Skip to content

← Home

Aviation of the Black Sea Fleet

The development and combat deployment of naval (shipborne) aviation of the Black Sea Fleet at the dawn of its existence — from the first seaplanes of World War I to the Ukrainian heritage of naval aviation in 1918.

Overview

Black Sea Fleet aviation emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and immediately became an instrument of active naval warfare. Long before Pearl Harbor, during World War I, fleet aircraft carried out the first air raid on an enemy base in naval warfare history. Ship-based seaplanes played a special role, capable of taking off and landing wherever there was water, as did seaplane tenders (hydro-aircraft carriers) — ships from which floatplanes were launched onto the water. Among the pioneers of naval aviation was Ukrainian Vsevolod Marchenko, whose name, despite his victories, remained forgotten.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • First Air Raids at Sea: on January 24, 1916, naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet conducted a massive bomber raid on the Turkish coal port of Zonguldak — a strategically vital fuel supply site for German and Turkish squadrons. By World War I standards, this was equivalent to an air raid on an oil terminal.
  • 1915 Experience: ship-based seaplanes of the Black Sea Fleet had already bombed Tsargrad (Istanbul) in 1915. During the Zonguldak raid, 14 floatplanes were launched onto the water from the seaplane tenders Imperator Aleksandr I and Imperator Nikolay I, dropping nearly 400 kg of bombs; one hit the coal transport Irmingard, which sank.
  • Seaplane Carriers: the fleet included the tenders Aleksandr I, Nikolay I, Almaz, and the requisitioned Romanian vessels Imperator Traian, Dacia, Principesa Maria, and Regele Carol. After 1917, seven such carriers of the collapsed empire passed as a legacy to the newly formed Ukrainian State.
  • Aircraft Designer Hryhorovych: Kyiv native Dmytro Hryhorovych, a graduate of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, was considered the "king" of seaplanes; aircraft of his design were designated with the letter "M" (maritime/marine).
  • First Submarine Torpedo Attack on an Aircraft: during the return from the Zonguldak raid, the carrier group was attacked by German submarine UB-7; its torpedo missed, only damaging a seaplane's float (one of the aircraft was piloted by Lieutenant Marchenko).
  • Vsevolod Marchenko (1890–1938): Black Sea Fleet aviation pilot native to Podillia; graduated from the Odesa Naval Aviation School in 1915. Organizer and commander of all hydro-aviation in Kolchak's army (commended in an order of September 2, 1919), later an instructor in Spain and participant in the Spanish Civil War on the Francoist side; died on October 3, 1938, near Alcañiz.

Contradictions and Open Questions

  • The article is publicist in tone and does not provide references to archival documents regarding the exact number and names of all tenders that passed to Ukraine in 1918; these data should be cross-referenced with documents from the Central State Archives of Supreme Bodies of Power and Government of Ukraine (TsDAVO).
  • Vsevolod Marchenko's place in Ukrainian historical memory remains poorly studied — the source notes that his name has been forgotten in Ukraine.