Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 515 027 Supervisor of the Baltic Fleet?

When Adela came back, Solovyov was relieved to leave the house to her.

"Adela, Adela, how can I say hello to you? You have to think about it."

"Okay, brother, don't worry about my affairs. I will come back to help you take care of the family affairs. When my sister-in-law recovers, everything will be fine."

"If your sister-in-law weans the child, I and her will be careless."

Although Adela is still a virgin, she knows more or less about this kind of thing. For example, Solovyov once spent the night with Mrs. Recamier. When she was in the maid's room at the door, she heard the lady's moan very clearly.

"Although I want to say that this is God's will, brother, you are really too lustful."

She is the only one who explains the problem so directly. Since Solovyov picked her up and raised her, he naturally wouldn't have any objections.

"Do you have a man you like? Otherwise, I will have to find you a promising officer."

"This is the same thing again. Why do you always want to find a man for both of us? Besides, I am not in a hurry to get married at my age. I don't want to be like Sister-in-law Katya. Brother, if I really want to get married, I will naturally tell you which one I like, and then you can help me find one. Now, what you need to do is to take a few days off and go back to St. Petersburg."

Speaking of which, only this step-sister can control him the most, and he really does like this.

As for returning to St. Petersburg, he will naturally serve as an army general and inspect the Baltic Fleet.

Alexander originally wanted to take him to Erfurt, after all, this guy was indeed recognized as a nephew by Napoleon, but considering that Caulaincourt sent a message to ask about the situation of Catherine and Anna.

According to this situation, Napoleon may choose to find a new wife, after all, there are provisions related to divorce in the Civil Code.

At this time, it is better for Solovyov not to go. Besides, the navy still needs him to inspect.

Admiral Khanikov's performance was indeed unsatisfactory, so there was a call in St. Petersburg to ask Admiral Ushakov to take over the command of the Baltic Fleet and command the maritime operations against Sweden and Britain.

You know, the Russian Navy has experienced many failures in small-scale battles. During the time when Solovyov went home to accompany the birth of her baby, the Russian army on Gotland Island had surrendered to the Swedes and was repatriated. The "Goddess of Tragedy" cruised very successfully near Gotland Island and successfully shook off the pursuit of two Swedish frigates.

Bellingshausen's performance was indeed outstanding and could match the historical status of a navigator, but he was not yet famous.

As for Admiral Khanikov, his ideas were cautious and conservative. In the next stage, the Russian Navy had to reach the Hanko Peninsula, which was the throat of the Gulf of Finland. After the surrender of the Swedish garrison in Finland, this base was also the only way to advance to the Aland Islands and the Swedish mainland.

For the Russian navy of any era, they still need this place as a hub and an important garrison base. Therefore, the subsequent action of the Baltic Fleet is to move from Kronstadt on Kotlin Island to the Hanko Peninsula, and then use this place to confront the Swedish-British joint navy.

But Hanikov has been hesitant and he is not ready to act.

Solovyov is not in a hurry. If he is lucky, the "Varyag" will be nearly completed in April and has now arrived at Kotlin Island. It's just that the sailors are still familiar with the ship. Don't be like the stupid British, who can overturn the new ship.

Even the "Grace" was in trouble when it encountered a storm when it sailed in the past. It was fatal for a small boat. For this first-class warship, it was obviously injured. It took a long time to repair it after the cruise in Pomerania.

This time, it was finally ready before departure. Although the current situation of the Russian Navy is relatively poor, and most of the Baltic Fleet has gone to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, the fleets left at home are actually stronger than the Swedish Navy.

To make an intuitive comparison, the two largest warships in the Swedish Navy are the "Gustav IV Adolf" and the "Vladislav", the latter of which does not sound like a Swedish warship.

In fact, this is a 74-gun battleship captured by the Russian army in the naval battle during the last Russo-Swedish War.

The Swedish Navy also has ships captured by the Russian Navy, and even the names have not changed. They are still in service in the Russian Navy, and even later inherited a generation of ship names.

In addition to the "Grace" and "Varyag" which are both 130 guns, the Russian Navy also has 120-gun battleships and 100-gun battleships under construction, as well as 80-gun and 74-gun battleships still in service, which are still in an overall advantage.

The mainstream battleships of the Swedish Navy are all relatively small 64-gun battleships, and only one of them has been modified to be equipped with 74 guns.

Even if the British fleet is called, that is also an episode where the advantage is in my hands.

In St. Petersburg, Khanikov was indeed considered a bit cowardly.

Because of this issue, Solovyov even visited Ushakov who had just arrived in St. Petersburg.

Unlike his master Suvorov who always spoke in an abstract way, Ushakov spoke very directly.

"Count, you are an army general and have not experienced any naval battles, but you have some experience in the cruise to Santo Domingo and the North American coast, which is better than someone who knows nothing at all."

"For example, send you to command the rowing team?"

"You can say that! When we fought the Turks in the Mediterranean and jointly cruised with the British to block the French, we were proactive and active, instead of shrinking the entire battleship squadron here."

"But the emperor has not yet made it clear what action to take, and Admiral Hanikov is still in office. , it is difficult for us to make personnel adjustments. You also know that the army and the navy always have such troubles together. "

"This is inevitable. Although the Baltic Fleet has a commander, it has not had a commander-in-chief for almost 50 years. It is inevitable that there will be some problems in obeying orders."

Hanikov has another problem, which they don't care too much about. That is, the naval battle he participated in his life was a naval battle with the Swedes. As the deputy of Vice Admiral Musin-Pushkin, the battle was relatively large. The rest of the time was to carry out blockade missions or to act with the British.

I am afraid that his better sailing ability and qualifications are here, so he can serve as the commander of the Baltic Fleet.

