The first navy regiment formed in Russia

27 November 1705

The struggle of Russia for the access to the sea had proved the need for the specialized navy units for boarding, gun fire from the ships, landing operations carrying out. Thus at the height of the Northern war in autumn of 1704 Peter I decided to “create the navy regiments (their number depending on the fleet) and to distribute them among captains for good; they should choose corporals and sergeants among old soldiers for a better drill training and order”. One year later it was decided to form a single navy regiment on the basis of the separate ships’ companies.

The tsar entrusted the Admiral General F.A. Golovin with the regiment’s organization. On November 16 (27), 1705 the latter gave the respective order to the vice-Admiral K.I. Kryuis informing him that “under the Decree of His Majesty it has to be one navy regiment, therefore I ask you to form it from 1200 soldiers so that each of them had a rifle and other equipment. Should there won’t be enough of them, we will have to recruit”. From this very moment originates the Russian marines.

The officers for the Russian marines were originally chosen from non-commissioned officers of     Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky Lifeguard regiments who were trained and gained the fighting experience during the Northern war. Rank and file was notable for its social, national and religious homogeneity. This fact contributed to maintenance of the Russian marines’ high spirits unlike their colleagues from European states fleets who worked for hire.

It was historically established that the marines served on the war ships, supported the crew during the battle, carried out the raids on the shore line, protected the ship’s officers from possible crew revolts, guarded ports and naval bases, fulfilled the functions of landing forces.

In memory of the first marines regiment creation under the reign of Peter I, in 1996, according to the order of the Navy Commander in Chief the day of November 27 was declared the professional holiday – the Day of marines.

Lit.: Морской пехотинец. 310 лет служения России. Ноябрь 2015; То же [Электронный ресурс]. Б. д. URL: http://www.mpeh.ru/magazines/11-2015/11-2015.pdf; Полковник запаса Абрамов Е. Феномен морской пехоты [Электронный ресурс] // Морской пехотинец. Б. д. URL: http://www.mpeh.ru/articles/detail.php?SECTION_ID=100&ELEMENT_ID=612; Юхимчук В. А. С корабля в бой // Армия и флот. 2002. № 3 (159).