Yevstafi
|
|
|---|---|
| Yevstafi class | |
 Yevstafi , 1911 |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| units | 2 |
| Shipyard |
Nikolaev State Shipyard |
| Keel laying | November 13, 1904 |
| Launch | November 3, 1906 |
| delivery | May 28, 1911 |
| Namesake | Saint Eustachius |
| period of service |
1911-1918 |
| Decommissioning | 1918 |
| Removed from ship register | 1925 |
| home port | Sevastopol |
| Whereabouts | 1922/23 demolition |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
12,942 t |
| length |
118.03 m |
| width |
22.56 m |
| Draft |
8.23 m |
| crew |
998 men |
| drive |
22 Belleville boilers |
| speed |
16.5 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Bunker quantity |
1118 tons of coal |
| Radius of action |
2,100 nm at 10 kn |
| Sister ship |
Ioann Slatoust |
The Jewstafi ( Russian Евстафий ), named after Saint Eustachius (Russian Evstafi), was a ship of the line of the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy . She was the lead ship of a class of two ships, the completion of which was significantly delayed by the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. She and her sister ship Ioann Slatoust were the most modern ships in the Black Sea Fleet at the beginning of the war, until capital ships came into service. Used for support tasks from the end of 1915, she was taken out of active service in 1918. As of May 1918, Yevstafi changed hands several times due to the war events in the Crimea, without being used. The British also destroyed the machinery when they withdrew in 1919. The Soviet Navy gave it the new name Revoljuzija , but had it canceled in 1922-23.
description
The Jewstafi had a design displacement of 12,738 tons. It was 118.03 m long (115.62 m in the waterline), 22.56 m wide and had a draft of 8.23 m.
It had two standing three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines that powered two screws. The steam for the machines was generated in 22 Belleville water tube boilers . The machines generated 10,600 horsepower and allowed a top speed of 16.5 knots. She had a coal supply of 1100 t at full load, which enabled a range of 2100 nautical miles at 10 knots.
The Jewstafi had two hydraulically powered twin towers with 305 mm L / 40 Obuchow cannons, model 1895, which had a fire range of 260 ° as bow and stern turrets. The guns fired a projectile weighing 331.7 kg with a maximum elevation of 35 ° up to 20,300 m. 150 grenades were available for each tower. At the corners of the superstructure it had four 203 mm L / 50 guns of the model 1905 in armored casemates. These guns had a fire range of 120 ° and could also fire directly forwards or backwards. They fired shells weighing 119.9 kg up to 14,400 m and had 110 projectiles per gun. In the lower casemates, twelve 152 mm L / 45 cannons of the Canet 1892 model were installed. 180 shells of 41.40 kg were available per gun, which could be fired up to 11,500 m. For the defense against torpedo boats, 14 75 mm L / 50 guns of the Canet 1892 model were available, which had a range of 7864 m and used bullets weighing 4.9 kg. In addition, the ship had two 450 mm broadside torpedo tubes in the rear area.
Changes during the war
In 1915, the Jewstafi received anti-aircraft guns and protective grilles over the chimney openings on both towers to repel light bombs. The three 75 mm guns initially installed were later replaced by two 64 mm guns and a pair of 40 mm guns.
Mission history
Construction of the Yevstafi began on July 13, 1904, the keel was officially laid on November 23, 1904. Despite a few interruptions during the Russian Revolution in 1905, construction progressed rapidly and it was launched on November 3, 1906. The final equipment took a long time, however, as lessons from the Russo-Japanese War should be taken into account. It was not finished until May 28, 1911. Shortly afterwards she ran aground in October 1911 in the Romanian port of Constanța . She suffered only minor damage.
