Russian Uragan Class Monitors (1864)
The Uragan class monitor Bronenosets (Armadillo) saw her name become the generic Russian word for battleship. At left center in the background of this fascinating 1865 photo are the angular shapes of some of the channel forts guarding the way to St. Petersburg. These were built on man-made islands dredged from the shallow Baltic bottom. The monitors were part of the same defense system for the capital, aiming to avoid a repeat of the humiliating conclusion of the Crimean War, when the Russian sailing navy was outmaneuvered and defeated by allied steam warships in 1856. With her capital open to bombardment, Russia had been forced to the table; forced to sign a thoroughly disadvantageous peace.
The Russo-American Connection (1861-1870)
During the first years of the American Civil War, France and England rather openly sided with the Southern secessionists. The Union had only one loyal ally in Europe: the Tsarist Russian state. Although we today think only of the repressive and autocratic side of the Romanov dynasty, Russia did indeed have periods of enlightened reform when nobles and patriotic bureaucrats attempted to make a modern, liberal state of their sprawling and unruly empire. The 1860s was one such time. Perhaps not coincidentally, Russia's forward-looking Tsar Alexander II had just emancipated the serfs in 1860 -- a few years before Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, liberating the slaves in the midst of the bloodiest war in American history. Supporting Lincoln and the integrity of the U.S. republic, Russia sent a number of large steam frigates to U.S ports east and west. In some cases the U.S. even provided the ships: the 50-gun frigate Alexander Nyevsky was entirely armed with American-made smoothbore cannon, cast in Pittsburgh. During this time of strife, Russian friendship for the Union was most welcome, but there was an element of mutual advantage at work. In the aftermath of the Crimean War, Russia felt thretened by Britain and convinced that the British had backed a revolt in Russian-occupied Poland. The Tsar's ministers feared a replay of 1856 and -- in a perfect example of generals fighting the last war -- determined to beef up their Baltic defenses. The Nyevsky was but the flagship of an impressive squadron commanded by R. Adm. Stepan S. Lessovsky, in America to acquire advanced naval artillery and technology. This naval mission included Nikolai Artseulov, a shipbuilding expert, and F.N. Pestich, a naval gun expert, both hungry for techniques and military aid.
Russia had found herself frozen out of technological advances in Europe since the Crimean War, when a combined British-French steam war fleet had publicly humiliated the formidable, but all sail-powered Baltic fleet and forced an end to the Crimean War by threatening St. Petersburg. Lessovsky found the Union Navy Department eager to share its own advances in gun manufacturing and mounting. At the time, the Ericsson-designed USS Monitor was the sensation of the day. Following her successful stand-off with the Confederate Virginia, Washington had placed orders for ten improved monitors -- single turret vessels closely resembling the prototype. These were the Passaic Class, and Passaic (above left) was the first and name ship of this group, entering service late in 1862, as orders for even more powerful monitors were placed. Plans for the Passaic Class were made available to Adm. Lessovsky, and on his return to Mother Russia, approval was given to construct a fleet of monitors on the American design -- even duplicating the numbers of the Passaic class, a round ten. Part of the appeal was to acquaint Russian shipyards with the latest techniques. The order was spread to 3 private yards in the Petersburg region (Galerniy, Nyevsky, and Carr & MacPherson) in addition to the government-owned New Admiralty Yard. One pair of ships was sourced to a Belgian yard, Cockerill & Co. This last pair was an early example of prefabrication: the parts were made in Belgium and later assembled at Kronstadt Naval Base in Russia. All the Uragan class ships were laid down in 1863 and completed in 1864.
At the same time, Russia was building a twin-turret monitor of a competing design. Ericsson's turret was slightly preceded by another design perfected by Capt. Cowper Coles of the Royal Navy, who claimed to have received his inspiration while improvising a raft with movable guns for bombardment during the Crimean War. Coles' turret rotated on a roller track on the deck, whereas Ericsson's revolved on a central spindle and had to be jacked up and re-secured every time it was retrained. Both systems were powered by steam with manual backup. Many navies of the time expressed a preference for Coles' model. However, his plans presupposed the sort of manufacturing advances becoming common in Britain at the time, but definitely not available in Russia: integral iron plates 114mm thick (4½ inches) to armor the turrets. By contrast, Ericsson specified laminations of 1" thick iron plate, which could be produced by Russian forges. Coles' ship, the Smerch was a fine and reliable vessel, completed 1864, but as she only carried one gun per turret, she provided no more firepower than the twin-gun, single-turret American design. Because of the of the American ships' better adaptation to Russian manufacturing, they were selected for the big build. Again, the Russians at first attempted to purchase their armor from John Brown & Co. in Sheffield, England, but after some pointed delays, the Russians decided to produce the armor plate at home and build up their domestic industry. As the ships never participated in combat, there is no indication if the product of crude Russian forges was in any way inferior to Britain's most advanced product.
