Russian battleship Navarin

Career
Name:	Navarin
Builder:	Galerny Shipyard, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Laid down:	1889
Launched:	20 October 1891
Completed:	1896
Commissioned:	1896
Fate:	Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 28 May 1905
General characteristics
Type:	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	10,206 long tons (10,370 t)
Length:	109 m (357 ft 7 in)
Beam:	20.42 m (67 ft 0 in)
Draught:	8.5 m (27 ft 11 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft reciprocating vertical triple expansion (VTE) engines 12 cylindrical coal-fired boilers 9,140 shp (6,820 kW) 700 tons coal
Speed:	15.5 knots (17.8 mph; 28.7 km/h)
Complement:	622
Armament:	4 × 305 mm (12 in) guns (2×2) 8 × 152 mm (6 in) guns(1×8) 8 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 15 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 6 × 381 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Compound armour Belt: 16 in (410 mm) Citadel: 5 in (130 mm) Turrets: 12 in (300 mm) (nickel steel) Conning tower: 10 in (250 mm)

Navarin (Наварин – after the battle of Navarino) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy.

Based on the British Trafalgar-class battleship, she was built by the Galerniy Yard, St. Petersburg, laid down in 1889, launched on 20 October 1891, and completed in 1896.

Design

The ships hull had 93 frames and six main compartments, nine watertight bulkheads and a double bottom. The compound armour belt was 69.5 m long and 2.13m tall and had a maximum thickness of 406 mm (16 inches). An casemate belt or upper belt 49.3 m long and 2.4 m tall had a maximum thickness of 305 mm. The turrets also had 305mm armour with 50.2 mm roofs.

The armament consisted of 4 – 305mm/35 caliber guns manufactured at the Obukhov factory in St. Petersburg. The secondary armament was twelve 152mm guns also made by Obukhov. 47mm and 37mm guns comprised the anti torpedo boat armament. Six 381mm (15 inch) torpedo tubes were also fitted one in the bow, four on the beam and one at the stern.

The powerplant comprised 2 shaft triple expansion steam engines with 12 cylindrical coal fired boilers operating at 14.6 atmospheres. The boilers were grouped in four boiler rooms each with its own funnel leading to a distinctive outline. This peculiar funnel arrangement led British Sailors to nickname the ship Lots Road Power Station while she was serving in China.^{[citation needed]} There were four electrical generators. The powerplant weighed 1222 tons.

Service history

The Navarin underway

The ship was launched on the 64th anniversary of the battle of Navarino. The ship served as part of the Baltic fleet making a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea in 1896. The Navarin went to the Pacific in 1898 and took part in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. She then served in the Baltic Fleet from 1902. On the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war she was sent out with the Second Pacific Squadron. She was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima by three torpedoes fired by Japanese destroyers. Only three sailors were rescued after four days in the water.

See also

Media related to Russian battleship Navarin (1891) at Wikimedia Commons

References

• From Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860 – 1905

External links

• Russian navy encyclopaedia (Russian)
• The Navarin