Kronstadt, also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt, is a municipal town in
Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located
on Kotlin Island, 30 kilometers west of St. Petersburg proper near the head of
the Gulf of Finland. Population: 43,005 (2010 Census); 43,385 (2002
Census). It is also St. Petersburg's main
seaport. In March 1921, it was the site of the Kronstadt rebellion.
Traditionally, the seat of the Russian admiralty and the base of the Russian
Baltic Fleet were located in Kronstadt guarding the approaches to Saint
Petersburg. The historic centre of the city and its fortifications are part of
the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
Kronstadt has been a place of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians for many years
due to the holy memory of Saint John of Kronstadt. Bus and water tours to
Kronstadt are taken daily from Saint Petersburg.
Kronstadt was the birthplace of Pyotr Kapitsa, co-recipient of the 1978 Nobel
Prize in Physics. History
Kronstadt was founded by Peter the Great, who took the island of Kotlin
from the Swedes in 1703. Pushkin's great-grandfather, Abram Petrovich
Gannibal, oversaw its construction. The first fortifications were inaugurated on
May 18, 1704. These fortifications, known as
Kronstadt's Forts, were constructed very quickly. During the winter the Gulf of
Finland freezes completely. Workers used thousands of frames made of oak logs
filled with stones. These were carried by horses across the frozen sea, and
placed in cuttings made in the ice. Thus, several new small islands were
created, and forts were erected on them, closing all access to Saint-Petersburg
by the sea. Only two narrow navigable channels remained, and the strongest
forts guarded them. Kronstadt was thoroughly refortified in
the 19th century. The old three-decker forts, five in number, which formerly
constituted the principal defences of the place, and defied the Anglo-French
fleets during the Crimean War, became of secondary importance. From the plans of
Eduard Totleben a new fort, Constantine, and four batteries were constructed to
defend the principal approach, and seven batteries to cover the shallower
northern channel. All these fortifications were low and thickly
armored earthworks, powerfully armed with heavy Krupp guns in turrets. The
town itself is surrounded with an enceinte.
In summer 1891, the French fleet was officially—and triumphantly—received in
Kronstadt. It was a first step towards the coming Franco-Russian Alliance.
= Russian Civil War= During the Petrograd riots of the
February revolution, the sailors of Petrograd joined the revolution and
executed their officers, thus gaining a reputation as dedicated revolutionaries.
During the civil war, the sailors participated on the red side, until
1921, when they rebelled against the Bolshevik rule.
Kronstadt and the supporting forts and minefields were the key to the
protection of Petrograd from foreign forces. Despite this, the cruiser Oleg
was torpedoed and sunk by a small motor boat after participating in a
bombardment of Krasnaya Gorka fort that had revolted against the Bolsheviks.
This was followed on August 18, 1919, by a raid of seven Royal Navy Coastal Motor
Boats into the harbor of Kronstadt itself, damaging the Soviet battleships
Petropavlovsk and Andrei Pervozvanny, and sinking a submarine supply ship, the
Pamiat Azova. = Kronstadt Rebellion=
In 1921, a group of navy officers and sailors, soldiers as well as their
civilian supporters rebelled against the Bolshevik government in Soviet
Kronstadt. The garrison had previously been a centre of major support for the
Bolsheviks, and throughout the Civil War of 1917–1921, the navy of Kronstadt had
been at the vanguard of the main Bolshevik attacks. Their demands
included "freedom of speech", a stop to the deportation to work camps, a change
in Soviet war politics, and liberation of the soviets from "party control".
After brief negotiations, Leon Trotsky responded by sending the army to
Kronstadt, along with the Cheka. The uprising was thus suppressed.
= World War II= In the late 1930s, Kronstadt lived the
life of the fortified city and was the base of the Baltic Fleet. During that
time Kronstadt was an important training center of the Soviet Navy. The Kronstadt
Ship Repair Plant overhauled and repaired surface ships and submarines of
the Baltic Fleet. All forts and batteries of the city were under
reconstruction. At 23:37 on June 21, 1941, the
operational readiness of Fleet Number 1 was announced by Baltic Fleet Commander
Vice Admiral V. Tributs according to the order of the People's Commissar of the
Navy. Several hours later the first German aircraft began mining the fairway
near Kronstadt. The duty officer ordered antiaircraft batteries to open fire on
the enemy planes; several aircraft were shot down or damaged. Twenty-seven
German planes took part at the first attack, and three of them were destroyed
by the anti-aircraft guns of the 1st Air Defence Regiment of the Baltic Fleet.
This regiment was situated on the southern forts.
During World War II, Kronstadt was bombed several times by the Luftwaffe.
