Basic principles of the Russian Navy were summarized in the Naval Regulations of Peter the Great

297 years ago, on January 24, 1720, Peter the Great (Peter I) approved the first Russian Naval Regulations, the development of which was carried out for several years with the active participation of the emperor himself. The Presidential Library on its website reviews a content of this initial regulations, many provisions of which are based laid down by on the Peter I basic principles of the organization of the state Russian fleet. Apart from a variety of rules and regulations of a warship, Tsar assume the most important following position: “The officer must be like a father to his subordinates, to take care of their contentment, to listen to their complaints and to judge these correctly: also to keep an eye on their deeds and to reward for the good ones and to punish for the evil.”

The appearance of the Naval Regulations has been associated with a new stage in the history of the country. In the course of struggle for access to the sea, at the earliest possible quite a powerful flotilla was created in the Baltic Sea, which allowed Russia to become a maritime power. “Where there is a fleet, there is a harbor,” - Tsar use to say, personally leading the unprecedented first seen in Russia ship building: he could often be seen at the St. Petersburg shipyards with a chip-ax in his hand: the lessons which he has learned in the Netherlands came useful.

Already by 1725 the Russian fleet was one of the strongest in the Baltic Sea. It consisted of 48 battleships and frigates, 787 galleys and other vessels. The total number of people in the crews reached 28 thousand. To lead such armada was possible only at the system level, which Tsar Peter I has successfully undertaken, thinking out and laying open on paper the outlines of the first Russian code of naval rules.

In the introduction to the regulations, which replaced the previously existing unrelated documents regulating some aspects of naval life, the reasons for its occurrence was explained. “…Inasmuch the state has a great need in this very important industry (as in one proverb: that every potentate, who only has the ground forces, is missing one hand. And the one, who owns a fleet, has both hands) for this that Military Naval Regulations was created, so that everyone knows his position, and no one can excuse himself with unawareness.”

After three months, on the 13th (24) of April 1720, with the same goal of bringing the provisions of the new document to any sailormen, the Naval Regulations by imperial decree was published as a separate edition.

The regulations of Peter I consisted of five books. The first one contained the provisions on senior officers of the Navy and the articles defining the squadron tactics. The second included the orders on ranking, honors and the outward differences between the ships, “about the flags, bannerettes, lanterns, pyrotechnics and the trade banners...” The third book revealed a warship organization and the responsibilities assigned to the members of its crew. The fourth book consisted of six chapters, which were regulating the rules of a conduct on the ship, the number of officers' servants, according to the ranks, an order of distribution of supplies, the methods for determining compensation for the seizure of the enemy's ships, combat injuries and seniority, as well as methods of sharing a capture of the enemy's ships. The fifth book “On penalties” was a naval court and disciplinary statutes. There were also the forms of boat reporting statements attached to the Naval Regulations, the book of signals and the rules of patrol service.

The regulations of 1720 became the most important legal document of the Russian fleet. In completeness of its content and a depth of the explanation it was the most advanced for the first half of the XVIII century. Revised Naval Regulations of Peter I was re-released in 1724 with minor modifications, remaining in force until 1797, when it was replaced by a new, considered a change of notions about the methods of military operations.

There is an electronic copy of the Naval Regulations dated 1853 on the Presidential Library website. Many of its provisions are based on the principles laid down by Peter I, for example, Art. 4 of the section entitled “General duties of the Navy officials” states: “Senior crew members must give to crew members with lass seniority an example of the fair and diligent performance of their duties as on service level, so in the religious and ethical scope.”

Selection of materials related to the history of the Russian fleet increases in the Presidential Library with an active involvement in its building of the Navy experts, museum staff and the faculties of the largest higher naval schools, such as the Naval Academy named after Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union N. G. Kuznetsov. the An annual Day of Naval Knowledge already become in the Presidential Library a tradition, when hundreds of cadets and officers, teachers listen to reports about the outstanding historical figures and current achievements of the Navy. And, of course, special attention in the naval universities is paid to the study of the history and the foundations of naval affairs in Russia.

The main principles of the Russian Navy since the time of Peter I remain the same: “All ranks of the fleet at all times and under all circumstances should behave so as to maintain an honor of Russian name and a dignity of Russian flag.”