Sailors are considered the most superstitious people. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they have to defend their right to life in the fight against the unpredictable water element. In many legends of sailors there is a mention of "cursed" places where ships find their death. For example, the Russian coast also has its own "Bermuda Triangle" - off the coast of Sevastopol, the Laspi region. Today, the place near Pavlovsky Cape is considered the quietest; it is there that the naval hospital with a convenient berth is located. But in this place, with an interval of 49 years, the most modern and powerful battleships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet "Novorossiysk" and "Empress Maria" perished.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the maritime powers of the world actively began to build at their shipyards warships of unprecedented, at that time, power, with colossal armor and equipped with modern weapons.
Russia was forced to respond to the challenge of its longtime adversary in the Black Sea region - Turkey, which ordered three Dreadnought-class battleships from European shipbuilders for its navy. These warships could turn the tide in favor of Turkey on the Black Sea.
The Baltic coast of Russia was reliably defended by four newest battleships of the Sevastopol type. It was decided to build ships more powerful than the Baltic ones to protect the Black Sea borders of Russia.
In 1911, the very first ship of the new series, the Empress Maria, was laid down at the Nikolaev shipyard. The fact that Russian shipbuilders accomplished a feat is evidenced by the fact that the new battleship was launched in the shortest possible time on the eve of World War II.
In August 1914, breaking into the Black Sea German cruisers"Goeben" and "Breslau" were fictitiously acquired by Turkey and received the new names "Yavuz Sultan Selim" and "Midilli". The fictitiousness of the deal was confirmed by the fact that German crews remained in full force on the "new Turkish" warships.
On the morning of October 29, the cruiser "Goeben" approached the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay. Without a declaration of war by Turkey, the cruiser's guns opened fire on the sleeping city and the ships in the roadstead. The shells did not spare either civilians or the hospital building, where several patients died as a result of treacherous shelling. And although the Black Sea sailors resolutely entered the battle, the battleships, which were then in service with the Russian fleet, were much inferior both in power and speed to the Turkish raider, who “hosted” with impunity in Russian coastal waters and easily escaped from the chase.
The commissioning of the powerful Russian battleship "Empress Maria" made it possible to successfully repel the attacks of the Turkish navy. On June 30, 1915, the battleship majestically entered the Sevastopol Bay, having on board twelve 305-millimeter guns and the same number of 130-millimeter guns. Soon, a warship of a similar class "Empress Catherine the Great" became next to its predecessor to protect the southern maritime borders of Russia.
The new battleships managed to end the dominance of the German-Turkish raiders in the Black Sea. And in the spring of 1916, the gunners of the battleship "Empress Maria" from the third volley caused irreparable damage to the Turkish-German cruiser "Breslau" located near Novorossiysk. And in the same year, the battleship "Empress Catherine" inflicted serious damage to the "Goeben", which after that was barely able to "crawl" to the Bosphorus.
In July 1916, the talented and energetic Vice Admiral A. Kolchak assumed command of the Black Sea Fleet. Under his command, "Ekaterina" and "Maria" made 24 military exits, demonstrating the power of the Russian fleet, and mine laying "locked" the Black Sea for visits by enemy warships for a long time.
On the morning of October 7, 1916, Sevastopol was awakened by loud explosions that thundered one after another on the battleship Empress Maria. First, the bow tower caught fire, and then the conning tower was demolished, the explosion tore out most of the deck, demolished the foremast and bow tube. The hull of the ship received a huge hole. Salvation of the ship was significantly more difficult after the fire pumps and electricity were turned off.
But even after such damage, the command had a hope to save the battleship - if not for another terrible explosion, much more powerful than the previous ones. Now his ship could not stand it anymore: as a result, the bow and cannon ports quickly sank into the water, the battleship tilted to its right side, capsized and sank. When saving a warship - the pride of the Russian fleet, about 300 people died.
The death of the "Empress Maria" shocked all of Russia. A very professional commission took up the clarification of the reasons. Three versions of the death of the battleship were studied: negligence in handling ammunition, spontaneous combustion, and malicious intent.
Since the commission concluded that the ship used high-quality gunpowder, the likelihood of explosions from ignition was very low. The unique, for those times, design of powder magazines and towers excluded the possibility of a fire due to negligence. There was only one thing left - a terrorist attack. The penetration of enemies on the ship was facilitated by the fact that at this time numerous repairs were carried out, in which hundreds of workers who were not related to the crew of the battleship participated.
After the tragedy, many sailors said that “the explosion was carried out by intruders with the aim of not only destroying the ship, but also killing the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, who, by his recent actions, and especially by scattering mines near the Bosphorus, finally stopped the Turkish-German piratical raids. cruisers on the Black Sea coast ... ". It would be wrong to say that the counterintelligence of the Black Sea Fleet and the gendarmerie did not look for intruders, but they could not confirm the version of the terrorist attack.
Only in 1933 did the Soviet counterintelligence manage to arrest the head of the German intelligence group operating at shipyards - a certain Wehrman. He confirmed that he participated in the preparation of sabotage on warships during the first world war. But on the eve of the death of "Empress Maria" he was deported from Russia. The question arises, let him be deported, but his reconnaissance group still remained in Sevastopol and for which he was awarded in Germany soon after leaving Russia iron cross? By the way, the following established fact is interesting - the order to blow up the "Empress Maria" was received from German intelligence by the agent "Charles", who was also a Russian counterintelligence officer. Why did no one take appropriate action in a timely manner?
A little later, a talented shipbuilder, academician Krylov, proposed a very original and simple way to raise a battleship: lift the ship up with a keel, gradually displacing water with compressed air; then, carry out the withdrawal of the ship in such an inverted position to the dock and deal with the elimination of all the destruction resulting from the explosions. This lifting project was implemented by the engineer of the Sevastopol port Sidensner. In the summer of 1918, the battleship was docked, where it stood upside down for four years while the Civil War was going on. After the signing of the Brest Peace, shameful for Russia, the German-Turkish ships brazenly settled in the Sevastopol Bay. Often undermined by Russian mines, the Turkish "Goeben" used the Sevastopol docks for its repairs, where the corps of a Russian battleship stood nearby, which died not in an open battle, but from a vile blow "in the back."
In 1927, the hull of the battleship Empress Maria was finally dismantled. Multi-ton towers of the legendary ship and guns were installed on the Black Sea coastal battery. During the Second World War, the guns of the battleship "Empress Maria" defended the approaches to Sevastopol until June 1942 and were shot down only after the Germans used more powerful weapons against them ...
Also, one cannot remain silent about another legend of the Black Sea Fleet - the battleship Novorossiysk.
The history of this ship began on the eve of the First World War. Three battleships were built at the shipyards of Italy - the Conte di Cavour, the Giulio Cesare and the Leonardo da Vinci. They were the main force of the entire Italian navy and participated in two world wars. But these ships did not bring glory to their state: in the battles they failed to inflict any significant damage to their numerous opponents.
"Cavour" and "Leonardo" found their death not in battle, but in the raid. But the fate of "Giulio Cesare" was very interesting. At the Tehran conference, the Allies decided to divide the Italian fleet between Britain, the US and the USSR.
It should be noted that by the end of World War II, the Soviet navy had only two battleships that were built at the beginning of the century - "Sevastopol" and " October Revolution". But the USSR was not lucky, by lot, she got the rather battered Giulio Cesare, while the UK received the latest Italian battleships, surpassing the famous German Bismarck in all characteristics.
Soviet specialists were able to deliver their part of the legacy of the Italian fleet to the Black Sea harbor only in 1948. The battleship, although worn and obsolete, nevertheless became the flagship of the post-war Black Sea Soviet fleet.
The battleship, after a five-year stay in the port of Toronto, was in a very deplorable state: the ship's mechanisms needed to be replaced, the outdated intra-ship communications practically did not work, there was a poor survivability system, the cockpits were damp with three-tier berths, there was a tiny unkempt galley. In 1949, the Italian ship was docked for repairs. A few months later he was given a new name - "Novorossiysk". And although the battleship was put to sea, it was constantly repaired and re-equipped. But even despite such efforts, the battleship clearly did not meet the requirements for a warship.
