Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 512 Abstract Baltic Fleet

Going to the Baltic Fleet to conduct an inspection is actually to take a look at the combat readiness of this fleet.

Under normal circumstances, the Russian Navy should have covered the Gotland expedition, but this was not the case.

Rear Admiral Nikolai Bostiko, who occupied the place, only led a few transport ships with 1800 soldiers on board to capture the place. This indeed caused great panic on the Swedish side and eventually led to the surrender of the Swedish army in several fortresses in Finland.

However, the actual situation is not so optimistic.

After hearing about this "feat" some time ago, Alexander awarded the rear admiral a first-class Order of Santa Anna to commend his outstanding performance in this operation.

Although Gotland Island is very close to the Swedish coastline, it is also closer to the Swedish naval base. At the same time, except for a few ships operating on the Hanko Peninsula, most of the Baltic Fleet are still on Kotlin Island and various naval bases.

It is no wonder that when Solovyov, an army officer, recommended Ushakov to him, he agreed on the spot without going through the Minister of the Navy Chichakov.

Speaking of which, Ushakov was indeed very capable. The son of a Guards sergeant, he fought in 43 naval battles in his life and never lost a single warship. This can be said to be quite a miracle.

Even Suvorov experienced a battle failure when he was young, and in his later years he almost overturned in Switzerland due to the poor performance of his friendly forces. He was able to successfully retreat only thanks to his adaptability and the heroic fighting of Russian officers and soldiers.

Of course, he and Suvorov had the same problem. If the army had not fought against the French, it would not be possible to test its value. As for the navy, after all, the main opponents of the Russian navy were Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, so it was normal that it had not fought against the British.

There was actually another reason why Solovyov was appointed as inspector. That was that Alexander knew very well that Chichakov had too many enemies within the navy, so he had to find someone from outside who had some naval knowledge to serve as inspector to avoid causing a big mess.

The admiral is only 41 years old now, and the fact that he has made so many enemies is also related to his seniority.

Admiral Peter Khanikov, who was in charge of commanding the Baltic Fleet, was also the squadron commander on the "St. Helena" during the Battle of Reval more than a decade ago. Chichakov was only the captain of the 100-gun battleship "Rostislav" in the squadron.
Now that Chichakov is in charge of the Navy Department, it would be fine if it was just about his qualifications, but he will soon offend others in many ways. People like Ushakov who quit their jobs are considered good.

This was not the first time that Solovyov had come into contact with the navy in his current experience. He had previously sailed to the Caribbean with Senyavin, and at least he had learned a lot on the way, and had some understanding of navigation and fleet service.

Now he was asked to take a transport ship to Kotlin Island to investigate the navy's combat readiness.

According to information provided by various sources, Gotland Island has now been surrounded by the Swedish Navy, but Admiral Hanikov has remained on the sidelines, with few actions seen except for a frigate squadron that went to the Hanko Peninsula and several warships moving back and forth between large ports.

This is not proactive action and is obviously problematic.

Solovyov's idea was that it has always been said that the quality of the Russian navy is slightly better than that of the army, even after the navy went ashore, and now he really needs to take a look at the combat readiness situation.

Hanikov would not take him seriously. Although Solovyov was only a major general in the army, he had a certain status because of his military achievements and being a guards general who was trusted by Grand Duke Constantine.

But on the navy side, the situation was obviously different. Solovyov was also very curious about how his father became so close to Admiral Ushakov.

This old general was a bachelor and had some religious inclinations. His uncle was a famous monk in Tambov.

But the atmosphere within the navy gave Solovyov a headache. He was familiar with the situation on the "Grace", although he had never boarded this battleship.

Now, his approach was simple. He just asked several sailors and gunners at combat positions to go through the process and they would roughly understand the situation.

Then, what surprised him was that the gunners of the battleship "Flocheward" were very efficient, but the sailors' performance in operating on the rigging was rather average.

As for other warships, the sailors' performance was generally acceptable, but the gunners' performance varied.

If we were to talk to Admiral Hanikov about this, he would probably use his seniority to evade the question.

If this happens, and there is a war at sea in the following months, who knows what will happen.

After he got off the "Grace", he prepared to check out the situation of the frigate.

Speaking of which, frigates are more widely used in the navies of France and Russia. After all, when large ships are blocked, these more flexible warships are obviously more useful.

However, on a 22-gun frigate, Solovyov met two acquaintances.

One is Mikhail Lazarev, who will be an admiral in the future, but now is just a trainee officer who has just graduated from the Naval Academy. The people who are more familiar with him are his sister and Yulia, who are classmates.

As for Bellingshausen, he was the first person to discover Antarctica and participated in Russia's first circumnavigation of the world. In the future, there will be areas in Antarctica and surrounding waters named after him - naturally, they will also be discovered by him.

Only now, both of them were serving on a small frigate, the Melpomene.

The name comes from Greek mythology, meaning the "goddess of tragedy". However, the performance of this ship should be quite good. It was able to return safely in several previous cruises. Even if we look at the history of the ship, from its launch at the Admiralty Shipyard in 1805 to its dismantling in 1823, its overall performance was still good. It can even be said that it had good luck. Even if it encountered a superior enemy, it was always able to retreat safely.

This should be inseparable from training. Moreover, there are two future admirals and navigation experts on one ship. At least technically, Bellingshausen should be able to teach Lazarev a lot.

"I know you. Your sister was my sister's classmate at Smolny. How's it going in the navy?"

"It's OK, General. It's just that it's a little strange that you're here as an inspector. Usually, the Navy sends people here."

