Russian destroyer Steregushchiy (1903)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see Russian destroyer Steregushchiy and Russian corvette Steregushchiy.
bow indicates a name starting with "P" (Cyrillic "П"), suggesting it is a photograph of a different Sokol-class destroyer, perhaps Prozorliviy
.
History
Russian Empire
NameKulik
NamesakeCurlew
BuilderNevsky Works, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Laid down1900
LaunchedJune 1902
RenamedSteregushchiy
Namesake
Guardian
CommissionedAugust 1903
FateSunk 10 March [O.S. 26 February] 1904
General characteristics
TypeSokol-class destroyer
Displacement258 long tons (262 t)
Length57.91 m (190 ft 0 in)
Beam5.67 m (18 ft 7 in)
Draught2.3 m (7 ft 7 in)
Propulsion2 x
vertical triple expansion steam engines, 8 x Yarrow boilers
, 3,800 hp (2,834 kW), 2 shafts, 60 tons coal
Speed25.75 knots (47.69 km/h; 29.63 mph)
Range660 nautical miles (1,200 km; 760 mi)
Complement52 (4
officers, 48 enlisted men
)
Armament
  • 1 × 75 mm gun
  • 3 × 47 mm guns
  • 2 × single 381 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes, 2 x torpedoes (as built)
  • 2 x single 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes, 2 x torpedoes (1905)
Service record
Operations:
Steregushchiy underway, from the Russian magazine Niva, No.11, 26 March [O.S. 13 March] 1904.

Steregushchiy (Стерегущий, English "

Guardian") was a Sokol-class destroyer built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the beginning of the 20th century. She served in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), seeing action in the Battle of Port Arthur
before she was sunk in 1904.

Construction and commissioning

Port Arthur, China, and assembled there. Launched at Port Arthur in June 1902 with the name Kulik (Кулик, English "Curlew"), she subsequently was renamed Steregushchiy.[1]
She entered service at Port Arthur in August 1903.

Service history

Steregushchiy was at Port Arthur when the Russo-Japanese War began on the evening of 8 February [O.S. 26 January] 1904 with the Battle of Port Arthur, a surprise Imperial Japanese Navy attack on Russian ships in the outer roadstead there. At dawn on 9 February [O.S. 27 January] 1904, two pairs of Russian destroyers – one of them consisting of Steregushchiy and her sister ship Reshitel‘nyi — sortied to attack the Japanese ships off Port Arthur. The Japanese opened gunfire on the Russian destroyers, preventing them from getting close enough to launch torpedoes, and they received orders to return to Port Arthur. Several Japanese shells struck Steregushchiy, but Reshitel‘nyi received no hits.

On the night of 9–10 March [O.S. 25–26 February] 1904, the 2nd Destroyer Detachment, consisting of Steregushchiy and Reshitel‘nyi, conducted a reconnaissance of either the Elliot Islands in the Yellow Sea or the inner harbor at Thornton Haven on the coast of China,[2] or perhaps both (sources are unclear). While returning to Port Arthur in the predawn hours of 10 March [O.S. 26 February] 1904, they had to alter course farther out to sea to avoid a Japanese cruiser and a force of Japanese destroyers.[3] As they approached Port Arthur from the south-southeast they encountered another Japanese force consisting of the protected cruiser Chitose and the destroyers Akebono, Sazanami, Shinonome, and Usugumo.[3] As the Japanese moved to cut them off from Port Arthur, Steregushchiy and Reshitel‘nyi turned to starboard and made for the shelter of Russian minefields off Dalniy.[3] With superior speed, the Japanese destroyers closed to a range of 300 metres (330 yd), and the two sides opened gunfire on one another.[3]

The Russians scored a number of hits on the Japanese ships, but at 06:40 a Japanese shell detonated in one of Steregushchiy′s coal bunkers, damaging two of her boilers and causing her speed to drop off quickly.[3] Stoker Ivan Khirinsky, soon joined by Machinist 2nd Class Vasily Novikov, went to the upper deck to report the damage. Reshitel‘nyi also suffered a shell hit which knocked out one of her boilers, but she managed to keep her speed up and reach waters within range of Russian coastal artillery at daybreak.[3] As Reshitel‘nyi again altered course toward Port Arthur, where she arrived safely, the coastal artillery opened fire on the Japanese and discouraged them from continuing the chase.[3]

Giving up their pursuit of Reshitel‘nyi, the Japanese closed with the limping Steregushchiy. The Japanese destroyers were larger and more heavily armed than Steregushchiy, and they opened an overwhelming fire on her in broad daylight.

hull
through which water entered the compartment and flooded the fireboxes. After closing the boiler room's hatches behind them, the men climbed to the upper deck.

