Russia's Black Sea Fleet

Russian Black Sea Fleet ships of the line on a parade – an impressive display of naval might captured by Ivan Aivazovsky in the last years of the sailing warship’s rule over the seas. In 1849 Emperor Nicolas I of Russia was reviewing his forces in the Black Sea. At that time the Black Sea Fleet was the most potent, most well organized, trained and technically advanced force in the arsenal of the Russian Empire. This achievement is owed much to Admiral Lazarev, commander of the Black Sea Fleet in 1834-51. In the years of his administration he had significantly improved the organization and personnel training; and the fleet had been receiving as much modern weapons and technology as limited Russian industry’s resources could allow. Under his tutorship a number of talented and energetic offices raised to prominence: Admirals Kornilov, Nakhimov, Istomin and Butakov.

The results of Admirals Lazarev’s work are clearly seen on this painting. The line is headed by 120-gun Twelve Apostles, the most modern ship of the fleet launched in 1841 and armed with shell guns. Behind him are 84-gun Rostislav, Svyatoslav and Yagudiil, 120-gun Tri Svyatitelya, and presumably 84-gun Gavriil, Selafail and Uriil. The observer finds himself on board of paddle frigate Vladimir, one of the few steam powered ships in the fleet. The officers on deck are Emperor Nicolas I, Rear-Admiral Kornilov (Head of the Fleet Staff), Grand Duke Constantine (Emperor’s brother), Rear-Admiral Berkh (Commander of the Sebastopol naval base) and Admiral Lazarev (Commander of the Fleet).

Some of the ships shown here later had successfully fought the Turks in the Battle of Sinop but none of them survived the Crimean war. The rapid technology progress made the sailing ship of the line obsolete. Steam powered warships of Britain and France no longer depended on ever changing winds, and any attempt of Russian ships to confront them would have been suicidal. The tactical advantage of maneuvering under steam proved to be of a strategic value: after Sinop there were no more major engagements involving purely sailing warships. These graceful ships ended up scuttled on the bottom of the Bay of Sebastopol.



As written on sailingwarship.com



I love this because of the tall ships. They look so beautiful in formation.