Uniform of the Russian Navy. 1703–1800

The book by Oleg Leonov and Vladimir Glazkov is dedicated to the era of the emergence and development of the uniform, weapons and equipment of the ranks of the Russian Navy. It covers the period from 1703 (the beginning of the creation of a regular military fleet in the Baltic Sea) to the end of the century - up to and including 1801.
The first century of the existence of the domestic fleet fell on the reigns of five outstanding rulers of Russia. Each of them had its own characteristics, reflected in the material culture of the state in general and in the uniform of the army and navy in particular.

The beginning of the history of the naval uniform in Russia dates back to the first quarter of the 18th century - the period of the reign of the outstanding reformer, the founder of the Russian fleet, Emperor Peter the Great. Each of the subsequent representatives of the Romanov dynasty who ascended the Russian throne supplemented or made changes to the naval uniform that originally existed under Peter. As a result, by the last quarter of the century, the key elements of the naval uniform were finally formed, laying the foundation for the Russian naval uniform tradition of the 19th century, which has survived to this day.

The history of the Russian uniform of the 18th century, especially the naval one, has been studied rather poorly to this day. A wide range of readers did not know what the Russian sailors looked like - the heroes of Gangut and Grengam, Chesma and Kaliakra, Rochensalm and Corfu. The reason is the small number and poor preservation of documentary sources, including archival materials, as well as iconographic sources and authentic items of uniform, weapons and equipment of those years. Attempts to study the history of the Russian naval uniform undertaken at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries not only failed to clarify, but rather further confused the situation. This is partly due to the low qualifications of researchers, who often could not correctly interpret even the materials that were at their disposal. The situation is somewhat better with the studies undertaken in recent years, but, unfortunately, they have another drawback: a lack of understanding of the material culture of the 18th century and the history of the military and naval uniform as its integral part. Many phenomena that arose in the domestic army uniform were reflected and developed in the naval uniform. That is why the authors of this book are O.G. Leonov, who has been studying the Russian uniform of the 18th century for more than thirty years, and V.V. Glazkov, already known to readers as the author of books on the domestic naval uniform of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The book is based on archival documents from the funds of the Russian State Archive of the Navy, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, and the Russian State Military Historical Archive. Previously published sources on the history of the Russian Navy, a number of scientific works and studies devoted to the history of the uniform of the Russian Guard and field army were also used. The authors have collected almost all the iconography discovered to date on the topic of the Russian Navy of the 18th century, including portrait and battle painting, portrait miniatures, as well as drawings, engravings and blueprints that were part of decrees and orders on changes to the naval uniform.
For the first time, reconstructions of uniforms of various categories and ranks of the fleet were created for the book, based on archival documents and published sources. For better understanding and clarity, well-known documentary sources on changes in the naval uniform throughout the century are presented for the first time in the form of uniform tables, made by previously established artists and specialists in the field of computer graphics N.V. Zubkov and S.Yu. Lyulin.
The book is designed for a wide range of readers: naval historians, theater and film artists, military-historical reenactors and anyone interested in the history of the domestic naval uniform.