The unsuccessful Russo-Japanese war caused a powerful flow of criticism and accusations against Russian warships, primarily cruisers. The unenviable fate of our clumsy “goddesses” swift and graceful “shestidesyatnikov”, most of them internetoffice after receiving not too extensive damage, gave rise to attacks on the very type of ocean-going armored cruisers. Somehow “suddenly” found that such ships are not able to fight in line battles (which, however, they never intended). Specialists and idle public organizations began to look for their ideal. And, in the end, found in the person of the only armored reconnaissance squadron, the cruiser “Bayan”. Meanwhile at the appearance of this cruiser does not cause such enthusiasm.
In 1897, the leadership of the Navy decided to add to already build the raiders a more secure vehicle intended for actions together with the main forces. And at once, even before the preparation of the technical specifications, determined the future Builder. A significant role was played here by the uncle of Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. Almighty “chief commander of the Fleet and the Navy Department” harbored a strong love of all things French and have previously insisted on ordering the firm to “La Belle France” “Admiral Kornilov” and “Svetlana” — pretty mediocre in all respects of the ships, which the editors already said. However, fundamentally new for the Russian fleet type is also relegated to “only friend”.
The French firm initially not too puzzled by the special design and presented as the prototype projects of several private cruisers speed option “Patwa”, the famous “Dupuy de Scrap” and increased to 5800 tons “Svetlana” with a powerful armament of two 203-mm and fourteen 152 mm guns. Completed the list of original citadel cruiser with a displacement of 5500 tons and a speed of 22 to 24 knots, depending on the booking.
Marine Technical Committee (MTK) quickly rejected unsecured “super-“Svetlana” and “Dupuy de Scrap”, which had too small a stock of coal and poor seakeeping. As to the “Patwa”, close collaborator of the Grand Duke, captain of the 1st rank Abaza, seems to be bound tenderly to love the same thing as his boss, said, when visiting him, “every time I rejoiced that it was a French cruiser, and not Russian as it was an example of how not to build ships”. Remained a citadel variant with an impressive area of the reservation, but so far only in the form of ideas. However, the MTC quickly made up the technical requirements that the French are faithfully executed during construction. I must say that they were rather modest displacement of less than 7,000 tons, and a speed of 21 knots and an armament consisting of a pair of 203-mm, eight or ten 152-mm, and twenty 75-mm guns.
Then I had a very specific conversation, and the three most representative private firms Havre and Toulon branch of a society “forges Chantiers e” and “e Ateliers Chantiers de La Loire” presented their options in accordance with the requirements of the customer. The most preferred look project by the prominent supplier of ships to Russia will Laganum M. from Toulon, who took, although it turned out to be “harder” limit to 800 tons.
And then began “French moods”. In particular, the leadership of the company was literally forced to waive on the future “Bayan” of Krupp armor. This was motivated by the fact that the production plants of the latest type of plates was fully loaded with orders, and stand in the tail of the queue would have meant a substantial delay period of readiness. The customer had to agree to the application of steel Garvey, inferior in strength of Krupp by about 15%.
As it turned out, this armor was a real Achilles heel “of the Bayan”. The first batch of plates of the belt, made a very handsome plant “Saint-Chamond”, during testing by shooting in March showed complete disrepair. It was necessary to reject and casemate armor, and the protection of the towers. Manufacturers promised to “fix everything”, but the result is “edit” was just overwhelming. If rejected 150-mm plate penetrated through and through by shells of caliber of 164 mm, the “superior” — 138-mm “Saint-Chamond” has its own powerlessness. Russian representatives initially adopted quite a sensible decision to contact the firm of Krupp in Germany, but the pressure of future allies proved too strong.
Armor, hardly stood the test in the end, put the other French plants. In the end, all this history wasted almost half a year, and the “fleet scout” as a result of dressed in geroevskoe armor is not the best quality.
However, other works were carried out almost according to plan and quite well. At the end of 1902 the cruiser finally came to the official test. He almost held on to the project node 21, developed by 0.03 of a knot less, and not for the first time, but the builders decided not to fine. A funny story happened with the name of the new cruiser. The Emperor chose from the list the name “Bayan” (just shortly before from the lists of the fleet was excluded former Corvette with the same name). The report king has a question about spelling all the same right — “Bayan” or “dupe”? The case has attracted even the scientific office of the Chief of Naval Staff, amounting to a treatise, completely confuse the matter. In the end, decided “Not going to the scientists are finding, to keep the same name with the same spelling, which was its predecessor.” Incidentally, the French offered to build two cruisers, and the latter must be submitted within six months after the first and be a little cheaper. But Russia has decided to limit to a single ship.
