Sablin was born into a naval family in
Sevastopol, his father was Vice Admiral Pavel Sablin and his brother
Nikolai Pavlovich Sablin was also a naval officer. Sablin graduated from the
Sea Cadet Corps in
Petrograd during 1890 and was assigned to the
Russian Black Sea Fleet. He was later posted to
China where he participated in the suppression of the
Boxer Rebellion. During the
Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he was an officer on the battleship , and survived the sinking of this ship during the
Battle of Tsushima. After repatriation to Russia at the end of the war, he again served with the Black Sea Fleet, commanding a
destroyer and a
gunboat before being given the command of the
battleship in 1912. During
World War I Sablin commanded the cruiser squadron of the Black Sea Fleet, and took part in numerous combat actions against the
Imperial German Navy and
Ottoman Navy, for which he was awarded the
Order of Saint George for his valour. He was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet in 1917. After the
Russian Revolution Sablin took command of the Black Sea Fleet early in 1918. He raised the colours of the
Ukrainian National Republic on 29 April 1918. In May 1918 the Germans invaded the
Crimea and Sablin moved a portion of his fleet (two battleships and fourteen destroyers) to
Novorossiysk in order to save it from capture. He was ordered to scuttle his ships by
Lenin but refused to do so, travelling to
Moscow in order to plead his case. Sablin was arrested and imprisoned by the
Bolsheviks but escaped in August 1918 and made his way via the
United Kingdom to join
Pavlo Skoropadskyi's anti-Bolshevik forces in the Crimea. Sablin commanded the
naval forces of the
White Movement, but was invalided out due to ill health in 1920. He died of
liver cancer in
Yalta on October 17 and was buried in Sevastopol. ==References==