Uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov". Lieutenant Schmidt-Ochakovsky War with Japan

· "Sevastopol Fire"·

A cruiser was laid down on the slipway of the Sevastopol Admiralty, which in April was included in the lists of the Russian Imperial Navy under the name “Ochakov” (a similar ship was called “Kahul”); The official laying took place on August 13 of the same year. Builder - N.I. Yankovsky.

According to the project, the cruiser had the following characteristics: displacement - 6645 tons; length - 134 m, width - 16.6 m, draft - 6.3 m. The main mechanisms are two triple expansion steam engines with a total power of 19,500 hp, steam for them was produced by 16 Belleville boilers. Armament - 12 152 mm and 75 mm guns, 8 47 mm and 2 37 mm, as well as two landing guns, two machine guns, six torpedo tubes. Four six-inch guns were installed in two-gun turrets, and four more in single casemates. Armor thickness: deck 35-79 mm, conning tower - 140 mm, turrets - 127 mm, casemates - up to 80 mm. Crew - 570 people.

The ceremonial launching of the ship took place on September 21, 1902; completion did not proceed too quickly, but by the fall of 1905, Ochakov had already begun testing vehicles and artillery. During the Sevastopol uprising on November 14 (27), the cruiser became the flagship of the revolutionary squadron; it housed the headquarters of the rebels and their commander, Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt.

The next day, the authorities decided to suppress the uprising by force: “Ochakov” and several other ships under red flags were fired upon by naval, coastal and field artillery, and they were fired upon by troops loyal to the government. Many ships of the revolutionary squadron were damaged, up to 100 people died. "Ochakov" received many hits and caught fire, the fire on it lasted for two days.

uprising led by Lieutenant P.P. Schmidt. This was one of the largest armed actions in the Black Sea Fleet during the Revolution of 1905-1907. in the Russian Empire. It began spontaneously in response to an attempt by the fleet command to carry out reprisals against participants in a rally of thousands of sailors and soldiers. Covered over 4,000 coastal sailors, soldiers and port workers. The rebels were joined by the crews of the cruiser "Ochakov", the battleship "St. Panteleimon" (formerly "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky"), a total of 12 ships.

The passivity of the rebels led to the fact that the military command gathered troops and ships loyal to the government and defeated the rebels. Over 2,000 people were arrested on the roads and on land. Over 300 participants in the uprising were convicted by military courts, more than 1 thousand people were punished without trial, and Lieutenant Schmidt, sailors Gladkov, Antonenko and Chastnik were sentenced to death.

It should be noted that in comparison with the policies of a number of other countries, the Russian authorities were quite humane.

Prerequisites for the rebellion

The first mass action in the navy was the revolt of the Black Sea sailors who rebelled in June 1905 on the battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky. Less than six months later, an uprising broke out on the cruiser "Ochakov", then the center of revolutionary activity shifted to the Baltic, the uprising was raised on the cruiser "Memory of Azov".

Finally, the revolutionary wave reached the Far East: in October 1907, events began there, the center of which was the destroyer Skory.

All the rebellions were suppressed, but the reasons that forced people to oppose the authorities were not eliminated. Therefore, it is not surprising that the fleet would play an important role already in the Revolution of 1917.

Sailors also took an active part in the events. It wasn't surprising. If the soldiers, mostly peasants, were traditionally conservative and passive, maintaining faith in the “good king”, and did not make significant revolutionary actions, then the picture with the sailors was different. There were many workers among the sailors, due to the need to operate ships with complex fillings. The fleet finally became steam and armored. This left its mark on the social composition of the sailors. Among the conscripts, the percentage of working youth increased every year. They had a certain education, read books and newspapers. Therefore, it was much easier for revolutionary activists to create underground cells in the navy.

At the same time, the situation in the country and in the navy caused dissatisfaction among the sailors. The situation of the working class was difficult, which is typical of any capitalist country (the example of modern Russia is very clear; after the collapse of the USSR, workers had fewer and fewer rights, and the arbitrariness of management became stronger, right up to the introduction of the “sweatshop system”). Service in the navy was difficult and lasted 7 years. Little money was allocated for the maintenance of personnel; often it was simply stolen (corruption was one of the scourges of the Russian Empire). Harsh drills and scuffles flourished in the navy. The traditions of Ushakov, Lazarev and Nakhimov in the education of sailors and human attitude towards them, with the exception of some exceptions, were firmly forgotten. The arbitrariness and senseless drill evoked a feeling of protest and suppressed anger among the soldiers and sailors; it is not surprising that the activists of the social democratic movements received noticeable support in the navy. Hotbeds of revolution appeared in the fleet. Already in 1901-1902. The first social democratic groups and circles arose in the navy.

At the end of 1901 in Sevastopol, circles united into the social democratic “Sevastopol Workers' Union”. However, a few months later the Sevastopol Workers' Union was crushed by the secret police. At the beginning of 1903, a committee was created at the main base to lead the revolutionary movement in the Black Sea Fleet. Later, he joined the Sevastopol Committee of the RSDLP, created at the end of 1903. Thus, the revolutionary movement in the navy acquired an organized character and gradually became widespread.

In April 1904, as a result of the merger of the circles of the 37th naval crew in Nikolaev, the 32nd crew in Sevastopol and a number of other teams with the party organization of the training detachment, the Central Fleet Committee (Tsentralka) was created, which became the military organization of the Sevastopol Committee of the RSDLP. It included the Bolsheviks A. M. Petrov, I. T. Yakhnovsky, G. N. Vakulenchuk, A. I. Gladkov, I. A. Cherny and others.

Central had connections with social democratic organizations in Kharkov, Nikolaev, Odessa and other cities, as well as with Geneva, where V. Lenin was located. The Central Committee conducted propaganda and agitation among sailors and soldiers, distributed revolutionary literature and proclamations, and held illegal meetings of soldiers and sailors.

