German submarine UB 148 at sea.

Interior view of a British submarine, under construction. Newcastle, UK.

The evacuation of the allied landing force from the Gallipoli peninsula during the Dardanelles operation.

The allies blow up their own damaged ship, preventing the passage of other ships. Strait of the Dardanelles.

The British aircraft carrier HMS Argus was created on the basis of a cruise ship and was capable of transporting up to 18 aircraft. The ship was painted in "blinding camouflage" which made it difficult for the enemy to determine the speed and armament, as well as the distance to the ship.

US Marines and sailors on one of their ships (most likely either the Pennsylvania or the Arizona). 1918

Clearing a mine on one of the islands of the Helgoland archipelago in the North Sea. October 29, 1918.

The US Navy submarine USS Fulton left the shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. November 1, 1918.

American sailors clean the deck of the ship from ice.

Warships with cargo at the rocks of Andromeda, near Jaffa.

Unloading 155mm guns on the Gallipoli peninsula during the Dardanelles operation.

The sailors of the French cruiser "Admiral Aube" pose for photographers near the anvil installed on the deck.

German battleship SMS Kaiser at the Kaiser Wilhelm II parade in Kiel, Germany.

The British submarine "HMS A5" is one of the first A-class submarines, which were listed in the British Navy and were intended for the defense of water areas.

Manufacture of large-caliber naval guns. Washington DC. USA.

A cat, the mascot of HMS Queen Elizabeth, walks along the barrel of a 15-inch gun on deck, in 1915.

US Navy transport ship Pocahontes. Converted from the German passenger ship Prinzess Irene, which was in New York at the start of the war. 1918

Departure of the crew on boats from a torpedoed German submarine.

Seaplane "Burgess" in the service of the US Naval Police in New York. 1918

German submarines in the harbor.

US Navy battleship USS New Jersey. 1918

Launching a torpedo by a British ship. 1917

The British cargo ship SS Maplewood is attacked by the German submarine SM U-35 off the coast of Sardinia. April 7, 1917.

Australians welcome soldiers returning from war in Outer Harbor, South Australia.

The German cruiser SMS Emden, aground, on Cocos Island in 1914. This cruiser, and the German East Asia Squadron, attacked and sank a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer at Penang, Malaysia in October 1914. The order was then received to destroy the British radio station on Cocos Island in the Indian Ocean. During this raid, he was attacked by Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney. He damaged Emden, and forced him to run aground.

A German submarine stranded on the south coast of England after the surrender.

German submarine "U-10" at full speed.

The German ship Schleswig-Holstein fires a gun at the Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916, in the North Sea.

"Life in the Navy", fencing aboard a Japanese battleship.

French transport ship Levifan, former German passenger liner Waterland.

The engine compartment of an American submarine.

On the raid in Zeebrugge, Belgium, April 23, 1918. Royal Navy tried to blockade the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge by sinking old ships at the entrance to the canal so that German ships could not leave it. In this way, two ships were successfully sunk in the canal along with her 583 sailors. Unfortunately, the barrage ships were sunk in the wrong place and soon the canal was reopened. The photo was taken in May 1918.

A floatplane flies over Allied warships, 1915.

Russian battleship Tsesarevich, Imperial Russian ship navy, mooring, approx. 1915.

The British squadron under the command of Admiral John Jellicoe met the ships of the German Imperial Navy on their way, at the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea, May 31, 1916.

The crew of HMS Audacious board the lifeboats of the RMS Olympic to take rescued aboard, October 1914. Audacious was a British battleship sunk by a German mine off the north coast of County Donegal, Ireland.

The destroyed and sunken German cruiser SMS Konigsberg, after the battle in the Rufiji Delta (now Tanzania). The Rufiji is a river with a 100 km navigable section that flows into the Indian Ocean about 200 km south of Dar es Salaam.

The transport ship Sardinia in camouflage, at the pier, during the First World War.

The Russian flagship Tsesarevich passing by the ship HMS Victory, c. 1915.

A German submarine surrenders to the US Navy.

The sinking German cruiser SMS Bluecher, in the battle of Dogger Bank, in the North Sea, between German and British warships, January 24, 1915. Bluecher sank with the loss of nearly a thousand sailors. This photo was taken from the deck of the British cruiser Arethusia.

One hundred years ago, one of the largest naval battles in the history of mankind, the Battle of Jutland, took place in the waters of the North Sea, when the fleets of Great Britain and Germany came together. This battle was the crowning achievement of the sea race of the early 20th century, during which a new type of ship appeared - the dreadnought.

Fisher is not crazy

Admiral Sir John Arbuthnot Fisher, First Sea Lord of Britain in 1904-1910, was an unpleasant person, but he had a completely lethal combination of intelligence, will, hard work, violent imagination, sharp tongue and that property of nature, which in modern slang is called "frostbite". Fischer said on every corner that the problem of the growing German fleet should be solved in the only way - to destroy it with a surprise attack at the base, which in the end received the highest resolution of King Edward VII: “God, Fischer, you must be crazy ?!”

It is not surprising that this man became one of the largest reformers of the Royal Navy - he managed to bend the knee of the "state-forming" corporation, whose inertia, served under the sauce of following traditions, had already become anecdotes by that time. “I do not advise me to interfere,” he snapped, meeting the resistance of the admirals. "I will pulverize anyone who dares to stand in my way."

The photo is not quite of the era, but perfectly conveys the character.

Fisher's merits in the liberation of the fleet from old ships, the restructuring of the officer training and basing system can be listed for a long time, but today we are only interested in one thing: the construction of the Dreadnought battleship, which launched the sea "dreadnought" race in the world.

By the beginning of the 1900s, a “de facto standard” for battleships had formed in the world: a combat unit with a displacement of 14-16 thousand tons with a full speed of about 18 knots and an armament of four 305-mm guns and 12-18 medium-caliber guns ( usually 12-14 six inches).

The development of heavy artillery ships actually came to a standstill: further it was possible either to increase the displacement or roll back to a smaller main caliber (203-254 mm), increasing the number of guns. For some time, hopes were pinned on combinations of a large 305 mm and intermediate caliber (for example, 234 mm on the British battleships of the King Edward VII and Lord Nelson types, 240 on the French Dantons, or 203 on the Russian Andrey First-Called" and "Eustace"), but this option also did not go.

The main reason for abandoning this decision was the insignificant power of such shells in comparison with heavy ones. There is a rough rule according to which the weight, and therefore the effectiveness of armor-piercing shells, can be estimated through the ratio of caliber cubes. As a result, the effectiveness of the fire fell significantly, and the installations still took a disproportionate amount of upper weight. In addition, the battle distances grew, and on them the accuracy of heavy shells is higher.

The concept of All-Big-Gun was drawn: battleship, armed only with heavy caliber. The analysis of the Tsushima battle finally summed up the enthusiasm for fast-firing six-inch guns on battleships. Despite the shaft of medium-caliber shells that hit the ships of both sides on May 14, 1905, critical damage was inflicted mainly by 305 millimeters.

Fischer didn't come up with anything new. The Italian Vittorio Cuniberti in 1903 published an article entitled "The Ideal Battleship for the British Navy", in which he proposed to build ships with a displacement of 17 thousand tons, a speed of 24 knots, armed with twelve 305-millimeter guns. At the same time, across the ocean, in Washington, the project of a Michigan-type ship (17 thousand tons, 18 knots, 8x305) was melancholy discussed. The situation was close to the fact that the new class of ships was called “Michigans”, and not “dreadnoughts”, but the speed of decision-making and their implementation differed significantly: the Americans laid down the first such ship almost after the British, but put it into operation only by January 1910 of the year.

As a result, in the fall of 1905, Britain began building the battleship Dreadnought (21,000 tons, 21 knots, 10x305 in five twin turrets, main belt 279 millimeters). The ship was completely devoid of medium caliber (only "mine-proof" 76-millimeters), and its power plant was a turbine.

Britain immediately began serial construction of ships of this concept. The idea of ​​a ship turned into a homogeneous fleet of a fundamentally new type: one dreadnought meant little, but the fleet of dreadnoughts radically changed the balance of power at sea.

First, three Bellerophon-class ships went into action, then (until 1910) the Royal Navy received three more St. Vincent-class battleships, one Neptune-class, and two Colossus-class battleships. All of them were similar to the Dreadnought, carried five two-gun 305 mm mounts and had a main armor belt of 254 or 279 mm.

