Petropavlovsk class battleship

Russian battleship Poltava, later the Japanese battleship Tango
Class overview
Operators:	Russian Navy  Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by:	Imperator Aleksandr II class battleship
Succeeded by:	Tri Sviatitelia
Built:	1892–1897
In commission:	1897–1923
Completed:	3
Lost:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	11,354 long tons (11,536 t)
Length:	112.5 m (369 ft)
Beam:	21.3 m (69 ft 11 in)
Draught:	8.6 m (28 ft)
Propulsion:	2 shaft triple expansion steam engines 14 coal-fired cylindrical boilers, 10,600 hp (7,904 kW) 1,310 tons coal
Speed:	16.8 knots (19.3 mph; 31.1 km/h)
Range:	3,790 nmi (7,020 km)
Complement:	662
Armament:	4 × 305 mm (12 in) guns (2×2) 12 × 152 mm (6 in) guns (4×2, 4×1) 10 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 28 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 6 × torpedo tubes
Armour:	Harvey armour Belt: 8–12 in (200–300 mm) Turrets: 10 in (250 mm) Secondary turrets: 5 in (130 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (230 mm) Deck: unknown

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.

Contents 1 Construction 2 Design 3 Characteristics 4 Ships 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Construction

In a response to a build up of the Imperial German Navy, the Russian navy initiated a program to expand its Baltic Fleet in 1890. The program included a plan to build 10 battleships, 3 armored cruisers, 3 gunboats and 50 torpedo boats. The battleship Sissoi Veliky was the first of the ships to be constructed. It was later decided to build a class of 3 ships.^[1]

Design

The first design for the Petropavlovsk class was approved in January 1891. She was to be an improved version of the battleship Imperator Nikolai I, but with most of her armament in barbettes, including four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. The class was designed with a displacement of 10,960 long tons (11,136 t) at full load.^[2] She had a full waterline belt, and the upper hull featured a tumblehome. Imperator Nikolai I was chosen as a starting point for the design because of her good seakeeping and seaworthiness. Some characteristics were also copied from the French battleship Brennus and the American Indiana-class battleships, such as the flush-deck hull and Brennus' high freeboard.^[3]

Following a redesign of the class, the class ceased to resemble Imperator Nikolai I. The armor plating was changed before construction, and plans for the armament were modified while the ship was being built. The barbettes were replaced with turrets, including wing turrets for some of the secondary 6-inch (152 mm) guns modeled after those on Brennus, with electric hoists.^[4] The propulsion was based on the machinery on Georgii Pobedonosets.^[2] They had Harvey nickel-steel armor imported from the United States.^[5]

Characteristics

The class displaced 11,854 long tons (12,044 t) and was 369 feet (112.5 m) long overall. They had a beam of 70 feet (21.3 m) and a mean draft of 25 feet 6 inches (7.8 m). They was powered by 16 cylindrical coal-burning boilers, and could carry 1,310 long tons (1,330 t) of coal.^[6] This gave them a range of 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).^[7] They had a crew of 632.^[7]

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. She 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.^[8]
• 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 scuttled in water too deep to be economically salvaged by the Japanese.

See also

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Poltava_class_battleship Poltava class battleship] at Wikimedia Commons

References

Citations

Sources

• Forczyk, Robert (2009). Russian Battleship vs Japanese Battleship, Yellow Sea 1904–05. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-330-8. 
• Hore, Peter (2006). Battleships. London: Lorena Books. ISBN 978-0-7548-1407-8. 
• McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-481-4. 
• Pleshakov, Constantine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada, The Epic Voyage to the Battle Of Tsushima. ISBN 978-0-465-05792-4. 
• Suliga, S. (1993). "Battleships of Poltava type". Technika Molodezhi: 32. 
• Watts, Anthony (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-0-85368-912-6. 

External links

• Article in Russian Language
• Article in English with photographs

Petropavlovsk-class battleships Petropavlovsk Poltava / Tango / Chesma Sevastopol Preceded by: Imperator Aleksandr II Followed by: Tri Sviatitelia List of Russian battleships

Russian naval ship classes of World War I Dreadnought battleships Gangut Imperatritsa Mariya Imperator Nikolai IS Pre-dreadnought battleships Ekaterina II Imperator Aleksandr II Petropavlovsk Tri SviatiteliaS RostislavS TsesarevichS Borodino Peresvet PotemkinS Evstafi Andrei Pervozvanny Battlecruisers Borodino Armored cruisers RossiaS GromoboiS Bayan RurikS Light cruisers SvetlanaC Admiral NakhimovC Protected cruisers Pallada AskoldS Bogatyr Izumrud Destroyers NovikS Derzky Orfey Izyaslav Fidonisy Submarines DelfinS Som Kasatka MinogaS AkulaS Karp Kaiman KrabS Morzh Bars Narval S — Single ship of class C — Completed after the war