Squadron battleship Navarin. The last cruise of the battleship Navarin. Testimony of the stoker from the battleship "Navarin" Porfiry Tarasovich Derkach, a native of the Kamyanets-Podolsk province

It doesn't take a lot of maritime history to unmistakably identify this ship in old photographs. Four pipes standing in a quadrangle - "like the legs of an inverted table" - there were no more such ships in the Russian imperial fleet. And such a scheme is not often found in the world. "Navarin" became the first battleship of the "standard scheme" in the Baltic Sea - 4 main-caliber guns on the bow and stern in armored towers, medium-caliber artillery in an armored casemate ...

Design and construction
The decision to start designing this ship was made in January 1888. Initially, Admiral Shestakov wanted to get a battleship, on the one hand, equal in armament to "Emperor Alexander II", and on the other hand, the ship had to have as little displacement and draft as possible
However, in the spring of the same year, the Naval Department received information about the design in Germany of battleships of the Wörth type with a displacement of about 10,000 tons and having 5,280-mm main guns. The project of the Russian ship was urgently revised. As a result, he received armament from 4 x 305-mm guns of the main caliber and a powerful auxiliary battery of six-inch guns. The concept of the ship - a low-sided, without a forecastle, was influenced by information about the British battleships titpa "Niall".
On April 12, 1889, Rear Admiral V.I. Popov, authorized by the naval department, and P.K. Du Buis were contracted to build the ship. The official laying of the battleship, which received the formidable name "Navarin", took place on May 19, 1890, when more than 2500 tons of steel had already been mounted on the slipway. The launching of the ship took place on October 8, 1891.
As usual, during construction, changes were made to the ship's design. Admiral N.M. Chikhachev ordered the use of new 35-caliber main-caliber guns on the new battleship (instead of the 30-caliber ones provided for by the project), the question of the number of masts on the battleship, etc. All this, as well as problems with the manufacture of armor of a new sample and a new thickness, led to a significant delay in the construction of the ship - it entered sea trials only in November 1895.

(pictured - battleship during sea trials)
The ship finally entered service in June 1896.

(Ship in the ranks of the fleet)

Specifications
Displacement 10206 t.Dimensions 112.3 / 105.9 / 103 x 20.4 x 7.7 / 8.4. m
Armament 4 - 305/35, 8 - 152/35, 18 - 47/43, 12 - 37 mm, 2 - 64 mm (dec), 6 NTA
Reservation - compound. belt 356-406 (203) -356 mm, upper belt 305 mm,
traverse 305 mm, towers 305/51 mm, battery 127-152 mm, wheelhouse 254 mm,
decks 51-63-76 mm, 51 mm.
Mechanisms 2 vertical triple expansion machines 9144 hp 12 cylindrical boilers 2 screws
Speed 15.85 knots Cruising range 3050 miles. Crew of 26 officers and 596 sailors

Service
Immediately after the entry into service "Navarin" as part of the detachment of the commander of the Russian Mediterranean squadron, Rear Admiral P.P. Andreeva goes to the Mediterranean Sea, where she spends 15 long months.

(in the photo - at the beginning of the long voyage - the end of 1896 Algeria)

(pictured - Battleship in the Mediterranean)
At the end of 1897, the Russian government decided to strengthen Russia's naval presence in the Far Eastern waters. From the Mediterranean squadron, two battleships Navarin and Sisoy the Great are sent to the Far East.
Arriving in Port Arthur on March 16, 1898, "Navarin" remains there until April 1900 as the flagship of the junior flagship of the Pacific Ocean Squadron, Rear Admiral O.V. Stark.

(pictured - "Navarin" in Port Arthur)
In 1900, the ship takes part in the suppression of the Boxer uprising. During the assault on the forts of Taku, the landing party of the battleship loses 4 people killed and 13 wounded, but on the other hand it was awarded the gratitude of Vice-Admiral Alekseev for "courage and valiant training."
On Far east the ship stayed until the end of 1901. On December 12, the battleship, as part of the detachment of Rear Admiral Chukhnin, went to the Baltic for repair and modernization.

(In the photo - On the way home. EBR "Navarin" and "Sisoy the Great" in Algeria, March 1902)

The last trip
Repair work on the battleship continued neither shaky nor shaky until the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. Failures in the Far East forced the Russian command to hurry up with the dispatch of reinforcements, which was supposed to be the 2nd Pacific Squadron, led by Rear Admiral Rozhestvensky. In June 1904 "Navarin" completed renovation work, and on August 29 left Kronstadt forever

(On the roadstead of Kronstadt before the campaign. August 1904)
Coral joined the 2nd Armored Detachment of the squadron. Before the march, the battleship, along with other ships of the squadron, was awarded the Highest visit.

