Armored ships of the world VLADIMIR V. ARBUZOV Issue I "B 0 ROD I N 0" class ar.mored ships "Orel" anchored head and stern. She is moored on the Neva. ARMORED SHIPS OF THE WORLD Vladimir V. Arbuzov Issue I "B 0 ROD I N 0" class 'armored s hip s Brief description, illustrated by photographs, figures, tables and archival drawings, ofconstruction, serviceand participation in the naval warfare of excellent warships, built at the beginning of XX century. Content 1. Constructionof"Borodino" classarmored ships .. . . . . . . . . . .. 2 2. FarEast cruiseoftheSecondand Third Pacificsquadrons 12 3. Chronologyofeventsduringthe Tsushi- rna battleonMay 14, 1905. . . . . . 23 4. Description of the Battleand Principal conclusions . . . . . . . . 34 5. Armoredship"OreI" inthebattle 46 "INTERPOISK" Publishers St. Petersburg 1993 1. CONSTRUCTION OF "BORODINO" CLASS ARMORED SHIPS In 1898-1899 battleships·of"Borodino"class and arrange favourably her major and middle had been still in process of development while all caliber guns - in turrets - while having relati the principal elements of their future adversaries vely small displacement (12 900 t). - Japanese armorclads of "Shikishima" class Themaintaskofthe battleship ofthis type was had been determined already, though not yet thought to be in the head of the squadron, when detailed. the decisive battle.is fought with a formidable In December 1898 heads ofthe Russian Naval enemy. Ithad beenpresumed, thatthis ship was to Department, after careful examination of various beintended for actions ina limited seaarea, being armored ship projects by the Naval Technical supported by its rear bases. Because of it the stock Committee (NTS), made a choice of the French offuel, capacity ofreservecoal bunkers, supply of engineer A. Lagagne project, who was building food and drinking water, the stock of other "Tsesarewich" in Toulon at that time. The consumable materials were reduced to two-weeks armament of the developed ship was less for norm, in order to strengthen the armor protection ~dable, being determined by NTS, than that of and gunnery of the ship as much as possible. The "Shikishima" (two 152-mm guns less); on the store boiler water was not included in the ship other hand, A. Lagagne managed to ensure the normal load at all, since high-effici ency desa safeprotection oftheshipagainstshellsand mines linators were installed on the board. FRENCHARMOREDSHIP"JAUREGUIBERRY· _ This ship had been a prototype of the armored ship "Tsesarevich", built later for Russia. Launched in 1893, "Jaureguiberry"hadbeenthetypicalexampleofhigh-boardarmoredshipwithgunturretsoftheendofXIXcentury. Her mainarmament consistedof 2305-mm guns (modelof1891 - with thelength of barrel 45calibers; 2274-mm and 8138 mm-guns. Minorcalibergunsincluded465-mmand1237-mmguns. Maincharacteristicsoftheship: displacement 11324t, length III ni, breadth22mand draft 8.2m. Hersideswere protected by 470mmarmored plates; 305 mm-gun turrets- by370mmarmoredplates, manufactured byCreusot. Thespeedoftheshipwas 18.1 kn. VladimirV. Arbuzov"Borodino"classarmoredships" 3 The new armored ship, developed to be construction of the ship of normal displacement supported by safe bases, might be supported inthe 13516 t to be built in the stone covered-in berth Baltic sea by Libau, Revel, Helsingfors and ofthe New Admiralty. The main machineryofthis Kronstadt; in the Far East her actions should be ship, which was named "Borodino", as the limited by Vladivostok-PortArthurarea. tradition was for fleet battleships, was to be On the base of the conceptual design and the manufactured by French-Russian plant in Peters specification of a French armorclad, D.V. Skvort: burg; it was identical to the machinery of "Tse sov (who became later the chief shipbuilding sarewich", rated for 16 300 h. p. power. engineer of the Petersburg port) developed the Early in 1899 the principal alteration was ARMOREDSHIP..TSESAREVJCH'· ~ _ Inopinion of Naval TechnicalCommittee-ofRussia, this shipwould have been, aftersomemodifications, the most appropriateprototypeforfive new-buildings, constituting theseriesofarmored shipsof"Borodino"class. This ship had beenlaunched inshipyard FondesetChantiers inToulonin 190I. Hermaincharacteristics: deadweight 12912 t, length 118.5m, breadth23.2 m, draft 7.9 mm. Mainarmament: 4305-mmguns with barrel length 40calibers and 12 152-mm guns. Similarly to armored ship "Jaureguiberry", all guns were mounted in eight armorclad turrets. Besides, to repulse attacksofdestroyers, 1675-mmand 20 37-mmguns were provided. Two three-cylindersteam engineswith total power 16300hpallowed theshipto movewith thespeed 18 kn. Ship armor: the sides were protected with armored plates of thickness from 152 mm to 254 mm, the turrets - by 152-254 mm armored plates, the bridge - by 254 mm plates and deck - by armored plates from 38 to 69 mm. The principalaspectofnoveltyinarmoringwas theuseofthinner, butstrongerarmoredplates, manufacturedonthebaseof new technologyofGermanindustrialistKrupp. "Tsesarevich" tookpartin twowars: first in theRusso-Japanesewar, then intheFirstWorldWarof 1914-1918. By night of 28 January of 1904, when Japanese destroyers attacked suddenly Port-Arthur, she was hit by torpedo. After repair the shipjoined the fleet. 