Borodino class battlecruiser
Encyclopedia
The Borodino class battlecruisers were a group of four battlecruisers ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy
before World War I
. Also referred to as the Izmail class, they were laid down in December 1912All dates used in this article are New Style
(Gregorian). at Saint Petersburg
for service with the Baltic Fleet
. Construction of the ships was delayed as many domestic factories were overloaded with orders and some components had to be ordered from abroad. The start of World War I slowed their construction still further as the imported components were often not delivered and domestic production was diverted into areas more immediately useful for the war effort.
Three of the four ships were launched in 1915 and the fourth in 1916. Work on the gun turret
s lagged, and it became evident that Russian industry would not be able to complete the ships during the war. The Russian Revolution of 1917 put a stop to their construction, which was never resumed. Although some consideration was given to finishing the hulls that were nearest to completion, they were all eventually sold for scrap by the Soviet Union
. The Soviet Navy
proposed in 1925 to convert Izmail, the ship closest to completion, to an aircraft carrier
, but the plan was cancelled after political maneuvering by the Red Army
led to funding not being available.
of 1905, the Russian Naval General Staff decided that it needed a squadron of fast "armoured cruisers"The Borodino-class ships were formally known as armoured cruisers until an order of 29 July 1915, when they were redesignated as battlecruisers . See McLaughlin, p. 244. that could use their speed to engage the leader of an enemy's battle line, much as Admiral Tōgō
had done against the Russian fleet during the Battle of Tsushima
. Initially the Naval General Staff wanted a ship with high speed (28 knots), 12 inches (30 cm) guns, and limited protection (a waterline belt
of 190 mm or 7.5 in); the Tsar
approved construction of four such ships on 5 May 1911, but the Duma
session ended before the proposal could be voted on. Preliminary bids for the ships were solicited from private builders, but the bids proved to be very high, leading to a reconsideration of the requirements. A new specification was issued on 1 July 1911 for a ship with a speed of only 26.5 knots and with armour increased to 254 mm (10 in). Armaments were increased to nine 14 inches (356 mm) guns in three non-superfiring
triple-gun turret
s, based on a false rumor that the Germans were increasing the caliber of their guns. The Russian Navy believed that widely separating the main gun magazine
s improved the survivability of the ship, and that under a superfiring arrangement, muzzle blast would hurt the sailors manning the gun sights in the lower turrets through the open sighting hoods on the turret roofs.
The Naval Ministry solicited new bids on 8 September from 23 shipbuilders, domestic and foreign, but only 7 responded, even after the deadline was extended by a month. A number of designs were rejected for not meeting the revised criteria. In the meantime, the Artillery Section of the Main Administration of Shipbuilding had decided that it preferred a four-turret design, and new bids were solicited in May 1912 from the leading contenders from the first round of bidding. The eventual winner was a design by the Admiralty Works
in Saint Petersburg
, which had the extra turret added to a new hull section inserted into the original three-turret design.
The Duma approved construction in May 1912, before the design was finalised, and allocated 45.5 million ruble
s for each ship. However, the increase in armaments and consequential increase in the size of the ships raised their estimated cost by 7 million rubles each, and some money was diverted from the budget for the s. Orders were placed on 18 September 1912 for a pair of ships each from the Admiralty Works
and the Baltic Works
. The first pair was to be ready for trials on 14 July 1916 and the second pair on 14 September 1916.
Full-scale armour trials had revealed serious weaknesses in the proposed protection scheme. The trials employed an 1886 pre-dreadnought battleship , modified with armour protection identical to that used by the s then under construction. The deck and turret roof armour proved to be too thin, and the structure supporting the side armour was not strong enough to withstand the shock of impact from heavy shells.
The design of the Borodino-class ships was modified as a consequence, which slowed their construction. Deck armour was reinforced with extra plates, the turret roofs were increased to a thickness of 150 mm (5.9 in), and the side and roof of the conning tower
were increased by 100 mm (3.9 in) and 125 mm (4.9 in) respectively. To compensate for the additional weight, the rear conning tower was removed entirely and the thickness of the main belt was reduced by 4.5 mm (0.177165354330709 in). Mortise and tenon
joints were introduced between the armour plates along their vertical edges to better distribute the shock of a shell impact and to lessen the stress on the supporting hull structure. The launching of the first pair of ships was postponed by six months because of these changes, plus delays imposed by the large number of ship orders already in hand.The shipyards were overloaded with orders and simply lacked the capacity to maintain the original construction schedule.
