Vice Admiral Karl Johann Peter Jessen (russian: Карл Петрович Иессен, tr. ; 30 June 1852 – 30 November 1918) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

admiral in the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

Biography

Jessen was of Danish descent, born in

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

, where his father, Hans Peter Boje Jessen was a doctor of

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

. He graduated from the

Sea Cadets Sea cadets are members of a sea cadet corps, a formal uniformed youth organisation for young people with an interest in waterborne activities and or the national navy. The organisation may be sponsored in whole or in part by the navy or a naval s ...

in 1875 and was commissioned as a lieutenant on 18 July 1879. He graduated from the school of

mine warfare Mine warfare refers to the use of different types of explosive devices: *Land mine, a weight-triggered explosive device intended to maim or kill people or to disable or destroy vehicles *Minelaying, deployment of explosive mines at sea **Naval mine ...

in 1881, and for

naval artillery Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firing weapons and exclude ...

in 1884. He was assigned as mine warfare officer on several vessels, and was briefly assigned as a

military attache A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

to Germany. In 1890, he was given command of the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

''Adler'' with the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Between 1891 and 1893, Jessen was

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...

on the

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of naval cruiser of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers re ...

, assigned to the

Russian Baltic Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg , image_size = 150 , caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign , dates = 18 May 1703 – present , country = , allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present) ...

and the Far East. From 1894 to 1895 he was commander aboard the steamship ''Neva''. From 1895 to 1896 he commanded the cruiser . In 1897, Jessen was promoted captain, 1st rank. From 1898 to 1905 he assumed command of the cruiser , which was assigned to the

Russian Pacific Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Pacific Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Russian Pacific Fleet Great emblem , dates = 1731–present , country ...

. On 1 January 1904, Jessen was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. With the start of the

on 8 February, he was appointed deputy commander of Port Arthur and used the battleship as his

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

. However, on 10 March Vice Admiral Makarov reassigned Jessen to command the cruiser squadron based at

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

, and he transferred his flag to the

armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

. This cruiser squadron conducted

commerce raiding Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than en ...

and other offensive operations while the remainder of the Russian Pacific Fleet remained bottled in Port Arthur by a Japanese blockade.Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 167-151-152. Jessen's operations threatened Japanese shipping and supply lines, and resulted in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

appointing Admiral Kamimura Hikonojo to command the

IJN 2nd Fleet The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) created as a mobile strike force in response to hostilities with Russia, and saw action in every IJN military operation until the end of World War II. History Established on 27 October 1903, ...

to track down and destroy his squadron. Jessen evaded the Japanese on several occasions, sinking a number of vessels in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

. From 12 June he was briefly replaced by Vice Admiral Petr Bezobrazov. On August 14, 1904, during the Battle off Ulsan, he fought an inconclusive engagement against the Japanese fleet under Admiral Kamimura. During the engagement, ''Gromoboï'' was badly damaged, with 94 crewmen killed and 182 wounded and ''Rurik'' forced to scuttle, with 204 crewman killed and 305 wounded. In recognition of his efforts in the battle, he was awarded the

Order of St. George The Order of Saint George (russian: Орден Святого Георгия, Orden Svyatogo Georgiya) is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. Originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) a ...

(fourth grade). On 9 November 1904 Jessen was appointed commander of the 1st Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. However, with the fall of Port Arthur to the Japanese, he played no further offensive role, and concentrated on coastal defense of the region around Vladivostok with his much depleted forces. In November 1905 he led the remaining Russian ships back to Baltic Sea, where they arrived in April 1906. After his return to

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, he was reprimanded and faced a

court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

, accepting a promotion to the rank of vice admiral and an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

from the navy in 1908. In 1912, he became owner of the Myulgrabenskoy shipyard near

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

. In 1913, his firm received a contract to build nine new destroyers as part of the program to rebuild the Russian Baltic Fleet. Karl Petrovich Jessen died in 1918 in Petrograd.

Honors

Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, (01/01/1889). * Saint vladimir (bande)

Order of St Vladimir, 4th degree in 18 companies, (17/01/1895). * Order of Saint Anna ribbon bar

Order of St. Anne 2nd degree, (06/12/1897). * RUS Order of Saint George 3rd class ribbon 2000

, 4th degree (09/27/1904). * Order of Saint Stanislaus Ribbon

Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st degree, (06/07/1904).

References

*Connaughton, R.M (1988). ''The War of the Rising Sun and the Tumbling Bear—A Military History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–5'', London, . *Jukes, Geoffry. ''The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905''. Osprey Essential Histories. (2002). . * *Warner, Denis & Peggy. ''The Tide at Sunrise, A History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905''. (1975). .

External links

Biography in Russian Language

* [http://militera.lib.ru/tw/stepanov_tsvetkov/03.html Степанов Юрий Григорьевич, Цветков Игорь Федорович. Эскадренный миноносец «Новик». Глава 3, Собратья «Новика»]
Фото

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jessen, Karl 1852 births 1918 deaths Imperial Russian Navy admirals Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Russian people of German descent Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 1st class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Naval Cadet Corps alumni