Russian battleship Georgii Pobedonosets
Encyclopedia
The Georgii Pobedonosets ( Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
the Victorious) was a pre-dreadnought battleship 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...
, the fourth and final ship of the . She was, however, only a half-sister
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...
to the others as her armor scheme was different and she was built much later than the earlier ships. She participated in the pursuit of the mutinous battleship in June 1905,All 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...
but her crew mutinied themselves. However, loyal crew members regained control of the ship the next day and they ran her aground when Potemkin threatened to fire on her if she left Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
harbor. She was relegated to second-line duties in 1908. She fired on the during her bombardment of Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
in 1914, but spent most of the war serving as a headquarters ship in Sevastopol. She was captured by both sides during 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...
, but ended up being towed to Bizerte
Bizerte
Bizerte or Benzert , is the capital city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia and the northernmost city in Africa. It has a population of 230,879 .-History:...
by the fleeing White Russians
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
where she was eventually scrapped.
Design and development
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
s rather than the 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 used by her sisters. The turrets were significantly heavier than the barbette mountings so the armour scheme was revised in compensation. However this revised design was still deemed overweight and rejected. The Naval Ministry held a competition for a replacement, but these were rejected by the Naval Technical Committee in turn. So a modified version of Sinop, with barbettes, was chosen again as the most readily available choice. The height of her armour was lowered to reduce the overweight condition of her half-sisters. Other changes were made while building, but they came early in the process and did not seriously delay her completion past her contractual date of 13 September 1893. These changes included smaller mountings for her main guns that eliminated the 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...
s needed in her sisters for the forward barbettes, the substitution of 35-calibre guns for the older 30-calibre guns and steel armor imported from Schnider et Cie
Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric is a French global company. It was founded in 1836 by two brothers, Eugène and Adolphe Schneider.In the first part of the 20th century, Schneider et Cie associated itself with Westinghouse Systems, a major international electrical group at the time. The group began manufacturing...
of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
replaced the compound armour
Compound armour
Compound armour was a type of armour used on warships in the 1880s. By the end of the decade it had been rendered obsolete by nickel-steel armour.-Prior armours:...
used in her half-sisters.
Georgii Pobedonosets was 347 in 6 in (105.92 m) long at the waterline and 339 in 4 in (103.43 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 68 in 11 in (21.01 m) and a 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 27 in 11 in (8.51 m). She displaced 11032 long tons (11,209.1 t) at load, over 700 LT (711.2 MT) more than her designed displacement of 10280 LT (10,445 t).
She had two 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines driving screw propellers 16 in 5 in (5 m) in diameter. Sixteen cylindrical 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...
provided steam to the engines. The engines and boilers were both imported from Maudslay and Sons
Henry Maudslay
Henry Maudslay was a British machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology.-Early life:...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and were 114 long tons (115.8 t) overweight. The engines had a total designed output of 10000 ihp, but they only produced 9843 ihp on trials and gave a top speed of 16.5 knots. At full load she carried 900 long tons (914.4 MT) of coal that provided her a range of 2800 nautical miles (5,185.6 km) at a speed of 10 knots (5.4 m/s) and 1367 nautical miles (2,531.7 km) at 14.5 knots (7.9 m/s).
Her main armament consisted of three pairs of 12 inches (305 mm) Obukhov Model 1886 35-calibre
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....
guns mounted in two twin 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...
mounts side by side forward and one aft of the superstructure. They had a maximum elevation of 15° and could depress to −2°. Each of the forward mounts could traverse 30° across the bow and 35° abaft the beam, or a total of 155°. The rear mount could traverse 202°. Their rate of fire was one round every four minutes, fifty seconds, including training time. They fired a 731.3 pounds (331.7 kg) shell 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 2090 ft/s (637 m/s) to a range of 11600 yards (10,607 m) at maximum elevation. They also had a 'heavy' shell available that weighed 1003 lb (455 kg) that was fired at a velocity of 2000 ft/s (609.6 m/s) although the range is not available.
The seven 6 inches (152 mm) Model 1877 35-calibre guns were mounted on broadside pivot mounts in hull embrasures, except for one gun mounted in the stern in the hull. The eight 47 millimetres (1.9 in) single-barrelled 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 were mounted on the battery deck to defend the ship against 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. Ten 37 millimetres (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns were mounted in the 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...
. She carried seven above-water 14 inches (356 mm) 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, three tubes on each broadside and a tube in the stern.
