The Fates of the Uragan-Class Russian Monitors-- Part3

**  PERUN (Perun)--  Laid up and decommissioned in 1900 after which, she served as a pilot ship, being renamed Lotsiia (Pilot) in 1915.  She was badly damaged during the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921.  She was later flooded and deliberately run aground in 1924 and broken up by the end of 1925.

**  VESCHUN (Soothsayer)--    Laid up and decommissioned in 1900.  She was then converted into a  coal barge and renamed Barzha No. 44 and then Barzha No. 327.  She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918 and broken up by the Finns in the 1920s.

**  KOLDUN (Sorcerer)--  Laid up and decommissioned in 1900.  She was then converted into a coal barge and renamed Barzha No. 31, then Barzha No. 50 and finally Barzha No. 323.  She was abandoned by the Russians in April 1918 and broken up by the Finns in the 1920s.

--Old B-R'er

The Fates of the Uragan-Class Russian Monitors-- Part 2

**  BRONENOSETS (Armadillo)--    Laid up and decommissioned in 1900.  She was then converted into a coal barge and renamed Barzha No. 34, the Barzha No.  51 and finally Barzha No. 3234.  She sank in the Gulf of Finland during a storm in World War I.

**  LATNIK (Cuirassier)-- Laid up and decommissioned in 1900.  She was then converted into a coal barge and renamed Barzha No. 38 and then Barzha No. 326.  She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in 1918, and she was broken up by the Finns in the 1920s.

**  LAVA (Avalanche)--  Laid up and decommissioned in 1900. She was hulked and renamed  Blokshiv No. 1, and served as a mine depot until 1916, when she was converted into a hospital barge.  She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918, but later returned to Russia by the Finns.  Probably broken up in the 1920s, but her hull might even have survived until World War II.

--Old B-Runner

Russian Monitor Strelets-- Part 4

From the Abandoned Warships site.  "Russian Monitor Strelets"  Video.  (Definitely something to check out.)

When the Strelets was converted into a floating workshop in 1901, construction workers added an additional hull over the monitor hull.  Only the lower part of the hull showing is the actual hull.  The current photographs show mostly the added hull on the ship.  Remember that monitors rode low in the water.

The narrator isn't sure if the original turret is preserved within the hull, but doesn't think it is.  I'm fairly sure it was removed, but wouldn't that be something if it was still there.  The guns, of course, would have been removed.

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There is also an extended discussion on the Civil War Talk site about the Strelets from May 17, 2017, "Russian Monitor To Be Restored."

--Old B-Runner

Russian Monitor Strelets May Become a Museum Ship

From the October 18, 2018, Mechtraveller by Alastair.

And, remember, the Strelets was a Uragan-class Russian monitor built to the specs of a American Passaic-class monitor from the Civil War.  So, in effect, it would be a Union Civil War monitor.

The TASS news agency today is reporting comments made by  Russia's Deputy Defense  Minister Colonel-General  Andrei Kartapolov about the 19th century armored gunboat, the Strelets.

The Strelets was a 200 ft Uragan class, armored monitor.  She joined the Baltic Fleet in 1865 and was taken out of service in  1900 to be used until 1955 by the Russian Navy as a floating workshop at the Kronstadt Navy base outside St. Petersburg, where she was rediscovered in 2015.

Speaking at a press conference in St. Petersburg earlier today, Colonel-General Kartopolov said, "I discussed  this theme with the Navy's commander-in-chief earlier today.  In Kronstadt there is a unique  ship called the Strelets.  It is older than the Aurora.  We plan to turn it into a museum."

He said that the restoration work on the ship will begin soon with a view to having it  ready for public display by the 75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. - 9 May 2020.

Looking Forward to It.  --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

Monitors of Russian Uragan-Class

They were constructed two each at five different shipyards.

NEW ADMIRALITY YARD

Uragan--  Laid up and decommissioned  1900

Tifon--  Laid up 1900.  Hulked as mine depot 1909.  Broken up in the 1920s.

GALERNIY ISLAND YARD

Strelets--  Laid up 1900.    Hulked as floating workshop late 1910s.    Hull remains to present day.

Edinorog--  Laid up 1900.  Hulked as a mine depot 1909.  Broken up in the 1950s.  Served in Vladivostock.

CARR AND MACPHERSON

Bronenosets--    Hulked as coal barge and decommissioned in 1900.

Latnik--  Hulked as coal barge and decommissioned 1900.

NEVSKY FACTORY

Lava--    Laid up 1900.  Hulked as hospital barge 1911.  Broken up in the 1920s.

Perun--  Laid up 1900.  Sank 1921.    Broken up 1925.

COCKERILL & CO.

Veschun--  Hulked as a coal barge and decommissioned 1900.  Involved in accident with Russian monitor Admiral Chichagov.

Koldun--    Hulked as a coal barge and decommissioned 1900.

--Old B-Runner

The Russian Uragan Monitor Class-- Part 2

Russian Naval Architect N. Artseulov was sent to the U.S. to join Russian Naval Attachee Captain  Stepan Stepanovich Lessovsky to help assess first-hand the advantages and disadvantages of American monitors.

On 11 March 1863, the Russian Admiralty approved a program to build ten monitors  to the American monitor Passaic-class plans.  The decision to use the American plans was based on lack of time, money and inexperience in building ironclads.

A larger monitor with two turrets, the Smerch, was also approved and launched in 1864.

In their first eight years of operation, three different kinds of artillery pieces were used.  An order was placed with the Krupp ordnance factories in Germany for nine inch smoothbores which was used in the monitors at first.  In 1864, artillery specialist  Filemon  N. Pestich returned from America with technology  for the production of  15-inch Dahlgren guns of the type used on the American Passaic monitors and a factory was established to make them.