At the same time, Fisher created another technical innovation, inventing a battlecruiser: a ship in the dimension of a dreadnought, with similar weapons, but much weaker armored - due to this, she was dramatically increased in speed. The task of these ships was to conduct squadron reconnaissance, finish off the enemy's "wounded animals" after the dump of the main forces and fight the raiders.

Subsequently, they were also assigned the task of forming a maneuverable wing during the general battle, and what came of it was shown well tragic fate Britain's first generation of battlecruisers at Jutland. Oscar Parkes, a historian of the British Navy, noted in this connection that the admirals' reflexive desire to put Battlecruisers in the battle line led to the fact that they lost superiority in speed and received damage due to their thin armor.

Together with the Dreadnought, three ships of the Invincible type were laid down at once (20.7 thousand tons, 25.5 knots, 8x305 in four towers, the main belt is 152 mm). In 1909-1911, the fleet received three more similar Indefatigable-class ships.

Maritime Alert

Second after his namesake Schlieffen, the military mind of Kaiser Germany. If that was more interested in France, then Tirpitz challenged the maritime dominion of Britain.

The ships of the German school were different from the British. The "Mistress of the Seas" built her battleships for a generalized battle in any available theater (which immediately set requirements for autonomy and range). On the other side of the strait, Alfred von Tirpitz created a "counter-British" fleet, adjusted for the need for a predominant action near their shores - in poor visibility conditions characteristic of the North Sea.

As a result, the German fleet regularly received ships with a short range, formally weaker artillery (by generation: 280 millimeters versus 305; 305 millimeters versus 343), but much better protected. The advantage of the heavier British guns at short ranges was partly offset by the flat trajectory and speed of the lighter German shells.

Germany responds to Fischer with a series of four Nassau-class battleships (21 thousand tons, 20 knots, 12x280 in six turrets, main belt 270-290 mm), commissioned in 1909-1910. In 1911-1912, the Kaiserlichmarine received a series of four Helgolands (24.7 thousand tons, 20.5 knots, 12x280 in six towers, the main belt is 300 millimeters).

In the same period (1909-1912), the Germans were also building three battlecruisers: the non-serial Von der Tann (21,000 tons, 27 knots, 8x280 in four turrets, main belt 250 millimeters) and the Moltke of the same type with the Goeben (25.4 thousand tons, 28 knots, 10x280 in five towers, main belt 280 millimeters).

According to the characteristics of the German rivals of Invincible, the approach of the school is visible. The Grossercruisers had a different tactical niche - they were immediately created with the expectation of participating in a linear battle, hence the greater security and increased attention to survivability. Again, the misfortunes of the Seidlitz, mutilated in Jutland, which hobbled to the base in a half-flooded state, speak for themselves: in fact, they were not so much cruisers as the forerunners of a new class of high-speed battleships.

Britain was not left out. Having received information about the German program of 1908, the British press threw a tantrum with the replication of the slogan "We want eight and we won't wait" ("We want eight [ships], we won't wait"). As part of this "naval alarm" part of the ships with 305-millimeter guns from the list above was laid down.

However, the designers looked ahead. The emergency shipbuilding program of 1909 provided for the development of "superdreadnoughts" - battleships with a 343 mm main caliber. It was this “hardware” that became the basis of the British battle fleet in World War I: four Orions and four King George Vs (26 thousand tons, 21 knots, 10x343 in five towers, the main belt is 305 millimeters) and four Iron Dukes (30 thousand tons, 21 knots, 10x343, main belt 305 millimeters) - all of them were commissioned from 1912 to 1914.

The second generation of battlecruisers, introduced between 1912 and 1914, was represented by two Lion-class ships, one Queen Mary-class (31,000 tons, 28 knots, 8x343 in four turrets, 229 mm main belt) and one Tiger-class "(34 thousand tons, 28 knots, 8x343 in four towers, main belt 229 millimeters). The series received the unofficial nickname Splendid Cats (“Magnificent Cats”), which, taking into account those times and customs, smacked of some obscenity, because the two cruisers were called “Princess Royal” and “Queen Mary”.

The Germans responded by switching to the 305 mm caliber. In 1912-1913, five dreadnoughts of the Kaiser type appeared (27 thousand tons, 21 knots, 10x305 in five towers, the main belt is 350 millimeters), in 1914 - four types of Koenig (29 thousand tons, 21 knots, 10x305 in five towers, the main belt is 350 millimeters). In 1913, the Seydlitz transitional battlecruiser with 280 millimeters was completed, and then a series of three new Derflinger-class ships (31 thousand tons, 26 knots, 8x305 in four towers, main belt 300 millimeters) began.

Everywhere life

In the Mediterranean, France, Italy and Austria-Hungary faced local tasks to strengthen the fleet.

The Italians, following the non-serial Dante Alighieri, introduced five more ships of the Conte di Cavour and Cayo Duilio types. All of these were typical dreadnoughts with 305 mm artillery (already in the 1920s they would receive 320 mm and new power plants).

The Austrians responded to the enemies with four ships of the Viribus Unitis type, also with 305 mm artillery. These ships were notable for the fact that for the first time in history they combined three-gun turrets with a linearly elevated layout.

The French, relying more on the land theater in confronting Germany, first built four of the same “305-millimeter” dreadnoughts of the Courbet type, but during the war they managed to introduce three much more advanced ships of the Brittany type (26 thousand tons, 20 knots, 10x340, main belt 270 mm).

After the defeat at Tsushima, Russia found itself in a difficult situation: it was necessary to join the dreadnought race and at the same time increase the main part of the destroyed Baltic Fleet.

In 1909, Russia laid down the first dreadnought of the Sevastopol type in the Baltic (25 thousand tons, 23 knots, 12x305 in four turrets, main belt 225 millimeters). All four ships were commissioned by December 1914. In 1915-1917, three ships of the Empress Maria type appeared on the Black Sea (the fourth was never completed). They took the Sevastopol as a basis, strengthening their protection and increasing the cruising range by reducing the speed to 21 knots.

Russian battleships were an extremely specific type of warship with a linear-single-level artillery arrangement, designed to fight in the Central mine-artillery position (a giant minefield blocking the Gulf of Finland). Soberly assessing the capabilities of the German fleet, the Russian military saw the task of these ships in attacking enemy forces trying to force minefields. However, it would be premature to demand heroism on the ocean from Sevastopol.

Before the war, some countries, including Turkey and states Latin America, tried to fit into the dreadnought race, but did it at the expense of orders from foreign shipyards. In particular, the British voluntarily-compulsorily acquired two Turkish and one Chilean dreadnoughts after the start of the war, and another “Chilean” was completed after the war, turning it into an aircraft carrier “Eagle”.

Beyond the oceans

In the western hemisphere, meanwhile, two future rivals, Japan and the United States, were solving their problems.

The Americans were rather sluggish in implementing the breakthrough idea with the Michigans, despite all the efforts of Theodore Roosevelt. By the way, the "Michigans" initially featured a more progressive linearly elevated layout of weapons - in contrast to the British and German dreadnoughts of the first generation, which demonstrated various exotics such as rhombic and diagonal placement of towers.

Following the Michigan and South Caroline, they built two Delawares, two Floridas and two Wyomings in 1910-1912 - typical dreadnoughts with 10-12 305 mm caliber guns. The American school was distinguished by a rather conservative design, which assumed powerful armor with a rather modest energy power plant. Battlecruisers in Washington were not fond of.

Observing the pre-war hysteria unfolding in Europe, the States back in 1908 decided to switch to a caliber of 356 millimeters - this is how two New Yorks and two Nevadas appeared, which, with a displacement of about 27-28 thousand tons, carried 10x356. The Nevadas pioneered the design approach with what is known as an all-or-nothing armor scheme: a heavily armored central citadel with unprotected extremities.

After them, already in 1916, the fleet received two Pennsylvanias, and by 1919 three New Mexicos - both types with a displacement of 32-33 thousand tons, a speed of 21 knots, with weapons from 12x356 in four towers, with a main belt 343 mm.

The Japanese were fond of "semi-dreadnoughts" for a long time, experimenting with combinations of 305 and 254 mm guns. Only in 1912 did they introduce two Kavachi-type dreadnoughts with 305 millimeters (and then two different ballistics), and then immediately switched to 356 millimeters and began to build future heroes of the Second World War. In 1913-1915 they built four Congo-class battlecruisers (27 thousand tons, 27.5 knots, 8x356, main belt 203 mm), and in 1915-1918 - two Ise-class battleships and two Fuso-class ”(both approximately 36 thousand tons each with 12x356 and a belt of 305 millimeters).

Heading for Jutland

An analysis of what was happening in the US and Japan led the British to the idea of ​​building an improved version of the Iron Duke with 343-graph paper, which everyone liked. So this “neither hot nor cold” battleship would have been born if the personal factor had not intervened again.

In 1911, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty, still relatively young by the standards of big politics, but already very daring. This brilliant dilettante, who did nothing in his life (from journalism and fiction before managing a superpower in a difficult war), left a mark on British shipbuilding - yes, such that it lasted for 30 years.

The two understood each other well.

Churchill, after talking with Fisher and some artillery officers, demanded to play ahead of the curve: to lay the ship under 381-millimeter main caliber. “They will sweep away everything they see to the horizon,” Fischer, who then held the modest post of head of the Royal Commission for the conversion of the fleet to oil power, succinctly commented on this choice, and in fact worked as the “gray eminence” of the entire shop.

The subtlety was that at the time the order for the construction of battleships was issued, such guns simply did not exist. The risk in this adventure was hefty, but the prize was worth it, but no one wanted to take responsibility. Churchill took.

To understand the significance of these guns and the pace of progress demonstrated in the seven years since the laying of the first "ship of a new type", we simply give the main characteristics. The 305 mm Dreadnought Mk X, like most guns of this caliber of that time, used a 385 kg projectile. 343-graph paper - shells weighing 567 or 635 kilograms. In 381-graph paper, the weight of the projectile already reached 880 kilograms. An increase in caliber by only 25 percent almost tripled the weight of a salvo.

As a result, in 1913-1915, Britain received perhaps its best battleships - five Queen Elizabeth-class ships (33 thousand tons, 24 knots, 8x381 in four towers, main belt 330 millimeters). They became the first pure representatives of the "fast battleship" class, which resulted from the merging of the dreadnought and battlecruiser classes. "Queens" after modernization served british empire and in World War II - unlike most of the other heroes of Jutland, who went "on gramophone needles."

Before the war itself, the British urgently laid down five R-class battleships (Revenge or Royal Sovereign), which were a version of the Queens with a lower speed. Already after the start of the war, two more "extraordinary" battlecruisers were laid - "Repulse" and "Rinaun" (32 thousand tons, 31 knots, 6x381 in three towers, main belt 152 mm). And in 1916, they began to build the battlecruiser Hood, which is already known from the events of the Second World War.

The German response to this serial construction looked much paler: four Bayern-class battleships (32 thousand tons, 21 knots, 8x380 in four towers, main belt 350 millimeters) were laid down, two of which were put into operation, but they are already in Jutland did not have time (unlike the "Queens"). Four Mackensen-type Grossercruisers (35,000 tons, 28 knots, 8x350 in four turrets, main belt 300 mm) were also laid down, but they were never completed. Battle cruisers with 380-millimeter paper were also planned, but only one of them was formally laid down in July 1916 (“Ersatz York”, that is, the “deputy” of the York cruiser sunk in 1914), and the realistic completion of such ships at the end of the war left much to be desired. During the war, new ships were designed and laid down by France (four Normandy-class battleships with 12x340), Italy (four Francesco Caracciolo with 8x381) and Austria (four Ersatz Monarch with 10x350), but they still were not completed or even laid down.

Out, gentlemen

Jutland Jutland, but Show must go on: after a giant positional battle in the North Sea, the race continued. In the United States, two Tennessee-class ships with 356-millimeter guns were built, commissioned by 1921, and the next three Colorado-class battleships already carried four twin-gun turrets with 406-mm guns. By the same time, the Japanese were introducing a pair of Nagato-class battleships (46,000 tons, 26 knots, 8x410, main belt 305 millimeters).

Further, the race is more and more on paper. The Japanese laid down Tosa-class battleships and Amagi-class battlecruisers, and also designed Kii-class battleships. All of these were ships with a displacement of 44-47 thousand tons with 410 millimeters, and four numbered orders for high-speed battleships of the following class were already ahead: 30-knot, with 8x460.

The British drew battleships of the N-3 type and battlecruisers of the G-3 type - with a displacement of 50 thousand tons or more and 457 millimeters. About what they were doing at that time in the States, you need to write a separate article - keywords for those interested: "Tillman's battleships" or maximum battleships. We will only point out that among the proposed options was a ship for 80 thousand tons with 24x406 in six-gun (!) Towers.

The project of battleships of the South Dakota type for 47 thousand tons, 23 knots and 12x406 in four towers, which grew out of this frenzy, looked more realistic, six of these ships were laid down in 1920-1921, but abandoned. In parallel, they were to build the first six US battlecruisers of the Lexington type (45,000 tons, 33 knots, 8x406).

On boards Russian engineers in 1916-1917, there were already drawings with ships with a displacement of 40-45 thousand tons, armed with 8-12 guns of 406 mm caliber. But this line of development no longer had a place in the reality of the collapsing empire, just as there was no place for the fantasies of Admiral Fisher, who by that time had already crossed the line separating the bold thinking of a visionary from outright madness. We are talking about the project of the Incomparable battlecruiser (51 thousand tons, 35 knots, 6x508 in three towers, the main belt is 279 millimeters).

What Fisher nevertheless achieved was the construction of the so-called light battlecruisers during the war: Koreijes with Glories (23 thousand tons, 32 knots, 4x381 in two towers, main belt 76 millimeters) and Furies ( 23 thousand tons, 31 knots, 2x457 in two towers, main belt 76 mm). Some people consider this to be the overshoots of the old senile, others - a consistent embodiment in the metal of the pure idea of ​​​​the original Invincible: a squadron scout, a fighter with cruisers and a cleaner of shortcomings in a general battle.

After the war, they were rebuilt into aircraft carriers, like a significant part of the heavy artillery ships already laid down in the USA and Japan. Many aircraft carriers of the beginning of World War II are essentially werewolves: the British trinity of light battleships, the battlecruisers Lexington, Saratoga and Akagi, the battleships Kaga and Bearn.

The heavy curtain of the Washington Naval Agreement of 1922, which created the limiting type of contractual battleship (35,000 tons with a caliber of no more than 406 millimeters) and introduced quotas for the tonnage of battleship fleets, ended the race of dimensions and guns. Great Britain, which strictly followed the “two-power standard” before the war (the Royal Navy was supposed to be the first in the world and at the same time no weaker than the second and third taken together), agreed to equalize tonnage quotas with the United States.

The countries, exhausted by the First World War, breathed a sigh of relief, having decided that a new arms race (already between the victors of Germany) had been averted and an era of prosperity lay ahead. Reality, however, once again refused to comply with the plans of politicians, but this no longer had anything to do with battle fleets.

Although the exact date of Italy's entry into the country remained a mystery, its intentions did not go unnoticed by the Austrian side.

As early as May 19, the cruisers Admiral Spaun and Helgoland, accompanied by destroyers, began patrolling the central part of the Adriatic.

And on the evening of May 23, two hours before the official declaration of war, the main forces Austrian Navy launched a long-planned operation to attack the Italian coast.

Since the old battleships of the Habsburg type had the smallest draft and could come close to the enemy coast, Admiral Gaus transferred his flag from the dreadnought Viribus Unitis to the Habsburg.

On May 24 at four in the morning, from a distance of 35 cable, the Austrian dreadnoughts, together with the battleship "Archduke Ferdinand Max", began to fight with coastal batteries, coal depots and ships in the harbor of Ancona.

The rest of the battleships of the "Archduke" and "Habsburg" types got auxiliary targets.

"Archduke Ferdinand Max" began firing at the semaphore station with the main caliber, and at the local oil storage with the middle caliber.

"Archduke Kart" fired at the local shipyard and city fortifications, "Archduke Friedrich" fired at the Enrico Cialdini battery at the entrance to the harbor and at the barracks.

"Habsburg" fired at the coastal battery, the monastery of St. Stephen and the station, "Arpad" - the barracks and shipyard "Cantieri Ligurie Anconiati", "Babenberg" fired at the power plant.

The shooting lasted forty minutes - until five in the morning, after which the Austrians withdrew. At the same time, six battleships of the "Archduke" and "Habsburg" types fired over one and a half hundred shells.

The raid took the Italians by surprise, they simply could not answer. As a result, 63 people died, but more importantly, the coastal Railway was seriously damaged, and traffic in many places stopped.

This seriously affected the timing of the deployment of the Italian army ...

Austrian fleet at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries.

The accession of Italy to the dual alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary was at one time the most important diplomatic victory for Austrian politicians.

The country no longer needed to pay attention to the fleet, and it became possible to focus on the land army.

The fleet of this period could only solve purely defensive tasks to protect its coast.

But, already from the end of the 19th century, information began to flow through numerous intelligence channels that in the event of a new war, Italy would most likely remain neutral or take a clear anti-Austrian position.

This circumstance forced a rather sharp change in naval policy. Now the Austrian sailors were simultaneously working out two plans of military operations: against Italy and together with Italy against a third country.

In any case, the fleet needed seaworthy battleships, which were urgently needed to be created.

Photo 1. "Arpad" in the sea

Soon after the construction of the Monarchs, the shipbuilding department, under the leadership of the naval engineer Siegfried Popper, began designing the next three ships of this class.

Unlike previous types, which were designed with a clear eye on coastal defense, these battleships were created in accordance with the new program, which provided for the construction of no less than twelve battleships (four divisions of three pennants), very ambitiously called the "high seas fleet".

In addition to its main power, the program also included an order for twelve cruisers, the same number of destroyers, 24 large and 48 small destroyers, and twelve monitors for the Danube.

However, even after the adoption of the program, the "soldiers" were able to achieve a redistribution of financial flows in their favor, which made it difficult to implement the program.

In protest, Admiral Shpaun even resigned ...

Although the pace of rearmament of the Austrian fleet turned out to be not as fast as the sailors wanted, in the period from 1899 to 1904 Art. all three of the first "battleships of the high seas" were nevertheless built.

Photo 2. "Babenberg" shortly after commissioning

All three battleships were built in Trieste by the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) factory, and all three were named after the ruling Austrian or Hungarian dynasties: Arpad, the first Christian monarch of Hungary, the founder of the dynasty, who was on the throne from 890 to 1301; Babenberg, the founder of the Austrian Empire, whose descendants ruled from 976 to 1246, and the Habsburgs, who at that time had been on the throne of Austria-Hungary since 1745.

As with the previous type, the shipbuilders were faced with the task of minimizing the volume and displacement of the new ship in order to make the ships as cheap as possible.

At the same time, the experience of the Sino-Japanese and Spanish-American wars showed the dominance in naval battles rapid-fire artillery of medium caliber.

Even without sinking the enemy, it could be easily disabled by a hail of shells on superstructures and unprotected extremities.

Compared to the "Monarchs" on the designed units, the number of medium artillery doubled.

Since the designers were in severe restrictions within the selected displacement, they had to pay with the main artillery, the number of barrels of which decreased to three, like that of the Crown Prince Archduke Rudolf.

A spoon of honey in this barrel of tar was the fact that the 240-mm guns, chosen as the main caliber, became rapid-fire for the first time in the Austrian fleet.

From type to type, the Austrian battleships had an increase in displacement.

Outwardly, this was reflected in the fact that there was only one pipe on the Monarchs, there were already two on the Habsburgs, and three on the third series (Archduke).

Design features of Austrian ships

As for the hull design, the shipbuilders took the path of least resistance.

Taking Monarch's contours as a basis, they simply shortened the bow ram a little and added another deck, thereby killing several birds with one stone: increasing seaworthiness and giving space to accommodate twice as strong medium artillery.

As a result, the estimated displacement of the new battleships was 8,340 tons (the Arpad turned out to be slightly larger - 8,360 tons), and the total displacement was 8,780 tons.

Later, in the process of restructuring, the displacement of the Habsburg and Arpad was reduced to 8,250 tons.

Despite the obvious increase in size and displacement, the Austrian opponents in the Adriatic still far outnumbered them.

The displacement of the Italian "Regina Margherita" under the project amounted to 13,215 tons, during operation it came close to 14 thousand.

The dimensions of the Habsburg hull were: length -113.1 m, width - 21.2 m, maximum draft - 7.2 m.

In the middle part of the hull there was a high superstructure, which housed the casemates of medium artillery.

It was she who predetermined one of the most significant shortcomings of the new ship.

Photo 3. "Habsburg"

In battle big square sides increased the likelihood of being hit by an enemy projectile. She also gave a quite tangible minus in everyday service - the stability of the new battleship was beyond criticism.

Therefore, in 1911-1912. the height of the superstructures was reduced. Initially, the battleships were equipped with two combat masts, equipped with combat mars and crane beams, in the fashion of that time.

But this "decoration" also fell under the reduction during the mentioned struggle with the upper weights in 1911-1912. So the ships entered the world war with light signal masts.

The greatest bewilderment of the sailors was caused by the dismantling of the usual teak deck and its replacement with a lighter, but inconvenient linoleum in everyday life.

According to the project, two four-cylinder triple-expansion machines with a capacity of 11,900 hp were installed on battleships. with. had to create a speed of up to 19 knots. But all ships exceeded this value.

Even the worst “walker” “Habsburg” showed 15,063 hp during tests. with. and 19.62 knots, and the Babenberg cars came close to 16,000 hp. s., giving 19.85 knots.

As on the Monarchs, the designers chose Belleville water-tube boilers to generate steam, which were installed in 16 pieces.

Regular coal pits could take up to 811 tons of coal, and in overload it was possible to place another 388 tons in the space between decks.

As a result, the maximum range at 12 knots was up to 3,600 miles.

Since the Habsburgs received armor made using Krupp technology, it became possible to make it thinner compared to the Harvey of the Monarchs.

This made it possible to extend the main belt to the bow and stern. As a result, at the waterline, its thickness ranged from 180 to 220 mm, decreasing towards the extremities to 80 mm.

Photo 4. "Habsburg", 1918

The armored deck in the central part had a thickness of 66 mm, decreasing towards the stern to 40 mm.

The gun turrets are the most heavily armored -280 mm in the front, decreasing to 210 mm towards the rear.

The commander's cabin had an armor thickness of 200 mm.

The casemates of medium artillery were armored with 135 mm plates, and the space between the casemates and the belt was 100 mm.

Significant progress in Austrian industry was associated with ironclad artillery.

If the first two ships, like the Monarchs, received imported 240-mm guns, however, the L40 K / 97 models (barrel length 40 calibers, Krupp gun model 1897), then the Babenberg for the first time in the Austrian fleet received a domestic rapid-fire 240-mm cannon manufactured by Skoda K / 01 (Krupp model of 1901).

The bow turrets of all battleships were two-gun, and the stern turrets were single-gun.

But one should not think that the Austrians received underarmed ships, obviously worse than their opponents in the Adriatic.

On the contrary, in a battle with lightly armored Italians, a heavy Austrian projectile weighing 215 kg could become a very serious argument.

An armor-piercing projectile of this caliber had a contact fuse, which, when its moving part was compressed, sharply increased the temperature inside itself, which turned out to be sufficient to ignite the powder charge.

In addition to extreme reliability, the Austrian projectile exploded almost instantly, unlike foreign ones, with a delay of only a few microseconds, that is, it was more similar to foreign high-explosive ammunition, with the only difference that this slowdown was quite enough to hit the armored space of the Italian battleship.

Austrian designers clearly looked to the future.

A 45-kilogram charge with gunpowder grade K / 97 provided a muzzle velocity of up to 765 m / s and a maximum range of up to 16,000 m at an elevation angle of 15 °. And gun mounts could provide those angles!

Since such a range was considered excessive, firing tables for the Austrian gunners were compiled only for angles up to 12.85 °.

The next important feature of the Austrian guns was that 240-mm systems were on most of the Austrian battleships and cruisers.

Model C186 - on cruisers: armored type "Franz Joseph" and armored "Maria Theresa", C / 94 - on battleships of the "Monarch" type, C / 97 - on the "Habsburg", "Arpad" and the cruiser "Karl VI", finally , K / 01 - on the "Babemberg", the subsequent battleships of the "Archduke" type and the cruiser "St. Georg".

Despite such diversity, all ammunition was quite interchangeable, and each new model of shells was created so as to fit all guns.

Photo 5. "Archduke Karl"

In 1905, the Austrian Navy began the development of a new armor-piercing ammunition, eventually, according to some naval historians, reaching a leading position in the world.

It was during this period that the Austrian projectile acquired a ballistic cap, increasing the mass of an already heavy ammunition to 229 kg.

Despite the increase in the propellant charge to 46.15 kg, the muzzle velocity decreased to 705 m/s. But the main "know-how" was the alloying of steel for the cap (primarily with bronze), which made it very effective in punching newly appeared plates with surface hardening.

Finally, obviously under the impression of Tsushima and Japanese explosive shells, in 1908 a new 215-kg shell with a large charge of trinitrotoluene entered service.

The muzzle velocity when firing this projectile was 765 m/s.

But the most unpleasant surprise awaited the Allies during the World War.

If in the prewar period shells of these types were indicated only on ships with guns of the K / 01 brand, then after the start of hostilities it turned out that they could just as successfully be used by older 240-mm guns!

So the Austrian old men could snap very painfully even at the Italian dreadnoughts.

In general, in 1901 the Austrians began their own production of shells. Of course, initially it was the same Krupp C / 80 model.

This was the case when the students were able to surpass their teachers!

The Italians, who also borrowed the technology for the production of ammunition (only in England), until the end of the Second World War, could not solve a number of very important points.

For example, shells fit together only if they have the same mass, but there are always dimensional tolerances in manufacturing technology, and therefore all shells, even in the same batch, will turn out to be of different mass.

And the Italian guns have always been distinguished by an unusually large dispersion, while the Austrian ones are at the level of the world's leading manufacturers, in some ways even ahead of them.

The medium artillery of the Habsburg-class ironclads consisted of twelve 150-mm guns (model L40 Krupp C/96) and had to be placed on two floors to avoid crowding.

To fight the destroyers, the battleships received ten 66-mm (L45), six 47-mm (L44) and two 47-mm (1.33) guns manufactured by Skoda.

Initially, it was supposed to purchase twelve 37-mm Vickers guns, but already in the process of completion they were quite prudently replaced by domestic ones that were practically in no way inferior to them.

The armament was supplemented by two 8-mm machine guns, which gained unexpected popularity during the war for shooting floating mines and fighting aircraft.

In the fashion of that time, each battleship was equipped with two 66-mm landing guns on a gun carriage.

The war made its adjustments: all landing guns, due to their rather problematic value, were transferred to the shore, and in return the ships received two more needed anti-aircraft guns of the same caliber.

Concluding the review of armaments, we should mention the weapon that never came in handy: two 450-mm torpedo tubes and 20 anchor mines of the barrier.

All ship systems and weapons were served by a crew of 638 people, including 32 officers.

Combat operations involving Austrian ships

Since in the Austrian fleet the most powerful battleships were traditionally assigned to the First Division, after their acquisition of the Habsburgs from it, the Monarchs automatically transferred to the Second Division.

In 1904-1905. all three units took part in numerous maneuvers as part of the fleet, during which the crew got to know the capabilities and shortcomings of their materiel better.

The result of this preparation was a great voyage of the First Division, accompanied by the latest cruiser "St. George" and the destroyer "Hussar" in eastern Mediterranean, after which maneuvers took place in the presence of the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

In 1908, after the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austrian politicians, who predicted a powerful political crisis, demanded the mobilization of the entire fleet.

In this regard, long-distance cruises of ships this year were postponed, and all ships remained in the Adriatic.

However, everything went extremely calmly, and soon the fleet was able to return to its usual routine.

By 1911, the Austrian fleet was replenished with a significant number of newer ships, which raised the question of the future fate of the Habsburg-class battleships.

Photo 6. "Archduke Friedrich"

To give them greater combat value "Habsburg" and "Arpad" in 1911-1912. underwent a serious restructuring, due to which, at the end, they were again introduced into the core of the active ships of the fleet, after which they were transferred to the reserve.

At the same time, "Arpad" in 1913-1914. used as a floating barracks for non-commissioned officers.

With the outbreak of World War II, all three ships re-commissioned as the Fourth Division of the Second Squadron.

The flagship of the division of Rear Admiral Karl Seidensacher was the battleship Habsburg, commanded by the then captain of the 1st rank Nikolaus (or in Hungarian Miklós) Horthy, who in 1915 was transferred to command the cruiser Novara and made a fairly quick career, rising to the rank a couple of years before the commander-in-chief of the fleet.

Unlike Horthy, the career of the battleships was by no means rich in bright episodes.

Initially, the commander-in-chief of the Austrian fleet, Anton Gaus, concentrated battleships in Pol in anticipation of a war with Italy.

Finally, with Italy's entry into the war, on May 23, 1915, he decided to launch a long-planned operation against the Italian coast, which turned out to be the only one in the entire war when the Habsburgs were able to open fire on the enemy.

As the brunt of the war fell on the more modern and fast units, the older ironclads spent the remainder of the war in the armed reserve at Pola.

At the same time, "Arpad" again returned to the role of training for non-commissioned officers.

And after the sinking of the battleship Vien, to replace it in support of the coastal flank of the army, the Arpad was transferred to Trieste along with the remaining Budapest.

The leadership soon considered this step inappropriate, and on December 21, 1917, the Arpad returned to Polu.

After the uprising of Austrian sailors in Cattaro in February 1918, the leadership decided to exclude all old ships from the lists of the fleet.

As a result, the Habsburg turned into a training ship. The Arpad became a blockhouse-prison, imprisoning the participants of the uprising in Cattaro on its board.

Unlike them, Babemberg, which hosted the headquarters of the flotilla, nevertheless took part in another action.

On April 4, 1918, he was recruited to participate in the unsuccessful operation of the Austrian sabotage forces aimed at destroying torpedo boats in Ancona.

Photo 7. "Archduke Friedrich"

The only one of all its twins, the Babenberg received quite real combat damage.

On July 17, 1918, an Italian pilot dropped several bombs on the Babenberg moored at the side, but hit the battleship.

In the autumn of 1918, all three battleships came under Allied control.

Under the terms of the distribution of the Austrian fleet, all three twins fell into the UK, but she refused such a very dubious acquisition, eventually selling them in 1920 to an Italian company.

Until 1922, "Habsburg" and "Arpad" were in the Field, after which they were taken to Italy for scrapping.

Unlike them, it was decided to use the Babenberg for the needs of the local naval arsenal.

Renamed the Oliva, the ship was seriously rebuilt, turning it into a wreck.

The old ship successfully survived another world war, this time becoming the Yugoslav Ulyanik.

As a result, in 1964 it was handed over to the Zagreb Technical Museum, and it was scrapped only in the 1980s, after an examination that showed that the technical condition of the vessel was emergency, beyond repair and restoration.

Austrian flotilla during World War I

The first years of the twentieth century became a period of intensive construction of battleships in the leading maritime powers.

The austerity policy in the fleet has already borne fruit.

Even an amateur, comparing the characteristics of the latest battleships of the Monarch and Habsburg types with similar foreign ships, could not help but note the frank weakness of the former.

This was especially clearly seen against the background of the Italian fleet. If the battleships of the "Saint Bon" type outperformed the Austrians extremely slightly, then when they met with the latest Italian battleships of the "Regina Margherita" type, the Austrians no longer had any chances: they simply could not win or run away.

As a result, the chief designer of the Austrian fleet, Popper, got to design a ship capable of withstanding the Italian counterpart.

Realizing that the country could not yet afford the same large ship, the bet was made on an extremely strong medium artillery, consisting of twelve 190-mm guns (against four 203-mm from the Regina Margherita).

A similar composition of medium artillery did not become an Austrian innovation; rather, it was a global trend.

If at the end of the nineteenth century. The “standard” battleship carried four 305-mm and ten to twelve 152-mm guns, then the British King Edward VII, which appeared at the turn of the century, carried four 234-mm guns, while maintaining a battery of ten 152-mm guns.

Similar ships were built by France, Russia and Japan.

Photo 8. "Archduke Ferdinand Max" at sea

And neighboring Italy went even further: on the newest battleships of the Regina Elena type, although the number of main battery guns was reduced to two, the intermediate battery included no less than twelve 203-mm guns in six twin-gun turrets.

Therefore, on the designed Austrian battleships, the 240-mm caliber was still left as the main one, increasing, as already mentioned, the intermediate one to 190-mm (four in the towers and eight in the casemates).

The financing of these battleships was again managed to break through only after long discussions in both parliaments - the Austrian in Vienna and the Hungarian-Croatian in Budapest.

Despite protests from some parliamentarians, the 120-million budget for new battleships was nevertheless approved.

Although a year later, faced with the problem of a radical reduction in the expenditure side of the budget, both parliaments again cut the fleet, which, by the way, was the reason for the removal of Admiral Spaun.

Three ships of the "Archduke Karl" type were also built in Trieste by STT.

Their construction took place between 1902 and 1907, and they entered service already hopelessly outdated, since all the world's naval leaders had already joined the dreadnought arms race.

In the literature, these ships are also referred to as the "Archduke" type due to the fact that they all received names in honor of the most prominent archdukes of the Habsburg dynasty.

Archduke Karl, brother of Emperor Franz I, served as Minister of the Navy since 1801, but he went down in history as a field marshal of the Austrian army, the winner of Napoleon at Aspern.

His son, Archduke Frederick, commanded the frigate Guerrier during the campaign against the rebellious viceroy of Egypt, Mehmed Ali.

Under the overall command of the British admiral Stopford, he, among other things, participated in the capture of the Lebanese fortress of Sayda.

3and his Friedrich received the rank of vice-admiral, but on October 6, 1847, he died suddenly in Venice. At this point, the vice admiral was only 26 years old!

Finally, Archduke Ferdinand Max, brother of Emperor Franz Joseph, also vice-admiral and commander-in-chief of the Austrian fleet, in 1864 accepted the offer to take the Mexican throne.

But after the defeat in the subsequent civil war he was executed by the soldiers of Mexican President Juarez in Querétaro on May 15, 1867.

At the time of construction, the Archdukes, with their 10,600 tons of displacement, became the largest Austrian battleships.

The increased power of the machines required a corresponding increase in the number of boilers, due to which the number of pipes increased to three.

The length of the underwater ram was further reduced to improve seaworthiness and increase speed.

According to the fashion of that time, the masts were equipped with combat tops with the placement of quick-firing guns on them.

At the end of the World War, these sites turned out to be the most suitable for placing the latest rangefinders there.

In the front part there were two anchors and one more reserve, in the stern there were two more anchors of smaller sizes.

The steam generated in twelve water-tube boilers of the Yarrow system was supplied to two vertical four-cylinder triple-expansion machines with a design capacity of 18,000 hp. with.

According to the project, the ships were supposed to reach a speed of 19.5 knots, but, like on the Habsburg, this bar turned out to be easily overcome during sea trials.

"Archduke Karl" and "Archduke Ferdinand Max", although they did not reach their design capacity, developing only 17,962 hp. sec., however, accelerated to a speed of 20.36 knots.

Only the "Archduke Friedrich" exceeded the contractual figures, giving out 18,130 hp. with. and a speed of 20.57 knots.

The battleships were driven by two propellers and had a semi-balanced steering wheel.

Regular pits could take up to 550 tons of coal, bringing this figure to 1,315 tons when taken into overload. And Ferdinand Max, in addition, also took 35 tons of fuel oil to intensify combustion in the boilers.

The autonomy of the ships at a 10-knot speed was up to 4,000 miles.

The main 210 mm armor belt extended from the front to the rear turret, beyond which it was only 50 mm thick.

Above it was a second belt 150 mm thick and 170 mm casemates.

In the bow and stern, the main belt ended with a 200-mm transverse bulkhead.

The armor deck was from 40 to 55 mm and had a maximum thickness above the powder magazines, engine and boiler rooms.

The main caliber turrets were 240 mm thick, the commander's turrets were 220 mm thick, and the medium caliber turrets were 150 mm thick.

Although the naval handbooks indicated that all the armor of the battleships was Krupp, this is not entirely true.

In fact, it was already the next generation of armor - cemented and alloyed with nickel.

To increase survivability, the Archduke had a double bottom in the middle part of the hull, approximately for 73 m.

In addition, the entire hull was subdivided by 14 watertight bulkheads into 15 compartments.

As on the Babenberg, the main caliber was a 240-mm gun manufactured by the Skoda company, model 1901.

But, unlike him, the guns were located in two twin-gun turrets.

The medium caliber was also produced by Skoda and was a 190-mm gun with a barrel length of 42 calibers.

Photo 9. At the main caliber "Archduke Ferdinand Max"

Four of the guns, located in the towers, were high enough above the water to be all-weather, but the remaining eight, located in the casemates, could take part in the battle only when the sea was calm.

For the first time in the Austrian Navy, all guns were electrically driven.

The anti-mine artillery also consisted of Skoda guns: twelve 66-mm 45-caliber and six 47-mm (four 44-caliber and two 33-caliber) guns, which complemented four 37-mm Vickers guns and two 8-mm machine guns Schwarupose.

During the war, it was necessary to create anti-aircraft weapons on ships, and two 66-mm guns were replaced by the same number of 7-mm anti-aircraft guns of the 1909 model.

Directly under the front barbette were 450-mm torpedo tubes, one from each side.

The crew of battleships ranged from 700 to 740 people, including officers, during the war the number increased to 748 people.

The Erzherzog-class ironclads began the campaign in 1908 with a long-distance voyage, cruising the Mediterranean, visiting Malta, Barcelona, ​​Gibraltar, Tangier and Corfu.

And the next year they were put on full alert in connection with the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For the first time in Austrian history, her high seas fleet consisted of six homogeneous new ironclads.

Practical voyages revealed a number of defects that could only be eliminated in the shipyard.

Therefore, in 1909, when political tension subsided, the whole trinity went for revision.

They were equipped with new rangefinders, personally for 190-mm guns, since it was not always possible to correct their firing at rangefinders for the main caliber.

The ventilation system has also been substantially rebuilt. Training swimming in the autumn of 1909 showed the effectiveness of the work carried out.

The following year, the ships again undertook long-distance voyages, visiting a number of Greek and Turkish ports.

In 1912, due to the outbreak of the Balkan War, the Archdukes were again put on high alert.

This time, the core of the Austrian fleet included, in addition to them, a couple of the latest battleships of the Radetzky type.

At the end of the war, all the "Archdukes" went to the reserve. At the beginning of the First World War, the Third Division of the Second Squadron was formed from the battleships of the "Archduke" type.

But their first and last combat use was the shelling of Ancona on May 24, 1915. But for the most part, the battleships were anchored in the Field.

In February 1918, the division of the "Archdukes" in full force was sent to the Bay of Qatar to help suppress the uprising of the sailors.

Although at the end they returned to Pola, they were soon attached as a support division for the cruiser detachment, replacing even older ironclads and armored cruisers in this role.

In June 1918, the division in full force was supposed to launch an attack on the Otranto barrage, along with the light forces of the fleet and dreadnoughts, but after the sinking of the Sent Istvan dreadnought, the operation was curtailed.

At the end of the war, like other ships in Cattaro, the Archdukes raised the Croatian flag until the French occupied the bay.

In accordance with the post-war division of the Austrian fleet, "Archduke Ferdinand Max" went to Great Britain, and the rest - to France.

As with the Habsburgs, the British abandoned such a very dubious acquisition and also sold it for scrap to Italy.

The French did the same with their "Archduke Friedrich".

As for the Archduke Charles, it was supposed to be towed to Toulon. But during this voyage, the caravan made a stop in Bizerte, where the old battleship anchored in the bay of Sidi Abdalah.

Here, during a storm in 1920, the Archduke Karl sank in shallow water. It was deemed inexpedient to raise it, and the ship was dismantled on the spot in 1921.

The Black Sea Fleet was not affected Russo-Japanese War. He had 8 squadron battleships, 2 cruisers and 4 mine cruisers.

Reconstruction of the naval forces remained one of the top priorities for Russia. Prominent domestic shipbuilders A.N. Krylov, N.N. Kuteinikov, I.G. Bubnov and others. For the needs of the fleet, a voluntary fundraising was announced among the population. A "Committee to Strengthen the Fleet on Voluntary Donations" was established. For five years, the Committee has collected a substantial amount - 17 million rubles. With these funds, it was decided to build 20 destroyers of the "General Kondratenko" and "Ukraine" type. They laid the foundation for a new fleet. In 1913, a significant event took place in the development of the class of domestic destroyers. On September 4, in St. Petersburg, the Putilov Shipyard handed over to the fleet the lead destroyer Novik, which brought well-deserved fame to Russian military shipbuilding. For several years, Novik was the fastest ship in the world (37.5 knots).

The Novik project was created in accordance with the specifications developed by the Marine Technical Committee under the leadership of A.N. Krylova, I.G. Bubnov, and G.F. Schlesinger.

