The cruiser Bogatyr: photo, model, drawings, armament

The Russian Imperial Navy has served almost 200 years. Its power reached a high level during the Russo-Japanese War. By 1905 the fleet was the third in the world in strength. The cruiser Bogatyr became a participant in two wars, conquered the sea and lived almost 22 years.

History of the project

"Bogatyr" - armored decker cruiser, was designed in the early 20th century. The reason for its development was all the same Japan, which at that time was concerned with its power and strength. Two years before the beginning of the new century, the Japanese created a program to equip and increase the power of their fleet.

Russia decided not to lag behind, so with the project "For the needs of the Far East," she began designing ships that could gain superiority over the enemy. Initially, it was planned to create two types of armored decker cruisers with different displacement. But then the program slowed down its work due to the fact that the plans of 1895 were not met.

The maritime ministry decided to seek assistance from shipbuilding firms abroad. After a small contest, Russia drew attention to the project, presented by Germany. The country presented a vessel with a powerful artillery and displacement of 6,250 tons.

Implementation of the

The construction of the cruiser began the next year after the drafting of the project plan. At the end of 1899 the head ship was laid, with the bright and powerful name "Bogatyr". The construction of the future naval fighter began at full speed. During the work on the vessel, the Germans decided to hand over to Russia 3 more drawings, due to which armor-deck cruisers of the Bogatyr type were to appear.

Construction was not smooth. Constantly there were problems with the delivery of parts, directly with the design. Both sides argued all the time and could not agree on the final draft even in the process of its implementation. Because of what the time was always transferred, and the ship was not ready.

In the beginning of 1901, the cruiser Bogatyr, whose drawings were safely embodied in a powerful vessel, took to the water. After a lot of testing, including speed, in 1902 the ship was handed over to the customer, and it was able to go into battle.

Far East

The course to the Far East was adopted after the cruiser Bogatyr became a full-fledged combat ship and trained in shooting. In the Pacific, along with him went two squadron battleships and two cruisers.

Only 2 years later the ship was able to enter into a real battle. The whole squad of "Bogatyr" was dressed in olive color, Russia announced a war with Japan. It was the beginning of cruising. This process was stopped by the sinking of the coastal steamer, the capture of the crew and the storm.

The next cruising only triggered the attack of the Japanese fleet, and in March a detachment of 4 cruisers and 2 torpedo boats bombarded Vladivostok. Over time, a sail of 15 ships sailed to him. The Vladivostok detachment had to divert attention, with which it coped well.

In late April, the cruiser Bogatyr, whose armament was one of the most powerful in the detachment, joined the cruisers Gromoboy and Rossiya. Two destroyers were sent with them. It was a quiet cruise, which brought excellent results.

The first wound that the ship received occurred in May. The visibility of the sea was extremely low, despite this, the cruiser was moving at a speed of 10 knots. The team of officers tried to reason with the captain, but all the persuasions were in vain. As a result, "Bogatyr" was damaged by stones near the cape Bruce. This event became sad for the entire crew. In addition to the fact that the ship received holes and flooded several compartments, on its own it could not remove from the stones.

The help, arrived in this day, did not bring results. The weather also did not play into the hands of sailors. Storm of 10 points forced the evacuation of the entire "heroic" crew. After the storm, a mechanic arrived with the workers. Damage was severe. Almost half of the compartments were flooded, the ship turned on stones.

It took a month and a half to remove the ship from the stones. All this time he was unloaded to full "release." Until the end of the war, the towed "Bogatyr" remained in the port of Vladivostok. The ship was still destined to meet with the Japanese, but already in peacetime. "Bogatyr" accompanied the cruiser "Russia" to the port of Racine. On the ship were two confronted admiral. Here they discussed the terms of the peace treaty, which was later concluded in Portsmouth.

Baltic Adventures

In 1906, the "Bogatyr" was returned to service. He was included in the Special Detachment, which was supposed to swim with the midshipmen and non-commissioned officers. In the same year the ship took part in establishing order in the Sveaborg fortress. The insurrection was muted by artillery fire.

