Naval Knowledge Day - 2019: a monument to Ushakov, the first Russian admiral and drawings of ships on tracing paper

The Presidential Library opened the Naval Knowledge Day on September 3, 2019. This tradition has been around for many years - almost as much as the Presidential Library itself, founded in 2009. The first meeting of sailors on Senate Square 3 was held on September 2, 2010.

Today’s Naval Knowledge Day brought together more than 400 participants. First, a greeting was voiced on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Nikolay Evmenov. He thanked the Presidential Library’s specialists for the great work in preserving the history and heroic pages of the Russian fleet, promoting naval knowledge and orienting young people to the choice of marine professions. Rear Admiral, Deputy Head of the Military Research Center of the Kuznetsov Naval Academy Alexander Karpov devoted his report to the outstanding admiral S. O. Makarov.

Tatyana Chekalova, executive secretary of the Maritime Council under the Government of St. Petersburg, recalled another outstanding naval commander canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church - F. F. Ushakov. Among other things, she mentioned plans to erect a monument to Ushakov at Ploshchad Truda in St. Petersburg in 2020.

Director General of the Nevsky Design Bureau Sergey Orlov, within the framework of the cooperation agreement signed in 2018, donated the Presidential Library a book “Ships are born here: the history of the Nevsky Design Bureau” with drawings of the ships executed on tracing paper, as in previous times.

Director of the Museum of the Admiral Senyavin St. Petersburg Maritime Technical College Tatyana Korotkikh devoted her speech to the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Osoel, which became the first naval victory of Russia in the Northern War of 1700-1721. She especially dwelt on the personality of the hero of that battle N. A. Senyavin - the first Russian by birth admiral (vice admiral) in Russia.

The digital collections of the Presidential Library, accessible to anyone, include many electronic copies of books and documents on Russian sailors: V. M. Golovnin, F. F. Bellingshausen, I. F. Krusenstern, Yu. F. Lisyansky, M. P. Lazarev, S. O. Makarov, G. I. Nevelsky and others.

The centers of remote access to the resources of the Presidential Library provide report on semicircular sailing around the early 19th century - "Notes by Captain Golovnin about his adventures in captivity by the Japanese in 1811, 1812 and 1813".

I. F. Krusenstern and Yu. F. Lisyansky made the first Russian circumnavigation in 1803–1806. The Presidential Library’s portal contains the collection Russian Circumnavigations. From Krusenstern to Sedov.

In 1819-1821, the first Russian Antarctic round-the-world expedition was undertaken. Its participants - M. P. Lazarev and F. F. Bellingshausen also left memories of their campaign.

Among the little-known pages of the history of the Russian fleet, one can mention the story of the Battle of Tsushima participant (1905), the future engineer-rear admiral V. A. Satkevich, who lived for nearly 100 years, was in Japanese captivity, and gathered an interesting collection of postcards with views of different countries.

The event was attended by representatives of the Leningrad Naval Base, the Central Naval Library, the Central Naval Museum, the Maritime Council under the Government of St. Petersburg, cadets and officers of the military training and scientific center of the Kuznetsov Navy Academy, the Makarov State University of the Sea and River Fleet, the Admiral D. N. Senyavin St. Petersburg Maritime Technical College.  The guests from Vladivostok, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Novosibirsk, Arkhangelsk, Sevastopol, Moscow joined the event via video-conferencing mode.