Charodeika-class monitor

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Charodeika at anchor; her two turrets are painted white
Class overview
Builders
Galernyi Island Shipyard, Saint Petersburg
Operators Imperial Russian Navy
Preceded bySmerch
Succeeded byAdmiral Lazarev class
Cost762,000
roubles
Built1866–69
In service1869–1907
Completed2
Lost1
Scrapped1
General characteristics (as completed)
TypeMonitor
Displacement2,100 long tons (2,134 t)
Length206 ft (62.8 m) (waterline)
Beam42 ft (12.8 m)
Draft12 ft 7 in (3.8 m)
Installed power
  • 875 ihp (652 kW)
  • 2 rectangular
    boilers
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 Horizontal direct-action steam engines
Speed8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement13 officers and 171 crewmen (1877)
Armament
Armor

The Charodeika class was a pair of

ironclads in 1892 and Rusalka sank during a storm in the Gulf of Finland the next year with the loss of all hands. Her sister ship Charodeika continued in service until 1907 and was eventually scrapped in 1911–12. Rusalka's wreck was discovered in 2003 by an expedition sponsored by the Estonian Maritime Museum
.

Design and description

By late 1863, the Russian

boilers as well as a variety of smaller components for the two ships.[1]

The Charodeika-class monitors were significantly larger than their predecessor,

double bottom and their hulls were subdivided by watertight bulkheads into 25 compartments. Their crew numbered 13 officers and 171 crewmen in 1877.[2]

The ships had a freeboard of only two feet (0.6 m) and their decks were often awash in any sort of moderate sea. They rolled heavily and were very unmaneuverable, often not responding to the ship's wheel until 20 degrees of rudder was applied. The monitors were fitted with three iron pole masts, probably fore-and-aft rigged, and used to steady the ship rather than for propulsion.[3]

Propulsion

The Charodeika class had two simple horizontal

donkey boiler for the small steam engine that powered the ventilation fans and pumps. The Charodeika class carried a maximum of 250 long tons (254 t); their range, however, is unknown.[5]

Armament

The monitors were designed to be armed with four

muzzle-loading Rodman guns in the aft turret. These guns were replaced by another pair of 9-inch rifled guns beginning in 1871. They were replaced in their turn in 1878–79 by two longer, more powerful 9-inch Obukhov guns. The ship carried 75 rounds for each gun.[6]

Light guns for use against torpedo boats are not known to have been fitted aboard the Charodeika-class ships before the 1870s when a variety of guns were added, although their numbers, calibers, and locations are only partially known. Charodeika received four 4-pounder 3.4-inch (86 mm) guns, two mounted on the roofs of each gun turret while Rusalka had a total of three guns with only one gun on her aft turret. Other guns known have been fitted included 45-millimeter (1.8 in) Engström quick-firing (QF) guns, 47-millimeter (1.9 in) QF Hotchkiss guns, 37-millimeter (1.5 in) QF Hotchkiss five-barreled revolving cannon, and 1-inch (25 mm) Nordenfelt guns.[7]

Armor

The Charodeika-class monitors had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that was 4.5 inches (114 mm) thick amidships and thinned to 3.25 inches (83 mm) aft and 3.75 inches (95 mm) forward. It was 7 feet 6 inches (2 m) high and completely covered the hull to 5 feet 6 inches (2 m) below the waterline. The armor was backed by 12 to 18 inches (305 to 457 mm) of teak. The turrets had 5.5 inches (140 mm) of armor, also backed by teak,[7] and the conning tower was 4.5 inches thick.[4] Amidships, the deck was 1 inch thick, although it thinned to 0.25–0.5 inches (6–13 mm) at the ends of the ship.[7]

Ships

Name Namesake Builder[8] Ordered[8] Laid down[8] Launched[8] Entered service[8]
Charodeika Sorceress[9]
St. Petersburg
 26 January 1865 6 June 1866 12 September 1867 1869
Rusalka Mermaid[10]

Construction and service

The monitors were intended to be delivered by 27 May 1867, but construction was held up by delays in delivery of the blueprints, armor, changes made while under construction and the untimely death of Kudriavtsev in August 1865. The contract was transferred to Mitchell who completed them in 1869, two years after their scheduled delivery date for the cost of 762,000

roubles each.[11] Both ships spent their entire careers with the Baltic Fleet. In June, Charodeika ripped a 28-foot (8.5 m) long hole in her hull when she struck an uncharted rock in the Gulf of Finland and had to be deliberately run aground to prevent her sinking. She was assigned to the Artillery Training Detachment of the Baltic Fleet in March 1870 and Charodeika was later assigned to the Mine (Torpedo) Training Detachment.[11]

Both monitors were reclassified as

Navy List on 7 April and was finally scrapped in 1911–12.[11]

Rusalka's wreck was discovered on 22 July 2003 in the Gulf of Finland, 25 kilometers (13 nmi) south of Helsinki, by a joint expedition of the Estonian Maritime Museum and the commercial diving company Tuukritööde OÜ.[12] The wreck is generally intact although draped with snagged fishing nets. The aft turret, however, has fallen out of the ship.[13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ All dates used in this article are New Style

Footnotes

  1. ^ McLaughlin, p. 155
  2. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 156–57
  3. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 154–57, 160
  4. ^ a b Russian Monitors and Coast Defense Ships, p. 306
  5. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 156, 159–60
  6. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 156, 158
  7. ^ a b c McLaughlin, p. 158
  8. ^ a b c d e McLaughlin, p. 152
  9. ^ Silverstone, p. 373
  10. ^ Silverstone, p. 384
  11. ^ a b c McLaughlin, pp. 160, 162–63
  12. ^ "Varia". Tuukritööde OÜ. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  13. ^ "Dive The Wreck Of The Russalka In The Baltic". YouTube. Retrieved 19 November 2013.

Bibliography

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