Russian monitor Tifon

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Tifon or Koldun after the mid-1870s
History
Russian Empire
NameTifon (Тифон)
NamesakeTyphoon
Ordered23 March 1863[Note 1]
Builder
New Admiralty Shipyard, Saint Petersburg
Cost1,105,800
rubles
Laid down1 December 1863
Launched27 June 1864
In service1865
Out of service6 July 1900
ReclassifiedAs coastal defense ship, 13 February 1892
Stricken17 August 1900
FateConverted into a
hulk, 1909, and scrapped
after 1922
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
Speed6.7 knots (12.4 km/h; 7.7 mph)
Range1,440 nmi (2,670 km; 1,660 mi) at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph)
Complement96–110
Armament2 × 9 in (229 mm) smoothbore guns
Armor

Tifon (

hulk for mines in 1909 and renamed Blokshiv No. 3. The ship was abandoned by the Soviets in Finland in 1918; although retroceded to the Soviets in 1922, she was later scrapped
by the Finns.

Description

While the Uragans were extensively modified by the Russians, they did retain the single twin-gun turret and low freeboard of the original Passaic-class design. Tifon 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 (1,500–1,600 t), and her crew numbered 8 officers and 88 enlisted men in 1865. They numbered 10 officers and 100 crewmen in 1877.[1]

The ship was fitted with a two-cylinder, horizontal

boilers.[3] 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 Tifon's sea trials on 19 June 1865, she reached a maximum speed of 6.7 knots (12.4 km/h; 7.7 mph). The ship carried a maximum of 190 long tons (190 t) of coal, which gave her a theoretical endurance of 1,440 nmi (2,670 km; 1,660 mi) at full speed.[4]

Tifon was designed to be armed with a pair of 9-inch (229 mm) smoothbore muzzle-loading guns purchased from Krupp of Germany and rifled in Russia, but the rifling project was seriously delayed and the ship was completed with the Krupp smoothbore guns. These lacked the penetration power necessary to deal with ironclads and they were replaced by license-built 15-inch (380 mm) smoothbore muzzle-loading Rodman guns in 1867–68. The Rodmans were replaced around 1876 with the originally intended nine-inch rifled guns.[5]

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, but Tifon was modified for the addition of 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) armor plates after completion, although it is unknown if they were ever fitted. They were, however, manufactured and then placed in storage.[6]

Construction and career

Construction of the ship began on 13 June 1863 at the

General Admiral Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich.[7]

Sometime after Tifon 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.[8]

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

Helsingfors (Helsinki) when they were forced to withdraw from Finland in April 1918 according to the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but she was later returned by the Finns in 1922. The ship was subsequently broken up in Finland.[9]

Notes

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

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b McLaughlin, p. 103
  2. ^ McLaughlin 2012, pp. 106–07
  3. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 175
  4. ^ McLaughlin, p. 107
  5. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 104–05
  6. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 105–06
  7. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 100, 104, 109
  8. ^ McLaughlin, p. 108
  9. ^ McLaughlin, p. 109

References

  • Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press.
    ISBN 0-8317-0302-4
    .
  • McLaughlin, Stephen (2012). "Russia's American Monitors: The Uragan Class". In John Jordan (ed.). Warship 2012. London: Conway. pp. 98–112.
    ISBN 978-1-84486-156-9
    .
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