"Petropavlovsk" - a squadron battleship, once owned by the Russian Imperial Navy. He was the flagship of the 1st Pacific Squadron, which took part in the Russian-Japanese war. At the end of March 1904, the ship sank near Port Arthur, blowing up on an enemy mine. His death became one of the most tragic pages in the history of the Russian fleet.
Ship construction
The prerequisites for the adoption of the program for the accelerated development of the Baltic Fleet of Russia in 1890 were an unprecedented strengthening of the German Navy. Over the next five years, it was planned to build 50 destroyers, 10 armadillos, as well as several cruisers and gunboats. It was decided to name all armored ships in honor of the battles of the army and navy of Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. In particular, the name "Petropavlovsk" was associated with the victory of the Russian troops defending the port of Peter and Paul in Kamchatka.
The battleship “Petropavlovsk” began to be built on March 19, 1892, and its official laying took place on May 7 in St. Petersburg. It was attended by Emperor Alexander III himself. Already after two and a half years, namely October 28, 1894, he was launched. Tests of the battleship took place from the end of 1897 to the beginning of 1899. After the ship was fully equipped with the necessary weapons, he went on his first voyage to the Far East, where he demonstrated his excellent seaworthiness. In general, the battleship "Petropavlovsk" at that time was considered a well-armed warship with a rather high maximum speed of 16.86 knots.
Battleship "Petropavlovsk": design description
This ship, like the rest of the battleships of the Poltava type, had a rather unusual hull shape: the sides above the main deck were, as it were, piled inward. This feature is mainly characteristic of French ships. It allowed to significantly reduce the weight of the surface of the hull. The length of the vessel at the waterline was 112.5 m, its width was 21.3 m, and the draft in loaded form was 8.6 m.
The ship had a rounded feed and three decks: the upper, main, or battery, and lower. The hull had a straight stem and a ram, projecting forward 2 m. It was reinforced with a spy on the outside and an armored deck inside. The ship had three masts: a main and fore mast, as well as a ventilation mast, located between two chimneys. The last of them was lower, which was the main distinguishing feature of this vessel (see photo of the battleship "Petropavlovsk").
Reservation
In this regard, this ship was practically no different from other ships of the same class. He had the main armor belt 2.29 m high and 73.15 m long, located along the waterline, which protected boilers, cars and the bottom of the gun turrets. It accounted for about 65% of the entire length of the hull. The thickness of the armor in different parts of the ship was significantly different. Thus, the center of the vessel was protected by 406 mm of armor, and the main-caliber towers were equipped with 305 mm slabs.
Above the main armor belt was the upper one, which reached the towers of the main caliber. Its thickness was 127 mm, its height was 2.29 m, and its length was approximately 50 m. In addition, the towers and barbets of the main caliber were also reinforced with armor 254 mm thick, and the middle with 127 mm plates. But four 152-mm guns did not have any protection at all, except for standard side skin.
Artillery
The guns of the main caliber of the battleship were four cannons located in pairs in the aft and bow towers. Their rotation and vertical aiming was carried out using hydraulic, and the supply of ammunition - through electric drives. The medium-caliber guns consisted of twelve Kane guns, eight of which were in two-gun towers, and the rest were located between them.
Mine artillery was represented by 38 guns of Hotchkiss and was scattered throughout the ship. There were two Baranovsky guns in service with the landing. Depending on the situation, they could be installed on both wheeled and pedestal carriages.
Russian-Japanese war
On the night of January 27, 1904, the battleship Petropavlovsk, along with the rest of the ships that were part of the Pacific squadron, was on a roadstead near Port Arthur. Suddenly, the Russian fleet was attacked by Japanese destroyers, which fired 16 torpedoes in his direction. As it turned out later, the squadron was completely unprepared for such a turn of events and could not effectively repel the enemy attack.
The confusion that arose was that Admiral Spark could not believe that the war with the Japanese had begun, and for almost an hour he ordered the transmission of signals from the flagship Petropavlovsk demanding not to open fire. At this time, the enemy torpedoes managed to knock out the Russian cruiser Pallada and the battleships Retvisan and Tsesarevich.
By morning, the main forces of the Japanese, consisting of nine cruisers and six armadillos, which included the ships of Admiral H. Togo, appeared near Port Arthur. They started a battle with the Russian squadron, which lasted no more than 40 minutes. After that, the Japanese retreated. This battle did not bring significant results to any of the warring parties, although several ships received damage. Among them was the battleship Petropavlovsk. Several shells hit him, but they did not cause much damage, so they did not affect the combat effectiveness of the ship.
New squadron commander
In the early days of the war, as a result of the incompetent leadership of Admiral Spark, the Russian fleet lost several of its ships. After his resignation, Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov, who arrived in Port Arthur at the end of February 1904, was appointed squadron commander. He raised his flag first on the Askold cruiser and then transferred it to the battleship Petropavlovsk.