The authorities reacted to this extremely ineptly. Trying to prevent joint protests by sailors and workers of Sevastopol, the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Chukhnin, on November 1, 1904, issued an order prohibiting dismissal to the city.

This only caused indignation among the sailors. On November 3, several thousand people from the Lazarevsky barracks demanded that the duty officer be sent to the city. Without receiving permission, they broke the gate and left. The instigators of this protest were arrested. Some of the sailors of the naval division were written off to ships. Several hundred sailors were transferred to the Baltic. However, this could not eliminate the roots of the problem.

Meanwhile, the revolution was growing. In January - March 1905, 810 thousand industrial workers took part in strikes. The peasant movement in the spring and summer of 1905 covered more than one-fifth of the empire's districts. Revolutionary sentiments also intensified in the armed forces. The turmoil especially intensified after the Tsushima defeat.

The Central Fleet Committee, guided by the decisions of the Third Party Congress, began preparing an armed uprising in the Black Sea Fleet. The goal of the performance was to take possession of all the ships of the fleet and, together with the soldiers of the garrison and the workers of the city, take power into their own hands. It was planned that Sevastopol would be the center of the revolution in the south of Russia and from here the fire of the uprising would be transferred to the Caucasus, Odessa, Nikolaev, and the entire Northern Black Sea region. The uprising was going to begin at the end of the summer fleet maneuvers, in August - September 1905, when, as expected, the revolutionary movement in Russia would reach its peak.

However, this plan was thwarted by a spontaneous entry in June on the squadron battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky. The Potemkin epic ended with the battleship arriving in Constanta and, due to lack of fuel, fresh water and food, the sailors were forced to surrender to the Romanian authorities as political emigrants. Some of the sailors remained in Romania or moved to Bulgaria, England, Argentina and other countries, some returned to Russia and were convicted. The ship was returned to Russia and renamed "Saint Panteleimon". Despite the spontaneity of the battleship’s performance, this was the first mass revolutionary entry into the armed forces, the first uprising of a large military unit.

In addition to the uprising on the Potemkin, a mutiny occurred on the training ship Prut. The sailors, having learned about the performance of the Potemkinites, arrested the commander and officers of the ship. The rebels decided to go to Odessa and join Potemkin. But the battleship no longer found the ship there. "Prut" headed to Sevastopol, hoping to raise an uprising on the squadron. Two destroyers were sent to meet the Prut and took it under escort. In Sevastopol, 44 participants in the uprising were arrested and put on trial. The instigators (A. Petrov, D. Titov, I. Cherny and I. Adamenko) were sentenced to death, the rest to hard labor and imprisonment. These uprisings led to increased repression and an intensified manhunt that thwarted plans to start a major uprising.

In the second half of 1905, the revolutionary movement in Russia continued to grow. The All-Russian political strike in October led to the formation of Soviets of Workers' Deputies in many cities. Tsar Nicholas II was forced to issue a manifesto on October 17, 1905, in which he promised the people political rights and freedoms.

In Sevastopol on October 18, a rally and demonstration of workers, sailors and soldiers took place who demanded the release of political prisoners. When the demonstrators approached the prison gates, security soldiers opened fire. 8 people were killed and 50 wounded. The military authorities introduced martial law in the city.

In the following days, the situation in Sevastopol continued to escalate. The protesters demanded to lift martial law, remove the Cossacks from the streets, bring to justice those responsible for the execution near the prison and release all political prisoners. They even created a people's militia; it lasted only three days and caused a great commotion among the authorities. On October 20, a funeral took place in Sevastopol, which resulted in a powerful demonstration.

A meeting was organized at the city cemetery, and Lieutenant Pyotr Schmidt spoke at it, who was very popular among the revolutionary intelligentsia of the city and the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet. By order of the fleet commander Chukhnin, Schmidt was arrested. However, at the request of the workers, sailors and soldiers of the garrison, the authorities had to release him.

Thus, the situation in the city became tense. At the end of October, a general strike of workers began in Sevastopol,

railway workers and merchant seamen. On November 3, Admiral Chukhnin issued an order prohibiting sailors from attending rallies, meetings, distributing and reading “criminal” literature. However, this could not stabilize the situation.

Insurrection

On November 8 (21), disturbances occurred on the cruiser "Ochakov" and the battleship "St. Panteleimon". On November 10 (23), after seeing off the demobilized sailors, a large rally took place. The military organization of the Sevastopol Committee of the RSDLP tried to prevent an unprepared explosion. But it was not possible to prevent the premature start of the uprising. On November 11 (24), an uprising spontaneously broke out in the naval division.

On November 11 (24), elections to the Council of Workers', Sailors' and Soldiers' Deputies were to take place. In this regard, it was planned to hold large rallies at the sailors' and soldiers' barracks. Fleet Commander Chukhnin, trying to prevent the meeting from taking place at the naval barracks, sent there a combined detachment of sailors from the naval crews and soldiers of the Bialystok Regiment, who occupied the exits from the barracks and did not let the sailors go to the meeting.

Soon, in a tense situation, a clash occurred. Sailor K.P. Petrov, with rifle shots, wounded the commander of the combined detachment, Rear Admiral Pisarevsky, and the commander of the training team, Stein, the second fatally. Petrov was captured, but the sailors freed him almost immediately. After this, the officers on duty were arrested, disarmed and taken to the office. In the morning they were released, but expelled from the barracks. The rebels of the naval division were joined by soldiers of the Brest regiment, the fortress artillery, the fortress sapper company, as well as sailors from the duty company of the battleship Sinop, sent by Chukhnin to pacify the rebels.

Thus began the November uprising, which Lenin figuratively called the “Sevastopol fire.”

On November 12, a general strike began in the city. On the night of November 12, the first Sevastopol Council of Sailors, Soldiers and Workers' Deputies was elected. In the morning the first meeting of the Sevastopol Council took place. The meeting was unsuccessful. The Bolsheviks called for decisive action, while the Mensheviks proposed not to aggravate the situation and turn the uprising into a peaceful strike with economic demands. Only in the evening were general demands developed: the convening of the Constituent Assembly, the establishment of an 8-hour working day, the release of political prisoners, the abolition of the death penalty, the lifting of martial law, reducing the duration of military service, etc.

