The
American naval officer Hichborn published in 1886 an extensive work dealing
with the European dockyards he visited in 1885. In Russia he went to
the yards at St. Petersburg, Sebastopol and Nicolaieff (1)
p.
26: “The naval stations in the Black Sea are at Nicolaieff and Sebastopol.
Another station is shortly to be located at Novorossijk (New Russia), the site
of which is in the province of Circassia, and within 50 miles of the
strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The dock-yard at Sebastopol
is being rapidly reconstructed to its former importance,
p.
27: and two ironclads the Sinope and Tchesme, of 8,500 tons, are in course of
construction under contract.(2) Their dimensions are : length between
perpendiculars, 314 feet
; breadth, 69 feet
; depth from upper deck, 42
feet ; main draught, 25 feet. They will be twin
screws, with engines of 9,000 indicated horse-power and a speed of 14 knots.
The armor for the side and barbettes weighs 2,192 tons, and is being delivered,
one half by Brown & Co., of Sheffield, the other half by the Baltic
Engineering Works of St. Petersburg. The armor extends from stem to stern, and
is of 18 inches
maximum thickness, on the barbettes 14 inches, and the protective deck is 3 inches thick. The
engines for the Tchesme are being built in Belgium, and those of the Sinope by
Napier, Glasgow. The armament will consist of six 12-inch guns on the
disappearing principle, mounted in pairs at the corners of a large triangular
breastwork or barbette. This stands on top of a rectangular citadel, which
protects the hydraulic machinery for working and loading the guns; five torpedo
tubes and an assortment of machine and light guns complete the armament. The
cost of these vessels is given at 3,217,500 rubles, both ships to be ready for
delivery before the close of 1886.
At
Nicolaieff two still larger ironclads, Catharine II and another not yet named,
are being built. The Catharine II will be of 9,090 tons displacement, 320 feet long between
perpendiculars, or over all 341
feet 9
inches, 69
feet broad, and 25 feet mean draught. The engines are of the
same horse power as those of the Tchesme, and are being built at the Baltic
Works, St. Petersburg. In these vessels, as in the corvettes already mentioned,
the Russian Government exhibits its determination to develop the national
resources of shipbuilding material. Russian steel and Russian wood are employed
exclusively, and vessels have lately circumnavigated Europe from Archangel to
Nicolaieff with cargoes of ship-timber.
Notes
1.
See on this weblog “The Russian armoured cruiser Admiral Nachimoff according to
the American naval officer Philip Hichborn in 1885”, “The Russian armoured
frigate Dimitri Donskoi according to the American naval officer Philip Hichborn
in 1885”
and “The Russian navy in 1885 according to Hichborn”.