On October 28, 1955, the Novorossiysk, returning from the next campaign, moored at the Marine Hospital - it was there that the Empress Maria stood 49 years ago. On this day, replenishment arrived on the ship. The newcomers were placed in the bow quarters. As it turned out, for many of them it was the first and last day of service. In the dead of night, a terrible explosion was heard under the hull closer to the bow. The alarm was announced not only at the Novorossiysk, but also on all the ships that were nearby. Medical and emergency teams urgently arrived at the stricken battleship. The commander of the Novorossiysk, seeing that the leak could not be eliminated, turned to the fleet commander with an assignment to evacuate the crew, but was refused. About a thousand sailors gathered on the deck of the slowly sinking battleship. But time has been lost. Not everyone was able to evacuate. The hull of the ship twitched, began to list sharply to the port side and in an instant turned over like a keel. "Novorossiysk" almost completely repeated the fate of "Empress Maria". Hundreds of sailors suddenly found themselves in the water, many under the weight of their clothes immediately went under water, part of the team managed to climb onto the bottom of the capsized ship, some were picked up by lifeboats, others managed to swim to the shore themselves. The stress of those who made it to the shore was so great that many of them could not stand the heart, and they fell dead. For some time, a knock was heard inside the capsized ship - this was a signal from the sailors remaining there. Undoubtedly, the entire responsibility for the death of people lies with Vice Admiral, Commander of the Black Sea Fleet Parkhomenko. Because of his unprofessionalism, inability to assess the real situation and uncertainty, hundreds of people died. Here is what a diver involved in rescuing people wrote: “I then dreamed for a long time at night of the faces of people whom I saw underwater in the windows that they tried to open. With gestures, I made it clear that we would save. People nodded, they say, they understood ... I plunged deeper, I hear, they are knocking with a morse code, - the knock in the hearth is clearly audible: “Save us faster, we are suffocating ...” I also tapped them: “Be strong, everyone will be saved.” And this is where it started! They started knocking in all the compartments so that they knew from above that the people who were under water were alive! He moved closer to the bow of the ship and could not believe his ears - they sing "Varangian"! In reality, only a few people were saved from the overturned ship. In total, about 600 people died.
The ship was raised from the bottom in 1956 and dismantled for scrap.
According to the results of the work of the commission, it was recognized that the cause of the explosion was a German magnetic mine, which, after a ten-year stay at the bottom, came into action. But this conclusion surprised all sailors. Firstly, immediately after the war, a thorough sweeping and mechanical destruction of all explosive objects was carried out. Secondly, in ten years many other ships anchored at this place hundreds of times. Thirdly, what strength should this magnetic mine be if, as a result of an explosion, a hole of more than 160 square meters was formed in the stern. meters, eight decks were pierced by an explosion, of which three were armored, and the upper deck was completely mangled? That this mine had more than a ton of TNT? Even the most powerful German mines did not have such a charge.
According to one of the versions that went among the sailors, it was a sabotage by Italian underwater saboteurs. The experienced Soviet admiral Kuznetsov adhered to this version. It is known that during the war years, Italian submariners, under the leadership of Prince Borghese, destroyed such a number of English warships, equal to the entire Italian navy. A submarine could deliver the swimmers to the place of sabotage. Using the latest submersibles, they would be able to get close enough to the bottom of the ship on guided torpedoes and set the charge. They say that after the signing of the surrender, Prince Borghese, publicly declared that the battleship Giulio Cesare, dear to the heart of all Italians, would never sail under the enemy flag. If we also take into account the fact that during the war it was in Sevastopol that there was a base for Italian submariners (and, therefore, they knew the Sevastopol Bay well), then the version of sabotage looks very plausible.
After the disaster, while examining the ship, the second-rank captain Lepekhov discovered a secret, previously carefully welded, compartment at the very bottom of the Novorossisk. It is possible that there was a hidden charge of enormous power. Borghese no doubt knew this, so a less powerful device might have been required to detonate the explosion. But the command, during the investigation of the disaster, did not consider this version. Although she is very viable. After all, if we imagine that all the explosives were delivered to the ship by underwater saboteurs, then how many trips from the submarine to the battleships would they need to make in order to transfer a thousand tons of TNT unnoticed?
They tried to quickly “hush up” the disaster by dismissing the commander V.A. Parkhomenko and Admiral N.G. Kuznetsov, paid allowances to the families of the dead. "Novorossiysk" was sent for scrapping, followed by the battleship "Sevastopol" sent there. A few years later, the Turks, refusing to hand over the rusting Goeben to the French to create a museum, also cut it.
I must say that today there is a monument to the sailors of Novorossiysk, but they forgot to perpetuate the heroically dead sailors of the Empress Maria.
Battleships of the type "Empress Maria"
Construction and service
general information
Booking
Armament
Built ships
Battleships of the type "Empress Maria"- a type consisting of four dreadnoughts of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Empire and the USSR. Three ships were fully completed, "Emperor Nicholas I" was not completed. The lead ship of the series "Empress Maria" sank on October 7, 1916 as a result of an explosion of artillery cellars, "Empress Catherine the Great" was sunk on June 18, 1918 during the advance of German troops, the battleship "Emperor Alexander III" served in the Volunteer army, dismantled in 1936, "Emperor Nicholas I" was not completed, scrapped in 1927.
History of creation
Prerequisites
HMS Erin, battleship type Reşadiye
The traditional and, in fact, the only possible adversary of Russia on the Black Sea was the Ottoman Empire. The overwhelming superiority over the once mighty power was established in the era of sailing ships. However, by 1910 the situation had changed. In Europe, two blocs of opposing powers were taking shape. The Ottoman Empire could significantly strengthen this or that bloc, and it was hardly worth expecting its accession to Russia. Turkey entered the war after it had begun, but preparations for it began in the crumbling Ottoman Empire in 1910. The Empire's fleet has been strengthened by two obsolete pre-dreadnought battleships branderburg, bought in Germany, as well as eight modern destroyers (four were bought in Germany and France). Such a strengthening of the Turkish fleet could not go unnoticed. However, dreadnoughts, of course, became the determining factor in the development of new ships for the Russian fleet.
HMS Agincourt
Only four years have passed since the inception HMS Dreadnought. World powers feverishly began to build new dreadnought battleships. Turkey, of course, did not have the opportunity to develop or build such ships. Therefore, in 1910, negotiations began, and in 1911 successfully ended negotiations with British firms. vickers and Armstrong. They were to build three modern battleships for the Ottoman Empire. These were two ships of the type Reşadiye, which in fact were copies of British battleships of the type George V. They also carried 10 343 mm main battery guns, however they received 150 mm guns as secondary artillery instead of the 100 mm guns on the British ships. Another ship HMS Agincourt, was purchased at the end of 1913 already finished.
The ships built at the Russud plant had 18 main transverse watertight bulkheads each, on Catherine II - three more (a total of 150 frame frames per ship). The battleships had three armored decks. In the middle part of the hull, the bulkheads reached the middle of them, at the ends - to the upper deck. The upper deck itself was almost completely flat (the elevation at the extremities was no more than 0.6 meters), it was covered with 50 mm boards. ] the ship was also provided with a double and triple bottom and longitudinal bulkheads: two bulkheads in the turbine compartments and one in the diametrical plane in the condenser compartment. The armored hold bulkhead, which was available on the Sevastopol, was removed. The battleships did not have mine protection, the ships were protected only by a double and triple bottom and thin longitudinal bulkheads.
Four grades of steel were used in the construction of the hull:
- high resistance (turret reinforcements, up to 72 kgf / mm², stretching of at least 16%);
- increased resistance (keel beam, stringers, longitudinal beams, outer skin, floors and brackets, up to 63 kgf / mm², stretching of at least 18%);
- mild shipbuilding steel (42 kgf/mm², stretching not less than 20%);
- armored steel (armored decks, bulkheads, traverses).