Power in the city passed into the hands of the Council of Sailors, Soldiers and Workers' Deputies, which organized patrols and took control of fuel, food, and clothing warehouses. Meanwhile, the military command was amassing forces to suppress the uprising. On the night of November 13, officers of the Brest regiment managed to take the soldiers outside the city to camps in the area of ​​the Bialystok regiment. Troops from other cities urgently began to arrive in Sevastopol. Chukhnin declared the city to be under military rule and the fortress to be under siege.
The uprising continued to grow. On November 13 (26), the uprising began on the cruiser Ochakov. Officers attempted to disarm the team but were unable to do so.

Then they and the conductors left the ship. The Bolsheviks of the cruiser, S.P. Chastnik, N.G. Antonenko and A.I. Gladkov, took control of the uprising.

On the night of November 15 (28), the revolutionary sailors captured the mine cruiser Griden, the destroyer Ferocious, three numbered destroyers and several small ships, and seized a certain amount of weapons in the port. At the same time, the crews of the gunboat “Uralets”, destroyers “Zavetny”, “Zorkiy” and the training ship “Dniester” joined the rebels. In the morning, red flags were raised on all the rebel ships.

The rebels hoped that the rest of the fleet would join them. However, the command managed to take countermeasures. The squadron was undergoing a renewal of personnel; sailors who sympathized with the rebels and were under suspicion were decommissioned or arrested. In order to win over the entire squadron to the side of the rebels, Schmidt went around it on the destroyer "Ferocious", but without success.

The command was already in control of the situation. The Panteleimon (formerly Potemkin) joined the uprising, but the battleship itself was no longer a combat unit, since its weapons were removed.

The forces of the rebels consisted of 14 ships and vessels and about 4.5 thousand sailors and soldiers on ships and on the shore. However, their combat power was insignificant, since most of the naval guns were rendered unusable even before the uprising. Only the cruiser Ochakov and the destroyers had artillery in good working order. The soldiers on the shore were poorly armed; there were not enough machine guns, rifles and ammunition. In addition, the rebels missed a favorable moment for developing success, a strategic initiative. The passivity of the rebels' defensive tactics prevented them from attracting the entire Black Sea squadron and the Sevastopol garrison.
And the opponents of the revolutionaries, unlike in 1917, have not yet lost their will and determination. The commander of the troops of the Odessa Military District, General A.V. Kaulbars, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral G.P. Chukhnin, and the commander of the 7th Artillery Corps, Lieutenant General A.N. Meller-Zakomelsky, placed by the Tsar at the head of the punitive expedition, pulled up to 10 thousand soldiers and were able to field 22 ships with 6 thousand crew members.

On the afternoon of November 15, the rebels were given an ultimatum to surrender. Having received no response to the ultimatum, troops loyal to the government went on the offensive and opened fire on “internal enemies.” The order was given to open fire on the rebel ships and vessels. Not only ships fired, but also coastal artillery, ground forces guns, as well as soldiers with machine guns and rifles (they were placed along the shore). In response to the shelling, three destroyers, including the Ferocious, tried to attack the battleship Rostislav and the cruiser Memory of Mercury.

However, under heavy fire they received heavy damage and were unable to complete the torpedo attack. The “Ferocious” fired back until all the deck superstructures were demolished. In this case, many of the ship's sailors died.

Naval and coastal artillery dealt a powerful blow to the rebels. The cruiser "Ochakov", the most powerful rebel unit (among the armed ships), remaining a stationary target in the roadstead, immediately lost all the advantages of a light fast cruiser. In addition, this ship, just built and still undergoing testing, could not be considered a full-fledged combat unit and did not even have complete gun crews (instead of 555, the ship had only 365 sailors). "Ochakov" received dozens of holes, caught fire and was able to fire only a few shots in response. As a result of the shelling, the cruiser received heavy damage (during the restoration of the cruiser, 63 holes were counted in the hull and repairs lasted more than three years). The shelling of the revolutionary ships continued until 16:45. Many ships were engulfed in fire, and the sailors began to abandon them.

The wounded Schmidt and a group of sailors tried to break into Artillery Bay on destroyer No. 270. But the ship was damaged, lost speed, and Schmidt and his comrades were arrested.

The sailors and soldiers who were in the barracks of the naval division resisted until the morning of November 16 (29). They surrendered after their ammunition ran out and the barracks came under heavy artillery fire.

In general, given the scale of the rebellion and its danger to the empire, when there was a possibility of an uprising of a significant part of the Black Sea Fleet, with the support of part of the ground forces, the punishment was quite humane. But the uprising itself was suppressed harshly and decisively. Hundreds of sailors died. The leaders of the Sevastopol uprising P. P. Schmidt, S. P. Chastnik, N. G. Antonenko and A. I. Gladkov were shot on the island of Berezan by the verdict of a naval court in March 1906.

In his final speech at the trial, P.P. Schmidt proudly stated: “I know that the pillar at which I will stand to accept death will be erected on the verge of two different historical eras of our homeland... Behind me will be the people’s suffering and the shocks of difficult years , and ahead I will see a young, renewed, happy Russia"

Over 300 people were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and hard labor. About a thousand people were subjected to disciplinary punishments without any trial.

monument to P.P. Schmidt at the Communards cemetery in Sevastopol

The fate of the cruiser "Ochakov": "disturbances of the crew", Lieutenant Schmidt, St. Andrew's flag from the cruiser "General Kornilov"

1902 Sevastopol. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (center), court ladies, senior officers and city residents near the royal tent during the launching ceremony of the cruiser "Ochakov"

On September 21, 1902, in the highest presence of Emperor Nicholas II, the cruiser Ochakov was launched.

