Russia tries the new naval technologies, 1815–1914

Summary

ABSTRACT.From its notional foundation by Peter the Great in the 17^th century, and its real origin under Catherine the Great in the 18^th century, the Russian navy had many achievements, but it never succeeded in escaping the destructive effects of geography, which separated the fleets of the Baltic, Black Sea, Arctic, and Pacific. Moreover the high-technology enterprise of a navy was built on a society weakly connected to modern industry and technology, and heavily dependent on foreign equipment and foreign experts. The result was a series of wartime failures, the last and worst during the war with Japan in 1904–5.

RÉSUMÉ.Depuis sa fondation théorique par Pierre le Grand au XVII^e siècle, et ses véritables débuts sous Catherine II au XVIII^e, la marine russe connut de nombreux succès, mais ne parvint jamais à échapper aux effets nuisibles de la géographie, qui séparait les flottes situées sur la mer Baltique, sur la mer Noir, dans l'océan Arctique et dans le Pacifique. En outre, entreprendre la construction d'une marine de pointe, dans une société avec peu de contact avec la technologie et l'industrie moderne, et fortement dépendante des équipements et experts étrangers, résulta en une série de défaites militaires, la dernière et la plus terrible pendant la guerre avec le Japon en 1904–1905.

The rise of Russia as a naval power in the 19^th century was a major factor in international, military, and economic relations. It commanded the attention of other countries in forging political alliances and business connections, though Russia's naval history has not been given the attention in historical literature as a recognized naval power of the period, such as Great Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and, by the end of the century, Japan. There is no comparison, for example, between Russia and Great Britain in the amount of material produced by historians in regard to naval developments. Russian naval history has also witnessed a considerable impetus in recent years, due to the celebration of the 300^th anniversary of the birth of the fleet and of the founding of St. Petersburg, with which it was closely connected.

THE BIRTH OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY

In one sense Peter the Great did not found the navy, it discovered him, or at least, the technology to build it.