Russian battleship Rostislav
45°25′01″N 36°37′43″E / 45.41694°N 36.62861°E
Rostislav between 1907 and 1916.
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Class overview | |
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Operators | Imperial Russian Navy |
Preceded by | Petropavlovsk class |
Succeeded by | Peresvet class |
Built | 1894–1900 |
In service | 1900–1920 |
Completed | 1 |
Lost | 1 |
History | |
Russian Empire | |
Name | Rostislav (Russian: Ростислав) |
Namesake | Rostislav I of Kiev |
Operator | Imperial Russian Navy |
Builder | Nikolayev Admiralty Shipyard |
Laid down |
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Launched | September 2, 1896 |
Christened | May 20, 1894 |
Completed | March 1900 |
Fate | Scuttled November 1920 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement | |
Length | 351 ft 10 in (107.2 m) |
Beam | 68 ft (20.7 m) |
Draft |
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Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Range | 4,100 nautical miles (7,600 km; 4,700 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
Complement | 633 (1900), 831–852 (World War I)[1] |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Rostislav was a pre-dreadnought battleship built by the Nikolaev Admiralty Shipyard in the 1890s for the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was conceived as a small, inexpensive coastal defence ship, but the Navy abandoned the concept in favor of a compact, seagoing battleship with a displacement of 8,880 long tons (9,022 t). Poor design and construction practices increased her actual displacement by more than 1,600 long tons (1,626 t). Rostislav became the world's first capital ship to burn fuel oil, rather than coal.[2] Her combat ability was compromised by the use of 10-inch (254 mm) main guns instead of the de facto Russian standard of 12 inches (305 mm).
Her hull was launched in September 1896, but non-delivery of the ship's main guns delayed her maiden voyage until 1899 and her completion until 1900. In May 1899 Rostislav became the first ship of the Imperial Navy to be commanded by a member of the
Rostislav was actively engaged in
Design and description
Similar in size to earlier
Chikhachov instructed Andrey Toropov of the Nikolaev Shipyard to draft two proposals, one armed with 10-inch and the other with 12-inch guns.
Rostislav had the same hull as Sissoi Veliky, protected with the newly developed Harvey armor. She was also the first Russian battleship to use electric power instead of older hydraulic systems to train her guns.[6]
General characteristics
Rostislav was 345 feet 6 inches (105.3 m)
Propulsion
Rostislav had two
Armament
The main armament consisted of two pairs of
The anti-torpedo boat armament consisted of twelve 47-millimetre (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns. Eight of these were mounted in the superstructure and the locations of the remaining four are unclear.[11] They fired a 2.2-pound (1.00 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,400 ft/s (430 m/s).[14] The ship also mounted sixteen 37-millimetre (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns, eight of which were carried in the fighting top. The locations of the other eight are unknown.[11] They fired a 1.1-pound (0.50 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,150 ft/s (660 m/s).[15]
Rostislav carried six 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes. The bow and stern tubes and the aft pair of broadside tubes were above water. The forward broadside tubes were underwater. The ship carried 50 mines to be used to protect her anchorage.[16]
Protection
The maximum thickness of the Rostislav's waterline belt was 14.5 inches (368 mm), tapering to 10 inches (254 mm) abreast the magazines. It covered 227 feet (69.2 m) of the ship's length and was 7 feet (2.1 m) high. While the exact height of the belt above the designed waterline is unknown, much of it, if not all, would have been below the waterline as the ship's draft was over 3 feet (0.9 m) deeper than designed. The belt terminated forward in a 9-inch (229 mm) transverse bulkhead and aft in a 5-inch (127 mm) bulkhead. The upper belt was 5 inches thick, 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 m) high and covered 160 feet (48.8 m) of the ship's side. The sides of the main gun turrets were 10 inches thick and they had 2.5-inch (64 mm) roofs. The sides of the 6-inch turrets were 6 inches thick as were the sides of the conning tower. The armor deck was flat and located at the upper edge of the main belt. It was 2 inches (51 mm) thick. Below the waterline, forward and aft of the armored citadel, were 3-inch (76 mm) decks.[17]
Construction
Work on Rostislav commenced on January 30, 1894. The ship was officially christened May 20, 1894; in line with Russian tradition, the formal laying down ceremony was delayed until May 19, 1895. The contract for oil-firing
Rostislav's hull was launched on September 2, 1896. Lack of proper cranes in Nikolaev made the installation of its engines exceedingly difficult, to the point that the navy even considered towing the hull to Sevastopol for completion. The Nikolaev engineers eventually resolved the problem and the ship was ready to sail in July 1897. Rostislav conducted her speed trials on October 21, 1898, still missing her main guns. Her power plant performed flawlessly, but its weight exceeded the design target by more than 295 long tons (300 t).[20]
