Russian monitor Perun

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Sister ship Koldun, in the late 1870s or early 1880s
History
Russian Empire
NamePerun (Перун)
NamesakePerun[1]
Ordered23 March 1863[Note 1]
BuilderSemiannikov & Poletika Shipyard, Saint Petersburg
Cost1,142,700
rubles
Laid down15 December 1863
Launched30 June 1864
In service1 September 1865
Out of service6 July 1900
RenamedLotsiia, 1915
ReclassifiedAs coastal defense ship, 13 February 1892
Stricken17 August 1900
FateConverted into a pilot boat and scrapped around 1924
General characteristics
Class and typeUragan-class monitor
Displacement1,500–1,600 long tons (1,524–1,626 t)
Length201 ft (61.3 m)
Beam46 ft (14.0 m)
Draft10.16–10.84 ft (3.1–3.3 m)
Installed power
  • 340–500 ihp (254–373 kW)
  • 2 rectangular Morton
    boilers
Propulsion1 shaft, 1 × 2-cylinder horizontal direct-acting steam engine
Speed6.75 knots (12.50 km/h; 7.77 mph)
Range1,440 nmi (2,670 km; 1,660 mi) at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph)
Complement96–110
Armament
  • 1865: 2 × 9 in (229 mm) smoothbore guns
  • 1868: 2 × 15 in (381 mm) smoothbore Rodman guns
  • 1873: 2 × 9 in (229 mm)
    rifled
    guns
Armor

Perun (

pilot ship. Renamed Lotsiia (Pilot) in 1915, the ship was damaged during the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921 and laid up afterwards. She was run aground by a flood three years later and then her wreck was scrapped
.

Description

Perun was 201 feet (61.3 m) long overall, with a beam of 46 feet (14.0 m) and a draft of 10.16–10.84 feet (3.1–3.3 m). She displaced 1,500–1,600 long tons (1,524–1,626 t), and her crew numbered 8 officers and 88 enlisted men in 1865. They numbered 10 officers and 100 crewmen 12 years later.[2]

The ship was fitted with a two-cylinder, horizontal

boilers.[4] Specific information on the output of the ship's engine has not survived, but it ranged between 340–500 indicated horsepower (254–373 kW) for all the ships of this class. During Perun's sea trials on 16 August 1865, she reached a maximum speed of 6.75 knots (12.50 km/h; 7.77 mph). She carried a maximum of 190 long tons (193 t) of coal, which gave her a theoretical endurance of 1,440 nmi (2,670 km; 1,660 mi) at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph).[5]

Perun was designed to be armed with a pair of nine-inch (229 mm)

ironclads and they were replaced by license-built fifteen-inch (380 mm) smoothbore muzzle-loading Rodman guns in 1867–68. The Rodman guns were replaced around 1876 with the originally intended nine-inch rifled guns.[6]

All of the

pilothouse above it had eight layers of armor. Curved plates six layers thick protected the base of the funnel up to a height of 7 feet (2.1 m) above the deck. Unlike their predecessors, the Uragans were built without deck armor to save weight.[7]

Career

Construction of the ship began on 7 September 1863 at the Semiannikov & Poletika Shipyard in Saint Petersburg. Perun was

General Admiral Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich.[8] She was present when the American warships Miantonomoh and Augusta visited Kronstadt in July–August 1866.[9]

Sometime after Perun was completed, an armored ring, 5 inches (127 mm) thick and 15 inches (381 mm) tall, was fitted around the base of the turret to prevent splinters from jamming it. Later, an armored, outward-curving

gun ports and one on each side of the turret, mounted a light gun, probably a 1.75-inch (44 mm) Engstrem gun, for defense against torpedo boats. A fourth gun was mounted on a platform aft of the funnel when a hurricane deck was built between the funnel and the turret, also probably during the 1870s.[10]

Little is known about the ship's career other than that she was

ironclad on 13 February 1892 and turned over to the Port of Kronstadt for disposal on 6 July 1900, although she was not stricken until 17 August. After she was stricken she was used as a pilot ship before being renamed Lotsiia (Pilot) in 1915. During the 1921 Kronstadt rebellion, the ship was struck by artillery fire. She was laid up after the resulting fire badly damaged her. During a flood on 23 September 1924, Lotsiia ran aground and was subsequently broken up for scrap.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ All dates used in this article are New Style.

Footnotes

  1. ^ McLaughlin, p. 110
  2. ^ a b McLaughlin, p. 103
  3. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 106–07
  4. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 175
  5. ^ McLaughlin, p. 107
  6. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 104–05
  7. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 105–06
  8. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 100, 104, 109
  9. ^ Russian Account of the Official Mission to Russia of Hon. G. V. Fox. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office. 1867. p. 8.
  10. ^ McLaughlin, p. 108
  11. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 109–10

References