Pausing on the Mediterranean sea, “Bayan” then went to the far East and took an active part in the Russo-Japanese war. He received the baptism in the first battle with the Japanese fleet on the second day of the battle of Tsushima, getting a dozen hits, but remained in the ranks. Then he went to sea, covering the actions of its destroyers and shelling the enemy positions on the shore. Not just “Bayan” was left alone against the strong Japanese forces, but always worked well. Career of the cruiser was interrupted by a mine explosion on 14 July 1904. He could not take part in the General withdrawal of the 1st Pacific squadron to break and eventually shared its fate, shot the enemy’s howitzers after the capture of the commanding heights of Port Arthur. After the surrender of the fortress, the Japanese lifted the cruiser. Under the name “ASO” it in 1908 came into operation under the flag of the rising sun. After the First world war it was removed with 8-inch tower and was converted to minelayer, which can take up to 420 min In this capacity he served until 1930, when the trophy was disarmed and two years later was sent to the bottom of the practice.
Activity and quality, “Bayan” has received a high rating, although its success was largely due to good command, and partly by luck. Encounter with the most dangerous opponents — the Japanese armored cruisers “Asama” and “Nisshin” was short-lived. Meanwhile, by weight of a broadside “Bayan” was inferior to the Japanese twice, and a long battle with them could lead to tragic outcome.
The Tsushima disaster meant the complete collapse of the ability of the rapid development of the Russian fleet. In the Baltic there are only two of the battleship “crown Prince” and completed during the war, “Glory”. Slowly he added another pair, “Andrew” and “Emperor Paul I”. But from any modern cruisers had only “shestidesiatniki” — “Oleg” and “hero”, not counting low-speed “goddesses” — the “Aurora” and “Diana”. But they no longer fit in the new Maritime policy of Russia. According to accepted in the Naval Ministry and the Naval General staff decisions with the idea of ocean krakerstva decided to end it. Vysokovoltnyi and not possessed of great speed Rossiya and Gromoboy was no longer in business But, according to new views, for the squadron was required of a modern cruiser. And, the experience of war, as he then seemed, these cruisers were to be armored. And not just armored, but very much protected.
It remained to determine the type. Projects strong units of different kinds have enough. In early 1901, engineer D. V. Skvortsov presented the drawings of an extremely powerful ship, armed with twenty (!) in an eight-inch two-gun towers. On Board could fire 12 guns — as much as could put three “Assam”. Then MTK and admirals of the fleet decided not to risk to endorse this pioneering ship and have rejected the proposal as untimely. Of course, for 1905 18-node speed was insufficient, but innovations in boilers and machines allowed to bring it to an acceptable level, preserving the idea of Skvortsov. Project strong armored cruiser suggested and naval engineer of the “eagle” of V. P. Kostenko, embedded in his experience just ended the fighting. Less ambitious, but very economical options (with good combat power) suggested the Italian company “Ansaldo” on the basis of the set of the Japanese “Kasugi”. In General, admirals and Ministers had to choose from.
However followed more than strange decision. Under the impression of successful action, “Bayan” of the Naval Ministry decided to replicate his design, ordered three armored cruisers even pretty good, but very outdated project. An additional disadvantage was increased by 10% the price, since the firm “La” sen complained that the first “Accordion” “is not gave her any money” is the Only significantly useful step was the construction of two of the three “new old” cruisers in Russia. Modifications were minimized, in particular, the new “bayans” got the same Krupp armor. Has improved speed characteristics of the parent “Admiral Makarov” on factory tests developed 22.5 per node, however, official — host less. But the main trouble was the time the trio came into operation in 1908 -1911 years (especially the late “Pallada” and “Bayan”, which was built in Saint-Petersburg), completely obsolete by the time morally. Came the era of dreadnoughts, which were then compared with the speed at which these “scouts”, and Russian battleships laid they easily overtook. The construction of “double”, “Bayan” absolutely not justified from a tactical point of view, they were not good neither for fleet intelligence, not for raiding operations, since the German armored cruisers were superior to them in speed and armament. The long search for the ideal has led to the fact that in 1914 the war with Germany, the Baltic fleet came to clearly the wrong ship part.