"Misha!"

Bellingshausen thought Lazarev was too young and was always afraid that he would say something wrong, especially the previous remarks that he made without considering the context.

"It doesn't matter. We are acquaintances. His sister has been to my house before. She's a very lovely girl." Solovyov also knew that Lazarev was somewhat straightforward in his words. He was the big shot here, and he knew that there would always be a big shot among the naval cadets with this surname. Besides, their sisters were classmates and best friends, so there was no big problem after all.

Of course, Solovyov didn't know that Lazarev was the second son. His three brothers all became naval admirals, but he was the admiral in the end, the one with the highest ability and achievements.

Bellingshausen's case is different. If you have a world map at home and hang it high enough, you will be able to see his name appear in the Antarctic waters.

In short, the two admirals who will have great prospects in the future do not have high positions now.

"But I also want to know about your situation and whether this ship's combat readiness is up to standard. I have been to several battleships before, and after I came down, I came to your place."

"I think it's okay. Our captain is not here today, but we can still go into battle after hoisting the sails."

"I see that morale is pretty good. The situation here is very good, and the warship is very neat and clean. It is obvious that it is usually carefully maintained."

"Yes, I have participated in a round-the-world voyage. A clean environment is very important."

"So you've been to China?"

When Solovyov said this, Bellingshausen remembered something. The person in St. Petersburg who knew China best was probably this general, and he was also someone close to the emperor.

If you can answer this question well, you don't have to curry favor with your superiors, and your future will be very good.

"We have sailed to Japan and China. In comparison, the Chinese are quite friendly to us. If it weren't for the imperial edict of their emperor requiring us not to dock at will and the Russians to trade only on the northern border, we might have stayed in Guangzhou for a while longer. At least I have been ashore, and the Chinese cities are pretty good."

"Have you eaten out on the street?"

"The Chinese officials didn't let us go too far. We just had a bowl of soup at the dock. The Chinese even put piroshki in the soup. I was very impressed."

"I also want to go to China, but even if you are a general in the army, you can't operate your clipper ships to many places in the world like the navy. Before, I have only been to Santo Domingo and New Spain, and this experience was still very exciting."

"Count, why don't you come to our navy? Our fleet commander is far inferior to Fyodor Fyodorovich. If he were still here, we would have gone out to sea to teach the Swedes a lesson."

"How can you say that about Admiral Khanikov? Misha, I feel..."

"It doesn't matter. Young people shouldn't worry so much. When I was his age, I followed the Field Marshal to fight outside, and Alexander Vasilyevich always let me speak freely."

Bellingshausen also heard that the count was obviously not very satisfied with Admiral Khanikov.

So he let go too.

"Since you said that, I also want to say that Misha is right. We should go out and teach the Swedes a lesson. During the last war, we did not let the Swedish sailors get scared when they heard the name of our Baltic Fleet. Instead, they always treat us as a joke, fools defeated by a storm."

"Yes, if we had insisted on the siege strategy at that time, the King of Sweden would have been captured. But that king is the father of the current King of Sweden. Both father and son are stupid, and this son is even more stupid. We have to teach them a lesson."

"It's a pity that our admiral, who used to be a brave man, has become a coward as he gets older. We all know that he is an expert in navigation and defeated the Swedes when he was a captain before, but now he is like this."

"It doesn't matter. We will always find a way to win. Do you have anything to say about naval construction?"

Seeing that the general was on the side of the middle and lower-ranking officers, Bellingshausen said, "We need to improve the treatment of the soldiers, and at least ensure that we have enough food when we go out to sea. We caused a lot of trouble during our voyage around the world because of this."

"I can understand that. The military supply factory built in Novgorod is responsible for this. It supplies the St. Petersburg and Vyborg Governorates, as well as the Baltic Fleet, just like the Ryazan factory supplies the Moscow Governorate."

"Count, we should prepare more solid bullets and grapeshot for our cannons to sink the enemy's warships and kill the enemy's personnel. Only in this way can we win the battle."

When Lazarev said this, Solovyov looked at him and said with a smile: "You are a trainee officer, do you think the shells on the ship are not very good?"

"Yes, the shells are not enough, and the artillery is more powerful. We must teach the enemy a lesson."

"I have heard about some of the problems. As for the supply of artillery shells, we can mobilize the reserves for you. A cannon needs more ammunition, and the amount of gunpowder must be larger. This will help it penetrate the enemy's wooden boards!"

"You do know a lot. You are much better than the inspectors who came before."

After hearing what Bellingshausen said, Solovyov also knew that at least these two would still have the ability to shine in the future. As long as there were no problems such as the shells not having eyes during the naval battle, their future would still be very bright.

Professional navy is naturally more powerful in navigation, but developing more powerful naval guns, improving the living environment of sailors, and ensuring the welfare of the navy were already daily tasks when Tsar Paul was still the crown prince.

However, given the administrative efficiency of the Naval Commission and the Admiralty, it is certain that many aspects have not been fully implemented.

As for what to do next, Solovyov also knew it very well.

He is now also willing to talk with Bellingshausen and Lazarev to learn about the situation of the Baltic Fleet.

In addition to the ship's equipment, the "Flora", a ship of the same class as the "Tragic Goddess", was lost in the Mediterranean due to high sea conditions. In fact, there may also be some problems with the design of the ship.

However, Bellingshausen and Lazarev were not worried about this, and neither were the sailors on the ship.

After all, the sea conditions encountered by the Flora were indeed very bad, and in the end most of the crew were able to escape danger, and this was not even considered a problem.
(End of this chapter)