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Tri Sviatitelia (1893)
Encyclopedia
Tri Sviatitelia ( meaning the Three Holy Hierarchs
Three Holy Hierarchs
The Three Holy Hierarchs of Eastern Christianity refers to Basil the Great , Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. They were highly influential bishops of the early church who played pivotal roles in shaping Christian theology...
) 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...
during the 1890s. She served with 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....
and was flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the forces pursuing the mutinous battleship in June 1905. During 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...
the ship encountered 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...
(formally Yavuz Sultan Selim) twice, but never hit the German ship, nor was she damaged by her. From 1915 onward she was relegated to the coast bombardment role as she was the oldest battleship in the Black Sea Fleet. Tri Sviatitelia was refitting 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....
when 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...
of 1917 began and she was never operational afterwards.
She was captured when the Germans took the city in May 1918 and was turned 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...
after the Armistice in November 1918. Tri Sviatitelias engines were destroyed in 1919 by the British when they withdrew from Sevastopol to prevent the advancing Bolsheviks from using her against the 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...
. She was abandoned when the Whites evacuated the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
in 1920 and was scrapped in 1923.
Design
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...
battleship with some improvements in armour and armament.
General characteristics
Tri Sviatitelia was 371 feet (113.1 m) long at the waterline and 378 feet (115.2 m) long overall. She 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 73 inch and a draught
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 28 inch. She displaced 13415 long tons (13,630.3 t), over 800 LT (812.8 t) more than her designed displacement of 12480 LT (12,680.3 t). Tri Sviatitelia was considerably larger than Navarin, being 23 inch longer, 6 feet (1.8 m) wider and displacing 3000 LT (3,048.2 t) more. She had a 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 5.58 feet (1.7 m).
Propulsion
Tri Sviatitelia had two three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines built by the British firm of Humphreys & Tennant that had a total designed output of 10600 ihp. 14 cylindrical fire-tube boilerFire-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 provided steam to the engines at a pressure of 128 pound per square inch, which drove two four-bladed screw propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s. On 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, the powerplant produced a total of 11308 ihp and a top speed of 16.5 knots. She carried a maximum of 1000 long tons (1,016.1 MT) of coal at full load that provided a range of 2250 nautical miles (4,167 km) at a speed of 10 knots (5.4 m/s). Tri Sviatitelia had three dynamo
Dynamo
- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...
s with a total output of 305 kW, but these were too small and could not supply full power to all the electrical equipment simultaneously.
Armament
Her main armament consisted of two pairs of 12 inches (305 mm) Obukhov Model 1895 40-calibreCaliber (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 hydraulically powered twin turret
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 fore and aft. Each turret had a firing arc of 270°. The guns had a rate of fire of 105 seconds between rounds. These guns had a maximum elevation of 15 degrees and could depress to −5 degrees. 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 2598 ft/s (791.9 m/s) to a range of 12010 yards (10,981.9 m) at an elevation of 10°. 75 rounds per gun were carried.
All eight 6 inches (15 cm) Canet Pattern
Canet guns
The Canet guns were a series of weapon systems developed by the French engineer Gustave Canet , who was design engineer for Schneider et Cie of Le Creusot.-320 mm naval guns:...
1892 45-caliber guns were 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 on the upper deck. The guns could elevate to a maximum of 20 degrees and depress to −5 degrees. They fired shells that weighed 91.27 lb (41.4 kg) with a muzzle velocity of 2600 ft/s (792.5 m/s). They had a maximum range of 12600 yards (11,521.4 m) when fired at maximum elevation.
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 consisted of a large number of different guns. Four 4.7 inches (12 cm) Canet Pattern 1892 45-calibre guns were mounted at the corners of the superstructure. The gun fired 45.15 pounds (20.5 kg) shells to a range of about 11000 yards (10,058.4 m) at 18 degrees elevation with a muzzle velocity of 2700 ft/s (823 m/s). The rate of fire was between twelve and fifteen rounds per minute. A total of 10 47 millimetres (1.9 in) 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 carried: six between the 4.7-inch guns, two at the forward end of the superstructure and two in embrasure
Embrasure
In military architecture, an embrasure is the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle...
s in the aft hull. They fired a 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1476 ft/s (449.9 m/s) at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a range of 2020 yards (1,847.1 m). A total of 40 37 millimetres (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns were mounted; eight in each of 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...
s, eight on top of the superstructure, twelve in small hull embrasures fore and aft and the locations of the remaining four are uncertain. They fired a 1.1 pound (0.498951607 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1450 ft/s (442 m/s) at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a range of 3038 yards (2,777.9 m).
Tri Sviatitelia carried six 15 inches (381 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. The forward broadside tubes were underwater, but the other four tubes were above water, one each in the bow and stern and the aft pair of 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:...
tubes. The Type L torpedo carried a 141 pounds (64 kg) warhead
Warhead
The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...
of TNT. It had two speed settings which gave it a maximum range of 980 yards (896.1 m) at 25 knots (13.6 m/s) or 660 yards (603.5 m) at 29 knots (15.8 m/s).
Protection
Tri Sviatitelia was the first Russian ship to use Harvey armour. The armour was made by VickersVickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-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 &...
in Britain as well as the French firms of Schneider 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...
and Saint Chamond. The maximum thickness of the 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....
was 18 inches (457 mm) which reduced to 16 inches (406 mm) abreast the 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. This was the thickest armour ever carried by a Russian battleship. It covered 246 feet (75 m) of the ship's length. The belt was 8 feet (2.4 m) high, and tapered down to a thickness of 9 inches (229 mm) at the bottom edge. The upper 18 inches (45.7 cm) of the belt was intended to be above the waterline, but the ship was overweight and much of the belt was submerged. The belt terminated in 14–16 in (355.6–406.4 mm) transverse 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.
The lower casemate was above the belt, 218 feet (66.4 m) long and eight feet high, and was intended to protect the bases of the turrets. It had 16-inch sides and was closed off by 16-inch transverse bulkheads fore and aft. The upper casemate protected the six-inch guns and was 5 inches (127 mm) thick on all sides. The sides of the turrets were 16 inches (41 cm) thick and the conning tower's sides were 12 inches (305 mm) in thickness. The nickel steel armor deck was 2 inches (5.1 cm) thick over the lower casemate, but 3 inches (7.6 cm) thick forward and aft of the main armor belt to the bow and stern.
Major refit in 1911–12
Tri Sviatitelia was reconstructed between November 1911 and August 1912. A number of different proposals had been considered earlier, including one to replace all of her obsolete Harvey armour with modern Krupp armourKrupp 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...
and others to replace her main guns or turrets, but these were rejected as too expensive. Her masts and fighting tops were replaced by pole masts and all of her light guns and torpedo tubes were removed with the exception of two 47-millimetre guns retained for use as saluting guns. Her 4.7-inch guns were replaced by four shielded 6-inch guns on the roof of the upper casemate. The upper casemate was modified to accommodate two extra 6-inch guns and her superstructure was reduced in size. The maximum elevation of her main guns was increased to 25° and their breeches
Breech-loading weapon
A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....
and loading mechanisms were upgraded to increase their rate of fire to one round every 40 seconds. These modifications had the effect of reducing her displacement by almost 100 long tons (102 t) and she was capable of 16 knots (8.7 m/s) on her post-reconstruction sea trials.
Service
Tri Sviatitelia was named after the Three Holy HierarchsThree Holy Hierarchs
The Three Holy Hierarchs of Eastern Christianity refers to Basil the Great , Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. They were highly influential bishops of the early church who played pivotal roles in shaping Christian theology...
of the Orthodox Church. She was built by Nikolayev Dockyard and laid down 15 August 1891, although actual construction had begun about January 1891. The ship was launched 12 November 1893 and transferred to 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....
for completion the following year. Officially she entered service in 1895 with the Black Sea Fleet, but her sea trials did not begin until September–October 1896. In 1899 Tri Svititelia became the first ship in the world to be fitted with a radio, an installation designed by the Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov
Alexander Stepanovich Popov
Alexander Stepanovich Popov was a Russian physicist who was the first person to demonstrate the practical application of electromagnetic waves....
that had a range of about 3 miles (4.8 km). She was flagship of 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"...