At this point, the hull was assembled up to the upper deck, the deck armor, main mechanisms and steering gear were installed. It took a painfully long time to manufacture armor for local reservations and, most importantly, for turret installations. The almost finished Ochakov turrets were given to Oleg, which was being hastily completed to strengthen the Pacific Squadron. The cruiser was also equipped with auxiliary mechanisms - dynamos, drainage equipment, capstan equipment. Ventilation, water supply, drainage and heating systems were installed. It was necessary to equip rooms for the crew, gun magazines, galleys, desalination plants, and food pantries. The main work took place at the end of 1902 and all of 1903. Work continued in 1904 and 1905. Late equipment and artillery arrived from careless contractors.

Only by the fall of 1905 was the cruiser able to begin testing. Sea trials in September-October were generally successful. They were interrupted on November 13, 1905 "due to the indignation of the crew."

The cruiser "Ochakov" was ordered as part of the shipbuilding program for 1895-1902. It was built in Sevastopol at the State Shipyard by naval engineer N.I. Yankovsky according to the design of a long-range reconnaissance cruiser developed by the German shipbuilding company Vulcan.

"Ochakov" (from March 25, 1907 "Cahul") (from the end of August 1919 "General Kornilov")

"Ochakov" is a Russian armored cruiser of the 1st rank. Belonged to the “Bogatyr” type. "Ochakov" took an active part in the Sevastopol uprising in the fleet in 1905, and was the flagship of the rebels under the command of Lieutenant Schmidt. After the suppression of the uprising, “Ochakov” was renamed “Kahul” and took a long time to recover. Took an active part in the First World War. Since 1918, she was the flagship and one of the most active ships of the Black Sea Fleet of the All-Soviet Union.

*The cruiser's crew consisted of 30 officers and 550 lower ranks

*Uprising of 1905

“Ochakov” spent the autumn of 1905 undergoing testing. The cruiser was almost ready and it was planned to commission it into the fleet. There were still a number of deficiencies; all ship systems required adjustments, and the crew needed coordination. However, from October 1905, the cruiser found itself at the center of revolutionary events that began after the announcement of the Supreme Manifesto.

Unfortunately, the cruiser's crew, not united and devoid of authoritative officers, provided a favorable environment for agitators. There were also workers from Sormovo on the cruiser, who were adjusting ship systems, which also became a catalyst for anti-government propaganda.

The result was not long in coming - on November 10, fermentation began in the team, and on the 13th an open rebellion broke out. The officers left the cruiser, but at about 15.00 on November 14, fleet lieutenant P.P. Schmidt arrived.

This figure is difficult to assess unambiguously. Most likely, Schmidt really was the idealist who stood “for the people,” as was customary among the Russian intelligentsia at the beginning of the century. His role in the uprising, extolled to the skies after 1917, actually turned out to be extremely insignificant and boiled down to the following actions:

Raise the signal “Command the fleet, Schmidt” on the unfinished cruiser;
bypass the ships of the fleet on the destroyer "Ferocious", trying to exert a moral influence on the crews;
lead the (possible) capture of several small ships of the fleet;
without resistance, allow the unfinished cruiser with the crew on board, standing next to a barrel in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol, to be shot.

Actually, this is where the “exploits” of P.P. Schmidt end. He tried to escape on board destroyer No. 270, but (quite naturally, this happened at the main base of the fleet) was captured, interrogated and shot along with a number of other conspirators.

As for the Ochakov, the armored cruiser was (also quite naturally) shot at by 280-mm fortress guns and naval artillery. The ship remained afloat, but a gigantic fire that lasted for about 2 days caused enormous damage to it. In addition, the freeboard, superstructures and pipes were smashed by shells. Tugs pulled the ship deep into the bay to the mouth of the Black River

November 30, 1905 - 15 days after the execution, the cruiser was put in tugs to the completed wall of the Lazarevsky Admiralty. There were 63 holes in the hull, of which 54 were in the starboard side, at which coastal artillerymen fired. The fire had the most terrible consequences - it incinerated everything that was burning, a lot of hull structures, all the decks. instruments and weapons became unusable due to exposure to high temperatures. The repairs were entrusted to the port. The lack of funding after the Russo-Japanese War and the revolution did not contribute to the speedy completion of the repairs.

The final readiness of "Cahul" for service was achieved only in the company of 1911 - 6 years after the execution.

On March 1, 1917, in the wake of revolutionary events, the ship was returned to its original name - “Ochakov”. However, historically it “did not take root

On June 27, 1919, the cruiser, with General Denikin and Admiral Sablin on board, visited the cities of the Sochi district - Tuapse, Sochi and Adler, confirming their belonging to the government of the South of Russia. On July 6, the cruiser arrived in Sevastopol with Admiral Sablin on board.


The cruiser "General Kornilov" leaves Sevastopol. November 14, 1920

During the evacuation of Crimea, the cruiser became part of the 1st Detachment. When distributing ships between various individuals and institutions, “General Kornilov” was intended specifically for the commander-in-chief, his personal staff, the fleet commander with his headquarters and for some persons from the central departments, such as: the quartermaster general, the highest ranks of the operational department, General Scalon and for some others. On the morning of November 14 in Sevastopol, P. N. Wrangel and M. A. Kedrov went around all the loading ships on a boat. By noon, all the outposts had been removed, and at 14:00 the boat of the ruler of the South of Russia left the Grafskaya pier. The flag of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army soared above the cruiser General Kornilov.

The cruiser left the bay, anchoring in the Streletskaya roadstead until 02:30. Wrangel monitored the loading from the piers of Streletskaya Bay and the exit of all ships and vessels into the open sea. Then the cruiser went to Yalta - the baron wanted to personally make sure that the evacuation there was completed and to the Feodosia area. In the afternoon, the General Kornilov, together with the French cruiser Waldeck-Russo, accompanied by a destroyer, went to Feodosia. At two o'clock in the afternoon on November 16, after receiving radio from Kerch that “the landing is complete, everyone has been taken, down to the last soldier,” “Waldeck-Russo” and “General Kornilov” weighed anchor and set course for Constantinople.