(The last parade is in anticipation of the royal visit)

(The Emperor's visit to the battleship. Revel September 27, 1904)
The battleship was commanded by the 1st rank captain Bruno Alexandrovich Fitingof. Under his leadership, "Navarin", without any special incidents, went through the entire long voyage with the squadron and on May 14 entered its first and last battle in the ship's life. During the day's battle, only 3 Japanese 12-inch shells hit the battleship, a shrapnel from one of them fatally wounded the ship's captain. A senior officer, Captain 2nd Rank V.N. Durkin.
Until darkness fell, the battleship supported the squadron course and took its place in the battle formation.
Rear Admiral Nebogatov, who took command of the squadron, actually lost half of the battleships he inherited. The damaged Navarin was left alone with the darkness of the night and Japanese destroyers. Around 22h the first torpedo hit the ship, and the stern of the battleship settled almost to the stern turret of the main caliber. The crew desperately fought for the survivability of the ship, but after 4 hours the battleship was hit by two more torpedoes, capsized and sank. With the ship, all the officers and almost the entire crew were killed - out of 700 people, three survived - signalman N. Sedov, fireman P. Derkach and gunner S. Kuzmin ...

The feat of the old battleship was not forgotten - on December 6, 1912, the name "Navarin" was given to the one laid down at the New Admiralty in St. Petersburg battle cruiser....

Warships of the world

Editor V.V. Arbuzov

Lit. editor S.N. Titova

Proofreader T.A. Nikitina

Warships of the world

Saint Petersburg 2012

Cover: on the 1st-4th pages there are photos of the battleship "Navarin" in different periods of service.

Chapter I Design and construction

Design

The coming year 1888 was the seventh year of the Twenty Years Program. Passed sea trials, and were preparing to enter service in the Baltic "Emperor Alexander II", on the Black Sea "Catherine II", "Chesma" and "Sinop". In St. Petersburg, at the shipyard of Galerny Island, the Franco-Russian Plant prepared the hull of the battleship "Emperor Nicholas I" for launch. In the New Admiralty, the Gangut small-displacement ship was built by "government funds". Construction of the fourth Black Sea battleship began in Nikolaev.

All battleships built in St. Petersburg belonged to ships of medium or small displacement. But already during their construction, the ITC and the Maritime Ministry were increasingly demanding to build ships of a larger displacement, capable of operating in the ocean. A supporter of their construction was Vice Admiral I.A. Shestakov. In May 1888, he wrote a letter to the ITC, which said that "... the projected ships are sea vessels, capable of appearing in all European seas and even reaching the Far East due to their carbon capacity."

A little later, the construction of small battleships was recognized as inexpedient in the ITC. The Naval Ministry also had a new task - in the future, to have a combat-ready squadron in the Pacific Ocean, as information began to be communicated about plans to strengthen the newly created and still small fleet in Japan.

Under the influence of public opinion, Grand Duke General-Admiral Alexei Alexandrovich issued a new order: to design a fourth “... battleship for the Baltic Sea, stronger than“ Alexander II ”, with a displacement of 8000 to 9000 tons, armed with twelve-inch guns with armor and a speed of the greatest possible , and with a supply of coal, which will be enough in case the ship is assigned to a long voyage ”.

In October 1888, one of the owners of the joint-stock company of Franco-Russian factories and its manager (one of the few industrialists who had access to the emperor himself) P.K. Du-Buy, given the possibility of obtaining a new order, very promptly submitted to the ITC a project of a ship of 8950 tons, close in design to the newest British battleships "Nile" and "Trafalgar".

After reviewing the drawings in the Committee, P.K. Du-Buy had to increase the supply of coal, the size of the hull and protect the battery of 152-mm guns with 127-mm armor. This led to an increase in displacement to 9,200 tons. After reviewing the project for the second time, the ITC approved the location of artillery from four 305-mm, six 152-mm and several small-caliber guns.

Compared to the “Alexander I”, the weight of the salvo in the P.K. Du-Byuis was, respectively, 1151 and 775 kg on the bow, 1262 and 1549 kg on board. The total weight of the salvo on "Alexander I" was 1862 kg, in the new project 1772 kg. In terms of weight, the artillery of "Alexander II" accounted for 863.6 tons (or 10% of the displacement), in the project of P.C. Du-Byuy - 838 tons, or 9.1%.

The project also won with stronger protection of both towers for 305-mm guns and an armored casemate mounted on a 406-mm armor belt along the waterline. And, although the belt covered only 85% of the ship's length, MTC found it acceptable. The total weight of the armor on "Alexander II" was 2117 tons (24.6%), and on the battleship P.K. Du-Bouy 2955 (32.1%). True, the MTK reduced the thickness of the traverse armor, using the saved weight for better protection of the conning tower with plates of more than 254 mm.