F. F. Vishnevetskii during the pursuit of the mutinous battleship in June 1905. Tri Svititelias forward fighting top was removed about 1908.
World War I
Tri Sviatitelia, accompanied by the pre-dreadnoughts (flagship), , , , bombarded Trebizond on the morning of 17 November 1914 and was intercepted by the German battlecruiserBattlecruiser
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...
and the light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
the following day on their return voyage to Sevastopol in what came to be known as the Battle of Cape Sarych
Battle of Cape Sarych
The Battle of Cape Sarych was a naval engagement fought off the coast of Cape Sarych during the First World War. In November 1914, two modern Ottoman warships, a light cruiser and a battlecruiser, under the German Admiral Wilhelm Souchon engaged a Russian fleet including 5 obsolescent...
. Despite the noon hour the conditions were foggy and the capital ships initially did not spot each other. The Black Sea Fleet had experimented on concentrating fire from several ships under the control of a "master ship" before the war and Evstafi held her fire until Ioann Zlatoust, the master ship, could see Goeben. When the gunnery commands were finally received they showed a range 4000 yards (3,657.6 m) in excess of Evstafis own estimate of 8000 yards (7,315.2 m), so Evstafi opened fire using her own data before the Goeben turned to unmask its broadside. However the Tri Sviatitelia used Ioann Zlatousts inaccurate range data and failed to register any hits on the German ship.
Tri Sviatitelia and Rostislav bombarded Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
fortifications at the mouth of the Bosphorus on 18 March 1915, but only fired 105 rounds before sailing north to rejoin the covering force. Tri Sviatitelia and Rostislav were to have repeated the bombardment the following day, but heavy fog prevented the operation. On 3 April, Goeben and several ships of the Turkish navy raided the Russian port at 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 Russian battleship squadron sortied to intercept them. The battleships chased Goeben the entire day, but were unable to reach effective gunnery range and were forced to break off the chase. On 25 April Tri Sviatitelia and Rostislav repeated their bombardment of the Bosporus forts. Sviatitelia, Rostislav and Pantelimon bombarded the forts again on 2 and 3 May. However, this time a total of 337 main gun rounds were fired in addition to a total of 528 six-inch shells between the three battleships.
On 9 May 1915 Tri Sviatitelia and Pantelimon, returned to bombard the Bosphorus forts, covered by the remaining pre-dreadnoughts. Goeben intercepted the three ships of the covering force, although no damage was inflicted by either side. Tri Sviatitelia and Pantelimon rejoined their consorts and the latter scored two hits on Goeben before she broke off the action. The Russian ships pursued her for six hours before giving up the chase. Tri Sviatitelia was fitted with a pair of 63.5 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...
on top of each of her turrets during 1915 and screens were added on top of her funnels to keep out light bombs. On 12 August 1915 she, and all the other pre-dreadnoughts, were transferred to the 2nd Battleship Brigade, after the dreadnought had entered service. During 1916 she conducted coast bombardment and anti-shipping missions off the Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
n coast.
Tri Sviatitelia was refitting in Sevastopol during the February Revolution of 1917. Immobile, she was captured by the Germans in Sevastopol in May 1918 and handed over to the Allies in December 1918 after the Armistice. The British wrecked her engines on 24 April 1919 when they left the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
to prevent the advancing Bolsheviks from using her against the White Russians. The ship 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 was abandoned by the White Russians when they evacuated the Crimea in November 1920. Tri Sviatitelia was scrapped in 1923, although she was not stricken from the Navy List until 21 November 1925.