Mikhail Pavlovich Sablin (russian: Михаил Павлович Саблин, ua, Миха́йло Па́влович Са́блін) (June 17, 1869 - October 17, 1920), was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, the first independent Ukrainian Navy and a member of the White Russian Movement.

Biography

Sablin was born into a naval family in Sevastopol, his father was Vice Admiral Pavel Sablin and his brother Nikolai Pavlovich Sablin was also a naval officer. Sablin graduated from the

Sea Cadet Corps 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 ...

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 ...

during 1890 and was assigned to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. He was later posted to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

where he participated in the suppression of the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, he was an officer on the , and survived the sinking of this ship during the

Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...

. After repatriation to Russia after the end of the war, he again served with the Black Sea Fleet, commanding a

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 in ...

and a gunboat before being given the command of the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

in 1912. During World War I Sablin commanded the cruiser squadron of the Black Sea Fleet, and took part in numerous combat actions against the Imperial German Navy and Ottoman Navy, for which he was awarded the Order of Saint George for his valour. He was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet in 1917. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

Sablin took command of the Black Sea Fleet early in 1918. He raised the colours of the Ukrainian National Republic on 29 April 1918.Operation Fleet For Ukraine
The Ukrainian Week (16 May 2011) In May 1918 the Germans invaded the Crimea and Sablin moved a portion of his fleet (two battleships and fourteen destroyers) to

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

in order to save it from capture. He was ordered to scuttle his ships by Lenin but refused to do so, travelling to Moscow in order to plead his case. Sablin was arrested and imprisoned by the Bolsheviks but escaped in August 1918 and made his way via the United Kingdom to join

Pavlo Skoropadskyi Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi ( uk, Павло Петрович Скоропадський, Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, decorated Imperial Russian Army and Ukrainian Army ...

's anti-Bolshevik forces in the Crimea. Sablin commanded the naval forces of the White Movement but was invalided out due to ill health in 1920. He died of

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

in Yalta on October 17 and was buried in Sevastopol.

References

*''This article was translated from Ukrainian Wikipedia''
page in Russian language from Hronos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sablin, Mikhail 1869 births 1920 deaths Imperial Russian Navy admirals Ukrainian admirals Russian military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Russian military personnel of World War I White movement admirals People from Sevastopol Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from cancer in Russia Naval Cadet Corps alumni