A flattering view of Petropavlovsk at sea. Note imperial eagle at the prow.
The Petropavlovsk class consisted of 3 small battleships of 11,000 tons, built for the Russian Baltic fleet at the beginning of the buildup to the Russo-Japanese War. The name ship and Sevastopol were built at the Galerniy Yard; Poltava at the New Admiralty Yard in Petersburg.
Compact and symmetrical ships, they were derived from the Sissoi Veliky, carried a main armament of four 12" guns, and were capable of 17 kts. Their plumb stem turned outwards to form a small ram under water. Developed from the Sissoi model, the Petropavlovski were of slightly larger size, had turret-mounted secondary guns on the sides of the weather deck, and pronounced tumble-home of the hull. This adaptation of French design ideas made for a narrow deck amidships and narrowed superstructure, with the sides straightening to a whaleback at bow and stern. These particular ships were not so high-sided that their stability suffered greatly; compare their profile to the Tsesarevich, a fine embodiment of the French beau idéal. In fact the three Poltavas were medium-freeboard vessels, rather like the Sissoi, with a flush deck fore and aft. The class marked a significant improvement over previous Russian efforts, with their Harvey armor and thicker protection, modestly improved though still substandard speed, and stronger, better-protected secondary armament. Deck features included 2 tall funnels, midships cranes caddied to a kingpost between the funnels, and 2 rather stubby masts of the uniform Russian design. One unusual feature was that these ships, alone among all the battleships featured on this site, did not have any bridge wings. A simple railing around the forward edge of the boat deck sufficed. Another unique feature was a cutaway in the hull beween the two secondary turrets, allowing for a diminutive deck along the side for about 25 feet; also allowing an improved arc of fire for the 6" guns (see the photo of the 3 ships in harbor together for the best illustration of this bit of naval architecture).
Specifications for the class:
Dimensions: 369' x 70' x 28'3" Displacement: 11,354 tons standard. Armament: (4) 12"/35 cal. (2x2), (12) 6"/45 (4x2, 4x1), (10) 2", and (28) 1.5" guns; (6) 18" torpedo tubes. Armor: Harvey armor. Belt 12"/8", deck 3", secondary gun turrets 5", main gun turrets 12", conning tower 9". Propulsion: 14 coal-fired Scotch boilers; (2) inverted vertical triple expansion steam engines developing 11,200 HP, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 16.7 knots. Fuel capacity: 900 tons of coal normal; 1,310 tons maximum. Range: 3,790 nm at 10 knots. Crew: 662. Initial cost: £1.1M at 1898 valuation.
Ships in class: Petropavlovsk · Poltava · Sevastopol. All laid down 1892, all completed 1897.
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 112.5m x 21.3m x 8.6m. Displacement: 11,354 tons standard. Propulsion: 14 coal-fired Scotch boilers; (2) 10,600-HP vertical triple expansion steam engines; twin screw. Speed: 16.7 knots. Fuel capacity: 1,310 tons coal. Armament: (4) 305 mm/35 cal. (2x2), (12) 152 mm/45 (4x2, 4x1), (10) 47mm, and (28) 37mm guns; (6) 450 mm torpedo tubes. Armor: Harvey armor. Belt 305/203 mm, deck 76.2 mm, secondary gun turrets 127 mm, main gun turrets 305 mm, conning tower 229 mm. Propulsion: 14 coal-fired Scotch boilers; (2) vertical triple expansion steam engines developing 7,904 kW; twin screw. Speed: 30.9 km/hr. Endurance: 7,019 km @ 18.5 km/hr. Crew: 622.The ships were named for famous Russian military victories: Petropavlovsk after the battle on the Pacific coast during the Crimean War. By 1902, all 3 sisters were posted to Port Arthur, Russia's major base in Manchuria. War came with a surprise torpedo attack on Feb. 8, 1904, disabling a great part of the Russian fleet. As soon as war was declared, Admiral Stepan O. Makarov (left) was designated commander of the Pacific fleet, arriving in Port Arthur March 7, 1904 with 5 railcars full of naval supplies and a detachment of shipfitters. They immediately set to work repairing the vessels damaged in the attack. Russia's most charismatic and capable admiral, Makaroff threw himself into remedying the fleet's many deficiencies. His energetic, can-do approach infused greater confidence in a fleet already suffering from shaky morale after Japan's sneak attack. He made Petropavlovsk his flagship, though he was known to jump aboard any cruiser with steam up if there was a chance of action.
Makaroff was a national hero in Russia, a man of rare resourcefulness and initiative. During his early career as a protégé of Adm. Popov, he served aboard the Baltic monitor Rusalka and made a private study of torpedo tactics. He pioneered the torpedo boat fleet in the Black Sea, converting iron river steamers into lightly armored torpedo boats. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, the young lieutenant's torpedo tactics brought him worldwide acclaim as his force doggedly attacked the numerically superior Turkish ironclad fleet, keeping them confined to port and neutralizing their contribution to the Turkish cause. During this time a boat of his squadron sank the Turkish ironclad Assari Shevket , a world first. Subsequently Makaroff achieved prominence in the service and in the international scientific community with a number of scientific and technical publications, and became the youngest admiral in the Russian navy, commanding at various times the Baltic and Mediterranean fleets. Always an informal and genial officer, Makarov had the common touch and was beloved by his men.