The first 15-inch Dahlgrens became available for the Uragan monitors in 1869.  Unlike the American ships, the Uragan ones did not use a mixed armament of 15-inch and a smaller one.  New 9-inch breech-loading rifled guns were placed on the ships beginning in 1973.

As the monitors were hulked in 1900, these guns were removed and later served in Peter the Great's Naval Fortress.

--Old B-Runner

The Russian Monitor Uragan-Class-- Part 1

It is interesting that Russia is the only other major naval power to have monitors along the design of the Union Navy.

From Wikipedia.

The Uragan-class was a class on monitors built for the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy.  The ships were built to the plans of the American Passaic-Class of monitors.  A total of ten different ships were constructed  at five different shipyards in Saint Petersburg, all entering Russian service in 1865.  They were among the first Russian ironclads.

These ships were built in response to fears of a standoff with Britain and a repeat of the Crimean War.  Only this time with Britain's intentions on the Russian capital at Saint Petersburg.

Americans mistook Russian defensive moves as an indicator of support for the Union cause in the Civil War.

A Russian monitor program was started as soon as news of the  Battle of Hampton Roads reached Europe.

The Novgorod, which I wrote about last week was another effort of the Russian Navy to build a monitor.

--Old B-Russian

Russian Monitor Novgorod's Career-- Part 5

The Treaty of Paris ended the Crimean War (1853-1856).  It was fought between Russia and an alliance of Britain and France.  (Fort Fisher has been called the Malakoff Tower of the South, named after an impressive Russian fortification in this war.)

As part of the agreement, Russia was allowed just six small corvettes on the Black Sea.  But, they had to be built elsewhere in St. Petersburg, disassembled and then shipped to the Black Sea for reassembly.  This is how the Novgorod was built.

It was laid down in 1871 and wasn't completed and commissioned on the Black Sea until 1874.  Modifications were made before the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) where the Novgorod was assigned the defense of Odessa.  She did not see action.

After the war, the Novgorod made a cruise to the Romanian town of Sulina on the Danube River and then stationed in Sevastopol throughout the 1880s and made  short cruises every summer.  In 1892, it was reclassified as a coast defense monitor.  By the following year, her  hull and machinery were in extremely bad condition.

She was stricken from the Navy List in 1903 and used as a store ship.  In 1908, it was offered for sale to Bulgaria, but the offer was not taken.  Finally, the Novgorod was sold for scrap in 1911.

The main armament of the Novrogord was not in a turret, but out in the open.

She had a sister ship, the Vitse-admiral Popov which was a little bigger and not as round with heavier cannons.  Like the Novgorod, it didn't have much success as a warship.  Length 126 feet 10 inches, beam 117 feet 8 inches, mounting 12-inch rifle  muzzle-loading guns.

--Old B-Runner

The Monitor Novgorod's Career-- Part 4: The Frisbee Monitor

From Wikipedia.

STATISTICS

Laid Down:  29 December 1871

Launched:  2 June 1873

Completed:  1874

Decommissioned:  1 May 1903

Length:  101 feet  (Notice the length and beam were the same.)

Beam:  101 feet

Draught:  13 feet 6 inches

Armament:  two 11-inch rifled muzzle loaders

--Old B-Runner

Russian Monitors, the Novgorod-- Part 2

Monitors were generally low -draught ships which made them excellent for rivers and inland waters.  However, this worked against them on the high seas.  Russia, in the late 1860s became very  concerned with protecting their river systems and monitors seemed to fit the bill.

But, all that armor  and cannons meant the ship would draw more draught, which would be a problem in the shallower rivers.

But Scottish shipbuilder John Elder  figured that if you increase the beam of a ship you could carry more of everything with little or no increase in the draught.

Imperial Russian Navy Rear Admiral Andrei Alexandrovich Popov took this idea and really ran with it.  He took the concept of widening all the way up to where the ship's shape actually became a circle.

After testing  the concept with models and a small 24-foot diameter ship and then a full-sized ship was authorized and construction on the Novgorod started in late 1871, with the ship having a 100-foot diameter., displacing  2,531 tons and having a draft of only  13 and a half feet.

--Old B-Runner

Russian Monitors, Yes, There Were Russian Monitors and One Really Weird One

Well, since I have been writing about the USS Nantucket and monitors, I saw this article today and found it of great interest.

From the August 18, 2021, Jalopnik  "Russia once built a very weird circular warship" by Jason Torchinsky.

The Union Navy was not the only world navy with monitors.  It turns out that Russia even experimented with monitors, at least some that looked like  U.S. monitors and, then, there was this one named the Novgorod.  This ship could well be described as a floating frisbee.  Very, but some, looking ship.

I was completely unaware of these Russian monitors until now.

The Novgorod was essentially an ironclad monitor based on the USS Monitor.  Loosely, very loosely.

According to Torchinsky, the Monitor was a revolution in naval design.  It was a solely steam-driven warship,  nearly completely made of iron with a powered, revolving turret.  Most of the ship was under the waterline and, it is worth noting,  the first ship to have real flushing toilets.  (I also did not know that.)

The Monitor was actually the first of all modern warships.  The basic design was copied all over the world, including Russia which had the Uragan-class monitors.

--Old B-Runner

Maury's Family Urge Against It As Well

The members of Matthew Fontaine Maury's family again urged him to abandon his plan of Mexican colonization and go to Russia, accepting the invitation of the Grand Duke Constantine, or go to France where Napoleon III had invited him to live.

Many nations sought the great mind of Maury, leading naval scientist of his time.  Before the Civil War he was the most honored and possibly most noted living American among other nations of the world.

--Old B-R'er