Petropavlovsk class battleship (1897)

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General characteristics
Russian battleship Poltava, which later became the Japanese battleship Tango
Displacement:	11,354 tons
Length:	112.5 m
Beam:	21.3 m
Draft:	8.6 m
Propulsion:	2 shaft triple expansion steam engines, 14 coal fired cylindrical boilers, 10600 hp
Speed:	16.8 knots
Range:	3790 nm, 1310 tons coal
Complement:	662
Armament:	4 × 12 inch guns, (2 × 2), 12 × 6 inch guns (4 × 2, 4 × 1), 10 × 47 mm guns, 28 × 37 mm guns, 6 torpedo tubes
Armour:	Harvey armour - Belt 8-12 inch, turrets, turrets 10 inch, secondary turrets 5 inch, Conning tower 9 inch deck ??

The wreck of the Poltava at Port Arthur

The Petropavlovsk Class were Pre-Dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy. All three ships fought and were lost in the Russo-Japanese war. Two ships were destroyed and one was captured by the Japanese.

[edit] Ships

Petropavlovsk (Петропавловск) - named after the battle of Petropavlovsk in the Crimean War, laid down at Galerniy Yard, St. Petersburg, in May 1892, launched in November 1894 and commissioned in 1897. She was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1901 and was the flagship of Admiral Stepan Makarov. The battleship Petropavlovsk was sunk by a Japanese mine on 31 March 1904. Admiral Makarov and his guest, Russian battle artist Vasily Vereshchagin were lost with the ship. [p. 34]

Poltava (Полтава) - named after the battle of Poltava, built by the New Admiralty Yard in St. Petersburg, laid down in May 1892, launched in November 1894. She was commissioned in 1897 and was based at Port Arthur. The ship fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904, but failed to escape and was sunk during the Siege of Port Arthur. She was subsequently raised and repaired by the Japanese and served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Tango. During World War I, she was returned to Japan's Russian allies in 1916, renamed the Chesma (Чесма) (after the Battle of Chesma), and transferred to the Arctic. She was captured by the British in Murmansk during the Allied invasion of northern Russia during the Russian Civil War, but damaged beyond repair. The wreck was scrapped in 1923.

Sevastopol (Севастополь) - named after the city of Sevastopol, built by Galerniy Yard, St. Petersburg, laid down in 1892, launched in June 1895. She was commissioned in 1897 and was based at Port Arthur. The ship fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, but failed to escape and was scuttled during the Siege of Port Arthur. She was too badly damaged and to deep to be economically salvaged by the Japanese.