Giljak (ship, 1897)

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Giljak
Naval Ensign of Russia.svg
Builder: New Admiralty Shipyard, St. Petersburg
Keel laying: April 30, 1896
Launch: September 23, 1897
Commissioning: October 10, 1898
Period of service: 1898-1905
Displacement: 1239 t
Length: 63.09 m
Width: 11.15 m
Draft: 3.14 m
Drive: two horizontal triple composite steam engines
6 Belville water tube boilers
2 screws
1179 PS
Speed: 11.64 kn
Range:
Crew: 7 officers and 159 men
Armament: Guns:

Torpedo tubes

  • 1 * 381 mm

Giljak ( Russian Гиляк ) was the name of a sea-going gunboat of the Imperial Russian Navy . Commissioned in 1889, it was sunk in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 , lifted by Japan the following year and then scrapped. The name of the boat corresponds to the Manchu name giljami of a people living on Sakhalin and in the area of ​​the Amur estuary, which was extended with the Russian ending / -jak /.

Project and construction

The Imperial Russian Navy used gunboats in the Far East primarily in station service and to carry out diplomatic missions. Thereby ports on flat rivers were often visited. The commander of the Pacific Squadron, Rear Admiral Pavel Petrovich Tyrtow (Павел Петрович Тыртов) formulated the requirements for such a boat in a message dated May 25, 1892. The draft should not be more than 2.7 m, the maximum speed not less than 12 knots, the displacement at around 750 t. Armor and armament should be geared towards the main purpose, the fight against land forces. Tyrtow demanded four 120 mm cannons, four 47 or 37 mm cannons and a landing cannon with a caliber of 65 mm. He saw the armor as insignificant. A rig was dispensed with from the start, instead a steel mast with a Mars was provided, from which the river and bank could be observed.

Based on Tyrtov's demands, a project was drawn up and submitted to the Naval Technical Committee for assessment. However, in April 1894, the Department of the Navy received knowledge of new American gunboats that had been specially designed for warfare on rivers. It was then decided to create a new design for the project using the designs of the American gunboats as a basis. In November 1895 the draft was presented to the Admiralty.

The construction contract was awarded to the New Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg . The ceremonial laying of the keel, which gave the boat its name, took place on April 30, 1896. After a short time, the construction work came to a standstill due to problems with the delivery of the boilers, which were procured abroad. The project for the boiler system was not confirmed until December 19, 1896, the boilers were delivered to the shipyard by Belville on August 10 of the following year and the contract was subsequently signed on September 6, 1896. On September 23, 1897 the Giljak was launched . The equipment work dragged on for almost a whole year.

testing

The stand tests planned for October 1898 were canceled and the boat still lying on the equipment quay was put into service on October 10, 1898. On October 14th the boat was transferred to Kronstadt . During the inspection trip to Reval , it was found that the boat was leaking heavily in the ram. Therefore, the boat was transferred to the Kronstadt dock on return. On December 2, the boat came out of the dock after the work was completed, but the planned test drive to Reval was canceled due to the difficult ice conditions in the Gulf of Finland , instead the stand test was initially carried out in Kronstadt.

On May 20, 1899, the Giljak was incorporated into the independent division of the Baltic Fleet and began sea trials. On June 1st it was not possible to reach the contract speed during a six-hour inspection drive . A heel of 6.5 ° during turning maneuvers at a speed of 11 knots was rated as dangerous. The boat command was asked to dismantle heavy Mars. After a series of test drives in calm seas, it was decided to leave the mast in place for the time being, but to carry out further test drives in rough seas before sending it to the Far East. Further tests carried out on June 19 in calm seas showed positive results, so the mast construction was left in place for the time being.

construction

The longitudinal and transverse ribs consisted of angle iron and sheet metal with a thickness of 4.7 to 6.35 mm and were planked with riveted sheets of thickness 6.35 to 7.93 mm. The longitudinal and transverse bulkheads were 4.7 to 6.53 mm thick, and those near the machine and boiler system were 12.7 mm thick. The main deck and the bridge structure were made of sheet steel, the forecastle deck of wood. The main deck above the engine room was also covered with 12.7 mm thick armor plates. The lookout was planked with two layers of sheet steel with a thickness of 9.5 mm. The boat has a bow that is pulled far back and a narrow structure that gives it its characteristic appearance.

To improve maneuverability, the ship had two rudders. There were two steering wheels each on the front and the aft bridge, another one in the fuselage and one in the lookout. A machine telegraph was dispensed with, a mouthpiece was installed instead .

Another characteristic of the boat was the battle mars with a weight of 20 t, which carried a command post and lookout.

