Vladivostok: Early Years

[Brian James]

Izumrud Class Protected Cruiser IRN Zhemchung with Bremen Class Light Cruiser SMS Leipzig and Armoured Cruiser SMS Scharnhorst,pictured at Vladivostok in 1911.

[ivorthediver]

Blimey it looks like a quite back water compared to today Brian .......

[timlewin]

I have never been to Scotland but I have been to Vladivostok twice, a magnificent harbour although when I was there in early 1990s, I think 1993 & 4 when Perestroika was in tis infancy the fleet at anchor looks sadly like fountain Lake in the 1950s. There is a museum submarine on the dockside open to the public which I visited, a large (possibly American) Pacific War era boat, and a converted church which was a maritime museum, disorderly but fascinating. When I was first there it had been a closed City until a few months before so a was a person of great curiosity, it was still very military, the plane I flew in, IL76, from Moscow was full of soldiers going home for Orthodox Christmas. The flight across Russia from Moscow to Vladi is actually longer than the flight from Moscow to Los Angeles.
tim

[designeraccd]

I believe the museum sub you toured was the WW2 soviet built S-56; deck gun and all! She obviously survived the War which was perhaps her major "feat"....

IIRC this class owed a lot to German design efforts' on behalf of the Soviets. OTOH, that wardroom looks positively roomy compared to any spaces I remember on the German U-505!! Nothing like being all equals.... DFO

[ivorthediver]

Great shots of her there thanks Dennis , and for the research into her origins .

Nice to see her being cared for to .

[timlewin]

that's the one but she looks way better now than when I visited, its because of her size, Pacific is a big ocean, that I thought she might have been a L-L transfer. As you say, pretty spacious compared with Alliance! Vladivostok back then was very run down and dilapidated, the topography is not unlike San Francisco with steep hills leading down to Golden Horn Bay (As opposed to Golden Gate) Many of the Russians there were transferred as part of the military and very much more overtly patriotic than the more relaxed folks in Moscow or European Russia.

[designeraccd]

Here are 2 shots of the old, large cruiser GROMBOI in drydock at (presumably) Vladivostok after being mined in the Russo-Japanese War. The dark (greenish-brown?) color gives away the war period. The dry dock obviously shows some level of improvement had been worked into the area quite early. DFO

[ivorthediver]

Great shots Dennis , thank you surprised they got her back with a hole that big eh

[designeraccd]

A newsprint photo, so not to clear, but it gives a fair panoramic view of Vladivostok in 1904. One can see where the dry dock is! DFO

[timlewin]

super shot, it is potentially a beautiful city, the Bay is superb and the surrounding countryside or Primorye is spectacularly lovely especially in Autumn, The region was just beyond the edge of the ice age and thus possesses a range of flora not found anywhere else in Europe/Russia. My first visit was in January 1993, when winter prevailed, frozen sea, minus 20C or lower but the second visit was in September 1994 when the entire forest, vast, was red/gold. Vladi is, or was then, specifically a military port/city, the commercial port is a bit North at Nakhodka, home of the FESCO (Far East Shipping Company, now private but then still State-owned). Japan is less than 200 miles East with regular ferries, this is truly the land of the Russian rising sun. back when I was there it reminded me of San Francisco the day after the earthquake, very neglected an quite obviously starved of funding for a long time, Perestoika did not happen overnight, it was a long time festering. I am sure now its a whole different place.
tim