The lead was followed by the construction of serial ships with some elements of improvement. They were built by three factories in St. Petersburg, as well as factories in Revel, Riga and Nikolaev. By the beginning of World War I, there were 75 destroyers in all Russian fleets. different types and 11 were being completed. In addition, the fleets had 45 destroyers of earlier construction. In total for 1913-1917. 17 destroyers of the Novik type entered the Baltic Fleet, and 14 destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet.

The experience of the war with Japan showed the important role of cruisers in squadron battles. The necessity of every possible increase in their speed and maneuverability, as well as the strengthening of artillery weapons, was revealed. A subclass of battlecruisers appeared in foreign fleets. In Russia, their construction began only in 1913-1915, when the cruisers Izmail, Kinburn, Borodino and Navarin were laid down, but World War did not allow them to complete.

And immediately after the end of the Russo-Japanese war, cruisers were built for the Russian fleet at domestic and foreign shipyards, the prototype of which was Bayan, which proved itself well as a squadron cruiser and showed high survivability of combat and technical means. So, the cruiser "Admiral Makarov" was built in France, the new "Bayan" and "Pallada" - in St. Petersburg, the cruiser "Rurik", built in England, differed from the cruiser "Bayan" in the main caliber (instead of two 203-mm guns, four 254 mm guns).

In 1913, 6 light cruisers of the Svetlana type with a displacement of 6800-7800 tons, armed with fifteen 130-mm guns, were laid down. Of these, only three cruisers were completed (during the Soviet period) (“Svetlana”, “Admiral Nakhimov” and “Admiral Lazarev”).

By the beginning of the war, the Russian fleet had 14 cruisers of various types.

From the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, and, above all, from the circumstances and causes of the death of squadron battleships, England was the first to draw a conclusion for itself. Already at the end of 1905, British shipbuilders began building the original armored ship Dreadnought with a displacement of about 13,000 tons, with steam turbines, classified as a battleship. The main battery artillery on the Dreadnought consisted of ten 305-mm guns located in two-gun turrets. Four towers, controlled from one central post, could simultaneously participate in the side salvo of the battleship. The ship's side was fully armored.

Russian shipbuilders built dreadnought battleships designed by I.G. Bubnov and with the participation of A.N. Krylov, which in many respects surpassed the English prototype. In 1909, the ships of the line Sevastopol, Gangut, Poltava and Petropavlovsk were laid down at St. Petersburg shipyards.

The linear arrangement of twelve 305-mm guns placed in three-gun turrets made it possible to fire from any side simultaneously with all barrels. If the weight of a volley of one of the first English dreadnoughts "Vengard" was 3003 kg, then on the "Sevastopol" it reached 5650 kg. In one minute, the domestic battleship produced up to 11.5 tons of metal and explosives. The main armor belt had a thickness of 225 mm. For the Black Sea in Nikolaev in 1915-1917. battleships-dreadnoughts “Empress Maria”, “Emperor Alexander III” and “Catherine II”. The fourth battleship "Imperator Nikolai 1", laid down in 1915, was not completed.

The Naval Ministry of Russia, in connection with the construction of battleships, noted that the test result of these ships showed the complete readiness of our factories, which were the first to build ships of such a significant displacement, as well as very powerful turbine-type mechanisms.

The battleships of the pre-dreadnought type “Andrew the First-Called”, “Emperor Pavel 1”, laid down during the Russo-Japanese War, became part of the Baltic Fleet in 1912. During their construction, a number of significant changes were made to the initial project, taking into account the experience of the past Russian-Japanese war. Japanese war.

The use of mine weapons in the Russo-Japanese War and its further development required the fleet to take effective measures to ensure mine defense. First of all, the fleet needed ships equipped with minesweepers. Such ships were envisaged by a small shipbuilding program. The world's first minesweepers of special construction "Minrep" and "Vzryv" were laid down at the Izhora plant in 1909. In accordance with the tactical and technical requirements, the minesweepers had a displacement of 150 tons. The main armament of the ship was Schulz's trawls (snake and boat). There was also one 57 mm gun. The ships entered service in 1911. Before the First World War and during the war years, minesweepers of a slightly larger displacement of the Kluz (190 tons) and Capsule (248 tons) type were built.

In 1909-1910. two ships specially designed for setting mines were put into operation. These are minelayers "Amur" and "Yenisei" with a displacement of 2926 tons. They could take on board 324 mines. Artillery included five 120 mm guns and two 75 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Gunboats with a displacement of 600-400 tons with artillery of 120-152-mm caliber were built for the Caspian and river flotillas.

Gained momentum and submarine shipbuilding. The first combat boat "Dolphin", designed under the direction of I.G. Bubnova, entered service in 1904. I.G. Bubnov also designed the Akula submarine, which was built at the Baltic Shipyard (1910). The submarine was armed with eight torpedo tubes.

After the Shark, the Russian fleet included submarines of the Kalmar type (according to an American project), the Lamprey (displacement 123/150 tons) and the Walrus (displacement 630/790 tons).

However, the main core of the Russian submarine fleet was made up of Bars-type submarines - also designed by I.G. Bubnov. Their construction began in 1913-1914. Petersburg and Revel. Surface displacement "Bars" was 650 tons, underwater - 782 tons. Two diesel engines with a total capacity of 3000 hp. allowed the submarine to develop a surface speed of 18 knots, its cruising range was within 2250 miles. In a submerged position, the full speed reached 9.6 knots. It was provided by the operation of two electric motors with a capacity of 900 hp. At this speed, the submarine could travel 25 miles underwater. The working depth of immersion was limited to 50 m, the maximum -100 m. The armament consisted of four torpedo tubes (two in the bow and stern) and two guns of 57-mm and 37-mm calibers.

A special place in the domestic underwater shipbuilding is occupied by the world's first underwater minelayer "Crab" designed by M.P. Naletova. Developments to create it, begun by the designer back in Port Arthur, were interrupted by the Russo-Japanese War. However, after the war, work was continued at the Nikolaev shipyards, and in August 1912 the ship was launched, and in June 1915 it was accepted into the Black Sea Fleet. Up to 60 minutes were taken on board the Crab. The armament includes two bow torpedo tubes and a 76-mm gun.

In July 1915, the Crab made its first military campaign. Near the Bosphorus, they set up a minefield, on which the enemy cruiser Breslau was blown up.

According to the type of "Crab" for the Baltic Fleet, the underwater minelayers "Ruff" and "Trout" were built, as well as three minelayers of a smaller displacement were laid. By the beginning of World War I, the Russian fleet had 15 combat submarines.

The main naval theaters of military operations for Russia during the First World War were the Baltic and Black Seas. From the beginning of the war, the Baltic Fleet equipped the central mine and artillery position Nargen - Porkkala-Udd in order to prevent the enemy from breaking into the Gulf of Finland. The entrance to the Gulf of Riga was covered by another mine-artillery position. With the help of mine laying in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, enemy sea communications were disrupted, damage was caused to the German fleet. It was especially important to limit the functioning of the sea route, along which strategic raw materials were brought from Sweden to Germany.

The mine threat created by the Russians in the Baltic turned out to be so effective that the Germans, having lost a large number of warships and transport ships, at the end of 1914 abandoned naval combat operations for a long time. During the First World War, the Baltic Fleet deployed about 40 thousand mines. An important task of the fleet was also to assist the groupings of ground forces on the coastal flanks, which it successfully solved.

In 1915, the Black Sea Fleet was inferior in combat power to the Turkish fleet, reinforced by the German battlecruiser Goeben and the cruiser Breslau. However, later, replenished with new battleships, he managed to block the German-Turkish fleet in the Bosphorus and drastically reduce the enemy's maritime transport. Operating on the coastal flanks. The Black Sea Fleet provided significant assistance to the army with artillery fire, supported it with landings, and provided transportation of troops and equipment. During the war years, his ships laid more than 13 thousand mines.

During the First World War, the Russian fleet did not participate in major naval battles like Jutland. At the same time, there were numerous combat clashes with the enemy of individual formations and ships of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets (battles near Cape Sarych and Gotland, the Moonsund operation, etc.).

Created in September 1916, the flotilla of the Arctic Ocean provided sea transportation with the allies, fought against enemy submarines and mine danger. After the October events of 1917, Russia withdrew from the war.

