350 years ago in Russia started the shipbuilding industry. This event gave a reasin to the Russian Historical Society, in cooperation with the Ministry of industry to open the exhibition devoted to the history of Russian navigation. The exhibition will be the first in a series designed by the government exhibits about the history and development of Russian industries.
At the opening of exhibition round table was held. Sergey Naryshkin, Chairman of the Russian historical society and Director of the foreign intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, headed the meeting, in which took part the Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Denis Manturov, Director of the Institute of Russian history RAS Yury Petrov, Director, State Public Historical Library of M. D. Afanasiev and others.
In addition to education, the government has a practical purpose: to raise the industry that was formerly included in the top ten of the global civil shipbuilding, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union it lost tenfold. Sergey Naryshkin expressed hope that the history of shipbuilding will be the driver of industry development. Denis Manturov, whose Ministry is preparing a massive restructuring programme of shipbuilding until 2030, introduced “new approaches based on tradition.” According to the Minister: “the State, the same as 350 years ago, will be the key curator and organizer of industry”, which today is formed by the 182 enterprises and related production.
History of shipbuilding production starts from the decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to build in the suburbs (the village of Dedinovo) frigate “Eagle” (Orel), which was done under the guidance of the Dutch masters of Russian carpenters in 1667-1669. A prototype of Russian frigate was a Dutch ship “pinnace” with a crew of 56 people. Through the whole history of the country is the “Eagles” were on guard of the Fatherland, and to this day the layout of the “Eagle” decorated with the spire of the St. Petersburg Admiralty, founded in 1704. A thlso the frigate “Eagle” is associated with the first Russian flag and the coat of arms of Russia, because before that Russian ships sailed nameless and without a flag.
But the traditions of navigation in Russia, said Yury Petrov, originated in ancient times. Our ancestors had the Kiev boats, which sailed to Byzantium, Novgorod eyelet who roamed the North-Eastern frontiers of the country, and the Pomeranian Kochi, sailing in storms and ice. The residents of the village of Dedinovo were famous for their ability to build other boats – canoes and planes, so they were entrusted with the honor to build “eagle”.
Peter I firstly visited Arkhangelsk in 1690, and saw the sea. There he got the dream to build the fleet. In 1692 the king created a Funny (Poteshny) fleet in Veskovo, which up to now kept the Botik “Fortuna” (exhibit of the Museum-estate “Botik”). In 1693 in Arkhangelsk he built shipyard where produced the first Russian military ship “the Apostle Paul”.
The construction of the Baltic fleet, connected with the Northern war of Peter the Great (1700-1721), already got a few dozen sailing ships. Under Nicholas I, and especially when Alexandre II and III the fleet acquires power, and by the end of the XIX century it becomes the third in the world, second only to the “mistress of the seas” England and France.
The exhibition presents also an excellent books on the history of shipbuilding, seafaring and travel. They came from the State Historical Library. Among them there is the book from collection of articles composed by M. D. Hmyrov – a retired naval officer who sacrificed himself to collecting articles on the history of Russia in General and Navy in particular, which amounted to 6 volumes of great historical value.
At the round table was declared an initiative of A. Rakhmanov (President of JSC “United shipbuilding Corporation”) to set June 29 as a Federal holiday – Day of the shipbuilder, because this day was signed the said order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, which started the construction of the frigate “eagle”. S. Naryshkin supported the initiative.
Sources: The Russian Historical Society, State Historical Library
