Shtandart (1703 frigate)

Type

Frigate

Period

18th Century

Nation

Russia

Overview: Shtandart was a 28-gun frigate and the first ship of Russia's Baltic Fleet, built at Tsar Peter I's direct order. Her keel was laid on April 24, 1703, at the Olonetsky shipyard near Olonets by the decree of Tsar Peter I and orders issued by commander Aleksandr Menshikov, and she was built by the Dutch shipwright Vybe Gerens under the direct supervision of the tsar, becoming the first flagship of the Imperial Russian Navy. Specifications: Sources vary, but the wooden sailing frigate's length is given as 25.5 to 27.4 metres, beam 6.8 to 7.3 metres, and draft 2.6 to 2.7 metres, armed with 28 guns (eight-, six- and three-pounders) and a crew of 120 men. She was beautifully decorated and was an interesting example of combining Dutch and English shipbuilding styles, and her design drew on the English royal yacht Royal Transport gifted to Peter in 1698. Service History: Annually from 1705 to 1709, from May to October, she sailed out with her squadron to Kronshlot to defend Saint Petersburg from the sea, and in those same campaigns Shtandart also went on cruising voyages to Krasnaya Gorka and carried out training manoeuvres on the roadstead. By autumn 1709 the frigate had become unserviceable due to deterioration and was brought to the Saint Petersburg Admiralty for retimbering, then relaunched on 4 July 1711 and moved to Kronstadt. She never returned to active sea service afterward, and sources place her final decommissioning and breaking up in the 1720s-1730 timeframe. Notable Facts: Peter later decreed the frigate be preserved forever as the first ship of the Russian Navy and a monument of the art of shipbuilding, but without proper care she and other ships stored at the Kronverk Canal deteriorated rapidly. By 1728 she was so dilapidated that the hull broke into pieces during lifting. No original plans survive; a modern sail-training replica of the same name was researched from archives and launched in 1999, but is treated as a separate vessel in this database.