Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)

For the later ship of the same name, see Russian battle- ush-deck hull and Brennus ' high freeboard.[2]
ship Sevastopol (1911).
Following a redesign of the class, Sevastopol ceased to
For other ships of the same name, see Sevastopol (ship).
resemble Imperator Nikolai I. The armor plating was
changed before construction, and plans for the armament
Sevastopol (Russian: ) was the last of three were modied while the ship was being built. The barships in the Petropavlovsk class of pre-dreadnought bat- bettes were replaced with turrets, including wing turtleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. rets for some of the secondary 6-inch (152 mm) guns
[3]
Named for the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean modeled after those on Brennus, with electric hoists.
was based on the machinery on Georgii
War, the ship was commissioned into the First Pacic The propulsion
[1]
Pobedonosets.
Sevastopol had Harvey nickel-steel arSquadron of the Russian Pacic Fleet and was stationed
mor
imported
from
the United States.[4]
at Port Arthur, a Russian naval base acquired from China
in 1898 as part of the Kwantung Leased Territory. One
of the rst ships to use Harvey nickel-steel armor and
Popov radios, she displaced 11,854 long tons (12,044 t) 2 Characteristics
at full load and was 369 feet (112.5 m) long overall, and
mounted a main battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns
Sevastopol displaced 11,842 long tons (12,032 t) and was
in two twin turrets. She was laid down in May 1892,
376 feet (114.6 m) long overall. She had a beam of 70
launched on 1 June 1895 and completed in 1899. Her
feet (21.3 m) and a maximum draft of 28 feet 3 inches
sea trials lasted until 1900.
(8.6 m). She was powered by 16 cylindrical coal-burning
Sevastopol saw service in the Russo-Japanese War of boilers, and could carry 1,050 long tons (1,070 t) of coal.
190405. Slightly damaged during a surprise attack on This gave her a range of 3,750 nautical miles (6,940 km;
Port Arthur in early February, the ship later participated 4,320 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12
in several attempts to break out from the besieged port. mph).[5] She had a crew of 662.[6]
The most notable of these was the Battle of the Yellow
The ships main armament consisted of a battery of four
Sea, where she was damaged by several shells but man12-inch (305 mm) guns in two twin turrets. This was
aged to make it back to port with the remnants of the Russupplemented by a secondary battery of twelve 6-inch
sian Fleet, leaving one crewman dead and 62 wounded.
(152 mm) guns. Sevastopol 's armament was rounded
Immediately after the surrender of Port Arthur, Sevout with ten 47-millimeter (1.9 in) guns, twenty-eight
astopol was scuttled to prevent her capture by the Imperial
37-millimeter (1.5 in) anti-torpedo boat guns, and six
Japanese Navy. The Japanese never raised her. The re14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes, four of which were
mains of the ship still lie outside the entrance to Port
submerged.[7]
Arthur.

3 Construction

Design

Sevastopol, named for the siege of Sevastopol during the

Crimean War, was laid down at the Galernii Island shipyard in Saint Petersburg on 7 March 1892.[8] Construction was led by two engineers, E. P. Andruschenko and
N. I. Afanasyev,[8] and began on 7 May 1892,[9] about the
same time as the battleship Sissoi Veliky was laid down.[9]
The ceremony was attended by Alexander III of Russia and then-Tsesarevich Nicholas II.[8] Sevastopol was
launched on 1 June 1895[10] and, after the completion of
her hull and decks in 1898, was transferred to Kronstadt
where her armor and guns were installed.[8] Sevastopol
was nished in 1899[10] and Nikolai Chernishev became
her captain, a post which he would retain until 17 March

The rst design for Sevastopol and her sister ships of the
Petropavlovsk class was approved in January 1891. She
was to be an improved version of the battleship Imperator
Nikolai I, but with most of her armament in barbettes, including four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. The class was designed with a displacement of 10,960 long tons (11,136
t) at full load.[1] She had a full waterline belt, and the upper hull featured a tumblehome. Imperator Nikolai I was
chosen as a starting point for the design because of her
good seakeeping and seaworthiness. Some characteristics were also copied from the French battleship Brennus
and the American Indiana-class battleships, such as the
1

Sevastopol at Kronstadt in 1900

1904, when Nikolai Essen assumed command.[11]

Service history

Sevastopol began her sea trials on 16 October 1899, and

was commissioned after their conclusion into the Imperial Russian Navy. She and her sister ships were transferred to Port Arthur, which was then the port of the First
Squadron of the Russian Pacic Fleet.[12] In September 1900, Popov radios were installed on Sevastopol and
her sister Poltava, the rst Russian battleships to have
them.[13][14] They were also painted white, the same color
as the other ships in the First Pacic Squadron.[15] She
then left for Port Arthur and arrived at on 13 April 1901.
As Russia was not at war with any Far East countries at
that time, Sevastopol stayed in port, inactive.[16]

