Education, History
The uprising on the Ochakov cruiser (1905): how it was
Today it is difficult to imagine how famous he was in the first Soviet decades, the image of the legendary lieutenant of the Russian fleet, P.P. Schmidt. Everyone knew his biography, Soviet children wanted to be like a legendary revolutionary, and the uprising of the Ochakov cruiser crew was perceived as a glorious page of revolutionary history and a foretaste of the triumph of people's power.
Why forgot the rebel lieutenant
Two similar uprisings
In the memory of schoolchildren of the late socialist era, two episodes occurred in the Russian fleet in the midst of the Russo-Japanese War. On the battleship "Prince Potemkin Tavrichesky" the dissatisfaction of the sailors with nasty food turned into a riot, accompanied by violence and sacrifices. The officers were drowned in the sea and killed by all means, then artillery shots began in Odessa. The ship left for Romania, where it was interned, and the team disbanded.
Something similar happened in Sevastopol, not only on Ochakov, but also on other ships of the Black Sea Fleet. The difference was that of all the insurgents on the Odessa raid, only Sailor Vakulenchuk entered the story, killed by an officer while trying to quell the riot. The uprising on the Ochakov cruiser was led by an officer, a representative of the naval elite of tsarist Russia. He was remembered by spectacular and concise signaling messages and a telegram to the emperor. And the number of victims this time was much greater.
Historical background
Russia is a huge country. On its territory, neighboring states have always baited, wishing to grab at least a little in their favor. Far East threat came from Japan. In 1904, intentions to expand territorial possessions developed into full-scale military operations. Russia has been preparing for this, but the country's leadership has not been able to rearm sufficiently quickly. Nevertheless, the powerful cruisers of the latest projects were launched for several years.
A series of ships of the 1st rank included Bogatyr, Oleg and Cahul. The last armor-deck cruiser of this project was Ochakov. These ships were high-speed, had powerful artillery weapons and met all the requirements of naval science of the time. The crew of each of them was about 565 sailors. The cruisers were supposed to defend the shores of the Fatherland in different seas washing the empire.
War with Japan
The war with Japan was extremely unsuccessful. There were several reasons for this - from the poor preparedness of the troops to mere bad luck, expressed in the accidental death of Admiral Makarov on the roadstead of Port Arthur. There was also the activity of Japanese intelligence, manifested in the all-round undermining of Russia's defense power and inciting discontent. Of course, it can not be asserted that a foreign special service organized an uprising on the Ochakov cruiser. The date of November 13 marked the day when the officers left the ship, prompted by this disobedience of the team and the fear of being killed. Without an analysis of previous events, it is impossible to understand the circumstances of the riot.
How it all began
And it all started in October, during the all-Russian political strike. To the organization of this political action, Japanese intelligence, of course, has an attitude, though not decisive. There were unrest, including in the Crimea. The railway workers, workers of printing houses, banks and many other enterprises were on strike. The tsar's manifesto of October 17 did not cool the fervor of the fighters for civil liberties, on the contrary, they perceived this document as a manifestation of weakness. Lieutenant Schmidt spoke at the rally. During the dispersal of the demonstration, eight people were killed, the lieutenant himself among other instigators of the riots was arrested, but already on October 19, Schmidt attended the meeting of the City Duma as a delegate from the people. At that moment, the power in Sevastopol was practically transferred to the insurgents, the order was controlled by the people's militia, and not by the lawful police. Later, Schmidt will speak at the funeral of victims of the dispersal of the demonstration and utter a fiery speech. He was immediately arrested again and, until November 14, was kept on the battleship "Three Saints" under the pretext of official embezzlement. It was released when the uprising on the Ochakov cruiser and several other ships of the Black Sea Fleet had already taken place.
