Sinking of ships of the Black Sea Fleet in Tsemes Bay

Since the delegation on behalf of the "Ukrainian Fleet" was received by the Germans very coldly, and their troops appeared on the northern coast of the bay, on the evening of April 30, Sablin ordered all the ships remaining on the move, led by battleships, to leave Sevastopol.

During the exit from the bay "Svobodnaya Rossiya" was fired upon by the Germans from the guns installed on the shore and received minor damage.

Sablin, who received power from the sailors of battleships and was sabotaged in Sevastopol by the crews of most of the destroyers, demanded a general vote of the teams on his candidacy.

Sablin received a telegram from Field Marshal Eichhorn from Kiev demanding that the ships be returned to Sevastopol, where they should be handed over to the Germans.

In them, the naval headquarters described the prospects for the advance of the Germans to the fleet, and they ended with Trotsky's resolution to immediately sink the ships.

They said that during the Kiev negotiations, the Germans delivered an ultimatum to return the ships to Sevastopol before June 19, otherwise they would continue their offensive deep into Russia.

[4] Tikhmenev revealed to the crews the contents of the telegrams and opposite orders, and the next days passed in general discussion of the further fate of the ships.

The delegation promised to discuss the issue of allocating ground units for the defense of the city in the capital of the republic, where it left and did not appear again.

Tikhmenev hoped that the teams, as at the end of April with Sablin, would come to ask him to take full command, and therefore almost did not appear at numerous meetings.

[2] On June 15, the commander announced that the referendum was in favor of Sevastopol, discarding the votes of those who chose "wait or fight" as evaders.

Although most of the officers supported him, the smaller, led by the commander of the destroyer "Kerch" Senior Lieutenant Kukel, considered the surrender of the ships to the Germans the highest shame, and began to agitate for the sinking.

On April 15, the teams, in view of the impending destruction of the fleet, received a salary for 5 months in advance and pensions, and in the evening Tikhmenev ordered to begin preparations for sailing.

The water area was filled with small vessels, on which the protesters approached the ships and persuaded the crew to change their decision.

Such delegations were not allowed on the "Volya", but the engine crew of the "Free Russia", which continued to load, succumbed to agitation and refused to work, which paralyzed the ship.

Soon the main representatives of the Soviet government, Avilov and Vakhrameev, arrived on the "Volya", but could not convince Tikhmenev to sink the ships.

At night, Tikhmenev's formation – "Volya", destroyers "Daring", "Hasty", "Restless", "Pylky", "Zhivoy", "Hot" in tow at the auxiliary cruiser "Troyan" and the floating base of high–speed boats "Cross" – left to Sevastopol.

"Kerch" sank "Fidonisi" with a torpedo, after which, within 35 minutes, all other ships were sunk by opening the Kingston valves and undermining key mechanisms.

Raskolnikov, Kukel and Avilov, who led the flooding, became prominent Bolshevik leaders of the Soviet state, and in the late 1930s they were repressed.