Auxiliary equipment, crew
Propellers "Nicholas I"
The ships were equipped with six turbogenerators serving two dynamos. One of them gave out alternating current (50 Hz, 220 V), one - direct current. The total power is 1840 kW. The main electrical network of the battleships used alternating current. D.C large units were required - drives of the main caliber towers, cranes, powerful searchlights ("Empress Maria" and "Alexander" - four 90 cm, two 120 cm, "Catherine" - six 90 cm, "Nikolai" four 110 cm and two 90 cm). The ships were equipped with radio stations with a capacity of 2 and 10 kW. The watercraft were represented by pairs of boats: motor boats 12.8 meters long, 12.2-meter steam boats, rowboats (with and without an engine), rowing whaleboats and yawls, 5-meter boats. The descent was carried out with the help of cranes.
The battleships had two balancing rudders. The rudders consisted of forged steel stocks and ribs, and the space between them was filled with tarred wooden beams. The outer parts of the propeller shafts were supported by four cast steel brackets. The largest rudder angle was to be 35 ° on board. The battleships were propelled by four brass propellers. The ships had two anchors and one spare anchor in the bow (weight 7993 kg, chain length 274 m, caliber 76.7 mm), and one stern anchor (2664 kg, 183 meters).
The crew of the battleships consisted of 1220 people, of which 33 were officers. The larger Nicholas I required 46 more sailors.
Power plant and driving performance
Section of "Nicholas I" in the engine room
Ships built at the factory "Russud", received turbines from an English company John Brown. Plant ONZIV manufactured turbines on its own, involving company employees vickers. The turbines had a power of 5333 hp. each. They consisted of fifteen successive stages, which made it possible to increase the steam pressure more and more (the initial working pressure was 11.3 atm.). All turbines were assembled into two engine rooms. This division was consistent with the division of the shafts. Battleships had four shafts. Each engine room drove one shaft with high pressure turbines and one shaft with low pressure turbines. The rotation of the shafts could be carried out in both directions. The total turbine power required to achieve a design speed of 20.5 knots was 21,000 hp. and required a turbine speed of 300 rpm. In the forced mode, the power increased to 26,000 hp, revolutions - up to 320 rpm, and speed - up to about 21.5 knots. On tests, the power plant of "Catherine the Great" managed to develop a power of 33,000 hp.
The boiler plant was divided into five compartments of four Yarrow-type water-tube boilers. The boilers were supplied by the Kharkov Locomotive Plant. Eight boilers were installed in the bow of the battleships. They were located between the first and second towers, where a pipe was also installed. Twelve more boilers were installed, like another pipe, between the middle towers. The steam pressure in the boilers is 17.5 atm. Heating surface area - 6800 sq.m. The heating of the boilers was carried out primarily with coal, oil served as a spare fuel. Coal consumption in the normal mode of operation of the power plant is 0.8 kg/hp/hour. The same consumption was provided by mixed heating, in which 40% was oil. Coal pits were located in all, except for the very first, boiler rooms, on the lower deck throughout the boiler rooms, between the longitudinal bulkheads and the double bottom (also throughout the compartments), and above the bevels of the armored bulkhead, up to the side along the boiler rooms and medium towers. The stock of coal was 1730-2340 tons (Nikolai was supposed to carry up to 3560 tons), oil - 430-640 tons. The maximum cruising range is 3000 miles at 12 knots and 1640 miles at maximum speed.
Booking
Reservation scheme "Empress Maria"
The battleships used cemented armor. The main armor belt reached a thickness of 262.5 mm in the citadel area. In front of her, the belt continued with a thickness of 217 mm, behind - 175 mm. Toward the nose, the armor was reduced first to 125 mm, then to 75 mm. In the stern, the reservation was reduced to 125 mm. The height of the armor belt was 5.25 meters, of which 3.5 meters were above the waterline. A 75-mm wooden layer was installed between the hull and armor plates. The traverse of the citadel was protected by 50 mm armor in front and 100 mm in the rear. This made the artillery magazines of the extreme guns poorly protected when fired from the bow or stern. The upper armor belt had a thickness of 125 mm. In the fore end, after the casemates of auxiliary guns, the thickness decreased to 75 mm, the aft end was not protected by the upper belt. The front casemates had 25 mm armor in the traverse, and an additional 25 mm between each pair of casemates. Inside the hull, behind the armor belt, there was an armored bulkhead 50 mm thick. The turrets of the main caliber guns were protected by 250 mm frontal and side armor and 305 mm rear armor, the roof of the towers - 100 mm. The gun mantlets were 50 mm, they were also separated by 25 mm bulkheads inside the turret. The barbettes had 250 mm protection, which was reduced to 150 mm at the extreme and 125 mm at the inner towers below the upper deck. The front and rear conning towers had 300 mm sides and a 250 mm roof. The conning tower supporting structure was protected by 250mm of armour, which was reduced to 100mm below the upper deck. The wiring pipes between the conning towers and the central post were protected by 75 mm armor, the exhaust pipes - 22 mm. The thickness of the upper deck was 37.5 mm, at the aft end - 6 mm. The deck was covered with 50 mm pine flooring. The middle deck had 25 mm above the protected citadel and at the forward end, 37.5 mm outside the citadel at the aft end, and 19 mm above the tiller compartment and between the side and the longitudinal armored bulkheads. The lower deck had mostly 25mm. In addition to the aft end, the lower deck continued with 50 mm bevels to the sides, at the aft end the deck was horizontal 50 mm. Underwater protection was not provided, except for the presence of a double or triple bottom. "Nicholas I" had enhanced armor. The maximum protection of the citadel has increased to 270 mm. The protection of the bow in the lower part reached 200 mm from 12 to 27 frames and 100 mm in front of 12 frames. This protection was followed by another 100 mm belt, and 75 mm protection was provided from the middle to the upper deck. In the stern from 128 to 175 frames there was a 175-mm belt. The upper deck was covered with 35 mm armor, the middle deck reached 63 mm between the longitudinal bulkheads. The lower deck provided for 35 mm protection in the stern and 75 mm bevels in the middle of the ship. In the bow - 63 mm. Longitudinal armored bulkheads reached 75 mm between the middle and lower decks and 25 mm above the middle deck. In the frontal projection, a 75-mm traverse was installed on the 12th frame. The towers had 300 mm armor in the forehead and 200 mm on the walls and roof. The protection of the projectile feed pipes reached 300 mm. The conning tower was protected by 400 mm of armor on the sides and 250 mm on the roof.
Fire control
Scheme of the conning tower
The fire control system was based on two 6-meter rangefinders and a mechanical counting device. Rangefinders were installed above the conning tower in the bow and on the aft conning tower (spare). The fire control post was located in the forward conning tower. Here, the readings of the rangefinders, which came with a period of up to five seconds, were processed by a domestic-made calculating machine. The machine calculated the distance to the target, which was further corrected by the navigator to take into account the movement of the target during the flight of the projectile. The fire manager translated these data directly into the angles of rotation and elevation of the guns, taking into account the correction for the wind and the deflection of the projectile caused by its rotation. The data on the angles of rotation and elevation were transmitted, respectively, to the aiming posts of the turret itself and each gun, while taking into account the displacement of the turrets relative to the rangefinder. The shot was fired at zero roll, while the descent was made automatically. Corrective calculation of three people was placed on the foremast above the conning tower. The towers were equipped with their own sighting devices and could fire autonomously. The same applies to auxiliary caliber guns: they also received firing data from the central post, but had the ability to fire independently.
Armament
Main caliber
Three-gun towers on the "Sevastopol"
The main caliber of the battleships was represented by twelve 304.8-mm guns from the Obukhov factory, assembled into four turrets with a linear-single-level layout. These were the most powerful Russian-made guns installed on domestic ships. The barrel length was 52 calibers (15850 mm), weight - 50.7 tons. Piston lock. The initial velocity of the projectile is about 762 m / s. The single-level arrangement of the towers imposed restrictions on the firing sector: for the first tower - 0-165 °, for the second - 30-170 °, for the third - 10-165 ° and for the fourth - 30-180 ° on both sides, at smaller angles as forward , and three towers fired back. The speed of rotation of the towers is 3.2 degrees per second, the speed of the declination of the guns is 3-4 degrees per second, the weight is 858.3 tons. Loading was carried out at an elevation angle of -5 to 15 degrees. Rate of fire - up to 2 rounds per minute. For the shot, a projectile and two semi-charges were used. For loading and lifting shells, an electric drive was used, although manual loading was also provided.
