Askold (ship, 1900)
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.jpg) Askold after commissioning |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard | |
| Order | Construction no. |
| Keel laying | July 20, 1899 |
| Launch | March 15, 1900 |
| delivery | January 25, 1902 |
| period of service |
1902-1918 |
| Commissioning | 1918–1921 Royal Navy |
| Whereabouts | 1922 demolished in Germany |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
5910 t , max. 6200 t |
| length |
131.2 m |
| width |
15.0 m |
| Draft |
6.2 m |
| crew |
565-580 men |
| drive |
9 Schulz Thornycroft boilers |
| speed |
23.8 kn |
| Range |
6500 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
• 12 × 150 mm / L45- Canet -Geschütze |
| Bunker quantity |
1050 tons of coal |
| Armor | |
| Armored deck |
50-101 mm |
| Command tower |
152 mm |
The Askold ( Russian : Аскольд) was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy from 1902. It was built in Germany as a single ship . The ship was named after the legendary Varangian prince Askold . The cruiser was in both the Russo-Japanese War and in World War I in use. The Askold was one of the very few warships that had five funnels .
In 1918 she was taken over by Great Britain after the October Revolution and renamed HMS Glory IV . After the Soviet Union rejected an offer to return it in 1921, it was decommissioned and scrapped in Hamburg in 1922 .
Building history
After the Pallada class of three ships built in its own shipyards , the Russian Navy ordered three large protected cruisers (classified as 1st class cruisers) abroad as part of the fleet building program in 1898: the Varyag from William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia , United States , and the Askold from the Germania shipyard in Kiel and the Bogatyr at the Stettiner Maschinenbau-AG Vulcan . Only the Vulcan design, which had better armor and distribution of the 15.2 cm guns, was reproduced in Russian shipyards. This made the Bogatyr the lead ship of a class of four ships. A planned fifth ship was not completed.
In 1899, the Askold was commissioned by Russia as a fast protected cruiser in accordance with the wishes of the Admiralty in Germany as the second cruiser in the construction program. The Varyag was awarded the contract in advance and without intensive comparison with the various European designs. Askold 's keel was laid (Russian ships were considered "male") took place on July 20, 1899 at the Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel. The construction went without any difficulties. The launch was on March 15, 1900, and the commissioning of the Askold with the Imperial Russian Navy took place on January 25, 1902. At the time it was the fastest larger cruiser in the Russian fleet. Contrary to the original plans, she remained a single ship.
A special feature of this ship were the five long and slender funnels, which made it easily recognizable from a distance with the unmistakable sideline associated with it. Because of their appearance, British sailors gave the Askold the nickname Packet of Woodbines (= box of Woodbines), based on the thin cigarettes of the Woodbine brand popular in the Royal Navy . However, this had more than just symbolic meaning, since at that time the number of chimneys on a ship was generally equated with its performance. Indeed, there were some incidents at the time when the commanders of warships had dummy chimneys set up at sea to impress the local population in the distant ports they were planning to visit. These circumstances would not have been necessary for Askold , as it was able to keep exactly what it was promising optically with its five chimneys according to the opinion of the time. The extremely slim and elongated shape of the hull enabled a speed of almost 24 knots - an impressive achievement at that time, shortly after the turn of the century.
Mission history
On September 3, 1902, Askold left Kronstadt , where it never returned. She ran to the Far East to reinforce the Pacific Squadron. On the march she was the third Russian warship to visit ports on the Persian Gulf after the gunboat Giljak in 1900 and the cruiser Varyag in December 1901. On December 1, the emir of Kuwait, Mubarak as-Sabah , visited the ship. On February 13, 1903, she arrived at Port Arthur , her new location. She immediately visited Japan (Nagasaki, Yokohama, Kobe); Taku in China, the British base in Weihaiwei and the German base in Tsingtau . On May 3, she ran, accompanied by Novik , who had just arrived in East Asia , to Vladivostok to take the Russian War Minister Kuropatkin on board and bring him to Japan. This traveled from Shimonoseki by train to Tokyo and was taken back on board in Kobe . After visiting Nagasaki on 12./13. On June 6th they ran back to Port Arthur, where the Minister arrived on June 17th. The Askold was also involved in the last Russian visit to Japan on August 23 in Hakodate under Rear Admiral Baron von Stackelberg on the Rossija with two other cruisers. She then remained stationed in Port Arthur, where from October 1903 preparations were made for war with Japan.
Russo-Japanese War
The ship was used as part of the Russian Pacific Fleet in 1904 in the Russo-Japanese War. She took part there first with passable success in the sea battle off Port Arthur and played out her advantage in speed. She opposed the attacking Japanese ships violently, but was damaged in the process. The other Russian cruisers Bajan , Diana and Novik also suffered damage in this battle. After the sea battle in the Yellow Sea , where she was the flagship of Rear Admiral Reitzenstein , who was in command of the cruisers , she called at the neutral port of Shanghai because of her serious damage and was then interned by China until the peace agreement with Japan.
Siberian flotilla
On October 11, 1905, the Russian flag was again raised on the Askold in Shanghai, and on November 1, the cruiser set sail for Vladivostok. All surviving ships were repaired and refitted in Vladivostok. The Askold spent most of the time in the shipyard or in dry dock. On February 1, 1907, it was sufficiently restored to carry out a longer training trip. She ran via Shanghai to Saigon, where she ran aground on March 15th. However, she was able to continue the journey and still visited Hong Kong, Amoy , Shanghai and Tsingtau and arrived back in Vladivostok on April 30th. In 1908 the ship was hardly active, and the deflated 152 mm guns were replaced. The surviving ships of the Pacific Squadron (and war) had gradually returned to the Baltic Fleet in the Baltic Sea, such as the liner Zessarewitsch , the armored cruisers Rossija and Gromoboi and the cruisers Oleg , Bogatyr , Aurora , Diana and Almas . The largest Russian ship that remained was the Askold , which became the flagship of the Russian Far East naval forces, now known as the Siberian Flotilla . In addition, only the cruiser Shemchug remained with the association as a larger ship.