Later the cruiser Bogatyr set out on a voyage across the Mediterranean. Here he had to visit Naples at the funeral of NV Muraviev, later to save the earthquake victims from the Italian coast. A few years later the ship's crew was rewarded for this help and for saving 2,400 inhabitants of Messina. In 1912, the cruiser was repaired at the Kronstadt plant, and the following year he plowed through the expanses of the Mediterranean Sea.

Serious fight

Already 13 days after the Germans declared war on the Russians, Bogatyr was able to realize himself and, together with the cruiser Pallada and two destroyers, to dislodge an important enemy. The confluence of circumstances or fate led to the fact that the German light cruiser Magdeburg sat on the stones near the lighthouse. There was no one to help them, and the crew could not solve the problem on their own. These attempts were noticed by Russian intelligence agents, and they decided to send our combat detachment here.

Captains of the "Bogatyr" and "Pallas" knew about the existence of each other, but did not realize that the command sent to the aid of the destroyers "Lieutenant Burakov" and "Ryanoy". Despite the fact that the cruisers had to cover their battle brothers, the destroyers to the Magdeburg arrived faster, but could not find the enemy.

The error of the German captain, who decided to fire a lighthouse, gave out their location. The destroyers began to fire at the enemy's ship, and on the other hand the "Bogatyr" and "Pallada" approached and attacked the Magdeburg. Because of the thick fog, the Russian detachment could not see that the destroyer of Germany had already evacuated the crew of the cruiser.

Also from the Russian cruisers went to the allied destroyers, who mistakenly seemed enemies, and they in turn launched torpedoes into Bogatyr and Pallada. In the morning the Russian captains sorted out the problem and focused on Magdeburg and an auxiliary destroyer.

The enemy ship could not stand the bombardment and blew up its ship. This operation was key, thanks to the documents found on board the German cruiser, which helped to decipher the enemy's radiograms in the future.

At the end of 1914 the cruiser managed to put a couple of treacherous mines on which the German cruiser blew up. A year later the ship again served the Russian fleet with its mines and damaged by an enemy ship. Throughout the First World War, "Bogatyr" successfully identified enemies, placed mines and sank a ship.

The last breath

After the beginning of the revolution, the cruiser had to retreat, since changes were observed at the front. After that, he participated in the Baltic Fleet in the Ice campaign. Later the ship was sent to the Kronstadt port for storage. About 4 years the cruiser Bogatyr disarmed. In the summer of 1922 the ship was sold for scrapping, taken to the Germans, and they were dismantled. Officially, the cruiser was excluded from the list of the Russian Navy only in 1925.

Brethren

A series of brothers "Bogatyr" was very successful. Among them were Vityaz, Oleg, Ochakov, and Cahul. The last two were renamed two and three times. Each of the cruisers served a long time, except for the "Knight". This ship was burnt during construction and was not commissioned.

The very first was launched Bogatyr, as is known, in 1901, after him Ochakov. True, he entered the system not so fast as his "older brother", only in 1909. He served until 1920 and was detained by the French. "Cahul" was twice renamed, first in "Memory of Mercury", later in the "Comintern". During the Second World War, it was disarmed and sunk to create a breakwater.

The last cruiser from the series "Oleg" also lived not long, only until 1919, due to the torpedo attack of a British boat. But in 1938 he was raised from the bottom and divided into metal.

Interesting Facts

The cruiser Bogatyr, whose photo is presented in the article, became very popular due to his exploits. This ship appeared in the game World of Warships. It occupies a place in the Soviet branch at level 3. The developers of the project tried to recreate it as accurately as possible.

Several times creative people tried to immortalize the cruiser Bogatyr. The model was created on a scale of 1/100, while it was made as close to the original as possible. Some artifacts can be disassembled in half, at the waterline, in order to install electric motors inside to operate the cruiser on the water.