To the existing two bow and two traverse mine vehicles, the Committee added one stern and considered it mandatory to install anti-torpedo nets. To all this, recognizing the 15-knot design speed as insufficient, the ITC determined it to be no less than 16 knots. This again required an increase in displacement by 200 tons and length up to 103.6 m.

Formations of the underwater part of the hull and the ratio of length to width P.K. Du-Buy made very close to similar formations in the English battleship "Rodney", which he recognized as more perfect than the prototype of the battleship "Nile". According to his calculations, with mechanisms of 9000 l / s, the ship should have a speed of at least 16.7 knots.

The forced blast had to be abandoned, since the boilers wore out too quickly. The coal reserve of 700 tons, according to the calculations of the ITC, was enough for 5600 miles, which, when crossing to Vladivostok, was enough to overcome the longest section of the route from Aden to Singapore without loading. After reviewing the project, General-Admiral Aleksey Alexandrovich on February 13, 1889 gave the "highest" permission for the construction of the battleship.

Then, after the operational for such a huge bureaucratic machine as the Naval Ministry (just a month later, on March 13th), reviewing the drawings and specifications of the hull, calculating the weight loads, the ITC approved the “battleship of 9476 tonnes of displacement” for construction, making it “mandatory” all your comments.

According to the decision of the Committee, it was necessary to change the formation of the stem, reinforcing it with horizontal ribs, make armored decks at the ends with their lowering to the stems just below the waterline, arrange 25.4-mm bulkheads between 152-mm guns, raise the towers so that the axles the trunks were separated from the plane of the upper deck by 1.5 m, to place the bow torpedo tubes “under water” and to install two masts, similar to those that were on the “Alexander II”.

According to the accepted rule, the ITC also considered an alternative project of a “battleship of 9520 tons”. It was developed by the ship engineer S.K. Ratnik. The main and decisive drawback of his project was the presence of barbet installations, which clearly did not satisfy the Committee, which at that time took the direction of building only tower battleships. So, the project of the famous capitalist, which was P.K. Du-Buy, became “generally accepted” both in the ITC and among the top management of the Naval Ministry. And, although the project satisfied the tasks, it was nevertheless outdated for several years, since in England at that time the construction of a large series of high-board Royal Sovereign-class battleships, armed with a large number of 152-mm guns, had already begun. It was this type that became decisive in the construction of battleships for the next fifteen years. But for those who decided the fate of Russian shipbuilding, this was not decisive, because the “new” ship was designed by a man for whom meeting with the highest dignitaries of the empire was an everyday occurrence.

On April 12, 1889, Rear Admiral V.I. Popov from the Ministry of the Sea concluded directly with the author of the project (!!!), representing the interests of the Society of Franco-Russian Plants, P.K. Du-Byuy a contract “for the construction of the steel hull of the battleship in 9476 tons with final finishing and its full production for service”. The ship will be built, it was said in the contract, on the part of Galerny Island in St. Petersburg that was transferred for temporary use to the Company, which belonged to the Marine Department, “from the best Siemens-Martin Russian steel according to the drawing and specifications”.

Under the contract, the Company performed all work except for the manufacture of practical things, armor, weapons, mechanisms and electrical equipment, which must be provided by the Ministry of the Navy. The total amount of payments under the contract was 2,900,000 rubles. It will be paid in 20 installments (installments) as the work progresses. The first payment was received by the Company when 350 tons of metal were installed on the slipway, the last one when the ship entered service.

At the end of April 1904, at a special meeting chaired by Emperor Nicholas II, it was decided to include the battleship Navarin, which was being repaired and partially modernized in Kronstadt, into the 2nd Pacific Squadron. In view of the forced reduction in the time allotted for the implementation of the planned measures, part of the previously envisaged work had to be canceled, and already from June 1904 the ship, along with the battleship Sisoy Veliky that had also undergone repairs and the armored cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, stood on the Bolshoi Kronstadt roadstead.

By order of ZP Rozhestvensky dated June 23, 1904 (hereinafter, all dates are given according to the old style), "Navarin" together with "Oslyabya", "Sisoy the Great" and "Admiral Nakhimov" was enlisted in the 2nd armored detachment, headed by Rear Admiral DG Felkerzam, who raised his flag on the battleship Oslyabya.