In August 1941 the Luftwaffe began bombing Kronstadt regularly. The most
notable bombing was Stuka ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel's sinking of the
Soviet battleship Marat. To prevent an enemy landing, 13
artillery batteries were established in Kronstadt and nine more batteries beyond
the city,. The main lookout was located in the Naval Cathedral. Visual range
reached 45 km. The coastal defense of Kronstadt included two infantry
regiments. In late August, the Red Army in the
Baltic States was in a critical situation. Tallinn, the main base of the
fleet, was in danger and a decree to relocate the fleet from Tallinn to
Kronstadt was given. By the time the Soviets had decided on a maritime
evacuation of Tallinn, over 200 Soviet civilian and military vessels had been
assembled in the harbor of Tallinn. After the evacuation of Tallinn, the
submarine subdivision had been organized in Kronstadt. By the end of 1941, 82
naval operations were made.. Hitler was enraged, because Soviet submarines
frequently disrupted military supplies of strategic materials from Sweden to
Germany. The Germans tried to block completely the exit from the Gulf of
Finland with antisubmarine nets and mines. Despite these efforts, the Soviet
submariners continued to attack German ships. In 1942, 29 German vessels were
sunk. Submarines cooperated with reconnaissance aircraft in searching for
military targets. But the Soviet submarines had broken
through the mine barrages in the Gulf of Finland easily in 1942. To keep the
Soviet submarine force away from the Baltic shipping stronger efforts were
planned. The minefields would be larger and in addition a double submarine net
would be laid from Porkkala to Naissaari, Operation "Walross". The
blocking of the Gulf of Finland had been a 100% effective anti-submarine
operation. But in 1944, when Finland was defeated and provided several bases to
the Soviet Navy, the submarine warfare in the Baltic Sea reached a new and
final stage. The Baltic Fleet sent more than 125,000
people to serve ashore at the front. Eighty-three thousand people fought
directly on the Leningrad Front. For the protection of Leningrad 10 brigades of
marines, four regiments, and more than 40 separate battalions and companies
were formed in Kronstadt. The Luftwaffe and German artillery
brought down thousands of bombs and shells to the Naval Plant and the
Arsenal factory. The German air raids in September 1941, damaged the Baltic Fleet
ships and infrastructure of the Plant. Several sections of the Plant were
destroyed, the docks were showered with falling bombs, and dozens of workers and
engineers were killed. Nevertheless, the plant continued its work. In the
difficult conditions of the siege, the workers persevered with their work.
Often the working day lasted for 18–20 hours.
It was thanks to the power of the Kronstadt Fortress that the destruction
of Leningrad was successfully prevented. Kronstadt was conferred the status of
"City of Military Glory" by the President of the Russian Federation
Dmitriy Medvedev on April 27, 2009, for "courage, endurance and mass heroism,
exhibited by defenders of the city in the struggle for the freedom and
independence of the Motherland". Main sights
The town of Kronstadt is built on level ground and is thus exposed to flooding,
most notably in 1824. On the south side of the town there are three harbors: the
large western or merchant harbor, the western flank of which is formed by a
great mole joining the fortifications which traverse the breadth of the island
on this side; the middle harbor, used chiefly for fitting out and repairing
vessels; and the eastern or war harbor for vessels of the Russian Navy. The
Peter and Catherine Canals, communicating with the merchant and
middle harbours, traverse the town. Between them stood the old Italian
palace of Prince Menshikov, the site of which was later occupied by a pilot
school. In the second half of the 18th century the building of former Italian
palace began to be used for various military training institutions. In
1771–1798 the Sea Cadet Corps housed here. The Cadet Corps was transferred to
St Petersburg and from 1798 to 1872 the Navigating School situated in the former
palace. Near with the former Italian palace the
Kronstadt sea-gauge is situated. Sea level observations began in St.
Petersburg in 1703. On Kotlin Island, with main naval fortress of the Russian
Empire, it began in 1707. This monitoring was necessary because level
of the Finnish Gulf could change considerably in a short time, creating
problems for shipping. The annual flood also required close monitoring of the
water level. The Kronstadt sea-gauge with the tide gauge pavilion is the zero
level of the Baltic system of depths and heights. All depths and altitudes in
Russia and some other countries are measured from the level of Kronstadt sea
gauge. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, ironically said in 1967 that this
is it the Hub of the Universe. The modern town's most striking landmark
is the enormous Naval Cathedral, built from 1908 to 1913 and considered to
represent a culmination of Russian Neo-Byzantine architecture. The older St
Andrew Cathedral, formerly Kronstadt's pride and beauty, was destroyed on
Communist orders in 1932. St John of Kronstadt, one of the most venerated
Russian saints, served there as a priest from 1855 to 1908.
Among other public buildings are the Naval Hospital, the British Seamen's
Hospital, the Civic Hospital, the Admiralty, the arsenal, dockyards and
foundries, the School of Marine Engineering, and the English Church. The
port is ice-bound for 140–160 days in the year, from the beginning of December
to April. A very large proportion of the inhabitants are sailors.
The Kronstadt Sea Fortress used to be considered the most fortified port in
the world. Kronstadt still retains some of the "forts", small fortified
artificial islands. Formerly, there were 22 such forts, situated in line between
the southern and northern shores of the Gulf of Finland. Some fortifications
were located inside the city itself and one was on the western shore of the
Kronslot Island. Nowadays, the construction of the Saint
Petersburg Dam has led to some of the forts being demolished. The dam also
permitted Kronstadt and some of the forts to be reached without using a
boat. Among the most important surviving forts are Fort Konstantin, the biggest
in the Gulf of Finland; Fort Rif on the western shore of the island; and the
particularly well-preserved Fort Alexander I. The largest and the newest
of the forts, built at the beginning of the 20th century, is Fort Totleben,
named after Eduard Totleben. International relations
= Twin towns and sister cities= Kronstadt is twinned with:
References This article incorporates text from a
publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. Encyclopædia
Britannica. Cambridge University Press. External links
Kronstadt history Kronstadt web site
Map of Kronstadt Kronstadt: Virtual Excursion
International Kronstadt Development Fund Visit Kronstadt Naval Cathedral in 60
seconds Kronstadt Fortress