Characteristics of guns and turrets of the main caliber
| Gun weight | 50.7 tons |
| Tower weight | 858.3 tons |
| Gun length | 15850 mm |
| Chamber volume | 224.6 l |
| Mass of armor-piercing projectile mod. 1911 | 470.9 kg |
| Mass of explosives of an armor-piercing projectile | 12.96 kg |
| The mass of a semi-armor-piercing projectile mod. 1911 | 470.9 kg |
| Mass of explosives of a semi-armor-piercing projectile | 61.5 kg |
| 470.9 kg | |
| 58.8 kg | |
| starting speed | 762 m/s |
| Tool life | 400 shots |
| Number of shells | 100 1 |
| Firing range, elevation 18.63 degrees | 20 km |
| Entry speed, elevation 18.63 degrees | 359 m/s |
| Angle of incidence, elevation 18.63 degrees | 30.18 degrees |
| Firing range, elevation 25 degrees | 23.3 km |
| Entry speed, elevation 25 degrees | 352 m/s |
| Angle of incidence, elevation 25 degrees | 40.21 degrees |
| Armor penetration at 9.14 km | 352/17 mm 2 |
| Armor penetration at 18.29 km | 207/60 mm |
| Armor penetration at 27.43 km | 127/140 mm |
| Declination of the guns | -5/35 |
| Declination speed | 3-4 degrees per second |
| turning speed | 3.2 degrees per second |
| Charging Angle | -5 to 15 degrees |
1
The front and rear turrets had part of the ammunition in spare cellars
2
Penetration of vertical and horizontal armor
The scheme of the towers of the main caliber
| Turret plan and shells | Lengthwise cut |
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Auxiliary artillery
Auxiliary artillery consisted of 20 130 mm guns with a length of 55 calibers. Steel guns, rifled, with Wellin-type piston valves, were placed on machines with a central pin. The compressor for each gun is hydraulic, the knurler is spring. The lifting mechanism is sectorial. Swivel mechanism worm type. Each gun was enclosed in a hotel casemate. Most of the guns (12) were concentrated in the bow of the battleship. Vertical and horizontal guidance was carried out manually.
Characteristics of auxiliary caliber guns
| Gun weight | 5.136 tons |
| Gun length | 7.15 m |
| Chamber volume | 17.53 l |
| The mass of high-explosive projectile arr. 1911 | 36.86 kg |
| Mass of high-explosive projectile | 4.71 kg |
| starting speed | 823 m/s |
| Tool life | 300 shots |
| Number of shells | 245 1 |
| Firing range, elevation 20 degrees | 15.364 km |
| Firing range, elevation 30 degrees | 18.29 km |
| Declination of the guns | -5/30 |
| Declination speed | 4 degrees per second |
| turning speed | 4 degrees per second |
| Charging Angle | any |
| rate of fire | 5-8 shots per minute |
1
The ammunition capacity of the forward guns of the ships of the Russud factory was reduced to 100 due to overload
Flak
Air defense was poorly implemented on ships. Anti-aircraft artillery was represented by 4 75-mm guns of the 1892 model, converted into anti-aircraft guns. The elevation angle of these guns reached 50 degrees, the maximum height available to the guns was 4900 meters, the maximum range of destruction of aircraft was 6500 meters. The rate of fire was 12-15 rounds per minute, the mass of the shrapnel projectile was 4.91 kg, and the initial speed was 747 m/s. "Emperor Alexander III" had improved 76.2-mm guns, which, with a lower rate of fire, significantly increased the firing range. At first, it was planned to install four 64-mm anti-aircraft guns on Nicholas I, then they were replaced in the project with new, not yet ready 102-mm, and four machine guns of 7.92 mm caliber.
Mine and torpedo armament
Longitudinal section of a Whitehead torpedo.
Four 450 mm underwater torpedo tubes were mounted on the battleships. Torpedoes were manufactured according to the Whitehead project under license in Russia at the Obukhov plant and the Lessner plant. Torpedo length 5.58 m, weight 810 kg, explosive weight 100 kg. Torpedo tubes were installed in the area of the bow towers, two on each side.
Modernizations and conversions
One of the drawbacks of the battleships was their unsuitability for modernization. Two ships built at the factory "Russud", was initially overloaded in the bow, it was impossible to install additional equipment on them. Although the ships of the plant ONZIV in this regard, they were designed better, their stock for modernization was also insignificant. The imminent death of the "Empress Maria" did not allow for changes in its design. "Emperor Alexander III" lost two front auxiliary 130-mm guns and received improved anti-aircraft guns during construction. "Empress Catherine the Great" received a smaller supply of shells for bow guns of both calibers compared to the project.
Service History
Comparison with contemporaries
It is advisable to compare battleships with their predecessors - ships of the Sevastopol type, as well as linear forces that the Ottoman Empire and Germany had or expected to have. Even taking into account the fact that Great Britain, which at that time was leading the naval arms race, built ships for the Ottoman Empire, Russian ships look competitive. Their main drawback is the small caliber of guns. British battleships by that time were switching to guns with a caliber of about 14 inches. This had to be compensated by the number of Russian 12-inch guns. Russian battleships also had powerful armor, which reliably protected not only the citadel, but almost the entire ship. Their main disadvantages are low speed and overload, which resulted in poor seaworthiness and the inability to modernize ships.
Comparison with other battleships
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Battleship"Empress Maria", one of the best warships of the Russian fleet, was lost in 1916. The appearance of this ship falls on the period when the revival of domestic naval power after the tragedy of Tsushima became one of the main tasks. Strengthening decision Black Sea Fleet new battleships was also caused by the intention of Turkey - a longtime enemy of Russia in the south - to acquire three modern battleships of the dreadnought type abroad, which immediately provided her with superiority in the Black Sea. In order to maintain parity, the Russian Maritime Department insisted on the immediate strengthening of the Black Sea Fleet by commissioning the latest battleships.
On June 11, 1911, simultaneously with the official laying ceremony, the new ship was enlisted in the Russian Imperial Navy titled Empress Maria. "Maria" was launched on October 6, 1913, and on June 23, 1915, having raised the flags, she began a real military naval life.
The battleship had a displacement of 25465 tons, the length of the ship was 168 meters, speed - 21 knots. "Maria" carried twelve 305-mm guns of the main caliber, twenty 130-mm guns, there was anti-mine artillery and torpedo tubes, the ship was well armored.
A few months after arriving in Sevastopol, "Maria" takes an active part in military operations against the German-Turkish fleet. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, holds the flag on the battleship. And the commissioning of the same type of battleship "Empress Catherine the Great" put the final limit on the dominance of the German cruisers in the Black Sea.
In the early morning of October 7, 1916, at 00:20, an explosion occurred on the battleship Empress Maria, which was standing in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol. Then within 48 minutes - another fifteen. The ship began to list to starboard and capsized and sank. The Russian navy lost 217 sailors that morning and one of its strongest warships.
The tragedy shook the whole of Russia. The commission of the Naval Ministry, headed by Admiral N.M., took up the clarification of the reasons for the death of the battleship. Yakovlev. The commission also included a well-known shipbuilder, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.N. Krylov, who became the author of the conclusion approved by all members of the commission.
In the course of the investigation, three versions of the death of the battleship were presented.
- Spontaneous combustion of gunpowder.
- Carelessness in handling fire or gunpowder.
- Evil intent.
However, after considering all three versions, the commission concluded that “it is not possible to come to an accurate and evidence-based conclusion; one has only to assess the likelihood of these assumptions by comparing the circumstances that have emerged during the investigation.”
Of the possible versions, the first two commissions, in principle, did not exclude. As for malicious intent, even after establishing a number of violations in the rules for access to artillery cellars and a lack of control over the repair workers who were on the ship, the commission considered this version unlikely. Thus, none of the versions put forward by the commission found sufficient factual confirmation.