On October 29, 1924, at sunset, St. Andrew's flags were lowered on the remaining ships.
When the Soviet commission arrived in Bizerte, “General Kornilov” was noted as capable of returning to Russia, but as we know, this project was not crowned with success. On October 28, 1929, the cruiser was sold to the Bizerte company of the Russian engineer A.P. Klyagin for scrapping. In 1933, the cruiser was dismantled in Bizerte.


On the eve of Navy Day in 2004, the St. Andrew's flag from the cruiser General Kornilov returned to Russia at the Central Naval Museum (TsVMM) after eighty years abroad. It was given to the museum by the son of a lieutenant from this cruiser, Greek citizen Vladislav Yanovich Nelavitsky. Lieutenant Yan (Ivan) Vladislavovich Nelavitsky served on the cruiser until the end. His family kept the flag of “General Kornilov” for many years. Nelavitsky settled in Greece, but, according to relatives, until his death in 1974 he did not leave thoughts about his homeland and its fleet. His coffin was covered with this very flag.
http://wiki.wargaming.net/ru/Navy:%D0%9E%D1%87%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2_(1902)

Mutiny on the cruiser "Ochakov" in the fall of 1905

On November 11, 1905, a rebellion organized by the Social Democrats began in Sevastopol among the sailors of the Fleet crew and soldiers of the Brest Regiment. Within a few hours, over two thousand sailors of the naval division, part of the soldiers of the 49th Brest Regiment, a reserve battalion of fortress artillery and port workers joined the mutiny. The rebels arrested officers and presented political and economic demands to the authorities. During the endless rallies, a man in the uniform of a naval lieutenant stood out among the speakers. His name was Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt. He made speeches in which he accused the Tsar of the incompleteness of the freedoms granted, demanded the release of political prisoners, and so on. Schmidt’s personality is of undoubted interest to researchers in connection with the role he played in the Sevastopol events and, of course, in the mutiny on the cruiser Ochakov. Schmidt was turned by the Bolsheviks into another legend, and it must be said that it was a rare officer who received such an honor from the Bolsheviks. But was Schmidt a combat officer? You can call it that only with very big reservations.

P. P. Schmidt was born in 1867 in Odessa. His father, hero of the Sevastopol defense, commander of the battery on Malakhov Kurgan, died with the rank of vice admiral. Mother was from the Skvirsky princes. Left early without his mother, whom he loved dearly, Schmidt was very sensitive about his father’s second marriage, considering it a betrayal of his mother’s memory. From a young age, he wanted to go against his father's will in everything. Despite his father, he married a girl of very dubious reputation. Nevertheless, Dominika Gavrilovna Schmidt turned out to be a good and loving wife, and their marriage until 1905 was generally happy. They had a son, Evgeniy.

In 1886, Schmidt graduated from the St. Petersburg Naval Corps and received the rank of midshipman. However, he served only a short time. That same year, he voluntarily left military service for health reasons. (Schmidt suffered from epileptic seizures). “My ill condition,” he wrote in a petition to Emperor Alexander III, “deprives me of the opportunity to continue serving Your Majesty, and therefore I ask you to resign me.”

Schmidt later explained his departure from the Navy by saying that he wanted to be “in the ranks of the proletariat.” But contemporaries testified that he initially did not like military service, and could not live without the sea and ships. Soon, due to lack of money, thanks to the patronage of a high-ranking uncle, Schmidt returns to the navy. Midshipman Schmidt is sent to the cruiser "Rurik". By coincidence, it was on this cruiser that in 1906 the Socialist Revolutionaries prepared the assassination of Nicholas II. Schmidt did not stay long on the Rurik, and soon received an assignment to the gunboat Beaver. His wife followed him everywhere. At this time, Schmidt's psychopathic character traits, his painful pride, bordering on inappropriate reactions, become more and more apparent. So, in the city of Nagasaki, where “Beaver” had one of its hospitals, the Schmidt family rented an apartment from a rich Japanese man. Once, a dispute arose between the Japanese man and Schmidt’s wife over the terms of renting an apartment, as a result of which the Japanese man said several harsh words to her. She complained to her husband, and he demanded an apology from the Japanese, and when the latter refused to bring them, he went to the Russian consulate in Nagasaki and, having achieved an audience with the consul V. Ya. Kostylev, demanded that he take immediate measures to punish the Japanese. Kostylev told Schmidt that he could not do this, that he had sent all the materials of the case to the Japanese court for a decision. Then Schmidt began shouting that he would order the sailors to catch the Japanese and flog him, or he would kill him in the street with a revolver. “Midshipman Schmidt,” the consul wrote to the Beaver commander, “behaved indecently in the presence of consulate employees.”

The Beaver commander decided to subject Schmidt to examination by a medical commission, which concluded that Schmidt was suffering from a severe form of neurasthenia combined with epileptic seizures. In 1897, however, he was awarded the next rank of lieutenant. According to his wife, in 1899, Schmidt’s mental condition deteriorated so much that she placed him in the Moscow Savey-Mogilevsky psychiatric hospital, after leaving which Schmidt retired and got a job in the commercial fleet. Upon retirement, as was customary in the Russian army, Schmidt was awarded the rank of captain of the second rank.

Schmidt began sailing on commercial ships. Most likely, Schmidt was a good captain, since it is known that Admiral S. O. Makarov intended to take him on his expedition to the North Pole. He passionately loved and knew maritime affairs. At the same time, painful pride and ambition were always present in him. “Let it be known to you,” he wrote to his friend, “that I have a reputation as the best captain and experienced sailor.”

With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Schmidt was called up for military service and appointed senior officer on the large coal transport Irtysh, which was supposed to travel with the squadron of Admiral Rozhestvensky. For inept management of the ship, Rozhdestvensky put Schmidt in a cabin under arms for 15 days. Soon the squadron set out in the direction of the Far East to meet Tsushima. But Schmidt fell ill and remained in Russia. Among the officers, Schmidt was disliked and considered a liberal.

