Karl Jessen

Vice Admiral Karl Petrovich Jessen (Карл Петрович Иессен; June 30, 1852 - November 30, 1918) was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War.

Biography
Jessen was of Baltic German descent, born in Livonia. He graduated from the Sea Cadets in 1875 and was commissioned as a lieutenant on July 18, 1879. He graduated from the school of mine warfare in 1881, and for naval artillery in 1884. He was assigned as mine warfare officer on several vessels, and was briefly assigned as a military attache to Germany. In 1890, he was given command of the destroyer Adler with the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and subsequently promoted to junior captain.

Between 1891 and 1893, he was executive officer on the protected cruiser Admiral Kornilov, assigned to the Russian Baltic Fleet and the Far East. From 1894 to 1895 he was commander aboard the steamship Neva. From 1895 to 1896 he commanded the cruiser Asia. In 1897, Jessen was promoted captain. From 1898 to 1905 he assumed command of the cruiser Gromoboï, which was assigned to the Russian Pacific Fleet.

On January 1, 1904, Jessen was promoted to the rank of rear admiral, and used the battleship Sevastopol as his flagship. With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Jessen transferred his flag to the armored cruiser Rossia, based at Vladivostok, from which he assumed personal command of a cruiser squadron of February 25, 1904. This cruiser squadron conducted commerce raiding and other offensive operations while the remainder of the Russian Pacific Fleet remained bottled in Port Arthur by a Japanese blockade. On August 14, 1904, during the Battle off Ulsan in the Sea of Japan, he fought an inconclusive engagement against a Japanese fleet under Admiral Hikonojo Kamimura. During the engagement, Gromoboï was badly damaged, with 94 crewmen killed and 182 wounded and Rurik forced to scuttle, with 204 crewman killed and 305 wounded. In recognition of his efforts in the battle, he was awarded the Order of St. George (fourth grade).

On November 9, 1904 Jessen was appointed commander of the 1st Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. However, with the fall of Port Arthur to the Japanese, he played on further offensive role, and concentrated on coastal defense of the region around Vladivostok with his much depleted forces. In November 1905 he led the remaining Russian ships back to Baltic Sea, where they arrived in April 1906. After his return to Petrograd, he was reprimanded and faced a court marshal, accepting a promotion to the rank of vice admiral and an honorable discharge from the navy.

In 1912, he became owner of the Myulgrabenskoy shipyard near Riga. In 1913, his firm received a contract to build nine new destroyers as part of the program to rebuild the Russian Baltic Fleet. Karl Petrovich Jessen died in 1918 in Petrograd.

Honors

 * Order of Saint Anne Ribbon.PNG Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, (01/01/1889).
 * Saint vladimir (bande).png Order of St Vladimir, 4th degree in 18 companies, (17/01/1895).
 * Order of Saint Anne Ribbon.PNG Order of St. Anne 2nd degree, (06/12/1897).
 * OrderStGeorge3cl rib.png Order of St. George, 4th degree (09/27/1904).
 * Order of Saint Stanislaus Ribbon.PNG Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st degree, (06/07/1904).