Meanwhile, new documents, already from the archives of the Soviet counterintelligence, testify to the close attention to the "Empress Maria" and other ships of the Black Sea Fleet of the German military intelligence. In 1933, the OGPU authorities of Ukraine in the large shipbuilding center of the country, Nikolaev, exposed the German residency, operating under the guise of the Control-K trading company, headed by Viktor Eduardovich Verman, born in 1883, a native of the city of Kherson, who lived in Nikolaev and worked as the head of the mechanical assembly shop " Plow and hammer. The purpose of the organization is to disrupt the shipbuilding program of the growing military and merchant fleet. Soviet Union. Specific tasks are to commit sabotage at the Nikolaev plant named after Henri Mart, as well as to collect information about the ships being built there, most of which were military.
Verman himself was a scout with pre-revolutionary experience. During interrogation, he said: “I began to engage in espionage activities in 1908 (it was from this period that the implementation of the new Russian naval program began. - Auth.) in Nikolaev, working at the Naval plant in the department of marine engines. Involved in espionage activities, I was a group of German engineers of that department, consisting of engineers Moor and Hahn. And further: "Moore and Hahn, and most of all the first, began to indoctrinate me and involve me in intelligence work in favor of Germany."
Wermann was instructed to take over the leadership of the entire German intelligence network in southern Russia: in Nikolaev, Odessa, Kherson and Sevastopol. He recruited people for reconnaissance work in Nikolaev, Odessa, Sevastopol and Kherson, collected materials on industrial enterprises, data on underwater and surface warships under construction, their design, armament, tonnage, speed.
During the interrogation, Verman said: “Of the persons personally recruited by me for espionage work in the period 1908-1914, I remember the following: Steivech, Blimke, Naymeier, Linke Bruno, engineer Schaeffer, electrician Sgibnev.” All of them are employees of shipyards who had the right to enter the ships under construction. Of particular interest was the electrician A.V. Sgibnev. He was responsible for the work on equipping temporary lighting for warships being built on the Russud, including the Empress Maria.
During the investigation, Sgibnev testified that Verman was very interested in the scheme of the artillery towers of the dreadnoughts. But the first explosion on the battleship "Empress Maria" was heard precisely under the bow artillery tower. “In the period 1912-1914,” Sgibnev said, “I verbally transmitted information to Verman about the dreadnought-type battleships under construction, Maria and Alexander III, within the framework of what I knew about the progress of their construction and the timing readiness of individual compartments of ships.
During the explosion on the "Maria" Verman was deported and he could not personally organize sabotage. But a well-prepared intelligence network was left in Nikolaev and Sevastopol. Later, he himself spoke about this: “Since 1908, I have personally been in contact for intelligence work with the following cities: ... Sevastopol, where the reconnaissance work was led by the mechanical engineer of the Naval plant, Vizer, who was in Sevastopol on behalf of our plant specifically for the installation of Sevastopol battleship "Chrysostom". I know that Vizer had his own spy network in Sevastopol, of which I remember only the designer of the Admiralty Ivan Karpov, whom I had to personally deal with.
Did Vizer participate in the completion of the Empress Maria or its repair in early October 1916? At that time, dozens of engineers, technicians and workers were on board the ship every day. The passage to the ship of these people was not difficult. Here is what is said about this in a letter from the Sevastopol gendarme department to the chief of staff of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet: “The sailors say that the workers on the wiring of electricity, who were on the ship on the eve of the explosion, could have done something with malicious intent until 10 pm, since the workers did not look around at the entrance to the ship and also worked without inspection. Suspicion is especially expressed in this regard on the engineer of the company at 355 Nakhimovsky Prospekt, who allegedly left Sevastopol on the eve of the explosion.
There are many questions. But one thing is clear - the construction of the newest battleships of the Black Sea Fleet, including the Empress Maria, was "patronized" by agents of the German military intelligence in the most dense way. The Germans were very concerned about the Russian military potential in the Black Sea, and they could go to any lengths to prevent Russian superiority in this theater of operations.
In this regard, the information of an agent of the Petrograd police department, who acted under the pseudonyms "Alexandrov", "Lenin" and "Charles", is interesting. His real name is Benzian Dolin. During the First World War, Dolin, like many other agents of the political police, was reoriented to work in the field of foreign counterintelligence. "Charles" came out on contact with German military intelligence and was tasked to disable the "Empress Maria". One of the leaders of German intelligence, with whom the agent met in Bern, told him: “The Russians have one advantage over us on the Black Sea - this is “Maria”. Try to remove it. Then our forces will be equal, and with equality of forces we will win.
At the request of "Charles" to the Petrograd police department, he received an order to accept, with some reservations, the proposal to destroy the Russian battleship. Upon his return to Petrograd, the agent was placed at the disposal of the military authorities, but contact with him was not restored. As a result of such inaction, contacts with German intelligence were lost, for the next meeting with which the agent was supposed to go out two months later in Stockholm. Some time later, "Charles" learned from the newspapers about the explosions on the "Empress Maria". A letter sent by him in connection with this event to the police department remained unanswered.
The investigation into the case of the German agents arrested in Nikolaev was completed in 1934. The ease of punishment suffered by Verman and Sgibnev is puzzling. The first was expelled from the USSR in March 1934, the second was sentenced to 3 years in the camps. Moreover: in 1989 both were rehabilitated. The conclusion of the justice authorities states that Verman, Sgibnev, and also Sheffer (who suffered the most severe punishment - was sentenced to death, although there is no information about the execution of the sentence) fall under the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 16, 1989 " On additional measures to restore justice in relation to the victims of political repressions that took place in the period of the 30-40s and early 50s.
On October 20, 1916, the newest Russian battleship exploded in the bay of Sevastopol. "Empress Maria".
In Soviet times, boys and girls read an adventure story Anatoly Rybakov"Dirk". The plot of the story was connected with a relic, for the sake of taking possession of which one of the negative characters committed murder and undermined the battleship "Empress Maria".
The version of the writer Rybakov has the right to exist. If only because 100 years after the death of the battleship, which actually existed, the causes of this tragedy have not been established.
To spite the Turkish adversary
In 1911, a series of Russian battleships was laid down at the shipbuilding plant in Nikolaev, which were supposed to withstand the latest Turkish warships in the Black Sea.
In total, four ships were planned, of which three were completed - "Empress Maria", "Emperor Alexander III" and "Empress Catherine the Great".
The lead ship of the series was the battleship Empress Maria, which was laid down along with two other ships on October 17, 1911. "Empress Maria" was launched on October 19, 1913.
The ship got its name from the Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna, wife of the late emperor Alexander III .
The battleship was equipped with four 457 mm torpedo tubes, twenty 130 mm guns, and turrets of 305 mm main battery guns.
The completion of the ship was completed already at the height of the First World War, at the beginning of 1915, and on June 30 the battleship arrived in Sevastopol.
During sea trials, shortcomings were identified that had to be hastily eliminated. In particular, due to the trim on the nose, it was necessary to lighten the bow.
It was also noted that the ventilation and cooling system of the artillery cellars was poorly made, because of which high temperatures remained there.
The battleship "Empress Maria" leaves the Russud plant on June 24, 1915. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
“There are many saved, their number is being clarified”
In late 1915 - early 1916, "Empress Maria" successfully operated as part of the Black Sea Fleet. In the summer of 1916, the battleship became the flagship of the new fleet commander, which became Vice Admiral Kolchak.
On October 20, 1916, at 6:20 a.m., a powerful explosion thundered under the bow tower of the Empress Maria, which was in the bay of Sevastopol. Over the next 48 minutes, about a dozen more explosions of various capacities occurred, as a result of which the battleship sank.
The commander of the fleet, Kolchak, arrived at the crash site and personally supervised the rescue of the sailors. At 8:45 he sent a telegram Nicholas II: "Today at 7 o'clock. 17 min. on the roadstead of Sevastopol, the battleship "Empress Maria" was lost. At 6 o'clock. 20 minutes. there was an internal explosion of the bow cellars and an oil fire started. The rest of the cellars were immediately flooded, but some could not be penetrated because of the fire. Explosions of cellars and oil continued, the ship gradually set bow and at 7 o'clock. 17 min. overturned. There are many saved, their number is being clarified. Kolchak.
