At the request of “TV viewers,” I am posting an article about the attempt to capture and destroy Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during the Crimean War of 1853-56. Particular emphasis in the article is placed on the Anglo-French landing. All photographs (except one) were taken by me personally.
Reference: The Crimean War 1853-1856 was a war between the Russian Empire and a coalition consisting of the British, French, Ottoman Empires and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The fighting took place in the Caucasus, in the Danube principalities, in the Baltic, Black, White and Barents seas, as well as in Kamchatka. They reached the greatest tension in Crimea.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky they learned about the beginning of the war and about the impending Allied attack on the Pacific coast of Russia at the end of May 1854. The military governor of Kamchatka and commander of the Petropavlovsk military port, Major General V.S. Zavoiko, received official news of this from the Consul General of Russia in the USA. True, back in March of the same year, 1854, an American whaling ship delivered a friendly letter to the governor from the King of the Hawaiian Islands. King Kamehameha III warned V.S. Zavoiko that he had reliable information about a possible attack on Petropavlovsk by the British and French in the summer.
Scheme of military operations during the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from the Anglo-French invaders during the Crimean War in August-September 1854. Kamchatka United Museum of Local Lore
Russia's enemies were so confident of their easy victory that they were in no hurry to the Russian shores. The defenders of the city took advantage of this slowness very successfully: they managed to complete the bulk of the work on creating the main fortifications of the port before the arrival of the enemy squadron.
On July 24, 1854, the military transport (brigantine) “Dvina” delivered 350 soldiers of the Siberian Line Battalion, 2 bomb guns of two-pound caliber and 14 guns of 36-pound caliber from De-Kastri Bay to Petropavlovsk. On the Dvina, a military engineer, Lieutenant K. Mrovinsky, arrived in Kamchatka and stayed there, heading the construction of coastal batteries in the port of Petropavlovsk. By the end of July, the port garrison together with the ship crews numbered 920 people (41 officers, 476 soldiers, 349 sailors, 18 Russian volunteers and 36 Kamchadals).
The entire population of the city and its environs (about 1,600 people) also joined in preparations for the defense. Work on the construction of seven coastal batteries and the installation of guns lasted for almost two months around the clock, day and night. The defenders of Petropavlovsk erected fortifications, cut out platforms for batteries in the rocks, impregnable for amphibious assault, removed guns from ships, manually dragged them along the steep slopes of the hills and installed them on the shore.
The frigate "Aurora" under the command of I.N. Izylmetyev and the transport "Dvina" were anchored with their left sides facing the exit from the harbor. The starboard guns were removed from the ships to strengthen the coastal batteries. The entrance to the harbor was blocked by a boom.
The batteries covered Petropavlovsk like a horseshoe. At its right end, at the rocky tip of Cape Signalny, there was a battery (No. 1), protecting the entrance to the inner roadstead. Also on the right, on the isthmus between Signalnaya Cape and Nikolskaya Sopka, another battery was located (No. 3). At the northern end of the Nikolskaya Sopka, on the very shore, a battery was built to prevent landing of troops in the rear and attempts to capture the port from the north (No. 7). Another battery was erected on the bend of an imaginary horseshoe (No. 6). She had to keep the defile and the road between Nikolskaya Sopka and Kultushny Lake under fire if the enemy managed to suppress the resistance of the coastal battery. Then there were two batteries (No. 5, No. 4 - Krasny Yar) - they lay on the left along the bank on both sides of the main battery on the Koshka sand spit (No. 2).
At noon on August 17, 1854, forward posts at the lighthouses discovered a squadron of six ships. A combat alarm sounded in Petropavlovsk. A three-masted steamer separated from the squadron and began measuring the depths on the approaches to Cape Signalny and the entrance to the harbor. When the boat left the port, the ship retreated at full speed.
English ships:
frigate "President" (English) (52 guns)
frigate "Pike" (English) (44 guns)
steamer "Virago" (English) (10 guns)
French ships:
frigate "La Fort" (60 guns)
corvette "Eurydice" (32 guns)
brig "Obligado" (18 guns)
Steamer "Virago"
The combined squadron was commanded by the Englishman Rear Admiral David Price, and the French detachment by Rear Admiral Fevrier De Pointe. In total, the squadron had 216 guns, its personnel numbered 2,600 people.
According to the report of Major General V.S. Zavoiko dated September 7, 1857, the following Russian ships were in the bay:
frigate "Aurora"
transport "Dvina"
The main enemy attack was directed at two batteries - No. 3 (on the isthmus) and No. 7 (at the northern tip of Nikolskaya Sopka).
After the third and seventh batteries were destroyed, on September 4 the enemy landed troops of about 700 people, who, divided into three detachments, launched an attack on Nikolskaya Sopka. One of the detachments tried to penetrate the city by going around the mountain from the north, but here the sixth battery opened fire on it with shrapnel.
The detachments of M. Gubarev, D. Mikhailov, E. Ankudinov, N. Fesun, K. Pilkin were given the order to “knock the enemy off the mountain”, at the same time the detachment of A. Arbuzov was sent, three more small detachments from the teams of batteries No. 2, 3, 7. All detachments totaled a little more than 300 people. Taking up a position in the ditch of Battery No. 6 and in the surrounding bush, the detachments opened aimed fire on the approaching Anglo-French, and then overthrew them in a bayonet charge.
The battle lasted more than two hours and ended on Nikolskaya Hill with the defeat of the British and French. Their units were defeated individually and suffered heavy losses during the retreat, which turned into a stampede. Having lost 50 people killed, 4 captured and about 150 wounded, the landing force returned to the ships. The Russians received a banner, 7 officer's sabers and 56 rifles as trophies.
The banner of the Gibraltar Marine Regiment, taken in battle by the defenders of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on September 5, 1854. Kept in the Kamchatka United Museum of Local Lore.
Further in italics is a description of the reflection of the enemy landing based on the book by G.I. Shchedrin "The Battle of Peter and Paul", Military Publishing House, 1975 http://vsam1.ru/library/about_kamchatka/shedrin_petrop_boy.htm
Almost simultaneously with the British, 250 French with five landing boats began landing on the Isthmus. They were accompanied to the shore by Admiral de Pointe in a boat, waving his naked saber. But he still did not dare to land and returned to the “Fort”, for some reason pointing the landing party to the fish warehouse. “The detachment moved their guns towards it and managed to set it on fire with the first shots. The store burned for about six hours.”
