Dnieper Flotilla

The Dnieper Flotilla (Днепровская военная флотилия) is the name given to the various naval flotillas on the Dnieper River. These were particularly active in four conflicts: the Russo-Turkish wars of 1735–39 and 1787–92, the Russian Civil War, and World War II (called, in Russia, the Great Patriotic War).

Small naval vessels were built in Bryansk on the Desna River (a tributary of the Dnieper) from 1724.

At the start of the Russo-Turkish war in 1735, the Dnieper Army of Field Marshal B. K. Minich requested naval assistance in capturing the Turkish fortress of Ochakiv on the Black Sea. At the instigation of Vice-Chancellor Count Osterman, the Governing Senate issued a decree on January 4, 1737 for the building at Bryansk of a flotilla for operations on the Dnieper River. At least ten British officers served with the flotilla

For the construction and manning of the flotilla, 4650 sailors, soldiers, and craftsmen were sent to Bryansk. The boats constructed were mainly dubel boats, a type of shallow draft Russian 18th century rowing/sailing galley, of which 400 were ordered. According to some sources, though, most of the boats in the flotilla were Cossack boats which – according to a report made in 1738 by Rear Admiral Yakov Barch – were narrow, unstable, hard to row, suitable perhaps for Cossack journeys but very unfit for naval operations.

On February 3, 1737, by order of Empress Anna, Rear Admiral Vasily Afanasievich-Mamónov took command of the flotilla.

In the spring of 1737 a flotilla consisting 355 vessels with troops, supplies, siege artillery, and ammunition on board was sent down from Bryansk on the Desna to the Dnieper. Due to shallow water on the Dnieper that summer, most of the ships could not pass to the target destination (Ochakiv), and the first boats past the rapids arrived there only on July 17, when the fortress had already been taken by Russian troops.

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