On the same day, Kolchak in a telegram to the Chief of the General Naval Staff Admiral Rusin reported on the death of a mechanical engineer midshipman Ignatiev and 320 "lower ranks".
“It is not possible to come to an exact conclusion”
The sudden death of one of the most modern ships in the fleet in the midst of a war is an extraordinary event. To find out the reasons for the death of the battleship, a commission of the Naval Ministry was appointed, headed by a member of the Admiralty Council Admiral Yakovlev.
Three main versions were put forward: spontaneous combustion of gunpowder; negligence in handling fire or gunpowder; evil intent.
The result of the work of the commission was the following conclusion: “It is not possible to come to an accurate and evidence-based conclusion, we only have to assess the likelihood of these assumptions by comparing the circumstances that have emerged during the investigation.”
Admiral Kolchak did not believe in sabotage. Four years later, answering questions from investigators shortly before his execution, he touched on the story of "Empress Maria", noting: "In any case, there was no evidence that it was malicious intent."
Kolchak, like many in the Navy, believed that the battleship could be ruined by design flaws. The already mentioned high temperature in the artillery cellars could lead to a fire.
"Empress Maria" in 1916. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Negligence or malicious intent?
There was no confidence in the discipline of the crew. After the ship was raised, according to a number of witnesses, a sailor's chest was found in the turret room of one of the towers, in which there were two stearin candles, a box of matches, a set of shoe tools, and two pairs of boots, one of which was repaired and the other was not finished. .
Allegedly, a certain craftsman from among the sailors nailed to the boots chopped strips of smokeless tape powder, taken out of semi-charges for guns. Such manipulations could cause a disaster.
Senior officer of the "Empress Maria" Anatoly Gorodynsky many years later, he suggested that one of the crew members could have dropped the ammunition while rearranging the artillery cellar.
The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Kolchak himself, admitted that the discipline on the ships was lame, and he also did not rule out an undermining due to negligence.
The possibility of sabotage was also considered. The Sevastopol gendarme department and counterintelligence reported that there were persistent rumors among the sailors that this was an attempt on the life of the fleet commander. The sailors believed that people with German surnames, who were part of the environment of the previous commander of the Black Sea Fleet, could try to “remove” Kolchak.
The case of the "Werman group"
The case of the death of the battleship "Empress Maria" was investigated many years later by the Soviet special services. In the 1930s, a German intelligence station was opened in Nikolaev, headed by Victor Verman. The group was suspected of preparing sabotage at shipyards in order to disrupt the Soviet shipbuilding program.
During the investigation, Verman said that he had worked for the Germans since 1908, and during the First World War he collected information about the latest Russian battleships, in particular, about the Empress Maria.
OGPU investigators found that the German command considered "Empress Maria" a serious threat to their plans and even nurtured the idea of sabotage. However, it was not possible to establish whether the fact of sabotage actually took place. Verman himself, by a court decision, was simply expelled from the USSR - it is possible that the German resident was exchanged for someone.
However, the whole story about the “Verman group” is seriously questioned, and some consider the testimony of the detainees forced, obtained under torture.
The hero of the story "Dirk" says about the explosion on the battleship: " dark history... We understood this matter a lot, but it was all to no avail. Perhaps these words are accurate in the year of the 100th anniversary of the death of "Empress Maria".
Battleship Empress Maria after docking and pumping out water, 1919. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Raised and dismantled for metal
Almost immediately after the death of the Empress Maria, the development of a plan for raising the ship began. According to the project, compressed air was supplied to the pre-sealed compartments of the ship, displacing water, and the ship had to float up with a keel. Then it was planned to dock the ship and completely seal the hull, and put it on an even keel in deep water.
The unique project was developed by a Russian shipbuilder Alexey Krylov. This amazing man, a shipbuilder and mathematician, would later add the Stalin Prize and the title of Hero of Socialist Labor to his royal regalia.
Krylov's project was successfully implemented - in August 1918, the battleship's hull was docked.
Alas, the Civil War did not allow to complete what had been started. As a result, in 1927, the battleship, which was never restored, was dismantled for metal.
The towers of the main caliber, which fell off the "Empress Maria" during flooding, were raised by specialists of the underwater expedition special purpose in 1931.
Some researchers claim that the raised guns were introduced into the 30th coastal battery and participated in the defense of Sevastopol during the Great Patriotic War. Their opponents reject this assumption, stating that only gun mounts from the Russian battleship were used on the battery.
P.S. 39 years and 9 days after the death of the Empress Maria, on October 29, 1955, the battleship Novorossiysk was killed in the same Sevastopol bay as a result of an explosion. The reasons for the death of Novorossiysk, as in the case of the Empress Maria, have not been reliably established to this day.
100 years ago, on October 20, 1916, in Sevastopol, on one of the most modern ships of the Russian fleet, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the battleship Empress Maria, a powder magazine exploded, after which the ship sank.
There could have been much more victims if during the explosion that occurred in the bow gun turret of the battleship, the crew of the ship did not stand on the deck in prayer. In addition, some of the officers were on shore leave. "Empress Maria" was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, on which, when going to sea, was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral A. V. Kolchak.
In a telegram from Kolchak to Tsar Nicholas II, it was reported: “To Your Imperial Majesty, I most humbly inform: “Today at 7 o’clock. 17 min. on the roadstead of Sevastopol, the battleship "Empress Maria" was lost. At 6 o'clock. 20 minutes. there was an internal explosion of the bow cellars and an oil fire started. The rest of the cellars were immediately flooded, but some could not be penetrated because of the fire. Explosions of cellars and oil continued, the ship gradually set bow and at 7 o'clock. 17 min. overturned. There are many saved, their number is being clarified.
A special commission was created to investigate the tragedy, but it failed to find out the causes of the explosion. Until now, historians do not have an unequivocal opinion about the cause of the tragedy: whether it was a diversion or just a tragic accident.
background
In the First World War, the enemy Russian Empire on the Black Sea was the German-Turkish fleet. Before the war, the Black Sea Fleet in all respects had complete superiority over the Turkish naval forces. Our fleet surpassed the enemy in the number of pennants, in firepower, in combat training, in the training of officers and sailors, etc. It consisted of: ”, “John Chrysostom”, “Panteleimon” (former “Prince Potemkin-Tauride”), “Rostislav”, “Three Saints”, “Sinop”; 2 Bogatyr-class cruisers, 17 destroyers, 12 destroyers, 4 submarines. The main base was Sevastopol, the fleet had its shipyards in Sevastopol and Nikolaev. 4 powerful modern-style battleships (dreadnoughts) were built: "Empress Maria", "Empress Catherine the Great", "Emperor Alexander III", "Emperor Nicholas I".
The Turks had only a few more or less combat-ready ships: 2 armored cruisers Medzhidie and Gamidie, 2 squadron battleships Torgut Reis and Hayreddin Barbarossa (Brandenburg-class battleships), 8 French and German-built destroyers. At the same time, the Ottomans practically did not have their own shipbuilding industry, they did not have enough money, naval personnel, there was no combat training, and discipline was low. The Turkish government before the war tried to renew the fleet by ordering new ships in France and England. But the war with Italy, the two Balkan wars and the outbreak of the First World War thwarted these plans. There was no money in the treasury, and those ships that were built in England were confiscated by the British in their favor.
As a result, the exit of the Turkish fleet from the Bosporus to fight the Russian fleet was basically impossible. However, although the Black Sea Fleet was significantly stronger than the Turkish naval forces he was forced to do nothing. Petersburg was afraid of provoking Turkey's entry into the war on the side of Germany and instructed to avoid aggressive actions that could cause a war with the Ottoman Empire. Although the experience of the war with the Japanese showed the fallacy of passive tactics, the tsarist government, 10 years later, "stepped on the same rake", the commander of the fleet A. A. Eberhard was bound by the directive of the government.
