Okhta shipyard
The Okhta shipyard was a Russian
The yard was underused for the following 30 years, until it was rented to the Finnish shipbuilder
The area went back to the state and marine industry was continued by Petrozavod company.
Background
The yard was situated in an area where small river
In 1806 the Admiralty bought the area opposite the Smolny monastery an area, where the convent had a school for young ladies. The purpose was to build a panoptical[clarification needed] institute to educate professionals for shipbuilding, and the main building was finished in October 1807. The Admiralty suggested that the institute would start building small vessels for the Navy in order to teach shipbuilding skills to the students, and shipbuilding began on 12 August 1809.
Okhta Admiralty shipyard
The first ship built by the Okhta yard was the schooner Strela (Arrow) was launched in 13. June 1811. In February 1812 the yard got an order to build 74 gunboats; the serfs, who had been previously released, were now seized again in the yard.[1]
The panoptical institute was destroyed in fire in March 1818, but the shipbuilding premises did not suffer damages. Shipbuilding activity became independent thereafter. In 1822 was started construction of a
By the end of the 1840s the shipbuilding had moved indoors into large sheds designed by architect E.H. Annert supported by
In 1856 the yard area was enlarged to the lands of previously deceased count E.F. Komarovski. However, soon after this steel started to replace wood as a material and the shipbuilding started to require more complex machinery, and the focus moved to the more modern New Admiralty Yard. Part of the yard area became training field for marines. Two of the cradles became timber stocks in 1861. The last vessels built at the Admiralty Okhta Yard were patrol boat Askold and clipper Jahont. During the following 30 years only the workshops and sawmill were used; they supplied material to the Saint Petersburg harbour workshops. An exception were 20 torpedo boats built in 1878.[1]
During the years 1811–1864 the Okhta yard built 9
In the early 1890s the Admiralty leased the buildings for
Under ownership of W:m Crichton & C:o
In 1895 the Finnish shipbuilder and engineering company, Turku located
The aviation researchers did not want to leave the premises which they had got to use after another contract signed earlier with the Admiralty. The responsible foreman V.S. Kretovich had support of counts Vladimir Alexandrovich and A.S. Apraksin. Shipbuilding was not started before Krevovich died in April 1897.[2]
The company's motive for starting shipbuilding in Saint Petersburg were getting closer to the key customer and avoiding of tolls the Empire had imposed on the Grand Duchy of Finland. One reason why Crichton selected the Okhta yard was probably low cost; Saint Petersburg was a fast-growing metropolis in which good locations were expensive. By that time the Okhta had turned into shadowy, notorious quarter.[3]
The yard was in poor condition and the machinery was deficient; there were no premises for advanced production. Crichton was only allowed to use local workforce apart from some ten Finns, who worked as supervisors for the 400–500 yard workers.