However, liberal views did not mean that Schmidt was ready to take part in an anti-state rebellion. The fact that this did happen indicates that Schmidt somehow, even before the events at Ochakovo, got involved with the revolutionary underground.

Schmidt himself, albeit vaguely, spoke about this at the investigation: “I cannot be considered separately from the movement of which I was a participant.” During the uprising itself on the cruiser Ochakov, he stated: “I have been involved in revolutionary activities for a long time: when I was 16 years old I already had my own secret printing house. I don't belong to any party. Here, in Sevastopol, the best revolutionary forces are gathered. The whole world supports me: Morozov donates millions to our cause.”

Although it is difficult to figure out from these confused words of Schmidt where there is truth in them, and where wishful thinking is presented as reality, the fact that he was supported by the revolutionary organizations of Sevastopol, that Lenin himself knew about his existence, that Schmidt knew about the “Morozov millions”, says that there really were real organizations behind Schmidt. Therefore, it seems that it was no coincidence that Schmidt ended up on the rebel cruiser Ochakov.

In November 1905, when riots began in Sevastopol, Schmidt took an active part in them. He became friends with the Social Democrats and spoke at rallies. This participation of Schmidt in revolutionary meetings had a very negative impact on the already painful state of his psyche. He began to demand from his wife that she take part in revolutionary gatherings and help him in his new revolutionary activities. When his wife refused, Schmidt left her. They were never destined to see each other again. A few days later, Schmidt joined the uprising on the cruiser Ochakov.

"Ochakov" returned from a training voyage on November 14, 1905. The team was no longer calm and the sailors Gladkov, Churaev and Dekunin, known for their revolutionary spirit, worried it about the establishment of democracy in Russia. Upon the return of "Ochakov" to Sevastopol, unrest among the team intensified even more, as they heard rumors about the indignation of the Sevastopol garrison. Captain II rank Pisarevsky, in order to ease this excitement, gathered the sailors after dinner and began to read to them about the heroes of the Russian-Japanese War. However, the team did not listen to him well. However, the night passed peacefully. On November 12, the division’s call sign “Ochakov” was raised at the mast and the signal was “send deputies,” that is, the revolutionaries from the mutinous military units demanded that the “Ochakovites” join them by sending their deputies. This greatly excited the team, which interpreted this signal in its own way, deciding that reprisals were being carried out against the sailors of the naval division. The team demanded that deputies be sent to Sevastopol to find out what was happening there. At 11 o'clock in the morning the division's mast again raised the signal with the same call. Sailors Dekunin, Churaev and Gladkov began shouting that they needed to answer the division’s call sign and send deputies to it, that “they are slaughtering people there.” All attempts by Lieutenant Vinokurov to influence the team were unsuccessful. Then the senior officer allowed two deputies to be sent to the division. For this, the sailors chose Gladkov and Dekunin, and together with midshipman Gorodyssky they went to the division. They found no one in the naval division and went to the Brest regiment, where a rally was taking place at that moment. On the way to the regiment, they met the commandant of the fortress, who was riding in a cab and who had been arrested by the rebel sailors. The crowd walking around the cart shouted: “by your own judgment!” At the meeting in the regiment, deputies saw a large number of sailors and soldiers. The demands of sailors and soldiers were also put forward there, mainly boiling down to improved conditions of service, amnesty for political prisoners of sailors and soldiers, polite treatment of lower ranks, increased salaries, abolition of the death penalty, and so on.

Gladkov and Dekunin talked with the sailors, found out their demands and, making sure that nothing bad was happening to them, returned to the cruiser.

The crew began to calm down, but some of the sailors continued to worry them, demanding immediate fulfillment of their demands. Sailor Churaev directly stated to Lieutenant Vinokurov that he was a convinced socialist and that there were many like him in the navy. At 5 p.m., the commander’s order was received: “Whoever does not hesitate to stand for the Tsar, let him remain on the ship. Those who do not want to have Him or doubt them can go ashore.”

This order was announced on the morning of November 13th after the flag was raised. To the question of captain 2nd rank Sokolovsky: “Who is for the Tsar?”, the team answered: “everyone!”, and not a single person came forward when ordered to come forward to those who are for the rebellion. However, the muted excitement among the team continued. At the same time, an officer came to the Ochakov from another ship of the squadron, who said that if the Ochakov once again responded to the signals of the rebels from the garrison, they would shoot at it. To this the sailor Churaev replied: “Well, let them shoot.”

The sailors decided to continue moving towards the shore. At about 2 p.m. on November 13, two deputies arrived at Ochakov from the shore. The commander of the Ochakov tried to prevent them from meeting the sailors. but the team did not listen to him. The deputies told the sailors that the entire Brest regiment, the fortress artillery, the Bialystok regiment and other military units were on the side of the uprising. This was a gross exaggeration, but it had an effect on the team. The deputies told the sailors that they should support the rebels. The team answered in the affirmative. Then the officers decided to leave the cruiser, which they did, moving to the cruiser Rostislav. After lowering the flag, Captain 1st Rank Sapsay arrived at Ochakov with a flag officer. Sapsay gave a speech to the Ochakov crew, convincing them to stop the mutiny. At the end of his speech, Sapsay demanded that those “who want to serve faithfully the Sovereign Emperor come forward.” Once again, just like the first time, the whole team came forward. Then Sapsay demanded that those who did not want to serve further be extradited. The team responded that everyone wanted to serve. But at the same time, someone from the team asked: “What are our requirements?” Sapsay replied that they would be sent to St. Petersburg and examined there. The sailors asked Sapsay for the officers to return to the cruiser. Sapsay said that the officers would return only if the team gave their word of honor not to participate in the mutiny and obey their officers. The sailors promised. The inspired Sapsay rode to the Rostislav and told the officers that they could return. The officers returned and demanded that the sailors hand over their gun firing pins. The team was about to return the firing pins when a man desperately shouted: “Don’t give up the weapons - it’s a trap!” The sailors refused to give up the firing pins, and the officers again left for the Rostislav.