28th May, 1904 shewent to Kiao-Chao, where disarmament took place. After October revolutionof 1917theshipchangedhernameto"Citizen", thenin thebeginningof20sshewasscraped. 4 Armoredshipsoftheworld. IssueI "Tsesarevich" ontheToulon roadstead. Insomedays sheleft togetherwiththearmoredcruiser "Baian"for theFarEast. a Thefate of prototypeofthe "Borodino" classbattleship - the armoredships"Tsesarevich" was luckyenouph. Shetookpartin two wars,fought in manybattles, underwentseveretrials, butsurvived andfinishedherlifepiecefullyin Kronstadt. made in the design; all the 75-mm guns were to be armored deck. The lower armored deck of protected by armor plates,while the thickness of "Borodino" and "Tsesarewich"was curved down the main armor belt was decreased to 50.8 mm. wards and connected with countermine armored When the Baltic plant received the order for bulkhead. The armored deck of the new ship was building of the second armored ship of the-series, curved gradually to meet the lower edge of the engineers of tne plant changed somewhat the armored shelf, thus allowing, in the NTS opinion, ship's interior too. But the main distinction of to improve ship's protection in case of shell "Emperor Alexander III", named after the father hitting. of Russian Emperor Nikolai II, from the first The same arangement of the deck armor ship of the series was in her main machinery of protection was accepted for the third ship of the 15 800 h. p., developed by engineers ofthe Baltic series, "Orel", which was to be built in the plant, and in the arrangement of the lower shipyard on the Galerny I~land (engines and VladimirV.Arbuzov"Borodino"classarmoredships" 5 BaLticshipyardonJuLy21, 1901. Shortlythefirst shipoftheseries, thearmoredship"Emperor ALexander/If' wouLdbeLaunched. ."EmperorALexander/If' before Launching. boilers were to be manufactured by Baltic plant), Russian military leader, and the eighth ship was as well for the seventh and eighth ships of the called "Slava" later. series, ordered from the Baltic plant. After some Launched on July 21, 1901, "Emperor hesitation, the decision was made to build these Alexander III" was ready for trials in the autumn two ships on the base of the "Emperor Alexander of 1902. However, the tests and trials were III" drawings. Originally planned reinforcement postponed, because some systems, armor pro of their armament was sacrificed for the sake of tection and armament were not ready besause of uniformity and necessity to observe too hastily sluggishness of main offices of the Naval Depart concluded contracts on delivery of turret mo ment. untings. In 1900 the seventh of the series was Both the building and tests of "Emperor named "Prince Suvorov" in the memory of Alexander III" were accompanied by a number of centenary of the death of Suvorov, the famous dramatic events. Early in 1900 her model, manu- 6 Armored shipsoftheworld. IssueI Armoredship"Borodino" - lastrrdnutesonthe buildingways. Armoredship"Slava" in thecovered-inberthofthe Balticshipyard. VladimirV.Arbuzov"Borodino"classarmoredships" 7 "Borodino" islaunched. factured to be demonstrated to the general The Russo-Japanese war began suddenly, admiral, was burnt in a shop; during thelaunching without any declaration of hostilities. At night of.the ship the flagstuff with the Emperor's stand Jnuary 27, 1904Japanesedestroyerslaunched the ard fell down from the roof of covered-in berth, sudden attack against ships of the Pacific causing some deaths; when the ship was set in the Squadron of the Russian fleet, anchored on the Alexandrovski dockyard in Kronstadt, her keel outerroadstead of PortArthur. and floors were damaged; shop tests of the In result of this attack, the fleet armored ships engines caused the dangerous list when sharp "Retvizan", "Tsesarewich" and cruiser "Pallada" turning was performed. Part of these events may were struck by torpedoes and disabled for a long be explained by sheer chance, the others were time. caused by lack of experience of the building of The decision to speed up the works in the such a large ship. Defects were to be repaired.,In Balticshipyard and complete building of the ships the autumn of 1903 during the performance trials in the middle of 1904 was made on February 17, the speed of "Emperor Alexander III" reached 1904, when actions were expanded already. 17,6 kn under natural thrust and engine power Buta true rush job began in April. Afterdeath 16265 h. p. of S. O. Makarov near Port Arthur the inevita At that time the first ship of the series, bility and the urgency of equipping of the Second "Borodino" was still in Petersburg, without guns, Pacific Squadron became obvious. The head of with part ofarmor yet missing. the Baltic shipyard, S. K. Ratnik suggested to The readiness of "Orel" and "Prince Suvo prepare the fifth armored ship of the series rov", both launched in 1902, was less by 1-2 "Slava"- for the campaign in the autumn 1904 month. Meanwhile the Far East situation became too. This ship had been launched in August 1903. worse day by day. However, rear-admiral Z. P. Rozhestvenski, who