The Askold is the best cruiser that was once part of the First Pacific Fleet Squadron of the Russian Empire, the base of which was located in Port Arthur. The ship took part in the hostilities during the Russo-Japanese, and then World War I. This article will present: a brief description of the Askold cruiser, a photo and a description of his campaigns.
Prerequisites for the creation of the ship
From the mid-1890s, Emperor Nicholas II began to pursue a course aimed at strengthening Russia's position in the Far East, Korea and North China. At that time , the navy of Japan was developing at an unprecedented pace. The construction of new ships took place thanks to the financial support of the American and English governments. In this regard, the Maritime Department of the Russian Empire in 1897 decided not only to renew, but also significantly expand the composition of the squadron located in the Pacific Ocean. It was planned that in five years the fleet will consist of four armored cruisers, ten squadron battleships and twenty reconnaissance cruisers.
In February 1898, Emperor Nicholas II approved a program to strengthen shipbuilding for the Far East. After that, Vice Admiral P. Tyrtov, who ran the Ministry of the Sea, ordered the MTK (Marine Technical Committee) to begin drafting tasks for the design of both cruisers with a displacement of 3,000 and 6,000 tons, and other ships.
The creation of the cruiser Askold
In the early days of July 1898, an ITC meeting was held, at which ship designs developed by the German company Friedrich Krupp were recognized as the best, and at the end of the month Nicholas II gave his permission to order the first ship. Its construction began at the shipyard of Kiel in Germany.
The purpose of ordering cruisers outside the Russian Empire was not only the earliest possible replenishment of the fleet, but also the receipt of the latest models from various shipbuilding companies. After the best of them were selected, it was planned to begin the serial construction of modern military vessels already at domestic factories and shipyards.
The story of the creation of the Askold cruiser began with the fact that on October 24, 1898 the first batch of metal arrived, intended for the construction of ship structures. Captain 2nd rank N. Reicenstein was appointed to oversee the work in Germany. He was assisted by L. Alekseev, a senior mechanical engineer who supervised the construction of mechanisms, and E. R. de Grofe, a junior shipbuilder.
Askold got its name on December 21. He was immediately enlisted in the fleet. The ship inherited its name from a sail-screw corvette, bearing the name Askold - the legendary prince of Kievan Rus, who ruled in the 9th century. It was under his leadership that the famous campaign against Constantinople was completed.
Test
The Askold armored cruiser was solemnly launched on March 2, 1900, under the march performed by the orchestra of the German fleet. In addition, archpriest A. Maltsev came from Berlin to consecrate the ship, as well as a choir of singers who arrived from Petersburg itself.
The ship first went to sea on April 11, 1901. The official six-hour test of the cruiser took place on September 15 and took place on the island of Bornholm. At first, the ship was able to reach speeds of up to 23.59, and then up to 24 knots.
Additional tests, the purpose of which was to test the main mechanisms, were carried out in Kiel Bay on November 3 of the same year. Then the cars were able to develop a capacity of 23,500 liters. from. at 128 rpm In total, the cruiser’s running acceptance tests lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes. On January 12, 1902, the Guys, the pennant, and the Andreevsky flag were raised on the Askold cruiser in a festive atmosphere. The whole ceremony was accompanied by the sounds of the orchestra and volleys of artillery salute.
Characteristic differences
We begin the description of the Askold cruiser with its features compared to other ships of that time. First of all, it differed from the rest of the ships of the class 6000 tons in the shape of the hull and construction. For the creators of this cruiser, the main goal was the ability to lighten the ship itself. This made it possible to install on it the most powerful of all the power plants that were then used on such ships.
"Askold" - a cruiser that differed from other ships of the world in its silhouette, which had five thin pipes, at the development stage was nicknamed "a pack of cigarettes." This was by no means conceived because of the desire to do something original. A similar approach ensured the speed specified by the contract, for which the designers had to increase the number of boilers.
Housing
It was assembled by a bracketing or checkered recruitment system. Its length was 131.2 m, and its width was 15 m. Cast stakes and stems were attached to the vertical keel. In parallel, six bottom stringers were installed, while the extreme ones served as limiters of the double bottom space and had waterproof properties.
The frames were installed together with the mortar, and their numbering was carried out starting from the stern. The double bottom was between the 13th and 115th frames, and continuous waterproof floras were located on every fifth of them. The second bottom, which was located in the engine rooms, stretched along the sides and reached the armored deck, forming a double-hull space with a width of 575 mm.
