Action of 3 May 1920

Last updated
3 May 1920
Part of the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War
Date3 May 1920
Location
off Ochakov, Black Sea
Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Flag of France.svg  France Flag RSFSR 1918.svg  Russian SFSR
Strength
1 sloop 1 floating battery
Casualties and losses
1 sloop capturedNone

The action of 3 May 1920 was a short single-ship action fought during the Russian Civil War between the French Navy and the Soviet Russia.

Contents

Background

During the Russian Civil War, the French Navy was engaged as part of the Allied Intervention providing assistance to the White faction engaged on the Southern Front. The French Navy suffered a mutiny in 1919 but operations were carried until the end of the conflict.

Action

According to French sources, the French sloop (avisos) Le Scarpe imprudently advanced into the territorial waters of the red Russia near Novorossiysk during a routine patrol in the Black Sea. [1] The Captain wanted to sail to Nikolaiev to collect information about procuring supplies. [2] The French ship encountered the Soviet floating battery Krasnaya Zarya near Ochakov; during the subsequent fight she was damaged and surrendered. This happened near the end of the Russian Civil War, and the ship was soon returned.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battleship</span> Large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns

A battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of large-caliber guns, designed to serve as capital ships with the most intense firepower. Before the rise of supercarriers, battleships were among the largest and most formidable weapon systems ever built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cruiser</span> Type of large warships

A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea denial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed merchantman</span> Merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes

An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value trade. In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively as merchant raiders to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soviet Navy</span> Maritime service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces

The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with the opposing superpower, the United States, during the Cold War (1945–1991). The Soviet Navy played a large role during the Cold War, either confronting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in western Europe or power projection to maintain its sphere of influence in eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanian Naval Forces</span> Military unit

The Romanian Naval Forces is the principal naval branch of the Romanian Armed Forces and operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltic Fleet</span> Russian Navy fleet

The Baltic Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval warfare of World War I</span>

Naval warfare in World War I was mainly characterised by blockade. The Allied powers, with their larger fleets and surrounding position, largely succeeded in their blockade of Germany and the other Central Powers, whilst the efforts of the Central Powers to break that blockade, or to establish an effective counter blockade with submarines and commerce raiders, were eventually unsuccessful. Major fleet actions were extremely rare and proved less decisive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marines</span> Military organization specialized in amphibious warfare

Marines are military personnel who primarily operate in littoral zones, both on land and at sea. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore in support of naval objectives, and the boarding of vessels during combat or capture of prize ships. Marines also help maintain discipline and order aboard the ship. In most countries, marines are an integral part of that state's navy; in some countries their marine forces can also instead be part of the land army, such as the French Troupes de Marine, or an autonomous branch such as the United States Marine Corps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgarian Navy</span> Military unit

The Bulgarian Navy is the navy of the Republic of Bulgaria and forms part of the Bulgarian Armed Forces.

The Battle of Cape Spartel was a naval battle of the Spanish Civil War that broke the Republican naval blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar, securing the maritime supply route to Spanish Morocco for the Nationalists early in the war. The action occurred on 29 September 1936 between two Nationalist cruisers and two Republican destroyers.

Finnish gunboat <i>Turunmaa</i>

Turunmaa was a Finnish gunboat built in 1918. She served in the Finnish Navy during World War II. The ship was named after Turuma, a type of frigate designed for use in shallow waters of the archipelago and served in the Swedish Archipelago fleet in the late 18th century. The frigates had in turn been named after the region of Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MAS (motorboat)</span> Boat used by the Italian Royal Navy

Motoscafo armato silurante, alternatively Motoscafo antisommergibili and commonly abbreviated as MAS, was a class of fast torpedo-armed vessels used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II. Originally, "MAS" referred to motobarca armata SVAN, Società Veneziana Automobili Navali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814</span> Campaign in the Napoleonic Wars

The Adriatic campaign was a minor theatre of war during the Napoleonic Wars in which a succession of small British Royal Navy and Austrian Navy squadrons and independent cruisers harried the combined naval forces of the First French Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Illyrian Provinces and the Kingdom of Naples between 1807 and 1814 in the Adriatic Sea. Italy, Naples and Illyria were all controlled either directly or via proxy by the French Emperor Napoleon I, who had seized them at the Treaty of Pressburg in the aftermath of the War of the Third Coalition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Berens</span> Imperial Russian Navy admiral (1879–1943)

Mikhail Andreyevich Berens was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and the White Navy during the Russian Civil War.

The Battle of Alexander Fort, was a naval battle fought in the Caspian Sea during the Russian Civil War at the naval military base of Fort Alexandrovsky.

The Romanian Navy during World War II was the main Axis naval force in the Black Sea campaigns and fought against the Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet from 1941 to 1944. Operations consisted mainly of mine warfare, but there were also escort missions and localized naval engagements. The largest naval action fought by the Romanian Navy was the 26 June 1941 Raid on Constanța, and its most extensive operation was the 1944 evacuation of the Crimea.

NMS <i>Mihail Kogălniceanu</i> Romanian river monitor

NMS Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Brătianu-class river monitor of the Romanian Navy. She saw service in both world wars, being the most successful vessel in her class of four ships. Like her three sisters, she was initially built as a river monitor, but in early 1918, she was converted to a sea-going monitor. During the Second Balkan War, she supported the Romanian crossing of the Danube into Bulgaria. During World War I, she carried out numerous bombardments against the Central Powers forces advancing along the shore of the Danube and carried out the last action of the Romanian Navy before the 11 November 1918 armistice. She later fought successfully against Bolshevik naval forces during the early months of the Russian Civil War, helping secure the Budjak region.

NMS <i>Viscolul</i> Torpedo boat

NMS Viscolul was the most successful and the longest-serving motor torpedo boat of the Romanian Navy during the Second World War. She supported the Siege of Odessa and took part in the action of 9 July 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 9 January 1921</span> Short naval battle of the Russian Civil War

The action of 9 January 1921 was a short naval battle fought during the Russian Civil War by the French Navy and the Soviet Russia.

References

  1. J.Seguin, Intermédiaire des chercheurs & curieux
  2. Peter Lang, Documents diplomatiques français. Volume 1; Volume 21, Parte 1; Volume 29, Parte 1, 1997, p. 622-623