The Bogatyr ( Russian Богатырь ) was the first steam frigate of the Russian Navy . She was put into service in the Baltic fleet in 1837 , completely overhauled in 1848 and retired and scrapped in 1857.
Construction and technical data
The ship, a side wheel steamer , was built in 1836 at the Admiralty Shipyard ( Russian Адмиралтейские верфи ) in Saint Petersburg . The construction contract required a steam engine of 240 hp and a steam speed of at least 8 knots with a water displacement of 1,200 tons . The for the service in the Baltic Sea provided ship should have a wooden hull and a Bark rigged be.
The Bogatyr , a flush deck with a battery cover and a lounge deck below the main deck, was launched in August 1836 from the stack . She was 63.8 m long (56.7 m in the waterline ) and 9.75 m wide and had a 4.3 m draft . The displacement, fully equipped, was 1,342 tons. The wooden hull was covered with copper plates below the waterline . The ship was rigged as a barque, with the foremast in front of the paddle wheels and the chimney, the mainmast and the mizzenmast behind them. The (auxiliary) machinery consisted of a boiler, a steam engine of 240 HP, and two side paddle wheels driven by the same axis; the required speed of 8 knots was achieved. Since the wheel axle and large parts of the machinery were above the waterline, the ship was very vulnerable in battle. Catwalks ran over the two wheel arches and were connected to one another by a bridge serving as a command bridge. Five boats were carried.
an iron 245 mm mortar , also on a wooden pivot carriage, on the stern , operated by 12 men, maximum barrel elevation 45 °, range about 5 km;
28 iron cannons (24 pounders) of 150 mm caliber on wooden mounts; Of these, eight were on the upper deck and 20 on the battery deck (four on each side in front of and six behind the wheel arches in gun ports ), 11 men serving, pipe elevation up to 10 °, range about 2.4 km.
