Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleship
Imperator Aleksandr II
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Class overview | |
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Name | Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleship |
Operators | |
Preceded by | Ekaterina II class |
Succeeded by | Dvenadsat Apostolov |
Subclasses | Imperator Nikolai I |
Built | 1885–1891 |
In commission | 1891–1921 |
Completed | 2 |
Lost | 1 |
Scrapped | 1 |
General characteristics Imperator Aleksandr II | |
Type | Predreadnought battleship |
Displacement | 9,244 long tons (9,392 t) |
Length | 346 ft 6 in (105.61 m) |
Beam | 66 ft 11 in (20.40 m) |
Draft | 25 ft 9 in (7.85 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 compound steam engines |
Speed | 15.27 knots (28.28 km/h; 17.57 mph) |
Range | 4,440 nmi (8,220 km; 5,110 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
Complement | 616 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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The Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleships were a pair of
Imperator Aleksandr II served in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas before becoming a gunnery training ship in 1904, but she was inactive during World War I before joining the Bolsheviks in 1917. She was sold for scrap in 1922. Imperator Nikolai I served in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas as well as the Pacific Ocean during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. She surrendered after the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 and was commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy before she was sunk as a target in 1915.
Design
The Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleships were the first all-steel battleships to be built for the
General characteristics
Imperator Aleksandr II was 334 feet (102 m)
The hull was subdivided by one centerline longitudinal and ten transverse watertight bulkheads and it had a double bottom extending from frame 12 to frame 74. It had a metacentric height of 3 feet 9 inches (1.14 m). They were considered to have good seagoing qualities, with a tactical diameter of 570 yards (520 m) and they could complete a full 360° circle in seven minutes and 32 seconds.[3]
Propulsion
The Imperator Aleksandr II-class ships had two 3-cylinder
Imperator Nikolai I's engines were built by the
Armament
The main armament of the Imperator Aleksandr II-class ships was a pair of 12-inch (305 mm) Obukhov Model 1877 30-caliber guns. Those in Imperator Aleksandr II were fitted in a twin barbette mount forward, but Imperator Nikolai I's guns were fitted in a turret. These guns had a maximum elevation of 15° and could depress 2° and could traverse 220°. 60 rounds per gun were carried.[3] They fired a 731.3-pound (331.7 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,870 ft/s (570 m/s) to a range of 5,570 yards (5,090 m) at an elevation of 6°.[6] The rate of fire was one round every four to five minutes.[3]
The four 9-inch (229 mm) Obukhov Model 1877 35-caliber guns were on center-pivot mounts in casemates at the corners of the citadel, the hull being recessed to increase their arcs of fire ahead or behind. The forward guns could traverse a total of 125°, including targets within about 4° of the centerline. The rear guns had an arc of fire of 105° and could fire on targets within about 10° of the centerline. These guns had a maximum elevation of 15° and could depress 5°. They were provided with 125 rounds per gun.[3] They fired a 'light' shell that weighed 277–280 lb (126–127 kg) or a 'heavy' shell that weighed 415 lb (188 kg). The muzzle velocity achieved depended on the shell weight and the type of propellant. A 'light' shell with brown powder reached 2,142 ft/s (653 m/s) while that same shell with smokeless powder achieved 2,326 ft/s (709 m/s). In contrast a 'heavy' shell with brown powder could only be propelled at a velocity of 1,867 ft/s (569 m/s). A 277-lb 'light' shell had a maximum range of 10,330 yards (9,450 m) when fired at an elevation of 15° with smokeless powder.[7] The rate of fire was one round every minute or two.[3]
The eight 6-inch (152 mm) Model 1877 35-caliber guns were mounted on broadside pivot mounts. Four were fitted between the 9-inch guns and had could traverse a total of 100°. The others were mounted at each end of the ship where they could fire directly ahead or astern. Each gun had an arc of fire of 130°.[3] The guns could elevate to a maximum of 12° and depress 8°. They fired a 'heavy' shell that weighed 119–123.5 lb (54.0–56.0 kg) at a velocity of 1,896 ft/s (578 m/s) or a 'light' shell that weighed 91.5 lb (41.5 kg) with a muzzle velocity of 2,329 ft/s (710 m/s). A 'light' shell had a maximum range of 8,170 yards (7,470 m) when fired at an elevation of 12°. They could fire one round per minute.[8]
The ten 47-millimeter (1.9 in) Hotchkiss revolving cannon were mounted in hull embrasures of the ship, between the nine and six-inch guns to defend against torpedo boats. They fired a 3.3-pound (1.5 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,476 ft/s (450 m/s) at a rate of 30 rounds per minute to a range of 2,020 yards (1,850 m).[9] Four 37-millimeter (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolving cannon were mounted in each fighting top. They fired a 1.1-pound (0.50 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,450 ft/s (440 m/s) at a rate of 32 rounds per minute to a range of 3,038 yards (2,778 m).[10]
Imperator Aleksandr II carried five above-water 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes, two in the bow, two broadside tubes that could traverse 70° and a tube in the stern. Smaller 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes could be mounted in four of the ship's cutters. 36 mines could be carried.[3] Imperator Nikolai I had six torpedo tubes were that were arranged differently. Only one was in the bow, four were on the broadside, two forward and aft, and the usual stern tube.[11]
