The Twelve Apostles at Batum. Click here to enlarge image.

The Dvienadtsat Apostlov (12 Apostles) was that peculiarly Russian invention, a Black Sea battleship. These were deliberately small (less than 9,000 tons versus 10-12,000 for Russia's oceangoing battleships) and medium-performance ships. They were developed for economy of operation, for intimidating the Turks and potentially rebellious indigenous people of the Black Sea basin. Built at Nikolayev, Ukraine from 1888-1892, 12 Apostles was a barbette ship, as seen in the shot above, but also retained features of the central battery ship: the armored redoubt with trimmed-off corners and the cutouts along the sides of the hull to permit axial fire. In the later 1890s armored shields were installed over the main guns. These were the of dome-shaped variety also seen on the Nikolai I and other contemporary Russian ships. The secondary armament was installed in casemates in a central box battery with 5" armor.

The ship had a tumble-home shape with fat hips, scooped out with a straight cutout along the berth deck (see plan). The midships redoubt was supported by an oblique-cornered gunhouse in the middle of the cutout. The Twelve Apostles had uniquely Russian details like the midships cranes, burly cylindrical gunhouse on the foremast (lowest platform just behind the bridge), and the regulation Romanov 2-headed eagle in gilt bronze at prow and stern. The 12" guns were trained by steam power, never a satisfactory arrangement, and had to be retrained fore-and-aft to load. This made firing the main guns a very slow process. Indeed, this was a rather slow ship, achieving her design speed of 16.5 kts only on trials. She was known as a ravenous consumer of fuel even at slower speeds; but in this she had plenty of company in Nicholas II's Black Sea fleet.

Specifications for the 12 Apostles:
Dimensions: 342' x 60' x 27'6" Displacement: 8,709 tons standard. Armament (as built): (4) 12"/35 cal, (4) 6"/35, and (12) 47mm 3-pdr guns; (6) 15" torpedo tubes above water. Compound armor: Belt: 14"/10"; upper belt 10"/6"; barbettes: 10"; main gun shields: 3". Midships redoubt: 5". Conning tower: 12".Propulsion: 8 coal-fired cylindrical (Scotch) boilers, (4) single-ended and (4) double-ended; (2) vertical triple-expansion steam engines developing 11,600 HP, shafted to twin screw. Designed speed: 16.5 kts. Maximum actual speed: 15.75 kts. Endurance: 1,540 nm @ 12 kts. Crew: 599. Initial cost: Around £750,000 at 1890 valuation. Schematic

Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 104.24m x 18.29m x 8.38m. Displacement: 8,709 tons standard. Armament (as built): (4) 305 mm/35 cal; (4) 152 mm/35; and (12) 47 mm guns; (6) 381 mm torpedo tubes, all above-water type. Armor: Compound type. Belt: 356/254 mm; upper belt 254/127 mm; barbettes: 254 mm; main gun shields: 76 mm; midships redoubt: 127 mm; conning tower: 305 mm. Propulsion: 8 coal-fired cylindrical (Scotch) boilers; (2) vertical triple-expansion steam engines developing 11,600 HP; twin screw. Maximum actual speed: 29.2 km/hr. Endurance: 2,850 km @ 22.25 km/hr. Crew: 599. Initial cost: Around £750,000 at 1890 valuation. Schematic

A quarter view of the ship from the 1890s, showing the original barbette mounting of the 12" guns. This angle suggests her derivation from earlier central battery ships, with scooped-out sides and square battery on the beam. Note also the peculiar flying bridge and open-air circular control station under the mainmast.

A later photo from nearly the same angle, taken from Jane's Fighting Ships 1906-07, distinctly shows the bubble-shaped 3" (76 mm) shields added over the 12" guns.

Decommissioned in 1911, the obsolete battleship was converted into a stationary training ship. She was brought out of reserve on the outbreak of WWI and served as a depot ship. She was captured by the Germans in 1918 and subsequently rendered to the Allies in December 1918. The Allies showed their bias when they handed her over to the White Russians at the height of the Civil War. At the conclusion of the Russian civil war, she was handed over to the victorious Reds. Perhaps she is most famous for her part in the classic silent film Battleship Potemkin, in which she is seen pursuing Potemkin in the closing sequences of encounter between the rebel battleship and the loyal Tsarist fleet, rolling and taking water over the foredeck in a bow shot, and looking suitably antique with her stovepipe funnels and many ventilators. Her similarity to the actual historical flagship Rostislav (below) adds verisimilitude to a scene largely filmed with ships that did not even exist in 1905, the time-frame in which the movie is set. The filming was completed by early 1925. The ship went back into inactivity for several years before being sold to the shipbreakers in 1931.

