Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)

Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)

Sevastopol was the last of three ships in the Petropavlovsk class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. Named for the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, she was commissioned into the First Pacific Squadron of the Russian Pacific Fleet. She was stationed at Port Arthur, a Russian naval base acquired from China in 1898 as part of the Kwantung Leased Territory.

About Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895) in brief

Summary Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)Sevastopol was the last of three ships in the Petropavlovsk class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. Named for the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, the ship was commissioned into the First Pacific Squadron of the Russian Pacific Fleet. She was stationed at Port Arthur, a Russian naval base acquired from China in 1898 as part of the Kwantung Leased Territory. One of the first ships to use Harvey nickel-steel armor and Popov radios, she displaced 11,854 long tons at full load and was 369 feet long overall, and mounted a main battery of four 12-inch guns in two twin turrets. The ship was slightly damaged during a surprise attack on Port Arthur in early February, and later participated in several attempts to break out from the besieged port. The remains of the ship still lie outside the entrance to the port. Immediately after the surrender of PortArthur, Sevastopolis was scuttled to prevent her capture by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Japanese never raised her. The design was derived from the battleship Imperator Nikolai I, but was greatly enlarged to accommodate an armament of four and eight 8-inch guns. The main gun turrets had a maximum thickness of 10 inches of armor and her armor ranged from 2 to 3 inches in thickness.

The armor belt was 10–14. 5 inches thick. They were also armed with six torpedo tubes, four 15-inch tubes above water and two 18-inch submerged tubes, all mounted on the broadside. They carried 50 mines to be used to protect her anchorage. The Russians could not manufacture the Harvey armor used by Sevstopol, so the ship’s armor was ordered from Bethlehem Steel in America, although only her waterline armor beltwas made from Harvey armor and the rest was nickel steel. While under construction their armament was revised to consist of more powerful 12- inches guns and the 8- inch guns were replaced by a dozen 6-inch  guns. They were powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam generated by 16 cylindrical boilers. The engines were rated at 10,600 indicated horsepower and designed to reach a top speed of 16 knots, but Sevastopoulos only reached a speed of 15. 3 knots from 9,368 indicated horsepower during her sea trials. She carried enough coal to give her a range of 3,750 nautical miles at aSpeed of 10 knots. She had a crew of 662.