Russian frigate Oryol
Encyclopedia
The frigate Oryol was the first Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-built warship, commissioned by Tsar Alexis I
Alexis I of Russia
Aleksey Mikhailovich Romanov was the Tsar of Russia during some of the most eventful decades of the mid-17th century...
to protect Russian trading ships on the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
. The Oryol was built between 1667 and 1669 by the developing shipyard in Dedinovo
Dedinovo
Dedinovo is a village in Lukhovitsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on both sides of the Oka River 12 km north of Lukhovitsy and 110 km south-west of Moscow. Population: 3,615....
, on the Oka River
Oka River
Oka is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds...
.
Although the Oryol was captured and burned in 1670, it has achieved lasting importance as a symbol of the birth of Russian naval power.
The Oryol is often considered the first Russian sailing ship of Western European type, even though the Frederick (or Friedrich) was built in 1636 in Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
. However, the Frederick sailed in the service of Holstein-Gottorp
Holstein-Gottorp
Holstein-Gottorp or Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that were ruled by the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. Other parts of the duchies were ruled by the kings of Denmark. The...
, not Russia, having been constructed as a joint venture using Russian labor and materials, but Holstein funds and expertise.
Construction
During the 17th Century, Russia and Persia developed closer commercial ties, exchanging extravagant embassies and trading in cloth, silk, and other goods. Shipping was conducted across the Caspian SeaCaspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
and through the Volga River
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
, with Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
as commercial center. This route served to open Persia to commerce not only with Russia but with all of Europe; Dutch and English traders were active, and Adam Olearius
Adam Olearius
Adam Olearius , born Adam Ölschläger or Oehlschlaeger, was a German scholar, mathematician, geographer and librarian...
was sent as an emissary from Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
.
In order to protect this growing trade, Tsar Alexis I ordered a naval shipbuilding program. The shipyard was constructed south-west of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in Dedinovo
Dedinovo
Dedinovo is a village in Lukhovitsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on both sides of the Oka River 12 km north of Lukhovitsy and 110 km south-west of Moscow. Population: 3,615....
, a town on the Oka River
Oka River
Oka is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds...
in present-day Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...
. The project was placed under the Novgorod Chancery, supervised by the boyar Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin
Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin
Afanasy Lavrentievich Ordin-Naschokin was one of the greatest Russian statesmen of the 17th century. His career is quite unprecedented in Russian history, as he was the first petty noble to attain the boyar title and highest offices of state owing not to family connections but due to his personal...
. Experienced sailors were hired from Amsterdam, and the Karnelius van Bockhoiven, a Dutchman living in Moscow, was hired for his shipbuilding expertise. The Oryol was the first large ship produced, along with a yacht and two smaller vessels. It was a three-masted sailing ship, 24.5 meters in length, 6.5 m wide, and displacing 250 metric tons. It had a crew of 23 sailors and 35 soldiers, and was armed with 22 guns.
Although the Oryol was launched in 1668, it was not yet finished and spent the winter at dock in Dedinovo. It finally left the shipyard on May 7, 1669, under the command of the Irishman David Butler, who had been brought from the Netherlands.
The warship sailed down the Volga to its base in Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
, from which it would protect shipping
on the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
.
Destruction
The Oryol arrived in Astrakhan in August of 1669, but never fulfilled its mission and may never have sailed on the Caspian Sea. The rebel forces of Stenka RazinStenka Razin
Stepan Timofeyevich Razin Тимофеевич Разин, ; 1630 – ) was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia.-Early life:...
were raiding Russian towns, and the ship's guns and men were ordered to defend Astrakhan while the ship sat at anchor. Some of the ship's guns were removed to the citadel, and when the Cossacks attacked the city in June of 1670, the Oryol was at anchor and undefended.
The rebels took the ship and either burned it or disabled and abandoned it in a channel of the river.
Captain Butler's own account of the occupation of Astrakhan and the destruction of the Oryol was published in 1683 along with the voyages of the Dutch traveler
Jan Struys.
Symbolic significance
The image of a sailing ship at the top of the Admiralty spire in Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
bears a strong resemblance to, and may have been modeled after, the Oryol. The original golden weather-vane, work of the Dutch master Harmen van Bol'es, remained in place until 1886, when it was moved to the Admiralty's naval museum and replaced with an exact copy.
The three-masted ship has become an emblem of the
city of Saint Petersburg.
The earliest record of the Russian white, blue, and red tricolor
Flag of Russia
The flag of Russia is a tricolour flag of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896...
comes from the flag flown on
the Oryol. This flag was later made standard for all Russian ships by Peter the Great.
There are several traditional explanations for the choice of colors. According to one version, the design was based on the
Dutch flag in honor of the ship's builders and crew. Alternatively, the three colors may have been taken from the
insignia of the Grand Duchy of Moscow
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....
.