T he Baltic fleet, which was restored by the joint efforts of our best naval workers, has suffered a grave blow. The enterprise in which the destroyers were engaged involved exceptional risk. All the sailors who set out in the destroyers knew clearly how great the danger was. Danger is our inevitable fellow-traveller in the harshness of war. So long as there is war, so long there will be danger, and so long will men go forth bravely to meet it.
Men go forth bravely to meet it.
New vessels have already come up to replace those we have lost. Young, courageous fighters are taking the places of the fallen heroes. But the memory of the fallen will live for ever in our hearts. From the commander of the division to the most junior of the sailors, they gave us an example of valour and solidarity in struggle and in death itself. Even the White-Guard wireless was obliged to acknowledge the courage of the crew and the loyalty of the commanders to the Soviet flag.