In the last years of the 19th century, three battleships were built for the Baltic Fleet: Petropavlovsk, Sevastopol and Poltava. But in the end, they were all sent to the Far East, where then someone died in the Russian-Japanese war, and someone, like the squadron battleship Poltava, was already in the 1920s.
Construction
The model of the battleship "Poltava" was planned based on the drawings of the battleship "Nikolai I", which had great impressive seaworthiness, but in the "Poltava" it was planned to increase the displacement, thereby raising the cruising range. In addition, another turret with two guns, each of 305 mm, was installed on the new battleship.
On May 7, 1892, in the presence of Alexander III and his family, Poltava was laid down, although the initial work on the ship, led by the famous marine engineers I.E. Leontyev and N.I. Yankovsky, began back in February of that year. Despite the subsequent rather long development, the descent of the battleship into the water occurred on October 25, 1894.
The dimensions of the battleship "Poltava"
The characteristics of the resulting ship were impressive: displacement was 11.5 tons, per ton more than projected. The perpendicular length of the battleship was 108.7 meters, width - 21.34 m, draft up 7.6 m. The average speed was 16.29 knots, coal reserves - 700-900 tons. The vessel could accommodate a crew of about 25 officers and 620 representatives lower ranks.
First test
Only four years later, in September 1898, the first tests of the battleship “Poltava” took place; moreover, on that day all artillery was absent on the ship, except for the main-caliber guns. Due to the storm, the tests, which were supposed to last 12 hours, were reduced by three hours. After some time, in June 1900, new tests were carried out, this time with full arms.
Three months later, the situation in the Far East began to heat up, and so Poltava was sent there. The next spring, she arrived in Port Arthur and began to participate in all the campaigns that were held after that. At the beginning of 1904, before the Russo-Japanese War, the crew of Poltava, headed by Captain I.P. Assumption, amounted to 631 people, which was a great indicator for the battleship.
The beginning of the Russo-Japanese War
On the night of January 26, 1904, the Japanese destroyers attacked the Russian squadron near Port Arthur, which after the battle lost two large ships, but managed to drive away the enemy, which for some reason at the very height of the battle was embarrassed and began to retreat. In Poltava, in this battle, fragments from the bombs hit the on-board torpedo tube, but something saved the crew and the ship from the explosion: only three crew members were injured. The battleship itself was able to release about seventy charges on enemy ships. In the morning, at the end of the battle, Russian ships sailed into the inner harbor, during which Poltava and Sevastopol hit each other on their sides.
In mid-March, a steam boat was launched from the battleship Poltava, which launched a throwing mine at a Japanese squadron and sank one of the firewalls. Soon after, the crews of the ships began to dismantle the artillery and equip from it a four-gun battery on the Quail Mountain, to protect Port Arthur, which the Japanese were preparing an attack. On June 26, Poltava was located in Tae Bay, from where, along with other armadillos and cruisers, it fired at a Japanese squadron.
Fight in the Yellow Sea
In early summer, six Russian battleships and several more ships tried to break into Vladivostok, but twenty miles later they met a large cluster of enemy ships and on the orders of Admiral V.K. Witgeft turned back. The admiral justified this by the absence of most small- and medium-caliber artillery on Russian ships. When she was returned to her place, Poltava entered Vladivostok for the second time, and this led to a new battle with the Japanese, which would later be called the “battle in the Yellow Sea”. Already at the beginning of the battle, a shell hit the waterline from the starboard side in Poltava, which flooded the rusks compartment. But they managed to close the hole, and the team leveled off, pouring the same amount of water into one of the compartments on the port side.
Having dispersed with the enemy, the Russian ships began to go towards the sea, but the Japanese squadron prevailed in speed and therefore was able to catch up with them. Admiral Deva, the commander of one of the combat detachments and under whose command the Yakumo cruiser was under control, wanted to attack Poltava and Sevastopol from two sides, but the battleship Poltava fired a well-aimed shot at Yakumo, driving him away. Despite this, the battle resumed.
Here, Poltava suffered several serious injuries. A pair of shells exploded on the upper deck, injuring more than fifteen people, two more fell under the bow tower, and several more - in the stern. The most dangerous fragment was that fell into the left combed shaft, and therefore had to reduce the speed, which was already low.
At the last stage of the battle in the Yellow Sea, Poltava was hardly affected, since the artillery attacks of Japanese ships were directed mainly at Peresvet and Tsesarevich.
In besieged Port Arthur
In late autumn, the Japanese managed to capture the heights near Port Arthur and began to shell Russian ships from there. On November 22, a shell hit the Poltava bomb that exploded in the cellar, which is why Poltava began to sink, eventually sinking to the ground. The crew, which at that time was 311 lower ranks and 16 officers, was captured by the Japanese.
In July 1905, the Japanese completed the repair of the captured battleship Poltava and, lifting it into the water, renamed it Tango. During the restoration, some masts, pipes, ventilation ducts and torpedo tubes were replaced. And four years later, the Tango became a full-fledged Japanese coast guard battleship. His crew was increased to 750 people.
Homecoming
After 10 years, France and England decided to start the Dardanelles operation, the purpose of which was to capture one of the Black Sea straits. Russia wanted to fight back with the help of its squadron, but there were few ships left, so it was decided to buy back the battleships of Japan, who had been captured a decade ago. According to the agreement concluded with Japan, for 15.5 million rubles, Russian troops managed to buy and bring back three ships to their homeland: Tango, Soya (Russian Varyag) and Sagami (Russian Peresvet). They were delivered to Vladivostok in March 1916.
Purchased ships were returned to their original names, “Tango” was renamed “Chesma”, as “Poltava” was named one of the new dreadnoughts. The new captain of the battleship V.N. Cherkasov wrote in a report that the ship was far from in perfect condition.
During the revolution
After the October Revolution, the Chesma team took the side of the Soviet regime, and in March the ship was captured by the British, who began to use the battleship as a floating prison. Two years later, they abandoned the ship during evacuation from Arkhangelsk. When it was found in June 1921, it was deposited in the Arkhangelsk port, and after three years of inactivity it was decided to send Chesma to the Department of Stock Property in order to disassemble it for metal. The same thing happened with other squadron battleships of the Poltava type.