What was Schmidt
Petr Petrovich Schmidt lived only 38 years, but his fate was so generously filled with various events that it would take a whole book, perhaps not one, to describe it. The nature of the rebellious lieutenant was complex, and his actions could be called contradictory, if they had not guessed a certain logic. Since childhood, Peter suffered from a mental illness that did not leave him all his life - kleptomania. It manifested itself in childhood, in the younger preparatory class of the Naval School, when the boy began stealing small things from fellow practitioners. After graduation, all those who knew the boy, noted his extremely bad character and increased irritability, caused by hypertrophied pride. While serving in the Navy, he somehow managed to marry prostitute Dominika Pavlova, whom Mikhail Stavraki introduced him to (by the way, it was he who in 1906 will command Schmidt's execution). Only the origin of the glorious naval family, more than once or twice, saved the young man from being expelled from the fleet.
Despite all his shortcomings, the officer had excellent abilities for exact sciences, had a good command of navigation and other naval wisdom, he was very fond of playing the cello. After gaining the officer rank, Petty Schmidt, midshipman, got a vacation - during this period he worked at the plant of agricultural equipment. Later, this gave him grounds to consider himself a person who knows the life of the common people. When it became possible to become famous, he led the uprising on the Ochakov cruiser - 1905 became his starry time.
Banner of the Rebels
Official Soviet historical science claimed that the events of 1905 had a serious political and economic basis, but if there had not been one resolute officer, they might not have existed, at least in Sevastopol. In fact, the uprising on the Ochakov cruiser was prepared and carried out not by Schmidt, but by a shock group consisting of the Bolshevik underground members NG Antonenko, SP Prikladnik and AI Gladkov. They obviously needed someone with some authority and bearing fleet shoulder straps. An eloquent officer drew attention, most likely, in the days preceding the mutiny. So Schmidt became a living "banner." Apparently, he liked this role.
How Schmidt commanded the fleet
The uprising on the Ochakov cruiser took place on November 13, and on November 14, a freed lieutenant arrived from the dungeons, already wearing shoulder straps of the captain of the second rank. There is an explanation for this: according to the current Tabel on ranks, the next rank after the lieutenant was precisely this rank, and when he retired he was automatically assigned. However, the very fact that a fighter with the autocracy is so keen on ranks and ranks speaks volumes. The officer who arrived on the ship immediately ordered to dismantle his entry into office as commander of the entire fleet, and to give the emperor a telegram demanding political reforms. In addition, he visited several combat units and successfully persuaded the crews to support the rebels.
Grigoriev's version
The fact that the naval command immediately gave the order for an immediate and ruthless suppression of the riot was not surprising. But these events have one more background, which allows us to perceive them somewhat differently. Famous historian Anatoly Grigoriev on the uprising on "Ochakov" wrote a number of articles, from which the unusual for those times toughness of actions becomes clear. The fact is that a heavy fire was opened almost immediately on the rebel ships, which continued even after the combat mission was practically completed and the resistance was suppressed. In addition, the cruiser could not give a full response, since the work on it had not yet been completed - it was in the stage of completion and did not have weapons, of which, of course, everyone knew.
The version is as follows: unlike previously launched Bogatyr series, the Russian cruiser Ochakov was built with numerous technological disruptions, and the construction process was accompanied by abuses of authority, which were expressed in the usual embezzlement. The people who participated in this criminal scam, tried to hide the tracks. When the uprising began on the Ochakov cruiser, they took it as a happy chance to get rid of the evidence that this ill-fated ship was. The result was many victims and severe damage to the ship. To sink it it was not possible - even stealing, under the tsar was built on conscience.
Results
Today it is possible to imagine with a high probability, as it was. The uprising on the Ochakov cruiser, like many other cases of mass disobedience in the army and navy, was the result of the subversive work of the Social-Democratic Party, which sought to weaken tsarist Russia in every possible way, even at the cost of military defeats. Problems in the armed forces, of course, were. Moreover, they are and will always be in any country. If insufficiently high-quality food becomes the cause of rebellion (and the provision of seafarers in general has always been very good, even by today's standards), the country's leadership should have thought hard and take urgent and harsh measures to prevent similar incidents from now on. Despite the death sentences imposed on the instigators (Schmidt, Gladkov, Antonenko and Privatelyk were shot on Berezani), no serious conclusions were drawn. Many other tragic events occurred, called the first Russian revolution, part of which was an uprising on the Ochakov cruiser. The date "1905" was then permanently painted in a blood-red color.
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