The attack began through Nikolskaya Sopka. About a thousand people landed near it. Their actions from the sea were supported by 109 barrels of large-caliber naval artillery, if you count only the firing sides of the frigates, brig and steamer. The paratroopers rushed to the crest of the hill from its foot at the Isthmus (from the south) and from the northern end. At the same time, the largest group of English landing forces, led by Captain Burridge, reached the road at Kultushnoye Lake and moved along it to the city. This detachment had to cope with the weak Ozernaya battery - and the path to Petropavlovsk would be open.
Hoping to intimidate the Russian gunners with the menacing appearance of the paratroopers, Burridge lined them up and led them almost at a parade pace. The dangerous concentration of troops on the road was first noticed by the riflemen of Lieutenant Gubarev, who were on the reverse slopes of the Nikolskaya Hill. Without conspiring and without waiting for a general command, without understanding the path, they ran to intercept the enemy, started a firefight with him, giving the batteries the opportunity to better prepare for the meeting with the enemy.
Memorial inscription on the monument to the heroes of Maksutov’s third battery,
Nikolskaya Sopka, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
At a critical moment of the battle, during the second attempt to capture the battery, the Cossack constable Karandashev, who was with the field gun, distinguished himself. The horse, wounded by a bullet in the eye, carried the cannon towards the enemy, towards a deep ditch. The Cossack was not at a loss and managed to stop the animal, distraught with pain. Showered with bullets and seriously wounded in the arm, he managed to aim the overturned cannon and shoot so successfully that he knocked out a whole line of soldiers from the British. This forced them to abandon their intention to continue the attack on the city along the road and turn towards the sea.
Y. Zavoiko talks about Karandashev and his feat in the book. According to her, he is an extraordinary strongman. He smashed stones with his fist and hammered nails into wood with his hand. After a very serious wound, he lay there for two months, recovered and did not lose his strength. He is also mentioned in the report of the commander of the clipper “Vestnik”, whose crew erected a monument to the heroes of the Peter and Paul Battle in 1882. When the monument was erected in Kamchatka, eighteen veterans of the battle were present - eight sailors and ten Cossacks, among them the hero of the day - the only Knight of St. George, Karandashev. He was 65 years old at that time, “but he remained cheerful, healthy and, in his own words, is ready to go into battle again even now.”
Justifying their flight from the Ozernaya Battery, the allies later wrote: “On the left flank, the passage was so heavily protected by riflemen, batteries and field guns that it was also impossible to break through on this side.” The battery was reported as a fortress, a closed fortification with a palisade and a ditch, which “could only be taken by a proper siege.” But the words “batteries” and “field guns” were taken in vain in the plural - there was one of each!
It was impossible to wait for everyone to gather. The British and French had already left or were finishing their climb and were joining at the top of the hill. The military governor immediately sent everyone who was at hand to Nikolskaya. The Auror parties of Lieutenant Ankudinov and Midshipman Mikhailov were given the task of knocking out the enemy with bayonets and liberating the northern end of the hill. To their left, part of Lieutenant Koshelev’s detachment and a group of seventeen people led by Sergeant Major Spylikhin were sent with the same task.
Zavoiko informed Izylmetyev about the situation and asked to send as many people as possible to Nikolskaya. The commander of the Aurora sent rifle parties from the frigate under the command of lieutenants Skandrakov, Pilkin, and midshipman Fesun. In addition, he sent 22 people from battery No. 3 with warrant officer Zhilkin and the same number from Koshechnaya battery with midshipman Davydov. Conducting the sailors to the boats, the commander admonished them:
- Remember, the Russians bravely fight with hostility!
Artificial bullets rained down on the Aurora. It was the paratroopers who came out onto the hill, and from its top the port and the city were in full view. The British and French had one last shot left. And the Russians, covered by trees and bushes, were still running towards the enemy from the base of the hill in small parties with bayonets at the ready. 290 versus 950. The Anglo-French were descending from the hill, the Russian soldiers were rising - walking towards each other. Some with the goal of seizing someone else's land, others with the goal of protecting their own. The governor also sent a reserve to the counterattack - 30 riflemen under the command of his assistant captain 1st rank Arbuzov, the last thing he had.
The rifle parties, camouflaged by bushes, moved along the ravines and gullies with the greatest speed to the top. “Although our small detachments acted separately and almost independently of one another, they all had one common and well-known goal: to knock the enemy off the mountain at all costs; their numbers were not well known at that time, and every last sailor fully understood one thing: the French and the British did not have to stay where they were.”
The largest concentration of paratroopers was on the northern side of the hill, from where they began to descend, opening brutal fire on the second rifle detachment, the Ozernaya battery and a small reserve near the powder magazine. The Petropavlovsk residents fired back from behind the guns. The field cannon fired several shots of grapeshot, but since counterattackers were approaching the paratroopers, the shooting had to be stopped.
The spirit of the city's defenders was exceptional. Zavoiko noted: “Our small detachments, inspired by brave commanders, marched forward in unison and non-stop, shooting at the enemy, and then, shouting “Hurray,” almost at the same time they struck with bayonets. The enemy did not hold out for long and, despite their numbers, fled in disarray...”
The rifle parties rose up from different directions in all directions, and after a short firefight, hand-to-hand combat began to boil along the entire line of meeting with the paratroopers. “Seeing our people everywhere, not knowing that there was no reserve in the city and, judging by the speed of the advance, believing that they were dealing with an enemy outnumbered, the allies became confused.”
The day of September 5 in Kamchatka turned out to be sunny and clear, the water in the bay was calm, like a lake. Nikolskaya Sopka accommodated such a number of people as it had never seen before. Through the trees and green bushes flash the red uniforms of the British, the blue uniforms of the French, and the scarlet shirts of Russian sailors. There is rifle chatter and artillery cannonade. The allies have noise, running around, confusion. The drums beat the advance, and horns echo them in different voices. English and French curses and curses are replaced by shouts of “hurray.” “There are no columns, no platoons. There was no place, no time, no opportunity to build them.”
The battle, which first broke out on the northern slope of the hill, almost immediately began to boil over the entire peak, turning into a general bayonet fight. However, there was no common front, since the Russians approached in small groups and each of them boldly attacked the enemy according to Suvorov’s rule: “they don’t count enemies - they beat them.” And although there were three or four paratroopers for each Petropavlovsk resident, the city’s defenders resolutely advanced; the battle broke up into many local centers.