Despite little use in the years from 1908 to 1910, the condition of the Askold got worse and worse. From January 1, 1911, a comprehensive overhaul of the ship took place. The boiler tubes were renewed and new chimneys were installed and all machines were overhauled. In the first tests in September 1912, only 17.46 knots were reached. Further work on the underwater hull followed. The Chinese Suchan coal used also hampered performance. After completing all the work, the Askold reached a speed of 20.11 knots at the end of 1912. From November 1, 1913, Askold carried out a four-month training trip. From Vladivostok it ran back to Vladivostok via Genzan, Hong Kong, Saigon, Padang , Batavia , Surabaya and Manila . She covered 10,711 miles, but there were problems with the medium machine on the first stage, which was then switched off. In 1913 , the Askold covered a total of 17,226 miles in 1,686 operating hours. After the collision with a mine-layer, a major overhaul was planned for autumn 1914. The events in distant Europe no longer allowed this.
First World War
On August 12, 1914, the cruiser Askold , the Shemchug and the steamer Poltava of the volunteer fleet ran out of Vladivostok to support the Allies against the German cruisers in the Pacific. In Hong Kong , the Askold also took over coal and supported the search for supply ships of the German cruiser squadron of Admiral von Spee in the area east of the Philippines, only encountered an American steamer. The cruiser returned to Hong Kong and was then sent to Singapore to secure transports with troops and military supplies. In September and November the Askold crossed the Indian Ocean several times with escorts.
It was then relocated to the Mediterranean Sea for operations off the coasts of Syria and Palestine to destroy enemy ships and carry out attacks on coastal settlements of military importance. The first use took place on December 1, 1914 off Haifa , where a German steamer was brought up. Similar missions took place off Beirut , where they met the American armored cruiser North Carolina and the Italian cruiser Kalabria . In addition to controlling coastal traffic, military targets were also attacked, such as attacks on railroad lines and bridges near the coast.
As part of a French squadron, Askold also supported the landings on the Dardanelles in the Kum Kale section on April 12, 1915, where their boats brought troops ashore and they also provided active artillery support. In May she also provided support in the area off the Bulgarian coast in order to then call at Toulon for minor repairs before returning to the eastern Mediterranean. It was deployed off the Greek and Bulgarian coasts.
In January 1916 the cruiser moved from Thessaloniki to Toulon. After clarifying the payment, a total overhaul of the cruiser began. The machines were thoroughly overhauled, and French models replaced the deflated 152 mm guns and 75 mm cannons. Askold also received anti-aircraft weapons: two 57-mm and two British 47-mm guns were installed on the bridge cam. However, repairs were delayed due to the lack of skilled labor and materials. Tensions on board also increased, as the crew had to live on the ship under construction while the officers traveled to Paris or visited the nearby holiday resorts. On August 19, there was an explosion in a magazine and significant parts of the crew were arrested. Four sailors were sentenced to death. The test drives of the overhauled cruiser began in November. The cruiser reached 21 knots in December, with 19 knots being a realistic top speed. During the tests, the Askold was assigned to the naval units in the Barents Sea on December 5th , and she left Toulon on December 27th for England via Gibraltar . In bad weather she suffered some storm damage in the Atlantic and reached Plymouth on January 20, 1917 with only 70 tons of coal left. In the naval shipyard Devonport , the storm damage of the Askold was removed. The Askold joined in February of the provisional government. On May 23, she moved to Greenock for further testing .
On June 4, the Askold left Scottish waters and reached Kola Bay on June 17 and anchored in Murmansk . To protect the shore facilities there, she gave all ten 75 mm cannons and the two 47 mm anti-aircraft guns ashore. After the armistice with Germany in December 1917, a partial demobilization of the fleet began. On February 5, 1918, the Askold was decommissioned. Long-term storage should be in Arkhangelsk . However, on July 14, 1918, British, American and French sailors occupied the ship. Since only a few Russian sailors wanted to continue fighting with the Allies, it was taken over by the British on August 3, 1918 as HMS Glory IV . For some time it was used as a floating barracks for the Slavo-British Allied Legion . When the British evacuated Murmansk, the Askold ran back to Scotland.
In British service
The Glory IV was transferred to Gareloch in Scotland . Contrary to all expectations, the ship proved to be of little use to the British and was therefore used almost exclusively as a depot ship after a few voyages . A transfer to the "White Garden" was agreed, but was not implemented.
In 1921 the British government offered the newly formed Soviet Union as legal successor to Tsarist Russia the return of the Askold against payment of the transportation costs. However, the latter turned down the offer after a Soviet commission inspected the Askold and found it in a rather poor condition.
The Royal Navy decommissioned the ship that same year and put it up for sale. Since there were no longer any interested parties, it was handed over to Germany for demolition. The Askold was then scrapped in Hamburg in 1922.
photos
Protected cruiser Askold (1904)
Askold from aft (1904)
Askold in Port Arthur (1904)
Askold in the First World War
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Web links
- VY Bauer, SV Molodtsov: Cruiser Askold (Russian)
- Russian Protected Cruiser Askold: Only 5-Stacker in the Far East (1900)
- Article with many pictures (Russian)
- Articles with numerous pictures (English)