Diana (ship, 1899)
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 Diana |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard |
Galerny Shipyard |
| Keel laying | May 23, 1897 |
| Launch | September 30, 1899 |
| delivery | December 10, 1901 |
| period of service |
1901-1918 |
| Whereabouts | 1922 demolished in Germany |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
6,897 t , |
| length |
126.8 m |
| width |
16.8 m |
| Draft |
6.6 m |
| crew |
559 men |
| drive |
24 Belleville boilers |
| speed |
19 kn |
| Range |
2,200 nm at 9 kn |
| Armament |
• 8 x 152 mm L / 45 - Canet -Geschütze |
| Armament from 1911 |
• 10 × 130 mm L / 55 canet guns |
| Bunker quantity |
800–972 t |
| Armor | |
| Command tower |
152 mm |
| Armored deck |
38-63 mm |
| Sister ships | |
The protected cruiser Diana was a ship of the Russian Navy . He belonged to the Pallada class designed in the mid-1890s . The sister ships were the Pallada and the Aurora, made famous by the revolution of 1917 .
Building history
The Diana was the second of three Pallada- class ships that were built at the Galerny Shipyard and the New Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg to reinforce the Russian East Asian fleet. Although their armor was quite light, they represented a considerable improvement over their predecessor classes. The type ship Pallada and the Diana were both laid down in December 1895, the Aurora only in June 1897. The Diana ran in October 1899 two months after the Pallada from the stack. Both cruisers were finished in late 1901. They did not reach the design speed of 20 knots.
In competition with the ships built in Russia, three large protected cruisers (classified as 1st class cruisers) were ordered abroad, which should prove themselves much better. These were the Warjag from William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia , USA , the Askold from Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel and the Bogatyr from the Stettiner Maschinenbau AG Vulcan . The Vulcan design, which had the best armor and distribution of the 152 mm guns, was recreated at Russian shipyards. The Bogatyr was the lead ship of a class of four ships, two of which belonged to the Black Sea Fleet.
Mission history
Soon after their commissioning in late 1901, Pallada and Diana were assigned to the Pacific Squadron in Port Arthur . The two sister ships were supposed to move to East Asia together with the liner Retwisan under Rear Admiral Stackelberg . On October 17, 1902, the march began in Kronstadt . Even on the stage, both cruisers had considerable difficulties in very difficult weather. The Pallada had to call at Libau for an initial repair. Both cruisers also used significantly more coal than planned. Via Kiel , Nyborg , Portland , Vigo , Algiers , Piraeus , Port Said , Suez , Aden , Colombo , Sabang , Singapore the three ships reached Nagasaki on April 8, 1903 , where they met Askold , who had arrived before them . Stackelberg's reinforcement squadron, which only seldom met, consisted of two ships of the line (also Pobeda ), five cruisers (also Nowik , Bogatyr , Boyarin ) and seven destroyers (five of the Forel class from French production and two, Boiki and Burny , from Russian ones Production). The Diana was placed at the disposal of the Russian ambassador to Korea, Pavlov, who was in Japan for negotiations , on the orders of the Supreme Commander Alexeyev . She was waiting for the envoy in Nagasaki and therefore only reached Port Arthur two days after her travel companions on April 24th, and then brought the envoy to the Korean port of Chemulpo on May 1st .
Russo-Japanese War
When the Japanese fleet attacked Port Arthur on February 9, 1904, the Diana was damaged. Although one of the riot cruisers, she did not leave. During the subsequent bombardment by the Japanese fleet in the morning, it received a hit near the waterline that could be repaired in a few days. On both occasions, it fired a total of eight 152-mm and 100 75-mm rounds.
On April 13, 1904, she was involved in the advance of the squadron chief Makarov with the ships of the line Petropavlovsk , Poltava , Pobeda and Peresvet and the cruisers Bajan , Askold and Nowik into the Yellow Sea. In front of the waiting Japanese fleet, Makarov turned to lead the attackers in front of Port Arthur's coastal batteries. However, these areas had recently been mined by the Japanese . At 9:43 a.m., the Petropavlovsk ran into three mines, exploded and sank directly in front of the Diana within two minutes . In addition to the admiral, 635 officers and men died. At 10:15 a.m., the Pobeda was damaged by a mine.
When the land attack on Port Arthur began on April 22nd, the Diana released two 152mm guns, four 75mm guns from the upper deck, all eight 37mm guns, and the two 63.5mm landing guns from Type Baranowski ashore.
On June 23, the Diana was on the Zessarevich with all six ships of the line ( Retwisan , Poltava , Sevastopol , Pobeda , Peresvet ), all five cruisers ( Bajan , Pallada , Askold , Novik ) and ten on the first attempt to break out of the Pacific Squadron under the new chief Withöft Destroyers involved. The squadron commander broke off a possible battle around 3 p.m. and returned to Port Arthur, with the Sevastopol being hit by a mine on the march back.
On August 10, 1904, on the orders of the Emperor, the Pacific Squadron tried to escape Port Arthur again and break through the ring of besiegers. It came to the sea battle in the Yellow Sea , in which the cruiser group was hardly involved at the end of the battle line. The commander of the cruisers on the Askold tried to break through under the protection of the ships of the line, but only the Novik was able to follow. The Diana suffered several hits in this attempt and had dead and injured, but had to remain with the squadron, which wanted to withdraw to Port Arthur. The commandant of the Diana , Prince Alexander von Lieven , stuck to the plan of the cruiser Admiral Reitzenstein and tried to break through towards Vladivostok during the night, accompanied by the destroyer Grozowoi . Even before August 10th, however, he had reservations about Vladivostok as a future location because of its insufficient coal supply and decided that night to attempt to march back home. He released the destroyer to Shanghai , first took care of himself in Haiphong and then went to Saigon , where he arrived on August 23 and was interned.
After the end of the war the Diana moved to the Baltic Sea in 1906; it was overhauled and converted into an artillery training ship. Their main armament was increased from six to ten 152 mm guns. Between 1912 and 1914 there was another overhaul including an exchange of the boiler system. It is uncertain whether the armament was also changed.
Use in the First World War
In 1914 Diana was part of the Second Cruiser Brigade in the Baltic Sea. In 1916 and 1917 she took part in the defense of the Gulf of Riga. In November 1917 she became a hospital ship in the Baltic Fleet and moved from Helsinki to Kronstadt from January 4 to 9, 1918. There the 130 mm guns, which had been preserved during the war or as early as 1912, were removed, with which ships on the Caspian Sea in Astrakhan were to be equipped.
Final fate
The Diana was sold in July 1922, towed to Germany in autumn 1922 and demolished in Bremen.
literature
- John Roberts, HC Timewell, Roger Chesneau (Ed.), Eugene M. Kolesnik (Ed.): Warships of the World 1860 to 1905 - Volume 2: USA, Japan and Russia. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1983, ISBN 3-7637-5403-2 .
Web links
- Technical data of the ship (English) ( Memento of 2 December 2009 at the Internet Archive )
- Many pictures of the ship
- Russian article on Diana