4.1

Wartime service

Sevastopol (rear center) and her sisters

In early February 1904, the Japanese Navy launched a

surprise attack on the Russian eet at Port Arthur. Sevastopol was hit by one shell, either 6 inches (152 mm) or
8 inches (203 mm) in diameter, that wounded two men
on her bridge. She soon turned in pursuit along with other
ships of the Russian eet, all ring their forward guns, but
she failed to score any hits.[17] On 26 March 1904, Sevastopol was accidentally rammed by Peresvet, damaging

SERVICE HISTORY

a propeller.[16] After the attack on Port Arthur, the First

Pacic Squadron tried to break out several times. During
one attempt on 23 June, Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft, commanding the Pacic Fleet, retreated after encountering
the Japanese eet. Approaching the harbor, Sevastopol
moved slightly out of formation and hit a mine that killed
11 and caused severe ooding, but managed to get inside
the harbor and drop anchor.[18][19][20] She was under repair for six weeks,[18][21] during which time a re broke
out on deck, killing two and wounding 28.[22] The Russian battleships were too big to t into the dry dock at
Port Arthur, so large caissons were built to provide access to the ships hulls.[23] On 9 August, with the Japanese
Third Army assaulting the outer defenses of Port Arthur,
the First Pacic Squadron sortied from its base.[24] Even
though Sevastopol was not fully repaired, she sailed with
the rest of the eet with one gun in her aft turret remaining inoperable.[25] They later engaged the Japanese eet
in what would become the Battle of the Yellow Sea.[24]
Although in the center of the Russian line during the
battle, Sevastopol was only slightly damaged during the
day. In the evening, the Russians massed their re on
the Japanese agship Mikasa, at that time 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) away. The Japanese battleships returned
re[26] and Sevastopol suered several shell hits to her
superstructure, which killed one man and wounded 62
others.[27] A few minutes later, Mikasa was hit by two
12-inch (305 mm) shells and one 6-inch (152 mm) shell
from Retvizan and Sevastopol, which caused 40 casualties. Soon after that, when it seemed that the Russians would be able to escape to Vladivostok, two 12inch shells from Asahi penetrated the conning tower of
the Russian agship Tsesarevich, killing Vitgeft and the
helmsman, severely wounding the captain, and causing
the ship to come to a dead stop after executing a sharp
turn. Thinking that this was a maneuver planned by Vitgeft, the Russian line started to execute the same turn,
causing all of the ships directly behind Tsesarevich, including Sevastopol, to maneuver wildly to avoid hitting
the stationary agship. Prince Pavel Ukhtomski, second
in command of the squadron, who was on the Peresvet,
proceeded to signal the other Russian ships via semaphore
to steam back to Port Arthur, although the signals were
only gradually recognized by Pobeda, Poltava, Pallada
and Sevastopol.[28] Sevastopol had one 6-inch (152 mm)
and two 47-millimeter (1.9 in) guns knocked out during
the battle.[29]
Returning to Port Arthur on 10 August, the squadron
found that the city was already under siege by the
Japanese Third Army led by Baron Nogi Maresuke. On
23 August, Sevastopol bombarded a Japanese battery in
an eort to escape along with nine smaller ships, but after she neutralized the battery, she returned to port after
a Japanese lookout spotted the approaching ships. As she
was maneuvering back into Port Arthur, she struck another mine and required repairs.[7] On 5 December the
Third Army captured 203 Meter Hill, a crucial position

3
that overlooked the harbor. From there, the Japanese
were able to re on Sevastopol and other ships of the
First Pacic Squadron that had survived the Yellow Sea
battle. The ships at that time were about 5.7 kilometers
(3.5 mi) away from the hill, placing them within range
of Japanese shore artillery.[30] By 9 December four battleships and two cruisers had been sunk by the Japanese.
Sevastopol, although hit ve times by 11-inch (279 mm)
shells, managed to move away from the western harbor and out of range of the guns to the minor harbor
of White Wolf, where she could be defended by torpedo nets and booms.[30][31] Within the defensive surroundings of White Wolf, Essen started to plan a sortie through the blockade to Vladivostok or a rendezvous
with the Second Pacic Squadron, at that time coaling
at Madagascar.[31][32] At the same time, the commanding
admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Togo Heihachiro,
as instructed by Emperor Meiji in Tokyo, ordered the
destruction of the battleship by six waves of destroyers,
along with some torpedo boats that were launched from
the Fuji and Mikasa.[18]

