Russian battleship Chesma (1886)
An 1892 lithograph depicting Chesma
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History | |
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Russian Empire | |
Name | Chesma |
Namesake | Battle of Chesma |
Builder | ROPiT Shipyard, Sevastopol |
Cost | 3,217,500 rubles |
Laid down | June 1883 |
Launched | 18 May 1886 |
In service | 29 May 1889 |
Renamed | Stricken Vessel Nr. 4 22 April 1912 |
Stricken | 14 August 1907 |
Fate | Scrapped mid-1920s |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Ekaterina II-class battleship |
Displacement | 11,396 long tons (11,579 t) |
Length | 339 ft 3 in (103.4 m) |
Beam | 68 ft 11 in (21.0 m) |
Draft | 28 ft 10 in (8.8 m) |
Installed power | 9,059 ihp (6,755 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 13.55 knots (25.09 km/h; 15.59 mph) |
Range | 2,800 nmi (5,200 km; 3,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 633 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Chesma (Russian: Чесма, also transliterated Tchésma) was the second ship of the Ekaterina II-class battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1880s.[1] When the ship was completed she proved to be very overweight which meant that much of her waterline armor belt was submerged.[2] Russian companies could not produce the most advanced armour and machinery desired by the Naval General Staff, so they were imported from the United Kingdom and Belgium. Chesma spent her career as part of the Black Sea Fleet.
When the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutinied in June 1905,[a] the ship's crew was considered unreliable and she did not participate in the pursuit of the Potemkin. Chesma did, however, escort Potemkin as Sinop towed her back to Sevastopol from Constanța, Romania, where Potemkin had sought asylum. Chesma was turned over to the Sevastopol port authorities before being stricken on 14 August 1907. Before she was fully dismantled the Naval Ministry decided to use her hull for full-scale armour trials. She was re-designated as Stricken Vessel Nr. 4 on 22 April 1912 before being used as a gunnery target. Afterwards the ship served as a torpedo target for the destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet. During these attacks Chesma settled to the bottom of the Bay of Tendra and was eventually scrapped during the mid-1920s.
Design and description
Chesma was 331 feet 8.5 inches (101.1 m)
Chesma had two 3-cylinder
She differed from her
The seven 6-inch (152 mm) 35-caliber guns were mounted on broadside pivot mounts in hull embrasures, except for one gun mounted in the stern in the hull. The eight 47-millimeter (1.9 in) five-barreled revolving Hotchkiss guns were mounted in small embrasures in the hull to defend the ship against torpedo boats. Four 37-millimeter (1.5 in) five-barreled revolving Hotchkiss guns were mounted in the fighting top. She carried seven above-water 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes, one tube forward on each side, able to bear on forward targets, two other tubes were mounted on each broadside forward and aft of the central citadel; the seventh tube was in the stern.[6]
History
Chesma was named after the Russian victory at the
When the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutinied in June 1905, Chesma's crew was considered unreliable, and she did not participate in the pursuit of Potemkin. She escorted Potemkin as Sinop towed her back to Sevastopol from Constanța, Romania, where Potemkin had sought asylum.[8]
The ship was turned over to the Sevastopol port authorities before being stricken on 14 August 1907.[8] Before she was fully dismantled the Naval Ministry decided to use her hull for full-scale armour trials. She was re-designated as Stricken Vessel Nr. 4 on 22 April 1912. Chesma was fitted with a replica of the armour system used in the Gangut-class battleships to test its effectiveness.[8] She was towed into position and given a 7° list to simulate the descent angle of shells fired at long range. Ironically her own guns were used against her as Ioann Zlatoust anchored 750 meters (2,460 ft) away and fired 12-inch, 8-inch (203 mm) and 6-inch shells with reduced charges to simulate shells fired from approximately 16,000–18,000 yards (15,000–16,000 m) away. These revealed significant weaknesses in the support structure for the armour plates and in the deck protection, but the Gangut-class ships were too far along in construction to incorporate fixes.[10] Afterwards she served as a torpedo target for the destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet. During these attacks she settled to the bottom of the Bay of Tendra and was eventually scrapped during the mid-1920s.[8]
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ a b McLaughlin, p. 21
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 25
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 21, 29–30
- ^ a b McLaughlin, pp. 26–27
- ^ "Russian 12"/35 (30.5 cm) Pattern 1886". 11 September 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 26–28
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 21, 30
- ^ a b c d e McLaughlin, p. 30
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 150, 157
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 247–48
Bibliography
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
External links
- Photo gallery of the Chesma (in Russian)
- Specifications of the Chesma