Petr Velikyy (1872)
Encyclopedia
Petr Velikiy ( – Peter the Great) was an ironclad turret ship
Turret ship
Turret ships were a 19th century type of warship, the earliest to have their guns mounted in a revolving gun turret, instead of a broadside arrangement....

 built for 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...

 during the 1870s. Her engines and boilers were defective, but were not replaced until 1881. The ship made a cruise to the Mediterranean after they were installed, and before returning 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...

, where she remained for the rest of her career. She did not, like the rest of the Baltic Fleet, participate in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Petr Veliky was deemed obsolete by the late 1890s, but she was not ordered to be converted into a gunnery training ship until 1903.

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 1904–05 slowed her reconstruction, and the ship was not completed until 1908. She spent most of 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...

 as a training ship, although she became a depot ship
Depot ship
A depot ship is a ship which acts as a mobile or fixed base for other ships and submarines or supports a naval base. Depot ships may be specifically designed for their purpose or be converted from another purpose...

 for submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s in 1917. Petr Veliky was in Helskini in March 1918 when the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...

 required the Soviets to evacuate their naval base at Helsinki or have their ships interned by newly independent Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 even though the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...

 was still frozen over. The ship reached Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...

 in April 1918 and was hulk
Hulk (ship)
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Although sometimes used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, the term most often refers to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment removed, retaining only its flotational qualities...

ed on 21 May 1921. She remained in service with the Soviets, in various secondary roles, until she was finally stricken from the Navy List
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....

 in 1959 and subsequently scrapped
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...

.

Design and description

Petr Veliky had its genesis in the visit of the American twin-turret monitor
Monitor (warship)
A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

  to Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...

 in August 1866, that inspired Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 A. A. Popov
Andrei Alexandrovich Popov
Andrei Alexandrovich Popov was an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy, who saw action during the Crimean War, and became a noted naval designer....

 to submit a preliminary design for a low-freeboard, breastwork monitor
Breastwork monitor
A breastwork monitor was one of a number of ships designed by Sir Edward Reed, the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy between 1863 and 1870....

 with a full suite of sails and masts. He intended the ship to act as a hybrid monitor-cruiser, able to attack enemy shipping and threaten his ports. The design was approved by the Naval Technical Committee , and a detailed design was prepared by September 1867. This was reviewed on 20 February 1868, and the coal supply was ordered to be raised from four to five days' steaming, which forced the design to be revised to accommodate the extra coal. This modified design was approved on 26 January 1869 by the Committee, but more changes were made even after that. In May Popov proposed to add a small superstructure forward of the breastwork
Breastwork (fortification)
A breastwork is a fortification. The term is usually applied to temporary fortifications, often an earthwork thrown up to breast height to provide protection to defenders firing over it from a standing position...

 to improve 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 overhanging side armor as used on the monitors during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Both changes were approved on 19 June 1869 although the displacement of the ship had constantly increased from the 7496 long tons (7,616.3 t) of the 1867 design to the 9462 long tons (9,613.9 t) of the June 1869 design.

Construction of the ship, now named Kreiser (Cruiser), began even before the design was approved, but changes to the design continued to be made. The masts and rigging were deleted, presumably shortly after the loss of the British masted turret ship in a storm on 7 September 1870, although the exact date is not known. The decision between a ram
Naval ram
A naval ram was a weapon carried by varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon consisted of an underwater prolongation of the bow of the ship to form an armoured beak, usually between six and twelve feet in length...

 and telescoping spar torpedo
Spar torpedo
A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...

es in the ship's bow was not made until November 1870. The visit of the British naval architect Edward Reed
Edward James Reed
Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...

 in June 1871 prompted changes in the design of the breastwork. It was increased in thickness from 12 inches (30 cm) to 14 inches (36 cm) and extended to the sides of the ship in accordance with suggestions by Reed. Kreiser was renamed Petr Veliky on 11 June 1872, in honor of the bicentennial of Peter the Great's birth.

Petr Veliky was 329 inch long at the waterline and 333 in 8 in (101.7 m) long overall, with 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 63 in 1 in (19.23 m) and a designed 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 24 in 9 in (7.54 m). Her displacement as completed was 10406 long tons (10,573 t), almost 500 LT (508 t) more than her designed displacement of 9665 LT (9,820 t).

The ship's hull was subdivided by one centerline longitudinal, nine transverse and two wing watertight bulkheads, and it had a complete double bottom. Petr Veliky had a high metacentric height
Metacentric height
The metacentric height is a measurement of the static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre . A larger metacentric height implies greater stability against overturning...

 of 8 in 8 in (2.64 m). Although a lively roller, she was considered a passable sea-boat even though water flooded in between the gap between 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 and the deck whenever the sea swept over her forecastle
Forecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...

.

Propulsion

Petr Veliky had two three-cylinder horizontal return connecting rod-steam engines, each driving a single propeller. Steam was provided by 12 rectangular boiler
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...

s with a working pressure of 2.45 atm (248 kPa; 36 psi). The engines were designed to produce a total of 9000 ihp to give the ship a maximum speed of around 13 knots (7.1 m/s). The ship carried a maximum of 1213 long tons (1,232.5 t) of coal, which gave her an economical range of 2900 nautical miles (5,370.8 km) at 10 knots (5.4 m/s).

The machinery was built by the Baird Works
Charles Baird (engineer)
Charles Baird was a Scottish engineer who played an important part in the industrial and business life of 19th century St. Petersburg...

for the price of 1,019,000 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, but proved to be defective. Inferior metal was used in the boilers and multiple cracks and breaks were found in the piping. Cracks were also found in the engine cylinders that Baird had attempted to patch and then puttied over. Baird was forced to replace almost all of the piping by May 1877, but during a new series of sea trial
Sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s...

s in the following month, the ship only reached 11.8 knots (6.4 m/s). The funnel
Funnel (ship)
A funnel is the smokestack or chimney on a ship used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust. They can also be known in as stacks.-Purpose:...

 was raised by about 20 feet (6.1 m) in an attempt to improve the draft to the boiler and 24 stokers were also added to the ship's crew during the winter of 1877–78, but neither had much effect.

Armament

Four muzzle-loading smoothbore
Smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...

 20 inches (51 cm) guns, based on the American Rodman design
Rodman gun
Rodman gun refers to a series of American Civil War-era columbiads designed by Union artilleryman Thomas Jackson Rodman . The guns were designed to fire both shot and shell. These heavy guns were intended to be mounted in seacoast fortifications. They were built in 8-inch, 10-inch, 13-inch,...

, were originally intended as Petr Velikys main armament, but the Russians were impressed by a demonstration of a new Krupp 28 centimetres (11 in) rifled gun. They bought a few guns directly as well as a production license and an enlarged 12-inch, 20-caliber
Caliber (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....

, gun was selected to replace the 20-inch guns. In order to keep the gun ports as small as possible the hydraulic turret machinery raised and lowered the guns' trunnion
Trunnion
A trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting and/or pivoting point. In a cannon, the trunnions are two projections cast just forward of the centre of mass of the cannon and fixed to a two-wheeled movable gun carriage...

s rather than their muzzles. They had a maximum elevation of +12.5° and a maximum depression of −2.5°. This gave the guns a range of about 5800 yards (5,303.5 m) at maximum elevation. The gun turrets were of the Coles type and weighed 360 long tons (365.8 t) each. Powered by steam engines they could make a complete 360° rotation in one minute, although they had a firing arc of only 310°. The guns recoiled into the turrets after firing, which meant that a great deal of powder smoke was released into the turret. To counter this problem, ventilation fans were mounted in the turret roofs. The ship's machinery filled almost the entire breastwork, which forced 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 away from the turrets towards the ends of the ship, and that complicated the ammunition resupply arrangements for those guns. While some shells were stored in the breastwork, most were not, and likely would have slowed the ship's sustained rate of fire in a lengthy engagement.

A number of sources, including Gardiner, claim that the ship suffered a number of cracks while firing the guns while ice-bound during the winter of 1877–78, but this incident cannot be confirmed by Russian-language sources. McLaughlin believes that any such incident would have been mentioned if it occurred, as such sources are otherwise quite candid about the ship's drawbacks.

The 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...

 armament of the Petr Veliky consisted of six four-pounder (3.4 inches (8.6 cm)) guns, four mounted on the bridge, and two at the stern, and two Palmcrantz
Helge Palmcrantz
Helge Palmcrantz , Swedish inventor and industrialist. He was born in Hammerdal, in the province of Jämtland, as the son of a captain at Jämtlands fältjägarregemente. He was recruited as a cadet to his father's regiment, where he worked with land survey...

 one-pounder (1 inches (2.5 cm)) Gatling
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...

-type machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

s. Two telescoping
Telescoping (mechanics)
Telescoping in mechanics describes the movement of one part sliding out from another, lengthening an object from its rest state. In modern equipment, this is often done by hydraulics....

 spar torpedo
Spar torpedo
A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...

es were mounted in the bow; one set at 6 feet (1.8 m) below the waterline and the other at 8 feet (2.4 m). They did not retract all the way into the hull, the excess length was hinged upwards and fastened to the bow. One spar torpedo was hinged on each side of the ship on a 70 feet (21.3 m) boom that was extended until it was angled at 90° to the ship's side. Furthermore two towed Harvey torpedoes were mounted at the rear of the ship. While Petr Veliky was not really maneuverable enough to make full use of these weapons, they were a formidable deterrent to other ships trying to ram.

Armor

Petr Veliky had a complete 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 wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

, imported from Charles Cammell & Co.
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...

 of Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, England, that was intended to extend 3–5 ft (0.9144–1.5 m) below the waterline
Waterline
The term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...

 at the designed displacement. The belt was 14 inches thick for the middle 160 feet (48.8 m) of the ship, but reduced, in steps, to 8 inches (20 cm) at the bow and 9 inches (23 cm) at the stern. It was backed by multiple layers of teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

 and iron, thought to be equivalent of another 3 inches (8 cm) of armor. The breastwork was also 14 inches thick, although the curved portions at the end of the breastwork were Hughes compound armor because very thick plates could not be bent easily. The compound armor consisted of two 7 inches (18 cm) plates separated by a layer of teak. This type of armor was also used to protect the gun turrets. Outside the breastwork, the ship's 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 armored with three 1-inch mild steel plates. The deck protection over the redoubt was either 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) or three inches thick: sources vary.

Service

Petr Veliky was built by the state-owned 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...

 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...

. Construction began on 1 June 1869, although her keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

 was not laid down until 23 July 1870. The ship was launched on 27 August 1872, and entered service with the Baltic Fleet on 14 October 1876. She cost a then-staggering sum of over five and a half million rubles. Two 9-inch mortars
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....

 were fitted on her quarterdeck
Quarterdeck
The quarterdeck is that part of a warship designated by the commanding officer for official and ceremonial functions. In port, the quarterdeck is the most important place on the ship, and is the central control point for all its major activities. Underway, its importance diminishes as control of...

 during the war scare with Britain during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, but they were removed in 1880 without ever having been used in combat. Two frames for launching Whitehead
Robert Whitehead
Robert Whitehead was an English engineer. He developed the first effective self-propelled naval torpedo. His company, located in the Austrian naval centre in Fiume, was the world leader in torpedo development and production up to the First World War.- Early life:He was born the son of a...

 torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

es were added to the ship's sides in that same year, but they proved ineffective.

Her original machinery proved unsatisfactory and the Baird Works forfeited a payment of 254,000 rubles as penalty. The navy began to investigate replacing the ship's machinery in 1878, and a contract was finally signed with John Elder & Co.
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the...

, in Glasgow, Scotland, in October 1880, based on the Navy's favorable experience with the company's construction of the Imperial yacht Livadia
Livadia (yacht, 1880)
The Livadia was an imperial yacht of the House of Romanov built in 1879–1880 to replace a yacht of the same name that had sunk off the coast of Crimea in 1878. The new Livadia, intended for service on the Black Sea, was a radically novel ship conceived by Vice Admiral Andrey Popov, designed by...

. The ship did not reach the Scottish shipyard until 14 July 1881, and was refitting until February 1882. New vertical compound steam engines and twelve cylindrical boilers with a working pressure of 70 pound per square inch replaced the original defective machinery. The spar torpedoes in the bow were replaced by underwater torpedo tubes for Whitehead torpedoes and the ship's propellers and rudder were also replaced. Her funnel was also reduced back to its original height. On 4 February 1882 Petr Veliky ran her sea trials with her new machinery and reached a speed of 14.36 knots (7.8 m/s) with an engine output of 8296 ihp. The new engine and boilers were slightly lighter than their predecessors and the ship now displaced 10105 long tons (10,267.2 t).

Immediately after her sea trials the ship departed Scotland for a Mediterranean cruise. Petr Veliky made port visits at Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, La Spezia
La Spezia
La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...

 and Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

 on her before being recalled. She visited Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

, Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

, and Cherbourg before reaching Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...

 on 12 September. The ship remained in the Baltic Sea for the rest of her career and had her light armament modified several times. During the 1880s her rear 4-pounder guns were replaced by two 44 millimetres (1.7 in) Engstrem guns and two other on her bridge were moved to the roof of the forward turret. Petr Velikys boilers replaced in 1892 and by the mid-1890s the ship mounted two 4-pounder guns on each turret, six 47 millimetres (1.9 in) 5-barrel revolving Hotchkiss gun
Hotchkiss gun
The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch light mountain gun; there was also a 3-inch Hotchkiss gun...

s on the bridge and four 37 millimetres (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns.