Meanwhile, Germany changed the balance of power in the Black Sea. On August 10, 1914, two of the newest German cruisers arrived in Turkey: the heavy Goeben (called the Sultan Selim) and the light Breslau (Midilli). The commander of the German Mediterranean Division, Rear Admiral V. Souchon, led the combined German-Turkish forces. "Goeben" was more powerful than any Russian battleship of the old type, but together Russian battleships would have destroyed it. Therefore, in a collision with the entire squadron, the Goeben left, using its high speed. Under pressure from Germany, the Turkish "war party" took over, and the Ottoman Empire decided to enter the war.
On October 29-30, the German-Turkish fleet launched an artillery strike on Sevastopol, Odessa, Feodosia and Novorossiysk. This event was called - "Sevastopol wake-up". Thus, the fighting in the Black Sea began unexpectedly for the Russian Empire. The Black Sea Fleet was taken by surprise by the enemy. However, the German-Turkish forces were unable to inflict great harm on the Russian fleet: the forces were dispersed, and there was not enough firepower.
Almost immediately, the Russian fleet made a return “visit”: the fire of the Cahul cruiser destroyed huge coal storage facilities in Zonguldak (Zunguldak), and the Panteleimon battleship and destroyers sank several enemy troop transports and minesweepers. In addition, destroyers, under the cover of armadillos, laid mines near the Bosphorus itself. In November, the Russian squadron goes out to search for enemy ships, shells Trebizond and meets on way back with German cruisers. The battle at Cape Sarych on November 18, 1914 was reduced to a skirmish between the battleship "Evstafiy" and "Goeben". Both ships were damaged ("Goeben" had to be repaired). The Germans could not fight with the entire brigade of Russian battleships and, taking advantage of the speed advantage, the German cruisers were able to break away from the Russian squadron and leave.
In December, the "Goeben" was blown up by a Russian mine near the Bosphorus Strait, the area of the hole on the left side was 64 square meters. meters, and the right - 50 square meters. meters, "drank water" from 600 to 2000 tons. For repairs, specialists from Germany had to be called in, restoration work was basically completed by April 1915. However, at the very end of 1914, 5 German submarines crossed into the Black Sea from the Mediterranean, which complicated the situation in the Black Sea theater.
In 1915, the Black Sea Fleet consistently increased its advantage: the Russian squadron made trips to enemy shores, launched artillery strikes on Zonguldak, Trebizond and other ports. Dozens of enemy ships, sailing ships with military cargo were sunk. For reconnaissance of Turkish routes, destroyers, hydroaviation began to be used, Russian submarines began to patrol the Bosphorus area.
In early April 1915, the plan of the German-Turkish command to attack Odessa failed. It was assumed that Odessa would become the base for the Russian landing (Bosphorus operation) and Souchon wanted to destroy the Russian transports. However, the case was spoiled by Russian minefields. The cruiser "Medzhidie" was blown up by a mine. He did not drown completely, the depth was too small. The destroyers removed the crew. The German-Turkish detachment retreated. In the summer, the Turkish cruiser was raised. Initial repairs were carried out in Odessa, then a major overhaul in Nikolaev, re-equipped, and a year later, in June 1916, the ship became part of the Black Sea Fleet as the Prut. As part of the fleet, he participated in several operations, in May 1918 he was captured by the Germans, transferred to the Turks, and there, thanks to Russian repairs, he was in the service of the Turkish fleet right up to 1947.
Plan of the Bosphorus operation
After Crimean War in the Russian Empire worked out various options for waging war with Turkey. After Russian-Turkish war 1877-1877 it became finally clear that a strong fleet was needed. It is extremely difficult to take Istanbul by land forces alone: the distance from the Danube and the Caucasus to the Ottoman capital is too great, and it is also protected by strong fortresses and natural barriers. Therefore, with the revival of the Black Sea Fleet, the idea of conducting the Bosphorus operation arose. The idea was tempting - with one blow to decapitate the old enemy and realize the age-old Russian dream, to return the ancient Tsargrad-Constantinople to the bosom of the Orthodox, Christian world.
To implement this plan, a powerful armored fleet, an order of magnitude stronger than the Turkish naval forces. The fleet has been built since 1883, battleships of the Empress Catherine the Great type were laid down, a total of 4 ships were built, and two of them participated in the First world war. In addition, the destroyer fleet and the Volunteer fleet (for the transport of troops) were intensively developed. The battleships were, if necessary, to crush the enemy fleet and destroy land fortifications and batteries.
The idea of operation was returned during the First World War. The appearance of German ships put aside these plans. When Russia's allies launched the Dardanelles operation (February 1915), plans to capture the Bosphorus were resumed. The Russian fleet systematically carried out demonstrative actions against the Bosphorus. If the Allies were successful in the Dardanelles, the Black Sea Fleet would have to occupy the Bosporus. Russian troops were drawn to Odessa, a demonstrative loading was carried out on transports. Eager activity created the appearance of preparing a large-scale landing operation. True, before the commissioning of new battleships, the success of this operation was in doubt. In addition, the German offensive of 1915 did not allow the allocation of large forces for the operation.
The real opportunity arose only in 1916. Caucasian Front conducted a successful Erzerum operation, taking the largest Turkish stronghold and base in the Caucasus, and then achieved success in other battles. Southwestern Front successfully launched the Lutsk operation (Brusilovsky breakthrough), the Austro-Hungarian troops suffered a heavy defeat. The German troops were tied up on the French front by heavy fighting at Verdun and then on the Somme. The Russian Headquarters had the opportunity to allocate forces for the landing. In addition, the Black Sea Fleet now had two newest dreadnoughts - the Empress Maria and the Empress Catherine the Great, which neutralized the Goeben.
On the whole, from that time on, the Russian fleet gained great superiority over the enemy; it constantly fired on the Turkish coast. With the advent of new submarines in the fleet, including the Crab-type minelayer, it became possible to cross enemy communications with the help of them. The novelty of the Russian fleet was the interaction of submarines and destroyers, which increased the effectiveness of the blockade of the Bosphorus and the coal regions of Turkey.
Thus, in 1915, the Black Sea Fleet strengthened its superiority and almost completely controlled the sea. Three brigades of battleships were formed, destroyer forces were actively operating, submarine forces and naval aviation were increasing their combat experience. Conditions were created for the Bosphorus operation.
1916
In 1916, Russia received a number of unpleasant “surprises” at the Black Sea Theater: on August 14 (27), Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente, but since its armed forces were of very dubious combat effectiveness, they had to be strengthened by Russian troops. The Black Sea Fleet now assisted the ally from the Balkan coast and the Danube. The submarine threat to the fleet increased, the German submarine forces in the Black Sea grew to 10 submarines. The Black Sea Fleet did not have anti-submarine protection, so it had to be created on the outskirts of Sevastopol.
Also, the Black Sea Fleet continued to solve the same tasks: it blocked the Bosphorus; supported the right flank of the advancing Caucasian front; violated enemy sea communications; defended its bases and communications from enemy submarine forces; supported Russian and Romanian troops.
One of the main tasks was the blockade of the strait. Using the mine experience of the Baltic Fleet, it was decided to close the Bosphorus with mines. From July 30 to August 10, a minefield operation was carried out, 4 barriers were set up, in total about 900 mines. Until the end of the year, 8 more mine installations were made, with the task of strengthening the main barrier and blocking coastal waters (to interfere with small ships and submarines). To protect minefields from minesweepers, a patrol of destroyers and submarines was established. In the minefields, the enemy lost several warships, submarines, and dozens of transports. The mine blockade disrupted Turkish shipping, Istanbul began to experience difficulties in supplying food and fuel. But a complete blockade of the Bosphorus was still not achieved.
The Black Sea Fleet also actively supported the Caucasian Front. The ships supported the ground forces with artillery, landed distracting assault forces, sabotage groups, covered from a possible strike from the sea, and delivered supplies and reinforcements. Transportation of troops and supplies was carried out by a special transport flotilla (in 1916 - 90 ships). The ships of the Black Sea Fleet supported our troops during the Erzurum and Trebizond operations.
"Empress Maria" in 1916
The death of the battleship
The ship was laid down in 1911 in Nikolaev at the same time as the battleships of the same type "Emperor Alexander III" and "Empress Catherine the Great". The ship was named after the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of the late Emperor Alexander III. It was launched on October 6, 1913, and arrived in Sevastopol on June 30, 1915.
