Cruisers of the Black Sea
The death of the Guards missile cruiser Moskva while performing a combat mission as part of a special military operation in Ukraine deprived the Russian Navy of the last ship of this class in the theater of operations (Theater of Operations). Looking into the future, it is highly likely that new cruisers will be included in the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet) The Russian Navy will no longer exist. This gives reason to recall what kind of domestic ships of the classification in question sailed through the Black Sea, how they appeared there and what they remembered.
Let's start with the tsarist period, when the country desperately sought to gain free passage for its military and merchant ships to the Mediterranean Sea and from there to the open ocean. This aspiration was explained by the desire for freedom of economic, cultural and political ties with other countries of the world.
However, the straits connecting the Black Sea through Marmara with the Mediterranean were under the control of the Ottoman Empire. To transfer Russian ships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, as well as in the opposite direction, St. Petersburg had to apply to Istanbul for appropriate permits. Since Russian-Turkish relations were rarely friendly, a positive response did not always come. When deciding to allow Russian sailors to pass, the Turks were not particularly worried when it came to commercial vessels, as well as small, poorly armed warships such as gunboats or destroyers. The situation was much more complicated with large warships, which also included cruisers.
THE PIONEERS
Apparently, the first "cruiser-type vessel", with the consent of the Sultan, which made a short-term call into the Black Sea, was the screw frigate Alexander Nevsky assigned to the Baltic Fleet. The event happened in the summer of 1868, and on the night of September 12-13, 1868, the frigate crashed on the rocks at the Hanstholmen lighthouse. Although the tactical and technical characteristics allowed the Nevsky to be considered a cruiser, such officially appeared in the Royal Navy only in 1892, when a new classification of warships was adopted.
The fate of the screw clipper with full sailing armament "Bully" turned out differently. By royal order, the 1,236-ton ship was built in 1879 at the William Crump shipyard in Philadelphia. He was among other clippers, which in February 1892 were transferred to cruisers of the second rank. Therefore, with a certain stretch, the Bully can be considered the first Russian cruiser to pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits into the Black Sea, and then return to the Mediterranean in the same way.
In the autumn of 1885, the clipper operated as part of the Mediterranean detachment under the command of Rear Admiral Nikolai Kaznakov. The Bully participated in patrolling the Greek coast, from time to time resting the crew in Piraeus, where he defended himself as a stationer.
Towards the end of the year, St. Petersburg received information about the upcoming coup in Bulgaria. Diplomats began to look for levers of influence on the ongoing processes, for which they came into contact with Istanbul. During the negotiations, they requested the consent of the Brilliant Port to conduct a "Bully" in the Black Sea, allegedly due to the need for urgent repair of boilers using parts available in Sevastopol. Although Russian-Turkish relations were not in the best shape, agreement was obtained. Preparations for the inter-fleet crossing began in January 1886. Miraculously, it turned out that the clipper was located off the coast of Bulgaria when Russophile-minded officers overthrew Prince Alexander of Battenberg there. Russian Russian Bully became the first Russian ship to arrive in Varna, where it served as a means of pressure on the prince's supporters with the main task of protecting Russian subjects. A couple of days later, on October 14, the armed steamer "Memory of Mercury" came from Sevastopol. Together, the two ships made the transition to Burgas, which as of October 26 was still in the hands of the rebels. The navy was able to restrain the punitive aspirations of the princely successors for only two weeks, after which the instigators of the failed coup were killed. However, before the rupture of diplomatic relations on the Bully and the Memory of Mercury, it was possible to gather many Russian subjects and pro-Russian Bulgarians for subsequent export to a safe destination.
In full accordance with the Russian-Turkish agreements, the Bully got up for repairs in Sevastopol, where by that time new boilers produced by the Kronstadt Steamship Plant had been delivered. The armament was reinforced with one-and-a-half-inch rapid-fire guns of a new type. Acting as part of a Practical detachment of the Black Sea, in the summer of 1887, the clipper (and with it the Memory of Mercury) took part in exercises to capture the Bosphorus, the features of which became known to the crew when they made an inter-fleet crossing. Since Istanbul allowed only a temporary stay of the "Bully" in the Black Sea, in 1888 the clipper returned to the Mediterranean by straits.