Petr Veliky was considered obsolete by the late 1890s and a number of proposals were made to reconstruct her. The most elaborate scheme to raise the turrets 7 inch and build a new armored casemate between the turrets and deck with six 6 inches (15 cm) guns. The existing 14 and 12-inch wrought iron armor plates would be replaced by Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...

 steel plates 8 inches (20 cm) and 7 inches (18 cm) thick respectively. Despite saving 1000 long tons (1,016.1 t) by substituting the lighter steel armor for the wrought iron, the ship would have gained 674 long tons (684.8 t) in displacement and her draft would have increased by about 12 inches. This plan was approved, albeit with a very low priority, and her turrets were removed in October 1898, but nothing more was done. On 11 June 1903 Admiral F. K. Avelan, director of the Naval Ministry, ordered that she be converted into a gunnery training ship.

A new design was approved on 2 February 1904, although the Baltic Works in Saint Petersburg had already begun cutting the ship down to the berth deck. The side armor was removed and an entirely new superstructure was built. The boilers were replaced by twelve fire-tube boiler
Fire-tube boiler
A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases from a fire pass through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water...

s, ten refurbished ones from the Imperial yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

  and two new ones. The new boilers only supplied enough steam to give the engines 5500 ihp, although a second funnel had to be added to accommodate their exhaust. Two masts
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...

 were added with fighting top
Top (sailing ship)
On a traditional square rigged ship, the top is the platform at the upper end of each mast. This is not the masthead "crow's nest" of the popular imagination – above the mainmast is the main-topmast, main-topgallant-mast and main-royal-mast, so that the top is actually about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way...

s. Only the ship's 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....

 was now protected, with convert|4|in|0 of armor plate. The armament was almost entirely replaced with four 50-caliber 8-inch guns mounted in 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 on the upper deck, sponson
Sponson
Sponsons are projections from the sides of a watercraft, for protection, stability, or the mounting of equipment such as armaments or lifeboats, etc...

ed out over the sides of the ship, and six 45-caliber 6-inch guns were fitted in unarmored casemates on each side of the ship. The ship's anti-torpedo boat armament now consisted of twelve 75 millimetres (3 in), four 57 millimetres (2.2 in), eight 47-millimeter and two 37-millimeter guns.

The outbreak of 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...

, almost as soon as her design was approved, meant that work on her slowed to a crawl, and did not resume until early 1907. The ship was completed the following year. As a result of the reconstruction Petr Veliky was now 321 in 10 in (98.09 m) long overall, with a beam of 62 in 4 in (19 m) and a maximum draft of 26 in 7 in (8.1 m). Her displacement was now 9790 long tons (9,947.1 t), almost 400 LT (406 t) lighter than her modified displacement of 10,105 long tons. Her maximum speed was now 12.9 knots (7 m/s), and she carried 714 long tons (725.5 t) of coal. This gave a range of 1500 nautical miles (2,778 km).

After her completion Petr Veliky was assigned to the Gunnery Training Detachment through 1917. A number of sources report that she was renamed by the Soviets as Respublikanets (Republican) or Barrikada (Barricade), but this is not confirmed by the post-Cold War sources used by McLaughlin. That year she was assigned as a depot ship for submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s at Kronstadt and later Helsinki. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...

 required the Soviets to evacuate their naval base at Helsinki in March 1918 or have their ships interned by newly independent Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 even though the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...

 was still frozen over. Petr Veliky reached Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...

 in April in what became known as the 'Ice Voyage'
Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet
Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet was an operation which transferred the ships of the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy from their bases at Tallinn and Helsinki to Kronstadt in 1918, caused by the possible threat to those bases from the final German offensives against Russia during World War...

. The ship was hulk
Hulk (ship)
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Although sometimes used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, the term most often refers to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment removed, retaining only its flotational qualities...

ed on 21 May 1921 and used to store mines
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...

. She was renamed Blokshiv Nr. 1 on 4 December 1923 and forced aground in shallow water by autumn floods in September 1923. She was not refloated
Marine salvage
Marine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...

 and repaired until 5 October 1927. On 1 January 1932 she was renamed to Blokshiv Nr. 4, and to BSh-3 on 16 May 1949, by which time she was being used as a barracks ship
Barracks ship
Barracks ship or barracks barge are terms used to indicate a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sailors. A barracks ship may also be used as a "Receiving Unit" for sailors who need temporary residence prior to being...

 at Kronstadt. The ship was stricken on 18 April 1959 and subsequently scrapped.

External links

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