With the transfer of the squadron to Revel (Tallinn) on August 30, 1904, a period of combat training began: for a month, rank I and II ships practiced squadron evolutions, conducted barrel and caliber training firing, destroyers practiced torpedo launches. Working out a schedule for the loading of coal for the upcoming transition, the ships in Revel three times in an emergency were loaded with coal, however, the loading speed, due to the insufficient attention of the ship authorities to the organization of work, was relatively low. So, on "Navarino" for an hour it was possible to take from 11.4 to 23.9 tons of coal; at the same time on the Japanese battleship "Fuji", for example, on April 24, 1905, the corresponding figure was one hundred and three tons in 27 minutes.

On September 28, 1904, the squadron left the port of Emperor Alexander III, arriving the next day in Libava (Liepaja). Having replenished coal reserves, the main forces of the 2nd Pacific Squadron left Libau on October 2, 1904. At Cape Skagen (Skagen Odde) the squadron was divided into six detachments (No. 1-6), four of which, including the 5th (battleships "Oslyabya", "Sisoy Velikiy", "Navarin", armored cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov", transports "Meteor" and "Malaya") were to be followed to Tangier (Morocco).

On the night of October 8-9, 1904, in the Dogger Bank area, the so-called "Hull Incident" (with a high degree of probability, provoked by the British government) occurred, during which Russian ships fired at the British fishing flotilla and their cruiser " Aurora". This led to a further deterioration in relations between London and St. Petersburg, as well as the forced delay of the 1st armored detachment in the Spanish port of Vigo until the conflict was resolved.

The 2nd Pacific Squadron arrived in Tangier in parts, the first to arrive on October 16 was Detachment 5 (the flag of Rear Admiral Felkersam), and the last, five days later, Detachment 1 (the flag of Vice Admiral Rozhdestvensky). On the same day, the squadron commander, due to the unreliability of the Navarin refrigerators and the Sisoy the Great boilers, gave orders to these two battleships along with three cruisers (Svetlana, Zhemchug, Almaz), which were later joined by 9 destroyers and 9 transports, follow the Suez Canal to Madagascar (rendezvous for the entire squadron). The battleship Sisoy the Great was chosen as the flagship of the Separate Squadron of the 2nd Pacific Squadron, to which Rear Admiral Felkerzam transferred his flag from the Oslyabi. On the transition from Crete to Port Said (Egypt), both battleships for the first time, after leaving Russia, conducted firing practice at shields, showing satisfactory results. Having safely passed the Suez Canal on November 12-13, 1904, Felkerzam's detachment, observing on the way the security measures developed taking into account the "Hull incident", with a call to receive water and coal in Port Said (Egypt) and Djibouti (French Somalia), 15 December 1904 approached the entrance to the Bay of Nossi-be (Madagascar). Without resorting to the services of pilots, the ships of the detachment independently proceeded to the bay, which turned out to be so spacious that the entire 2nd Pacific Squadron was later able to accommodate in it in full force.

Battleships in Nossi Be, far right - "Navarin"

During the stay of the Second Pacific Squadron in one of the bays of Nossi-Bé Island, the Navarin, which, together with Oslyabya, was one of the two most aptly shooting battleships, took part in training caliber firing four times (14, 18, 21 and 25 January 1905), during which the battleship fired 40 12 "and 120 6" shells.

For comparison, the battleships of the 1st Combat Detachment of the United Fleet (Mikasa, Shikishima, Fuji and Asahi) in the only spring caliber firing of 1905, conducted on April 12, 1905, fired a total of 32 12 "shells, sixteen of which hit the target. At the same time, the battleship" Prince Suvorov ", which fired on January 19, 1905 in much less favorable conditions (the shield as a target instead of a small island for the Japanese, and also much larger than for the Japanese , distance), fired six shells from the bow turret of the main caliber and achieved five hits.

After an almost three-month stay, the squadron on March 3, 1905, Rozhdestvensky's squadron left Madagascar, and then completed in 28 days an unprecedented crossing of the Indian Ocean. On April 26, 1905, the 2nd and 3rd squadrons met off the coast of Vietnam in Van Phong Bay, and the main forces of the 2nd Pacific Squadron began to number 8 squadron battleships, three coastal defense battleships, six I rank cruisers and three II cruisers. rank.

The last loading of coal on the Navarin took place on May 10, 1905, near Shanghai, during which the fuel supply on board was increased to more than 1,200 tons. All the bunkers were filled with coal, the living and battery decks, as well as the cabin and the tank of the ship, were filled up. On the same day, the 2nd armored detachment was left without a commander, after a long illness, Rear Admiral D.G. Captain 1st Rank V. I. Baer 1st.