On October 13-15, 1915, the battleship covered the actions of the 2nd battleship brigade in the Zonguldak area. In November 1915, he covered the 2nd brigade from the sea during the shelling of Varna and Evksinograd. From February 5 to April 18, he assisted the Trebizond operation. During the hostilities, it became clear that the battleships of the "Empress Maria" type justified the hopes placed on them. During the first year of service, the ship made 24 military campaigns, sank many Turkish ships.
In the summer of 1916, by decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Black Sea Fleet was headed by Vice Admiral Alexander Kolchak. The admiral made the "Empress Maria" the flagship of the fleet and systematically went to sea on it. Having laid a glorious initiative, in the autumn of 1916 the battleship was put in the Sevastopol raid for preventive maintenance. However, this autumn became fatal for the "Empress Maria".
The morning of October 20, 1916 did not portend trouble, an ordinary day began. Over the North Bay, a wake-up call was given to the crews of the ships every day. On the battleship, everything went according to a certain routine. Suddenly at 6 o'clock. 20 minutes. the neighborhood was rocked by a powerful explosion.
Captain 2nd Rank A. Lukin wrote: “In the washbasin, putting their heads under the taps, the team snorted and splashed when a terrible blow slammed under the bow tower, knocking half of the people off their feet. A fiery stream, shrouded in poisonous gases of a yellow-green flame, burst into the room, instantly turning the life that had just reigned here into a pile of dead, burned bodies ... ". A new explosion of terrible force tore out the steel mast. Like a reel, he threw an armored cabin to the sky. The bow stoker on duty took off into the air. The ship plunged into darkness. The ship was on fire, bodies lay in heaps. In some casemates, people were stuck, barricaded by an avalanche of fire. Get out and burn. Stay - drown. Cellars of 130-mm shells were torn. Within an hour, there were about 25 more explosions. The crew fought to the last for their ship, many heroes died trying to put out the fire.
Frightened Sevastopol residents ran out onto the embankment and witnessed a terrible picture. Standing on the roads in his native bay, the battleship "Empress Maria" was dying. The ship listed to starboard, capsized and sank. The wounded were located right on the shore and first aid was provided here. Black smoke hung over the city. By evening, the extent of the disaster became known: 225 sailors died, 85 were seriously injured (various figures are given in the sources). So, the most powerful ship of the Black Sea Fleet died. It was the largest loss of the Russian Imperial Navy in all the years of the First World War.
The tragedy shook the entire Russian Empire. The commission of the Naval Ministry, headed by a combat officer, a member of the Admiralty Council, Admiral N. M. Yakovlev, took up the cause of the death of the ship. A well-known shipbuilder, one of the authors of the project of the Black Sea battleships, an associate of Admiral S. O. Makarov, academician A. N. Krylov, also became a member of the commission, who drew up a conclusion that was approved by all members of the commission. Three main versions of the death of the battleship were put forward: 1) spontaneous combustion of gunpowder; 2) negligence in handling fire or gunpowder; 3) malicious intent.
The commission leaned towards the second version (negligence), since the gunpowder was, in the opinion of all the gunners of the battleship, of high quality. As for malicious intent, the commission considered this version unlikely. Although violations were established in the rules for access to artillery cellars and a lack of control over the workers on the ship. The commission noted: “... On the battleship Empress Maria, there were significant deviations from the statutory requirements regarding access to the artillery cellar. In particular, many tower hatches did not have locks. During the stay in Sevastopol, representatives of various factories worked on the battleship. There was no surname check of the artisans ... ". As a result, none of the hypotheses put forward by the commission found sufficient facts to confirm.
In addition, the Sevastopol Gendarme Directorate and the counterintelligence of the Main Staff of the Black Sea Fleet, created at the initiative of the sailors at the end of 1915, were investigating the causes of the explosions. But they could not find the true cause of the death of the flagship. Revolutionary events finally stopped the investigation.
Already in 1916, work began on raising the ship, according to a project proposed by A. N. Krylov. The ship was raised in 1918 and taken to the dock. However, under the conditions civil war and revolutionary devastation, the ship was never restored. In 1927 it was demolished.
Battleship Empress Maria after docking and pumping out water, 1919
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Already in the Soviet period, it became known that Germany was closely watching all the changes in the Russian fleet, including the new dreadnoughts. In Berlin, they feared that the Russians would take Constantinople, where the battleships were to play a decisive role in breaking through the Turkish defenses. In 1933, during the investigation of sabotage at the Nikolaev shipyard, Stalin's Chekists revealed a network of German intelligence led by V. E. Verman. The main task of the German spies was to disrupt the shipbuilding program of the military and merchant fleet of the USSR.
During the investigation, many interesting details were revealed, rooted in the pre-revolutionary period. Verman himself was an experienced intelligence officer (he was a senior electrical engineer), he began his career back in 1908, when a large-scale program for the restoration of the Russian fleet began. The network covered everything big cities Black Sea coast, special attention was given to Odessa, Nikolaev, Sevastopol and Novorossiysk. The group included many well-known people in the city (even the mayor of Nikolaev, a certain Matveev), and most importantly, shipyard engineers Sheffer, Lipke, Feoktistov and electrical engineer Sgibnev. In the early thirties, some members of the spy group were arrested. During the investigation, they spoke about their involvement in the explosion on the battleship. The direct perpetrators of the sabotage - Feoktistov, Sgibnev and Verman - were to receive a "fee" of 80 thousand rubles in gold, and the head of the group, Verman, also received the Iron Cross.
During interrogation, Werman said that German intelligence was planning a sabotage on the battleship, and the saboteur Helmut von Stitthoff led the group. He was considered the best specialist in the field of mining and undermining ships. In the summer of 1916, Helmut von Stitthoff began working at the Nikolaev shipyard as an electrician. It was planned to blow up the battleship right at the shipyard. However, something broke. Stitthoff urgently curtailed the operation and left for Germany. But the Verman group continued to work independently and did not curtail its activities, it had the opportunity to access the battleship. Stitthoff command transferred to the next task. In 1942, the honored German saboteur von Stitthoff was shot by the secret police. The trace leading to the unraveling of the death of the battleship "Empress Maria" was erased.
In addition, there is a British footprint. On the night before the death of the giant, Commander Voronov was on duty at the main tower. His duties were: inspection and measurement of the temperature of the artillery cellar. This morning, Captain 2nd Rank Gorodyssky was also on combat duty on the ship. At dawn, Gorodyssky ordered his Voronov to measure the temperature in the cellar of the main tower. Voronov went down to the cellar and no one saw him again. And after a while the first explosion thundered. Voronov's body was never found among the bodies of the dead. The commission had suspicions about him, but there was no evidence and he was recorded as missing. Later it turned out that British intelligence lieutenant colonel John Haviland and the gunner of the battleship "Empress Maria" Voronov, apparently, are one and the same person. The lieutenant of British naval intelligence served in Russia from 1914 to 1916, a week after the explosion he left Russia and arrived in England as a lieutenant colonel. After the end of the war, he retired, lived the ordinary life of a wealthy gentleman. And in 1929 he died under strange circumstances.
Thus, it is quite possible that Germany was able to conduct a covert operation to eliminate the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. Or our "partner" - Britain did it. As you know, the British have long resisted Russia's plans to capture the straits and Constantinople-Tsargrad. It is known that in England, before anyone else, a powerful reconnaissance and sabotage service appeared, which waged a secret war against the competitors of the British Empire. The British elite could not allow the "shield of Oleg" to reappear on the gates of Constantinople. This would be the day of the collapse of the age-old machinations and intrigues of England against Russia. The Straits were not to be taken by the Russians at any cost.
The possibilities of British intelligence in Russia were no worse than those of Germany, and besides, England often did its business by proxy. It is possible that the battleship was destroyed by the Germans, but with the covert support of the British. Given the fact that the security service in the Russian Empire was poorly organized (in particular, high-ranking conspirators, Western agents and the revolutionaries calmly prepared the overthrow of the autocracy), and there was a weak organization of the protection of especially important objects and structures, there was an opportunity to carry the "hellish machine" to the battleship.
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