Amur class (1906)
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|---|---|
| Amur (1906) class | |
 Amur |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Mine layers |
| units | 2 |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | May 28, 1905 July 18, 1906 |
| Launch | July 5, 1906 June 16, 1907 |
| delivery | both October 24, 1909 |
| Namesake | Rivers |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
3,200 t |
| length |
98.9 m in the waterline |
| width |
14.05 m |
| Draft |
4.4 m |
| crew |
312 men |
| drive |
12 water tube boilers |
| speed |
18.9 kn |
| Range |
3200 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
• 5 × 120 mm L / 45 canet cannons |
| Sister ships |
Yenisei , Amur |
The two mine-layers of the second Amur class were further developments of the first two deep-sea mine-layers, Amur and Yenisei, which were built for the Imperial Russian Navy from 1898 to 1901 and were lost in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. The ships of the same name, commissioned in 1905 from the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg , were cruiser-like two-chimney ships. The revolutionary situation in Russia significantly delayed its completion.
The Yenisei was sunk on May 22, 1915 by a German submarine . The Amur was sunk as the Hulk in Tallinn by German planes in 1941.
Building history
The mine-layers of the second Amur class were supposed to be an improved version of their predecessors . Both ships, the Yenisei and the Amur , were again commissioned from the Baltic shipyard in Saint Petersburg . The keel of the Yenisei was laid in 1905 during the war against Japan, that of the Amur in 1906. They received a reinforced hull, a more powerful engine and considerably more armament than the ships of the first series. The mine capacity was also slightly higher.
The new ships were 98.9 m long in the waterline, were up to 14.05 m wide and had a draft of 4.4 m. The armament had been considerably reinforced with five 120 mm L / 45 Canet cannons and two 75 mm L / 50 cannons of the Canet 1892 model .
As with other projects implemented at the same time (e.g. the armored cruisers of the Bajan class ), the long construction times and adherence to the old plans led to ships that were already technically obsolete when they were completed. The speed of the ships was completely inadequate, especially since the Amur is said not even to have reached the insufficient speed of construction.
Mission history
The two ships were assigned to the miners' squadron of the Baltic fleet when they were put into service together . The Russian Navy attached considerable importance to the laying of defensive and offensive mine barriers, especially since it was able to fall back on good experiences from the war against Japan, in which the Japanese Navy lost a number of ships to mines (see Hatsuse ). Cruisers and destroyers were intended for offensive warfare, and a number of old cruisers were converted into mine-layers, such as the armored cruisers Rossija and Gromoboi . From 1910 the intention was to completely block the Gulf of Finland against attacks by a massive mine barrier; from 1913 the Russian navy had the necessary mine supply.
The first in command of the Yenisei from 1909 to 1913 was Kazimierz Porębski (1872–1933), who later became the first in command of the Polish Navy .
War effort
Prepared even before the official declaration of war, the Russian miners Ladoga , Narova , Amur and Yenisei laid this central barrier on July 31, 1914 on the orders of the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vice-Admiral Nikolai Ottowitsch von Essen , which allowed foreign navies to enter the Gulf of Finland should make impossible. Under the protection of the fleet, 2129 mines were laid in 4.5 hours. By the end of 1914, 3,150 mines had been laid here.
Despite their slow speed, the Amur-class mine layers were also used in offensive mining operations during World War II . On November 17-22, 1914, under the protection of the armored cruiser Rurik and the cruisers Bogatyr and Oleg , the Amur laid 240 mines on the Stolpe Bank in the shipping route between Kolberg and Danzig . On December 14-16, 1914, under the protection of the Bogatyr , the Yenisei laid 240 mines on the shipping route to Danzig in 45 minutes, which killed at least one (probably four) German merchant ships. At the same time, the armored cruisers Rurik and Admiral Makarow were at sea, relocating some mines further west. In total, over 1,600 mines were laid by the Russian Navy in the central and southern Baltic Sea in 1914. The most prominent mine loss of the German Navy in the first year of the war was the armored cruiser Friedrich Carl off Memel on November 17, 1914, fortunately with only seven dead. The mines were probably laid by the Russian destroyer Novik .
The end of the Yenisei
At the beginning of 1915, the Yenisei took part in the enlargement of the mine barriers off the Baltic Islands, especially around Dagö . On May 22, 1915, she passed Odensholm at a speed of twelve knots when she was hit amidships by a torpedo from the German submarine U 26 . The mine-layer immediately listed heavily to starboard and sank within ten minutes. Only 20 men could be rescued from the cold water, 298 men died with the Yenisei .
The well-preserved wreck was found by Estonian divers in 1993; the investigations are ongoing.
Whereabouts of the Amur
The Amur belonged from 1915 to 1917 for "minelayer Detachment Baltic Sea" in the Gulf of Riga, and was used to guard and strengthen the local locks. Between August 10 and 15, 1915, it reinforced the barrier on Irbenstrasse to prevent German attempts to break through. On Irbenstrasse alone, almost 10,000 mines were laid by the Russian Navy between 1915 and 1917 in order to keep the Riga Bay closed . The ship moved to St. Petersburg and was involved in the 1917 revolution. From August 1918, the Amur was out of service and intended as a block ship.
From spring 1930 to summer 1933 the former Amur was used as a stationary training ship by the OSSOAWIACHIM . In 1941 she was moved to Tallinn and sunk by German aircraft on August 28, 1941. After the war it was lifted and scrapped in 1951.
literature
- Anthony J. Watts: The Imperial Russian Navy . Arms and Armor, London 1990, ISBN 0-85368-912-1 .
Web links
- Pictures of the Amur (Russian, accessed February 25, 2011).
- Pictures of the Yenisei (Russian, accessed February 25, 2011).
- Side view of the 2nd Amur class
- Information on the class (Russian, accessed February 25, 2011).
- Korshunov, Dyakonov: Mines of the Russian Navy (Russian, accessed February 25, 2011).
Footnotes
- ↑ Description of the Russian 120mm Canet gun (English, accessed February 25, 2011)
- ↑ Description of the Russian 75mm Canet gun (accessed February 25, 2011)
- ↑ Article about the find, wrong ship data (Russian, accessed February 25, 2011).