Berch, Amandus Borisovich

Occurred from the Baltic Germans , the son of Bernhard Berh (1735-1777), lieutenant colonel of the Russian Imperial Army. The brother of Admiral Moritz Borisovich Berkh , the chief commander of the Black Sea Fleet . From 1756 he was brought up in the Naval Cadet Corps , from which in 1760 he was released as a midshipman in the Baltic . He sailed on the Baltic Sea in 1759-1769. He commanded the deck bot of the ship “St. Nikolai ”(1761–1763).

During the Seven Years' War, he participated in the Kolberg expedition . Twice he made the transition by the Northern Ocean between Kronstadt and Archangel on the newly built ship “Do not touch me” (1765).

The participant of the Russian-Turkish war (1768-1774) . In 1769, while in the squadron of Admiral G. A. Spiridov , he left Kronstadt to the Greek Archipelago as part of the First Archipelago Expedition , where on a battleship the ship "Europe" participated in the Chesmensky battle and when the Turkish fleet was burned, then on the bombardment ship "Grom" ”In which in 1771 he bombed the Turkish fortresses of Chalkida, Negroponont and Mytilene, and the island of the same name, where shipyards with ships built on them were destroyed. Cruising in the Archipelago, from where in December 1772 he was seconded to Russia, returned to St. Petersburg by the coast, and received the rank of lieutenant commander.

In 1774 and 1775, A. B. Berh commanded the kick of “Saint Eustathius” in the Baltic Sea. He served as the company commander of the St. Petersburg ship crew (1776–1777). In 1778-1786 he commanded the frigates "Alexander" and "Vozmislav". In 1779, with the rank of Captain 2 rank, he commanded the ship "Vsevolod", which, while in the Revel harbor, burned down, as a result of which Berch was reprimanded by the court for the poor content of the guard; but this circumstance did not harm his official activity, and in the same year, commanding the Preslav ship assigned to him, he cruised in the Barents Sea , near Kildin Island near the Murmansk coast of the Kola Peninsula , in the squadron of Rear Admiral S. Khmetevsky . Using the reputation of an experienced sailor, A. B. Berh annually later commanded military vessels in the Baltic Sea, and in 1781, commanding the Panteleimon, made a long-distance voyage to the Mediterranean Sea and on his return received the rank of captain 1st rank. From April 1786, he was appointed to the state of the Galerny fleet as part of the Russian Imperial Navy . The commander of the ship "John the Theologian" (1787-1788).

The last campaign of A. B. Berkh in which he took part was the Russian-Swedish war in 1788. Commanding the ship "Vladislav", he went out with the fleet, under the command of Admiral S. G. Greig , from Kronstadt to meet the enemy fleet. This meeting took place near the island of Gogland , where the battle took place , which ended in victory for the Russian fleet. At the height of the battle, the ship "Vladislav" went out of the line and fell into the middle of enemy ships, with which he continued to fight, but was captured by them ^[1] , with a completely broken hull and spar , a damaged steering wheel, knocked down anchors and several torn from reinforced firing cannons.

Two years later, after returning from captivity (06.1790), A. B. Berch already held exclusively coastal posts, first as chief shter-kriegomissar, then as chief commander of the port of Riga . In 1795 he was promoted to major general , and in 1799 - to lieutenant general . November 12, 1800 Berch was dismissed from service.

• Captain 1st Rank (1782)
• Captain of the brigadier rank from 09/22/1787
• Captain of the Major General rank from 01/01/1795
• Auber Shter Kriegs Commissar (rank of rear admiral ) from 05/13/176
• Lieutenant-General of the Fleet from 10.24.1799 ^[2]

• Berh, Amandus Borisovich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.