During the unequal fight, Japanese shell hits brought down all of Steregushchiy′s

masts. Her commanding officer, Lieutenant Alexander Semyonovich Sergeev, and gunnery officer, Midshipman Konstantin V. Kudrevich, died at their posts. Her executive officer, Lieutenant Nikolai S. Goloviznin II, was killed while trying to launch her whaleboat. Her engineering officer, Vladimir Spiridonovich Anastasov, was blown overboard by the explosion of a Japanese shell. One by one, Steregushchiy′s guns fell silent, and by 07:10 she was a motionless wreck with her hull mangled and almost her entire crew dead or dying.[4] She struck her colors to surrender.[3]

The Japanese ships ceased fire and gathered around the destroyers′

First Pacific Squadron, Vice admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov, and the Japanese abandoned their towing attempt, rescued Steregushchiy′s four surviving crew members – Khirinsky, Osinin, Novikov, and Acting Boatswain Fyodor Yuryev – and withdrew to avoid combat. At 09:07, Steregushchiy sank 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) southeast of Mount Laoteshan and 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) from the Lushun Lighthouse with the loss of 49 members of her crew.[4][5]

Honors, awards, and commemoration

The Steregushchiy memorial in Alexander Park in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 26 July 2012.

Upon their repatriation to Russia, Khirinsky, Osinin, Novikov, and Yuryev were award the

Cross of St. George
.

On 23 May [

Nicholas II. The sculptor Konstantin Vasilievich Isenberg[7] and the architect Aleksandr Ivanovich von Gauguin designed the monument, Professor V. N. Sokolovsky made the calculations for its foundation, and V. Z. Gavrilov cast the sculpture.[8] The monument depicts two sailors – V. Novikov and I. Bukharev – opening Steregushchiy′s Kingston valves to scuttle her and prevent her capture by the Japanese. In May 1911, the Russian magazine Iskra published photographs of the monument's opening ceremony, with a caption under one of them reading "The monument to the heroes of the destroyer 'Steregushchiy' opened on May 10 in St. Petersburg in the Highest Presence with a stream of water pouring from an open porthole."[9]

A later

Russian Federation Navy corvette Steregushchiy, lead ship of the Steregushchiy-class
corvettes.

In 1962, a small island in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago in the Russian high Arctic was named after Steregushchiy.[10]

An Imperial Russian Navy destroyer, Leitenant Sergeev, was named for Steregushchiy′s commanding officer Alexander Semyonovich Sergeev. In Kursk, Sergeev's home town, School No. 18 is named for him. The school's anthem, "Pesnya o 'Steregushchem'" (Песня о „Стерегущем», English "Song of the Guardian"), with music by Viktor Mezentsev and lyrics by Vasily Zolotorev, was first performed on 10 March 2004.[11]

The Imperial Russian Navy torpedo boat Inzhener-mekhanik Anastasov was named for Steregushchiy′s engineering officer, Vladimir Spiridonovich Anastasov.

In popular culture

The popular song "Gibel' „Steregushchego“" ("Гибель „Стерегущего“", English "The Death of the Guardian"), performed by the singer Zhanna Bichevskaya, is about the sinking of Steregushchiy.

Steregushchiy′s final battle is mentioned in the book Kreysera (Крейсера, English "Cruisers") by Valentin Pikul.

Aleksandr Kharitanovsky based his novel Gospoda Ofitsery! (Господа офицеры!, English "Gentlemen Officers!") on the fate of Sergeev and Steregushchiy.

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Conway's 1860–1905, p. 206.
  2. ^ Corbett, Vol. I, p. 148.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corbett, Vol. I, p. 149.
  4. ^ a b c Corbett, Vol. I, p. 150.
  5. ^ "Description of the military operations of the Japanese fleet at sea in 1904–1905," compiled by the Naval General Staff in Tokyo.
  6. ^ "Открытый 10 мая в Петербурге в Высочайшем присутствии памятник героям миноносца "Стерегущий" с льющимися из открытого иллюминатора потоком воды ("Opened on May 10 in St. Petersburg in the Highest Presence, a monument to the heroes of the destroyer "Steregushchiy" with a stream of water pouring from an open porthole")" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  7. ISBN 5-89365-005-0
    . (in Russian)
  8. ^ Привалов В. Д. Каменноостровский проспект. — М.: Центрполиграф ("Privalov V.D., Kamennoostrovsky prospect. — M.: Tsentrpoligraf"), 2005. — 639 p. — ISBN 5-9524-1882-1 (in Russian)
  9. ISBN 5-85560-153-6
    . ("K. K. Bulla (photo). Monument to the heroes of the Guardian . "ISKRA". Illustrated art-literary and humorous magazine with caricatures. Published weekly by the newspaper Russkoe Slovo. No. 20, Sunday, May 22, 1911 . "One fact". Universal city newspaper. Odintsovo and Odintsovo district") (in Russian) Retrieved 10 March 2012. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012.
  10. ISBN 5-85560-153-6
    . ("Popov S. V., Appendix 2 // Autographs on maps. - Arkhangelsk: North-Western Book Publishing House, 1990") (in Russian)
  11. ^ "Сайт школы № 18 города Курска" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2009-02-20. ("Website of school number 18 of the city of Kursk")

Bibliography

Further reading

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