Russian armoured cruiser Admiral Nakhimov

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Admiral Nakhimov (Адмирал Нахимов) was an Imperial Russian armoured cruiser of the Russo-Japanese war.

Admiral Nakhimov with a full rigging, in 1888-1893 period

1 Construction
2 Service
3 Specifications
4 References

[edit] Construction

Admiral Nakhimov was one of the first armoured cruisers, and one of more interesting naval ships constructed in Russia in late 19th century. It was modelled after the British Imperieuse cruiser class, armed with four guns 234 mm in a diamond layout. Contrary to them, Nakhimov was considered more successful design. Its main armament consisted of 203 mm guns, which were lighter and therefore their number could be doubled. As a result, "Admiral Nakhimov" had probably the heaviest broadside of six 203 mm guns and five 152 mm guns from among all armoured cruisers built in the 19th century. Unfortunately, her guns quickly went obsolete. It was considered to replace them with quick-firing 152 mm guns (with eleven in a broadside), but it was not proceeded due to limited resources of Russian works before the war with Japan. Apart from steam engines, Nakhimov, like Imperieuse, was initially fitted with a full brig rigging, which was a failure and was eventually dismounted in 1898-1899.

Faults of Nakhimov were connected with a time of her construction, and a general advance in naval warfare, so as a result she was obsolete vessel in 1905, inferior to new cruisers. The main fault was a weak protection against torpedoes, despite she was the first Russian vessel to introduce anti-torpedo nets (useful only at a small speed). As quick-firing medium-caliber artillery became widely used, her another fault became small surface of side armour, leaving most of the hull vulnerable. Her machinery also became obsolete and her speed was low.

The construction started on 7 December 1883 (old style) in Baltic Works in Sankt Petersburg. Official start, with en emperor Alexander III of Russia, was in July 1884. She was launched on 21 October 1885, and entered service in October 1888 (old style).

[edit] Service

After entering service, Admiral Nakhimov arrived to Vladivostok in May 1889, becoming a flagship of the Pacific Escadre. In September 1891, she returned to the Baltic Sea for repairs. In July 1893, she visited New York City, then Toulon as a part of the Russian escadre, then she sailed to Vladivistok again, serving there for the next four years and taking part in seizing Port Arthur base. In 1898, she returned to the Baltic Sea for repairs and modernization. In November 1899, she was moved to the Pacific Escadre in Port Arthur again, and returned to the Baltic in 1903.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905, Admiral Nakhimov was included into the 2nd Pacific Escadre, set up in the Baltic Sea to help the 1st Escadre in Port Arthur. In October 1904, she sailed out to the Far East with the Escadre. As she was more powerful than other Russian cruisers, she was included into the 2nd Battleship Group of the Escadre, consisting of three obsolete battleships. During the first day of the battle of Tsushima, 27 May 1905, Admiral Nakhimov was the eight - last ship in the main forces column. She was hit about 30 times, mainly by the Japanese armoured cruisers (25 killed, 51 injured), but she retained combat capabilities. Nakhimov slightly damaged armoured cruiser Iwate with three 203 mm shots. At night, when the remaining Russian ships were attacked by torpedo boats and destroyers, Nakhimov was visible, turning on searchlights. Around 21.30 - 22.00 hours she was hit with one torpedo in a bow, fired by unidentified ship. Despite a struggle of the crew, the ship was sinking and she was abandoned next morning close to Tsushima. 523 crewmen were captured by the Japanese auxiliary cruiser Sado Maru, 103 crewmen with a commander rescued on boats and were captured later, 18 crewmen sunk. About 10 hours on 28 May, Nakhimov sunk at 34° 34'N, 129° 32'E.

The wreck was examined in the 1980s, as the only ship sunk in the battle of Tsushima.

[edit] Specifications

Displacement: project - 7781 tons, full - 8473 tons
Length: 103.3 m
Beam: 18.6 m
Draught: 7.7 m
Armamanent: 8 x 203 mm (8 in) guns (4xII), 10 x 152 mm (6 in) guns (10 xI), 12 x 47 mm guns, 6 x 37 mm guns, 4 machineguns, 3 x 15 in (381 mm) torpedo tubes, 2 torpedo boats and 2 spar torpedo boats, 40 naval mines
Armour: Belt 254 mm (compound steel), deck 51 to 76 mm (2 to 3 in), barbettes 203 mm, turrets 51 to 63 mm, conning tower 152 mm
Machinery: 2 twin expansion steam engines, 12 cyllindrical boilers, 8,000 hp
Speed: 16 knots
Endurance: 4400 nautical miles
Complement: 572-650