Dmitri Donskoi (ship, 1883)
 Dmitri Donskoy 1893
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The Dmitri Donskoi was a Russian armored cruiser . The ship entered service with the Russian Navy in 1885 and was named after the historical heroic figure of Dmitri Donskoy . Although out of date and unsuitable, the cruiser was used in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and sent to Asia with the Russian Baltic Sea Squadron, where it was finally captured by superior Japanese forces in the sea battle at Tsushima , badly damaged and then on May 29, 1905 by its own crew was self-sunk .
Concept and construction
The armored cruiser was based on plans, some of which were based on ideas from the transition from sailing ship to steamship building . The designers changed the plans for the armored cruiser Minin , but kept the masts and rigging . The main focus should now be on a high speed that should be enough to drive away modern British cruisers like the HMS Nelson and overtake enemy mail steamers. The coal supply should also be 60% larger than that of the new British cruisers in order to exceed them in terms of range.
The ship was built from wood and iron by the Admiralty Shipyard in Saint Petersburg , but for the first time the armor was no longer made of iron but of steel plates that were made in England. On the sides of the ship, the plates formed a 2.18 meter high belt in the middle, which dropped to 1.58 meters at the ends. The maximum thickness of the panels was between 114 and 152 mm. A 12.7 mm thick armored deck was drawn in as protection against steep fire .
The steel plates helped save weight in the overall construction compared to iron plates, and two three-cylinder, twin-expansion steam engines, each with 3,500 hp, were supposed to help meet the speed requirements. They transmitted the drive energy to two shafts , each of which drove a four-bladed propeller. Under test conditions, almost 17 knots were achieved in trials in 1883.
Similar to the armament on ships of the line from the sailing ship era, the mass of the guns of the Dmitri Donskoi with 14 × 15.2 cm L / 28 cannons were still within the hull, from where they could only work to port and starboard to a limited extent . Two individual 20.3 cm L / 30 guns were mounted openly on the weather deck on platforms, each of which protruded over the ship's side at the height of the funnels on port and starboard. Four 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes were also installed and various light weapons to ward off torpedo boats.
period of service
In August 1893, the cruiser took part in the fleet parade on the occasion of Columbus' discovery of America in New York .
From 1896 to 1897 the cruiser was docked and modernized. The main masts with the rigging were removed and only small signal masts were kept. The torpedo protection net and superfluous deck installations fell victim to the need to save weight. The armament was also restricted in terms of weight, which led to five 15.2 cm L / 45 and ten 12.0 cm L / 45 guns and various light weapons through dismantling and new installations.
In 1900 Dmitri Donskoy was one of the ships that were used to fight the Boxer Rebellion in China. After 1902 the ship was modified again in Kronstadt to be used for the training of artillerymen. To do this, six of the ten 12.0 cm L / 45 cannons were removed and six 75 mm L / 50s were installed in their place.
Tsushima and downfall
When war broke out with Japan in 1904 , the cruiser was ordered to go to the Baltic Sea and from there left the Russian squadron in October 1904 with the destination Vladivostok . After an arduous march around the African continent, the Russian fleet, commanded by Admiral Sinowi Roschestwenski , was placed in the Korea Strait by naval units under Admiral Tōgō on May 27, 1905 and involved in many individual battles during the sea battle at Tsushima. The modern cruiser Aurora remained under Japanese fire on May 27, and Dmitri Donskoi and Vladimir Monomakh were assigned to keep the Japanese away from the Aurora while repairs were being carried out there. 10 Dmitri Donskoy sailors were wounded by Japanese fire in the course of the operation.
After the Aurora was maneuverable again, it set off together with the fast units Oleg and Shemchug , so that Captain Ivan Lebedew on the Dmitri Donskoy finally lost contact with these ships. The remaining ships around the Dmitri Donskoy agreed to set course for Vladivostok independently. Lebedev let march at night with the ship completely dimmed and slowly moving to avoid detection. In the next few hours, Russian destroyers were found who had survived the first day of the battle. One destroyer was damaged and had survivors of the battleship Osljabja and the seriously wounded Commander-in-Chief Roschestvensky on board. Dmitri Donskoi took the approximately 140 survivors on board, they separated, but then the destroyer signaled the failure of its machines and the armored cruiser had to stop again to take over the rest of the destroyer crew and help transfer the admiral to one of the other two destroyers . The wreckage of the incapable of maneuvering Russian destroyer was sunk by fire from the armored cruiser.