As soon as the officers left the cruiser for the second time, conductor Chastnin spoke to the sailors, who said that he had been a “fan of the ideas of freedom” for 10 years and offered his leadership, to which he received the consent of the crew.

Meanwhile, the officers, hoping to calm the squadron's commands, decided to send deputies from all its ships to the rebellious Sevastopol. This was an absolute mistake, as it indicated the weakness of the officers, who seemed to allow negotiations to begin with the rebels. At 8 a.m. on November 14, deputies went to the pier. But before going to the garrison, they decided to first go to Schmidt to ask his advice. This point is extremely interesting: someone skillfully promoted Schmidt in this way, otherwise it is difficult to explain why the sailors went to him for advice?

Deputies went to Schmidt's apartment. He greeted them very warmly. After reading the demands of the sailors, Schmidt burst into a long speech criticizing the existing political system in Russia, talking about the need for a Constituent Assembly, otherwise Russia would perish. Thus, he skillfully replaced the naive and, in general, unimportant demands of the sailors, with the political program of the revolutionary parties. In addition, Schmidt stated that he was a socialist and that it was necessary to look for officers who sympathized with the revolution, select commanders from among them, and arrest the rest. When all the teams join the uprising, he will lead the fleet and send a telegram to the Sovereign Emperor, in which he will announce that the fleet has gone over to the side of the revolution. However, as soon as the deputies left him, Schmidt, dressed in the uniform of a captain of the second rank, went to the Ochakov and told the crew: “I came to you, since the officers left you and therefore I am taking command of you, as well as everyone Black Sea Fleet. Tomorrow I will sign a signal about this. Moscow and the entire Russian people agree with me. Odessa and Yalta will give us everything we need for the entire fleet, which will join us tomorrow, as well as a fortress and troops, at the agreed signal by raising the red flag, which I will raise tomorrow at 8 o’clock in the morning.” The team covered Schmidt's speech with a thunderous "hurrah!"

It is difficult to say whether Schmidt himself believed what he said. Most likely he did not think about it, but acted under the impression of the moment. F. Zinko’s essay about Schmidt says: “Exalted, amazed by the greatness of the goals opening up to him, Schmidt did not so much direct events as he was inspired by them.”

But despite the exaltation, Schmidt showed himself to be a calculating, cunning and double-minded person. When captain 2nd rank Danilevsky arrived on the cruiser, Schmidt received him in the captain’s cabin and said that he had arrived on the cruiser with the goal of influencing the crew, that his main task was to calm them down and return the cruiser to normal. Schmidt also said that he considers propaganda in wartime to be very dangerous. Danilevsky returned to “Rostislav” in full confidence that “Ochakov” was in good hands.

However, already at 18°° a meeting of deputies took place in the garrison, at which Schmidt spoke. Schmidt reiterated that he was a socialist by conviction and that it was necessary to demand the convening of a Constituent Assembly. He called for a general uprising in the army and navy. Schmidt further said that it was necessary to capture Rostislav. To do this, he proposed the following plan: he, Schmidt, having made his way onto the Rostislav, will arrest the admiral, then on his behalf will give the command to all the officers to gather in the admiral’s cabin, where he will also arrest them all.

Meanwhile, the counter-destroyer “Svirepy” and three numbered destroyers, which were assigned to the subordination of Schmidt, went over to the side of the uprising, who returned to the “Ochakov” in the evening, taking with him his 16-year-old son Evgeniy. At about 6 o'clock in the morning, the officers arrested in the garrison from the cruiser "Griden" and the destroyer "Zavetny" were brought to the "Ochakov". These officers went to the garrison for provisions, where they were captured by the rebels. Among them was also Major General Sapetsky. Schmidt ordered the prisoners to be placed in cabins. Then, on his orders, the passenger steamer Pushkin was captured. Schmidt ordered all passengers to gather on the deck of the Ochakov, which was done. At sunrise, in the presence of the crew and captured passengers, he raised a red flag over the Ochakov. At the same time, Schmidt gave the signal: “I command the fleet - Schmidt.” It is interesting that during the raising of the red flag, the orchestra played “God Save the Tsar!” By this he wanted to win over the other ships of the squadron, to reassure the officers and sailors of other ships, convincing them that he was not a rebel. However, they were indifferent to this signal.

Seeing that the red flags were not raised on other ships, Schmidt went to the destroyer “Ferocious” and began to call on the sailors of other ships through his bullhorn to come over to his side, since “God, the Tsar and the entire Russian people are with him.” The answer to him was the deathly silence of the other courts.

Then Schmidt and a group of armed sailors arrived at the Prut transport, where the arrested sailors from the battleship Potemkin were being held. The Prut officer mistook Schmidt and his men for a guard who had arrived to pick up the next batch of prisoners. Upon entering the ship, Schmidt immediately arrested the officer and freed the prisoners, taking them all to the Ochakov, where they were greeted with shouts of “Hurray!” At that moment, unsuspecting officers arrived on the Ochakov: the commander of the Prut, captain 1st rank Radetzky, and his entourage. They were immediately arrested and placed in cabins.

Meanwhile, Schmidt became increasingly convinced that his plans were failing. When he was moving from the Prut to the Ochakov, they shouted to him from the Fierce: “We serve the Tsar and the Fatherland, and you, a robber, force yourself to serve!”

Schmidt ordered the passengers to be released from the Pushkin, since he no longer needed them. To his surprise, two of them, students, refused to leave the ship and joined the uprising.

