Nikolai Ottovich von Essen was born on in
St. Petersburg,
Russia, to Imperial Senator Otto Wilhelm von Essen, into the wealthy noble family of
Essen. Early on in his life, Essen received home education; he was well-educated and fluent in
English,
French,
Russian, and his native
German. He graduated from the
Naval Cadet Corps in 1880, after a two-year foreign cruise, attended the engineering department of the Nikolayev Naval Academy from 1883 to 1886. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1891 and served with the
Russian Pacific Fleet from 1892 to 1896, and with the Russian Mediterranean Squadron from 1897. In the early part of his career, he commanded
Minesweeper No. 120 (1897–98), the gunboat
Grozyachiy (1898–1900), and the steamship
Slavianka (1901–1902) in the
Black Sea. After a brief assignment as an instructor at the Naval Cadet Corps, he was appointed captain of the cruiser (1902–1904), which was stationed at
Vladivostok. . After the end of the war, Essen became the first captain of the British-built
armoured cruiser . He was promoted to
rear admiral in 1908 and appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian
Baltic Fleet in 1909 when this position was created. He was promoted to admiral in 1913. Essen, from lessons learned in the war against Japan and the mutiny of the
Black Sea Fleet, urged far-reaching reforms and modernisation of the Imperial Russian Navy. He recognised early the importance of submarines and aircraft, and sought to promote younger officers based on their knowledge of modern strategy and tactics, also establishing a naval training academy at
Kronstadt. Above all, he pushed for the operational autonomy of the Baltic Fleet. Widely regarded as the most able of Russian admirals in
World War I, Essen led the Baltic Fleet energetically during the first year of the war. His forces at the time consisted of four battleships, five cruisers, four light cruisers, 62 torpedo boats, 12 submarines and numerous smaller and specialised units. His superiors preferred a cautious defensive position in the
Baltic Sea, forcing Essen to concentrate his forces in the
Gulf of Finland to protect Petrograd, with older units in the
Gulf of Riga, and effectively abandoning
Liepāja to the Germans. Nevertheless, on 9 August 1914, Essen led part of his fleet towards
Gotland with the intent to contain the Swedish navy and deliver a note of his own making which would have violated Swedish neutrality and may have brought Sweden into the war. He was ordered back before his plan could be executed. However, on 27 August 1914, he assigned
Rurik and to
commerce raiding operations in the Baltic. Although of little success, the mission went a long way towards maintaining morale within the Baltic Fleet. == Family and descendants ==