By the morning of May 14, 1905, the amount of fuel reserves on the Navarin had decreased, according to the official report, to 751 tons (the normal reserve is from 700 to 730 tons), and the battleship entered the battle, having coal only in the coal pits and the stoker's compartment ( the battleship, which had efficient desalination plants, did not have excess reserves of fresh water), which in terms of operational overload favorably differed from the already mentioned Japanese battleship "Fuji", for example. The latter, according to the British observer Captain T. Jackson, Royal Navy, on the eve of the Battle of Tsushima had from 1,163 to 1,300 tons of coal (the normal stock is 700 tons).

The day before, in preparation for the battle, all the "extra" wood on the "Navarin" was thrown overboard, with the exception of the boards in the rostra, intended for loading coal. The boats were one-third filled with water and were wrapped in anti-mine nets, the conning tower was wrapped in beads, and improvised traverses made of bags of coal and sand were arranged in the decks. At 16:30 the squadron received a signal "Prepare for battle", and at 18:00 - "Have pairs for full speed by dawn tomorrow."

Pursuant to the misinterpreted combat order of the squadron commander “Course nord-ost 23 °. Hit the head "(intended only for the 1st armored detachment)," Navarin "from the bow turret of the main caliber opened fire on the Japanese flagship, the rest of the guns were silent until the death of the battleship" Oslyabya ".

During the day's battle at Navarin, chimneys and boats were damaged, and one 47 mm gun was put out of action. Two medium-caliber shells caused small fires in the wardroom and on the tank, which were later successfully extinguished. The side 6 "armor of the casemate of medium-caliber guns was hit several times by shells of an unknown caliber.

In the waterline area, the battleship received seven hits (including one large-caliber projectile, presumably 12 ", in the stern and bow), of which four fell on the aft compartment, which resulted in flooding in the stern, and three on the bow, where the water that penetrated into the torpedo compartment made the bow somewhat heavier, but the ship continued to hold the squadron speed of 8-10 knots.

The ship's medium artillery, firing mainly high-explosive shells, used up less than half of the ammunition in the Battle of Tsushima.

At 20:10 (hereinafter, Japanese time), the remnants of the 2nd Pacific Squadron were attacked for the first time (21 fighters and 37 destroyers were approaching from all three sides to Nebogatov's detachment, who was trying to hide from the Japanese by false turns). Looking ahead, we note that this night for the Japanese was more effective than the night after the battle at Cape Shantung, when 18 of their fighters and 31 destroyers, who fired 74 torpedoes (32 and 42, respectively) into the ships of the Port Arthur squadron, achieved only one hit (the torpedo did not explode on impact) into the battleship "Poltava".

The detachment led by Nebogatov, originally consisting of nine ships (seven battleships and two cruisers), disintegrated at nightfall. Unable to maintain a speed of about 12 knots, the Admiral Ushakov, Navarin, Sisoy Veliky and the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov gradually fell behind.

At about 21:00, the Navarin was attacked by the 4th fighter squadron of the 2nd Fleet (the braid pennant of Captain 2nd Rank Kantarō Suzuki) consisting of the Asagiri (朝霧) and Murasame (村雨 ) (type "Harusame", assembled in Japan), as well as "Asashio" (朝潮) and "Shirakumo" (白雲) (type "Shirakumo", built by the English company Thornycroft), and one of the one or two torpedoes they fired ( probably type "Otsu", warhead - 52 kg of shimosa) at 21:05 exploded in the area of the right aft 6 "cellar.

Fighter "Asashio"

In the battery deck, electric lighting disappeared, and in the left bow stoker compartment, due to a bursting steam pipe, steam in the three bow boilers was stopped. After the repair of the pipe in the bow boilers, the vapors began to be diluted, but the boilers were no longer put into operation. The living deck, even in the daytime battle, noticeably sagging by the stern of the "Navarin", separated by watertight bulkheads only to a height of 0.91 m from the waterline (with a normal displacement), quickly became flooded with water, rushing into the ship through the hole formed after the explosion.

As a result of the subsequent extensive flooding, the stern additionally sagged so much that the water, covering the quarterdeck, approached the stern tower.

The water alarm was broken, the cellar was battened down and the plaster began to be applied; but, since the ends touched the kingston pipes, all efforts were in vain. After several people were washed overboard by the water from the poop, attempts to put on the plaster were stopped and the battleship gave way; among the team there was a rumor that the "Navarin" was heading to the nearest (obviously, Korean) coast in a four-knot course. To pump out water from the flooded stern compartment, bow and stern pumps were used, and buckets were also used.

While repelling subsequent torpedo attacks, the battleship, without opening the searchlight, fired with segment shells. As a result of several successful hits, one of the Japanese destroyers of the 2nd class of the type "No. 22" (No. 34 or No. 35) was so damaged that it subsequently sank.

