Russian naval dirk of 1803-1914. Russian officer’s dirk of the 1914 model.

Historical Background:

The dirk appeared in the russian army and navy under Peter the Great. In addition to naval officers, in the XVIII century it was worn by some ranks of the land forces. In 1730 the dirk replaced the sword in the army ranks. In 1803, the wearing of dirks as personal weapons of officers and midshipmen of the navy was regulated, and cases when the dirk could replace the sword or naval officer’s saber were defined.

In the early 19th century, the blade of the russian naval dirk had a square cross-section and an ivory hilt with a metal cross. The end of the 30-centimeter blade of the dirk was double-edged. The length was 39 centimeters. On the wooden scabbard covered with black leather, in the upper part of the device were two bronze gilded clip with rings for attaching to the portcullis, and in the lower part for the strength of the scabbard – the tip. The portcullis of the dirk was made of black layered silk and was decorated with bronze gilded lion heads. Instead of a plaque, there was a clasp in the form of a snake curved like the Latin letter S.

In 1914 the model of the naval dirk underwent significant changes. From now on, on the outer side of the hilt’s tip it was prescribed to have a relief monogram of the Emperor, during whose reign the owner of the weapon was promoted to the first officer rank, by analogy with the previously approved hilt of officers’ sabers, swords and broadswords. The Imperial monogram was also to be depicted on the blade, framed by vegetal ornamentation. While the design of the monogram was quite uniform and could differ from one piece to another except for the height of the relief and the degree of elaboration, the decoration on the blade was characterized by great variety.

On December 24, 1913, Emperor Nicholas II approved the “Brief description of uniforms and additional items of uniforms for aviation units” presented by the Minister of War. Announced by the order of the military department № 4 of January 3, 1914, this document for a long time determined the appearance of uniforms and insignia of officers and lower ranks of military aviation. It is interesting that the uniforms of aviators, although developed on the basis of the uniforms of engineering troops, which included aviation and aeronautical units, but contained a number of elements that related it to the uniforms of sailors, which symbolized the attitude of the forces to the air, the “fifth” ocean. The officers of aviation and aeronautical units were given a naval saber and a naval officer’s dirk as edged weapons; the latter could be worn during everyday uniforms, when serving at airfields and when flying airplanes.

The right to wear dirks in 1911-1914 was also granted to officers of river mine companies, some naval formations, which were organizationally part of the military and land department, as well as automobile units.

During the First World War, the right to carry the dirk was gradually extended to quite a large number of categories of servicemen, military officials and civil servants of various departments serving the needs of the army. The spread of this weapon was promoted by its small size and light weight, low cost, as well as the lack of demand for such a bulky weapon as the checker in the conditions of positional warfare. Thus, in 1916 the dirk was assigned to officers and military officials of the Military Air Fleet Department. This dirk completely copied the naval dirks with a straight blade, but could have a hilt of black color. However, many pre-revolutionary photographs that have survived to the present day show that dirks with white handles were also widespread among aviators and army officers, although they were considered more characteristic of the navy. Officers of aerial gun batteries, motorcycle units and aviation schools also had the right to carry the dirk.

On August 23, 1916 all general officers and military officials, except for general officers of artillery and cavalry, were assigned dirks instead of a checkers for the duration of the war, with the right to use a checkers at will. In November 1916 the wearing of dirks was authorized to military doctors and general officers of infantry and artillery, and in March 1917 it was extended to all generals, officers and military officials of all units, “except for the cases of being in formation on horseback and mounted service”.
In the literature, the wording “since May 1917, officers – graduates of military educational institutions began to receive dirks instead of a checkers is also widespread. However, it should be remembered that officers in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century did not receive any uniforms, equipment and weapons from the treasury at all and had to be outfitted and armed exclusively at their own expense. When graduates of military schools were promoted to officers, they were given a lump sum of money for equipment; those already in service had to be satisfied with a fixed allowance. This factor, together with the general costliness of wartime, was the reason for the widespread use of dirks in the army at the end of the World War, but the statement that officers graduated from schools and warrant officer schools in 1917 could acquire only dirks is fundamentally incorrect. The widespread use of dirks in 1916-1917, in turn, gave rise to a huge number of varieties of this weapon, with general similarity of designs and sizes differing in small details, in particular, in materials and color of the hilt, as well as in details of finishing. It should be noted that after the February Revolution of 1917 the wearing of monograms of the abdicated Emperor on officers’ weapons was prohibited both in the army and in the navy. One of the orders of the Naval Minister of the Provisional Government contained a direct instruction to “destroy the monogram on weapons”. In addition, in conditions of deliberate decomposition of the army by enemy agents and the associated breakdown of discipline, the use of monarchical symbols in some cases could lead to very sad consequences for an officer, up to physical violence by propagandized soldiers. Nevertheless, as far as we can judge from the extant copies, the monogram on the hilt was not destroyed (minted or sawed off) in all cases. The dirks issued after March 1917 did not originally have monograms on the hilt.

Thus it is possible to define three main samples of officers’ dirks: