Only a few of our compatriots who are interested in history have heard of the Pallas cruiser. And this is completely unfair - perhaps it was thanks to him that the history of all mankind went completely different! Therefore, the ship deserves to be told in more detail about it.
Craft creation
To begin with, the ship was launched in 1906. For its time, it turned out to be quite modern and belonged to the Bayan cruisers. In total, the Russian Empire had four such ships. And it was Pallada that became the last one built at the Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg - time and progress are inexorable and dictate new requirements for military equipment.
Alas, the ship did not last long. But we will talk about this a little later.
Main characteristics
Now, let’s talk about the main characteristics of the Pallada cruiser, so that even a person unfamiliar with the basics of shipbuilding can appreciate it.
The displacement was 7800 tons - very decent for its time. For comparison, the much more famous cruiser Varyag had a displacement of only 6,500 tons.
At the same time, the total length of the hull was 137 meters, and the width was 17.5 meters! The draft was also very impressive - more than six meters, which provided high stability and the ability to go to sea even during the most severe storm.
Two powerful screws made it possible to reach speeds of up to 21 knots - almost 39 kilometers per hour. And the cruising range was impressive - without refueling, the Pallada could go 3900 nautical miles - more than seven thousand kilometers.
The crew consisted of 23 officers, as well as 550 lower ranks - warrant officers, sailors and others.
Ship armament
Many experts already in the early twentieth century predicted the inevitability of a major war that would affect all European countries, including Russia. Therefore, the cruiser "Pallas" weapons received quite powerful.
Of course, first of all, these are two cannons of a caliber of 203 mm - a few successful hits from such guns were quite enough to sink even the largest vessel.
In addition, eight smaller guns were in service - 152 millimeters each. To work on smaller targets intended 22 75-mm guns. Finally, in case you had to defend yourself from airplanes or destroy enemy manpower, eight machine guns were installed on the ship.
But that is not all. Although torpedoes were a novelty in the military affairs of the early twentieth century, and some experts seriously underestimated their power and danger, the Pallas received two torpedo tubes of a caliber of 457 millimeters. Even one good salvo was enough for a large enemy ship to be destroyed.
Two cruisers of the same name
Quite often, when the conversation comes to the Pallada cruiser, a serious dispute arises between novice experts. Some argue that it was built at the end of the nineteenth century and was destroyed during the Russo-Japanese War. And others believe that they built and launched the Pallada after the end of this war. Which of them is right?
In fact, neither side is mistaken. The fact is that in 1899 such a cruiser was actually built. He belonged to the class of armored cruisers of the First rank. It received its name in honor of the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom - Athena Pallas. Alas, he served the Fatherland for a very short time and already in February 1904 he was sunk by a torpedo fired from a Japanese destroyer.
But they did not forget about the glorious ship! And when the new battleships of the Russian Imperial Navy were being built, the decision was made to “revive” it, giving a second life. So there was a new "Pallas", launched in just a few years after the death of the first.
Feat of the Pallas
As mentioned above, this glorious cruiser has influenced the whole history of mankind. And this is not an exaggeration.
The fact is that during the First World War the Pallas was assigned to the Baltic Fleet. On August 13, 1914, she, along with another cruiser called the Bogatyr, discovered the stranded German cruiser Magdeburg. It happened near the island of Osmussaar, located in the Gulf of Finland. To help the Magdeburg, the cruiser Amazon and the destroyer V-26 were thrown. They managed to remove part of the crew from the stuck ship, but after a short battle with the Russian courts they were forced to retreat. As a result of the battle (of course, the Magdeburg crew was not going to surrender without a battle), the ship was damaged, and part of the crew (15 people) died. The remaining 56, including Captain Habenicht Corvette, raised the white flag.
It was possible to remove the guns from the ship - mainly 105-mm, which were subsequently installed on the light ships of the Baltic Fleet - gunboats and patrol ships.
However, not the guns at all became the main trophy. As it turned out, onboard the Magdeburg there were secret cryptographic books containing a code that Entente experts had been fighting over the disclosure for months!
According to the instructions in this situation, the captain of the ship had to destroy the books in the furnace. However, due to the damage received, the furnace was flooded. Then Habenicht decided to destroy them in another way - to drown in the sea. But the Russian sailors noticed this - quickly realizing that the enemy was trying to destroy valuable documents, the captains ordered the divers to examine the bottom. And soon three books were found.
Here, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena Pallas, smiled at her “namesake”. As it turned out, the books were the most complete collection of naval codes. Perhaps this trophy has become one of the most important in the history of the First World War. And for the German Navy, this was the most serious loss in the same years.
One of the three books was transferred to the Allies - Great Britain. As a result, all German messages intercepted by Russian and English courts, and, as the enemy believed, securely encrypted, were easy to read.
Habenicht himself was held captive until the end of the war under tight control, so that he could not report to the command that the codes had been captured by the enemy.
Thanks to the decryption of the code, it was possible to influence not only the hostilities unfolding at sea, but also the course of the war as a whole. The war was reduced by at least a few months, which saved many thousands of lives on both sides of the conflict.
Place and circumstances of death
Alas, the crew of the Pallada cruiser did not have to rejoice at the successful start of a career. Already at the end of September, about a month and a half after the feat described above, the ship was torpedoed.
The German submarine lay for two days at the bottom of the Gulf of Finland and on September 28 (October 11 according to the old style) went hunting. In the morning, she met two ships returning after a change of patrol - they were the Pallas and the Bayan. Having let them down by only three cables (less than half a kilometer), German submariners fired two missiles. To miss from such a distance would be frankly difficult, and the Pallas sailors relaxed after a heavy duty, believing that nothing threatens them near their native shores. As a result, both torpedoes reached their goal. And, apparently, the hit led to the detonation of ammunition on the ship. A terrible explosion thundered, instantly destroying the entire ship, along with nearly six hundred people on board.
“Bayan” did not have anti-submarine defenses (during the First World War, many even the wise and far-sighted military did not perceive submarines as something dangerous) and was forced to leave their place by anti-submarine zigzag.
Thus, the Pallas became one of the first Russian ships in history to die from an enemy submarine.
Pallas Captains
In the ranks of the "Pallas" spent only eight years - from 1906 to 1914. But during this time, three captains managed to change!
From the day of launching until 1908, the captain was Alexei Petrovich Ugryumov, who was subsequently transferred to the Rurik armored cruiser.
From 1907 to 1912 Butakov Alexander G. commanded the ship. After the service he was transferred to the Bayan cruiser, which was already mentioned earlier.
Finally, from 1912 to the sad 1914th position, the captain was held by Magnus Sergey Reingoldovich, under whose command the ship gained fame and died.
"Pallas" these days
For a long time it was not possible to establish the place of death of the famous cruiser. Only in 2000, a group of divers from Finland managed to find a Russian armored cruiser near the Hanko Peninsula. Most likely, it was Pallas. But for 12 years, the find was kept a secret. Only in 2012, information about this appeared in the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.
Today, the cruiser lies at a depth of about 60 meters and is one of the most popular sites for amateur divers and naval military archaeologists.
Conclusion
Our article has come to an end. Now you know more about the glorious cruiser Pallas, which for a short service managed to change the history of mankind and die in battle without lowering the flag, as befits a ship of the Russian fleet.