On March 3, 1918, a peace treaty was concluded between Soviet Russia on the one hand and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria on the other. According to the agreement, all Russian ships were subject to transfer to domestic ports or disarmament on the spot. The ships and vessels of the Baltic Fleet, located in Finland, had to remain there until navigation began. So there was a threat of loss of naval forces in this maritime theater, the main core of which was concentrated in Helsingfors.

leadership Soviet Russia it was decided, despite the heavy ice situation in the Gulf of Finland, to transfer all ships to Kronstadt.

During March-April 1918, the legendary ice hike ships of the Baltic Fleet. 226 ships and vessels were saved for Russia, including 6 battleships, 5 cruisers, 59 destroyers and destroyers, 12 submarines. In addition, two brigades of the air fleet and various military equipment were taken out by ships and vessels.

In May 1918, the German command, threatening to disrupt Brest Peace, demanded that Russia surrender its ships of the Black Sea Fleet. To prevent this, by order of V.I. Lenin in June 1918, in the regions of Novorossiysk and Tuapse, the battleship “Free Russia” (formerly “Catherine II”), 11 destroyers and destroyers, 6 transports, who had moved here from Sevastopol, were flooded.

With the outbreak of the civil war and foreign intervention, a revolutionary-minded part of the sailors, junior commanders, officers and admirals of the fleet went over to the side of the new government, the other part, primarily admirals and officers, went over to the side of the White Army. The former commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A.V. Kolchak in November 1918 self-proclaimed himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia, leading the counter-revolutionary struggle in Siberia. Most of the ports and bases of the domestic fleet ended up in the hands of interventionists from the Entente countries and Japan. The Russian naval forces practically ceased to exist. To promote ground forces commands of the sides opposing in the civil war created river and lake flotillas, which were active fighting. The flotillas, as a rule, included gunboats converted from steamships, armed with two to four 75-130-mm guns, as well as armed tugboats, floating batteries, messenger ships and boats. In some cases, the flotillas were replenished with ships transferred from the fleets along inland waterways. The fleets attacked the flanks and rear of the enemy, ships and vessels, defended or destroyed crossings, landed troops, and provided transportation.

After the defeat of the White Army, Lieutenant General P.M. Wrangel in the Crimea in 1920, the bulk of the ships and vessels of the Black Sea Fleet (33 pennants) under the command of Vice Admiral M.A. Kedrov went to the French naval base of Bizerte (Tunisia).

St. Andrew's flags on these ships were lowered on October 24, 1924 after the recognition of the USSR by the French government. Russian sailors switched to the position of refugees.

So we got to the edge of native aspens.
As you know, its distinctive feature in relation to the period under consideration was the idiotic old-mode calendar,
(praise to the Bolsheviks for its abolition and blasphemy of the current ROC for maintaining)
which has to be reflected. The rest - as usual.

battleships

"Empress Maria" (24130)

7 (20) 10.1915 heavily damaged as a result of a fire that started around 06:20 and the subsequent explosions of ammunition magazines; at 07:16 she capsized and at 07:20 she sank in the harbor of Sevastopol. Losses: 1 officer, 227 sailors.

"Glory" (14415)

4(17).10.1917 at 12:25-12:39 damaged by German artillery. LK "König" and "Kronprinz" on the roadstead Kuivast; due to the impossibility of passage through the Moonsund Strait. at 13:57 it was flooded with explosive charges and a torpedo from the EM “Turkmenets-Stavropolsky” east. Kuivast.

Armored cruisers

"Pallada" (7890)

21.09 (11.10).1914 at 12:12 torpedoed and sunk by the German. Submarine "U 26" s.-z. about. Odesholm (59º36’02” N, 22º46’00” E). Losses: 27 officers, 570 sailors (entire crew).

"Peresvet" (12950)

12/22/1916 (4.1.17) at 05:25 as a result of a mine explosion, set by the German. Submarine "U 73" 10 miles north. Port Said, and the subsequent detonation of ammunition, capsized and sank. Losses: 6 officers, 84 sailors killed; 143 people were injured. (of which 9 later died).

Cruisers

"Pearl" (3130)

15(28).10.1914 at 05:30-05:40 was sunk by German artillery and torpedoes. CRBP "Emden" in the port of Penang. Losses: 1 officer, 80 sailors killed; wounded 9 officers, 120 sailors, of whom 7 subsequently died.

Destroyers

"Vigilant" (450)

14 (27) .11.1917 died as a result of a mine explosion, set by the German. Submarine "UC 58" at about. Odern in the Bothnian Hall..

"Thunder" (1260)

1(14).10.1917 at 14:45 was heavily damaged as a result of a 305 mm shell hit from a German. LK "Kaiser", lost a move; at 15:40 damaged by German artillery. MM; abandoned by the crew; after 17:40 sank in the strait. Soelo Sound. Losses: 7 killed, 6 wounded.

"Volunteer ” (660)

8 (21) .8.1916 died as a result of an explosion on a drifting mine in the Irbensky Strait.

"Tough" (450)

5 (18) .5.1916 died as a result of a mine explosion, set by the German. Submarine "UC 15" in the Ikkerman alignment near Sevastopol.

"Executive" (410)

29.11 (12.12.) 1914 at about 12:30, following in the mine-laying area, turned over in a storm (according to other sources, one of the mines on board exploded) and sank between about. Odesholm and Yussare lighthouse in the Finnish Hall.

"Kazan" (730)

15 (28). 10.1916 died as a result of a mine explosion, exposed by the German. Submarine "UC 27" at about. Odesholm.

"Lieutenant Burakov" (410)

30.7 (12.8). 1917 died as a result of a mine explosion, exposed by the German. Submarine "UC 78" in the area of ​​the strait. Lenzund, Aland Islands.

“Lieutenant Zatsarenny" (635)

7 (23) .6.1917 died as a result of a mine explosion, exposed by the German. KRL “Breslau” (Turkish “Midilli”) S.E. Fidonisi lighthouse.

"Lieutenant Pushchin" (450)

25.2 (8.3.) 1916 at 08:55 was blown up by a mine laid by the Bulgarians. MZ “Boris” near the Ilanjik cape in the Varna region (43º05’ N/28º09’05” E), and sank. Losses: 51 killed, 15 captured; 4 people rescued

"Volatile" (410)

29.11 (12.12.) 1914 at 13:45, following in the mine laying area, turned over in a storm and sank between about. Odesholm and Yussare lighthouse in the Finnish Hall. Rescued 1 person.

"Hunter" (750)

13 (26) .9.1917 died as a result of an explosion on a mine, exposed, presumably, by the German. seaplanes 7/9/1917, in the Irbensky strait.

"Slim" (382)

15 (28) .8.1917 when evading German attacks. aviation ran aground in the Gulf of Riga., during a second raid, it was destroyed by aerial bombs and sank.

destroyers

№ 272 (130)

9 (22) 8/1914 sank in the vicinity of the Chersonese lighthouse as a result of a collision with the port ship “Success”.

Submarines

"AG-11" (355/434)

"AG-12" (355/434)

3/4/1918 blown up in the Ganges to avoid the capture of the Germans. troops.

"AG-14" (355/434)

in 09.1917 she went missing in the Baltic Sea near Libava; probably died as a result of a mine explosion.

"AG-15" (355/434)

3/4/1918 blown up in the Ganges to avoid the capture of the Germans. troops.

"AG-16" (ex. “AG�13”) (355/434)

3/4/1918 blown up in the Ganges to avoid the capture of the Germans. troops.

"Shark" (370/475)

at the end of 11.1915 she went missing in the Baltic Sea between Libava and Memel; presumably blew up on germ. minefield in the Libava region or rolled over during a storm when following a mine setting.

"Leopard" (670/780)

in 05.1917 she went missing in the Baltic Sea. Possibly died 18 (31) .5.1917 as a result of a collision with the Russian. EM at about. Dago or sunk by German. ships 15 (28) .5.1917 in the region of Norrköpping.

"Cheetah" (670/780)

in 10.1917 she went missing in the Baltic Sea. The last message was sent on 10/16(29), 1917 from the district of the north-west. Vindavy. Probably died on a mine in the region between Vindava and about. Ezel.

"Lioness" (670/780)

in 05-06.1917 she went missing in the Baltic Sea. Possibly sunk by German. ships 30.05 (11.06.) 1917 in the Norrköpping river or died 2 (14.6.1917) as a result of a mine explosion near the south. the coast of Gotland.