The sailors and soldiers of Spylikhin's detachment were the first to approach the enemy. Behind the bushes and ravine, they quietly approached the middle of the hill and crashed between two companies of the British. As soon as those at the rear of one of them showed their backs, the sergeant-major’s subordinates, on his orders, split in half, fired a volley at them and at the head rank of the second company, and then, shouting “Hurray,” rushed with bayonets.
The British did not expect such a swift and sudden attack. The sight of their killed comrades caused confusion among the paratroopers, who believed that they should have their own in the rear. They backed away. And in the second column they could not believe that less than two dozen Russian soldiers dared to attack them.
The enemy was not given the opportunity to come to his senses. The sailors and Siberian soldiers of the 47th naval crew arrived. Just as in the taiga they walked with a spear against a bear, now they walked with bayonets at the ready against the enemy. Nothing but death could stop them. No one looked back, and the enemy became afraid.
A fierce battle took place on the right flank - the northern slope of Nikolskaya, near the banner of the Gibraltar regiment of the English Marines. Here the detachments of Lieutenant Ankudinov and Midshipman Mikhailov began their work. A minute later, a unanimous “hurray” was heard from the right and left of Spylikhin’s group. It was the rifle parties of the Aurors Pilkin, Fesun, Davydov and Zhilkin who came close to the enemy.
Here and there on the ridge a skirmish broke out. More and more small units of the city’s defenders entered the battle. The enemy heard the menacing battle cry of Russian soldiers from his front, flanks and rear. He had the impression that there were many Petropavlovsk residents and they were everywhere. Even the most objective of the foreign describers of the battle, de Ailly, wrote many years later: “The Russians received continuous reinforcements from the city and from the batteries and soon occupied the northern side of the mountain.”
At the same time, Midshipman Fesun, a participant in the counterattack, who knew the actual state of affairs, is surprised by something else: “Every military man will find it incredible that our small detachments, rising to heights under fierce rifle fire, showered with hand grenades, managed to shoot down, throw off and defeat the British and French.” .
The Russians did not receive and could not receive any reinforcements: they simply did not exist. The small number was compensated by the courage and determination of the counterattackers. Zavoiko reported that “there was no limit to the animation. One attacked four, and everyone behaved like heroes... I was happy with all the officers and lower ranks who fulfilled their duty.” As an example, he cites an episode, unfortunately without indicating the name of an Auror sailor, who, having dropped a gun in a fight and rolled downhill, ran after it and there unexpectedly came across two armed Englishmen. The unarmed sailor was not at a loss, jumped on their backs, grabbed them by the necks, rode them and began to call for help. “A Kamchadal boy about 16 years old came running in response to the scream and stabbed both Englishmen one by one.”
The Allied columns, which began to descend towards the port along the eastern slope of the hill, stopped and then retreated. The shelling of the frigate, transport and city stopped - the enemy had no time for it.
End of article here.
Academician E.V. Tarle called the Peter and Paul victory of 1854 a “ray of light” that suddenly broke “through the dark clouds”
Defense by Russian troops of the port city of Petropavlovsk (now Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky) and the territory of the Kamchatka Peninsula during the Crimean War of 1853 - 1856 from the superior forces of the United Anglo-French Fleet with the Marine Corps on board.
Its participants spoke in detail about the Peter and Paul Defense of 1854: Vasily Zavoiko, Nikolai Fesun, Konstantin Pilkin, Konstantin Mrovinsky, Alexander Arbuzov, Dmitry Maksutov, Andrei de Livron and historians A. S. Sgibnev, P. V. Schumacher.
In the mid-19th century, much was written about this in other countries, especially in France and Great Britain. Several fundamental historical studies have been devoted to the fighting of the warring parties in the Pacific Ocean.
The defense of Petropavlovsk is one of the significant battles of the Crimean War and the second half of the 19th century.
In Petropavlovsk they learned about the beginning of the war and about the impending Allied attack on the Pacific coast of Russia at the end of May 1854. The military governor of Kamchatka and commander of the Petropavlovsk military port, Major General V.S. Zavoiko, received official news of this from the Consul General of Russia in the USA. True, back in March of the same year, 1854, an American whaling ship delivered a friendly letter to the governor from the King of the Hawaiian Islands. King Kamehameha III warned Zavoiko that he had reliable information about a possible attack on Petropavlovsk by the British and French in the summer. Zavoiko immediately addressed the entire population of Kamchatka with an appeal. It read:
“News has been received that England and France have united with the enemies of Christians (Turkey), with the oppressors of our coreligionists; Their fleets are already fighting ours. War may break out in these places too, since the Russian ports of the Eastern Ocean have been declared in a state of siege.
The port of Peter and Paul must always be ready to meet the enemy, the residents will not remain idle spectators of the battle and will be ready, with cheerfulness, not sparing their lives, to confront the enemy and cause him possible harm, and that the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, if necessary, will join the city residents. When the enemy approaches the port, be ready to repel him and immediately remove women and children from the city to a safe place. Everyone must take care of their family in advance.
I am firmly resolved, no matter how numerous the enemy, to do everything humanly possible to protect the port and the honor of Russian weapons, and to fight to the last drop of blood; I am convinced that the flag of the Peter and Paul Port will, in any case, witness feats of honor and Russian valor!”
The enemy was confident of his easy victory and was in no hurry. The defenders of the city took advantage of this slowness very successfully: they managed to complete the bulk of the work on creating the main fortifications of the port before the arrival of the enemy squadron.
Petropavlovsk was extremely weakly fortified. The city had only six 6-pounder guns and one horse-drawn 3-pounder field gun. The number of Petropavlovsk garrison was only 231 people. In the hope of receiving the guns he requested from the governor of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, V.S. Zavoiko ordered in advance the preparation of positions for their installation (batteries). From volunteers, from the local population, rifle detachments and detachments were formed that were supposed to extinguish possible fires. Fortunately for the city's defenders, in July 1854 they unexpectedly received significant assistance. On July 1, 1854, the frigate Aurora under the command of Lieutenant Commander Ivan Nikolaevich Izylmetyev arrived in Petropavlovsk, having completed a semi-circumnavigation of the world. The frigate was heading to De-Kastri Bay to reinforce the Pacific squadron of Vice Admiral E.V. Putyatin. Due to scurvy, which affected 2/3 of the crew, and a lack of drinking water, I. N. Izylmetyev decided to go to Petropavlovsk. Having familiarized himself with the state of affairs in the city, he agreed to V.S.’s request. Zavoiko will remain in Petropavlovsk and help repel the enemy attack.
