On November 3, 2016 the Central Naval Museum opened a photo exhibition «The Maritime Russia» dedicated to 320th anniversary of the Russian Navy.
October 30, 2016 marked 320 years since the establishment of the regular Navy in Russia – the Boyar Duma (State Assembly) proclaimed: «The sea vessels shall exist!»
The Central Naval Museum offers a photographic exhibition to the visitors covering a relatively short period of time, a little more than 100 years. The unique materials from the negative photographs fund of the Central Naval Museum cover the historical period from the end of XIX century to the present day.
The battleships and cruisers in the shipyards of the Admiralty, Baltic and other plants. We will see the Russian seamen in France, Italy, England, North America. The years 1880-1890s are known for the extensive use of the fleet for political purposes, which is typical of the reign of Emperor Alexander III. This period was non-durable, though contributed to frequency of visits of the Russian ships to different states. The demonstration of the flag and the sea power of our country in foreign ports had a great influence on the world politics.
The Russian shipbuilding, reaching a high level of development before the First World War, experienced an innermost decline following the 1917 Revolution and the ensuing Civil War. The mass-scale withdrawal of vessels from the fleet, commercial scrapping and lengthy downtime of marine craft affected adversely the military power of the state, led to the loss of shipbuilding industry development dynamics. The realization of all this prompted the political leadership of that time to the need to restore the fleet, specifically shipbuilding. Many of the photographs presented at the exhibition reflect the shipbuilders’ work in the harsh conditions of the 1920s. They remind, by the choice of composition, the works by a famous Petersburg photographer K. Bulla who dedicated his creative heritage to the industrial industry to a great extent.
The rivalry of the opposing social systems was most expressly reflected in the military sphere. The design and construction of ships in the context of the Second World War lasted for a relatively short time. This was replaced by new solutions engendered by the scientific and technological revolution. Of special interest in this respect are photo materials presented at the exhibition, regarding one particular ship, those typical of the 1970-1980-ies of the last century.
The antenna posts, communication facilities and electronic warfare means, artillery weapons and rocket launchers highlight very well the fact that the warships had strengthened their importance for a wide range of missions of naval warfare.
