Russian battleship Oryol
 Oblique view of Oryol preparing to go to sea at Kronstadt, August 1904
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Russian Empire | |
| Name | Оryol (Russian: Орёл) |
| Namesake | Eagle |
| Ordered | 7 November 1899[Note 1] |
| Builder | Galerniy Island Shipyards, Saint Petersburg |
| Laid down | 1 June 1900 |
| Launched | 19 July 1902 |
| Completed | October 1904 |
| Stricken | 13 September 1905 |
| Fate | Captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 28 May 1905 |
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Iwami (Japanese: 石見) |
| Namesake | Iwami Province |
| Acquired | 28 May 1905 |
| In service | June 1907 |
| Out of service | April 1922 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Stricken | 1 September 1922 |
| Fate | Sunk as target, 10 July 1924 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Borodino-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | 14,151 long tons (14,378 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 | 28 officers, 826 enlisted men |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | |
Oryol (
Port Arthur. The Japanese captured the port while the squadron was in transit and their destination was changed to Vladivostok. Oryol was badly damaged during the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 and surrendered to the Japanese, who put her into service under the name of Iwami (Japanese
: 石見).
Reconstructed by the Japanese in 1905–1907, Iwami was reclassified by the
landed in Siberia in 1918 during the Russian Civil War. Iwami was used as a training ship beginning in September 1921. The ship was disarmed in 1922 to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty and sunk as a target ship
two years later.
Design and description
Brassey's Naval Annual
1906The Borodino-class ships were based on the design of the French-built
heel 15° and submerged the embrasures for the 75-millimeter (3 in) guns. The ship's crew consisted of 28 officers and 826 enlisted men.[2]
The ship was powered by a pair of four-cylinder
kW) and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Oryol's engines, however, only achieved 14,176 indicated horsepower (10,571 kW) during her official machinery trials on 10 September 1904, although the ship was able to reach her designed speed. She carried enough coal to allow her to steam for 2,590 nautical miles (4,800 km; 2,980 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[3]
The Borodinos'
Krupp armor and was 5.7–7.64 inches (145–194 mm) thick. The armor of her gun turrets had a maximum thickness of 10 in (254 mm) and her deck ranged from 1 to 2 inches (25 to 51 mm) in thickness. She had anti-torpedo bulkheads 1.5 inches (38 mm) thick.[4]
Construction and career
Construction began on Oryol (Eagle)rubles.[9]
On 15 October 1904, Oryol set sail for Port Arthur from
Camranh Bay, French Indochina, on 16 March and reached it almost a month later to await the obsolete ships of the 3rd Pacific Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov. The latter ships reached Camranh Bay on 9 May and the combined force sailed for Vladivostok on 14 May. With all of the additional coal and other supplies loaded for the lengthy voyage, the ship was 1,785 long tons (1,814 t) overweight; most of which was stored high in the ship and reduced her stability. The most important aspect of this, however, was that the additional weight completely submerged the ship's main armor belt.[11]
Rozhestvensky decided to take the most direct route to Vladivostok using the
captain, Nikolay Yung, ordered her to open fire at a Japanese cruiser that was shadowing the Russian formation at a range of 9,000 meters (9,800 yd). Rozhestvensky had not given any pre-battle instructions to the fleet covering this situation, but he ordered Yung to cease fire after 30 rounds had been fired without effect.[12]
Oryol was not heavily engaged during the early part of the battle, but she was set on fire by Japanese shells during this time.[13] About an hour after the battle began, the Chihaya fired two torpedoes at a ship that may have been Oryol, although both torpedoes missed. The Russian formation had become disordered during the early part of the battle and Oryol was second in line after her sister Borodino by 16:00. The Japanese battleships generally concentrated their fire on Borodino during this time and sank her around 19:30. Oryol was hit a number of times as well, but was not seriously damaged.[14]
Oryol took the lead after Borodino was sunk; she was joined by Nebogatov's Second Division after Tōgō ordered the Japanese battleships to disengage in the gathering darkness. Nebogatov assumed command of the remains of the fleet and they continued towards Vladivostok. The ships were discovered by the Japanese early the following morning and attacked by Tōgō's battleships around 10:00. The faster Japanese ships stayed beyond the range at which Nebogatov's ships could effectively reply and he decided to surrender his ships at 10:30 as he could neither return fire nor close the range.navy list on 13 September 1905.[16]
During the battle, Oryol was probably hit by five 12-inch, two 10-inch (254 mm), nine 8-inch (203 mm), thirty-nine 6-inch shells, and 21 smaller rounds or fragments. Although the ship had many large holes in the unarmored portions of her side, she was only moderately damaged as all of the four (one 12-inch and three 6-inch) shells that hit her side armor failed to penetrate. The left gun of her forward 12-inch turret had been struck by an 8-inch shell that broke off its
