The Fates of the Uragan-Class Monitors-- Part 1

From the 6 September 2019 Wargaming  Miscellany site "The Russian Monitor Strelets."

URAGAN (HURRICANE)

Laid up and decommissioned in 1900.

TIFON  (TYPHOON)

Decommissioned in 1900.  Hulked and served as a mine depot from 1909 and broken up in the 1920s.

STRELETS  (MUSKETEER)

Laid up in 1900.    Hulked and renamed the Plavmasterskaia No. 1, and served as a floating workshop until 1955.  Her hull still remains afloat in Kronstadt.

EDINOROG (UNICORN)

Laid up 1900.  She was hulked , renamed Blokshiv No. 4, and served as a mine depot from 1912.  She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918, but she was later returned by the Finns.

The ship was renamed  as Blokshiv No. 2 in 1932 and survived World War II.  She was renamed again in 1949 and became the BSh-2, an abbreviated form of Blokshiv No. 2.  She was stricken in 1957 and thought to have been handed over to the Kronstadt Yacht Club for use as a storage barge.  Her ultimate fate is unknown.

--Old B-RussMonitor

Russian Monitor Strelets

STRELETS

(1865-1900)  Like the Uragan and Tifon, not much is known about her career.  She was present when the American warships Miantonomah (double-turreted monitor) and Augusta visited Kronstadt in July-August  1866.  

On 21 July 1875, the Russian two-turret monitor Admiral Chichagov ran aground and the Strelets was sent to help her the following day.  While assisting with the rigging of a hawser between the Admiral Chichagov and the armored frigate Sevastopal, the hawser unexpectedly slid across the Strelet's deck, injuring the ship's executive officer and a bosun, who later died of his injuries.

Coal and equipment were removed from the grounded Admiral Chichagov, but it was not enough to refloat her.  Finally, several barges and a floating crane came out from Kronstadt and the Chichagov was pulled free on July 25.

The Strelets was reclassified as a coast-defense ironclad on 13 February 1892 and turned over to the port of Kronstadt for disposal  6 July 1900, although she was not stricken from the navy list until August 17.  It was converted into a floating workshop the next year and renamed the Plavmasterskaia No. 1.

She remained in service until the end of 1955.

The Strelets was discovered intact at St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2015.

Now, this last bit of information has piqued my interest a great deal.

--Old RussianMonitor

I Was Just Looking at the Photos of the Nantucket and the Uragan-Class Monitors and It Struck Me; They Were Sister Ships, Different Navies

Just to the right of these posts at this time is a picture of the American monitor USS Nantucket (which took that beating at the Battle of Fort Sumter in 1863) and the Russian Uragan-class monitor above it.

I started writing about the USS Nantucket on August 12 and continued until August 18 after seeing that our newest U.S. Navy ship named the Nantucket had just been launched.  It is the USS Nantucket (LCS-27), a Littoral Combat Ship.

That led to the Civil War USS Nantucket.

Then, the next article I came across was about the Russian monitor Novgorod.  To say he least, it was quite a peculiar-looking ship (the picture is also to the right of this at this time).  From there, I found there was a whole class of Russian monitors that even more closely resembled American monitors than did the Novgorod.

The Uragan-class of Russian monitors was built to the specs of the U.S. Passaic-class monitors and the USS Nantucket was a Passaic-class monitor.

So a Russian sailor from a Uragan monitor would definitely feel right at home on the USS Nantucket.

A Sister From Another Mother As It Were.  --Old B-Runner

Russian Monitor Uragan-- Part 2

The lead ship of her class and based on the designs of the Union's Passaic-Class monitors.

She entered Russian service in 1865 and cost nearly double what was proposed.  She was assigned to the Baltic Fleet.  All of her sister ships except the Latnik, made a port visit to Stockholm, Sweden July-August 1865.

Sometime after she was completed, an armored ring was fitted around the base of the turret to prevent splinters from jamming it.  Later an armored bulwark  was fitted to the top of the turret to provide protection for crewmen up there.

Three sponsons were added, probably during the 1870s,  to the upper portion of each turret to mount a light gun, probably a 1,75-inch Engstrem gun.

Little is known about the ship's naval career except that she was laid up each winter when the Gulf of Finland froze.  She was reclassified as a coast defense  ironclad on February 13, 1892.  It was stricken in August 1900 and in 1903, was converted into a coal barge with the removal of its turret, her side armor and wooden backing.

It served in that capacity until it was abandoned by the Soviets when they were forced to withdraw from Finland according to the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and was later scrapped by the Fins.

--Old B-Runner

The Russian Monitor Uragan-- Part 1

From Wikipedia,

Not much is known of the career of the Russian monitor Uragan.

It cost 1,105,800 rubles and was launched 27 May 1864, out of service 6 July 1900.

Length:  201 feet

Beam:  46 feet

Crew:  96-110

Armament:

1865:  Two nine-inch smoothbores

1868:  Two 15-inch Rodman guns

1873:  Two 9-inch rifled guns

--Old B-Runner