The shipyard suffered greatly of the indecisive ordering policy of the Admiralty. The yearly order intake fluctuated highly.[2] Despite of large sum Crichton invested on machinery, the yard could not produce any single steam engine or boiler; they were shipped from Turku or sourced locally. In 1907 the yard starting producing Bertheau combustion engines; later Loke engines. Both types were only produced few units. Also capstans were produced.[3]
In 1906 the manager of Crichton John Eager retired and his place was taken by Karl Björksten. He soon realised that the Okhta yard had been unattended; for the past ten years the yard had been operated with poor management and raw materials had been used wastefully. In the following year Björksten demanded that the technical management must be changed; this did not happen before February 1908. Until 1906 the poor profitability was caused mainly by penalties the yard had to pay for delays, but also because of investments. Certain assignments agreed in the previous years started to cause serious problems in 1908: four submarine hulls ordered in 1905 for 1 388 400 marks including narrow profit margin, and had been under construction for over two years, caused now loss of 570 000 marks. Four 55-feet mine cutters ordered in 1905 for 240 300 marks showed loss of 241 971 marks, which was over the sales price. The total loss of Okhta yard in 1908 reached 1 092 595 marks.[3]
At the beginning of 1909 Björksten was still hopeful; the yard had got orders for two large minelayers and two Moguchi type icebreakers. But also these projects turned unprofitable; the minelayers caused loss of 478 813 marks and the icebreakers 624 585 marks; in the meantime the interest payments climbed up to 143 214 ruble (382 380 marks). The 1909 balance sheet of Okhta yard showed loss of 1 025 412 marks. In the following year the loss was reduced to 482 912 marks, because some torpedo boat repair projects had turned profitable. At this stage the headcount was 1 166. It was reduced down to 871 in 1911 and the losses dropped to 290 364 marks.[3]
During years 1906–1912 the Okhta yard had bled the parent Crichton white; the situation was further worsened when the Turku yard started to create loss. As a solution, some Russian owners of W:m Crichton & C:o suggested closing the Turku yard and focusing the production entirely in Okhta but the plan was rejected.[3] The Russian authorities suspected that W:m Crichton & C:o built some of the ordered vessels in Finland and transferring the profit to its Finnish branch. In the subsequent audit it came out that the Okhta yard did not fulfill the terms of the contract; the company had not made the agreed investments on the premises.[2]
The financial statements of the last operating year have not been preserved. In April 1913 W:m Crichton & C:o was filed for bankruptcy and the 400 people then working in Okhta became unemployed.[3] The yard area was taken over by the Treasury.[4]
The surviving documents consist total 94 vessels built at Okhta yard during Crichton's era.[5]
Later history
The yard was named
Known vessels built in 1898–1913
Year of order |
Project number |
Name | Type | Shipowner |
---|---|---|---|---|
1898 | 1 444 | screw-propelled steamer | Russian Customs
| |
1898 | 1 450 | Posylnyi | screw-propelled steamer | Russian Customs
|
1899 | 1 451 | Kur'er | screw-propelled steamer | (Russian customer) |
1899 | 1 454 | screw-propelled steamer | (Russian customer) | |
1902 | 1 455 | Poslushnyi | torpedo boat, Sokol class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1902 | 1 456 | Podvizhnyi | torpedo boat, Sokol class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1902 | 1 469 | Smetlivyi | torpedo boat, Sokol class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1902 | 1 470 | Strogyi | torpedo boat, Sokol class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1902 | 1 471 | Stremitelnyi | torpedo boat, Sokol class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1902 | 1 472 | Svirepyi | torpedo boat, Sokol class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1903 | 1 522 | № 221 | torpedo boat, Cyklon class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1903 | 1 523 | № 222 | torpedo boat, Cyklon class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1903 | 1 524 | № 223 | torpedo boat, Cyklon class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1901 | 1 525 | Reniy | tugboat | (Russian customer) |
1902 | 1 557 | barge | (Russian customer) | |
1902 | 1 596 | Kroko Baykal | screw-propelled steamer | (Russian customer) |
1903 | 1 644 | Solonbala | screw-propelled steamer | (Russian customer) |
1904 | 1 657 | № 212 | torpedo boat, Cyklon class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1904 | 1 658 | № 213 | torpedo boat, Cyklon class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1904 | 1 659 | № 214[6] | torpedo boat, Cyklon class | Imperial Russian Navy |
1905 | 1 660 | Porochovoy | steam cutter | (Russian customer) |
1905 | 1 715 | Inz. M. Anastasov | torpedo destroyer, Sokol class
|
Imperial Russian Navy |
1905 | 1 716 | Leytn. Maleyev | torpedo destroyer, Sokol class
|
Imperial Russian Navy |
1905 | 1 731 | Drakon | submarine hull, Kaiman class | Lake & Co. |
1905 | 1 732 | Kaiman | submarine hull, Kaiman class | Lake & Co. |
1905 | 1 733 | Krokodil | submarine hull, Kaiman class | Lake & Co. |