On July 24, 1854, the military transport (brigantine) “Dvina” delivered 350 soldiers of the Siberian Line Battalion, 2 two-pound mortars and 14 36-caliber guns from De-Kastri Bay to Petropavlovsk. On the Dvina, a military engineer, Lieutenant Konstantin Mrovinsky, arrived in Kamchatka and stayed there, heading the construction of coastal batteries in the port of Petropavlovsk. By the end of July, the port garrison, together with the crews of the ships, numbered, according to a later statement by V.S. Zavoiko reported on the outcome of the battle, 988 people (349 people on ships, 368 in batteries and 271 people in rifle parties).
The entire population of the city and its environs (about 1,600 people) also joined in preparations for the defense. Work on the construction of seven coastal batteries and the installation of guns lasted for almost two months around the clock, day and night. The defenders of Petropavlovsk erected fortifications, cut out platforms for batteries in the rocks, impregnable for amphibious assault, removed guns from ships, manually dragged them along the steep slopes of the hills and installed them on the shore.
The frigate "Aurora" under the command of I.N. Izylmetyev and the transport "Dvina" were anchored with their left sides facing the exit from the harbor. The starboard guns were removed from the ships to strengthen the coastal batteries. The entrance to the harbor was blocked by a boom.
The batteries covered Petropavlovsk like a horseshoe. At its right end, at the rocky tip of Cape Signalny, there was a battery (No. 1, “Signalnaya”, three 36-pound guns, 2 mortars, 64 people), protecting the entrance to the internal roadstead. Also on the right, on the isthmus between Signalnaya Sopka and Nikolskaya Sopka, another battery was placed (No. 3, “Isthmus”, five 24-pound guns, 51 people). At the northern end of the Nikolskaya Sopka, on the very shore, a battery was built to prevent a landing in the rear and an attempt to capture the port from the north (No. 7, five 24-pound guns, 49 people). Another battery was erected on the bend of an imaginary horseshoe, near Lake Kultushnoe (No. 6, “Ozernaya”, six 6-pound guns, four 18-pound guns, 34 people). She had to keep the defile and the road between Nikolskaya Sopka and Kultushny Lake under fire if the enemy managed to suppress the resistance of battery No. 7. Then came two batteries - No. 5, (Portovaya, 5 worthless 3-pound copper cannons, had no garrison and did not participate in the battle) No. 4 (Cemetery, three 24-pound guns, 24 people) - they lay down to the left along the bank on both sides of the main battery on the Koshka sand spit (No. 2, “Koshka”, nine 36-pound guns, one 24-pound gun, 127 people).
At noon on August 17 (29), 1854, forward posts at the lighthouses discovered a squadron of six ships. A combat alarm sounded in Petropavlovsk. A three-masted steamer separated from the squadron and began measuring the depths on the approaches to Cape Signalny and the entrance to the harbor. When the boat left the port, the ship retreated at full speed.
English ships:
French ships:
The combined squadron was commanded by the Englishman Rear Admiral David Price, and the French detachment was commanded by Rear Admiral Fevrier De Pointe. In total, the squadron had 216 guns, its personnel numbered 2,700 people (2,200 people were ship crews, 500 people were specially trained paratroopers). However, it should be noted that despite the formal numerical superiority of the Allied artillery, a significant part of the British guns were short-barreled carronades, poorly suited for combat with coastal fortifications. In addition, due to the side positioning of guns on wooden ships, no more than half of all weapons could actually be used at a time, which from the very beginning made doubtful the possibility of suppressing coastal batteries with such insufficient forces.
According to the report of Major General V.S. Zavoiko dated August 26 (September 7), 1854, the following Russian ships were in the bay:
From an article by Gleb Udintsev, Moscow magazine, 8, 2007:
“The artillery duel began on August 18 with well-aimed shots from the commander of the coastal battery Popov from eight guns stationed on the Nikolskaya hill. There are different versions of the death of the commander of the enemy army, David Price, on the same day. The subsequent landing attempts on August 20 were unsuccessful. The secondary attack took place on August 23 with the landing of 926 infantrymen of the Gibraltar Regiment, which was repelled by no more than 300 Russians. The landing ended in the death of the entire regiment and its commander, Captain Parker."
The Anglo-French made two attempts to storm Petropavlovsk. According to the original plan, the Allies were supposed to, having destroyed batteries No. 1 and 4 with artillery fire, enter the harbor and destroy battery No. 2, Aurora and Dvina. After which a landing force was supposed to land in the city, which, with the support of ships, would capture the city.
On August 31, 1854, in the morning, the Anglo-French ships began to occupy the places allocated to them by disposition, when suddenly the movement stopped and the ships returned to their places at the anchorage at the entrance to Avacha Bay. The reason for this was the suicide of Rear Admiral Price, who committed it probably out of fear of failure. The frigate Aurora was missed by his squadron while docked in the port of Callao, Peru, which was a blow to Price's reputation, since the destruction of the Aurora and the frigate Pallada was one of the direct tasks assigned to him. Also, the British admiral, hoping for an easy victory in Petropavlovsk, according to the testimony of his comrades, was very upset when he realized that the city was well fortified and quite ready for defense. Command of the squadron was taken by Rear Admiral Febrier de Pointe, who did not change anything in the original plan. On the morning of September 1, 1854, the Allies launched an assault. The frigates "President", "Pike", "Fort" and the steamer "Virago" fired at batteries No. 1, 2 and 4, "Aurora" and "Dvina". At this time, the frigate Eurydice and the brig Obligado fired at battery No. 3, diverting the attention of the defenders; They also fired throw fire across the Nikolskaya Hill in the hope of hitting the Aurora and Dvina. After a long firefight and received numerous hits from the Russians, “President”, “Pike”, “Fort” and “Virago” “knocked down the outer lock from the doors” of Petropavlovsk - they silenced batteries No. 1 and 4. They could not destroy battery No. 2 . It was also not possible to inflict any significant damage on the Aurora and Dvina. The fire of "Eurydice" and "Obligado" did not bring any success. After batteries No. 1 and 4 ceased fire, the French landed troops on battery No. 4, in the amount of 600 people. Battery No. 2 fired several volleys at the paratroopers, but was unable to prevent their landing. By order of V.S. Zavoiko, a detachment of 130 people (sailors from the Aurora and volunteers of rifle detachments) was sent to counterattack the “Cemetery” battery - everyone who was “at hand” of the command. Seeing the approach of a detachment of Petropavlovsk soldiers, the French paratroopers, having delivered several blows with broadswords to the machine guns that had already been riveted by the retreating Russian gunners, rushed to their boats and fled back to the ships, not allowing the defenders to approach them even within the distance of a rifle shot. After which the Allied ships returned to their anchorages at the entrance to the bay. Thus ended the 1st assault on Petropavlovsk. Until September 5, 1854, the Anglo-French were engaged in eliminating the damage caused to them and burying the dead on Krasheninnikov Island. According to the testimony of the city’s defenders, who observed this from nearby batteries, several boats with dead bodies departed from the squadron towards the island.
