| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Imperator Aleksandr III |
| Builder: | Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg |
| Laid down: | July 1899 |
| Launched: | November 1901 |
| Completed: | August 1903 |
| Commissioned: | 1 September 1904 |
| Fate: | Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 27 May 1905 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Borodino-class battleship |
| Displacement: | 13,516 long tons (13,733 t) standard 14,151 long tons (14,378 t) full load |
| Length: | 121 m (397 ft) |
| Beam: | 23.2 m (76 ft) |
| Draught: | 8.9 m (29 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft reciprocating vertical triple-expansion (VTE) steam engines 12 Belleville coal-fired boilers 15,800 ihp (11,800 kW) 1,580 tons coal |
| Speed: | 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 28 officers, 754 men |
| Armament: | • 4 × 305 mm (12 in) guns (2×2) • 12 × 152 mm (6 in) guns (6×2) • 20 × 75 mm (3 in) guns (20×1) • 20 × 47 mm (2 in) guns (20×1) • 4 × 381 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | Krupp armour Belt: 193 mm (7.6 in) Turrets: 254 mm (10 in) max Deck: 51 mm (2 in) Anti-torpedo bulkhead: 25 mm (1 in) |
The Imperator Alexandr III (Russian: Император Александр III) was a Borodino-class battleship of the Russian Imperial Navy, the first ship of its class to be completed. It was named after Tsar Alexander III. Some naval architects regard the Borodino-class as being among the worst battleships ever built (Preston 2002). The design was based on the French built battleship Tsesarevich, which was constructed with a tumblehome hull. The tumblehome design resulted in a high centre of gravity, which was magnified by overloading.
Imperator Alexandr III was part of the Russian Second Pacific Squadron, which was sent as a relief force for the embattled fleet at Port Arthur and fought the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905. When the Russian flagship at Tsushima, Suvorov was temporarily disabled, Alexander III turned to port and withstood concentrated fire from 3,000 yards (2,700 m). Turning southeast, she led the Russian line, until she was forced to stop to make repairs and put out fires caused by the bombardment. By 6:00 PM her fires were out and she rejoined the fight, although she was soon again shelled at 7,000 yards (6,400 m), and the flooding, which had been a problem since the first bombardment, became impossible to control. She capsized and sank, leaving no survivors.
A granite obelisk was constructed in the Nicholas Gardens of St. Petersburg to remember the men of the Imperator Aleksandr II. It was designed by Artem Ober and Yakov Filote.
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