Russian battleship Retvizan
Retvizan in the Delaware River, 1902
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Class overview | |
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Name | Retvizan |
Operators | Imperial Russian Navy |
Preceded by | Potemkin |
Succeeded by | Tsesarevich |
Built | 1899–1902 |
In commission | 1902–1922 |
Completed | 1 |
History | |
Russian Empire | |
Name | Retvizan |
Ordered | 2 May 1898[Note 1] |
Builder | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |
Cost | $4,360,000 |
Yard number | 300 |
Laid down | 29 July 1899 |
Launched | 23 October 1900 |
Commissioned | 23 March 1902 |
Captured | 2 January 1905 |
Fate | Sunk by Japanese Port Arthur , China, 6 December 1904 |
Empire of Japan | |
Name | Hizen |
Namesake | Hizen Province |
Acquired | 2 January 1905 |
Out of service | April 1922 |
Renamed | Hizen |
Reclassified | 1 September 1921 as a 1st-class coast defence ship |
Refit | 27 November 1905 – November 1908 |
Stricken | 20 September 1923 |
Fate | Sunk as gunnery target, 25 July 1924 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement | 12,780 long tons (12,985 t) (normal) |
Length | 386 ft 8 in (117.9 m) |
Beam | 72 ft 2 in (22 m) |
Draught | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range | 4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 28 officers, 722 men |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Retvizan (Russian: Ретвизан) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built before the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 for the Imperial Russian Navy. She was built by the American William Cramp & Sons because Russian shipyards were already at full capacity. Named after a Swedish ship of the line that was captured during the battle of Vyborg Bay in 1790 (Swedish: Rättvisan, meaning both fairness and justice), Retvizan was briefly assigned to the Baltic Fleet, but was transferred to the Far East in 1902.
The ship was torpedoed during the Japanese surprise attack on
The Japanese
Background
Russian shipyards were already at maximum capacity so the Naval Ministry decided to order ships from abroad. Charles Henry Cramp, the owner and son of the founder of William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia, had a relationship with the Imperial Russian Navy dating back to the late 1870s when his firm built the auxiliary cruisers Afrika, Asia, Europa and Zabiiaka. Cramp also repaired several Russian warships visiting America in 1893, and he cultivated the contacts he made in the Russian Navy throughout the 1890s. As such, he was ideally positioned to offer to build a battleship for the Russians in his shipyard when they began to look abroad.[2]
Design and description
Preliminary design work on a battleship intended to equal the latest Japanese ships began in late 1897 and early 1898 by the Naval Technical Committee; the displacement was limited to 12,000 long tons (12,193 t) for economic reasons. The basic design was that of the Peresvet class with its speed increased to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) using only two shafts and its steaming range increased to 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The Naval Ministry intended to conduct an international design competition with the ships being built abroad as the Baltic shipyards were at full capacity.[3]
Cramp's contacts kept him informed of the Russians' intentions and he sailed to Saint Petersburg to offer his services and design expertise in March 1898. Initially Cramp offered American designs to the Russians, including an updated version of USS Iowa as it was a relatively close match for the Russian specification, but the Russians preferred their own designs. Both sides compromised and the final design was based on the Potemkin. The new ship had four fewer 6-inch (152 mm) guns, but twice the coal capacity for improved range and a longer, slightly narrower hull for more speed. The contract was signed on 23 April 1898 for a price of $4,360,000. The protected cruiser Varyag was ordered at the same time for $2,138,000.[4]
General characteristics
Retvizan was 382 feet 3 inches (116.5 m)
Propulsion
Retvizan had a pair of three-cylinder vertical
Armament and fire control
Retvizan's armament was built by the
Eight of the twelve
The ship carried many smaller guns to defend itself against attack by
Retvizan carried six 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes. Four were above water, one each in the bow and stern and the aft pair of broadside tubes; the forward broadside tubes were underwater. A total of 17 torpedoes were carried. The ship was designed to carry two second-class torpedo boats each equipped with a single torpedo tube and a small quick-firing gun. The ship could also carry 45 mines.[11]
The ship was fitted with Liuzhol stadiametric rangefinders that used the angle between two vertical points on an enemy ship, usually the waterline and the crow's nest, to estimate the range. The gunnery officer consulted his references to get the range and calculated the proper elevation and deflection required to hit the target. He transmitted his commands via a Geisler electro-mechanical fire-control transmission system to each gun or turret.[11][14]
