The first Marine Architecture School (Naval Engineering Institute) in the world founded

On August 20 (31), 1798 Emperor Paul I approved the report of the “Committee for establishment of schools for navigation and naval architecture students”. Thus the first Naval Engineering Institutes (Marine Architecture Schools) in the world were created in St. Petersburg and Nikolayev.

The schools were charged with preparation of the Admiralties, ports and control expeditions of shipwrights and their apprentices as well as training of young people for different positions in the Marine Department.

Nikolayev Marine Architecture School had existed for 5 years only. In 1803 it was closed down. Its students were transferred to St. Petersburg School.

St. Petersburg School accepted children of nobles, officers and soldiers aged 12-14 who knew how to read and write, were healthy and talented. The study course lasted for 6 years. The first graduation was in 1805. By 1827 the School had trained about 70 shipwrights for the Navy.

Due to the development of steam armored cruisers, the need for specialists, able to operate complex machineries and arms, increased. In 1856 the School started to prepare ship engineers, mechanical engineers and marine artillerymen. It was now called Engineering and Artillery School under the Marine Department.

In 1898 in honor of its 100th anniversary the School was renamed into the “Imperial Marine Engineering School of Nikolai I”. Almost 30 years later it was renamed into F. E. Dzerzhinsky Naval Engineering School.

In 1939 the School was awarded with the Order of Lenin and received the name of F. E. Dzerzhinsky High Naval Engineering School of Lenin Order.

During the Great Patriotic war the students of the School fought heroically as members of marine infantry brigades. Over 2 000 of them were awarded with orders and medals. During the peace time the graduates of F. E. Dzerzhinsky High Naval Engineering School of Lenin Order received Leningrad and State Prizes of USSR and some of them were even awarded with the ranks of the Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Socialist Labor for development and adoption of new equipment.

During the post-war age the construction of the new Navy of the Soviet Union required a broader training of naval engineers. New Naval Engineering Schools became successors of the former Marine Architecture School. From the middle of 1950s these schools began to prepare specialists for new areas related to atomic and gas-turbine naval energetics. In the end of 1970s such a profession as engineer-rescuer appeared, in the beginning of 1980s – engineer-ecologist.

In the beginning of 1990s after the collapse of USSR, it was engineering schools of St. Petersburg and Pushkin (F. E. Dzerzhinsky High Naval Engineering School and V. I. Lenin High Naval Engineering School) which prepared engineers for the Navy. In 1998 on the basis of these two schools the Naval Engineering Institute was formed under the decree of the RF Government.

Lit.: Всероссийская научно-практическая конференция, посвященная 200-летию образования Училища Корабельной Архитектуры — Высшего военно-морского инженерного училища имени Ф. Э. Дзержинского: Сб. материалов конференции. Ч. 1—2. СПб., 1998; Дом Бухарина — Училище корабельной архитектуры [Электронный ресурс] // Архитектурный сайт Санкт-Петербурга. 2007–2012. URL: http://www.citywalls.ru/house1726.html; Иванов А. Е. Высшие учебные заведения России в конце XIX — начале XX в. М., 1991; История училища [Электронный ресурс] // Флот. 1998–2013. URL: http://flot.com/edu/admiralty/hist-u.htm; Пароменский А. И. Исторический очерк Морского инженерного училища императора Николая I. 1798–1898. СПб., 1898–1911. Вып. I–III; Усик Н. П., Полях Я. И. Высшее военно-морское инженерное ордена Ленина училище им. Ф. Э. Дзержинского. Л., 1976.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Полное собрание законов Российской Империи. Собрание 1-е. СПб., 1830. Т. 25 (1798–1799). № 18634.