forces there is a much more complex and intractable task than the march of a military squadron, as evidenced, for example, by the experience of the Second Opium War. On the other hand, the Franco-Chinese war of 1884–1885, which took place shortly after the Kuldzhinsky crisis, showed the effectiveness of the operations of the cruising forces both against the naval forces and the protected ports of China, and against its trade communications. In many ways, China went to the world because of the "rice blockade" undertaken by the French fleet, which created the threat of famine in the northern provinces. The squadron of Lesovsky could take a similar action five years earlier.

Finally, it seems quite obvious that the main likely enemy of Russia in the Far East in 1880-1881 was considered not China, but the United Kingdom that supported it. The urgent strengthening of Vladivostok from an attack from the sea, in particular, was connected with this, while the Chinese fleet did not have the capacity for such actions at that time. Lesovsky's squadron, thus, had a traditional goal for the Russian naval doctrine to create for England the threat of a cruising war on its communications. Consequently, the Russian naval demonstration was directed not so much against China, as toward Britain. In this regard, for the first time, the Russian fleet managed to concentrate in the Far East a grouping that was almost not inferior to the naval forces of its main rival, Britain, which at that time had a squadron of 23 ships here.

On the squadron S. S. Lesovsky served as secretary of the admiral "on military-land intercourse" well-known writer and journalist V. V. Krestovsky , who described the voyage in his notes.

The future artillery officer on the cruiser "Africa" ​​during the campaign of Lesovsky's squadron was the future hero of the Russo-Japanese War V.F. Rudnev , who also wrote the essay "Cruise around the world" Africa "in 1880-1883"

• Krestyankin V.Ya. Cruiser of the Russian Imperial fleet. Part 1. http://keu-ocr.narod.ru/Cruisers/
• Likin Yu. A. Screw clippers of the “Cruiser” type http://wunderwaffe.narod.ru/Magazine/MK/2006_03/
• Larionov E. About one island. https://web.archive.org/web/20110524094033/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Japan/XIX/1880-1900/Larionov/text.htm
• D.V. Dubrovskaya. The fate of Xinjiang. The acquisition of China's "New Border" at the end of the XIX century. http://www.anzob.info/index.php?a=6&b=69&c=hud_lit&module=articles