The victorious magnificent and majestic cruiser "Stormbreaker" once swayed on the waves of the Pacific Ocean and guarded the borders of imperial Russia. Even he got a special name, power and strength as if laid in this amazing ship.
General information
According to the primary idea, this ship was to become a worthy follower of the cruiser "Russia". At that time, no one could have imagined that the Stormbreaker was the latest armored cruiser in the country. The ship turned out to be powerful and met all the requirements of its time. After settling all the documentary nuances, as well as after the ship passed all the planned tests, it was sent to the Far East in order to supplement the Russian Pacific squadron. Only here the cruiser "Stormbreaker" as if pursued by troubles and setbacks.
History of creation
At that time, when “Stormbreaker” was just in the draft, the main naval competitor of Russia was Great Britain with its strongest ships. For exactly seven years, Emperor Nicholas II decided to spend on the construction of completely new cruisers that could compete with any power at sea. The basis of the project in 1895, it was decided to take the drawings of the cruiser "Russia", which has already plowed the sea and is very successful.
K. Ya. Averin and F. Kh. Offenberg are shipbuilders who were entrusted with the creation of the Stormbreaker. The emperor personally approved them for this position, and also approved each of the drawings. According to them, several steam engines were to be installed on the cruiser, as well as armor exceeding twenty centimeters in the thickness. The place where the giant was supposed to come from was chosen by the Baltic Shipyard. At the same time, only the highest quality steel was used in the construction. And with a weight of fifteen thousand tons, this giant was also to be high-speed.
They decided to start building the ship in 1897. For the implementation of such a large-scale project, years were needed; the biggest difficulty was the supply of expensive and high-quality steel to the Baltic Shipyard. Big problems arose with the strikes of workers and the reconstruction of enterprises. This slowed down the launch of the ship. And yet, a few years later, the cruiser "Stormbreaker" went on his first flight.
Features of the building
Unfortunately, the troubles with the "Thunderbolt" began as early as the construction docks. The fact is that builders were forced to change the length and thickness of the ship's armor. According to the project, it was supposed to be twenty in thickness, and became only five centimeters, which, according to many, was worthless. Also, the guns did not go to the guns, for the protection of which they only prepared metal shields. All this, of course, is regrettable, although there was a positive moment. The ship ended up being easier than planned. This allowed him to achieve greater speed on the water.
Armament
This cruiser could reach a maximum speed of up to nineteen knots per hour, a couple of Baranovsky cannons, several underwater torpedo tubes, anti-mine artillery units, and more than five hundred different-sized guns can be mentioned from armaments.
The cruiser "Stormbreaker", the armament of which cannot be called weak, "ate" a lot of coal, because all the holds were filled to the very top with it and ammunition. Speaking about the specifics, even though the cruiser began to weigh twelve tons instead of the planned fifteen, he had to take at least 1,700 tons of coal in each flight to maintain full speed.
Trial tests
The first launch on water cannot be called absolutely successful. It was carried out in 1900 and revealed all the defects and shortcomings of the building, the main one of which was that the ship simply could not sail, while moving it immediately began to roll heavily forward, even burrowing its bow into the ground, due to which it was flooded all holds and lower decks. To this was added the fact that on the move it vibrated very strongly, which was a problem for aimed shooting from the cruiser. It was difficult for sailors to move around the decks. All the problems were worked tirelessly, and by the end of the year each of them was successfully eliminated. One can even say that the last test met all expectations, because the cruiser "Stormbreaker" overtook itself. He managed to reach speeds of over twenty knots per hour.
The first flight, "Stormbreaker", as planned, was to be carried out to the Far East, it was already almost winter. Only now, design problems again surfaced. The captain immediately drew attention to the fact that the ship rolls its nose down, while significantly. Instead of sitting down again for the calculations and correcting the matter as it should, the engineers simply decided to move the heavy anchor and partially the cargo to the back of the ship, which fixed the matter. Finally, the ship went on course.
Stormbreaker in action
Those sailors who had the opportunity to serve on the Thunderbolt later recalled that the ship was quite convenient and suitable for long voyages. And that the captain, and the whole team, were very proud of the speed that the cruiser was able to develop. In 1901, the team even happened to take part in the festivities about the fact that the Constitution was adopted in Australia.
The ship had a supply of fresh water of more than a thousand tons, the crew had the opportunity not to enter the port at all and to continue the route without stopping for more than a hundred days in a row. This, of course, is a big plus, but only there was a huge minus in the vessel. Sailors had to live in terrible conditions on the ship, because there was practically no free space on the ship. It was difficult both physically and mentally.
It was this ship that once stirred the whole of Great Britain, since, unlike the rest of the Russian fleet, it could compete with any English ship. In England, they modernized the flotilla as soon as the Stormbreaker came out of the docks, and by the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, Britain was again ahead of Russia in shipbuilding.
And during the war, the cruiser had to be very tight. The Japanese inflicted a lot of damage to the ship, because the Thunder had to undergo long-term repair work again, which lasted until 1906. Then the cruiser showed itself during training exits, and in the First World War he again fought with the enemy. But at the beginning of the revolution, he was ordered to put him on the dock for repair, from where he no longer went out to sea. He was sold for scrap.
Thus, the remarkable cruiser of the Russian fleet, which, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, could serve for many more years, was simply disposed of. But it’s a pity! In memory of the descendants of the cruiser "Stormbreaker" - a real hero.