The Askold cruiser was equipped with three decks covered with linoleum: top, residential or battery, and armored. The hull of the vessel had watertight bulkheads, dividing it into 13 compartments, designed to ensure the survivability of the ship in case of combat damage. Coal pits were located along the sides from the 50th to the 97th frame below and above the armored deck, serving as additional protection for the ship.
The red paint International, produced by Goltsapfel, covered the underwater part of the hull. It served to protect both from corrosion and from the fouling of shells and algae on the bottom of the ship. Inside, the double bottoms were covered by Portland cement with a thickness of 13 to 50 mm. In those areas where the ship’s hull steel was in contact with either copper or its alloys (kingstones and stern tubes), special protectors made of zinc bars were placed.
Reservation
Along the entire length of the Askold cruiser passed a carapace armored deck. Its lower edge, located in the middle of the hull, was 1,400 mm below the waterline. All openings for fans and chimneys were equipped with armored grilles. Triggers, as well as coal necks, were protected by special covers. Deck armor plates were two-layer: from the bottom ship steel 10-15 mm, and from above - alloyed nickel armor 30-60 mm.
Elevators for the supply of ammunition and the base of all chimneys in the area from the residential to the armored decks were covered with 40-mm plates. Inclined armor coamings in 100 mm thick the course in tiller compartment was protected. The 60-millimeter surface torpedo tubes were concealed, and the conning tower was more than 2 times more powerful than vertical armor. The drive wheel, interphone pipes and machine telegraphs were also protected. They were placed in armored tubes having a thickness of 80 and a diameter of 400 mm.
Armament
The main caliber of the Askold cruiser was 152/45 mm Kane guns in the amount of 12 pieces. They were made at the Obukhov plant. They were placed both in the bow superstructure and on the upper deck. The ammunition for the guns, consisting of 372 segment, 624 cast-iron and 564 high-explosive and armor-piercing shells, was designed for 3 hours of battle, 180 rounds for each of the guns.
The anti-aircraft and auxiliary artillery on the cruiser was represented by eight 47/43-mm guns of Hotchkiss, two of which were mounted on removable machines and, if necessary, were transferred to boats, and the remaining six were stationary. On the ship there were two Baranovsky guns, loaded on carriages. Usually they were used by ship landing. These guns had a small mass, so they could be easily unloaded onto a boat or longboat and manually delivered to the shore. They always stood on the upper deck. In addition, on board the Askold, there were two 37/23 mm Hotchkiss guns, often used on cruiser longboats, as well as Maxim machine guns, which were intended for sorties of naval landing.
On the machines designed by Meller, another twelve 75/50 mm Kane guns without shields were placed on the battery deck. Their ammunition, designed for 2.5 hours, was 650 rounds for each gun. In total, there were 2116 cast-iron and 1,500 armor-piercing shells.
Mine-torpedo armament was represented by four surface and two underwater 381-mm vehicles. In addition, on board the vessel there were two more 254-mm torpedo launchers designed for boats.
Power plant
Machinery and equipment occupied five boiler rooms and two engine rooms. It was developed by Germany. Each of the three main vertical four-cylinder steam engines had its own propeller.
Steam for the machines was given by 9 Tornicroft-Schulz boilers. One was located in the fifth, and the rest were distributed in pairs in four boiler rooms.
The grate surface was 107 m², the maximum steam pressure was 17 kgf / cm², and the total heating surface of the boilers was 5020 m². Coal consumption was 1 kg / hp. per hour, the efficiency is 60%, and the steam capacity of each of the boilers is 21.2 t / h. A fuel reserve of 720 tons could provide a cruising range of only 2,340 miles, instead of the planned 6,500. The coal consumption at maximum speed did not exceed 18 t / h.
Driving performance
The Askold steering wheel is a semi-balanced type. Its frame was made of cast steel, and then sheathed with metal 8 mm thick and filled with cork. The cruiser control steam engine made it easy to shift the steering wheel at full speed from one side to the other in just 30 seconds.
The steering machine’s spool was coordinated from four posts, where helms were placed either with electric or hydraulic drives in the aft, combat, and wheelhouse, as well as in the tiller compartment. The minimum ship speed was 10 knots. The vessel could be deployed in place, using only cars and without using the steering wheel.
Ship crew and habitability
At the very beginning, the ship’s full-time crew consisted of 21 officers, 9 conductors and 550 lower ranks (sailors and non-commissioned officers). Shortly before the First World War, the number of troops on the ship increased by another 70 people. On the Askold cruiser, the premises where crew members lived were located in the aft of the vessel on the armored, as well as under the forecastle of the living deck.