Now the enemy's main attack was directed at two batteries - No. 3 (on the isthmus) and No. 7 (on the northern tip of Nikolskaya Sopka).
They were fired upon by "President", "Fort" and "Virago". "Pike", "Eurydice" and "Obligado" fired at batteries No. 1 and 4 (all guns damaged in the battle on September 1 were completely restored by gunsmiths), simulating the previous attack and diverting the attention of the defenders. Later, "Pike" and "Eurydice" joined "President" and "Fort", helping them in the fight against batteries No. 3 and 7.
From an article by K. Mrovinsky:
“The enemy divided his squadron into two halves and, placing one half against one battery, and the other against the other, simultaneously opened fire on them. The batteries, bombarded with cannonballs and bombs, having only 10 guns, could not resist 113 guns, most of which were bombs (cannonballs weighing 85 English pounds were found on the shore), and after three hours of resistance, almost all of the guns were damaged, and the servants with batteries was forced to retreat."
After a heated firefight with batteries No. 3 and 7 (battery No. 3 later received the name “Deadly” because it was almost not covered by a parapet and there were heavy losses) and their suppression, the Anglo-French landed 250 people on the isthmus near battery No. 3 and 700 people at battery No. 7. According to the plan, most of the landing party was supposed to climb the Nikolskaya Hill and, firing on the move, attack and capture the city. The rest (from the group that landed at battery No. 7) were supposed to, having destroyed battery No. 6, go out onto the country road and attack Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from the side of Kultushnoye Lake. But the Anglo-French failed to implement these plans. Battery No. 6, with the support of a 3-pound field gun, forced the paratroopers to turn back to Nikolskaya Sopka with several volleys of grapeshot. Thus, there were about 1000 people who climbed the hill and, firing rifle fire at the port, Aurora and Dvina, began to descend down to the city. V.S. Zavoiko, having guessed the enemy’s plan, gathered all the reserves, removed everyone he could from the batteries, and threw people into a counterattack. The 950 paratroopers were opposed by several scattered Russian detachments of 350 people, who approached the hill as quickly as they could and had to counterattack up the slope. And these people performed a miracle. Furiously attacking the invaders wherever possible, they forced them to stop and then retreat back. Part of the landing force was thrown back to a cliff facing the sea. Quite a few of them were injured or killed while jumping from a height of 40 meters. The enemy ships tried to cover the retreating landing party with artillery fire, but nothing came of it - the fire of the British and French frigates was ineffective. On the ships, without waiting for the landing boats to approach, they began to pick out anchors in fear. The ships left for their anchorages, forcing the boats, which had few people capable of rowing the oars, to catch up with them.
The battle lasted more than two hours and ended on Nikolskaya Hill with the complete defeat of the British and French. Having lost 400 people killed, 4 prisoners and about 150 wounded, the landing force returned to the ships. The Russians received a banner, 7 officer's sabers and 56 rifles as trophies.
In this battle, 34 soldiers were killed on the Russian side. On Nikolskaya Sopka, after the battle, 38 dead paratroopers were discovered, whom they did not have time to pick up (the Anglo-French, with tenacity that surprised the Petropavlovsk residents, tried to pick up and carry away even the dead).
After a two-day lull, the Anglo-French squadron sailed on August 26 (September 7), having been satisfied with the schooner Anadyr and the commercial ship of the Russian-American company Sitha intercepted at the exit from Avacha Bay. "Anadyr" was burned, and "Sitkha" was taken as a prize.
After the attempt of the Anglo-French allies to capture Petropavlovsk ended in complete failure, V. S. Zavoiko and his closest assistants began drawing up an official report on the victory over the enemy.
On September 7, 1854, the report was ready, copies were made of it to be sent to Governor General N. N. Muravyov and the head of the Russian expedition in Japan, Vice Admiral and Adjutant General E. V. Putyatin. V.S. Zavoiko invited the officers to choose from among themselves someone worthy of delivering a victorious report to St. Petersburg. The officers unanimously named the name of Prince Dmitry Petrovich Maksutov, the builder and defender of battery No. 2, the brother of the deceased commander of the “Deadly” battery (No. 3) Prince Alexander Maksutov. On September 14, D.P. Maksutov boarded the American ship Noble, chartered for sailing to Okhotsk.
Maksutov almost died on the way from Okhotsk to Yakutsk: he fell through the ice on the Maya River, but miraculously escaped. On November 6 he was in Irkutsk. On November 26, Maksutov arrived in the capital, where he appeared before the Admiral General of the Russian Fleet, Grand Duke Konstantin.
Considering the importance of the message, the Admiral General immediately took Maksutov to Gatchina to see Emperor Nicholas I. The Tsar questioned Maksutov for a long time and immediately promoted him to lieutenant commander. Zavoiko’s report was carefully studied and immediately submitted for “publication.” For the distinction rendered in repelling the attack of the Anglo-French squadron on Petropavlovsk, Rear Admiral Zavoiko was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd degree.
A report in the form of a report on the fighting and the victory was published in some newspapers and the magazine “Sea Collection”, December 1854. But the published text omitted some information that St. Petersburg decided to keep secret. The publication in the Russian press caused shock in Europe. The English and French press harshly criticized the actions of the Commander of the United Pacific Squadron, British Rear Admiral Price. The European press also published many feuilletons, cartoons and caustic comments about the British and French sailors who participated in the unsuccessful assault on Petropavlovsk.