Having made sure that the rebellion did not receive support from the rest of the courts, Schmidt dropped his mask and began to act like a real terrorist and revolutionary: “I have many captured officers, that is, hostages,” he sent a signal to all courts. Again there was no answer. Then Schmidt decided to capture the battleship Panteleimon, the former Potemkin, which he managed to do. Having arrested all the officers, he gave a speech to them: “Here,” he said, “in Sevastopol, the best revolutionary forces are gathered. The whole world supports me. (...) Yalta supplies me with provisions for free. None of the promised freedoms have yet been realized. The State Duma is a slap in the face for us. Now I have decided to act, relying on the troops, the fleet and the fortress, which are all loyal to me. I will demand that the Tsar immediately convene a Constituent Assembly. In case of refusal, I will cut off Crimea, send my sappers to build batteries on the Perekop Isthmus, and then, relying on Russia, which will support me with a general strike, I will demand, I am already tired of asking, the fulfillment of conditions from the Tsar. During this time, the Crimean peninsula will form a republic, in which I will be president and commander of the Black Sea Fleet. I need a king because without him the dark mass will not follow me. The Cossacks are bothering me, so I announced that for each blow of the whip I will hang in turn one of you and my hostages, of whom I have up to a hundred people. When the Cossacks are handed over to me, I will imprison them in the hold of the Ochakov, Prut and Dniester and take them to Odessa, where a national holiday will be held. The Cossacks will be pilloried and everyone will be able to express to their faces the vileness of their behavior. I included economic needs in the sailors’ demands, because I knew that without this they would not follow me, but the sailor deputies and I laughed at them. For me, the only goal is political demands.”

Here Schmidt, as always, is wishful thinking. There was no talk of any significant assistance to the rebels either from Yalta or from Crimea, much less from all of Russia and “the whole world.” On the contrary, General Meller-Zakomelsky with loyal units was moving towards Sevastopol, the rest of the ships of the Black Sea squadron remained completely loyal to the government. Schmidt could not help but understand that the hours of his illusory power were inevitably numbered. And he went all-in, fantasizing about the republic, the secession of Crimea, his presidency, and so on. Rather, he convinced himself of his power not to the captured officers, but to himself. His thoughts sometimes take a painfully feverish turn: “I will demand, I’m already tired of asking, for the fulfillment of the conditions from the Tsar...”. From whom and what did Schmidt ever ask? But the main thing in these words is different: the Tsar humbly fulfilling Schmidt’s conditions - this is what the first “red admiral” dreamed of!

But one should not think that Schmidt was insane and acted in a semi-delusional state. No, his methods and tactics are absolutely thought out: hang hostages, his fellow officers, hiding behind sailors for his ambitious goals, deceive them, laugh at their naivety and gullibility, expose them in the name of his pride to a crime for which the death penalty was threatened, plan reprisals over the Cossacks - all these are well-known methods and tactics of terrorists of all times and peoples, and Schmidt acted like a terrorist.

But like any terrorist, no matter how lucky he was, Schmidt was doomed. His situation worsened every minute. General Meller-Zakomelsky entered Sevastopol and quickly put an end to the rebellion. The coastal artillery of the Sevastopol fortress opened fire on the Ochakov, which, together with the Ferocious, Prut and Panteleimon that had joined it, was surrounded by ships loyal to the Tsar. Hurricane fire was opened on the rebel ships with all guns. The Ferocious attempted to return fire, but it was overwhelmed and the ship lost control. The Ferocious crew rushed into the water. “Prut” and “Panteleimon” lowered their red flags after the first shots.

Meanwhile, at Ochakovo, Schmidt completely lost his cool. He shouted that he would hang all the officers if the fire did not stop. Then he said: “I’m going to accept death.” But at that moment, all the turret guns of “Rostislav”, “Tertz” and “In Memory of Azov”, as well as the coastal artillery of the fortress, began to hit “Ochakov”. The Ochakov team rushed into the water. Lieutenant Schmidt was one of the first to escape. This was not caused by his cowardice: simply, like any revolutionary, he considered it inappropriate to accept a “stupid” death on a doomed cruiser. He and his son were picked up by destroyer No. 270. A few minutes later, a boat sent from the Rostislav delivered Schmidt to the battleship. "Ochakov" raised a white flag.

Schmidt and his accomplices were tried by the Black Sea Naval Court, chaired by Admiral Chukhnin, who in March 1906 sentenced Schmidt to death by hanging, which was later replaced by shooting. The court sentenced sailors Gladkov, Chastnik and Antonenko to death. On March 6, 1906, the sentences were carried out.

Speaking at the trial, Schmidt said: “I will have behind me the people’s suffering and the shocks of the years I have lived through. And ahead I see a young, renewed, happy Russia.”

Regarding the first, Schmidt was absolutely right: people’s suffering and shocks remained behind him. But as for “young, renewed and happy Russia,” Schmidt was not destined to find out how deeply he was mistaken. 10 years after Schmidt’s execution, his son, the young cadet E.P. Schmidt, volunteered to go to the front and heroically fought “For the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland.” In 1917, he categorically did not accept the October Revolution and joined the White Army. It went all the way from the Volunteer Army to the Crimean epic of Baron Wrangel. In 1921, the ship took Evgeniy Schmidt abroad from the Sevastopol pier, from those places where in 1905 his father helped those who had now enslaved his homeland and were driving him to a foreign land. “Why did you die, father? - Evgeniy Schmidt asked him in a book published abroad. “Is it really so that your son can see how the foundations of a thousand-year-old state are crumbling, shaken by the vile hands of hired killers, molesters of their people?”

This bitter question from the son of the “red admiral” lies the main defeat of Lieutenant Schmidt.

Peter Multatuli

"Prometheus", vol. 8, M. 1971

"Hero Ships", p. 95.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 1025, o.2, no. 40.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 1025, o.2, no. 40.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 1025, o.2, no.40.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 1025, o.2, no. 40.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 1025, o.2, no. 45.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 1025, o.2., no. 45.

"Prometheus", vol. 8, 1971.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 11025, room 2, building 40.

Russian State Administration of the Navy, f. 1025, o.2, no. 40.

Russian State Administration of the Navy. F. 1025, o. 2, no. 40.

"Hero Ships", p. 96.

E. Schmidt-Ochakovsky “Red Admiral” Prague. 1926