Tsentrobalt

Tsentrobalt (Центробалт), formally the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet (ЦКБФ), was established at an organizational meeting in Helsingfors (Helsinki) on 28–30 April (11–13 May) 1917, initiated by Bolshevik sailors. It declared itself 'the highest instance of all fleet committees of the Baltic Fleet, without whose approval no order concerning the life of the Baltic Fleet may have force.'

Its first chairman was the Bolshevik sailor Pavel Dybenko. Of the initial 33 members, 6 were Bolsheviks with 4 sympathizers. Through the First Baltic Fleet Congress (May–June 1917), Tsentrobalt consolidated itself as the fleet's de facto supreme authority. After the July Days, the Provisional Government ordered it dissolved, but sailor pressure forced reconstitution. On 19 September, an expanded session resolved to no longer recognize the Provisional Government and to disobey its orders.

During the October Revolution, at the request of the Military Revolutionary Committee, Tsentrobalt dispatched 11 warships, including the cruiser Aurora, and 10,000 sailors to Petrograd. Immediately after, it played a central role in crushing the Krasnov-Kerensky counter-offensive. In December, responding to officer sabotage, Tsentrobalt assumed full command authority over the fleet.

In early 1918, the departure of revolutionary sailors to consolidate Soviet power in the provinces weakened its composition, and anarchist influence grew. It was dissolved on 31 January (13 February) 1918 and replaced by the Council of Commissars of the Baltic Fleet (Sovkombalt), with 6 commissars appointed by the Council of People's Commissars and 13 elected by fleet personnel.