Uragan class monitor
Encyclopedia
Monitor (warship)
A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
built for the Baltic Fleet
Baltic Fleet
The Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet - is the Russian Navy's presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union. The Fleet gained the 'Twice Red Banner' appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of...
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...
. The ships were built to the plans of the American Passaic-class monitors, a design that was tested on a smaller scale on the USS Monitor
USS Monitor
USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads...
. A total of 10 ships were constructed at five different shipyards in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, all entering service in 1865. The ships were among the first ironclad warship
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
s in the Russian Navy.
Russian monitor program
A Russian monitor program was started as soon as news of the Battle of Hampton RoadsBattle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...
reached Europe.
Naval architect N. Artseulov was sent to America to join Russian naval attaché, Captain (later Rear Admiral) Stepan Stepanovich Lessovsky and to assess at first hand the advantages and disadvantages of John Ericsson
John Ericsson
John Ericsson was a Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineer, as was his brother Nils Ericson. He was born at Långbanshyttan in Värmland, Sweden, but primarily came to be active in England and the United States...
's monitors. He returned on March 16, 1863, with detailed drawings and specifications of the Passaic class.
Already on March 11, 1863 the Russian Admiralty
Russian Admiralty
Admiralty Board was a supreme body for the administration of the Imperial Russian Navy in the Russian Empire, established by Peter the Great on December 12, 1718, and headquartered in the Admiralty building, Saint Petersburg....
approved a program to build ten armored vessels based on the Passaic design. The decision to use the American plans was based on the lack of time, money and experience in building armored vessels. A larger monitor, Smerch («Смерч»), with two turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
s of a design by Cowper Phipps Coles
Cowper Phipps Coles
Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, C.B., R.N. , the son of the Reverend John Coles and his wife Mary Ann Goodhew Rogers, was an English naval Captain and inventor. Coles died when HMS Captain, an experimental warship built to his designs, sank with him onboard.-Naval career:He entered the Royal Navy at...
was also approved and launched in 1864. One of the benefits of the Ericsson turret design, as opposed to the British design by Coles, was the layered construction from 1 inch armored plate. The Coles design required slabs of 114.3 mm thickness. This armor could not be produced in any Russian plant, and in Europe, only John Brown & Co in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England, was producing armored plate of this thickness and of the required quality.
Construction
Two of the ships were built by the state-owned New Admiralty yard, the others were ordered from privately owned shipyards. The Galerniy Island yard, Carr and MacPherson and the Nevsky factory (owned by Colonel PF Semyannikova and Retired Lieutenant VA Poletiki) each produced two ships. Two ships were prefabricated in BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
by Cockerill & Co and assembled in Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...
. All ships were laid down in late 1863 and launched in 1864. Some of the turrets and steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s were produced at the Izhorsky Zavod
Izhorsky Zavod
Izhorskiye Zavody or Izhora Plants is a Russian machine building joint stock company belonging to the OMZ Group. It operates a major manufacturing plant in Kolpino, Saint Petersburg.-History:...
state factory, and some by the Baird Works. Iron armor for the ships was first ordered form John Brown & Co in Sheffield, but they cited difficultes in meeting the demand. Instead most of the 1 inch armor plate needed for the ships was produced by Russian forges.
The cost of the Russian-built ships was around 570 thousand rubles
Russian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
for each ship. The two Belgian ships cost 619,000 silver rubles.
Armament
In their first eight years of operation the monitors were equipped with three different types of artillery piecesNaval artillery
Naval artillery, or naval riflery, is artillery mounted on a warship for use in naval warfare. Naval artillery has historically been used to engage either other ships, or targets on land; in the latter role it is currently termed naval gunfire fire support...
. Procurement efforts for all three types were started at the same time in 1863. An order was placed in 1863 with the Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
factories in Germany for 9 inch smoothbore guns with steel barrels; these were initially used to arm the monitors.
