Admiral Seniavin underway in 1901 | |
Class overview | |
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Name | Admiral Ushakov class |
Builders | New Admiralty Shipyards and Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Operators | |
Preceded by | Gangut |
Succeeded by | none |
Built | 1892–1899 |
In commission | 1895–1935 |
Planned | 3 |
Completed | 3 |
Lost | 1 |
Scrapped | 2 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Coastal defense ship |
Displacement | 4,971 long tons (5,051 t) |
Length | 87.3 m (286 ft 5 in) |
Beam | 15.85 m (52 ft 0 in) |
Draught | 5.9 m (19 ft 4 in) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement | 404 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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The Admiral Ushakov class were coastal defense battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the 1890s to counter armored ships of the Swedish Navy. All three ships were stationed in the Baltic Sea when the Russo-Japanese war began and sailed with the Baltic Fleet around the Cape of Good Hope to the Pacific. Two ships were captured by the Japanese and one was scuttled during the Battle of Tsushima.
They had an overall length of 87.33 metres (286 ft 6 in), a beam of 16 m (52 ft), and a draft of 5.9 m (19 ft 6 in) at deep load. They displaced 4,971 long tons (5,051 t). [1]
The Admiral Ushakovs used vertical triple expansion steam engines that produced 4,290 kW (5,750 ihp). They were fed by 8 cylindrical coal-fired boilers, except in Admiral Ushakov which only had four boilers. The engines drove 2 shafts for a maximum speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). They carried 300 long tons (300 t) of coal at normal load and 450 long tons (460 t) at deep load. [1]
The Admiral Ushakovs had four 45-caliber 250-millimetre (10 in) guns in two twin-gun turrets, mounted fore and after of the superstructure, except for General-Admiral Apraksin, whose rear turret only had a single gun. Their secondary armament consisted of four 120 mm (4.7 in) guns mounted in casemates at the corners of the superstructure. [1]
Their armour consisted of a 254-millimetre (10 in) waterline belt 52 metres (170 ft) long that protected the ship's vitals. It tapered down to 102 millimetres (4 in) at the ends where it met bulkheads 152–203 millimetres (6–8 in) thick that protected the ends of the ship. The deck was 51–76 mm (2–3 in) thick. The turrets and the conning tower had 203 millimetres (8 in) of armour. Harvey armour was used throughout. [1]
Ship | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Admiral Ushakov | New Admiralty Shipyards | 1 January 1892 | 1 November 1893 | February 1895 | Scuttled following surface action, 28 May 1905 |
Admiral Seniavin | Baltic Works | August 1892 | 22 August 1894 | 1896 | Captured by Japan, 28 May 1905; renamed Mishima |
General-Admiral Apraksin | New Admiralty Shipyards | 24 October 1894 | 12 May 1896 | 1899 | Captured by Japan, 28 May 1905; renamed Okinoshima |
The three Admiral Ushakovs were assigned to the 3rd Pacific Squadron, under the command of Rear-Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov, and sailed on 2 February 1905 to reinforce Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky's 2nd Pacific Squadron en route to the Pacific. They left the Baltic Sea and sailed around Europe, through the length of the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, across the Indian Ocean, into the South China Sea where they rendezvoused at Van Fong in French Indochina on 26 April. They departed the anchorage on 1 May and encountered the Japanese fleet on 14 May at what would be called the Battle of Tsushima. [2]
For most of the first part of the battle Nebogatov's ships trailed the more powerful 2nd Squadron and were largely ignored by the Japanese so his ships were in good shape when night fell. Admiral Seniavin had not been hit at all, although Admiral Ushakov had had her bow smashed. He had ordered his ships to turn north to make for Vladivostok earlier in the day, after Admiral Rozhestvensky had been wounded, but he ordered a turn to the southwest to evade Japanese torpedo boats during the evening, but turned north during the night. Admiral Ushakov could not make the required speed to keep up and fell out. She was either sunk or scuttled by her crew during the following morning. Admiral Seniavin and General-Admiral Apraksin remained with him and surrendered the following morning when he was spotted by the Japanese fleet. [3]
The Battle of Tsushima, also known in Japan as the Battle of the Sea of Japan, was the final naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 27–28 May 1905 in the Tsushima Strait. A devastating defeat for the Imperial Russian Navy, the battle was the only decisive engagement ever fought between modern steel battleship fleets and the first in which wireless telegraphy (radio) played a critically important role. The battle was described by contemporary Sir George Clarke as "by far the greatest and the most important naval event since Trafalgar".
Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky was a Russian admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. He was in command of the Second Pacific Squadron in the Battle of Tsushima, during the Russo-Japanese War.
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Navarin was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The ship was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and spent the early part of her career deployed in the Mediterranean and in the Far East. She participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 before returning to the Baltic Fleet in 1901. Several months after the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904, she was assigned to the 2nd Pacific Squadron to relieve the Russian forces blockaded in Port Arthur. During the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, she was sunk by Japanese destroyers which spread twenty-four linked mines across her path during the night. Navarin struck two of these mines and capsized with the loss of most of her crew.
Sissoi Veliky was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. The ship's construction was marred by organizational, logistical and engineering problems and dragged on for more than five years. She was commissioned in October 1896 with an appalling number of design and construction faults, and only a few of them were fixed during her lifetime. Immediately after sea trials, Sissoi Veliky sailed to the Mediterranean to enforce the naval blockade of Crete during the Greco-Turkish War. On March 15 [O.S. March 3], 1897 she suffered a devastating explosion of the aft gun turret that killed 21 men. After nine months in the docks of Toulon for repairs, the ship sailed to the Far East to reinforce the Russian presence there. In the summer of 1900, Sissoi Veliky supported the international campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in China. Sailors from Sissoi Veliky and the battleship Navarin participated in the defence of the International Legations in Beijing for more than two months.
Oryol was a Borodino-class battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The ship was completed after the start of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904 and was assigned to the Second Pacific Squadron sent to the Far East six months later to break the Japanese blockade of Port Arthur. The Japanese captured the port while the squadron was in transit and their destination was changed to Vladivostok. Oryol was badly damaged during the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 and surrendered to the Japanese, who put her into service under the name of Iwami.
Admiral Seniavin, was a Admiral Ushakov-class coastal defense ship built for Imperial Russian Navy during the 1890s. She was one of eight Russian pre-dreadnought battleships captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Russians during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. She subsequently served in the Japanese Navy under the name Mishima (見島) until sunk as a target in 1936.
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