Armour
The total weight of the Krupp armour was 3,300 long tons (3,353 t) or 25.8% of the displacement. The armour was mostly made in the United States, although a contract was let for deck armour from Russia on 6 January 1899.[15] The main waterline belt had a maximum thickness of 9 inches (229 mm) and tapered to 5 inches (127 mm) thick at its lower edge. It was 256 feet (78.0 m) long and 7 feet (2.1 m) high, of which about 3 feet (0.9 m) was above the waterline. The 6-inch upper belt was as long as the main belt and was 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 m) high. Armour plates 2 inches (51 mm) thick protected the ends of the ship to a height equal to that of the main and upper belts combined. Bulkheads 7 inches (177.8 mm) thick provided transverse protection for the ship's vitals. The lower casemate armour was 5 inches (127 mm) thick and armour screens 1.5 inches (38 mm) thick separated each gun. The upper casemate armour consisted of five inches of armour plate with semicircular 1.5-inch thick gun shields enclosing the guns.[11]
The front and sides of the turrets were 9 inches (229 mm) thick with 2-inch roofs. Their barbettes were 8 inches (203 mm) thick above the upper deck, but diminished to 4 inches (102 mm) below it. The conning tower and its communication tube had 10-inch (254 mm) walls. The armour deck inside the central citadel was level with the top of the main belt and sloped down to meet the lower edge of the main belt. It was two inches thick on the flat and 2.5 inches (64 mm) on the slope. Fore and aft of the citadel the deck thickened to 3 inches (76 mm) to the ends of the ship and reinforced the ram bow.[11]
Construction and service
Named after the Swedish ship of the line Rättvisan (Justice) which was captured by the Russians at the Battle of Viborg Bay in 1790,[16] Retvizan was ordered on 2 May 1898 for delivery in thirty months. The detailed sketch design was forwarded at the end of 1898 to Saint Petersburg for approval and work commenced on the ship around that time, although she was not officially laid down until 29 July 1899 as yard number 300. Construction was delayed by a strike at the shipyard that began in August 1899 and continued until the strike collapsed in early 1900. Other delays were caused by differences between American and Russian shipbuilding techniques and the insistence of the Naval Ministry on approving any design changes even though a Russian commission had been sent to Philadelphia to supervise her construction.[17]
Her armament arrived in Philadelphia missing electrical cables and with incomplete documentation, which required Cramp's electricians to piece things together themselves, for which Cramp charged an extra $50,000. She was launched on 23 October 1900 and ran her acceptance trials in October 1901.[18] The trials were successful but revealed incomplete work that Cramp had to finish before he received his last payment. More work needed to be done on the armament, but it had to wait until she arrived in Russia. Retvizan was accepted on 23 March 1902, under the command of Captain Eduard Schensnovich who commanded her throughout her Russian service.[19]
Retvizan sailed for the
Battle of Port Arthur
The Pacific Squadron began mooring in the outer harbour at night as tensions with Japan increased, in order to react more quickly to any Japanese attempt to land troops in Korea.[16] Both Russia and Japan had ambitions to control both Manchuria and Korea which naturally caused problems between them. A further issue was the Russian failure to withdraw its troops from Manchuria in October 1903. Japan had begun negotiations to reduce the tensions in 1901, but the Russian government was slow and uncertain in its replies because it had not yet decided exactly how to resolve the problems. Japan interpreted this as deliberate prevarications designed to buy time to complete the Russian armament programs. The final straws were news of Russian timber concessions in northern Korea and the Russian refusal to acknowledge Japanese interests in Manchuria while continuing to place conditions on Japanese activities in Korea. These caused the Japanese government to decide in December 1903 that war was now inevitable.[20]
Retvizan was on searchlight duty on the night of 8/9 February 1904 and attracted many torpedoes during the Japanese surprise attack that night. She was hit on the port side forward by a torpedo which blew a 220-square-foot (20 m2) hole in her side. Five men in the torpedo compartment were killed and all electrical power was knocked out. The ship took on enough water to give her a
During the summer, Retvizan landed two 6-inch, two 47 mm and six 37 mm guns to reinforce the landward defences of the port. She was hit on 9 August by seven 4.7-inch (120 mm) shells fired by a battery with a narrow view of the harbour. Schensnovich was slightly wounded, a barge adjacent to the ship was sunk and she was holed below the waterline. The ship took on a 1° list from 400 long tons (410 t) of water, which was corrected by counter-flooding. The holes were patched, although the water was not pumped out, and she sailed the next day with the fleet in another attempt to reach Vladivostok. This sortie resulted in the Battle of the Yellow Sea.[23]
