Russian destroyer Avtroil or Aftroil, captured in the Gulf of Finland 1918

[AOK4]

Hello,

Could anyone point me to more information about the Royal Navy's involvement in the Gulf of Finland late 1918-early 1919?

I have recently acquired two pictures showing the capture of the Russian destroyer Aftroil/Avtroil in December 1918 and would like to know a bit more.

I see there are some books about the subject (British Navy in the Baltic), but has anyone read some of these and which ones would be the best?

Regards,

Jan

 

 

[KizmeRD]

Avtroil ("Автроил", 1914) – captured by the Royal Navy in 1918 close to Tallinn, and under the name ‘Lennuk’ she was delivered to the Estonian Navy. She was sold to Peru in 1933, named BAP Almirante Guise and broken up in 1948.

MB

Edited 9 December , 2023 by KizmeRD

[AOK4]

1 hour ago, KizmeRD said:

Avtroil ("Автроил", 1914) – captured by the Royal Navy in 1918 close to Tallinn, and under the name ‘Lennuk’ she was delivered to the Estonian Navy. She was sold to Peru in 1933, named BAP Almirante Guise and broken up in 1948.

MB

Hello,

I know those details already, they are easy to find online. I want to know a bit more details about this whole naval war 1918-1919 in the Gulf of Finland. Either archival sources or some interesting books.

Jan

[bootneck]

Have you tried Churchill's Secret War with Lenin, published by Helion a couple of years ago? It is very imformative. 

[AOK4]

Just now, bootneck said:

Have you tried Churchill's Secret War with Lenin, published by Helion a couple of years ago? It is very imformative. 

I'll put it on my list. Thanks!

[KizmeRD]

3 hours ago, AOK4 said:

I have recently acquired two pictures showing the capture of the Russian destroyer Aftroil/Avtroil in December 1918 and would like to know a bit more.

 

My apologies Jan, I was simply offering some initial bare bones of information to accompany the photos - I had no appreciation of the extent of your existing knowledge (or how touchy you are).

Churchill’s Secret War is a well written book that provides an overall appreciation of the Allied Intervention (written by a Forum Pal!) - but its focus is not specifically Royal Naval operations in the Gulf of Finland. So if this is your primary interest, then I’d recommend ‘Freeing the Baltic’ by Geoffrey Bennett - or perhaps (as a short intro) David Mercer’s article as published in the September 1962 edition of US Naval Institute Proceedings (88/9/715) - available online…

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1962/september/baltic-sea-campaign-1918-20

Good luck!

MB

[AOK4]

37 minutes ago, KizmeRD said:

My apologies Jan, I was simply offering some initial bare bones of information to accompany the photos - I had no appreciation of the extent of your existing knowledge (or how touchy you are).

Churchill’s Secret War is a well written book that provides an overall appreciation of the Allied Intervention (written by a Forum Pal!) - but its focus is not specifically Royal Naval operations in the Gulf of Finland. So if this is your primary interest, then I’d recommend ‘Freeing the Baltic’ by Geoffrey Bennett - or perhaps (as a short intro) David Mercer’s article as published in the September 1962 edition of US Naval Institute Proceedings (88/9/715) - available online…

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1962/september/baltic-sea-campaign-1918-20

Good luck!

MB

Thanks for your tips. I'll read the article and check out the books.

Jan

[KizmeRD]

Jan, if you want to read a good account of the seizure of Avtroil, you’ll find it here (online)…

https://archive.org/details/battleofbalticwa0000jack/page/9/mode/1up?q=Chapter+One

MB

Edited 9 December , 2023 by KizmeRD

[AOK4]

2 minutes ago, KizmeRD said:

Jan, if you want to read a good account of the seizure of Avtroil, you’ll find it here (online)…

https://archive.org/details/battleofbalticwa0000jack/page/9/mode/1up?q=Chapter+One

MB

Thanks! That was interesting (although the author doesn't seem to be able to get the name right of the ship...)

[KizmeRD]

Avrotil, Avtroil, Aftroil - there’s plenty of room for inconsistent translation of words from Cyrillic script into English - the only certainty is that the ship was named ‘Автроил’ in the original Russian language.

MB

[AOK4]

That's clearly AVTROIL (or AFTROIL). Avrotil it is definitely not.

Jan

Edited 9 December , 2023 by AOK4

[EvgenyS]

I was interested to read about it as the name did not ring any bell to me (as a native Russian speaker). As it appears, the name 'Avtroil' was used for several earlier ships in the Russian Baltic fleet (two 19th century frigates) and comes from a Swedish frigate captured in 1789 (during the Russian-Swedish war) called 'Af Trolle', named after Henrik af Trolle, a Swedish naval officer and commander of the Swedish fleet in 18th century.

https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Af_Trolle_(frigate).jpg

[AOK4]

5 minutes ago, EvgenyS said:

I was interested to read about it as the name did not ring any bell to me (as a native Russian speaker). As it appears, the name 'Avtroil' was used for several earlier ships in the Russian Baltic fleet (two 19th century frigates) and comes from a Swedish frigate captured in 1789 (during the Russian-Swedish war) called 'Af Trolle', named after Henrik af Trolle, a Swedish naval officer and commander of the Swedish fleet in 18th century.

https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Af_Trolle_(frigate).jpg

Interesting information!