"But I'm from the army. Even if I'm now the inspector of the Baltic Fleet appointed by His Majesty, it's only a temporary position. It can even be said that interfering with the fleet is not justified. We have a call for you to take this position."

"It shouldn't be possible now, but if you want to find some young naval commanders, those young people who have performed well recently can be considered. If you say it, the Minister of the Navy is a junior to me, so I can give him suggestions."

"Although it sounds unreliable, we let some young naval officers with long-distance sailing experience serve as commanders of frigates. The duties of battleships are normally different from those of frigates, so it's not easy to interfere."

"Why does it sound like Nelson's stuff?"

When Ushakov spoke, he obviously mentioned Nelson with some admiration, the kind of admiration that an old man has for a young man.

"I have limited information, but some young officers who have experience in war can always replace some old sailors, and in the White Flag Squadron, frigates can also be used."

"We can only do this, what you said is quite clear."

Hanikov, now has no choice but to accept the inspector sent by the army, who is patrolling and investigating with the orders of the Tsar all day long. After all, the other party's official rank is not as high as his, but the investigation authority is very large.

As for promoting a group of young officers to serve as commanders on frigates, many of these people are still qualified in previous voyages and patrols, which makes him speechless.

The bigger problem may be that Hanikov is unwilling to lead the fleet to leave Kotlin Island to fight. The 65-year-old veteran is still afraid of fighting the British.

But Alexander will not change people for the time being. After all, Napoleon is preparing to invite the Tsar to Erfurt for a meeting. His attention is on diplomacy. Moreover, the battle situation at sea will not affect the final direction of the entire war.

For the Russian army, even if the battle is from spring to summer, the sea is blocked, or the coastal areas suffer heavy losses, it will not affect the results of the land operation. The Russian army has now controlled most of Finland, and even the vanguard has reached the Swedish mainland in the north.

Even if the land operation is frustrated now, the Russian army still has a final action plan, which is to march from the sea to attack the Swedish mainland after the Gulf of Bothnia freezes in winter, and finally defeat the Swedish army in the battle.

Therefore, Alexander actually doesn't care much about what happened.

Unless the navy capsizes in the bay again like the last war, this low-probability event is unlikely to happen again.

In Alexander's view, at least Khanikov is still very good at running away. Handing the entire fleet to him will at least not result in the annihilation of the army.

In such a weird atmosphere, there are a series of strange operations at present. Even if Ushakov comes back, he can't serve as the commander of the fleet. He is just a consultant in St. Petersburg. It is even possible that Alexander consults more about the Black Sea Fleet.

As for Solovyov, he also went to Kotlin Island these days and continued to inspect the situation of the Baltic Fleet in the hot summer.

The "Varyag", the latest addition to the fleet, will definitely not participate in the battle, and the commissioning of this ship is still in progress.

These days, Solovyov has been patrolling the gunboats in the harbor.

Gunboats refer to some relatively old or understaffed warships that dock in a certain water area of ​​the port and are used as warships to cover the waterway.

The Russian army is so arrogant that it uses battleships with a ship age of about ten years to dock here as gunboats. If it were another navy, they might even say that they are a spendthrift.

For example, many of the warships used by the Swedish Navy have been in service for more than 20 or even 30 years, while the Russian army.

The quality of shipbuilding is not a big problem. The Russian Navy is also very large. The quality of its warships is actually not bad compared to others. It even has advantages in some aspects. For example, the warships of the Baltic Fleet always have better single-ship combat effectiveness. Strong; if it were replaced by the Black Sea Fleet, it would always be able to maintain A stronger battleship squadron, and its combat effectiveness can be guaranteed in the long term - it's just that damn flagship, no matter if it's a sailing battleship, an ironclad, or a dreadnought, even if it's replaced by a modern battleship, it will always have to cause trouble on its own. When others come to fight, he will have an accident and sink first.

What Solovyov heard most from the sailors here was that they hoped to be able to join the battle. If they continued to squat in the harbor like this, it would really not be of much use.

From this point of view, Hanikov will definitely participate in the operation in the next period of time, and he will also accompany them as a supervisor.

When Ushakov came to Kotlin Island, he also reminded Hanikov of the problem. This veteran's business ability was not bad, but he always wanted to run away and lacked patience for fighting and performing duties.

Therefore, when Alexander was preparing to leave for Erfurt to meet Napoleon, he specifically applied for permission from Alexander when he returned to the palace to report.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the commander of the Baltic Fleet is indeed responsible for commanding this fleet, but when encountering the enemy, if he retreats in the face of the enemy and tarnishes the honor of the navy, what should we do?"

"If you get cold feet, you can bring a deputy commander to take command on the Grace and take over the command from Hanikov."

Alexander actually agreed. Obviously he also wanted to use the Russian army's victory in the battle to show his strength on the Baltic Sea issue, especially if he wanted to win at sea, the effect would be even more obvious.

"But this is only a temporary authority. When you accompany the fleet at sea, you can take this deputy commander on board the ship. But who do you want to choose to go on the ship with you?"

Alexander even looked at Chichakov and his son aside - the old Chichakov was also an admiral. He had retired for 11 years. This time he came to the Winter Palace to meet him because Alexander was asking Ushakov to serve as an adviser. At the same time, there is always a need for someone to balance the opinions.

Old Chichakov was the calmer one among the admirals, while Ushakov's characteristics were more radical. Some even said that if old Chichakov was willing to expand the results, even Gustav III would give him After catching it, there was no need for the unlucky foreigner to end up overturning his car in the bay.

Alexander was willing to give this power, but the attitude of the Admiralty and the two advisors was also critical.