The cabins of the command staff and officers were single and were located, starting from the 72nd frame, and went towards the stern. There was also a wardroom. In addition to the premises for the sailors, there was also a ship church, a hospital, a galley, a bathhouse and a pharmacy on a residential deck.
Service start
In mid-January 1902, a guys and a flag were hoisted on the Askold. From that moment on, the ship officially went into operation of the flotilla of the Russian Empire. January 27, he left Kiel and went to Libau. On June 18, the cruiser was visited by Emperor Nicholas II himself. During the stay in Kronstadt, the ship was re-equipped. Then a radio station was assembled on it, assembled in a local mine workshop. In addition, the Askold cruiser was equipped with Geisler instruments for torpedo tubes and guns, machine guns, firing angle limiters and sights. Interphone pipes were held to the elevators with shells, artillery cellars were refitted and a mine raft was made. Also, the ship was equipped with a full range of ammunition and weapons according to the state.
In late August, Nicholas II again visited Askold, but already accompanied by his family and the Greek Queen Olga Konstantinovna. The guests wished the crew of the ship a happy voyage. In early September, the armored cruiser left Kronstadt and sailed to the Far East. On board was A.N. Krylov, the future Soviet academician.
In February 1903, the ship arrived in Port Arthur. From this moment, the ship became part of the squadron, part of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Empire. In January of the following year, the Askold commander, Reicenshtein, was appointed head of a whole detachment of cruisers, and in his place came the captain of the 1st rank Grammatchikov.
Baptism of fire
The Russian fleet with the Askold cruiser, the Russo-Japanese War, which began in the evening of January 26, 1904, was found standing at Port Arthur. Then the Japanese destroyers attacked our squadron for the first time. In mid-February, Askold, along with two other cruisers, Novik and Bayan, were embroiled in a shootout with four enemy warships. On May 5, an armored cruiser participated in the cover of the Amur transport, which set up a minefield near Port Arthur.
At the end of July of that year, the Russian Pacific Fleet squadron went to sea with one purpose - to break into Vladivostok. "Askold" led a detachment of ships, which followed in the wake of the column after the armadillos. Then the battle broke out with the Japanese in the Yellow Sea. Most of the ships of the Russian detachment turned back to Port Arthur, while Novik and Askold decided to make a breakthrough. It is known that the battle was pretty fierce. However, the Russian sailors managed to survive, showing extraordinary stamina and heroism. At 19.40, Russian cruisers managed to break through the Japanese fence.
“Askold” - the best cruiser of the Port Arthur squadron - suffered quite serious damage during the battle. In addition, 48 people were injured, and ten sailors and one officer were killed. On August 11, this heroic ship, together with the gunboat Manjur and the destroyer Grozov, lowered the flag. Several parts of machines, rifles, gun locks and combat compartments of torpedoes were removed from the ships and put into the arsenal. After leaving the dock, the cruiser remained standing for some time at the pier of the CER Society.
The fate of the ship
The story of the Askold cruiser, which was one of the ships of the Siberian Flotilla, was eventful:
- 1914 - participation in the search for the cruiser Emden and German coal miners, convoy service in the waters of the Indian Ocean, operations carried out in the Mediterranean Sea, capture of the German ship Haifa, destruction of two Turkish ships.
- 1915 - shelling and destruction of a railway bridge near Tripoli, the detention of a Persian ship with Turkish troops on board, the Dardanelles operation, during which the ship fired at the enemy's coastal positions.
- 1916 - was part of the landing, which captured the Greek forts. In August, an explosion was heard on the Askold armored cruiser in the shell cellar, the cause of which the investigation could not establish. Despite the complete absence of any evidence, the court indicted eight sailors, four of whom were soon shot.
- 1918 - captured by a foreign landing force and transferred to the British, who renamed it Glory IV and made it a floating barracks.
- 1921 - returned to his homeland after paying the costs of its maintenance, and then sold to the Germans for scrap.
Finally
Unfortunately, in a small publication it is impossible to give a detailed description of the vessel. Those who are interested in this topic will not be amiss to familiarize themselves with the monograph by V. Ya. Krestyaninov, Cruiser Askold, published in 2012. Here is a complete technical description of the ship, the history of construction and stories about its heroic campaigns.
The model of the cruiser Askold, made back in 1900, can be seen in the Central Naval Museum of St. Petersburg. The model ship is also in Hamburg (Germany). It is on display at the International Maritime Museum at one of the stands dedicated to the events of the Russo-Japanese War.