ABSTRACT
The Russians at Cronstadt enjoyed the strategic and logistical benefit of immediate, interior lines; the factories, supply warehouses and hospitals of St Petersburg were less than 20 miles away. They had been rushed into construction during wartime; emergency expedients which did not figure in peace-time estimate either before or indeed after the Crimean War. Forty years later, and the judgement of British naval authority William Laird Closes was severe: In as much as Lambert claims that this battle meant the way to Cronstadt was open, it also demonstrated some of the critical limits of coastal assault. Lambert affectionately attributes to Napier’s Baltic squadron the role of chief of staff of operations though there was no official capacity for this in the mid-Victorian Royal Navy. The royal dockyards meanwhile had their hands full with construction and repair of the blue-water elements of the navy, something which was non-negotiable given the overarching strategic tensions with Britain’s rival across the Channel.