1905 | 1 734 | Alligator | submarine hull, Kaiman class | Lake & Co. |
1905 | 1 736 | motor cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1905 | 1 737 | motor cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1905 | 1 738 | motor cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1905 | 1 739 | motor cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1907 | 1 768 | Kusnetchicha | tugboat | Port of Arkhangelsk |
1907 | 1 774 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1907 | 1 775 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1907 | 1 776 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1907 | 1 777 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 783 | Tochnyi | minelayer | Russian Electricity Administration |
1908 | 1 784 | Trevoznyi | minelayer | Russian Electricity Administration |
1908 | 1 785 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 786 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 787 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 788 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 789 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 790 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 791 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 792 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 793 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 794 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 795 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 796 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 801 | Herkules | icebreaker | Russian Hydrographic Office
|
1910 | 1 802 | Silatch
|
icebreaker | Russian Hydrographic Office
|
1908 | 1 806 | mine cutter | Imperial Russian Navy | |
1908 | 1 807 | mine cutter | Baltic Shipyard | |
1908 | 1 808 | mine cutter | Baltic Shipyard | |
1909 | 1 817 | Tverdyi | mine transportation vessel | Russian Electricity Administration |
1909 | 1 829 | lightvessel
|
Russian Hydrographic Office | |
1909 | 1 830 | lightvessel
|
Russian Hydrographic Office | |
1909 | 1 831 | Vodolen | water transportation vessel | Russian Admiralty
|
1909 | 1 832 | motorboat hull | Okhta Shipyard | |
1909 | 1 833 | Vyetskaya I | sand dredger
|
Russian Transportation Ministry |
1910 | 1 837 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 838 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 839 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 840 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 841 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 842 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 843 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 844 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 845 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 846 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1910 | 1 847 | Admiral Zaviko | patrol boat | Olonets Governorate |
1910 | 1 864 | Konvoir | convoy ship | Russian Admiralty
|
1910 | 1 865 | Sputnik | convoy ship | Russian Admiralty
|
1911 | 1 876 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 877 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 878 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 879 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 880 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 883 | barge | Russian Border Guard
| |
1911 | 1 907 | tugboat | P. Byelyayeff, Saint Petersburg | |
1911 | 1 908 | paddle steamer hull | Onega Steam Shipping Company | |
1911 | 1 910 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 911 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 912 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 913 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 914 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 926 | cruiser | Russian Border Administration
| |
1911 | 1 927 | cruiser | Russian Border Administration
| |
1911 | 1 928 | cruiser | Russian Border Administration
| |
1911 | 1 940 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 941 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 942 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration | |
1911 | 1 943 | mine motor cutter | Russian Electricity Administration |
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Grönros et al.: Keisarillisen amiraliteetin aika – telakan synty ja kehitys. pp. 92–99.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Grönros et al.: Crichtonin aika – yksityisyritys valtion vuokralaisena. pp. 100–103.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Knorring: Ochtan telakka. pp. 73–75.
- ^ a b c Avdeev, V.G. "Petrozavod". Saint Petersburg encyclopaedia. Saint Petersburg, Russia: Rosspen. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
- ^ a b Knorring: Taulukko 7. Crichtonin Ochtan telakalla Pietarissa 1898–1913 rakennettuja aluksia. pp. 76–77.
- ^ Not sure.
Bibliography
- Breyer, Siegfried (1992). Soviet Warship Development: Volume 1: 1917–1937. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-604-3.
- Grönros, Jarmo; Kujanen, Hannu; Priamursky, G.; Rinta-Tassi, Osmo; Saarinen, Jarmo; Teräs, Kari; Trofimov, S. (1996). Aurajoen rautakourat — Järnnävarna vid Aura Å (in Finnish and Swedish). Turku, Finland: Turun maakuntamuseo — Åbo landskapsmuseum. ISBN 951-595-020-1.
- von Knorring, Nils (1995). Aurajoen veistämöt ja telakat [Boat- and Shipyards along River Aura] (in Finnish). Espoo, Finland: Schildts Förlags Ab. ISBN 951-50-0735-6.