Battle of the Yellow Sea
The battle began as a long-range gunnery duel, during which the Russian ships hit the Japanese ships numerous times and forced Tōgō to temporarily disengage. Over two hours after the start of the battle, the Japanese fleet closed the range and started shooting again at 17:35. Forty minutes later a shell struck Retvizan's forward turret near the
At approximately 18:40 hours on 10 August, during the final phase of the battle, the Russian flagship Tsesarevich was hit by 12-inch shells which killed Admiral Vitgeft and his immediate staff. The Russian battleship was turning out of control, disrupting the Russian formation. As the Japanese pre-dreadnoughts continued to pound the Tsesarevich with their 12-inch fire, Retvizan's captain boldly charged Tōgō's battleline in an attempt to divert the Japanese shellfire onto his ship.[25] The Japanese battle line immediately shifted their fire onto the oncoming Retvizan, firing so many shells that they were unable to adjust their fire due to the number of shell splashes engulfing the Russian battleship. As the Russian squadron was now disorganized, Tōgō's battleships were running low on ammunition and some ships' main guns were disabled, he turned the battle over to his cruisers and destroyers. Retvizan had effectively ended the duel between the opposing fleets, and had saved Tsesarevich from destruction.[23] During the battle, Retvizan received 18 hits from large-calibre shells, and suffered 6 sailors killed and another 42 men wounded, including Schensnovich.[26]
She was subsequently besieged in Port Arthur and sunk in shallow water by thirteen 28-centimetre (11 in) howitzer shells on 6 December 1904 after the Imperial Japanese Army gained control of the heights surrounding the harbour.[27] Schensnovich was the senior surviving naval officer and signed the capitulation of Port Arthur for the Imperial Russian Navy on 2 January 1905.[28]
Japanese service
Retvizan was raised by the Japanese on 22 September 1905 and renamed Hizen,[29] after Hizen Province,[30] two days later. The ship departed Port Arthur on 19 November and arrived at Sasebo on 27 November where her repairs lasted until November 1908. Her fighting tops were removed, her light weapons were replaced by Japanese ones, and her boilers were replaced by Miyabara boilers. The barrels and breeches of her main guns were replaced by Japanese-built examples and all four above-water torpedo tubes were removed. In Japanese service her crew numbered 796 officers and crewmen.[31]
Hizen was assigned to the
Hizen supported the Japanese
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ McLaughlin 2003, pp. 100–103
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, pp. 48–51
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, p. 51
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, pp. 52–53
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, pp. 54–55
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, p. 55
- ^ a b c McLaughlin 2000, p. 57
- ^ Friedman, p. 261
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, pp. 57–58
- ^ Friedman, p. 264
- ^ a b c d e McLaughlin 2000, p. 58
- ^ Friedman, p. 228
- ^ Friedman, p. 120
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 27–28, 57
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, p. 53
- ^ a b c McLaughlin 2000, p. 61
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, p. 54
- ^ "New Russian Battleship is Record-Breaker". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 19 October 1901. p. 3.
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, pp. 54, 57, 59
- ^ Westwood, pp. 15–21
- ^ McLaughlin 2000, pp. 61, 63
- ^ Warner & Warner, pp. 305–306
- ^ a b McLaughlin 2000, p. 63
- ^ Forczyk, pp. 51–52
- ^ Forczyk, p. 53
- ^ Forczyk, p. 52
- ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 183
- ^ a b c McLaughlin 2000, p. 64
- ^ a b c d e Lengerer, p. 59
- ^ Silverstone, p. 329
- ^ Lengerer, pp. 57–59
- ^ a b c McLaughlin 2008, p. 63
References
- 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. Botley, UK: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-330-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Lengerer, Hans (September 2008). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "Hizen (ex-Retvizan)". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper V): 57–59.(subscription required)(contact the editor at [email protected] for subscription information)
- McLaughlin, Stephen (September 2008). Ahlberg, Lars (ed.). "Retvizan". Contributions to the History of Imperial Japanese Warships (Paper V): 60–63.(subscription required)
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2000). ISBN 0-85177-791-0.
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Warner, Denis & Warner, Peggy (2002). The Tide at Sunrise: A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 (2nd ed.). London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5256-3.
- 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 0-88706-191-5.
External links
Media related to Retvizan (ship, 1900) at Wikimedia Commons
- Article (in Russian)
- Article aimed at model builders
- Cramp's Shipyard, a promotional book by the shipyard