Schemchug
|
|
|---|---|
| Isumrud class | |
 Schemchug off Tallinn on September 27, 1904 |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| units | 2 |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | January 19, 1901 |
| Launch | August 14, 1903 |
| delivery | July 26, 1904 |
| Namesake | Pearl (russ.) |
| period of service |
1904 to 1914 |
| Whereabouts | Sunk October 28, 1914 in Penang |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
Standard: 3,103 t |
| length |
110.95 m KWL |
| width |
12.2 m |
| Draft |
4.90 m |
| crew |
354 men |
| drive |
16 coal-fired Yarrow steam boilers |
| speed |
24.5 kn |
| Range |
2,090 nm at 12 kn |
| Armament |
• 8 × 120 mm L / 45 canet guns |
| Bunker quantity |
510 tons of coal |
| Armor |
|
| Commanders Captains 2nd rank |
|
| Sister ship | |
| similar | |
The Shemchug ( Russian Жемчуг for pearl ) was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy . The ship belonged to the Isumrud class and was also the second and last ship of this type, which was a modification of the previous cruiser Nowik . Like its sister ship Isumrud , the cruiser was built at the Nevsky Shipyard in Saint Petersburg . Laid down on January 19, 1901 and launched on August 14, 1903, it was commissioned on July 26, 1904.
Armament
The Schemtschug had eight 12 cm guns (model 1892) as main armament, which could fire a shell weighing around 21 kilograms over a maximum distance of about 11,900 meters. The individually positioned guns weighed about three tons and had a loading frequency of around five seconds. The muzzle velocity was 823 meters per second. There were also four 4.7 cm Hotchkiss cannons on board. These guns, which were introduced into the Russian Navy from around 1885, had a maximum range of around 4,500 meters and could fire up to 20 projectiles per minute. The bullet weight was 1.5 kilograms.
Russo-Japanese War
Immediately after commissioning and the completion of the test drives, the cruiser, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank PP Levitskij with parts of the Russian Baltic Fleet, meanwhile renamed the 2nd Pacific Squadron , relocated from Admiral Sinowi P. Roschestwenski , which replaces the almost worn out Russian East Asia Squadron was intended to move to the Far East on October 2, 1904. The Shemchug was one of the few Russian ships that separated from the main part of the squadron in Tangier on October 21 and marched through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to confront the main Russian armed forces, which had been banned from this route by the British was to reunite on February 1, 1905 off Madagascar . Thereafter, the cruiser acted temporarily as a reconnaissance aircraft for the Russian main fleet and operated independently in the Indian Ocean. A number of incidents occurred on the 16,000 nautical mile march, which lasted more than eight months: In the Baltic Sea, the cruiser lost its main dinghy in a storm and a crew member ran amok off Madagascar. In the narrow and stuffy hull, the sailors suffered from the extreme heat in the southern climes, and the catering and hygiene conditions were often very poor.
On 27./28. In May 1905 the Shemchug took part in the naval battle of Tsushima as part of Admiral Oskar Enkwist's cruiser division and was one of the Russian ships that fired the first volleys at the Japanese. In the course of the battle, however, the cruiser also received 17 hits, which damaged the superstructure and the chimneys. Twelve people died and 32 men were seriously injured.
The Shemchug was also one of the few Russian ships that could escape the severe defeat: Together with the two cruisers Aurora and Oleg , the cruiser was able to escape to the Philippines and reached Manila on June 3rd and was interned by the Americans on the 5th . The ship was only released and repaired in October 1905.
The cruiser then remained in the Russian Far East fleet until 1914. It was overtaken in 1910 in Vladivostok and served in 1913 and 1914 mainly in China and on the Yangtze River to protect Russian citizens and interests.
First World War and its fall
After the outbreak of World War I , the cruiser took part in the hunt for German merchant ships and German trade troublemakers in East Asia. The Shemchug operated temporarily together with the Japanese cruiser Chikuma and other allied ships in the Bay of Bengal .
In the morning hours of October 28, 1914, the Shemchug was discovered in the (then British) port of Penang ( Malaysia ) by the German small cruiser Emden , which had entered the port disguised as an English warship, and was immediately fired at. The Russian cruiser was at anchor and barely ready for action; some of the ready ammunition was locked away in the ammunition chambers below deck and some of the crew was also on shore leave and not on board - including the commander. The ship was completely surprised by the German fire attack. Within a few minutes the Schemtschug received two torpedo hits and at least 15 to 20 shell hits with a caliber of 10.5 cm, without being able to offer any significant resistance. The aft ammunition chamber of the Russian ship exploded and blew off its stern. The cruiser, broken in half and burning, sank shortly afterwards in the roadstead, dragging 89 Russian sailors and 60 Chinese prostitutes into the depths. Around 250 seamen, 143 of them wounded, were rescued. The German ship escaped without damage and later sank the French torpedo boat destroyer Mousquet in the exit area of the port .
Aftermath
Because of the indiscipline on board and the lack of security precautions, the Shemchug's captain, 2nd rank captain Baron IA Cherkassov, and the 2nd officer were later sentenced to three and a half years in prison by a Russian court martial. However, the sentence was suspended after 18 months. Cherkassov himself was later banned from marriage by Tsar Nicholas II so that he could not pass on his name.
The bodies of 82 fallen Russian sailors were recovered and buried in Penang. Seven bodies were never found, either because they were trapped in the wreckage or because the ammunition chamber exploded to shreds. Some of the Shemchug's armament , including several 12 cm guns, was recovered in December 1914 from the Russian auxiliary cruiser Orel .
literature
- Roger Chesneau, Eugène Kolesnik: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , Conway Maritime Press (1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5
- VM Tomitch: Warships of the Imperial Russian Navy , 1968
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Geoffrey Bennett: Naval Battles of the First World War, Penguin Books, London (England) 2001, page 47