Over the next month, the ship under the command of S.O. Makarov went out to sea several times to work out a joint maneuvering plan. On one of these days, a two-hour shootout occurred between the Japanese and Russian squadrons, however, due to too much distance, the shells did not reach the target and fell into the water. Only once in one gulp from the Victory ship, on board of which there were long-range guns, was it possible to damage the enemy battleship Fuji.
Cunning plan
The Japanese admiral H. Togo developed a plan to block the Russian fleet in the harbor of Port Arthur by means of fire-steamers. The essence of his plan was to quietly establish a mine barrier and then lure a Russian squadron directly at him, and the unit consisting of several cruisers should become the bait.
This plan was implemented on the night of March 31. The Russians noticed a Japanese detachment of ships, but did not attack him. They took them for their own destroyers, sent by S.O. Makarov on patrol the night before in the region of the Elliott Islands. Shortly after entering the sea, two ships - the "Terrible" and the "Brave" - somehow lagged behind the main detachment, and then, having split, they began to act independently. Having reached the desired islands and not finding the enemy in this place, six Russian destroyers returned to Port Arthur. The “Terrible” lagging behind them in the dark took the Japanese squad of ships for their own and sided with it. But when morning came, and the Russian destroyer was discovered by the enemy, he was immediately attacked. During a short battle, he was hit and sunk. The cruiser “Bayan” was sent to his aid, who managed to save only a few sailors.
The death of the battleship "Petropavlovsk"
Without waiting for the entire squadron to exit and not ordering the raid to be carried out, S.O. Makarov, in the armadillo, accompanied by the Poltava and four other cruisers, went in the morning to the place of flooding of the destroyer Scary. This time, he managed to bypass the enemy mine barrier without any problems. At this time, several Japanese cruisers appeared on the horizon, on which fire was fired from Petropavlovsk. The enemy began to retreat east, but soon his main forces came to his aid. Seeing this, the Russian ships turned to Port Arthur. Already on the way, they were joined by two battleships - “Relight” and “Victory”. After that, S.O. Makarov decided to go closer to the enemy again and headed straight for the area mined by the Japanese.
At 9 hours 43 minutes On March 31, 1904, when the ship "Petropavlovsk" turned around, an explosion thundered from its starboard side. He damaged the bow tower of the main caliber, as a result of which the ammunition detonated. The explosion was so powerful that a bow 305-mm gun turret, casings and chimneys were thrown overboard. In addition, there was a collapse of the foremast, which completely destroyed the navigation and command bridges. The battleship began to slowly sink into the water with its bow, and soon the last powerful explosion also thundered - it boilers flew into the air. After that, the ship fell into two parts and quickly went under water.
Effects
The boats that were sent to save the surviving people managed to pick up only about 80 people. Among them were the ship's commander N. M. Yakovlev and cousin of Nicholas II, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich. But S.O. Makarov with ten staff and eighteen naval officers died. The explosion also claimed the lives of more than six hundred sailors. In addition, it was found that VV Vereshchagin, a well-known artist who died on the battleship Petropavlovsk along with the rest of the crew, was on board at that time. His duties included sketching during the campaign, which would then be useful for future paintings.
The explosion of the battleship "Petropavlovsk" had very adverse consequences that affected the fighting activities of the entire Pacific squadron. Not only did the fleet lose one of the best battleships, it also lost the talented organizer and defense leader of Port Arthur, Admiral S.O. Makarov, who was very respected and loved by his subordinates. They could not find an equivalent replacement until the very end of the Russo-Japanese War. It so happened that the engineer-inventor M.P. Naletov was a witness to the death of the battleship. It was this event that prompted him to the idea of creating such a subclass of ships as underwater mine loaders.
Memory
At the end of June 1913, in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II, a monument to S.O. Makarov was inaugurated in Kronstadt. The author of this project was the sculptor L. V. Sherwood, who depicted on the pedestal the death of the battleship "Petropavlovsk". On the 100th anniversary of this tragedy, a memorial plaque was erected in St. Petersburg on which the names of all 635 crew members of this ship are imprinted. In addition, in the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at the sea church of the Savior on the Waters has a commemorative brass plate. And for those who are interested in ships, there is an opportunity to make the battleship Petropavlovsk with their own hands, a model of which can be easily found on specialized resources.
Search
At the end of 2011, a joint Russian-Chinese search expedition was organized, the purpose of which was to establish the exact location of the death of the famous ship. The search for the battleship "Petropavlovsk" was carried out on the territory of China in the area of Lushun (former Port Arthur). Members of the expedition in the Yellow Sea discovered a metal mass having a length of about 90 and a width of up to 13 m. Experts are inclined to believe that this is the battleship Petropavlovsk that sank during the Russo-Japanese war. At the bottom, some objects were discovered that could confirm this conjecture, but they have not yet been raised to the surface.