The raid on Kronstadt (also known as Operation RK or the Scooter Raid) was an attack by Royal Navy coastal motor boats (CMBs) and Royal Air Force aircraft on the Bolshevik Baltic Fleet at its home base on 18 August 1919. After the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, Allied naval units operated in the Baltic Sea to support the independence of Estonia and Latvia, which were threatened by Bolshevik movements. The raid followed a similar one carried out by a single motor torpedo boat outside the harbour on 1919, in which Lieutenant Augustus Agar's CMB-4 sank the Bolshevik cruiser Oleg.
The raid on 18 August 1919 was carried out by a newly arrived force of seven larger CMBs under Commander Claude Congreve Dobson, guided by Agar in CMB-4. One CMB broke down en route to the harbour but the remaining six penetrated the defences and scored hits on the submarine depot ship Pamiat Azova, which sank, and the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny, which was damaged. A simultaneous air raid by the Royal Air Force damaged a destroyer. Three of the British CMBs were sunk by Bolshevik fire or collision with each other and up to ten British personnel were killed and nine captured.
The raid was regarded as a British success, with the Baltic Fleet afterwards largely confined to the harbour for the rest of the campaign. Of the 55 British participants 48 received gallantry medals or were mentioned in despatches.
Background
Initial intervention
The Allies had intervened in the Russian Civil War since January 1918. The British campaign in the Baltic began on 26 November 1918, just 15 days after the end of the First World War, when a squadron under Rear Admiral Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair departed Britain. Alexander-Sinclair's force was meant as a show of strength against the Bolsheviks and in support of Estonian and Latvian independence, which was threatened following the withdrawal of German garrisons. Alexander-Sinclair's ships delivered ammunition to the Estonians, bombarded Bolshevik positions and evacuated the Latvian government, ahead of advancing Bolshevik troops. The force also engaged the Bolshevik Baltic Fleet at Reval (now Tallinn) and captured two destroyers before the fleet withdrew into their icebound winter quarters at Kronstadt. Alexander-Sinclair was replaced by Rear Admiral Walter Cowan in January 1919.
Cowan was frustrated by his confusing orders from London and the complex political situation. He was reinforced with a French squadron, but the French made it clear that they were unwilling to engage in open hostilities against the Bolshevik forces. In spring 1919 the Bolshevik Baltic fleet sortied and, though the conflict was inconclusive, it spurred Cowan to look for a forward base for his ships. He received permission from the Finns to establish a position at the Bjorko islands (modern-day Beryozovye Islands, Russia). Cowan received reinforcements in early June in the form of two coastal motor boats (CMBs) - CMB-4 and CMB-7 - under the overall command of Lieutenant Augustus Agar. These were small, fast - capable of - and lightly armed vessels; each carried a machine gun and one British 18-inch torpedo. Agar's instructions were to establish a ferry service for information and agents from Terijoki in Finland into Bolshevik-controlled territory, including Kronstadt.
Agar's raid
Cowan kept the CMBs in mind for an active combat role as they were capable of sailing through Bolshevik minefields without detonating them. On 13 June the Bolshevik garrison at Krasnaya Gorka fort, guarding the seaward approach to Kronstadt, mutinied. The Baltic Fleet's battleships Petropavlovsk and Andrei Pervozvanny bombarded the fort on 15 June. Cowan seized the chance and despatched Agar against the vessels; the operation was called off when CMB-7 was damaged by debris.
On the night of 16/17 June CMB-4 attacked alone. Agar evaded the Bolshevik destroyer screen but CMB-4 suffered a mechanical failure. Agar moored to a breakwater for 20 minutes, in full view of the Bolshevik vessels, to carry out repairs before resuming his attack. The battleships had returned to Kronstadt but Agar struck the cruiser Oleg with a torpedo. Oleg sank and Agar successfully returned to base, winning the Victoria Cross for his actions and a £5,000 bounty on his head from the Bolsheviks. The action did not affect the battle for the fort, which had already surrendered.