112. Armored cruiser “Bayan” (Russia, 1903)
Built in France by the company “La Seine” in Toulon. Displacement 7800 tons, the maximum length 137,03 m, width of 17.52 m, draft 6,65 m. Capacity twin-shaft steam engine installation triple extension 16 500 HP, speed 21 KTS. Reservations: belt 203 — 63 mm, deck 51 mm, turrets 170 — 152 mm casemates 63 mm, cutting of 170 mm. Armament: two 203/45-mm, eight 152/45-mm and sixteen 75-mm rapid-fire guns, eight 47-mm small-caliber, two 381-mm torpedo tubes. Sunk by the fire of siege artillery in Port Arthur in December 1904; raised by the Japanese, served in the Japanese Navy under the name “ASO”, is flooded with artillery exercises as a target in 1932.
113. Armored cruiser “Bayan” II
(Russia, 1911; after the re, as of 1917)
Built in St. Petersburg at the Admiralty shipyard. Data — like “Accordion”, with the exception of displacement (7775 t), and reservations: belt: 178 — 63 mm, 51 mm deck, towers 152 — 132 mm, casemates 63 mm, bridge 140 mm. Armament after modernization: three 203/45-mm and twelve 152/45 mm guns, two 75-mm anti-aircraft guns, two 457-mm torpedo tubes. Only in 1908 — 1911 built three units: the “Admiral Makarov” Bayan” and “Pallada”. The latter sunk in September 1914 by torpedoes from the SUBMARINE, and the rest sold for scrap in 1922 and officially excluded from the list in 1925
114. Armored cruiser Ryurik II (Russia, 1909)
Built in England by the firm Vickers. 15 a displacement of 544 tons, the maximum length 161,23 m, width: 22,86 m draught of 7.92 m. Capacity twin-shaft steam engine triple expansion installation 19 700 HP, speed 21 KTS. Reservations: belt 152 — 102 mm, deck 37 mm + 25 mm (37 mm bevels), towers (254 mm) 203 — 190 mm (203 mm) 178 — 152 mm, casemates 76 mm, cutting 203 mm. Armament: four 254/50-mm and eight 203/50-mm guns, twenty-120/50-mm quick-firing and four 47-mm small-caliber gun, two 457-mm torpedo tubes. After the revolution in the system had been introduced and scrapped in 1922
However, as the saying goes, “for lack of a stamp”, due to the lack of modern light cruisers had to use the second “Bayan” and his comrades and for reconnaissance, and patrols. And very soon disaster struck: after being hit by a torpedo from the submarine U-26 on “Pallada” was followed by the explosion of the cellars — and the cruiser for a minute went to the bottom with the entire team. The only resulting “battle” was somewhat comical battle with the light cruiser “Augsburg” and mine layers “Albatross” Although the Germans managed to cut from their bases, “Augsburg” easily removed from the snail, and the “Makarov” and “Bayan” by “Oleg” and “Heroes” within hours pursued had only 88-of graph paper “Albatross”, which managed to jump out on shore in the territorial waters of Sweden. Then our Quartet led bezuspeshno a gunfight with the German “Rooom” and as a result retreated. The weakness of the artillery of the Russian cruisers is so strongly pressed on the nerves of the admirals and commanders, it was decided to rearm. Unfortunately, they managed to hold only in winter 1916/17 the year On the upper deck mounted one 203-the graph paper in the panel installation and four additional six-inch guns, removing most is not needed now 75-mm guns. As such, the “bayans” were more suited for duels with the few remaining German armored cruisers, but the Germans, alas, did not want to play “by the rules”. In the Moonsund operation, they did not hesitate to put up against our “remnants “Arthur” and “Tsushima” dreadnoughts, just drove the cruiser to revel, and then in Kronstadt. After the revolution, the fate of the losers decided quickly, immediately placed in reserve they in 1922 went to a breaker in Germany.
But let us return to the time of the Russo-Japanese war Over a controversial decision on reproduction, “doubles” caused strong protests in the naval sphere. The Russian Navy needed a ship, designed to meet military experience and trends in the global military shipbuilding. Announced back in July 1904 the international competition to design a new armored cruiser came to fruition. Two weeks after the fatal battle of Tsushima the contract for its construction received the British company “Vickers”. The desire to have the order turned out to be the English is so strong that they have assumed in advance impracticable obligations. The head of the “Vickers”, the famous arms manufacturer Basil Zaharov, promised that after 20 months of “Rurik” will be handed over to the Russian Navy. And this despite the complete absence of design documentation for a completely new type, booking and armament of the ship.