View inside the Passaic's turret -- an American Civil War period illustration. The Russians departed from U.S. practice by mounting two 15" monsters side by side, establishing what was to be common practice in twin-gun turret mounts. The Americans in this period had mounted a 15" gun next to an 11" weapon.
In the rush to get the new ironclad fleet into service, the Tsarist navy procured no less than three sets of guns for the ships in their first decade. An order was placed with Krupp's foundry in Essen, Germany for 9" all-steel smoothbores, and these were the first guns mounted in the ships' turrets. Meanwhile, American technology was being digested in the Admiralty offices. Filemon N. Pestich was sent to America along with Lessovsky's mission, to procure artillery plans and manufacturing processes for the Tsar. He returned in 1863 with a thorough knowledge of the foundry processes to produce 15-inch Dahlgren guns (above), the commonest smoothbore weapon in the Union Navy during the War of Secession. So high was enthusiasm in Russia that an entire new foundry was built specifically to make Dahlgrens for the Uragan class ships -- they were produced at the Aleksandrovsk gun factory in Petrozavodsk. In January 1864 the first gun was successfully cast. Beginning in 1868 the ships were docked and up-gunned to two 15" Dahlgrens per ship. The rearmament was not completed on all 10 ships until 1869, however.
Scrambling to stay ahead of the technological curve, the Russian Admiralty began development of a rifled breech-loading gun in 1863 with the help of Krupp engineers. The Obukhov State Plant was founded that year in St. Petersburg to produce these new Krupp-based weapons. The new 9" guns were dubbed the 229-mm Model 1867 cannon. The Uragan class fleet was rearmed with the M1867 guns starting in 1873.
The Uragan class monitor Veschun as completed was nearly identical to the American model.
Specifications for the Uragans:
Dimensions: 201' x 46' x 11' Displacement: 1,653 tons std. Armament - 1864: (2) 9" Krupp SB; 1868/9: (2) 15" SB Petrozavodsk Dahlgrens; 1873: (2) 9" Obukhov BLR. Wrought iron armor: 11" turret; 5"/3" hull sides; 1" deck, all built up from laminations of 1" plate. Propulsion: (2) coal-fired Martin fire-tube boilers, (1) Humphreys horizontal return connecting rod engine, developing 460 IHP, shafted to single screw. Speed: 6.5 kts. Endurance: 1,400 nm @ 6 kts. Crew: 96-110. Ships in class: Uragan · Tifon · Strelets · Edinorog · Bronenosets · Latnik · Lava · Perun · Veschun · Koldun.
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 61.3m x 14m x 3.3m Displacement: 1,653 tons std. Armament - 1864: (2) 229 mm Krupp SB; 1868/9: (2) 381 mm Petrozavodsk Dahlgren SB; 1873: (2) 229 mm Obukhov BLR. Wrought iron armor: 279 mm turret; 127/76 mm hull sides; 25 mm deck, all built up from laminations of 102 mm plate. Propulsion: (2) coal-fired Martin fire-tube boilers, (1) Humphreys horizontal return connecting rod engine, developing 343 kW, shafted to single screw. Speed: 12 km/hr. Endurance: 2,600 km @ 11.1 km/hr. Crew: 96-110. Ships in class: Uragan · Tifon · Strelets · Edinorog · Tifon · Strelets · Edinorog · Bronenosets · Latnik · Lava · Perun · Veschun · Koldun.
If their purpose was to serve as a deterrant, these monitors served well. They became a common part of the east Baltic scenery for decades. Luckily, these were peaceful decades. Russia's wars were fought far away: on the Black Sea against Turkey in 1877-79, and later against the Chinese Boxers and in Manchuria against Japan. With the inevitable wearing out of machinery and the building of more up-to-date coastal ironclads, the Uragans were retired in the very early 1900s. One by one they were hulked and turned to coal barges or other humble service. Edinorog ("Unicorn") became a mine depot ship. One of the class -- the monitor Strelets (below) -- survived as a battered hulk until the late 1950s.
Of interest to the artillery buff, several of the M1867 rifled cannon also survive. When the ships were hulked, their guns were removed to the Fortress of Peter Veliky. A number of them were transferred to Helsinki, where they may be seen in the fortress of Suomenlinna (see link below for picture), then a key part of the Tsar's empire. But most enduring of all is the use of the term bronenonets to indicate an armored battleship in Russian.
If it is true, as Pasternak wrote, that no one loves poetry like a Russian, there is certainly some value in understanding the poetic names given to these grim weapons of war: In the same order as given in the specifications above, they translate as Hurricane, Typhoon, Unicorn, Armadillo, Lava, Fortune-Teller, and Sorceror.
A Briefcase-full of Bronenosetsi
Stern quarter view of the Strelets. Hulked as a floating workshop in 1900, her hull remained in service until 1956. Enlarge
The Smerch was the prototype Coles turret ship in the Imperial Russian Navy. Manufacturing difficulties and anti-British political alignment influenced the Russians to adopt the American Ericsson model instead. Enlarge
