109 years ago, the crew of the “Zavidny” raised the national Ukrainian flag: what is known about the historical event

On October 12, 1917, the crew of the Black Sea Fleet destroyer “Zavidny” raised the national Ukrainian flag and published a manifesto in defense of the national rights of Ukraine. The sailors demanded autonomy for Ukraine within Russia and called for the fight for the rights of oppressed peoples.

October 2026 marks the 109th anniversary of this event, which became one of the symbols of the struggle for the Ukrainization of the Black Sea Fleet and the creation of Ukrainian naval forces.

After the February Revolution of 1917, the Ukrainian national movement spread to the navy. In May, the First All-Ukrainian Military Congress supported the idea of Ukrainization of the Black Sea Fleet. The Ukrainian military sought to make the fleet part of the Ukrainian armed forces.

One of the centers of this movement was Sevastopol, where Ukrainian maritime organizations operated. They united sailors who advocated for national rights and a change in the order of subordination of the fleet.

The destroyer “Zavidny” became one of the most famous symbols of the Ukrainianization of the fleet. On October 12, 1917, its crew openly declared their Ukrainian identity. On the same day, the crew published a manifesto in which they explained the motives for their action.

“We, the Ukrainians of the destroyer Zavidny, raised our national Ukrainian flag on the gaff in order to show that despite centuries of oppression, the sons of our glorious mother Ukraine are still alive,” the document stated.

The sailors emphasized that their act was intended to demonstrate the willingness of Ukrainians to fight for the restoration of national rights. At the same time, the manifesto reflected the political views of part of the Ukrainian movement of the time: the crew demanded the declaration of autonomy for Ukraine.

“By doing this, we have shown that we demand autonomy both for others and for our entire native and dear mother Ukraine,” the team declared.

This step paved the way for other large ships of the fleet, namely: the cruiser “Memory of Mercury” and the battleship “Volya”, which later also raised Ukrainian flags.

The raising of Ukrainian flags on ships of the Black Sea Fleet provoked opposition from the Russian leadership. On October 17, 1917, the Minister of the Navy of the Provisional Government, Dmytro Verderevsky, responded to these events with a telegram to the Ukrainian Central Rada.

Verderevsky called the raising of Ukrainian flags “an act of separatism.” He argued his position by saying that the Black Sea Fleet was supported by the Russian state treasury, and therefore, in his opinion, it should not have used any other flags than the Russian one.

The minister also expected that the Central Rada would influence the sailors and achieve the lowering of Ukrainian flags.

This reaction showed that the flag dispute was not just a matter of symbolism. It was about who should own the navy and whether Ukrainians could independently determine its national identity.

For the crew of the “Zavidny”, the answer was unequivocal. In a manifesto, the sailors declared that they would not lower the raised flag as long as they and their ship existed.

“Yes, we, Ukrainians, will not lower our national flag raised by us as long as we exist and the destroyer “Zavidny” exists,” the document emphasized.

The ship’s subsequent fate unfolded against the backdrop of the struggle for control of the Black Sea Fleet after the collapse of the Russian Empire. At the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks increased their influence in the fleet. In December, the “Zavidny” sailed for Odessa on the orders of the Ukrainian Naval Ministry, but in January 1918 it was captured by the Bolsheviks.

Despite this, the struggle for Ukrainian symbols on the ship continued. On April 29, 1918, the destroyer again raised the Ukrainian flag. However, in early May, the ship was captured by German troops and renamed R 13.

In November 1918, the destroyer returned to the Ukrainian fleet, but later came under the control of Anglo-French forces. On April 24, 1919, it was blown up by the British along with other ships of the Black Sea Fleet. After the re-capture of Sevastopol by the Red Army, the ship was renamed “Marty”, but it never returned to the active fleet. In 1925, it was decommissioned.

The event of October 12, 1917, had enormous historical, geopolitical, and symbolic significance for Ukrainian statehood. The raising of Ukrainian flags over the Black Sea Fleet proved that Ukraine was a full-fledged maritime state with its own naval forces.

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