As a result of a tender in which five companies participated, the order for the machinery was awarded on April 12, 1896 to the Crayton company in Abo in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which was then linked to Russia by personal union. The system consisted of two triple composite steam engines with an output of at least 1000 hp and six Belville water tube boilers .

commitment

Gunboat Giljak in Port Arthur Harbor, 1902

On September 4, 1899, Giljak left Kronstadt for the Pacific. The independent Mediterranean Division commander was tasked with carrying out a full inspection of the ship and dispatching it to the Far East in good time for it to cross the Indian Ocean during the quietest time of the year. On September 13, during the crossing in Libau, the tests prescribed by the Marine Technical Committee were carried out in rough seas. As the result was satisfactory, the boat continued its voyage towards the Pacific on September 19th.

Problems with the machine plant's water desalination system occurred during the crossing. An inspection in Piraeus revealed that mechanical parts were designed too weakly and that after a thirty-two day crossing all the nuts had to be tightened. Overall, however, the boat was declared ready for use. The Giljak left Piraeus on December 31, 1899 and arrived in Port Arthur on May 31, 1900 . On the march she was the first Russian warship to call at ports in the Persian Gulf and in February visited the Emir of Kuwait , Mubarak as-Sabah , who had declared himself largely independent the previous year through a contract with the British.

In 1900 the boat took part in the crackdown on the Boxer Rebellion in China with a multinational squadron . On June 4, the Giljak and other boats (the British Algerine , the German Iltis , the Russian Bobr , the French Lion , and the Russian Korejez ) shelled the Taku forts . The battle lasted more than five hours and was conducted at a short distance. The Giljak suffered the most severe damage of all participating ships. The boat received three hits, one of them below the waterline in the ammunition load of the front 75 mm gun. The hit led to a partial explosion of the ammunition and a fire. The crew managed to extinguish the fire and seal the leak within fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the boat's stern guns continued to fire. A total of 59 men of the crew were killed or wounded. The boat was awarded the silver St. George's Horn for its bravery. The commandant of the boat was the future admiral Mikhail Koronatowitsch Bachirew .

The Giljak ran out of Chemulpo on January 1 and moved to Port Arthur, to replace the gunboat Korejez station service there.

Gunboat Giljak after sinking in Port Arthur harbor, 1905

On February 10, 1904, the Giljak was involved in the fight with the main forces of the Japanese fleet. Since the own fire was obviously inconclusive, the boat withdrew to the inner roadstead of the port. In the further course of the siege of Port Arthur , the Giljak was used for outpost service on the outer roadstead, to fight against landed Japanese troops and to fight fires . On November 1, 1904, the boat was disarmed and the guns were used in defensive positions on land. On the 25th of the month, the Giljak was hit by five Japanese 28 cm shells and sank in the inner roadstead. Before the fortress surrendered , the boat was partially blown up.

After the end of the war, the Giljak was lifted by the Japanese and then broken up.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ image of the Lion  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / chp.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr  
  2. ↑ В. Ю. Грибовский: Российский флот Тихого океана, 1898—1905: История создания и гибели . - Москва: Военная книга, 2004. - ISBN 5-902863-01-5

Web links

Commons : Gunboat Giljak  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Ю .В. Апальков: Ю.В.Апальков: Российский Императорский Флот 1914 -1917 гг. Справочник по корабельному составу , Харвест, 2000. ISBN 985-433-888-6 (Ju. W. Apalkow: Die Kaiserlich-Russische Flotte 1914-1917. List of ships ) (Russian)
  • Боевая летопись русского флота: Хроника важнейших событий военной истории русского флота с IX в. по 1917 г. , Воениздат МВС СССР, 1948. Под редакцией доктора военно-морских наук капитана 1 ранга Н.В. Новикова, Составители: В. А. Дивин, В. Г. Егоров, Н. Н. Землин, В. М. Ковальчук, Н. С. Кровяков, Н. П. Мазунин, Н. В. Новиков. К. И. Никульченков ,. И. В. Носов, А. К. Селяничев (NW Novikow (editor): Battle report of the Russian fleet. Chronicle of the most important events in the military history of the Russian fleet from the 9th century to 1917 , Military Publishing House of the USSR, 1948) (Russian)
  • У стен недвижного Китая. Дневник корреспондента "Нового Края" на театре военных действий в Китае в 1900 году Дмитрия Янчевецкого. Пб. - Порт-Артур, издание П. А. Артемьева, 1903. - XV, 618 с. ( On the walls of immovable China. Diary of the correspondent of "Novy Krai" from the Chinese theater of war in 1900, Dmitri Jantschewezki. ) (Russian)