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Battleship Gangut in World War I |
|
Class overview |
| Builders: |
Admiralty Shipyard, St.Petersburg
Baltic Yard, St.Petersburg |
| Operators: |
 Imperial Russian Navy
 Soviet Navy |
| Preceded by: |
Andrei
Pervozvanny class battleship |
| Succeeded by: |
Imperatritsa
Mariya class battleship
Borodino class
battlecruiser |
| In commission: |
1914-1957 |
| Completed: |
Gangut, Petropavlovsk, Sevastopol,
Poltava |
| Lost: |
1 |
| Retired: |
3 |
|
General characteristics |
| Type: |
Battleship |
| Displacement: |
25,850 tons full load |
| Length: |
180 m (590 ft) |
| Beam: |
26.6 m (87 ft) |
| Draught: |
9.2 m (30 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
4 shaft Parsons-type steam turbines, 25 mixed fired Yarrow
boilers, 42,000 hp |
| Speed: |
23 knots (43 km/h) |
| Range: |
5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km) at 10 knots
(20 km/h). 1,170 tons oil and 3,000 tons coal |
| Complement: |
1,126 |
| Armament: |
12 × 305 mm (12.0 in) MK-3-12 guns in four triple
turrets
16 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns
4 × 47 mm guns
4 × 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes. |
| Armour: |
229mm (9 inch) belt
203mm(8 inch turrets)
76mm (3 inch) main deck
203mm (8 inch) Barbettes
254mm (10 inch) conning tower |
|
The Gangut-class were the first "dreadnought" battleships
built for the Imperial Russian Navy. The ships
were authorised by the Duma
(Russian Parliament) in 1908. Because of lack of experience the
Russians asked several foreign yards for design advice. A
convoluted design history involving Italian, German (Blohm & Voss)
and British (John Brown and
Company) companies ensued. The ships were ordered in 1909. Four
ships were built. Two were named after victorious battles of Peter the
Great in the Great Northern War, two were named
after battles in the Crimean War. Three of the ships replaced
similarly named ships of the Petropavlovsk-class
lost in the Russo-Japanese War.
Design
Original
Design
Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's
Naval Annual 1912
The ships were designed based on the lessons of the
Russo-Japanese war as perceived by the Russians. During Tsushima
the Russians suffered many casualties and significant damage due to
Japanese hits on the upper parts of their battleships therefore the
Ganguts had a dispersed armour belt covering a much larger portion
of the hull with thinner armour. The superstructure was also
significantly smaller due to war experience. Four triple 12 inch
gun turrets were chosen in a similar configuration to the Italian
battleship Dante
Alighieri. The bow shape was adapted for Baltic conditions including
extensive sea ice.
Armament
The main armament comprised four triple turrets armed with Obukhov 305 mm
52 calibre guns. The guns proved to be accurate and reliable ref and fired a 470 kg
(1038 lbs) shell. The turrets had a traverse of 0-155 degrees (bow
and stern) and 25 to 155 degrees midships. Gun elevation was -5 to
25 degrees. The secondary armament consisted of 120mm guns in
casemates. Unfortunately these weapons were located below the 305
mm guns leading to blast damage from the heavy weapons. Fire
control was provided by two 6m rangefinders located on the forward
and aft superstructures.
Protection
The protection was thinner but more laterally extensive then
contemporay British or German ships reflecting the lessons of
Tsushima as percieved by the Russians. The armour was manufactured
by Izhorskiye Zavody
Machinery
The ships were powered by Parsons type steam turbines and Yarrow
type small watertube boilers. There were two boiler rooms separated
by B turret and one machinery room between X and Y turrets.
Modernisation
In the 1930s the three operational ships (i.e., all but
Poltava) were extensively reconstructed with new oil-fired
machinery and new anti-aircraft guns. The small superstructure no
longer adequate for command and control was enlarged and a sea
plane and catapult added on no3 turret. British radar was added during World War II. New bows were added to
improve sea keeping and anti-torpedo bulges were added to some of
the ships. An extensive modernisation programme was planned for the
Marat (Project 27). This project would have involved new machinery,
secondary armament and re-arranging the turrets but was cancelled
on the outbreak of war. A plan to re-build the wreck of the Marat
post war was also considered (Project 27) but
cancelled.[1]
Ships
Gangut
(Гангут)
Gangut was built by Admiralty
Shipyard, St.Petersburg, laid down 1909, launched in
October 1911, and completed in December 1914. Originally named
after the 1714 naval Battle of Gangut outside the Hanko Peninsula
(Hangö udd in Swedish), renamed Oktyabrskaya
Revolyutsiya (October Revolution) in 1918, the
ship served in the Baltic Fleet during World War II and was
scrapped in 1959.
Petropavlovsk (Петропавловск)
Petropavlovsk was built by Baltic
Yard, St.Petersburg, laid down 1909, launched in
November 1911, and completed in December 1914. Originally named
after the battle of Petropavlovsk of the
Crimean War. Sunk at
her moorings by British HM Coastal Motor Boat 4 ( Augustus Agar) but
salvaged and repaired. Renamed Marat
after the French revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat in 1921, the ship
served in the Baltic during the World War II Siege of
Leningrad. She was sunk at her moorings by German Stuka bombers
on 23 September 1941. The wreck continued in action as a floating
battery for the remainder of the siege. She was raised in 1950 and
served as the training ship Volkhov until being scrapped
in 1953.
Sevastopol (Севастополь)
Sevastopol,
built by Baltic Yard, St.Petersburg, was
laid down 1909, launched in October 1911, and completed in November
1914. Originally named after the city of Sevastopol in the Crimea, renamed Parizhskaya Kommuna
after the Paris
Commune of 1871, she was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet
in 1929, because all of the Black Sea Imperatritsa
Mariya class Dreadnoughts were lost during the Revolution
and subsequent Russian Civil War. The ship fought in
World War II, was
renamed Sevastopol in 1943, and was scrapped in 1957.
Poltava
(Полтава)
Poltava was
built by Admiralty Shipyard, St.Petersburg, laid down 1909, launched in
July 1911, and completed in December 1914. Named after the Battle of
Poltava (1709), the ship survived World War I in such a bad state that she
was never repaired. In 1925 she was renamed Frunze, after
the revolutionary leader Mikhail Frunze, and converted into a
training hulk. She was sunk by German artillery during the siege of
Leningrad in 1941, the wreck was raised and scrapped in 1950.
See also
References
- M. Whitley, Battleships of World War II, Cassell
1998
- Conways All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1906-1921
Notes
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