Russian cruiser Vladimir Monomakh
Vladimir Monomakh after her 1892–93 refit
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History | |
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Russian Empire | |
Name | Vladimir Monomakh |
Namesake | Vladimir II Monomakh |
Builder | Baltic Shipyard, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Cost | 3,348,847 rubles |
Laid down | 22 February 1881[Note 1] |
Launched | 22 October 1882 |
Completed | 13 July 1883 |
Stricken | 28 September 1905 |
Fate | Scuttled at the Battle of Tsushima , 28 May 1905 |
General characteristics as built | |
Type | Armoured cruiser |
Displacement | 5,593 long tons (5,683 t) |
Length | 296 ft 3 in (90.3 m) |
Beam | 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m) |
Draught | 26 ft 3 in (8 m) |
Installed power | 7,000 ihp (5,200 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 15.2 knots (28.2 km/h; 17.5 mph) |
Range | 6,200 nmi (11,500 km; 7,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 591 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Vladimir Monomakh (
Design and description
Vladimir Monomakh was classified as a semi-
The ship had two
Vladimir Monomakh was armed with four 8-inch (203 mm) guns, one at each corner of the battery that were sponsoned out over the sides of the hull. Eight of the dozen 6-inch (152 mm) guns were mounted between the eight-inch guns in the central battery and the remaining four were outside the battery at the ends of the ship.[7] Anti-torpedo boat defence was provided by four 9-pounder and ten Hotchkiss guns.[8] The ship was also equipped with three above-water 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes.[6]
The ship's waterline belt was composed of compound armour and extended the full length of the ship. It was six inches thick amidships, but reduced to 4.5 inches (114 mm) at the ship's ends. It extended 2 feet (0.6 m) above the waterline and 4 feet (1.2 m) below.[9] Transverse bulkheads 3–4 inches (76–102 mm) thick protected the guns in the battery from raking fire.[10] The sponsons of the 8-inch guns were equally thick. The protective deck was 0.5-inch (13 mm) thick.[9]
Career
Construction began on Vladimir Monomakh on 22 February 1881 at the
On 11 October 1884, Vladimir Monomakh began a leisurely voyage from the
Vladimir Monomakh departed Kronstadt for the Mediterranean on 6 November 1889 where she remained for the next year. She joined the official escort for the
On 2 October 1894 the ship, now under the command of Captain
The ship only remained there for a short time before she was ordered back to Kronstadt for a major modernization. Her obsolete 8-inch and 6-inch guns were replaced with five new 45-calibre 6-inch and six 120-millimetre (4.7 in) Canet guns. The ship's six original boilers were replaced by a dozen cylindrical boilers.[17]
Vladimir Monomakh was transferred back to the Pacific Fleet in November 1897 and reached Nagasaki in February 1898. After the
Russo-Japanese War
In February 1905, Vladimir Monomakh was assigned to the Third Pacific Squadron, which was sent to reinforce Admiral
At the decisive Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, Vladimir Monomakh was positioned to the right side of the Russian line of battle, guarding the transports and so avoided the pounding that the other vessels of Second Pacific Squadron received, although she engaged the Japanese cruiser Izumi. The Japanese ship was hit several times and driven off, but only three crewmen were killed and seven wounded. Vladimir Monomakh was hit several times itself and had one 120 mm gun destroyed and its crew killed. The most dangerous hit was a shell that burst over a 6-inch shell hoist and started an ammunition fire. The prompt flooding of the magazine averted an explosion.[18]
At nightfall, the Japanese torpedo boats engaged the surviving Russian warships and the cruiser claimed to have sunk one of her attackers at 8:25 p.m. Vladimir Monomakh, mistaking one of her attackers for a Russian destroyer, was hit around 8:40 by a single torpedo which ruptured her hull near the No. 2 coal bunker, but sank the torpedo boat. The damage was severe but her crew kept her afloat and her engines operational, although she continued to take on water. The next morning, however, Vladimir Monomakh headed towards
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ Alliluev, p. 6
- ^ Wright, pp. 123–25
- ^ Alliluev, p. 11
- ^ a b Silverstone, p. 359
- ^ Watts, p. 79
- ^ a b c Wright, pp. 124–25
- ^ Wright, pp. 124, 126
- ^ Alliluev, p. 40
- ^ a b c Wright, p. 124
- ^ Campbell, p. 186
- ^ Alliluev, pp. 7–8, 11
- ^ a b Watts, p. 77
- ^ Wright, p. 125
- ^ Wright, pp. 131, 133, 135
- ^ Wright, p. 135
- ^ Wright, pp. 135–36
- ^ a b c Wright, p. 136
- ^ Wright, pp. 136–37
- ^ Wright, pp. 137–38
References
- Alliluev, A. A. (2006). Polubronenosnye fregaty tipa "Dmitriĭ Donskoĭ", 1881–1905 (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Izdatelʹ R.R. Munirov.
- 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.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-85368-912-1.
- Wright, Christopher C. (1976). "Imperial Russian Cruisers, Part 3". Warship International. XIII (2). Toledo, Ohio: International Naval Research Organization: 123–47.