ON A 'RED' BATTLESHIP

Southland Times, Issue 18622, 21 August 1919, Page 2

ON A 'RED' BATTLESHIP

BOLSHEVIK DISCIPLINE.

MEN INSULT THEIR OFFICERS,

An interesting document has just come into my hands, writes a Russian correspondent. It is a description of a couple of days on board one* of the remaining Russian mcn-of-war, now belonging to the Bolshevik fleet. The battleship in question was at the time —December, 1918 —and, I* believe, still is, lying off one of the shipbuilding yards on the Neva at Petrograd. She was disarming and preparing to go out of commission for the winter, but the whole crew, the officers included, were still on board, as there was a lot of work to be completed before the ship could be handed over to the port authorities. -The author, of the document in question was in some way connected with this work to be completed before the ship could be handed over to the port authorities, had to pass a certain time on board, where he was received as a friendly visitor by the officers. The latter, despite their unwillingness to sen/e the Bolsheviks, were not allowed to resign, and had to continue their service under almost impossible condition. By informant writes:—

“I crossed a long and shaky gangway to get on board the flagship, distinguished by a broad red stripe at the topmast head, and, picking my way with great difficulty up the inclined, ice-covered, slippery deck, I went straight to the officers’ quarters, without being stopped by any sentry. Evidently no watch was kept on board, or the members of the watch preferred to stay below out of the cold. The executive or senior officers (they arc called first metes now in the Red fleet) met the visitor in the officers’ messroom and welcomed him to a cabin. It was pointed out that he would have to do all the cabin-work himself, as no servants were allowed to the officers by the ship's committee. One of the former stewards volunteered to continue his work in the messroom for extra pay, but the committee refused their permission because of the “de-„ grading character” of such work for a free sailor.

MUSIC AND DANCING

The depression prevailing in the officers' inessroom was in striking contrast with the liveliness prevailing in the sailors’ quarters, whence was beard all day long the sound of several gramophones and the shuffle of dancing. The executive officer, or first mate, explained that the pay for the disarmament work was additional to the regular pay—the men received 22.25 roubles a day for it—and that only those sailors worked who wanted to earn extra money; the sailors who were content with their regular pay—7oo roubles a month (£7O) for an ordinary seaman —were not to work. So they spent their time singing and dancing and gambling. The visitor had to witness a disagreeable incident between a lieutenant —the second engineer—and the chief stoker, responsible for the fuel on board. The officer was sent by his chief to inquire how much naptha oil there was left in the tanks, butr on doing so he was advised by the chief stoker to dive into the pit-hole himself or “Go to hell!” When warned that he was on duty and must be civil, the man retorted, rising the second person singular: “Oh, those times have passed when we had to report. Go and see for yourself,and report to me, or I’ll chuck you off the ship and take you to the Gorohovaia!” (the headquarters of the Communist police). The young officer was saved from ill-treatment by the president of the ship’s committee, who was passing by chance at the moment and succeeded in restoring peace. The incident was reported afterwards to the Admiralty, but without any result, and the second engineer had to ask for a transfer to another ship. AN UNSAVORY MEAL. At noon, when the men were piped to dinner, one of the officers, whose turn it was, went to the galley to fetch the soup, which proved a horrid concoction of hot water and oil, with cabbage leaves and microscopic bits of horseflesh floating in it. A piece of bread, a plate of soup, and a cup of tea formed the menu, which was repeated for supper at 5 p.m. The offices,.. •, men, received two pounds of sugar and one pound of butter or oil per month. One hour before supper, at 4 p.m., the working day ended, and most of the crew went ashore. The officers stayed on board, because the theatres or other places of amusement were too expensive for them, and visits to friends in town were quite out of the question under the prevailing conditions.

A CHILLY NIGHT. The visitor also stayed oh board, where a painful experience awaited him. The ship’s boilers being out of order, she was heated bv steam from a tug. At 4*p.m. the tug left to coal, and refused to return after coaling, as the crew wanted to go to the theatre. Orders were of no avail, so the man-of-war had to send a special delegation on board the tug to implore the engineers to come back and save those on board the warship from being frozen in their hammocks during the After protracted negotiations an agreement was concluded, and the tug returned, but when the steam pipes had to be connected it was found that the engineer who knew how to make the connections had already left for the theatre, and had locked up his keys and instruments where nobody could find them. So the ship had to remain unheated for the night. /The frost, luckily, was not very acute; the thermometer did not fall below 12deg. or 13deg. Fahrenheit. But next morning the pipes were frozen, and when heating was re-es-tablished at 8 a.m. the pipe communicating [ with the officers’ quarters burst, and the [officers’ mess-room and cabins got full of (steam, which ruined the panelling and upholstery; the damage done, was estimated at £2OOO.