Исследуется роль С.А. Изенбека, направленного Морским генеральным штабом в качестве специального представителя русского флота на Гранд Флит, в военно-морском сотрудничестве России и Великобритании в 1916–1917 гг. На основе дневника, который он вел, находясь в Великобритании, рассматривается выполнение данной задачи, его участие в обмене новейшими образцами вооружений, изучается передача С.А. Изенбеком англичанам российского опыта.Ключевые слова: С. Изенбек, русский флот, британский флот, Российская империя, Великобритания, российско-британские отношения, Первая мировая война, артиллерия
With the outbreak of World War I, the exchange of scientific and technical information between Russia and Great Britain sharply intensified. The interest was shown by both sides. If earlier the main role in this process was assigned to naval agents, in the time of war, the countries began to exchange their officers - experts on certain types of weapons. One of them was an artillery officer S.A. Isenbeck.
The purpose of the article is to define his role in the naval cooperation between Russia and Great Britain in 1916 – 1917. In the Russian state naval archive the personal fund of S. A. Isenbeck containing his diary is kept. He held it from the beginning of September of 1916 when he left for London till the spring of 1917 when he got the warrant to leave Great Britain and return to Russia. This diary had not become the subject of a separate study still, although it deserves such a research. The fund also contains his other documents including his service record, letters and reports.
The article pays special attention to the study of the Russian-British relations and the role played by the Naval general staff in this process. On the eve of World War I, it belonged to the main centres responsible for establishing the Russian-British relations in the naval sphere. Gradual rapprochement begun after the end of the Russian-Japanese war made the Naval general staff contribute thus overcoming the war-caused high level of distrust. This institution was responsible for the preparation of war plans. It kept its own representatives naval agents in several states. It was the Naval general staff that sent S. A. Isenbeck to the Grand Fleet as a special representative of the Russian Navy setting the task of studying the experience of the British in the field of improving artillery armament and its application.
S. A. Isenbeck coped with the task brilliantly. He collected and transmitted to the Staff the information about the state of artillery armament, the level of training the personnel and the tactics of shooting. He participated in the talks on the exchange of the latest weapons and visited the factories that produced them. The diary also shows the interest of the British to the experience of the Russian Navy. It allows us to explore how they adopted it and how the idea of the desirability of its introduction by the British Navy gradually won its supporters. Shortly before his return to Russia S. A. Isenbeck witnessed its implementation. In general, S. A. Isenbeck's diary demonstrates that the cooperation between Russia and Great Britain in the naval sphere during World War I was useful to both the sides.