At first it was a large cruiser with a displacement of 13,500 tons, a speed of 21 knots and armament of four 254-mm and twelve 203-mm guns in two-gun towers and two dozen 76-mm anti-mine guns. Subsequently they were replaced by much more powerful 120-millimetrovie, but the cost of giving up the two middle side 8 inch towers. The recarving was neither the only nor the last. The leadership of the “Vickers” meekly agree to follow the line of the wishes of the customer. The British had to learn how to make tools for new technologies, as well as to establish electric drives control towers. It is clear that the engineers belonged to the complex demands without any joy, and, figuratively speaking, above the slipway consistently been tensions.
And, indeed, British experts had to work hard, but as they say, above our head they could not. As the result of guns late in the year, and the manufacture of towers firm almost failed. However, pure shipbuilding elements of the “Rurik” and their execution was on top, Managed to almost completely avoid overloading — a rarity in shipbuilding at the time, especially given the constant changes of the project.
Everything went like a good idea, but until the first acceptance tests of artillery. When a salvo of full Board revealed a significant deformation of the structure, destruction of attachment, until the separation of the bases from the armored deck. The plant was forced to stop the test and put the cruiser to the wall for a few months to install the reinforcements. It was now the summer of 1908, and the “Rurik” was still at the shipyard. Then Russia agreed to “accept conditionally” in order to conduct tests of reinforced towers already in Russia. At first all went well, but after the eighth volley of turret nodes flew rivets. When the company representative tried to deny it, claiming that everything is in order, our famous shipbuilder and mathematician A. N. Krylov asked him to take the next volley of myself, left in the tower alone. The Englishman wisely refused. This might have saved his life, but cost “Vickers” 3 million roubles. Yet within six months about five hundred workers carved and prikladyvala steel lining on Board of the unfortunate cruiser, and all at the expense of the company. Instead of one and a half years the construction of the “Rurik” was delayed for four. He joined the Navy in the summer of 1909.
What was this hybrid of Russian and British equipment requirements? “Rurik” actually took quite a few completely new features. For the first time in the world, it provided for the compartments, specially selected for the amount and location for easy elimination roll in combat by contraterrene. To counter underwater explosions were also anti-mine armored bulkhead. According to experts, in relation to the survivability of the cruiser was almost twice more than the battleships type Borodino, being not much more of their tonnage. He had good artillery (by the way, superior to that of contemporary cruisers of Britain), full armor belt across the waterline and a number of other “interesting Goodies”. However, he clearly lacked pace which became for the time of construction the old-fashioned reciprocating engines could provide the cruiser move only at the level of new battleships-dreadnoughts.
Were different and scores from the rave, which said that “Rurik” can be called very successful project, which in any case claims to be the best ever created cruisers, to a much less rosy when it was compared with the newly introduced linear cruisers which had more powerful guns and stronger protection, and, most importantly, no problem to catch up with the slug.
The final word remained with the practice. And she soon followed — the First world war “Rurik” was used very actively in all the operations of cruisers. He was considered the “hope and support” cloned “Bayan” but in the artillery battle did not show himself. In the summer of 1915, the execution was perpetrated by the “Albatross”, he had modelirovanie with the German armored cruiser “Roon”, a much more weak. But without much success opponents exchanged artillery fire without a single hit the target. At the same time is not a new light “Lubeck” humiliated, the main Russian cruiser of the Baltic fleet, put out of their 105-mm guns, a dozen rounds and not getting anything in return. And in all the battles, the sailors stared into the horizon, waiting for the possible appearance of a worthy adversary and coeval — the last German armored cruiser “Blucher”. But to meet them and failed.
But the vitality was indeed at the height of the “Rurik” was undermined on a mine and survived. With all the fluff walked along the rocky Bank, vsporov the bottom for over half the corps — and he “limped” to the port. In 1918, fleeing from the Germans from Helsingfors to Kronstadt, was jammed by ice almost a meter thick, but reached their.
But this shift was his last. The wear mechanisms and the shortage of crew “ate” the combat capability of the once powerful cruiser of the Baltic fleet. At the end of 1918, the “Rurik” put into port for storage, and he stood at the wall of the Middle of Kronstadt Harbor There he was lucky again. During the famous attack of the British torpedo boats in 1919, it is “assigned” him the boat has crashed before the RAID, which, however, have managed to significantly spoil the sentinel destroyer “Gavriil”. But that supply of happiness “Russian English” exhausted. In operation it was never introduced, and in 1922 began demolition. The ship’s long “wanted to die” even in the winter of 1924-25 a year his body without masts and towers stood against the wall, but in the end, and he went to the facility to give the metal for new ships created by the red fleet.
V. KOFMAN
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