Non-delivery of the new 10-inch Model 1897 guns, made by the Obukhov Factory in Saint Petersburg for Rostislav, Admiral Ushakov-class coastal defense ships and Peresvet-class battleships, delayed the completion of the ship by two years.[20] One of these guns, earmarked for Admiral Ushakov, exploded at the proving ground and the whole batch was subjected to exhaustive tests and, when possible, repairs. Guns Number 16 through Number 19 passed the tests and were delivered to Sevastopol in July and August 1899. Rostislav was able to sail to her first gunnery trial on April 12, 1900.[1] On the second day of shooting practice the recoil mechanisms of her forward turret failed and more defects were discovered back at the base. Rostislav spent the rest of the spring having her gun mounts repaired,[21] but the problem persisted and the Navy "solved" it by prohibiting them from being used.[22] The gun mounts were rebuilt along the pattern of those used by the armored cruiser Admiral Nakhimov in 1901 and 1902, and Rostislav successfully passed the gunnery tests in June 1902.[22] The ship's electrical turret controls, with their 332 contact pairs, required tedious maintenance and proved too complex for most of the enlisted men.[23]
Service
On May 1, 1899,
The 1900 season revealed grave problems with Rostislav's boilers. Black smoke from burning oil was more conspicuous than coal smoke. Uneven distribution of heat inside the boilers caused severe local overheating, buckling of fireboxes and sudden backdrafts. For three and a half months the boilers failed one by one, starting with small auxiliary power units and ending with the main boilers.[23] Oil delivered by the Rothschild-controlled Russian Standard Oil was not at fault; similar problems were experienced by oil-fired ships of the Baltic Fleet.[26] Repairs and alterations of the power plant continued until 1904, when the continuing boiler failures compelled the Navy to dispense with oil fuel and convert Rostislav to coal in 1904 and 1905.[27] Each round of repairs and alterations added more weight to the already overweight ship, and by 1907 the ship's belt armor was completely below the waterline.[28]
The Tsentralka, the group plotting a mutiny of the Black Sea Fleet, decided on June 25, 1905, that the mutiny should start on Potemkin rather than Rostislav.
Exercises and casualties
After the
Two plans for modernizing the ship were put forward before World War I. In 1907 the
In 1909 and 1910, Rostislav and the rest of the Black Sea Fleet prepared for joint operations with submarines. She was scheduled for an installation of the first Russian underwater acoustic communication system, but the installation was interrupted and her hardware was installed on the battleship Panteleimon (the former Potemkin) instead.[34] During an anti-submarine exercise on the night of June 11, 1909, Rostislav accidentally rammed and sank the submarine Kambala. Twenty men of Kambala and two rescue divers died.[35][36] The accident was blamed on reckless maneuvering by the submarine, and Rostislav's captain was cleared of any negligence or wrongdoing.[37]
Diplomatic incidents
Before the outbreak of World War I Rostislav was involved in two minor international incidents. On August 11, 1911, Evstafi and Panteleimon, two of the Black Sea Fleet battleships paying a state visit to Romania, ran aground on a shoal just off the port of Constanța. Rostislav's officers had detected the hazard and steered her to safety, but did not alert the other ships. The international embarrassment that followed led to the resignation of fleet commander Admiral Ivan Bostrem.[25] During the First Balkan War Rostislav sailed into the Sea of Marmara to protect the Russian Embassy in Istanbul from a mob.[Note 5] Rostislav accidentally fired a live shell into the Turkish defenses. No one was injured during the incident, and the captain defused the situation with a personal apology to the Ottoman government.[38]
World War I
Rostislav spent the winter of 1913–1914 refitting, and in April 1914 she returned to the active fleet with newly overhauled machinery, new rangefinders and new gun sights.[39] The ship made 15.37 knots (28.47 km/h; 17.69 mph) on her post-refit trials.[33]
On November 4, 1914, the Black Sea Fleet sailed out on its first combat operation of the war: the bombardment of Zonguldak. The operation was conceived as a retaliation against the Turkish-German attack on Sevastopol. Rostislav, captained by Kazimierz Porębski, was the "designated gunboat" while other Russian battleships formed a defensive screen around her. On November 6 she fired 251 shells at the port of Zonguldak, reducing it to rubble.[40] On November 18 the ship faced Goeben during the Battle of Cape Sarych, but the German ship broke contact before Rostislav, trailing behind the Russian formation, even spotted her.[41] Rostislav had other encounters with Goeben in 1915 and 1916, but did not engage her directly.[Note 6] In 1915 the ship received four 75 mm anti-aircraft guns.[42]
After the commissioning of the
In the summer of 1916 the Navy seriously considered an all-out amphibious assault on the
Revolution
The
The German occupation of
When Rostislav sank in the shallows her superstructure remained above water. In 1930, the EPRON (a Soviet salvage unit) retrieved the ship's guns and partially dismantled the hull. According to diver Alexander Yolkin, the remains of the hull are still lying in the strait, around 1,200 metres (1,300 yd) from the Ukrainian coast, and gradually sinking into the silt.[55]
Notes
- ^ a b All dates used in this article are New Style. Russia was still using the Julian calendar, and the dates on that calendar were 13 days earlier at that time.
