On October 4, 1724, on the way to Kotlin Island, Peter I "made a drawing of the Kotlin fortress," and after lunch on the island, he "outlined the site of the fortress with small trenches." On October 6, a strong wind blew, and the tide flooded the site of the new fortress's foundation. On October 7, despite the rain, the laying ceremony took place: first, there was a prayer service with the blessing of water, during which the fortress was named Kronstadt. After the prayer service, His Excellency himself laid three sods, then Her Majesty the Empress laid three sods. After that, everyone else laid one sod each, and when all were laid, His Excellency cut a corner off, as if to make a bulwark, and cannon fire was fired from Kronshlot; then soldiers and sailors began carrying and laying sod. When they laid it lengthwise to the designated place and eight sods wide, a cellar was laid there by the soldiers and sailors, and the distinguished gentlemen were offered a glass of good Burgundy. On November 3, 1724, Vice Admiral P. I. Sivers was appointed the chief commander of Kronstadt. Under his command, construction of the new fortress began. The fortress plan envisaged the creation of bastions connected by curtains. On the south side of the island, the fortress walls closed onto the walls of the harbors under construction. The western front of the fortress consisted of six bastions named after the regiments that built them: Preobrazhensky, Semyonovsky, Ingermanland, Lefortovsky, Butyrsky, Morskoy, and a moat crossing the entire island and separated from the bay by dams.

Jermaine