The operation lasted five hours and eventually four Japanese cruisers and several torpedo boats spotted the Dmitri Donskoy and took up chase. Two more cruisers joined them a little later. After a council of war with the senior officers, Lebedev was finally forced to take up the fight against the faster pursuers near the island of Ulleungdo around the afternoon of May 28 . Two Japanese cruisers were hit, Dmitri Donskoi himself suffered severe water ingress and numerous hits before contact with the pursuers was broken off under cover of the nightfall and against the background of the dark outlines of the island. 60 men were killed and 120 others, including Captain Ivan Lebedev, were wounded. Under cover of darkness, the survivors were disembarked on Ulleungdo and the senior officer and some men sank the Dmitri Donskoy early in the morning at some distance from the island by opening the bottom valves. The team was captured by the Japanese a little later, Lebedev succumbed to his injuries in captivity.
wreck
2001 discovery and gold rumors
The discovery of the cruiser's wreck was announced in 2001 when the bankruptcy builder Dong Ah allegedly discovered it off the coast of Korea. Fueled by rumors of a possible gold load of up to 125 billion US dollars on board the cruiser, Dong Ah's share price rose 41% in a short space of time despite bankruptcy. A representative of the Russian Naval Museum in Saint Petersburg said that at best there were a few coins on board for the officers' pay, but that there was no gold hoard on board the Dmitri Donskoy .
2018 discovery and gold rumors
In 2018, a South Korean recovery team from the Shinil Group announced that they had discovered the wreck off the coast of the South Korean island of Ulleung at a depth of around 430 m. Shinil June 2018 was only founded and acts according to its own website with crypto currencies . A separate virtual means of payment was offered to the wreck find.
In July 2018, as in 2001, a representative of the Russian Naval Museum in Saint Petersburg said to the reports from South Korea that there was no evidence of a gold shipment from Dmitri Donskoy .
On July 26, the company withdrew its allegations regarding the Dmitry Donskoy . The name of the group was changed to "Shinil Marine Technology". The provider in Singapore "Shinil Group PTE", which offers the virtual means of payment in connection with a possible recovery, stated that 124,000 investors had already subscribed for the cryptocurrency. A criminal investigation into fraud was initiated in South Korea and travel bans were imposed on the managing directors of the South Korean company. The three main people responsible for the fraud were sentenced to several years in prison by a Korean court in spring 2019.
literature
- В.Я. КРЕСТЬЯНИНОВ " Крейсера Российского императорского флота 1856-1917 годы Часть first ", 2009, Галея Принт, ISBN 978-5-8172-2128-2
- Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik: Warships of the World 1860 to 1905, Volume 2: USA, Japan and Russia. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1983, ISBN 3-7637-5403-2 . (German translation by: Robert Gardiner), ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4 .
- Bernhard Gomm: The Russian Warships 1856-1917, Volume II: Frigates, Armored Cruisers, Corvettes, Protected Cruisers, Appendix: Sailing Frigates 1694-1856. Self-published, Wiesbaden 1991
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c d e f В.Я. КРЕСТЬЯНИНОВ " Крейсера Российского императорского флота 1856-1917 годы Часть first " , 2009 Галея Принт, ISBN 978-5-8172-2128-2
- ^ Alfred Sidney Johnson, Clarence A. Bickford, William W. Hudson, Nathan Haskell Dole: The Cyclopedic review of current history. Volume 3, Garretson, Cox & Co., Buffalo (NY) 1894, pp. 296 f. ( archive.org )
- ↑ a b c d Александровский Г. Б .: Цусимский бой , 2012, ISBN 978-5-9533-5936-8
- ↑ a b [1] Худяков П. К .: Путь к Цусиме , second edition, Moscow, 1908, pages 207 and 208
- ↑ Sam Len, "Investor Frenzy Over Tales of Gold," New York Times, December 8, 2000, accessed August 15, 2018
- ↑ Dmitri Donskoi: Russian shipwreck is said to contain treasure - knowledge. In: Focus Online . July 19, 2018, accessed October 14, 2018 .
- ↑ "Goldschatz" smells like business crime: Hit through on share price orf.at, July 20, 2018, accessed July 20, 2018.
- ↑ Yekaterina Sinelschikova: "What lies behind the rumors of $ 130 billion of Romanov gold in the Sea of Japan" July 24, 2018, accessed on July 26, 2018
- ↑ So Ji-hyoung: "Duped investors vent anger, with losses, remorse of 'treasure ship scam'" The Korea Herald of August 2, 2018, accessed on August 14, 2018
- ↑ "South Koreans jailed over 'Russian treasure find'" BBC May 1, 2019