Protection
Compound armor was used throughout the Imperator Aleksandr II-class ships. The main waterline belt had a maximum thickness of 14 inches (356 mm) abreast the machinery spaces and was 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) high on Imperator Aleksandr II. 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) of this was supposed to extend above the waterline at design displacement, but only 2 feet (0.6 m) was actually above the waterline as actually completed. The belt tapered to 8 inches (203 mm) at the lower edge and thinned in stages. It was 12 inches thick abreast the magazines and thinned down to 3.9 inches (99 mm) at the bow and 4.9 inches (124 mm) at the stern. It was backed by 10 inches (254 mm) of wood.[12] The configuration of the waterline belt in Imperator Nikolai I differed somewhat from her sister. The belt was only 8 feet (2 m) high with 3 ft (0.91 m) above the designed waterline and 5 feet (1.5 m) below. At bow and stern it was six inches thick.[13] The flat protective deck was positioned at the upper edge of the belt on both ships and was 2.5 inches (64 mm) thick and consisted of two layers of mild steel.[12]
The barbette and turret sides had a thickness of 10 inches while the turret roof was 2½ inches thick. Initially the barbette was open-topped, but a 3-inch (76 mm) thick protective hood was added in late 1893. The transverse bulkheads were six inches thick, but the nine-inch guns were protected by a patch of side armor only three inches thick and the six-inch guns by a patch only 2 inches (51 mm) thick. Originally there was no side armor above the main belt, but that was added when the original disappearing main guns mounts and their pear-shaped barbette were deleted and made some weight available. No partitions separated the casemated guns, nor was there any armor between the guns. The conning tower had 8-inch (203 mm) sides on the Imperator Aleksandr II, but they were only six inches thick on Imperator Nikolai I, but it had a 2½-inch thick roof on both ships.[14]
Construction
History
Name | Built by | Laid down | Launched | Completed | Fate |
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Imperator Aleksandr II | Admiralty Shipyards | June 1885 | July 1887 | June 1891 | Broken up 1922 |
Imperator Nikolai I (1889) | Admiralty Shipyards | 4 August 1886 | 1 June 1889 | July 1891 | Captured by Japan 1905 |
Imperator Aleksandr II served in the
According to N. J. M. Campbell in Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, Imperator Aleksandr II was reconstructed in France between 1902 and 1904, with her torpedo tubes removed and her six and nine-inch guns exchanged for five 8-inch (200 mm) 45-caliber guns and eight six-inch 45-caliber guns. Her revolver cannon were also exchanged for ten three-pounder guns.[19] V.V. Arbazov in Bronenoset︠s︡ Imperator Aleksandr II confirms that the torpedo tubes were removed and claims that she had her nine-inch guns replaced by five 8-inch, the fifth being placed at the stern, her old six-inch guns were exchanged for newer, more powerful models, and four 47 mm and four 120 mm guns were added on the upper deck, presumably replacing the old revolver cannon. However, this happened in Russia, not France.[20]
Imperator Nikolai I sailed in June 1892 for
See also
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 33–34, 37, 40–41
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 32, 39
- ^ a b c d e f g McLaughlin, p. 35
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 32, 36–37, 43
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 39, 43
- ^ "Russian 12"/30 (30.5 cm) Pattern 1877". 10 May 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ "Russian 9"/35 (22.9 cm) Pattern 1877 229 mm/35 Pattern 1877". 12 September 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ "Russian 6"/35 (15.2 cm) Pattern 1877 152 mm/35 (6") Pattern 1877". 11 September 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ "Russia 47 mm/5 (1.85") Hotchkiss gun 47 mm/1 (1.85") Hotchkiss gun [3-pdr (1.4 kg) Hotchkiss guns]". 1 December 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ "Russia 37 mm/5 (1.5") Hotchkiss Gun 37 mm/1 (1.5") Hotchkiss Gun [1-pdr (0.45 kg) Hotchkiss Guns]". 1 December 2006. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 42
- ^ a b McLaughlin, pp. 35–36
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 42–43
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 32, 34, 36, 43
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 32, 37, 39, 44
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 37
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 157–58
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 38
- ^ Campbell, p. 178
- ^ Arbazov, pp. 54, 56
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 44–45
- ^ Watts, Anthony John; Gordon, Brian G. (1971). The Imperial Japanese Navy. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. p. 34.
Bibliography
- Arbuzov, V. V. (1997). Bronenoset︠s︡ Imperator Aleksandr II. Bronenost︠s︡y russkogo flota (in Russian). Vol. 4. Saint Petersburg: Izd. alʹmanakha "Korabli i srazhenii︠a︡.
- 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. 170–215. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Jane, F.T., ed. (1904). Jane's Fighting Ships. Sampson, Low, Marston, London.
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
Further reading
- А.Б. Широкорад. Корабельная артиллерия российского флота 1867–1922 г. «Морская коллекция» № 2 за 1997 год.
- Моисеев С. П. Список кораблей русского парового и броненосного флота 1861–1917 г. М., Воениздат, 1948
- Чертеж ЭБР «Император Николай I». Тверь, «Ретро-Флот», 1993
- Вторая тихоокеанская эскадра. «Наваль», вып. 1, с. 24–29. М., 1991
- А.А. Белов «Броненосцы Японии». Серия "Боевые корабли мира"
External links
- Класс кораблей "Император Александр II" (in Russian)
- Броненосец Император Николай I (in Russian)
- Imperator Alexandr II Class