Battleship Tsesarevich
Encyclopedia
The Tsesarevich (Цесаревич) was a battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...
, built in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
by Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée à la Seine
Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée
The Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée was a French shipbuilding company. The 'Société des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée' was founded in 1853 by Philip Taylor, while a new company, the 'Nouvelle' société, was founded in 1856. It had shipyards in La Seyne-sur-Mer,...
. She was named after the Tsesarevich
Tsesarevich
Tsesarevich was the title of the heir apparent or presumptive in the Russian Empire. It either preceded or replaced the given name and patronymic.-Usage:...
— the title reserved for the eldest son of the Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
and heir to the Russian throne. She was based in the Pacific and fought in the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, and was the flagship of Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Wilgelm Vitgeft
Wilgelm Vitgeft
Wilgelm Karlovich Vitgeft , sometimes written Wilhelm and Withöft was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, noted for his service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.-Biography:...
in the Battle of the Yellow Sea
Battle of the Yellow Sea
The Battle of the Yellow Sea was a major naval engagement of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 August. The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Arthur to break out and form up with counterparts from...
. The Tsesarevich design was the basis of the s which were built in Russia.
Design
Tsesarevichs most obvious design feature was her French tumblehomeTumblehome
In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....
hull. The French believed that tumblehome gave greater freeboard
Freeboard
Freeboard may refer to:* Freeboard , the height of a ship's deck above the water level.* Freeboard , a six-wheeled skateboard designed to act like a snowboard....
since the narrow upper decks would reduce the structural weight of the vessel's hull, it allowed a wider range of guns mounted on the sides, and it gave the battleship an easier ride in rough seas (the ship steered easier). On the negative side, tumblehome reduced buoyancy
Buoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
which contributed to excessive heel during turns. During the Battle of the Yellow Sea
Battle of the Yellow Sea
The Battle of the Yellow Sea was a major naval engagement of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 August. The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Arthur to break out and form up with counterparts from...
in August 1904, IJN
IJN
The abbreviation IJN may refer to:* International Justice Network or IJNetwork, a Human Rights Organization* Imperial Japanese Navy, the navy of Japan from 1868 until it was dissolved in 1947* Institut Jean Nicod, a French interdisciplinary research center...
observers thought the Tsesarevich was going to capsize when she suddenly turned out of the battleline.
Ths ship was projected as part of the "Programme for the Needs of the Far East", authorised by Tsar Nicholas II in 1898. Warships were ordered from foreign yards because of capacity constraints in the Russian shipbuilding Industry. A draft specification was produced by the Marine Technical Committee (MTK) in Early 1898 and the French Shipyard, Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée à la Seine presented the Russians with a proposal. A contract was signed on 6 July 1898 at a cost of 280 thousand francs (11 355 thousand rubles).
Detailed design was done by a combined team of French and Russian Engineers supervised by Captain Ivan Grigorovich
Ivan Grigorovich
Ivan Konstantinovich Grigorovich served as Russia's Naval Minister from 1911 until the onset of revolution in 1917.Graduating from the Naval academy in 1874 Grigorovich served as an officer on various ships. In 1896 he was appointed Russian naval attaché in London. In 1899 he appointed to command...
. The construction was prolonged with several defective armour plates having to be replaced, however, upon completion, the Tsesarevich was the Russian Navy's best battleship prior to commencement of the Russo-Japanese War.
Service life
The Tsesarevich was assigned to the Far East in December 1903, she was one of three ships to be struck by JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese torpedoes during the attack on Port Arthur on 8 February 1904.
Battle of the Yellow Sea
On the morning of 10 August 1904, the First Pacific Squadron left Port Arthur to engage the Japanese fleet blockading the port. The Russian squadron consisted of the battleships Tsesarevich, , , Peresvet, Sevastopol and PoltavaJapanese battleship Tango
The Russian battleship Poltava was a Petropavlovsk-class battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was one of eight Russian pre-dreadnought battleships captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Poltava was built at the Galernii Island shipyard, one of a...
, along with four protected cruisers and 14 torpedo boats. The Japanese fleet, commanded by Admiral Togo, was made up of the battleships , , , , the armoured cruisers and , as well as eight protected cruisers, 18 destroyers and 30 torpedo boats.
By midday, the main body of Japanese battleships attempted to block the Russians' path off the Shandong Peninsula. By 13:00 the first shots were fired, and during the one-hour fight the Russians succeeded in breaking out of the harbour. Admiral Togo began a long pursuit of the Russian fleet and gradually came up from the south-west, slowly overtaking the Russian battle line. At 16:20, the action resumed, with both sides trading artillery fire from ranges of 9,000 to 10000 yards (9,144 m) and both sides receiving damage. At 18:00, with the battle's outcome still in question, Admiral Vitgeft was killed by a shell splinter on the bridge of the Tsesarevich. Just 12 minutes later, further hits on the Tsesarevich killed the captain and almost all bridge personnel as well as crippling the wheel. With the flagship's wheel wedged in place, the Tsesarevich went into such a sharp turn that it heeled over 12 degrees. Other ships in the line had not realized what was happening and followed suit, only for the fleet to turn in on itself, eventually losing battle line and scattering. With darkness approaching and low on ammunition, Togo broke off the engagement and retired eastward. He ordered a night attack against the Russian fleet by his destroyers and torpedo boats, but most of these attacks were repelled with light casualties.
While most of the Russian fleet (five battleships, a cruiser, and nine destroyers) returned to the safety of Port Arthur, the damaged Tsesarevich and three escorting destroyers sailed to Tsingtao, where they were interned.
Fate
At the end of the Russo-Japanese war the ship was transferred to the BalticBaltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
and saw action in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, taking part in the Battle of Moon Sound
Battle of Moon Sound
The Battle of Moon Sound was a naval battle in World War I, fought on 17 October 1917 between naval forces of the German and Russian Empires in the Baltic Sea....
in 1917. After the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
she was renamed Grazhdanin (Гражданин meaning Citizen). She was hulked in 1918 and scrapped in 1924 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
External links
See also
- Borodino-class battleshipBorodino class battleshipThe five Borodino-class battleships were pre-dreadnoughts built between 1899 and 1905 for the Imperial Russian Navy...