The Rostislav, completed 1898, was named for Prince Rostislav I of Kiev, one of the medieval forerunners of the Russian state. The ship was a second-class battleship, armed with 10" guns, and had a wall-sided hull with plumb stem and only a hint of a ram underwater, in a trait shared with some later Russian small battleships. Rostislav was Adm. Krieger's flagship when she faced the mutinous Potemkin in 1905. No match for the Potemkin (at least, had Potemkin had a fully trained crew), she disdainfully faced down the rebellious battleship on two occasions, sending orders by flag hoist which the mutineers ignored -- daring discontented elements in the admiral's remaining fleet to follow the firebrands on the Potemkin.

In fact Rostislav's design was unique among Russian battleships; four twin turrets of 6" guns were deployed in cutouts at the corners of the superstructure. A large rectangular pilothouse fronted the superstructure, and the mother of all swept-back bridge wings extended over the forward 6" turrets. The deck beneath the bridge was recessed under a series of stanchions like an ocean liner's promenade deck. Rostislav also carried a small arsenal of 47mm and 37mm weapons, mostly placed amidships on the main deck. Though still a Black Sea battleship, this one paralleled the contemporaneous Petropavlovsk class in secondary armament and speed if not in size. Her guns were hydraulically trained with electric ammo lifts, and featured all-round loading for faster firing. Her Harvey process armor plate was manufactured in the U.S.: 1,200 tons from Bethlehem Steel. Rostislav was the first Russian battleship capable of burning oil as fuel.

At right, Rostislav in her glory days as Black Sea Fleet flagship, leading the squadron in exercises on the stormy sea for which she was designed. This photo shows the square-fronted navigating bridge, foremast gunhouse, and bow decoration to advantage. Note also the covered searchlights on the foremast. The ship appears from this angle in Battleship Potemkin, albeit in rustier form. For a razor-sharp enlargement of this exciting photo, click here.

Specifications for the Rostislav:
Built at Nikolayev, Ukraine, 1894-1898. Dimensions: 352' x 67'10½" x 25'3" Displacement: 9,029 tons standard; 9,370 tons deep laden. Armament: (4) 10" (2x2); (8) 6" (4x2); (12) 47mm; (16) 37mm. (6) 15" torpedo tubes. Armor: Harvey type throughout. Belt: 14"/5"; turrets: 10/5". Secondary turrets: 5". Conning tower: 6". Propulsion: 14 cylindrical (Scotch) boilers; (2) 8,700-hp vertical triple-expansion steam engines; twin screw. Maximum speed: 16 kts. Fuel capacity: 800 tons of coal. Some oil fuel. Endurance: 3,050 nm @ 10 kts. Crew: 650.

Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 107.2m x 20.7m x 7.7m. Displacement: 9,029 tons standard; 9,370 tons deep laden. Armament: (4) 254 mm (2x2), (8) 152 mm (4x2), (12) 47mm, and (16) 37mm guns. (6) 450 mm torpedo tubes. Armor: Harvey type throughout. Belt: 356/127 mm; turrets: 254/127 mm; secondary turrets: 127 mm; conning tower: 152 mm. Propulsion: 14 cylindrical (Scotch) boilers; (2) 8,700-hp vertical triple-expansion steam engines; twin screw. Maximum speed: 29.6 km/hr. Fuel capacity: 800 tons of coal. Some oil fuel. Endurance: 5,649 km @ 18.52 km/hr. Crew: 650.

Rostislav fought in World War I with the Black Sea Fleet. The Russians formed a bombardment unit to harass Turkish installations, disrupting coal shipments for the Turkish railroads by disabling their chief transshipment port at Zonguldak. Together with the 2 Evstafi class battleships and 2 other 12"-gunned ships in the bombardment unit, she engaged the Breslau while the other 4 concentrated their 12" fire on the Goeben -- the ex-Germans got the worst of it in that action, known as the Battle of Cape Sarych (Nov. 18, 1914). During these actions one of her mates in the bombardment fleet was her old adversary, the Potemkin (renamed Panteleimon so the Tsar would never have to say the hateful name "Potemkin" again.)

Rostislav's last assignment as an Imperial warship was to support Romanian troops holding the port of Constanta; while there she was hit by an aerial bomb from a German seaplane. She covered the retreat in 1918 as the Germans overran Constanta. Later at Sevastopol, she was captured by the Germans in April 1918, and then in November by the British; they disabled her engines in April 1919. Like all the warships in British hands during the Russian Civil War, she reverted to the Whites, who grounded her at Kerch and used her as a floating battery. As part of the collapse of the White effort, she was scuttled on November 16, 1920 to prevent her falling into Bolshevik hands -- but in vain. The ship was raised and used as a stationary supply ship. Her engines were in sufficient repair to appear in a cameo rôle in Battleship Potemkin, seen in a bow show leading 12 Apostles in pursuit of the Potemkin. Rostislav was eventually broken up in 1930, one of the last surviving pre-dreadnoughts from the old Tsarist Black Sea fleet.

Rostislav at anchor shows her modest proportions and symmetric layout. Note swept-back bridge wings and gallery of stanchions beneath bridge.