Historically, Russia attaches great importance to naval construction, as early as the 17th ~ 18th century in the era of sail warfare, it is vigorously developing the navy, and in the era of steam ironclads, Russia's enthusiasm for naval construction is higher. In order to compete with other powers for colonies around the world, Russia attached great importance to the construction of large warships such as battleships and armored cruisers in naval construction, and also attached great importance to protective cruisers for maritime reconnaissance. The Russian Navy has been equipped with a number of large protective cruisers, and the "Bogatri" class is one of the best, and I will introduce it to you today.
Armor protection of naval guns has been significantly improved
First, the development background
At the end of the 19th century, Tsarist Russia frantically developed its navy in order to dominate Europe and Asia, and on March 22, 1898, the Russian Tsar ordered the construction of 2 more battleships, 16 cruisers and 30 destroyers on top of the existing construction plan, and required the completion of this huge plan to be completed by 1905. Given that the shipyards on the Baltic coast of Russia were already full of battleships and cruisers under construction and could not afford to build more ships, Russia sought to enlist the help of other countries. Russia simultaneously ordered three large protective cruisers of 6000 tons overseas. Specifically, the "Varyag" protective cruiser was ordered from the United States, and the "Askold" and "Bogattri" protective cruisers were ordered from Germany.
There was a difference in the performance of the three protective cruisers. In terms of speed, the "Aschild" is the fastest of the three ship types, with a maximum speed of 23.8 knots. The ship was also the only five-chimney shape in the Russian Navy, and it was widely believed at the time that the more chimneys, the more powerful the performance. Judging from the artillery layout, the "Bogattri" is more reasonable, and the 152-mm naval gun is protected by turrets and gun silhouettes, and the protection is relatively good. After comprehensive consideration, the Tsarist Russian Navy finally selected the "Bogattri" for batch construction, and the remaining two ships were single-ship. The Bogatri class was the last large protective cruiser of the Russian Navy, and the Russian Navy did not build another 6,000-ton large protective cruiser, but instead built a 3,000-ton small protective cruiser.
This class of ships combines firepower, speed, and armor protection
2. Performance data
The main characteristics of the "Bogattri" class protective cruiser are: length 134.9 meters, width 16.4 meters, draft 6.8 meters, turret armor thickness 76 mm, gun profile armor thickness 76 mm, conning tower armor thickness 152 mm, dome deck slope thickness 76 mm, flat thickness 38 mm, standard displacement 6400 tons, crew establishment 573 people. It is powered by two three-expansion reciprocating steam engines, 19,500 horsepower, twin shafts, and a speed of 23 knots.
Equipped with 12 152 mm/45x radial rapid-fire guns, 2 twin and 8 single, one twin turret in the bow and stern, 2 single guns on each side of the amidships, and the remaining 4 in the armoured gun carriers on both sides of the bow and stern decks. There are also 12 75 mm/50x radial rapid-fire guns, 8 47 mm rapid-fire guns, 2 37 mm rapid-fire guns, and 2 381 mm torpedo tubes.
Line diagram of the protective cruiser of the "Bogattri" class
3. Service status
5 protective cruisers of the "Bogattri" class were planned to be built, and 4 were actually built, namely "Bogattri", "Oleg", "Mercury Memorial" and "Ochakov". All 4 ships were commissioned in 1905, 2 of them in the Baltic Fleet and the other 2 in the Black Sea Fleet. Fortunately, due to its late commissioning, this type of battleship was not able to catch up with the Russo-Japanese naval battle of 1905. With the situation of the Russian fleet at that time, a few more protective cruisers could not change the fate of defeat.
The third ship, Mercury Memory, is best known for its self-sinking in 1920 by evacuated White troops in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. The Red Army salvaged it out of the water and renamed it the "Comintern". In 1923 it was re-commissioned in the Soviet Navy, and later converted into a training ship. During World War II, the "Comintern" operated mainly in the waters of the Black Sea. On March 11, 1942, Sevastopol was attacked by German air forces, and on July 16, it was again attacked by German air forces, and the battleship was seriously damaged beyond repair and had to be scrapped. The Soviet Navy dismantled the guns and went ashore to participate in the defense, and on October 10, 1942, it towed them to the north of the port of Poti and sank as a breakwater.
152 mm twin main turret
Fourth, comprehensive evaluation
Of all the large protective cruisers of all types in Russia, the Bogatri class has the best comprehensive performance. First of all, it is the strongest in terms of firepower, although the main guns are all 152 mm/45 times radial rapid-fire guns, but the "Bogatri" class has turret and gun profile protection, which is much stronger than the "Varyag", "Askold", "Aurora" and other protective cruisers with no armor protection with their main guns, and the main gun range is also better.
In addition, the maximum speed of 23 knots was sufficient, after all, the maximum speed of a protective cruiser of the Japanese Navy, the main imaginary enemy at that time, was a little more than 20 knots. The only thing that the "Bogatri" class needs to worry about is the boiler problem, at that time many warships of the Russian Navy used French boilers, and from the experience of using the "Varyag", the French boilers are still obviously problematic. After less than three years of use, the French Nicklaus boiler of the "Varyag" found that the speed could only reach 20 knots in a short period of time, and no more than 14 knots in a long voyage, which was too lethal in combat.