In contrast to her half-sisters the armour used on Georgii Pobedonosets was steel. The belt armor
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....
had a maximum thickness of 16 inches (40.6 cm) which reduced, in 2 inches (5.1 cm) steps, down to 6 inches (15.2 cm) forward and down to 8 inches (20.3 cm) aft. Its height was reduced by 1 foot (0.3048 m) in comparison to the other ships of the class to 7 feet (2.1 m) to reduce weight. However this left only six inches of her belt above her load waterline as she was still overweight, a decrease of 7 inches (17.8 cm) from her half-sisters. The deck armour was 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) outside the citadel and reduced to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) over it.
Service history
Georgii Pobedonosets was named after Saint GeorgeSaint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
the Victorious. She was built by the Russian Steam Navigation Company (RoPIT)
Sevastopol Shipyard
The Sevastopol Shipyard is a branch of the Sevastopol Marine Plant joint stock company . The shipyard is located in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine and is engaged in the repair, modernization and re-equipment of Russian and Ukrainian Naval ships and submarines.- History :The Sevastopol Marine Plant...
at Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
. She was laid down on 5 May 1891, launched in 9 March 1892, and completed in 1893, although her trials lasted until mid-1895. She spent her career in the Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
. She began her trials in September 1893, but they were not completed until the middle of 1895.
In 1905, Georgii Pobedonosets briefly joined the Potemkin mutiny. On the 16th/29th June 1905 it was one of eight vessels (3 battleships, a cruiser and four torpedo boats) sent to capture the in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
. The next day the fleet approached the Potemkin, then suddenly retreated. It then followed them, deliberately goading the officers to order the sailors to fire on their comrades. The crew of the St George refused: "We won't fire! We won't man the guns! We refuse to engage the Potemkin." It's sailors cheered the rebel sailors' bravery. Dorofey Koshuba, a member of the revolutionary sailors' organisation Tsentralka, broke into the armoury, ordered the captain Ilya Guzevich to halt the ship, pushing him away when he refused. The ship halted, Guzevich pleaded with the sailors to got to Sebastopol
Sebastopol
Sebastopol is a former spelling and frequent variant of Sevastopol, the port on the Crimean peninsula.Sebastopol may refer to the following:Places:* Sebastopol, California, USA* Sebastopol, Mississippi, USA...
, even offering to let the 70 revolutionaries onto the Potemkin. Afanasi Matushenko
Afanasi Matushenko
Afanasy Nikolayevich Matushenko , was a Ukrainian political activist, a non-commissioned officer in the Black Sea Fleet, and head of the uprising on the Russian battleship Potemkin....
, the leader of the Potemkin, arrived with several revolutionaries who made a speech that inspired the sailors to arrest the officers. This was enough to make his second in command, Lieutenant Grigorkov, blow his own brains out.. Apart from this, the seizure was bloodless. The sailors elected a committee (Koshuba and nine others), locked the officers in the stateroom and ripped off their Epaulette
Epaulette
Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations.Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or "passant", a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the...
s. The officers were put ashore in Odessa. It was decided that the Petty officer
Petty Officer
A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...
s should be put ashore too the next day. Senior Boatswain
Boatswain
A boatswain , bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The boatswain supervises the other unlicensed members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews...
A O Kuzmenko became captain.
However, the next day loyal crew members regained control of the ship and they ran her aground and surrendered to the authorities. In August 1905, 75 mutineers were tried. Koshuba and two others were executed and 19 sailors got 185 years of hard labour.
In 1907 the Naval General Staff made a proposal for a radical reconstruction that was similar to the proposals to reconstruct and made before 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...
that involved cutting her down by one deck and replacing her armament with two twin-gun turrets equipped with 12-inch 40-calibre guns and the compound armor replaced by Krupp armor. This new proposal differed from the older one in that eight 120 millimetres (4.7 in) guns replaced the ten six-inch guns originally planned. This was rejected as the she still would have lacked the speed to stay with the main fleet and the hull protection required to withstand high-explosive shell fire.
She became a training ship in 1908 and her 6-inch 35-calibre guns were replaced by modern 6-inch 45-calibre guns. She was modified as a harbour guard ship in 1911 and her 12-inch guns were removed. Six more six-inch guns were added for a total of fourteen. She fired three rounds, missing each time, at the German battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
during her bombardment of Sevastopol on 29 October 1914, but spent the bulk of World War I as a static headquarters ship in Sevastopol. After the Russian Revolution she joined the Red Black Sea Fleet in December 1917 . She was captured by the Germans in 1918 in Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
and was handed over to the 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...
in December 1918. The British sabotaged her engines on 25 April 1919. She was captured by both sides in 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...
, but eventually became part of Wrangel's fleet
Wrangel's fleet
Wrangel's Fleet, the last remnant of the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy, existed from 1920 until 1924. This squadron was a "White" unit during the Russian Civil War...
and was towed to Bizerte in 1920. She was sold for scrap between 1930 and 1936.