Despite the successful defense of the city, difficulties with supplying and holding such remote territories became apparent. A decision was made to evacuate the port and garrison from Kamchatka. The courier Captain Martynov, having left Irkutsk in early December and traveled through Yakutsk, Okhotsk and across the ice along the wild coast of the Sea of Okhotsk on dog sleds, delivered this order to Petropavlovsk on March 3, 1855, covering 8,000 versts (8,500 km) in an unprecedentedly short time of three month.
According to the order, the port facilities and houses were dismantled, the most valuable parts in the form of windows, doors, etc. were hidden, and the local indigenous population was told to leave to the north. The Cossacks moved to the village located at the mouth of the Avacha River, and Captain Martynov was appointed eldest among those remaining. All the rest, taking cannons, weapons, gunpowder, household belongings, firewood and planks, loaded onto transports under the guard of two ships. Winter was coming and the bay was covered with ice. The soldiers and sailors of the garrison cut a passage through the ice and freed the ships from ice captivity. The Russian squadron, consisting of a frigate, a corvette, three transports and a boat, managed to leave the port before the re-arrival of the Anglo-French forces.
On May 8 (20), 1855, a joint Anglo-French expedition of five French and nine English pennants entered Avacha Bay with the intention of taking revenge for the offensive defeat. The deserted coast greeted the reconnaissance party with silence. It was discovered that Petropavlovsk no longer exists - the place was abandoned by the inhabitants and the garrison, the fortifications were demolished, the buildings were burned and the ashes were completely unsuitable for housing and using the port for its intended purpose.
The British commander, angry at the failure, called a meeting on the flagship. With reasonable reflection, it was suggested that the Russian squadron had gone south. The English and French ships weighed anchor and set out in pursuit. It was decided to intercept the Russians on the open sea and, in a decisive battle, to sink the enemy ships along with the evacuated garrison and residents of the city. The assumption turned out to be correct.
Rear Admiral Zavoiko with a squadron of six pennants: the frigate "Aurora", the corvette "Olivutsa", the transports "Baikal", "Dvina", "Irtysh" and "Boat No. 1", with property loaded onto the transports, garrison soldiers and residents Petropavlovsk, went to sea to proceed to the mouth of the Amur River.
On May 8, in the Bay of De-Kastri, Russian ships unexpectedly met a reconnaissance detachment of the Anglo-French squadron consisting of three warships. Rear Admiral Zavoiko acted decisively: “fire contact” occurred. By nightfall the cannonade had subsided. The enemy detachment locked the Russian squadron in the bay and anchored at the exit, waiting for reinforcements. On the night of May 9-10, the Russian squadron, under the cover of fog, weighed anchor and silently slipped out of the bay. Having passed the Tatar Strait between the continent and the island of Sakhalin, Rear Admiral Zavoiko gave the order to enter the deep and wide mouth of the Amur here and go up the river.
The search the next day for the missing Russian squadron did not lead to any results. Believing that the enemy ships were hidden in the depths of the “bay,” it was decided to patiently wait until hunger and cold forced the Russian squadron to meet him in open battle. Neither the French nor the British knew the biggest secret of the Russians: Sakhalin is an island; there is a navigable through strait separating Sakhalin from the continent; The mouth of the Amur is quite convenient for the entry of ocean-going ships. This was the invaluable information that Captain 1st Rank of the Russian Navy Gennady Nevelskoy obtained during his research expedition.
Rear Admiral Zavoiko's squadron rose upstream of the Amur and anchored on the left bank of the river near the Russian government settlement of the Nikolaevsky post, a border post founded on August 1, 1850. Within two and a half months, on the left bank of the Amur, a new port city Nikolaevsk (Nikolaevsk-on-Amur) was built by soldiers, sailors, Cossacks, “hunters” (volunteers) and evacuated residents of the destroyed Petropavlovsk.
The results of the military campaign in the Pacific were stunning. The well-equipped Combined Anglo-French squadron with the Marine Corps on board was unable to take the weakly fortified port city by storm. The infantrymen, to their shame, lost their banner in battle.
Having tracked down and “locked” the Russian squadron in the Gulf of De Castries, the English and French admirals “slept through” their luck and let the Russians escape. The lack of accurate maps and information that would indicate that Sakhalin is not a peninsula and that there is a navigable strait to the south forced the squadron commander, rear admiral, to patiently wait for the appearance of Russian ships “from the bay.” But they never showed up. The Russian squadron “disappeared” without a trace. The British newspaper The Times found it in London on its pages. A huge scandal broke out.
French Empire
The main reason for the Allied attack on Petropavlovsk was the struggle of the great powers for supremacy at sea and, in particular, in the Pacific Ocean. The British Empire especially strived for this.
Britain could not come to terms with the fact that since the middle of the 17th century, a significant part of the northern Pacific coast belonged to Russia.
Having won an easy victory over China in the First Opium War of 1840-1842, the English “hawks” decided that England could just as quickly take possession of the weakly fortified Russian Pacific settlements.
Russia knew that the British Admiralty had already developed such plans. Therefore, already from the 1840s, the government was concerned about the future of the Russian Pacific possessions and, in particular, about the future of Kamchatka. It seemed suspicious to many that foreign whalers had been frequenting the port since the mid-1840s. But what was especially alarming was the appearance of individual English ships in the port, often under a foreign flag.
In 1848, Count Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov, newly appointed governor of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, drew attention to the growing threat of foreign attacks on Kamchatka. He began the construction of military fortifications in the port of Petropavlovsk.
On July 25, 1849, N.N. Muravyov arrived at the port of Petropavlovsk on the Irtysh transport. After inspecting the area, Muravyov personally identified the construction sites for new artillery batteries. Among them were batteries at Signal Cape, Peter and Paul Spit and near Lake Kultushnoye.
In a report to the Minister of Internal Affairs Lev Perovsky, Nikolai Muravyov wrote:
“To strengthen Avacha Bay, otherwise it will be the playground of the smallest hostile squadron; there were already two English warships there at the same time; they had more than 200 crew (a sloop and a schooner traveling under the guise of finding Franklin)...
...I have seen a lot of ports in Russia and Europe, but I have never seen anything like Avacha Bay; England should deliberately make a two-week break with Russia in order to take possession of it and then make peace, but it will not give up Avacha Bay to us.”
