Rurik (ship, 1906)

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Naval Ensign of Russia.svg
Ryurik (II) 1910.jpg
Ship data
Ship type Armored cruiser
Construction data
Shipyard Vickers ; Barrow in Furness
Keel laying August 9, 1905
Launch November 4, 1906
completion November 8, 1908
Whereabouts 1918 Hulk; Wrecked 1923-30
Technical specifications
Water displacement (construction) 15,170 ts
Water displacement (insert) 16,933 ts
length 161.3 m
width 22.9 m
Draft 8.7 m
Armament
  • 4 × 254 mm L / 50 guns
  • 8 × 203 mm L / 50 guns
  • 20 × 120 mm L / 50 guns
  • 4 × 47 mm guns
  • 8 × machine guns
  • 2 × torpedo tubes 457 mm
Armor
  • Belt armor: 76 mm - 152 mm
  • Command post: 203 mm
  • Main deck: 38-76 mm
  • Towers: 203 mm
Propulsion system
Machine performance approx.20,580 PSi
Fuel supply
  • 1920 tons of coal
  • 210 oil
speed 21.43 knots
Driving range 4,000 nm at 10 kn
crew 943 men

The Rurik (Рюрик) was an armored cruiser that was built in 1906 at Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness for the Imperial Russian Navy . The ship was named after the legendary Varangian prince and first tsar of Russia Ryurik . The name was also in the tradition of the armored cruiser Rurik , which was commissioned in 1895 and was sunk in a naval battle near Ulsan in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 .

Technical aspects

The design came from Vickers' chief designer, Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt , who designed the ship according to Russian ideas. Decisive for the construction were the heavy losses in the Russo-Japanese War, which caused Russia to drop from 3rd place in the naval powers of the time to 6th place. To compensate for this, an extensive maritime armaments program was decided, which also included the construction of ships at foreign shipyards .

The Rurik was one of the most heavily armed armored cruisers ever built in terms of the number and caliber of its main artillery. The armor, however, corresponded to the values ​​customary at the time; d. H. the citadel armor was 152 mm and the decks were up to 76 mm thick. The cruiser was slower than most of its contemporaries and only slightly faster than most of the pre-dreadnought- era unit ships of the line with their standard speed of 18 knots . With the appearance of the new generation of capital ships, the Rurik was devalued in this respect. However, as only outdated ships were used on the German side in its future area of ​​operation, the Baltic Sea, it was a very strong opponent there. The old German armored cruisers of the Prinz Adalbert and Roon classes, as well as the ships of the line of the (old) Kaiser and Wittelsbach classes ran a maximum of 21 or 18 knots and were only 4 × 21 cm or 4 × 24 cm guns armed.

Operations in the First World War

The Rurik was the flagship of the Baltic Fleet and was involved in a number of combat operations including mine-laying operations. As early as August 27, 1914, the Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral Nikolai Ottowitsch von Essen , led the armored cruisers Rurik and Pallada into the Baltic Sea to wage a trade war there; although the operation was unsuccessful, the push was important to the morale of the Russian Navy as it signaled to the crews that they should not just remain idle in their ports. On February 13, 1915, the Rurik ran aground, but could be removed and repaired. On July 2, 1915, she subsequently joined the Russian armed forces in the Gotland raid , which fought the German ships as they were retreating. The Rurik was shot at by the small cruiser Lübeck and hit eight times, but only moderately damaged. The first mutinies on board the ship occurred on November 1 and 2, 1915 in the port of Helsingfors , but they were stifled by loyal forces. On November 19, 1916, she ran near the island of Hochland on one of the 16 mines laid there by the German submarine UC 27 on October 28 and was badly damaged at the stem, but the damage was repaired within two months. In April 1918 she took part in the ice march of the Baltic Fleet from Helsingfors to Kronstadt .

Whereabouts

After the end of the war, the Rurik was first used as a Hulk and sold for scrapping in November 1923.

literature

  • Stephen McLaughlin, From Ruirik to Ruirik; Russia's Armored Cruisers, in "Warship" 1999-2000. Conway Maritime Press (English)

Web links

Commons : Rurik  - collection of images, videos and audio files