Destroyer type "No. 22"

The Navarin was last attacked at about 02:00 27 miles northeast of Cape Karasaki when the battleship was re-located by the 4th fighter squadron. Having rushed forward at an increased speed of 15 knots, three fighters that remained unnoticed (Murasame, due to a strong leak from a six-inch shell received in a day's battle, headed for Takeshiki), at a distance of about 2,000 meters after overtaking Navarin, another Russian ship noticed. After a successful torpedo attack by the latter, the returning Japanese were met with fire from 47 mm and 37 mm guns of the Navarina, and despite which they managed to throw six bundles of mines across the course of the battleship (type Gō kirai 1, adopted in October 1904. ), each of which consisted of four, articulated with a cable, mines, with the help of floats held at a depth of six meters.

In the photo, crew members with a fragment of the skin pierced by a Russian shell.

Longitudinal section of a mine

Two of these mines almost simultaneously hit the Navarin, the first in the area of the stoker's compartment in the middle of the starboard side, and the second in the middle of the left side. The entire machine crew was killed, soon the command "Save" was sounded, the battleship began to roll to the starboard side and after 7-10 minutes disappeared under water.

In response to the question of British observers why the destroyers did not begin to rescue several hundred Russian sailors who were in the water, the Japanese told about their fears of being blown up by their own mines.

Of the entire crew of "Navarin" on May 14-15, 1905, 26 officers, one priest, 11 conductors and 643 lower ranks were killed and drowned, only three Navarin residents managed to survive. After a 24-hour stay in the water, they were picked up by an English commercial steamer (in the photo from left to right) Porfiry Tarasovich Derkach - a fireman of the 2nd article, a St. George cavalier and Stepan Dmitrievich Kuzmin - a gunner, a St. George cavalier.

The third survivor, signalman Ivan Andrianovich Sedov, was unconsciously picked up by the Japanese fighter "Fubuki" (吹雪) fourteen hours after the sinking of the ship.

List of used literature
1. The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. Book six. Hike of the 2nd Pacific Squadron to the Far East.
2. The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. Fleet actions. The documents. Reports and descriptions of the participants in the battle.
3. Description of military operations at sea in 37-28, Meiji (1904-1905)
4. Top secret Russo-Japanese war at sea in 37-38 years. Meiji.
5. Other sources.

V.V. Arbuzov

Battleship "Navarin"

Battleships of the Russian fleet

ARMORED CARRIERS OF THE RUSSIAN FLEET

"Ships and Battles"

Saint Petersburg 1998

1 . Design

The coming year 1888 was the seventh year of the Twenty Years Program. Passed sea trials, and were preparing to enter service in the Baltic Sea "Emperor Alexander II", on the Black Sea "Catherine II", "Chesma" and "Sinop". In St. Petersburg, at the shipyard of Galley Island, the Franco-Russian Plant prepared the hull of the battleship "Emperor Nicholas I" for launching. In the New Admiralty, "government funds" were building the small-displacement ship "Gangut". Construction of the fourth Black Sea battleship began in Nikolaev.

A little later, the construction of small battleships was recognized as inexpedient in the ITC. The Naval Ministry also had a new task - in the future to have a combat-ready squadron in the Pacific Ocean, as information began to be reported about plans to strengthen the newly created and still small fleet in Japan.

Under the influence of public opinion, Grand Duke General-Admiral Alexei Alexandrovich issued a new order: to design the fourth "... battleship for the Baltic Sea, stronger than" Alexander II ", with a displacement of 8000 to 9000 tons, armed with twelve-inch guns with armor and a speed of the greatest possible , and with a supply of coal, which will be enough in case the ship is assigned to a long voyage. "

In October 1888, one of the owners of the joint-stock company of Franco-Russian factories and its manager (one of the few industrialists who had access to the emperor himself) P.K. Du-Buy, taking into account the possibility of obtaining a new order, very promptly submitted to the ITC a project of a ship of 8950 tons, close in design to the newest British battleships "Nile" and "Trafalgar".

Compared with the "Alexander II", the weight of the salvo in the project of P.K. Du-Byuis was, respectively, 1151 and 775 kg on the bow, 1262 and 1549 kg on board. The total weight of the salvo on "Alexander II" was 1862 kg, in the new project 1772 kg. In terms of weight, the artillery of "Alexander II" accounted for 863.6 tons (or 10% of the displacement), in the project of P.K. Du-Buy - 838 tons or 9.1%.

Formations of the underwater part of the hull and the ratio of length to width P.K. Du-Buy made very close to similar formations in the English battleship "Rodney", which he recognized as more perfect than those of the prototype battleship "Nile". According to his calculations, with mechanisms of 9000 l / s, the ship should have a speed of at least 16.7 knots.