At the same time, Artillery specialist Filemon N. Pestich was sent to America along with Artseulov and Lessovsky to acquire gun technology. He returned in 1864 with technology for the production of 15 inch smoothbore Dahlgren gun
Dahlgren gun
Dahlgren guns were muzzle loading naval artillery designed by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren USN, mostly used in the period of the American Civil War. Dahlgren's design philosophy evolved from an accidental explosion in 1849 of a 32-pounder being tested for accuracy, killing a gunner...
s, the type in use on the American Passaics. A new gun factory was established in Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. It stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega for some . The city is served by Petrozavodsk Airport. Municipally, it is incorporated as Petrozavodsky Urban Okrug . Population:...
in Russian Karelia. Production of Dahlgren guns was immediately started at the Aleksandrovsk gun factory, with the first 15 inch gun cast on January 2, 1864, The first 15 inch guns were installed on the monitors by 1868, but they only became available for all ships in 1869. Unlike the American sister ships, mixed armaments of 15 inch and smaller guns were not used.
Also in 1863 development of a rifled gun started with the help of Krupp technology. The Obukhov State Plant
Obukhov State Plant
Obukhov State Plant is a major Russian metallurgy and heavy machine-building plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1863 to produce naval artillery based on German designs by Krupp. It has since been a major producer of artillery and other military equipment. From 1922 to 1992 it...
was founded in St. Petersburg to produce guns based on Krupp designs. The new 9 inch Breech-loading
Breech-loading weapon
A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....
rifled guns become known as the 229 mm cannon M1867. The ships were rearmed with these guns starting in 1873.
As the monitors were hulked in 1900 the rifled M1867 guns were removed; they later served as coastal artillery
Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
in Peter the Great's Naval Fortress
Peter the Great's Naval Fortress
Peter the Great's naval fortress or the Tallinn-Porkkala defence station was a Russian fortification line, which aimed to block access to the Russian capital Saint Petersburg via the sea. The plans for the fortress included heavy coastal artillery pieces along the northern and southern shores of...
. Some of the guns still exist on the seafortress of Suomenlinna
Suomenlinna
Suomenlinna, until 1918 Viapori , or Sveaborg , is an inhabited sea fortress built on six islands , and which now forms part of the city of Helsinki, the capital of Finland.Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage site and popular with both tourists and locals, who...
in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
.
Ships
New Admiralty yard- Uragan («Ураган», Hurricane) - Laid up and decommissioned 1900.
- Tifon («Тифон», TyphonTyphonTyphon , also Typhoeus , Typhaon or Typhos was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and the most deadly monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of all monsters"; his wife Echidna was likewise the "Mother of All Monsters."Typhon was described in pseudo-Apollodorus,...
) - Laid up 1900, hulked as mine depot 1909, broken up in the 1920s.
Galerniy Island yard
- Strelets («Стрелец», Strelets) - Laid up 1900, hulked as floating workshop late 1910s, hull remains to the present day.
- Edinorog («Единорог», UnicornUnicornThe unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
) - Laid up 1900, hulked as mine depot 1909, broken up in the 1950s, served in VladivostokVladivostokThe city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
.
Carr and MacPherson
- Bronenosets («Броненосец», ArmadilloArmadilloArmadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...
) - Hulked as coal barge and decommissioned 1900. - Latnik («Латник», Cuirassiers) - Hulked as coal barge and decommissioned 1900.
Nevsky factory
- Lava («Лава», LavaLavaLava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
) - Laid up 1900, hulked as hospital barge 1911, broken up in the 1920s. - Perun («Перун», PerunPerunIn Slavic mythology, Perun is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. His other attributes were the fire, mountains, the oak, iris, eagle, firmament , horses and carts, weapons and war...
) - Laid up 1900, sank 1921, broken up in 1925.
Cockerill & Co
- Veschun («Вещун», Pythoness) - Hulked as coal barge and decommissioned 1900.
- Koldun («Колдун», SorcererMagician (fantasy)A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
) - Hulked as coal barge and decommissioned 1900.