General-Admiral-class cruiser
General-Admiral
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Operators | Imperial Russian Navy |
Preceded by | None |
Succeeded by | Minin |
Built | 1870–1877 |
In commission | 1875–1938 |
Completed | 2 |
Scrapped | 2 |
General characteristics (General-Admiral as completed) | |
Type | Armored cruiser |
Displacement | 5,031 long tons (5,112 t) |
Length | 285 ft 10 in (87.1 m) |
Beam | 48 ft (14.6 m) |
Draft | 24 ft 5 in (7.4 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 1 Shaft, 1 compound steam engine |
Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Range | 5,900 nmi (10,900 km; 6,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 482 officers and crewmen |
Armament |
|
Armor | Belt: 5–6 in (127–152 mm) |
The General-Admiral-class ships were a pair of armored cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 1870s. They are generally considered as the first true armored cruisers.[1]
Design and description
Originally classified as armored
The General-Admiral-class ships were 285 feet 10 inches (87.1 m) long overall. They had a beam of 48 feet (14.6 m) and a draft of 24 feet 5 inches (7.4 m). The ships were designed to displace 4,604 long tons (4,678 t), but displaced 5,031 long tons (5,112 t) as built, an increase of over 400 long tons (410 t). The iron-hulled ships were not fitted with a ram and their crew numbered approximately 482 officers and men.[2]
The ships had a vertical compound steam engine driving a single two-bladed, 20-foot-6-inch (6.25 m) propeller, using steam provided by cylindrical boilers. The number of boilers differed between the sisters. General-Admiral had five that generated a working pressure of 60 psi (414 kPa; 4 kgf/cm2) so that the engine produced 4,772 indicated horsepower (3,558 kW). This gave her during a maximum speed around 12.3 knots (22.8 km/h; 14.2 mph) during her sea trials. Gerzog Edinburgski had four boilers and her engine made 5,590 ihp (4,170 kW) that propelled her at 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph).[3]
The General-Admiral class carried a maximum of 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) of coal which gave them an economical range of 5,900
The sisters armament were four 8-inch (203 mm), two 6-inch (152 mm) rifled breech-loading guns (RBL), and four 1.75-inch (44 mm) early masnine-gun likes Engstrom guns.
The ships had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that ranged in thickness from 6 inches amidships to 5 inches (127 mm) at the ends of the ships. The armor had a total height of 7 feet 1 inch (2.15 m), of which 5 feet 1 inch (1.55 m) was below the waterline. The central battery was also protected by 6-inch armor plates.[5]
Ships
Name | Namesake[6] | Builder[7] | Laid down[2] | Launched[2]
|
Entered service[7] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
General-Admiral | Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia | Nevskiy Works, Saint Petersburg
|
27 November 1870[Note 1] | 2 September 1873 | 1875 |
Gerzog Edinburgski | Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg | 27 September 1870 | 10 September 1875 | 1877 |
Service
General-Admiral had was blown ashore during a heavy storm at
Gerzog Edinburgski was initially assigned to the Baltic Fleet, but made a lengthy Pacific cruise in 1881–84. She was refitted about 1890 in the same type as her sister's 1892 refit, although her engine and boilers were replaced in 1897. The ship became a training ship for petty officers and was formally reclassified as a school ship like her sister in 1906.[9]
The sisters were converted into minelayers in 1908–11 and renamed after lakes near Saint Petersburg, General-Admiral became Narova and Gerzog Edinburgski was renamed Onega. Their rigging was reduced to pole masts, their armament was reduced to four 75-millimeter (3.0 in) guns, and they could carry 600–800 mines. They both participated in numerous minelaying missions in the early years of World War I, but Onega was
The ultimate fates of the sisters are not exactly known. Blokshiv No. 9 was apparently broken up in the 1920s while Dvadsatpyatavo Oktyabrya became a mine storage hulk in 1938 before being sunk as a
Notes
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Beeler, John Francis (1997). British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era. ISBN 0-8047-2981-6.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "Russia". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 170–217. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-85368-912-1.
- Wright, Christopher C. (1972). "Cruisers of the Imperial Russian Navy, Part I". Warship International. IX (1): 28–52.