Russian battleship Borodino
 Borodino at Kronstadt, August 1904
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Russian Empire | |
| Name | Borodino (Бородино) |
| Namesake | Battle of Borodino |
| Builder | New Admiralty Shipyard, Saint Petersburg |
| Cost | 14,573,000 rubles |
| Laid down | 23 May 1900[Note 1] |
| Launched | 8 September 1901 |
| In service | August 1904 |
| Fate | Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 27 May 1905 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Borodino-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | 14,091 long tons (14,317 t) |
| Length | 397 ft (121 m) ( o/a ) |
| Beam | 76 ft 1 in (23.2 m) |
| Draft | 29 ft 2 in (8.9 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Range | 2,590 nmi (4,800 km; 2,980 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 782 (designed) |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | |
Borodino (Russian: Бородино) was the
Port Arthur. The Japanese captured the port while the squadron was in transit and their destination was changed to Vladivostok. The ship was sunk during the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 due to explosions set off by a Japanese shell hitting a magazine
. There was only a single survivor from her crew of 855 officers and enlisted men.
Description
Brassey's Naval Annual
1906The Borodino-class ships were based on the design of the French-built
long at the waterline and 397 feet (121 m) long overall, with a beam of 76 feet 1 inch (23.2 m) and a draft of 29 feet 2 inches (8.9 m), 3 feet 2 inches (0.97 m) more than designed. Borodino displaced 14,091 long tons (14,317 t) at normal load, over 500 long tons (508 t) more than her designed displacement of 13,516 long tons (13,733 t). The Borodino class were designed for a crew of 28 officers and 754 enlisted men, although they usually carried 826–846 crewmen in service.[2]
The ships were powered by a pair of
kW) and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). They produced, however, only 15,012 ihp (11,194 kW) on Borodino's builder's sea trials on 23 August 1904 and gave an average speed of 16.2 knots (30 km/h; 19 mph). The ships could carry enough coal to give them a range of 2,590 nautical miles (4,800 km; 2,980 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[3]
The
75-millimeter (3 in) Pattern 1892 guns carried were mounted in casemates in the sides of the hull. The ships also mounted twenty 47-millimeter (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns in the superstructure. The ships were fitted with four 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes, one each above water in the bow and in the stern, and a submerged tube on each broadside.[4]
The
double bottom and formed an anti-torpedo bulkhead.[5]
Service
Construction began on Borodino, named after the 1812
rubles.[9]
On 15 October 1904, Borodino set sail for Port Arthur from
Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov. The latter ships reached Camranh Bay on 9 May and the combined force sailed for Vladivostok on 14 May. While exact figures are not available for Borodino, it is probable that the ship was approximately 1,700 long tons (1,727 t) overweight as she and her sisters were overloaded with coal and other supplies; all of which was stored high in the ships and reduced their stability. The extra weight also submerged the waterline armor belt and left only about 4 feet 6 inches (1.4 m) of the upper armor belt above the waterline.[13]
Rozhestvensky decided to take the most direct route to Vladivostok using the
W. C. Pakenham, the Royal Navy's official military observer aboard the Japanese battleship Asahi under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, noted that she was hit badly around 14:30,[15] some 25 minutes after Russian ships opened fire.[16] Borodino briefly fell out of her position after that hit, but apparently regained it by 14:50.[15] By this time, she had a serious fire on the central portion of her superstructure.[17]
Knyaz Suvorov suffered multiple hits early in the battle, some of which wounded Rozhestvensky and jammed the ship's steering so that she fell out of formation.
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ Gribovsky, p. 3
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 136–137
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 136–137, 144
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 136–137, 142
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 136–138, 142–144
- ^ Silverstone, p. 373
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 136
- ^ Campbell 1979, p. 184
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 136, 142
- ^ Forczyk, p. 9
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 167
- ^ Pleshakov, p. 177
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 141, 167
- ^ Forczyk, p. 56
- ^ a b Campbell 1978, p. 129
- ^ Forczyk, p. 58
- ^ Forczyk, p. 63
- ^ Arbuzov, p. 27
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 66–67
- ^ a b Campbell 1978, p. 135
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 67, 70
Sources
- Arbuzov, Vladimir V. (1993). Borodino Class Armored Ships. Armored Ships of the World. Vol. 1. Saint Petersburg: Interpoisk. OCLC 43727130.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1978). "The Battle of Tsu-Shima". In ISBN 0-87021-976-6.
- 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.
- Forczyk, Robert (2009). Russian Battleship vs Japanese Battleship, Yellow Sea 1904–05. Duel. Vol. 15. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-330-8.
- Gribovsky, Vladimir (2010). Эскадренные броненосцы типа "Бородино" [Borodino Class Squadron Battleships] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Gangut. ISBN 978-5-904180-10-2.
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
- Pleshakov, Constantine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-05791-8.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
Further reading
- Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-0-85368-912-6.
- Westwood, J. N. (1986). Russia Against Japan, 1904–1905: A New Look at the Russo-Japanese War. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-191-2.