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 caused further delays as a number of components had been ordered from foreign manufacturers. As an example, the gun turrets rested on 8 inches (203 mm) roller bearings
made in Germany, but attempts to order replacements from the United Kingdom and Sweden proved futile, as no company was willing and able to make the bearings. Components for the turbines of the Navarin that had been ordered from AG Vulcan in Germany were seized by the German government at the beginning of the war and used in the construction of the two s.
of 30.5 metre and a draught of 8.81 metre at full load. They displaced 32500 long tons (33,021.6 t) normally, and 36646 long tons (37,234.2 t) at full load. High-tensile steel was used throughout the hull with mild steel used only in areas that did not contribute to structural strength. The hull was subdivided into 25 transverse watertight bulkhead
s and the engine room was divided by a longitudinal bulkhead. The double bottom
s were 1.275 metre apart, while the vitals of the ship were protected by a triple bottom that added an extra 875 millimetres (34.4 in) of depth. The design called for a freeboard
of 8.89 metre forward, 6.24 metre amidships and 6.49 metre aft. The ships were fitted with three Frahm anti-rolling tanks on each side.
s were ordered on 22 April 1913 from the Franco-Russian Works in Saint Petersburg for the Admiralty-built ships; the Baltic Works built its own turbines, with some components ordered from abroad. The wing propeller shafts were powered by high-pressure impulse-reaction turbines, and the inboard shafts were powered by low-pressure reaction-type turbines. They produced a total of 66000 shp and were designed to be pushed to 90000 shp. The turbines were powered by 25 triangular Yarrow
water-tube boilers with a working pressure of 17 kg/cm2. The forward boilers were grouped into three compartments with three oil-fired boilers in each compartment. The rear boilers were split into four compartments with each containing four coal-fired boilers fitted with oil sprayers. Maximum speed was estimated at 26.5 knots, although forcing the machinery would increase it to 28.5 knots. Coal capacity was 1974 long tons (2,005.7 t) and fuel oil
capacity was 1904 long tons (1,934.6 t), providing an estimated range of 2280 nautical mile at 26.5 knots.
The Borodino-class ships had six turbo generator
s and two diesel generator
s, each rated at 320 kilowatts. These were divided among four compartments on the platform deck, two forward and two aft of the machinery. The generators powered a complex electrical system that combined alternating current
for most equipment with direct current
for heavy-load machinery such as the turret motors.
356 millimetres (14 in) Model 1913 guns. The guns could be depressed to −5° and elevated to 25°. They could be loaded at any angle between −5° and +15°; the expected rate of fire was three rounds per minute. The turrets were designed to elevate and traverse at a rate of 3° per second. At full load, 80 rounds per gun could be carried. The guns fired 747.6 kilograms (1,648.2 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity
of 731.5 m/s (2,399.9 ft/s); this provided a maximum range of 23240 metres (25,415.6 yd).
The secondary armament consisted of twenty-four 130 mm/55 Pattern 1913 guns
mounted in casemate
s. A pair of casemates were situated on each side, below the three rear turrets; near the forward turret were six additional casemates, two of which were directly above the middle pair. This positioning reflected the Naval General Staff's prediction of the most likely direction of attack by torpedo boat
s.
Four 38-caliber 64 millimetres (2.5 in) anti-aircraft guns
were intended to be fitted on the upper deck with 220 rounds per gun. Four 75 millimetres (3 in) guns were mounted in pairs on the main turret roofs for sub-caliber training
with the main guns. Six underwater 450 millimetres (17.7 in) torpedo tube
s were mounted, three on each broadside
. Eighteen torpedoes were provided.
, and there was another 5 metre unit on top of the conning tower. These would provide data for the Geisler central artillery post calculations, which would then transmit commands to the gun crew. The mechanical fire control computer would have been either a Pollen Argo
range clock, which had been bought in 1913, or a domestically designed Erikson system.
plates were sized to match the frames to provide support for their joints, and they were joined together to better distribute the shock of a shell's impact. The 237.5 mm (9.4 in) waterline belt covered the middle 151.2 metre of the ship. It had a total height of 5.015 metre, 3.375 metre of which was above the design waterline and 1.64 metre below. It was backed by 75 millimeters of wood to make a better fit between the hull and the armour. The remaining portion of the waterline was protected by 125 millimetres (4.9 in) plates backed by 50 millimetres (2 in) of wood. The upper belt was 100 millimetres (3.9 in) thick and had a height of 2.89 metres (9.5 ft). It thinned to 75 mm forward of the casemates all the way to the bow. The rear portion of the forecastle deck was protected by an upward extension of the upper belt in the area of the forward barbette
s and the upper casemates. The upper casemates were protected from axial fire by 100 mm transverse bulkheads. Behind the side armour was an inboard longitudinal splinter bulkhead that was 50 millimetres (2 in) thick between the middle and lower decks. This decreased to 25 millimetre (0.984251968503937 in) between the middle and upper decks. The bulkhead sloped away from the edge of the lower deck to the lower edge of the armour belt with a total thickness of 75 mm. The slope was one 50 mm plate of Krupp non-cemented armour
(KNC) on a 25 mm nickel-steel plate. The forward end of the armoured citadel was protected separately and the transverse bulkhead was therefore only 75 mm thick. The rear bulkhead had no other protection and was 300 millimetres (11.8 in) thick between the middle and lower decks, decreasing to 75 mm at the level of the armour belt.
The main gun turrets had sides 300 mm thick with 150 mm roofs. The gun ports were protected by 50 mm plates, and 25 mm bulkheads separated each gun. The barbettes were 247.5 mm (9.7 in) thick, decreasing to 147.5 millimetres (5.8 in) when behind other armour. They were shaped like truncated cones which matched the trajectories of descending shells and thus lessened their protective value. The conning tower was 400 millimetres (15.7 in) thick, reduced to 300 mm below the upper deck. The funnel uptakes were protected by 50 mm of armour. The upper deck
was 37.5 millimetres (1.5 in) thick while the middle deck consisted of 40 millimetres (1.6 in) plates of KNC on 25 mm of nickel-steel over the armoured citadel. Underwater protection was minimal: there was only a 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) watertight bulkhead behind the upward extension of the double bottom, and even this was thinner as the hull narrowed towards the end turrets.
A number of plans were made for the post-war completion of the ships, including modifying the turrets to load at a fixed angle of 4° to reduce the weight and complexity of the loading equipment, and lengthening the funnels by 2 metres (6.6 ft) to minimise smoke interference with the bridge, as this had been noted as a problem on the Gangut-class dreadnoughts. There were suggestions to improve the machinery with geared turbines, turbo-electric drive, or Föttinger's
hydraulic transmission, but these were more theoretical than practical.
After the February Revolution
, the condition of the ships was assessed on 28 April 1917. The ship that was furthest along was the Ismail: her hull, engines, and boilers were around 65% complete, and her armour was 36% complete. However, her turrets were not expected to be completed until 1919. The Congress of Shipyard Workers decided to continue work on the Izmail in mid-1917, but only to provide jobs. The Provisional Government
halted all work on Borodino, Kinburn, and Navarin on 24 October 1917, and the Soviet Supreme Naval College ordered work on Izmail halted on 14 December 1917.
After the end of the Russian Civil War
the victorious Bolshevik
s considered finishing Izmail, and possibly Borodino, to their original design. It would have taken at least two years to build all of Izmails turrets, even if enough guns had been available. Ten had been delivered by Vickers
before the Revolution and one gun had been completed domestically in 1912, but the prospects that more guns could be purchased from Vickers or that the Soviets could make more were not promising, given the state of their heavy industry in the wake of the Civil War. Another problem was the complicated electrical system; it could not be completed under current conditions, and at least twenty months would be required to replace it with a simpler system.
The Soviets considered finishing Kinburn and Navarin to a modified design that featured 16 inches (40.6 cm) guns; a two-gun turret weighed slightly less than a triple 14-inch gun turret. Four proposals were made with various changes to the turrets' armour scheme, but none were accepted, not least because the prospects of actually acquiring such guns were minimal. Domestic industry was not capable of building such large guns and they were not able to purchase the guns from any foreign company. Other ideas were examined for the three less complete ships. These included converting the hulls to cargo ships, passenger liners, or 22000 long tons (22,353.1 t) oil barges, but most of the ideas were rejected as the hulls were thought to be too large and unwieldy for the proposed alternative uses. None of the proposals was accepted, and all three of the less complete ships were sold to a German company for scrap
on 21 August 1923 to raise much-needed cash for the government.
The Operational Administration of the Soviet Navy
worked out the requirements in May 1925 for a conversion that would have made Izmail into a 22000 tonnes (21,652.5 LT) aircraft carrier
with a top speed of 27 knots (14.7 m/s) and a capacity of fifty aircraft. She would have been armed with eight 183 millimetres (7.2 in) guns and her armour reduced to a maximum of 76 millimetres (3 in). This proposal was approved by Alexey Rykov, Chairman of the Council of the People's Commissars
on 6 July 1925. The plan was cancelled on 16 March 1926 after the Red Army
managed to gain control of a commission appointed to review the needs of the Navy, and the Army was strongly opposed to spending additional money on naval projects. She was scrapped beginning in 1931 in Leningrad.
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...
before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Also referred to as the Izmail class, they were laid down in December 1912All dates used in this article are New Style
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
(Gregorian). at Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
for service with the Baltic Fleet
Baltic Fleet
The Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet - is the Russian Navy's presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union. The Fleet gained the 'Twice Red Banner' appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of...
. Construction of the ships was delayed as many domestic factories were overloaded with orders and some components had to be ordered from abroad. The start of World War I slowed their construction still further as the imported components were often not delivered and domestic production was diverted into areas more immediately useful for the war effort.
Three of the four ships were launched in 1915 and the fourth in 1916. Work on the gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s lagged, and it became evident that Russian industry would not be able to complete the ships during the war. The Russian Revolution of 1917 put a stop to their construction, which was never resumed. Although some consideration was given to finishing the hulls that were nearest to completion, they were all eventually sold for scrap by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
proposed in 1925 to convert Izmail, the ship closest to completion, to an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
, but the plan was cancelled after political maneuvering by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
led to funding not being available.
Design and development
After the end of the Russo-Japanese WarRusso-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
of 1905, the Russian Naval General Staff decided that it needed a squadron of fast "armoured cruisers"The Borodino-class ships were formally known as armoured cruisers until an order of 29 July 1915, when they were redesignated as battlecruisers . See McLaughlin, p. 244. that could use their speed to engage the leader of an enemy's battle line, much as Admiral Tōgō
Togo Heihachiro
Fleet Admiral Marquis was a Fleet Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He was termed by Western journalists as "the Nelson of the East".-Early life:...
had done against the Russian fleet during the Battle of Tsushima
Battle of Tsushima
The Battle of Tsushima , commonly known as the “Sea of Japan Naval Battle” in Japan and the “Battle of Tsushima Strait”, was the major naval battle fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War...
. Initially the Naval General Staff wanted a ship with high speed (28 knots), 12 inches (30 cm) guns, and limited protection (a waterline belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
of 190 mm or 7.5 in); the Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
approved construction of four such ships on 5 May 1911, but the Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
session ended before the proposal could be voted on. Preliminary bids for the ships were solicited from private builders, but the bids proved to be very high, leading to a reconsideration of the requirements. A new specification was issued on 1 July 1911 for a ship with a speed of only 26.5 knots and with armour increased to 254 mm (10 in). Armaments were increased to nine 14 inches (356 mm) guns in three non-superfiring
Superfire
The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...
triple-gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s, based on a false rumor that the Germans were increasing the caliber of their guns. The Russian Navy believed that widely separating the main gun magazine
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
s improved the survivability of the ship, and that under a superfiring arrangement, muzzle blast would hurt the sailors manning the gun sights in the lower turrets through the open sighting hoods on the turret roofs.
The Naval Ministry solicited new bids on 8 September from 23 shipbuilders, domestic and foreign, but only 7 responded, even after the deadline was extended by a month. A number of designs were rejected for not meeting the revised criteria. In the meantime, the Artillery Section of the Main Administration of Shipbuilding had decided that it preferred a four-turret design, and new bids were solicited in May 1912 from the leading contenders from the first round of bidding. The eventual winner was a design by the Admiralty Works
Admiralty Shipyard
The Admiralty Shipyard is one of the oldest and largest shipyards in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg. The shipyard's building ways can accommodate ships of up to , 250 meters in length and 35 meters in width...
in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, which had the extra turret added to a new hull section inserted into the original three-turret design.