PERSONAL TRANSPORT OF THE GRAND DUKE
The next in line is the Admiral Kornilov with a displacement of about 6 thousand tons, built in France in 1889. Three years later, in accordance with the new classification, he was enlisted in the 1st rank cruisers. The main caliber artillery was represented by 14 six-inch guns. The cruiser has no belt armor, but only a steel deck with bevels 40-60 mm thick. The machine with a capacity of 6000 hp provided a speed of about 17 knots, and when using additional boost – 17.6. After loading a thousand tons of coal, the cruiser could steam 10 thousand miles at an economic speed of 9 knots. At the same time, he also had sails with an area of 1.7 thousand square meters, which provided him with a stroke of up to 10 knots and an almost unlimited sailing range.
The Kornilov's entry into the Black Sea is associated with Grand Duke George Alexandrovich (years of life 1871-1899). He was the brother of the future Russian autocrat Nicholas II. George chose the path of a military navigator and in 1889 became a midshipman. And the following summer, Emperor Alexander III sent his sons on a trip abroad on the armored cruiser "Memory of Azov". While the older brother was only a passenger on the voyage, the younger one held the position of watch officer, served on an equal basis with other crew members.
By that time, doctors had already diagnosed George with tuberculosis. But together with his parents, the doctors hoped that the sea air would benefit him. However, in December 1890, the patient suffered an attack, and it was decided to transfer him from the cruiser "Memory of Azov" (he continued to take Nikolai to Japan) to another – "Admiral Kornilov". He was returning from the Far East to the Baltic and arrived in Bombay on the way in January.
The Kornilov was not specially prepared for the reception of members of the royal family, so on board Georgy found himself in a natural environment of fellow officers, disposed to sincere communication. Without delay, St. Petersburg agreed with Istanbul on a short-term entry of the cruiser into the Black Sea, explaining its request by the need to quickly deliver the Grand Duke to a place of treatment on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula.
Having received Turkish permission to pass through the straits, Kornilov deviated from the previously planned route. After entering the Mediterranean Sea, the cruiser stayed here for several weeks with the hope that the mild climate would have a therapeutic effect on the patient. Then, after passing the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, the ship headed for Yalta. He arrived there on May 26, and on June 9, already under the standard of Empress Maria Feodorovna, he moved to Sevastopol. Having landed the august persons in the Southern Bay, the next day the cruiser went out on an external raid together with the Black Sea battleships.
Contemporaries noted that the entry of the Admiral Kornilov into the Black Sea carried great moral significance, symbolizing the return of the spirit of Vladimir Alekseevich to Sevastopol. The organizer of the defense of the city in the Crimean War, Kornilov died on Malakhov Kurgan from a shell fired by Anglo-French troops.
Taking advantage of the repair base in Sevastopol, the cruiser cleaned the steam boilers. At the same time, 300 tons of coal and a two-month supply of provisions were loaded on board. Having fully fulfilled the program of stay on the Black Sea agreed with the Turks, on June 18, Admiral Kornilov left Sevastopol forever. After passing through the Straits, the cruiser, with stops in Naples, Gibraltar, Cherbourg and Portsmouth, moved to the Baltic.
As for the Grand Duke, later another Baltic cruiser, the armored Dmitry Donskoy, was sent to his disposal. It should be noted that he joined the Russian fleet as a semi-armored frigate, but in accordance with the new classification of 1892, in February he was assigned to the 1st rank cruisers. The Turks agreed to a short-term (during March 1892) stay of the Donskoy on the Black Sea. After passing the Bosphorus, the ship immediately went to Batumi, where Georgy Alexandrovich boarded (after Yalta he lived in the Abbas-Tuman estate). Once again on board the Russian cruiser, the Grand Duke experienced a rise in spiritual strength, and traveling by sea had a positive effect on his condition. Having landed the august person in Piraeus, the cruiser continued the previously planned passage to the Far East.
SHIPBUILDING PROGRAM
"Russia must be ready to meet the enemy outside its waters, off its shores, whether in the Baltic or in the Black Sea," the participants of the August 1881 high–level meeting stated. They determined the primary importance of the Black Sea Fleet in comparison with the task of strengthening other fleets. The necessary composition of forces on the Black Sea was determined to be 8 battleships, 3 messenger cruisers of the 2nd rank, 20 destroyers.