In their February 1904 night attack, the Japanese had asserted strategic command of the sea and placed the Russians in a defensive mode from which they never truly recovered. Had Makaroff lived, it might have been a different story; but it was not to be.This was the situation when Makaroff assumed command in March 1904: The Japanese Navy continued to harass the blockaded Russians, depleting their fleet with mines and torpedo attacks, bombarding the town and port of Port Arthur from long range, and inviting fleet action by sending weak squadrons to cruise close offshore, within sight of the harbor, while their battleship division lurked just over the horizon, ready to swoop down on unwary Russians. Makaroff lined up his ships' moorings so their guns would cover "blind spots" in the shore batteries' fields of fire and thus end the Japanese bombardments. This was a success: the Russians sent the Fuji back to Sasebo for repairs after taking a 12" hit. The shipfitters built cofferdams around the biggest Russian battleships and patched their compromised hulls. One of the signal Japanese successes was to lure out Makaroff on April 13, 1904. A series of warships of ever greater size exited the Port to save a Russian destoyer that had gotten lost and fallen in with a squadron of Japanese destroyers. On the outward sweep the Japanese led Makaroff over a freshly laid minefield, submerged at high tide. Further on, the Russian squadron sighted the Japanese battle fleet. Makaroff determined to return to Port Arthur and fetch the rest of his strength to have it out with them. But his return leg to port came a few hours later, with the tide ebbing. Petropavlovsk detonated one or two mines while crossing the same spot she had safely traversed on the way out. The ship dissolved in a great cloud of grey-brown smoke and spray (right), sinking almost instantly with great loss of life. Among the killed were Makaroff and the great realist painter Vasily Vereshchagin. The Tsar's cousin, Grand Duke Cyril, who had been serving in the ship, was fished from the water alive. The catastrophe left the Russian navy bereft of its most capable and courageous commander -- a loss from which the Pacific Fleet never fully recovered.
Thinking the day's excitement was over, Lt. Vladimir Semyenov was enjoying a smoke on the forecastle of the cruiser Diana as the fleet returned to port, when he became an unwilling witness to tragedy:Suddenly cries of horror arose: "The Petropavlovsk! The Petropavlovsk!" Dreading the worst, I rushed to the side. I saw a huge cloud of brown smoke. "That is pyroxylene [guncotton], therefore a torpedo [mine]," passed through my mind. In this cloud I saw the ship's foremast. It was slanting, helpless, not as if it was falling, but as if it were suspended in the air. To the left of this cloud I saw the battleship's stern. It looked as always, as if the awful happenings in the fore-part were none of its concern. A third explosion! White steam now began to mix with the brown cloud. The boilers had burst! Suddenly the stern of the battleship rose straight in the air. This happened so rapidly that it did not look as if the bow had gone down, but as if the ship had broken in half amidships. For a moment I saw the screws whirling round in the air. Was there a further explosion? I don't know. It appeared to me as if the after-part of the Petropavlovsk (all that was visible of her) suddenly opened out and belched forth fire and flames, like a volcano. It seemed even as if flames came out of the sea, long after it had closed over the wreck.
Never, even at times when the most important orders were being given, had such silence reigned on board our ship, as at this gruesome spectacle. Habit, however, becomes one's second nature. As an old navigator I was in the habit of noticing everything. When I saw the explosion, I mechanically looked at my watch, and then wrote in my note-book: "9:43. - Explosion on board Petropavlovsk"; and then: "9:44. - All over."
Pobieda too struck a mine and though it triggered no magazine explosions, she had to hobble back into port under tow. It was a mournful procession that entered Port Arthur that evening.
The remaining 2 members of the Petropavlovsk class soldiered on, sharing the waning fortunes of the Pacific Fleet. They fought in the inconclusive but damaging Battle of the Yellow Sea on August 10, 1904, and returned to Port Arthur to lick their wounds after that action. They never ventured forth again under Russian colours, but remained blockaded in port or anchored close outside the entrance. The Port Arthur and Vladivostok fleets never did unite. The Vladivostok cruisers were mauled and the Rurik sunk at the Battle of Ulsan on August 14, 1904; a later sortie was aborted when 2 of the 3 remaining ships ran hard aground, remaining neutralized for the rest of the war. The Port Arthur ships were destroyed piecemeal where they lay. When the Japanese succeeded in taking the heights overlooking the city, they erected 11" siege guns on the hilltops. The moored battleships far below became priority targets. All the Russian warships in harbor were methodically sunk by plunging fire. After the war the Japanese resurrected the fleet, immobilized in the shallows.All except the Sevastopol (left), which had been moved out of range toward the end of the siege, and anchored beyond the Tiger's Tail peninsula. There she was subjected to relentless torpedo attacks from the Japanese, but managed to evade mortal damage. Just before the surrender, the ship was ordered scuttled. Her captain prepared her in such a way that she sank on her side in deep water. After the surrender, she was determined to be too deep and too tricky for salvage. Sevastopol thus became the only Russian capital ship at Port Arthur to escape conscription into the Mikado's forces. Barely submerged at low tide, the Poltava was raised, repaired, and mustered into the Japanese navy for an 8-year stint alongside much of her Port Arthur squadron: Retvizan, two of the Peresviets, the cruisers Pallada, Bayan, and Varyag; together with 4 Russian ironclads captured at Tsushima. During her years in Japanese service, the ex-Poltava sailed as HIJMS Tango. When chance brought the Russians and Japanese into WWI on the same side, a number of the ex-Russians were offered back to the Tsar at a bargain price, and gratefully accepted. Poltava reverted to her original name. During the war she sailed the Arctic beat. Renamed Chesma after the Revolution, she was captured by the British at Murmansk during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, but was found to be damaged beyond repair. Accordingly, the British waived their right to recondition and rename her yet again.
The wreck was scrapped in 1923. Her breakup completed the chequered history of the 1897 Petropavlovsk class, all of which met violent ends. By that time their names had long been recycled to name the "Baltic dreadnoughts" of the 1914 Gangut class.