The forced blast had to be abandoned, since the boilers wore out too quickly. The coal reserve of 700 tons, according to the calculations of the ITC, was enough for 5600 miles, which, when crossing to Vladivostok, was enough to overcome the longest section of the route from Aden to Singapore without loading. After reviewing the project, General-Admiral Alexei Alexandrovich on February 13, 1889 gave the "highest" permission for the construction of the battleship.

Then, after the operational for such a huge bureaucratic machine as the Naval Ministry (just a month later, on March 13), reviewing the drawings and specifications of the hull, calculating the weight loads, the ITC approved for construction a "battleship of 9476 tons of displacement", making it "mandatory for execution" all your comments.

According to the decision of the Committee, it was necessary to change the formation of the stem, reinforcing it with horizontal ribs, make armored decks at the ends with their lowering to the stems just below the waterline, arrange 25.4-mm bulkheads between 152-mm guns, raise the towers so that the axles the trunks were separated from the plane of the upper deck by 1.5 m, to place the bow torpedo tubes "under water" and to install two masts, similar to those that were on the "Alexander II".

According to the accepted rule, the ITC also considered an alternative project "battleship in 9520 tons". It was developed by the ship engineer S.K. Ratnik. The main and decisive drawback of his project was the presence of barbet installations, which clearly did not satisfy the Committee, which at that time took the direction of building only tower battleships. So, the project of the famous capitalist, which was P.K. Du-Buy, became "generally accepted" both in the ITC and among the top management of the Naval Ministry. And, although the project satisfied the tasks, it was nevertheless outdated for several years, since in England at that time the construction of a large series of high-board Royal Sovereign-class battleships, armed with a large number of 152-mm guns, had already begun. This is what became decisive in the construction of battleships for the next fifteen years. But for those who decided the fate of Russian shipbuilding, this was not decisive, because the "new" ship was designed by a man for whom meeting with the highest dignitaries of the empire was an everyday occurrence.

On April 12, 1889, Rear Admiral V.I. Popov from the Ministry of the Sea concluded directly with the author of the project (III), representing the interests of the Society of Franco-Russian Plants, P.K. Du-Buis contract "for the construction of the steel hull of the battleship in 9476 tons with the final finishing and its full production for service." The ship will be built, it was said in the contract, on the part of Galerny Island in St. Petersburg that was transferred for temporary use to the Company and belonged to the Maritime Department "from the best Siemens-Martin Russian steel according to the drawing and specifications."

Squadron battleship Navarin. (Longitudinal section of the stern tower, shell and charging cellars)

At the end of the summer of 1895, to test the ships under construction: the battleship Navarin, the coastal defense battleship Admiral Ushakov, the armored cruiser Rurik and destroyers No. 119 and No. 120 under the chairmanship of Rear Admiral B.K. De-Livrona (shortly before that he had been in the position of commander of the Navarin), a special commission was formed. Admiral Ushakov became the flagship of the newly formed detachment. On it, the admiral August 15 and raised his flag. About a month later, on September 12, Navarin also launched a campaign. Basically, only the main and auxiliary mechanisms were tested, since the artillery was installed on the ship only in the summer and it had many imperfections.

On September 23, "Navarin" entered the factory test of the machines and the determination of the deviation. The machines were mainly serviced by factory workers. They managed to bring the steam pressure up to 130 pounds and the machines developed 90 rpm each. But, despite the fact that the vehicles "worked smoothly and did not warm up," the battleship reached a speed of just over 15 knots.

The next exit to the sea took place on September 29. Together with representatives of the Franco-Russian plant, a six-hour test was carried out. With a displacement of 10,107 tons, the battleship developed a speed of 16.3 knots. The overload in this case amounted to 631.4 tons or 6.6% of the design (9437 tons) displacement. With more accurate calculations, the overload of the hull was determined at 274 tons, 308 tons of mechanisms, 12 tons of armor, 30 tons of artillery and 7 tons of supplies. On November 10, official tests were carried out. This time with a power of 9194 hp. (pressure 135 pounds and 94 turns of the propeller) the average speed on the test was developed only 15.85 knots (however, on one of the runs they reached 16.14 knots).

The commission was chaired by the chief inspector for mechanical parts, mechanical engineer N.G. Nozikova testified that "the steam held on easily, and the mechanism operated at a constant speed, quite calmly and without warming up."

The tests ended, and "Navarin" went to Revel. There it was necessary to begin testing the torpedo tubes. After firing several shots from each apparatus, the battleship returned to Kronstadt, and on December 14, a pennant was lowered on it. The three-month campaign is over.

The tactical and technical data of the battleships launched in the period from 1887 to 1896.