The Duma approved construction in May 1912, before the design was finalised, and allocated 45.5 million ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
s for each ship. However, the increase in armaments and consequential increase in the size of the ships raised their estimated cost by 7 million rubles each, and some money was diverted from the budget for the s. Orders were placed on 18 September 1912 for a pair of ships each from the Admiralty Works
Admiralty Shipyard
The Admiralty Shipyard is one of the oldest and largest shipyards in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg. The shipyard's building ways can accommodate ships of up to , 250 meters in length and 35 meters in width...
and the Baltic Works
Baltic Shipyard
The Baltic Shipyard is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia. It is located in Saint Petersburg in the south-western part of the Vasilievsky Island. It is one of the three shipyards active in Saint Petersburg...
. The first pair was to be ready for trials on 14 July 1916 and the second pair on 14 September 1916.
Full-scale armour trials had revealed serious weaknesses in the proposed protection scheme. The trials employed an 1886 pre-dreadnought battleship , modified with armour protection identical to that used by the s then under construction. The deck and turret roof armour proved to be too thin, and the structure supporting the side armour was not strong enough to withstand the shock of impact from heavy shells.
The design of the Borodino-class ships was modified as a consequence, which slowed their construction. Deck armour was reinforced with extra plates, the turret roofs were increased to a thickness of 150 mm (5.9 in), and the side and roof of the conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
were increased by 100 mm (3.9 in) and 125 mm (4.9 in) respectively. To compensate for the additional weight, the rear conning tower was removed entirely and the thickness of the main belt was reduced by 4.5 mm (0.177165354330709 in). Mortise and tenon
Mortise and tenon
The mortise and tenon joint has been used for thousands of years by woodworkers around the world to join pieces of wood, mainly when the adjoining pieces connect at an angle of 90°. In its basic form it is both simple and strong. Although there are many joint variations, the basic mortise and tenon...
joints were introduced between the armour plates along their vertical edges to better distribute the shock of a shell impact and to lessen the stress on the supporting hull structure. The launching of the first pair of ships was postponed by six months because of these changes, plus delays imposed by the large number of ship orders already in hand.The shipyards were overloaded with orders and simply lacked the capacity to maintain the original construction schedule.
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 caused further delays as a number of components had been ordered from foreign manufacturers. As an example, the gun turrets rested on 8 inches (203 mm) roller bearings
Bearing (mechanical)
A bearing is a device to allow constrained relative motion between two or more parts, typically rotation or linear movement. Bearings may be classified broadly according to the motions they allow and according to their principle of operation as well as by the directions of applied loads they can...
made in Germany, but attempts to order replacements from the United Kingdom and Sweden proved futile, as no company was willing and able to make the bearings. Components for the turbines of the Navarin that had been ordered from AG Vulcan in Germany were seized by the German government at the beginning of the war and used in the construction of the two s.
General characteristics
The Borodino class ships were 223.85 metre long overall. They had a beamBeam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 30.5 metre and a draught of 8.81 metre at full load. They displaced 32500 long tons (33,021.6 t) normally, and 36646 long tons (37,234.2 t) at full load. High-tensile steel was used throughout the hull with mild steel used only in areas that did not contribute to structural strength. The hull was subdivided into 25 transverse watertight bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
s and the engine room was divided by a longitudinal bulkhead. The double bottom
Double bottom
A double bottom is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom of the ship has two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is somewhat higher in the ship, perhaps a few feet, which forms a...
s were 1.275 metre apart, while the vitals of the ship were protected by a triple bottom that added an extra 875 millimetres (34.4 in) of depth. The design called for a freeboard
Freeboard (nautical)
In sailing and boating, freeboardmeans the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship...
of 8.89 metre forward, 6.24 metre amidships and 6.49 metre aft. The ships were fitted with three Frahm anti-rolling tanks on each side.
Propulsion
Two sets of steam turbineSteam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s were ordered on 22 April 1913 from the Franco-Russian Works in Saint Petersburg for the Admiralty-built ships; the Baltic Works built its own turbines, with some components ordered from abroad. The wing propeller shafts were powered by high-pressure impulse-reaction turbines, and the inboard shafts were powered by low-pressure reaction-type turbines. They produced a total of 66000 shp and were designed to be pushed to 90000 shp. The turbines were powered by 25 triangular Yarrow
Yarrow Shipbuilders
Yarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...
water-tube boilers with a working pressure of 17 kg/cm2. The forward boilers were grouped into three compartments with three oil-fired boilers in each compartment. The rear boilers were split into four compartments with each containing four coal-fired boilers fitted with oil sprayers. Maximum speed was estimated at 26.5 knots, although forcing the machinery would increase it to 28.5 knots. Coal capacity was 1974 long tons (2,005.7 t) and fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
capacity was 1904 long tons (1,934.6 t), providing an estimated range of 2280 nautical mile at 26.5 knots.
The Borodino-class ships had six turbo generator
Turbo generator
A turbo generator is a turbine directly connected to an electric generator for the generation of electric power. Large steam powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also used by steam powered turbo-electric ships.Smaller turbo-generators with gas turbines...
s and two diesel generator
Diesel generator
A diesel generator is the combination of a diesel engine with an electrical generator to generate electrical energy....
s, each rated at 320 kilowatts. These were divided among four compartments on the platform deck, two forward and two aft of the machinery. The generators powered a complex electrical system that combined alternating current
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
for most equipment with direct current
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
for heavy-load machinery such as the turret motors.
Armament
The main armament consisted of four electrically powered turrets, which were never built. Each would have had three 52-caliberCaliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
356 millimetres (14 in) Model 1913 guns. The guns could be depressed to −5° and elevated to 25°. They could be loaded at any angle between −5° and +15°; the expected rate of fire was three rounds per minute. The turrets were designed to elevate and traverse at a rate of 3° per second. At full load, 80 rounds per gun could be carried. The guns fired 747.6 kilograms (1,648.2 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 731.5 m/s (2,399.9 ft/s); this provided a maximum range of 23240 metres (25,415.6 yd).
The secondary armament consisted of twenty-four 130 mm/55 Pattern 1913 guns
130 mm/55 B7 Pattern 1913
The 130mm/55 B7 Pattern 1913 naval gun was a 5.1-inch naval gun used predominantly on ships of the Imperial Russian Navy and later by the Soviet Navy. It was manufactured mainly by the Obukhov State Plant in St. Petersburg, as well as under licence by Vickers Limited in Great Britain...
mounted in casemate
Casemate
A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
s. A pair of casemates were situated on each side, below the three rear turrets; near the forward turret were six additional casemates, two of which were directly above the middle pair. This positioning reflected the Naval General Staff's prediction of the most likely direction of attack by torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s.
Four 38-caliber 64 millimetres (2.5 in) anti-aircraft guns
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
were intended to be fitted on the upper deck with 220 rounds per gun. Four 75 millimetres (3 in) guns were mounted in pairs on the main turret roofs for sub-caliber training
Sub-caliber training
Sub-caliber training is used to save wear and expense when training with a larger gun by use of smaller weapons with identical ballistic characteristics. The smaller weapons could be inserted into the larger weapon's barrel, externally attached to the barrel or mounted above the weapon...
with the main guns. Six underwater 450 millimetres (17.7 in) torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s were mounted, three on each broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
. Eighteen torpedoes were provided.
Fire control
The forward and aft main gun turrets were given a 6 metre rangefinderRangefinder
A rangefinder is a device that measures distance from the observer to a target, for the purposes of surveying, determining focus in photography, or accurately aiming a weapon. Some devices use active methods to measure ; others measure distance using trigonometry...
, and there was another 5 metre unit on top of the conning tower. These would provide data for the Geisler central artillery post calculations, which would then transmit commands to the gun crew. The mechanical fire control computer would have been either a Pollen Argo
Arthur Pollen
Arthur Joseph Hungerford Pollen was a writer on naval affairs in the early 1900s who recognised the need for a computer-based fire-control system...
range clock, which had been bought in 1913, or a domestically designed Erikson system.
Protection
The trials with the Chesma greatly affected the armour protection design of the Borodino-class ships. The Krupp cemented-armourKrupp cemented armour
Krupp Cemented Armour is a further evolved variant of Krupp Armour, developed during the early years of the 20th Century. The process is largely the same with slight changes in the alloy composition: in % of total – carbon 0.35, nickel 3.90, chromium 2.00, manganese .35, silicon .07, phosphorus...
plates were sized to match the frames to provide support for their joints, and they were joined together to better distribute the shock of a shell's impact. The 237.5 mm (9.4 in) waterline belt covered the middle 151.2 metre of the ship. It had a total height of 5.015 metre, 3.375 metre of which was above the design waterline and 1.64 metre below. It was backed by 75 millimeters of wood to make a better fit between the hull and the armour. The remaining portion of the waterline was protected by 125 millimetres (4.9 in) plates backed by 50 millimetres (2 in) of wood. The upper belt was 100 millimetres (3.9 in) thick and had a height of 2.89 metres (9.5 ft). It thinned to 75 mm forward of the casemates all the way to the bow. The rear portion of the forecastle deck was protected by an upward extension of the upper belt in the area of the forward barbette
Barbette
A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...
s and the upper casemates. The upper casemates were protected from axial fire by 100 mm transverse bulkheads. Behind the side armour was an inboard longitudinal splinter bulkhead that was 50 millimetres (2 in) thick between the middle and lower decks. This decreased to 25 millimetre (0.984251968503937 in) between the middle and upper decks. The bulkhead sloped away from the edge of the lower deck to the lower edge of the armour belt with a total thickness of 75 mm. The slope was one 50 mm plate of Krupp non-cemented armour
Krupp armour
Krupp armour was a type of steel armour used in the construction of capital ships starting shortly before the end of the 19th century. It was developed by Germany's Krupp Arms Works in 1893 and quickly replaced Harvey armour as the primary method of protecting naval ships.The initial manufacturing...
(KNC) on a 25 mm nickel-steel plate. The forward end of the armoured citadel was protected separately and the transverse bulkhead was therefore only 75 mm thick. The rear bulkhead had no other protection and was 300 millimetres (11.8 in) thick between the middle and lower decks, decreasing to 75 mm at the level of the armour belt.
The main gun turrets had sides 300 mm thick with 150 mm roofs. The gun ports were protected by 50 mm plates, and 25 mm bulkheads separated each gun. The barbettes were 247.5 mm (9.7 in) thick, decreasing to 147.5 millimetres (5.8 in) when behind other armour. They were shaped like truncated cones which matched the trajectories of descending shells and thus lessened their protective value. The conning tower was 400 millimetres (15.7 in) thick, reduced to 300 mm below the upper deck. The funnel uptakes were protected by 50 mm of armour. The upper deck
Deck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...
was 37.5 millimetres (1.5 in) thick while the middle deck consisted of 40 millimetres (1.6 in) plates of KNC on 25 mm of nickel-steel over the armoured citadel. Underwater protection was minimal: there was only a 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) watertight bulkhead behind the upward extension of the double bottom, and even this was thinner as the hull narrowed towards the end turrets.
Construction
All four ships were officially laid down on 19 December 1912, but work did not begin until March and April 1913. After a progress review on 4 June 1914, launching of the first pair of ships was delayed until October 1914. When World War I began, the hull of Izmail, the most advanced ship, was judged 43 percent complete, with the others lagging considerably behind. The war caused more delays, including problems obtaining imported components, and the ships were competing for scarce resources with other production deemed necessary for the war. Three of the four ships were launched in 1915, but it was clear that Russian industry would not be able to complete them during the war, mostly because the turrets were seriously delayed. They were reclassified as 2nd Rank Projects by the Main Administration of Shipbuilding in 1916.A number of plans were made for the post-war completion of the ships, including modifying the turrets to load at a fixed angle of 4° to reduce the weight and complexity of the loading equipment, and lengthening the funnels by 2 metres (6.6 ft) to minimise smoke interference with the bridge, as this had been noted as a problem on the Gangut-class dreadnoughts. There were suggestions to improve the machinery with geared turbines, turbo-electric drive, or Föttinger's
Hermann Föttinger
Hermann Föttinger was a German engineer and inventor. In the course of his life he submitted over 100 patent applications, but he is most notable for inventing fluid coupling....
hydraulic transmission, but these were more theoretical than practical.
After the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
, the condition of the ships was assessed on 28 April 1917. The ship that was furthest along was the Ismail: her hull, engines, and boilers were around 65% complete, and her armour was 36% complete. However, her turrets were not expected to be completed until 1919. The Congress of Shipyard Workers decided to continue work on the Izmail in mid-1917, but only to provide jobs. The Provisional Government
Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...
halted all work on Borodino, Kinburn, and Navarin on 24 October 1917, and the Soviet Supreme Naval College ordered work on Izmail halted on 14 December 1917.
After the end of the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
the victorious Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s considered finishing Izmail, and possibly Borodino, to their original design. It would have taken at least two years to build all of Izmails turrets, even if enough guns had been available. Ten had been delivered by Vickers
Vickers Limited
Vickers Limited was a famous British engineering conglomerate that merged into Vickers-Armstrongs in 1927.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
before the Revolution and one gun had been completed domestically in 1912, but the prospects that more guns could be purchased from Vickers or that the Soviets could make more were not promising, given the state of their heavy industry in the wake of the Civil War. Another problem was the complicated electrical system; it could not be completed under current conditions, and at least twenty months would be required to replace it with a simpler system.
The Soviets considered finishing Kinburn and Navarin to a modified design that featured 16 inches (40.6 cm) guns; a two-gun turret weighed slightly less than a triple 14-inch gun turret. Four proposals were made with various changes to the turrets' armour scheme, but none were accepted, not least because the prospects of actually acquiring such guns were minimal. Domestic industry was not capable of building such large guns and they were not able to purchase the guns from any foreign company. Other ideas were examined for the three less complete ships. These included converting the hulls to cargo ships, passenger liners, or 22000 long tons (22,353.1 t) oil barges, but most of the ideas were rejected as the hulls were thought to be too large and unwieldy for the proposed alternative uses. None of the proposals was accepted, and all three of the less complete ships were sold to a German company for scrap
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
on 21 August 1923 to raise much-needed cash for the government.
The Operational Administration of the Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
worked out the requirements in May 1925 for a conversion that would have made Izmail into a 22000 tonnes (21,652.5 LT) aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
with a top speed of 27 knots (14.7 m/s) and a capacity of fifty aircraft. She would have been armed with eight 183 millimetres (7.2 in) guns and her armour reduced to a maximum of 76 millimetres (3 in). This proposal was approved by Alexey Rykov, Chairman of the Council of the People's Commissars
Council of the People's Commissars
The Council of People's Commissars , was a government institution formed shortly after the October Revolution in 1917. Created in the Russian Republic the council laid foundations in restructuring the country to form the Soviet Union...
on 6 July 1925. The plan was cancelled on 16 March 1926 after the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
managed to gain control of a commission appointed to review the needs of the Navy, and the Army was strongly opposed to spending additional money on naval projects. She was scrapped beginning in 1931 in Leningrad.
Ships
The ships were named after battles fought by the Russian Empire:| Name | Namesake | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Fate | Status on 28 April 1917 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | Armour | Engines | Boilers | ||||||
| Izmail (Измаил) | Siege of Izmail Izmail Izmail is a historic town near the Danube river in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Izmail Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast.... |
Baltic | 19 December 1912 | 22 June 1915 | scrapped 1931 | 65% | 36% | 66% | 66% |
| Borodino (Бородино) | Battle of Borodino Battle of Borodino The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties... |
Admiralty | 31 July 1915 | sold for scrap 21 August 1923 | 57% | 13% | 40% | 38.4% | |
| Kinburn (Кинбурн) | Battle of Kinburn Battle of Kinburn (1787) The Battle of Kinburn was fought on 1 October 1787 as part of the Russo-Turkish War, 1787-1792.A weak fortress, Kinburn was located opposite Ochakov on a sand bank forming a part of the Dnieper river delta. It covered approaches to the Kherson fleet base... |
Baltic | 30 October 1915 | 52% | 5% | 22% | 7.2% | ||
| Navarin (Наварин) | Battle of Navarino Battle of Navarino The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence in Navarino Bay , on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. A combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada was destroyed by a combined British, French and Russian naval force... |
Admiralty | 9 November 1916 | 50% | 2% | 26.5% | 12.5% | ||