How Russian sailors in the minority managed to expel the Germans from the Gulf of Riga: the Battle of Moonsund in 1915

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

On August 19, 1915, Russian sailors demonstrated an example of courage and valor in the Gulf of Riga. The many times superior forces of the German fleet tried to gain a foothold on the Baltic coast. But even realizing the weakness of their position, the defenders of the Russian Empire did not flinch in the face of a powerful enemy. The gunboat "Sivuch", which came out in the forehead of battleships and destroyers, predictably sank to the bottom with a raised flag. But in the end, the Russian fleet did not allow Germany to complete the attempted breakthrough.

Unpopular version about the goals of the Germans

In August 1915, the Germans embarked on a large-scale operation in the Baltic Sea, which was part of the German plans during the First World War. By inflicting powerful blows on the Russians, they managed to push the tsarist army in Galicia, Poland and Lithuania. The retreat of the Russians stopped only at Riga. Renewing the onslaught, the Germans used their fleet. Until that moment, the main naval capabilities were directed in the North Sea against the British, and small obsolete ships were stationed in the Baltic. Now everything has changed - the Germans threw the latest dreadnoughts to break into the Gulf of Riga.

However, some researchers put forward an alternative opinion. Allegedly, creating a threat to the extreme right Russian flank in the Gulf of Riga, the German command gave the practice of hostilities to its inactive fleet for six months. For this, the main groupings, many times superior to the entire Russian Baltic Fleet, were transferred from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea.

The balance of forces

The Germans had an overwhelming superiority. On the approaches to the Gulf of Riga, they were opposed by one outdated battleship "Slava" with short-range artillery, gunboats "Brave" and "Groziashchiy", 20 destroyers and about a dozen submarines. The only balancing factor is the presence of a minefield near the Irbensky Strait, passing through which the enemy could clear his way only under Russian fire.

The command of the Baltic Fleet had high hopes for the main role of submarines in defense. Some of them went to the Baltic Sea to meet the enemy at the minefields, the rest were preparing to attack the ships that had broken through in the Gulf of Riga.

For two weeks the Germans tried several times to enter the bay. The first battle took place when Russian planes spotted German minesweepers clearing a passage in the Irbene Strait. Russian ships immediately headed for the minefield, starting the battle. The mines then blew up several enemy ships, and the battleship squadron was attacked by Russian seaplanes. Until that moment, aviation in sea clashes performed only reconnaissance functions. Stuck in mines, the enemy fleet temporarily withdrew. The next breakthrough with a fight took place at the previous mine lines, but it did not bring much success to Germany either. Only by nightfall did two destroyers manage to enter the Gulf of Riga, the purpose of which was to attack the battleship "Slava".

But Russian ships prevented these attempts by damaging German ships. For the third time, the enemy turned out to be more successful, squeezing out the defenses from the strait and allowing their minesweepers to clear the fairway. Direct clashes between the Russians and the superior forces of the attacking enemy were doomed to failure, and by the evening of August 19, the German fleet was in the Gulf of Riga.

Decisive attack

After the successful breakthrough of the Germans, the Russian command sent the destroyer Novik to meet the enemy. The ship collided with a light German cruiser, but broke away from the enemy and withdrew to the Moonsund Strait. The gunboats Sivuch and Koreets were much less fortunate. They stumbled upon the powerful cruiser Augsburg and several destroyers. The Germans immediately called for reinforcements from the battleships Posen and Nassau, who had arrived accompanied by many destroyers, and the outcome of the battle was clear.

The Russian gunboats lost each other in the dark, because the searchlights on both of them were out of order due to damage. As a result, "Sivuch" was caught between the approaching enemy ships and decided to stand to death. Even having received many holes, the gunboat crew continued to resist desperately. Ragged from all sides by shells, the boat slowly sank under the water, firing to the last. The sunken "Sea lion" managed to knock out two destroyers and inflicted damage on the cruiser "Augsburg". The heavily damaged "Korean" miraculously got out of the battle and took refuge in the Gulf of Pernov. When the German cruiser and destroyers appeared on the horizon, a team of gunboats with officers landed ashore.

Having no idea how things are on the battlefield in the Gulf of Riga, the commander of the Koreyets gave the order to blow up the ship. The same night, the German destroyer S-31 sank, having run over a mine. The next morning, the Germans tried to block the entrance to the Pernov Bay, flooding the exit from it with fire-ships. The enemy believed that this bay was used as an anchorage for Russian ships. But these assumptions turned out to be wrong, and the whole operation was meaningless. However, having approached Pernov, the destroyers opened fire on the city, turning the people into panic and setting up massive city fires. After these manipulations, the German fleet left the Gulf of Riga and went to sea.

Decoding a German radiotelegram

The next day, a radio telegram was decoded on behalf of the German admiral. He reported that due to the presence of Russian submarines and due to unfavorable weather, it was decided to abandon the operation against the Moonsund archipelago. The return to blockade Riga was planned in 10 days with the support of a reinforced batch of minesweepers.

As a result, the two-week maneuvers of the enemy, possessing an overwhelming power superiority, were in vain. During the Riga operation, Germany lost ten destroyers and minesweepers, the dreadnought cruiser Moltke was disabled, and the light cruiser Tethys left with serious damage. However, the Russians were shown that no artillery position with minefields could stop a well-trained fleet. Although the victory formally remained with Russia, the battle for the Gulf of Riga indicated the need to improve the level of training of officers and sailors.

There are other, almost forgotten pages in the history of the Russian fleet. For some reason and 100 years later, the battle of the Varyag and the Koreyets with the Japanese squadron was not declassified.