Name of the ship (country and year of launch) /	"Trafalgar"	"Navarin"	Royal Sovereign	"Kaiser Frederick III"
Tactical and technical data	(England, 1887)	(Russia. 1891)	(England. 1891)	(Germany, 1896)
Length between perpendiculars (m)	105,2	105,9	1 15,8	115
Maximum width (m)	22,2	20,4	22,86	20,3
deepening on an even keel (m)	8,38	7,62	8,4	7,87
Displacement (t)	11940	9476	14500	1 1 152
Displacement completeness coefficient	0,572	0,58
Length to width ratio		5,04
Width to draft ratio		2,56
Belt length at waterline (m)	70,1	69,5	74,5	92
Belt height waterline (m)	1,68	2,13	2,59
Belt thickness at waterline (mm)	508,406	406,356,305	457,406,356	230,218
Traverse thickness (mm)	406,356	305	406,356
Lower casemate armor thickness (mm)	406	305	50,8, 152	102, 152
Thickness of traverses of the lower casemate (mm)	406	305,254	102
Thickness of upper casemate armor (mm)	127	127		102,152
Thickness of traverses of the upper casemate (mm)	127	127
Armor thickness of towers / barbet (mm)	457	305	431,406	235
Deck armor thickness (mm)
In the middle	114	50,8, 64		64
at the extremities	76,2	76,2	64	76
Conning tower armor thickness (mm)	356	254	356	235
Artillery armament:
number of towers (barbets) (pcs)	2	2	(2)	2
number - caliber (in mm) / barrel length
(in calibers) turret guns	4 - 343/30	4 - 305/35	4- 343/30	4- 240/40
		(80)
The height of the axles of the turret guns above
waterline (m)		5,33
number - gun caliber (mm) in casemates	6 120	8 152	10 152	18 150
(number of shells per barrel)		(125)
The number of small-caliber guns (pcs)
on the ship	19	18	16	12
on mars	4	12	8	8 pool.
Number and type of mechanisms	2 triple	2 triple	2 triple	2 triple
Number of boilers	6	12	8	12
Design power (hp)	8000/12000	9000	9000/13000	13000
Actual power (hp)	12818	9194		13500
Actual speed (knots)	17,2	15,85	17	18
Normal coal supply (t)	900	700	900	650

After the tests, the workers of the Franco-Russian plant arrived on the ship, and the completion of the construction continued. Work was in full swing on all decks. A little later, the Navarin was placed in the large Konstantinovsky dock and the bottom began to be painted.

In the dock next to the bulk of its hull stood the coastal defense battleship Admiral Lazarev, which seemed so small even with its masts, and the corvette Mineapolis, which remained in Russia for the winter, a ship of a friendly country from the distant North American United States. In the dock on the bridge in front of the light signal mast, a navigator's cabin was installed (its metal frame was sheathed with one-inch steel sheets).

In the winter from 1895 to 1896. the conning tower armor was installed on the ship (the wheelhouse frame itself was assembled only in November during the tests), shots and rigging for anti-torpedo nets, platforms for searchlights and armor plates on the tower frames. An innovation in the fleet was the artillery control system installed on the battleship using combat indicators designed by Lieutenant Stepanov. In February, four 37-mm Gotchkiss guns were removed from the ship, and two Baranovsky landing guns were removed from the deck pedestals, replacing them with six 47-mm single-barreled guns.

Before the start of the campaign, the Metal Works handed over the artillery "to the treasury," and the port of Kronstadt installed poles and anti-torpedo nets removed for the winter. At the same time, Lieutenant Kolbasyev's rudder position indicator, two electric winches and electric lights for signaling Lieutenant Colonel Tabulevich's system, were installed on the ship.

The new battleship was undoubtedly the strongest ship of the Russian Imperial Navy. But it should be borne in mind that seven years have passed from the beginning of the design to its commissioning. During this time, "Navarin" and its prototype battleship "Nile" (which was also in the British fleet for seven years) became obsolete types.

In England, by that time, eight newest ships of the Royal Sovereign type had entered the fleet, and the first of nine similar battleships of the Majestic class had already begun to leave the stocks. In addition, the British shipyards began building another series of six Canopus-class ships. In Germany, they also began building a new series of five battleships, the lead of which was the Kaiser Frederick III.

All new battleships had higher sides and a greater number of medium-caliber guns, which gave them an incomparable advantage in artillery combat.

Having started the construction of the Navarin in the Baltic and similarly to it in the type of the Three Saints in the Black Sea, Russia also moved away from the concept of low-sided turret battleships. In 1895, when the Navarin entered service, the Sisoy Veliky, Petropavlovsk and Poltava, representatives of a different type of high-board ship with new more powerful 305-m 40-caliber guns installed in towers, with a center of gravity passing through the axis of rotation.

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