In case of war with Japan, it was supposed to send both Baltic and Black Sea battleships to the Far East. Ships suitable for such a long-range inter-fleet crossing had yet to be designed and built. Accordingly, the development of new battleships was carried out for operations not only within the Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Seas, but also in the open ocean.
The shipbuilding program of 1883-1902 involved the construction of a pair of new cruisers. However, in this part, its implementation was repeatedly postponed in favor of the battleships. Therefore, for a long time, the Memory of Mercury remained the only "cruiser" of the Black Sea Fleet. It was built in 1881 at the Forge and Chantier factory in Toulon as a 90-meter screw steamer and originally bore the name Yaroslavl. It was distinguished by a high-power machine and a full sail mast. At the design stage, it was possible (in case of war) to install several medium-caliber guns.
The terms of reference drawn up under the supervision of the military department required French shipbuilders to provide a huge range of navigation both under sail and on coal (a reserve of 1 thousand tons), which was reflected in more than 30% of the share of coal and provisions in the total weight of the ship.
With the transfer to Sevastopol (and the Turks did not detain unarmed vessels), the steamer began cargo and passenger transportation, but they turned out to be unprofitable. The ship was bought by the Navy, installed cannons and torpedo tubes, as a result of which the displacement exceeded 3 thousand tons. In 1892, the Memory of Mercury was ranked as a 1st-rank cruiser. Thus, it can be considered the first ship of this type in the Black Sea Fleet.
Turkey also acquired unarmed vessels abroad, which, if necessary, could be used for military purposes. Built by the British in 1866 by order of the Turkish Sultan Abdul Aziz, the steam yacht "Maharussa" with side wheels of 8.5 meters and a steam engine of 6400 hp showed a speed of 18.5 knots, which became a record indicator of that time. Suffice it to say that the later-built cruiser "Memory of Mercury" developed only 16.5 knots, which did not prevent it from remaining the fastest Russian warship of the 1st rank on the Black Sea for a long time.
Ochakov went down in history as one of the active participants in the revolutionary events of 1905. Photos from the website goskatalog.ru
MINE CRUISERS
Among the naval commanders there were those who understood the importance of special-built cruisers for the Black Sea Fleet. However, they did not dare to openly advocate a revision of the previously adopted shipbuilding program. Instead, they were looking for workarounds. There was a proposal to build so-called mine cruisers, among other destroyers.
Admiral Nikolai Chikhachev, the head of the Maritime Ministry, believed that two mine cruisers should be available for each battleship. According to him, they were supposed to destroy enemy destroyers, thereby protecting their battleship from torpedo attacks. The next most important task was to conduct reconnaissance in the interests of the squadron. The destroyers of that time could not cope with the latter. They had narrowed hulls sitting low in the water, which limited seaworthiness and put the gunners in difficult conditions when exchanging fire with the enemy.
In 1880, by royal order, the destroyer Batum was built in England with a displacement of 48 tons and a speed of 22 knots (however, after the installation of standard weapons, the stroke fell to 15 knots). The ship showed excellent seaworthiness for its size, confirmed during the transition from England to the Black Sea. However, the forced 500 hp machine seemed unreliable to the Russian naval commanders for long-distance hikes, so the Batum received three retractable masts for sails.
During the maneuvers of the Royal Navy in 1885, it turned out that the artillery of a single battleship was not able to provide it with reliable protection from attacks by 3-4 high-speed destroyers like Batum. The sea lords came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create special "mine–fighting ships" with artillery and torpedo armament, in this case, "torpedo gunboats" with a displacement of 550 tons and a speed of 18-19 knots. In response, Russia began building minecruisers. In ten years, starting in 1886, four ships were manufactured for the Baltic, two for the Pacific Ocean and three for the Black Sea.
The Baltic "Lieutenant Ilyin" was taken as a basis for the construction of the Black Sea "Captain Saken" in Nikolaev in 1889. It turned out to be a fairly large ship with a crew of 127 officers and sailors. It had armor protection: a 13-mm carapace deck covered the boilers and the car. The design displacement was exceeded and reached 742 tons, therefore, instead of the expected 20-knot speed, we had to settle for a maximum stroke of 18.3 knots.
The high-sided 70-meter Captain Saken had tolerable seaworthiness and autonomy, which, in good weather, allowed it to be used for reconnaissance in the expanses of the Black Sea within a range of about 1.6 thousand miles of fuel reserve. However, its tall silhouette presented a convenient target for naval artillery, which is why the minecruiser could not be sent into a torpedo attack on an enemy battleship. In practice, torpedoes (in three single-tube tubes) could be useful for sinking large steamships encountered on enemy sea communications. Moreover, the artillery of the mine cruisers from a dozen rapid-firing 47 and 37 mm caliber guns was effective only against destroyers and small destroyers.
The value of Saken as a scout has increased with the introduction of radio communications. In the summer of 1899, for the first time in world history, it was installed between warships. A transmitter was mounted on the minecruiser, and the battleships George the Victorious and Three Saints received and transmitted devices.
The desire to improve speed indicators led to the order of a minecruiser from the German company Schichau. Lightened to 430 tons, Kazarsky developed a stroke of 21 knots during the tests. According to his model, the Nikolaev shipbuilders in 1893 assembled a 57-meter "Griden" with a speed of one and a half knots more. They differed from the Captain Saken in their understated silhouette and worse seaworthiness, and in general they looked more like destroyers than cruisers.
The appearance of "Captain Saken" on the Black Sea helped to alleviate the severity of the problem with the shortage of "real" cruisers on the Black Sea.
He did not participate in hostilities, and in peacetime he was used as a reconnaissance, messenger and patrol vessel.
On the eve of the First World War, a series of mine cruisers with a high forecastle, a total displacement of 780 to 820 tons and a range of 2 thousand miles were built for the Black Sea Fleet. During the tests, these 74-meter ships accelerated to 25 knots, but in service they developed only 22-23 knots. The armament included 5 guns of 75 mm caliber and one of 120 mm caliber, however, due to the poor qualities of the former, they were subsequently replaced by a second 120 mm gun. "Lieutenant Zatsarenny" died in 1917 on a German mine, "Captain Saken" was hijacked by the White Guards in Bizerte. "Lieutenant Shestakov" and "Captain-Lieutenant Baranov" were flooded in Novorossiysk, then raised, but were not restored. Although this series was built as mine cruisers, in fact, the characteristics of the ships differed little from the large destroyers built abroad at that time. Actually, that's why at the beginning of the First World War they formed the 2nd division of destroyers as part of the mine brigade of the Black Sea Fleet. The four provided fire support to the ground forces, carried out blockade duty off the coasts of Turkey and Bulgaria. In total, it destroyed about 40 sailing ships and small enemy steamships.
"KAGUL", "OCHAKOV" AND "ALMAZ"
The program of 1882, in terms of a pair of new Black Sea cruisers, focused on a displacement of less than 3 thousand tons, which determined their belonging to the 2nd rank. Revised in 1895, it was reoriented to the larger Admiral Kornilov, but construction was once again postponed. When it finally came to practical implementation, the Bogatyr with a displacement of about 7 thousand tons, designed and built by the German company Vulkan as part of the Russian shipbuilding program "for the needs of the Far East", was taken as a model.
The construction of new Russian ships was spurred on by news that came from Turkey shortly before the end of the XIX century. It was about ordering a pair of high-speed scout cruisers with a displacement of 4 thousand tons and a speed of 22-23 knots. The news convinced St. Petersburg to quickly provide the Black Sea Fleet with Bogatyr-type cruisers. They were larger than their Turkish classmates by almost 3 thousand tons, carried more powerful artillery and developed a stroke of 23-24 knots.
Bogatyr embodied the idea of a universal ship. He had good seaworthiness and, in addition to independent cruising, could, if necessary, serve as a scout for a squadron of battleships. The cruiser did not carry an armored belt, but its controls, vehicles and artillery were well protected, and boilers and vehicles were covered by an armored deck with bevels. According to the report of the maritime department, "the armored cruiser Bogatyr, which is partially covered, resembles a high-sided battleship in appearance, in reality it is a linear, lightly armored ship."
Two Bogatyr–type cruisers were built for the Black Sea Fleet - one in Sevastopol, the other in Nikolaev. Ochakov entered service in 1902, and three years later his team opposed the tsarist regime. The uprising was suppressed by force, while the cruiser received dozens of hits from medium and large caliber shells and needed serious work to restore. It returned to service in 1907 under the new name "Cahul".
