Imperatriza Marija class
The Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleship ( Russian Императрица Мария ) was the first class of Dreadnought -Schlachtschiffen the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the First World War . The ships, very similar to the Gangut class , were 167.8 meters long, 27.3 meters wide and 8.4 meters deep. They had a displacement of 24,000 tons, a top speed of 21 knots, and a main armament of twelve 305 mm L / 52 guns in four triplet turrets. There were also 20 130-mm individual guns, eight 75-mm guns and four torpedo tubes. The crew consisted of about 1,220 men.
The class consisted of three ships:
- Imperatriza Marija was launched on November 1,1913and wasassigned to the Black Sea Fleeton June 30, 1915 inSevastopol. After completing the last test drives, she took part incombat operationsin the Black Seafrom the end of 1915. On October 20, 1916, the ship sank after an explosion in the port of Sevastopol. Although sabotage could never be completely ruled out, the explosion was likely an accident. After a long period of work, the wreck was lifted, partly under German direction, and brought into dry dock in May 1918. However, the turmoil of the Russian Revolution and thecivil war that followedprevented further work and the ship was scrapped in 1927.
- Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya was launched on June 6, 1914. Originally it was to be calledEkaterina II, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917 it was renamed Svobodnaya Rossija (Free Russia). In 1916 the ship had two brief combat encounters with the Germanbattle cruiser SMS Goeben , which operated asYavuz Sultan Selimunder the Turkish flag in the Black Sea. In order not to let it fall into German hands, theSvobodnaya Rossija wassunk by its crewon June 18, 1918 inNovorossiysk.
A gun barrel of the 305 mm L / 52 M 1907 type was used in the reconstruction of the Maxim Gorki I coastal battery from 1954 .
Emperor Aleksandr III. in Sevastopol
- Emperor Alexander III was launched on April 15, 1914, but was no longer completed in time for use in the First World War, as the delivery of the machinery from England was delayed too long. The first test drives did not take place until 1917, but the final equipment was not completed, also because of the Russian Revolution. The ship was renamed Volja (Freedom)in 1917and General Alexejew in1920. In 1918 it was briefly in German hands, but after the war it was confiscated by Great Britain andinternedinIzmir. In 1919 the ship came under the control of theWhite Russians, who mainly used it to bombardRed Army positionson the Black Sea coastduring the civil war. After the collapse of the whites in southern Russia in 1920, the ship took part in the evacuation of the defeated troops before it wasinternedwith the entireRussian squadronin what was thenFrench Bizerta(Tunisia). With the recognition of theSoviet Unionby France in 1924, the ship became Soviet property, but was then assessed as no longer serviceable and scrapped in France in 1936.
- A further development of the class, the battleship Imperator Nikolai I , was started during the war, but no longer completed. The unfinished ship was renamed Democracy ( Democracy ) in 1917 .
literature
- B. Weyer (ed.): Paperback of the war fleets. XVII. Born 1916, Munich 1916, p. 134f. u. 367.
- Jane´s Fighting Ships of World War I. Foreword by Captain John Moore RN, London 1990 (reprint of the original edition from 1919), p. 247.
Web links
Commons : Imperatriza Marija class - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Footnotes
- ↑ Stephen McLaughlin: Russian & Soviet Battleships. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2003, ISBN 1-55750-481-4 , pp. 258-59.