It was then that he appointed an energetic administrator, Major General of the Admiralty Vasily Stepanovich Zavoiko, as the new Governor of Kamchatka. Muravyov was not in vain worried about the fate of Kamchatka. When the Crimean War began, the Allies found it possible to allocate significant naval forces to strike the Russian Pacific possessions and, in particular, Kamchatka.
Historical novels:
The year in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky seemed to many to be a true miracle. In fact, who would have thought that in the midst of a very difficult time for (- years), when very strong enemies took up arms against our country, when an extremely difficult situation had arisen, in a distant country, cut off from the mainland by the vast expanses of the harsh world, a handful of Russian daredevils would be able to win victory over the aggressors, whose forces were several times greater than those of the Petropavlovsk troops.
The main reason for the Allied attack on Petropavlovsk was the struggle of the great powers for dominance on the seas and, in particular, on. I strived especially zealously for this.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky they learned about the beginning of the war and about the impending Allied attack on the Pacific coast at the end of May. The military governor of Kamchatka and commander of the Petropavlovsk military port, Major General, received official news of this from the Consul General in. True, back in March of the same year, an American whaling ship delivered a friendly letter from the king to the governor. King Kamehameha III warned that he had reliable information about a possible attack on Petropavlovsk by the British and French in the summer.
The batteries covered Petropavlovsk like a horseshoe. At its right end, at the rocky tip of Cape Signalny, there was a battery that protected the entrance to the inner roadstead. Also on the right, on the isthmus between Signalnaya Cape and Nikolskaya Sopka, another battery was placed. At the northern end of the Nikolskaya Sopka, on the very shore, a battery was built to prevent landings in the rear and attempts to capture the port from the north. Another battery was erected on the bend of an imaginary horseshoe. She had to keep the defile and the road between Nikolskaya Sopka and Kultushny Lake under fire if the enemy managed to suppress the resistance of the coastal battery. Then came three batteries - they lay in a sparse chain on the left, along the shore, opposite the isthmus, at the base of the sand spit.
In the middle of the last century, the main contradictions between Russia, which was strengthening its southern borders, and Great Britain and its allies, which opposed it, arose in the Balkans and the Middle East. They were the cause of the Crimean War. In the plans of England and France, a certain place was occupied by the Far Eastern outskirts of Russia, primarily the Port of Peter and Paul - its main naval base on the Pacific Ocean. England and France intended to take Alaska and the Aleutian and Commander Islands, rich in fisheries, the coast of the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, and penetrate Kamchatka and Sakhalin from Russia.
To this end, one of the combined Anglo-French squadrons under the command of Rear Admiral Price cruised in the Pacific Ocean, awaiting the outbreak of war. With its announcement in the summer of 1854, six warships: the frigates “President”, “Paike”, “Fort”, “Eurydice”, the brig “Obligado” and the steamer “Virago” moved to the port of Petropavlovsk. Knowing about a possible attack on the city, Governor V.S. Zavoiko took measures to organize defense. But the garrison had small forces and weak weapons. On June 19, unexpected help arrived: the frigate Aurora, under the command of I.N. Izylmetyev, dropped anchor in the harbor, having accidentally escaped capture by the Anglo-French squadron. The next day, the corvette Olivutsa arrived, and finally, on July 24, 350 soldiers arrived from the mouth of the Amur on the military transport Dvina. V.S. Zavoiko addressed an appeal to the residents of the city, surrounding villages and settlements, which said: “The port of Petropavlovsk must always be ready to meet the enemy. I am firmly determined, no matter how numerous the enemy, to do everything humanly possible to protect the port and the honor of Russian weapons, and to fight to the last drop of blood.” General education began. Those who could not hold weapons helped in other matters. Day after day, from dawn to dusk, work was in full swing. Together, seven batteries were built, numbering forty guns. For the most part, they were built under the leadership of engineer-lieutenant K. I. Mrovinsky (grandfather of the famous Soviet conductor E. A. Mravinsky).
By the time the enemy squadron arrived, the size of the garrison, despite significant reinforcements, was only 988 people. This number included 18 Russian volunteers, 36 Kamchadal hunters, the crews of the Dvina transport and the Aurora frigate, which had 27 guns. The Allied forces were several times superior to them: they numbered 2,140 crew members and 500 Marines armed with long-range guns; The squadron was armed with 212 of the latest cannons and bombs.
On August 17, 1854, the Anglo-French squadron entered Avacha Bay. The heroic defense of the city began, which lasted ten days. Twice enemies tried to capture the port of Peter and Paul. They expected to find here an unprotected territory that they could easily devastate and destroy the population, but they were met with prepared positions and the heroism of the Russian people defending their land. Realizing that victory could not be achieved, and fearing shame, the commander of the combined squadron, the English Rear Admiral Price, committed suicide before the main hostilities. The main battle arena was Nikolskaya Sopka, where on August 24 two forces clashed. Over 900 British and French landed on the shore and rushed to the hill. They were opposed by only about 300 Russian soldiers. Nikolskaya Sopka accommodated such a number of people as it had never seen before. At the top, the parties came together and fought hand-to-hand. The enemy fled, leaving the regiment's banner to the defenders. Having lost 450 people killed and wounded, the conquerors abandoned the capture of the city and left the bay.
The defenders of the third battery under the command of Alexander Maksutov, who did not allow the enemy landing into their defense sector, covered themselves with unfading glory. The report on the victory and the trophy banner to deliver to St. Petersburg was entrusted to one of the glorious defenders of the city - Dmitry Maksutov, commander of the second battery. Soviet academician E.V. Tarle called the news of this victory a ray of sunshine that suddenly broke through the dark clouds. Soon the whole world learned about the feat of the defenders of the Peter and Paul port. The names of Alexander and Dmitry Maksutov, Ivan Nikolaevich Izylmetyev, Semyon Udalov, Vasily Stepanovich Zavoiko are honored by the people of Kamchatka. The streets of our city are named after A.P. Maksutov, S. Udalov and V.S. Zavoiko, and Nikolskaya Sopka has become a sacred monument to the valor, heroism and courage of the Russian people.
taken from here
On April 14 (26), 1854, the Russian frigate Aurora, which had arrived here a few days before, suddenly left the Peruvian harbor on the Pacific Ocean of Callao. In Callao there were warships of the British and French who saw the maneuvers of the Aurora. Only on April 25 (May 7) did they learn that back in March, Napoleon III and Queen Victoria declared war on Russia.