muzzle and another 8-inch shell struck the roof of the rear 12-inch turret and forced it down, which limited the maximum elevation of the left gun. Two 6-inch gun turrets had been jammed by hits from 8-inch shells and one of them had been burnt out by an ammunition fire. Another turret had been damaged by a 12-inch shell that struck its supporting tube. Splinters from two 6-inch shells entered the conning tower[17] and wounded Yung badly enough that he later died of his wounds.[18] Casualties totaled 43 crewmen killed and approximately 80 wounded.[16]
Japanese career as Iwami
As Oryol followed the First Division of the
list to starboard and her engines began to fail. Escorted (and occasionally towed) by the battleship Asahi and the armored cruiser Asama, she was diverted to Maizuru Naval Arsenal for emergency repairs that lasted until 29 July. While under repair, she was renamed Iwami on 6 June,[19] after the eponymous province, now part of Shimane Prefecture.[20]
The Japanese substantially rebuilt Iwami at
18-inch torpedo tubes replaced her original torpedo armament. Her boilers were replaced by an unknown number of Japanese-built Miyabara water-tube boilers. These changes reduced her displacement to approximately 13,500 long tons (13,700 t)[24] and her crew now totaled 806 officers and crewmen.[21]
Iwami was assigned to the
guardship at Kure
, but she did participate in that year's naval maneuvers and subsequent fleet review.
She was assigned to the 5th Division of the
Kamchatka from 24 September 1920 to 30 June 1921 and was based in Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk.[21] She was reclassified as a first-class coast defense ship in September 1921 and was used as a training ship. In accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, Japan agreed to scrap Iwami. She was disarmed in April 1922 and used as a depot ship until she was struck on 1 September.[16] Iwami moored to the west of the island of Jōgashima near the mouth of Tokyo Bay and used as a target by aircraft of the Yokosuka Naval Air Group from 5–8 July, finally sinking on 10 July 1924.[21]
Notes
- ^ All dates used in this article are New Style which is 12 days later before 1900 and 13 after 1900.
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Footnotes
- ^ Gribovsky, p. 3
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 136–138, 140
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 137, 144
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 136–137
- ^ Silverstone, p. 380
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36825. London. 21 July 1902. p. 6.
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 136, 138
- ^ Campbell 1979, p. 184
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 136, 142
- ^ Forczyk, p. 9
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 141, 167
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 56, 58
- ^ Forczyk, p. 63
- ^ Campbell 1978, pp. 131–132, 135
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 70–71
- ^ a b c d e McLaughlin 2003, p. 146
- ^ Campbell 1978, p. 238
- ^ Forczyk, p. 25
- ^ Lengerer 2008b, p. 64
- ^ Silverstone, p. 331
- ^ a b c d e f Lengerer 2008b, p. 66
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 452
- ^ Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 21
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 452–453
- ^ McLaughlin 2008, p. 69
- ^ Head, p. 55
References
- 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. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-330-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Gribovsky, Vladimir (2010). Эскадренные броненосцы типа "Бородино" [Borodino Class Squadron Battleships] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Gangut. ISBN 978-5-904180-10-2.
- Head, Michael (2019). "Siberia". Warship International. LVI (1): 55–74. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Lengerer, Hans (September 2008a). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "The Damages to the BB Orël Received at the Battle of Tsushima". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper V): 70–79.(subscription required)(contact the editor at [email protected] for subscription information)
- Lengerer, Hans (September 2008b). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "Iwami (ex-Orël)". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper V): 64–66.(subscription required)
- Lengerer, Hans & Ahlberg, Lars (2019). Capital Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1868–1945: Ironclads, Battleships and Battle Cruisers: An Outline History of Their Design, Construction and Operations. Vol. I: Armourclad Fusō to Kongō Class Battle Cruisers. Zagreb, Croatia: Despot Infinitus. ISBN 978-953-8218-26-2.
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2005). "Aboard Orël at Tsushima". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2005. London: Conway. pp. 38–65. ISBN 1-84486-003-5.
- McLaughlin, Stephen (September 2008). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "Orël". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper V): 67–69.(subscription required)
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
- Pleshakov, Constatine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage 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.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1924 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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