Russian cruiser Pamiat Merkuria (1880)

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For other ships with the same name, see Russian ship Pamiat Merkuria.
History
Russian Empire
NamePamiat' Merkuria
BuilderSociété Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, Toulon
Laid down1879
Launched10 May 1880
CommissionedMarch 1882
Stricken7 April 1907
General characteristics
TypeCruiser
Displacement2,997 long tons (3,045 t)
Length90 m (295 ft 3 in)
Beam12.4 m (40 ft 8 in)
Draught5.97 m (19 ft 7 in)
Propulsion1 shaft horizontal compound steam engine, 6 boilers, 2,450 hp (1,830 kW)
Speed14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range1,560 nmi (2,890 km)
Complement12 officers and 331 men
Armament
  • 6 × 1 - 152 mm (6 in) guns
  • 4 × 1 - 107 mm (4.2 in) 9-pounder guns
  • 4 × 1 - 47 mm (2 in) guns
  • 4 × 1 - 37 mm (1 in) guns
  • 4 × 381 mm (15.0 in) torpedo tubes

Pamiat' Merkuria (Russian: Память Меркурия) was an unarmored cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was initially named Yaroslavl (Russian: Ярославль), but was renamed on 9 April 1883.

Design

She was a

ram bow. She had two unprotected 152 mm (6 in) guns as bow and stern chasers and the other four in unprotected sponsons on the upper deck. Her torpedo tubes were on swivels above water. She was reputedly a good sea boat.[1]

Service

Pamiat Merkuria was built for

Naval Ministry on 2 March 1882 and on 18 April of that year became part of the Black Sea Fleet as a cruiser, being renamed Pamiat Merkuria on 9 April 1883. On 1 February 1892 she was reclassified as a 1st class cruiser, undergoing a refit between 1893 and 1894.[2]

Now obsolete, she was removed from the combat fleet, disarmed, and handed over to the Sevastopol Military Port for mothballing on 18 March 1907. She was removed from the Black Sea Fleet on 25 March and renamed Merkuria. On 28 October 1915, during World War I, the ship returned to service in the Black Sea Fleet as a hulk, Blokshiv No. 9. She was also used as the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet Torpedo Division.[2]

Taken over by

Workers' and Peasants' Red Navy. The ship was converted to an unpowered transport-workshop on 8 August 1921 and on 31 October 1922 returned to the subclass of torpedo hulks and joined the division of patrol and torpedo boats. On 25 December she again became a hulk, being renamed Merkury.[2]

The hulk was placed in reserve on 1 October 1929, and removed from the list of ships of the Red Fleet on 9 March 1932 pending transfer to Rudmetalltorgu for scrapping. However, the hulk was instead used as an auxiliary craft by the People's Commissariat for Water Transport. On 31 August 1938 it was converted into a floating storage tank of the Odessa Commercial Sea Port, and on 20 September 1939 removed from the list of watercraft of the People's Commissariat for the Marine Fleet pending transfer to Glavvtorchermet for scrapping.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Gardiner, p. 192
  2. ^ a b c d Berezhnoy, p. 62

References

  • Berezhnoy, Sergey (2002). Крейсера и миноносцы. Справочник [Guide to Cruisers and Destroyers] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.
    ISBN 5-203-01780-8
    .
  • Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press.
    ISBN 0-8317-0302-4
    .

External links

Media related to Pamyat' Merkuriya (ship, 1880) at Wikimedia Commons

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