The Anglo-French squadron headed towards Petropavlovsk. They had the following forces: the French ships "Fort" with 60 guns, "Eurydice" with 30 guns, "Obligado" with 12 guns; among the British: “President” with 50 guns, “Peak” with 46 guns, “Virago” - a steamer with 6 guns. The French flotilla was commanded by Admiral Despointes, the English by Admiral Price. Since Price had seniority in rank, he was the commander-in-chief of the entire squadron. "Virago" was sent for reconnaissance. He, covering himself with the flag of the United States, walked into Avacha Bay. Reconnaissance showed that the frigate "Aurora" with 44 guns and the transport "Dvina" with 12 guns were stationed in this bay; the harbor was protected by batteries.
Already in March 1854 in Kamchatka they knew about the impending rupture - and work began to boil, batteries were erected. On June 19 (July 1) the Aurora arrived. Then the Dvina transport arrived, which brought a declaration of war and 300 soldiers.
Price was upset that he missed out on Aurora. Now, having seen the frigate ready for battle, he was aware of the consequences of the oversight for which the Admiralty could accuse him. On August 18 (30), Price walked along the deck, then went into the cabin, took out a pistol, put the muzzle to his heart and fired. High command passed to Admiral Depointe.
On August 19 (31), Depointe ordered to open fire against the Russian batteries. The bombing resumed on August 20 (September 1). The battery located at Signal Point withstood the most brutal attack; The governor of Kamchatka, Major General Zavoiko, was on it. The Krasny Yar battery, which had 3 guns, withstood continuous fire for 1½ hours. The platforms were covered with earth; machines, hoists and armor were destroyed. The enemy brought troops to Krasny Yar: the battery commander, with 30 men and all the guns damaged, not finding it possible to defend the post against 600 landing men, retreated. The French, jumping onto Krasny Yar, filled the battery and raised the flag; As soon as it developed, a bomb from an English steamer hit the very middle of the landing mass. Before the French had time to come to their senses, the Dvina and Aurora opened fire on them. The Russian rifle parties that arrived in time, shouting “hurray,” rushed forward. Despite the fact that he was at least four times stronger than our parties, the enemy began to retreat at a run.
On August 21 (September 2) the British and French buried Admiral Price in Tarya Bay. Here they met American sailors from a ship calling at Petropavlovsk. The Americans pointed out the existence of a path along which a landing could be carried out to Petropavlovsk.
On August 24 (September 5), 1854, at half past 7, the steamship, taking 2 frigates in tow, led them to the isthmus battery of Lieutenant Prince Maksutov. Approaching a cannon shot, the French frigate opened fire. The prince answered with success at first. But the battery was earthen, open, had only 5 guns and had withstood the fire of 30 guns for more than half an hour. More than half the servants are wounded and killed; one cannon remains; The prince himself directs it, shoots, and the boat with the landing force goes to the bottom. The frigate fires with its entire side, and with shouts of “vivat” from the enemy ships, the prince falls with his arm torn off.
Meanwhile, the English frigate stood against the battery of Lieutenant-Commander Korolev and began to destroy it. So this battery was rendered incapable of action, and 22 enemy boats rushed to the shore. The situation was more than critical. Having entered the mountain, the enemy showered the entire ravine with a hail of bullets and grenades. Major General Zavoiko gave the order to “knock the British off the mountain.” Small detachments of 30 and 40 people, rising to heights under rifle fire, showered with grenades, shot down, threw off and finally defeated the British and French. Pursued by the bayonets of our sailors, they rushed off the cliffs in crowds. Having thrown the enemy off the mountain, the rifle parties, sitting on the cliffs, hit him with rifle fire as he boarded the boats. Chest-deep and chin-deep in water, the French and British hurried to the boats and longboats; we saw the longboat, at first chock full of people, and then leaving with 8 oarsmen; everything else was wounded, broken and lay in heaps, emitting groans.
At one o'clock the all clear sounded, the Petropavlovsk residents gathered, brought the dead and wounded - ours and the enemy's, and what: the commander of the landing force was found among the dead - so it must be assumed from the papers that were with him. Information from the papers shows the number of landing troops at 676 people, not counting the rowers and reinforcements, with whom there were more than 900 people on the shore. Our rifle parties that were in action did not represent more than 300 in the formation. The trophies were an English flag, 7 officer's sabers and many guns and bladed weapons. The enemy, having repaired the damage, weighed anchor at 8 o'clock on August 27 (September 8) and went to sea.
Petropavlovsk was no longer destined to play a military role in this war. It was decided not to wait for the enemy squadron to reappear and evacuate the population, as well as disarm the batteries. In the spring of 1855, the frigate Aurora, the corvette Olivutsa and four transports, taking cargo, crews and residents, set out to sea. On May 19 (31), 1855, 12 enemy warships entered Avacha Bay. They bombarded a city without inhabitants and batteries without guns. But this no longer had any military significance.
“Almost simultaneously with the news about Inkerman in Russia, France and England, news that was unexpected for the whole world began to spread, which at first was received even with a certain distrust, but turned out to be completely true and in Russia was a ray of sunshine that suddenly broke through the dark clouds, and in In Paris and especially in London, it caused no hidden irritation and grief: the allied fleet attacked Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka and, having suffered damage, withdrew without achieving any of the goals it had set for itself.”
In memory of the heroic defense of the Peter and Paul Port, an obelisk “Glory” was erected on Nikolskaya Hill, on the cast-iron slabs of which there is the inscription: “In memory of those who died while repelling the attack of the Anglo-French fleet and landing on August 20 and 24, 1854.” 100 years later, an obelisk was erected between Nikolskaya Sopka and Cape Signalny, on which the words are inscribed: “To the heroes of the 3rd battery of Lieutenant A.P. Maksutov, who did not spare their lives to defeat the enemy. From the Pacific sailors on the centenary day of the Peter and Paul Defense.”
Lit.: Gavrilova S.V. “Pardon” was not given to the enemy... From the history of the defense of Petropavlovsk in 1854 // Little Kamchatka stories. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 2002;Defenders of the Fatherland. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 1989; Red Banner Pacific Fleet. M., 1973. Ch. 2. For the honor of the Russian flag; The same [Electronic resource]. URL:
