Japanese battleship Tango - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Russian battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

Poltava (Russian: Полтава) was a Petropavlovsk-class battleship

Battleship

of the Imperial Russian Navy

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...

. She was one of eight Russian pre-dreadnought

Pre-dreadnought

Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...

battleship

Battleship

s captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

during the Russo-Japanese War

Russo-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 1904–1905. Poltava was built at the Galernii Island shipyard

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...

, one of a three-ship class. She was the only Petropavlovsk-class battleship to survive the war. Her sister ships Petropavlovsk

Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1897)

The Petropavlovsk was the lead ship of the Petropavlovsk class of battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy. During the Russo-Japanese War, Petropavlovsk was a flagship of the First Pacific Squadron, taking part in battles against the Imperial Japanese Navy. On March 31, 1904, the battleship...

and Sevastopol

Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)

Sevastopol was the last of three ships in the Petropavlovsk class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s...

were both lost, Petropavlovsk sunk by a mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

, and Sevastopol scuttled after the capitulation of Port Arthur. Poltava was sunk during the siege of Port Arthur in December of 1904, but was raised by the Japanese soon after and renamed Tango (丹後).

She saw little combat service during her Japanese career, aside from the Siege of Tsingtao. As Japan and Imperial Russia were allies

Allies of World War I

The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

at the time, the Japanese government decided to transfer Tango back to Russia. Returned in 1916, she was renamed Chesma (Russian: Чесма). She joined the Russian revolutionary fleet in October 1917, but was captured by the British, who used her as a barracks hulk to house Bolshevik prisoners. Abandoned by the British and recaptured by the Bolsheviks, she was scrapped in 1924.

Design

The first design for Poltava and her sister ship

Sister ship

A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

s of the Petropavlovsk class was approved in January 1891. She was to be an improved version of the battleship , but with most of her armament in barbettes, including four 12 inches (30 cm) guns. The class was designed with a displacement of 10960 LT (11,136 t) at full load. She had a full 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....

, and the upper hull featured a tumblehome

Tumblehome

In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....

. Imperator Nikolai I was chosen as a starting point for the design because of her good seakeeping

Seakeeping

Seakeeping ability is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea states....

and seaworthiness. Some characteristics were also copied from the and the American s, such as the flush-deck

Flush deck

In naval architecture, a flush deck refers to when the upper deck of a vessel extends unbroken from stem to stern. There is no raised forecastle or lowered quarterdeck. Ships of this type may be referred to as "flush deckers", although this is often taken as referring to a series of United States...

hull and Brennus high 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...

.

Following a redesign of the class, Poltava ceased to resemble Imperator Nikolai I. The armor plating was changed before construction, and plans for the armament were modified while the ship was being built. The barbettes were replaced with turrets, including wing turrets for some of the secondary 6 inches (15 cm) guns, modeled after those on Brennus, with electric hoists. The propulsion was based on the machinery present on Georgii Pobedonosets

Russian battleship Georgii Pobedonosets

The Georgii Pobedonosets was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy, the fourth and final ship of the . She was, however, only a half-sister to the others as her armor scheme was different and she was built much later than the earlier ships...

. Poltava was the first Russian battleship to use Krupp armor; her sisters used Harvey nickel-steel armor

Harvey armor

Harvey armor was a type of steel armor developed in the early 1890s in which the front surfaces of the plates were case hardened. The method for doing this was known as the Harvey process....

Characteristics

Poltava displaced 11400 tonnes (11,220 LT) and was 367 feet (111.9 m) long overall. She had a beam

Beam (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 69 feet (21 m) and a mean draft

Draft (hull)

The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...

of 26 in 6 in (8.08 m). Powered by 16 cylindrical coal-burning boilers

Boiler (steam generator)

A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water. Although the definitions are somewhat flexible, it can be said that older steam generators were commonly termed boilers and worked at low to medium pressure but, at pressures above this, it is more...

, she could carry 1310 long tons (1,331 t) of coal. This gave her a range of 4000 nautical miles (7,408 km) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (5.4 m/s). She had a crew of 688.

The ship's main armament consisted of a battery

Artillery battery

In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

of four 12 inches (30 cm) guns in two twin turrets. This was supplemented by a secondary battery of twelve 6 inches (15 cm) guns. Poltavas armament was rounded out with ten 47 millimetres (1.9 in) guns, twenty-eight 37 millimetres (1.5 in) anti–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...

guns, and six 14 inches (36 cm) 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, four of which were submerged.

Service history

Poltava was laid down on 7 May 1892, at the Galernii Island shipyard

Admiralty Shipyard

, launched on 25 October 1894, and commissioned on 18 August 1896. Her trials lasted from 1898 to 1899. She was then assigned to 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...

. As no conflicts were ongoing at this time, Poltava did not participate in any combat roles.

On 3 October 1900, Poltava and her sister ship Sevastopol set sail to Port Arthur, where they arrived on 13 April 1901 and were incorporated into the First Pacific Squadron. As Russia was at peace at this time, Poltava did not participate in any combat roles.

Russo-Japanese War

On 8 February 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack

Battle of Port Arthur

The Battle of Port Arthur was the starting battle of the Russo-Japanese War...

on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. Poltava was hit once on her aft hull, but sustained no casualties. In response to the attack, Poltava turned in pursuit along with other ships of the Russian fleet, all firing their forward guns, but she failed to score any hits. She went back to port and remained there for the next six months with the rest of the fleet. The fleet attempted to breakout several times, but Poltava did not participate in any of efforts.

On 9 August the Imperial Japanese Army, which had been slowly pushing south to Port Arthur, began an assault on the city's outer defenses. With their base now directly under attack, the First Pacific Squadron sortied from its base in an attempt to escape to Vladivostok

Vladivostok

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...

in the morning, around 7:00. They were intercepted by the Japanese fleet in what became the Battle of the Yellow Sea

Battle of the Yellow Sea

The Battle of the Yellow Sea was a major naval engagement of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 August. The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Arthur to break out and form up with counterparts from...

at 12:55.

Poltava was sixth in the column of Russian ships when the Japanese engaged them, and from her position started to bombard the at around 1445. , the Japanese flagship, then fired several shots that hit Poltava, causing the Russian squadron to drop back to support her. The Russians scored several hits on Mikasa, including two from shots fired by Poltava. Poltava also scored one hit on the . Owing to the damage Mikasa had sustained, the Japanese fleet broke off the attack at around 1520 and tried to get ahead of the fleeing Russians. By 1735, the Japanese had regained their position near the Russian tail end. Mikasa and three other battleships opened fire on Poltava and three armored cruisers, but problems with their turrets forced the Japanese battleships to break off the engagement. They returned at 1830, with the and Asahi firing on Poltava. As the Russian fleet began to slip away, two 12-inch shells from Asahi penetrated 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....

of the Russian flagship , killing Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft

Wilgelm Vitgeft

Wilgelm Karlovich Vitgeft , sometimes written Wilhelm and Withöft was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, noted for his service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.-Biography:...

, the commander of the First Pacific Squadron, and the helmsman, severely wounding the captain, and causing the ship to come to a dead stop after executing a sharp turn. Thinking that this was a maneuver planned by Vitgeft, the Russian line started to execute the same turn, causing all of the ships directly behind Tsesarevich, including Poltava, to maneuver wildly to avoid hitting the stationary flagship. Second in command of the squadron, Prince Pavel Ukhtomski, who was on the Peresvyet, signaled the other Russian ships via semaphore

Flag semaphore

Semaphore Flags is the system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position...

to steam back to Port Arthur. The signals were only gradually recognized by Pobeda, Sevastopol, Pallada and Poltava. The Poltava was hit by twelve 14-inch and eight 12-inch shells during the battle, killing 12 and wounding 43.

Returning to Port Arthur on 10 August, the Russian squadron found the city still under siege by the Japanese Third Army

Japanese Third Army

The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo as a garrison force under the overall command of the Kwantung Army during World War II, but its history dates to the Russo-Japanese War.-History:...

led by Baron

Baron

Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

Nogi Maresuke. The squadron remained safely inside the port until 5 December, when the Third Army captured 203 Meter Hill, a crucial position overlooking the harbor. From there, the Japanese were able to fire on Poltava and other ships of the First Pacific Squadron that had survived the Battle of the Yellow Sea. The ships at that time were about 5.7 kilometres (3.5 mi) away from the hill, placing them within range of Japanese artillery. By 9 December, 1904, the Japanese had sunk four battleships and two cruisers, including Poltava.

Japanese career

Following the capture of Port Arthur, Japanese engineers raised Poltava on 8 July 1905, repaired her, and commissioned her as the Tango, taking her name from the ancient Japanese province of Tango

Tango Province

was an old province in the area that is today northern Kyoto Prefecture facing the Sea of Japan. It was sometimes called , with Tamba Province. Tango bordered on Tajima, Tamba, and Wakasa provinces....

, now a part of Kyoto-fu.She was the only ship of her class still afloat, as her sister ships Petropavlovsk

Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1897)

and Sevastopol

Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)

Sevastopol was the last of three ships in the Petropavlovsk class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s...

were both lost, Petropavlovsk sunk by a mine

Naval mine

, and Sevastopol scuttled after the capitulation of Port Arthur. She was refitted at Maizuru Naval Arsenal

Maizuru Naval Arsenal

was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. -History:The Maizuru Naval District was established at Maizuru, Kyoto in 1889, as the fourth of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the Japanese home islands. After the establishment of the...

from 1908–1909, and was re-classified as a 1st class Coastal Defence Vessel. She saw little combat service during her Japanese career, aside from the Siege of Tsingtao against the Imperial German Navy. As Japan and Russia were allies in World War I

Allies of World War I

, the Japanese government decided that Tango should be transferred back to Russia.

Return to Russia

She was transferred in early 1916, arriving at Vladivostok

Vladivostok

on 21 March 1916, where she was renamed Chesma (her original name had been re-used for a dreadnought launched in 1911

Russian battleship Poltava (1911)

Poltava was the second of the s of the Imperial Russian Navy built before World War I. The Ganguts were the first class of Russian dreadnoughts. She was named after the Russian victory over Charles XII of Sweden in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. She was completed during the winter of 1914–15, but...

). She then set sail for the Mediterranean, arriving at Port Said

Port Said

Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...

on 6 September to join the Allied fleet off Salamis

Salamis Island

Salamis , is the largest Greek island in the Saronic Gulf, about 1 nautical mile off-coast from Piraeus and about 16 km west of Athens. The chief city, Salamina , lies in the west-facing core of the crescent on Salamis Bay, which opens into the Saronic Gulf...

demanding the disarmament of the Greek fleet. Her machinery was overhauled at Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, an English port, on 22 November, and she arrived at Aleksandrovsk, a port in the Murmansk Oblast

Murmansk Oblast

Murmansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk.-Geography:...

, on 3 January 1917. She joined the Revolutionary fleet in October of the same year. After the Allied invasion

Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War

The Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched in 1918 during World War I which continued into the Russian Civil War. Its operations included forces from 14 nations and were conducted over a vast territory...

in early 1918, the ship was captured by the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, who described her as "aground and unseaworthy". She was used as a floating prison to house 40 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....

prisoners. After the British withdrew, the ship was instated into the Bolshevik White Sea Military Flotilla. She was turned over to the port of Archangelsk on 16 June 1921 and stricken from the list of naval vessels

Navy List

A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....

on 3 July 1924, after which she was scrapped.

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