One of the Gangut class battleships at sea.

The Russian fleet of 1914 was a powerful force that had spent the past ten years recovering from the disastrous Russo-Japanese war.  It was headed by Admiral Grigorovich and numbered 60,000 men of all ranks.  The fleets operated from bases in Sevastopol, Libau, Kronstadt, and Vladivostok.  

Unlike the fleet of a decade ago the sailors of the Russian navy in 1914 were generally regarded as very well trained and were often equal to their German counterpart in battle.  Unfortunately they were poorly regarded by their officers who on more than one occasion repeated the mistake of feeding their sailors bad meat.  This led to mutinies that disrupted battleship sorties in the Baltic on two occasions. 

These admirals would have their greatest influence on the Baltic Fleet which rarely ventured beyond the safety of Russian shore batteries and minefields.

Compounding the problem of poor officers the years leading up to the Great War were filled with indecision for the fleet.  Two vastly differing schools of officers had their own ideas for how the fleet would be restructured.  The first group held that the fleet should build a large number of battleships in order to meet and destroy enemy fleets on the open seas. 

Submarine Developments

The Russian submarine fleet had grown significantly from the end of the Russo-Japanese war.  By the end of 1913 it was the third largest fleet in the world and operated 48 boats.  The submarines were also larger, more capable, and had far greater range than those of a decade earlier.  Wireless sets and medium caliber guns for use against aircraft only increased their utility to the fleet.

Despite these developments the Russian admirals continued to see the submarine as a ship for coastal defense and minelaying.  Because of this many submarines were equipped with mines early in the war.  It was only in 1916 when the Baltic Fleet was tasked with destroying all of Germany's merchant fleet that submarines would attempt strikes against surface ships far from the Russian coast.  They would meet little success in this role and were soon returned to the coastal defense and minelaying duties.

Foreign submarines were also used by the Russian fleet over the course of the war.  One of the most advanced of these were the Holland 'AG' class built by Electric Boat in the United States.  In addition to these boats British submarines sailed to the Baltic in an effort to assist the Russian fleet and stop German shipping.  These boats frequently operated from Russian ports until the end of the war.

Naval Aviation

Russian heavier-than-air naval air force remained small throughout the Great War.  The force operated a variety of seaplanes from bases in the Baltic and Black Sea.  Voisin Carard, FBA, Curtiss Type F flying boats, and Grigorovich M-series seaplanes were the more common aircraft used by the Russian naval air force.  Nieuport and Farman fighters operating from land bases also served with both the Baltic and Black Sea fleets.

In 1914 the Baltic fleet had eight trained pilots and four student pilots flying from a base near Riga in the Baltic, but it would grow as the war continued.  The fleet would have 21 pilots in three air groups by January 1915.  One of these groups was based on the 'Orlitza' which was a cargo-passenger ship that had been converted into a seaplane tender.  It operated between 4-9 aircraft over the course of the war.  The fleet also constructed many coastal air stations of varying quality for seaplanes.  Some of these stations were simple wooden docks with tents, while others were quite extensive and had concrete ramps and metal hangers.

The air arm of the Baltic Fleet was reorganized in 1916 into two air brigades controlling three divisions of aircraft which each controlled three detachments.  Two of these divisions (the 3rd and the 5th) would not be completely established due to lack of manpower, but the by 1917 the air group of the Baltic Fleet had grown to fifty pilots and 70 aircraft.

Russian naval air forces in the Black Sea operated from Sevastopol and Kilen Bay.  The needs of the fleet required sea planes to gather information for the fleet.  Three seaplane carriers (called 'gidrokrisera' or 'hydrocruisers') were commissioned to extend the range of the Black Sea fleet's aircraft.  Three former Romanian vessels were also converted into seaplane carriers, and by 1916 the Russian navy had a carrier fleet that was second only to the British Royal Navy.  The pilots of the Black Sea fleet were very aggressive and bombed targets along the Turkish coast beginning in 1915.

By 1916 the Black Sea fleet had two air brigades which controlled three divisions each.  Two of these divisions were based on the coast and controlled aircraft organized into detachments of eight pilots and sixteen aircraft each.  The four other divisions operated from the carriers Almaz, Imperator Alexandr I, Imperator Nikolai I, and Romania.  By late 1917 the fleet operated 50 aircraft and 150 pilots.

The air forces of both fleets initially performed reconnaissance patrols gradually shifting to bombing operations as the war continued.  Air-to-air operations against enemy seaplanes began in 1916 as the advancing Germans began establishing air stations along the coast.  Two Russian naval aviators would become aces before the end of the war.

The Imperial Naval Infantry

We have little information about the role of the Russian Naval Infantry at this time, largely because their are so few English language sources written about them.  More information will be added here as soon as it becomes available to us.