War missions
As the newest ship of the line in the Black Sea Fleet, the Jewstafi was the flagship of the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Andrei Eberhardt in the first year of the war. Two weeks after the Russian declaration of war on November 2, 1914 against the Ottoman Empire , the Black Sea fleet ran to a bombardment of Trabzon on November 15 with the liners Yevstafi , Ioann Slatoust , Panteleimon , Rostislav , Tri Svjatitelja , the cruiser Almas and the sister ships Pamiat Merkurija (ex Kagul ) and Kagul (ex Otschakow ), three destroyers and 11 torpedo boats from. The bombardment took place on the morning of November 17 and the Russian squadron turned west to sink Turkish ships on the coast of Anatolia before returning to Sevastopol in the afternoon . The following day, around noon, in foggy conditions, the Russian squadron met the Turkish battle cruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim and the cruiser Midilli , the former German ships Goeben and Breslau , which wanted to intercept the Russian fleet (sea battle of Cape Sarytsch ). The Jewstafi opened fire on the Goeben and scored a hit with their first volley. A 305 mm shell hit a 15 cm casemate, which burned out completely and, for safety reasons, triggered the flooding of a magazine. The Goeben returned fire. A grenade penetrated the center chimney of the Jewstafi , only then exploded and destroyed the antenna of the fire control radio, so that the flagship could not correct incorrect shooting of the squadron. This was detrimental to the Russian squadron, as the Black Sea Fleet had introduced a firing method after a lead ship. This was the sister ship Ioann Slatoust , which hardly saw the Turkish-German ships and passed on incorrect destination information. The Jewstafi received four more hits, one of which did not explode. After 14 minutes, Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon broke off the engagement. The Russian battleship Evstafi mourned 34 dead and 24 wounded. They had only fired three or four volleys with their heavy guns, but also 14 rounds with the 203 mm guns and 19 with the 152 mm guns. Several armor plates of the Jewstafi had to be replaced afterwards, which were removed from the old ship of the line Dwenadzat Apostolow , so that the repairs could be completed by November 29th.
When returning from a mission in the eastern Black Sea on January 9, 1915, the Breslau and the Hamidiye encountered the Russian fleet. The Breslau hit the Jewstafi with a 10.5 cm bullet on the front tower and temporarily put it out of action. With their superior speed, both cruisers were able to escape.
Yevstafi and Ioann Slatoust served as security in three attacks on the fortifications on the Bosporus between March 18 and May 9, 1915. During the third attack on May 9, the Goeben responded and tried the ships of the line discovered by the Turkish destroyer Numune-i Hamiyet intercept. Both units ran in parallel and opened the battle at a distance of 16 km. Neither side scored hits, even if the Goeben get several close shots against the Jewstafi . Admiral Eberhardt let his two ships run slowly and in a zigzag to enable the ships of the line Tri Swjatitelja and Panteleimon to unlock. The Goeben failed despite high speed to show off in front of the Russian Federation. The Panteleimon scored two hits on the battle cruiser before it broke off after 22 minutes. Eberhardt's attempt to follow the battle cruiser in turn was unsuccessful.
On August 1, 1915, all Russian ships of the line were organized in a second brigade after the first capital ship with the Imperatriza Marija was put into service. They were now used mainly for coastal bombardments. On October 1, Ioann Zlatoust and Panteleimon Zonguldak and the Jewstafi shelled the nearby Kozlu , while the Imperatriza Marija gave cover to sea. In May 1916, the Jewstafi was also involved in the second bombardment of Varna with her sister ship . Then both moved together with the Panteleimon to support the land forces to Batumi . During the summer of 1916, the three ships of the line were in continuous use to support the land forces.
Final fate
In March 1918, the Jewstafi with the Ioann Zlatoust was assigned to the reserve in Sevastopol. Unfit for use, they were occupied by the Germans in May. The Jewstafi was used as a residential ship. In December both ships were handed over to the Allies. When the British evacuated the Crimea from April 22 to 24, 1919, they made the machines unusable in order to prevent Soviet forces from being used in the Russian civil war . Both sides temporarily owned the ships until the white forces finally vacated the Crimea in November 1920.
The Jewstafi was renamed on July 6, 1921 in Revoljuzija ("Revolution") . Both sister ships were dismantled from 1922 to 1923, but only removed from the fleet list on November 21, 1925.
Sister ship Ioann Slatoust
The Yevstafi's only sister ship , the Ioann Zlatoust , was started a month earlier and launched on May 13, 1906. It entered the fleet service six days after the Jewstafi on August 11, 1910. The ship was named after Johannes Chrysostomos , one of the three founding fathers of the Orthodox Church. As shown above, the two sister ships were mostly deployed together. She also shared the final fate with her sister ship.
literature
- Robert Gardiner: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Mayflower Books, New York 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4 .
- Stephen McLaughlin: Russian & Soviet Battleships. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 2003, ISBN 1-55750-481-4 .