- ^ Replaced in 1915 for 75-mm and 37-mm guns – Melnikov, p. 11.
- ^ In the very beginning of 1893, Ratnik moved from Nikolaev to Saint Petersburg and became chief executive of privately owned Baltic Shipyard. – Melnikov, p. 4
- ^ According to Senator Benjamin Tillman, Carnegie Works and Bethlehem Steel formed a trust with an intent to rob the U.S. government on naval armor contracts. The law obliged the U.S. Navy to purchase only U.S.-made steel, thus eliminating competitive choices open to other navies. As a result, the U.S. Navy paid $660 a ton when foreign governments paid only $300. – "Serving Two Masters: Naval Officers Employed by Armor Plate Makers". The New York Times, April 28, 1896.
- ^ The international "observation fleet" comprised 21 ships, including Rostislav, Goeben and Léon Gambetta. – Melnikov, p. 29.
- ^ Admiral Andrei Eberhardt deliberately kept the ship out of action to protect the old ship from a vastly superior enemy. He reasoned that a ship with 10-inch guns had no place in a fight of 12-inch guns (as had already been proven by the loss of SMS Blücher in the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915). – Melnikov, pp. 35–36.
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Melnikov, p. 11.
- ^ Willmott, p. 57.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 4.
- ^ a b Melnikov, p. 5.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 8.
- ^ a b Melnikov, p. 9.
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 93.
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 96.
- ^ a b McLaughlin, pp. 93, 97.
- ^ Silverstone, p. 366.
- ^ a b c d e McLaughlin, p. 95.
- ^ Friedman, pp. 256–257.
- ^ Friedman, pp. 260–261.
- ^ Smigielski, p. 160
- ^ Friedman, p. 120.
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 95–96.
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 96–97.
- ^ "Russia Buys Armor Here: The New Battle Ship Rostislav". The New York Times, November 26, 1895.
- ^ "Prices for Armor Plate" The New York Times, July 30, 1897
- ^ a b Melnikov, p. 10.
- ^ a b c Melnikov, p. 12.
- ^ a b c Melnikov, p. 13.
- ^ a b Melnikov, p. 14.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 17.
- ^ a b c Melnikov, p. 28.
- ^ Melnikov, pp. 17–18.
- ^ a b Melnikov, p. 21.
- ^ a b c Melnikov, p. 22.
- ^ Bascomb, p. 34.
- ^ "Black Sea Fleet to be Disbanded". The New York Times, July 3, 1905.
- ^ a b c Melnikov, pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b McLaughlin, p. 288.
- ^ a b c McLaughlin, p. 294.
- ^ Godin and Palmer, p. 33.
- ^ "Submarine is sunk; Hope to save crew". The New York Times, June 13, 1909.
- ^ "Submarine Crew Past Aid". The New York Times, June 14, 1909.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 26.
- ^ Melnikov, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 31.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 32.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 34.
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 310.
- ^ a b c Melnikov, p. 36.
- ^ a b Willmott, p. 305.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 39.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 40.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 38.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 41.
- ^ Melnikov, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 42.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 44.
- ^ Melnikov, p. 46.
- ^ McLaughlin, p. 99.
- ^ a b Melnikov, p. 47.
- ^ Yolkin, A. (2009, in Russian). Kladbische korablei (Кладбище кораблей) Archived 2010-04-19 at the Wayback Machine. www.wreck.ru. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
Bibliography
- Bascomb, Neal (2007). ISBN 978-0-618-59206-7.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Godin, Oleg A. & Palmer, David R. (2008). History of Russian Underwater Acoustics. Singapore: World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-256-825-0.
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
- Melnikov, R. M. (2006). Эскадренный броненосец "Ростислав" (1893–1920) [Squadron Battleship Rostislav] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: M. A. Leonov. ISBN 5-902236-34-7.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Smigielski, Adam (1979). "Imperial Russian Navy Cruiser Varyag". In Roberts, John (ed.). Warship III. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-204-8.
- Willmott, H. P. (2009). The Last Century of Sea Power: From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-35214-9.
Further reading
- Shirokorad, A. B. (1997, in Russian). Korabelnaya artilleriya Rossiyskogo flota 1867–1922. (Корабельная артиллерия Российского флота. 1867–1922). Morskaya Kollekciya, No. 2 (14), 1997, pp. 1–42.