Due to the depth of water in which she had sunk, and her
position, Sevastopol was the only battleship that was not
salvaged by the Japanese at Port Arthur. What remains of
her is still outside the entrance to Port Arthur.[30] Poltava,
one of her sister ships, was also scuttled at Port Arthur and
re-oated as the Japanese Tango.[36]

5 Notes
Footnotes
[1] All dates used in this article are New Style.

Citations
[1] McLaughlin, p. 85.
[2] Forczyk, pp. 1516.
[3] Watts, p. 43.
[4] Forczyk, p. 16.
[5] McLaughlin, pp. 8485.
[6] Watts, p. 44.
[7] Hore, p. 116.
[8] Taras, p. 25.
[9] Forczyk, p. 15.
[10] Gardiner, Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 181.
[11] Forczyk, p. 25.
[12] Balakin, p. 17.

A view of the scuttled Russian ships at Port Arthur; Sevastopol is

not visible.

[13] McLaughlin, p. 90.

[14] Forczyk, p. 33.

The torpedo boat and destroyer attacks lasted three

weeks, during which 80 torpedoes were launched at Sevastopol. Of these, four hit. The four successful torpedoes were launched on 18 December.[33] Three of them
hit the torpedo nets that had been placed around the ship,
while the other hit one of the ships propellers. Although
severely damaged, Sevastopol remained aoat and sank
two destroyers and damaged six others, killing 35 sailors
and ve ocers. A Japanese cruiser attempting to attack
Sevastopol was sunk by a mine in the harbor.[7][31] When
he received news of the surrender of the land fortications on 2 January 1905, Essen decided to surrender, but
scuttled the ship in 55 meters (180 ft) of water by opening the seacocks on one side so that the ship could not
be salvaged by the Japanese.[7] His other option, a run
to Vladivostok, had already been eliminated due to the
damage to his propellers by the torpedo.[31] For the act of
scuttling Sevastopol, Essen was awarded the Order of St.
George.[34] Nevertheless, a dispatch from Tokyo reported
that it sank as a result of a Japanese torpedo attack.[35]

[15] Balakin, p. 10.

[16] McLaughlin, p. 91.
[17] Balakin, p. 30.
[18] Balakin, p. 52.
[19] Spector, p. 4.
[20] Forczyk, p. 47.
[21] Preston, p. 39.
[22] McLaughlin, p. 92.
[23] Balakin, p. 44.
[24] Watts, p. 21.
[25] Forczyk, p. 48.
[26] Forczyk, p. 50.
[27] Forczyk, p. 52.

[28] Forczyk, pp. 5253.

[29] Sorokin.
[30] Forczyk, p. 54.
[31] Balakin, p. 63.
[32] Spector, p. 6.

REFERENCES

Watts, Anthony (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy.

London, UK: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 9780-85368-912-6.
Wood, Oliver (1905). From the Yalu to Port Arthur:
An Epitome of the First Period of the Russo-Japanese
War. London, UK: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner &
Co. OCLC 225820117.

[33] Wood, p. 187.

[34] Halpern, p. 180.
[35] The Independent 1904.
[36] Jung, p. 19.

References

Print sources

Online sources
The War. The Independent (New York, New
York: Benedict, S.W.) 57: 1409. 1904. Retrieved
26 September 2010.
Sorokin, Alexander. Russo-Japanese War 1904
1905, Battle of the Yellow Sea (in Russian). Russian Navy. Retrieved 4 October 2011.

Balakin, Sergey (2004). . Coordinates: 384845N 1211430E / 38.8125N

- 19041905.
[Naval 121.241667E
Battles of the Russo-Japanese War] (in Russian). Moscow: Maritime Collection. LCCN
2005429592.
Forczyk, Robert (2009). Russian Battleship vs
Japanese Battleship, Yellow Sea 190405. London,
UK: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-330-8.
Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conways All the Worlds
Fighting Ships: 18601905. London, UK: Conway
Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
Halpern, Paul G. (1994). A Naval History of World
War I. London, UK: UCL Press. ISBN 978-185728-295-5.
Hore, Peter (2006). Battleships. London, UK:
Lorena Books. ISBN 978-0-7548-1407-8.
Jung, Dieter (1977). Warships of the Imperial
Japanese Navy 18691945. London, UK: Arms &
Armour Press. ISBN 978-0-85368-151-9.
McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet
Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute
Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-481-4.
Preston, Anthony (1978). Warship 2. London, UK:
Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-9764.
Spector, Ronald (2001). At War at Sea: Sailors and
Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century. New York,
New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-7567-5770-0.
Taras, Alexander (2000).
18921917 . [Ships of
the Imperial Russian Navy 18921917]. Library of
Military History (in Russian). Minsk: Kharvest.
ISBN 978-985-433-888-0.

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