The Nikolaev cruiser was ready in 1905, and a couple of years later its original name was transferred to Ochakov, and it was renamed the Memory of Mercury. The White Guards took one of the "heroes" to Bizerte, the other went to the Soviet Country in a deplorable state. How its restoration went and what further service consisted of will be described in a separate publication about the Black Sea cruisers of the Soviet period.
In the first decade of the 20th century, another remarkable ship appeared on the Black Sea – the Almaz. It was built in 1903 as a cruiser-yacht for the governor in the Far East, Admiral Yevgeny Alekseev. For a rather impressive displacement of 3,300 tons, it carried very weak artillery – ten guns of 75 and 47 mm caliber. Due to the shortage of full-fledged warships, Almaz was included in the squadron of Rear Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, he miraculously passed Tsushima and became the only large ship of the 2nd Pacific Squadron that reached Vladivostok.
At the end of the Russian-Japanese War, the cruiser was disarmed and began to be used as an imperial yacht. Since the Turks did not detain unarmed vessels, the Almaz calmly passed through the straits to Sevastopol. There they put guns on it again and included it in the Black Sea Fleet as an auxiliary cruiser. When the First World War broke out, a brigade of cruisers consisting of Almaz, Kagul and Memory of Mercury operated on the Black Sea (the last two were of the Bogatyr type, taking into account renaming).
With its maximum speed of 19 knots, Almaz only held back the bogatyrs, and it was converted into a seaplane carrier. And along with it, a couple of large steamships with a displacement of 9 thousand tons each. The old cruiser could take 1-2 seaplanes on board, and much larger liners – 5-6 each.
TURKISH OPPONENTS
The Turkish fleet was noticeably inferior to the Black Sea Fleet in terms of numbers and quality, but in 1914 it was replenished by German ships of the latest construction – the battlecruiser Goeben (renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim) and the light Breslau (Medili). Having a significant advantage in speed (ten knots) over the Russian battleships, the German ships fired on Sevastopol, Feodosia and Novorossiysk with the beginning of hostilities. The minelayers accompanied by them set mines at the entrance to the Kerch Strait, where two Russian steamships were lost. The gunboat "Donets" and the minelayer "Prut" were also among the first victims of the war.
However, soon a new "Prut" appeared in the Black Sea Fleet – this was the name of the captured Turkish cruiser "Medjidie", built by the Americans at the turn of the century. With a displacement of 4 thousand tons, it carried a pair of 150 mm guns and 8 120 mm guns. In the spring of 1915, the Medjidie struck a mine off Odessa and sank, but was later raised and rebuilt. Under the new name, the Prut served the Russian Navy until 1918, when it was returned to Turkey by the German troops who captured it.
Another Turkish cruiser, the Hamidiye, built in England, operated on the Black Sea. In terms of displacement and characteristics, it practically did not differ from the Medjidie, but it developed a slightly higher speed – 23 knots.
"Medjidie" and "Gamidie" were inferior to the newer "Medili" in displacement by 500-700 tons and speed by 3-4 knots. Therefore, when meeting with Russian cruisers, he tried to act independently. The German captain did not seek close combat with the "heroes", as long as they surpassed him in artillery (16 152 mm caliber guns against 8 150 mm caliber). Instead, using the difference in speed, he tried to keep a safe distance, at which the more advanced German guns, range measuring and fire control tools gave a qualitative advantage. After the rearmament of Russian cruisers from six-inch Canes to new 130-mm guns, such tactics lost their meaning. The Medili was unlucky – in 1918 it hit a mine and sank, they did not raise it for restoration.
Having gone through serious trials in the First World War and several subsequent years, the largest Black Sea powers in the twenties of the last century began to revise the sultan's and royal inheritance. The Turkish Republic of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk got only one more or less modern warship - a German–built battlecruiser. Yavuz Sultan Selim survived the World Wars and remained in active service until 1951. She went down in history as the strongest Turkish ship in terms of artillery – 10 guns of 280 mm caliber and 12 guns of 150 mm caliber. There was nothing like this in the young Soviet Country on the Black Sea. However, as the fleet was restored, the shipbuilding and ship repair industry found solutions to significantly increase the forces of the Black Sea Fleet, which will be discussed separately.
Vyacheslav Ivanov
Vyacheslav Viktorovich Ivanov – military expert, historian; Vladimir Aleksandrovich Karnozov – Executive editor of HBO
