The Ekaterina II class were a class of four battleships
built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1880s. They were the first battleships
built for the Black Sea Fleet. Their design was highly unusual in having the main
guns on three barbettes grouped in a triangle around a central armored redoubt,
two side-by-side forward and one on the centerline aft. This was intended to maximize
their firepower forward, both when operating in the narrow waters of the Bosphorus
and when ramming. Construction was slow because they were the largest warships
built until then in the Black Sea, and the shipyards had to be upgraded to handle
them. Georgiy Pobedonosets was named after Saint George the Victorious.
She was laid down by RoPIT on 5 May 1891, launched on 9 March 1892, and completed
in 1893, although her trials lasted until mid-1895. She was only a half-sister
to the others as her armor scheme was different and she was built much later than
the earlier ships. She was relegated to second-line duties in 1908 and had
her main guns removed later. She fired three rounds at the Goeben during her bombardment
of Sevastopol in 1914, the only shots fired in anger by any ship of this class,
but spent most of the war serving as a headquarters ship in Sevastopol. She was
captured by the Germans in 1918 and turned over by them to the British who sabotaged
her engines when they abandoned the Crimea in 1919. She was captured by both sides
during the Russian Civil War, but ended up being towed to Bizerte by the fleeing
White Russians where she was eventually scrapped by the French Government.
Specifications |
Builder: |
RoPIT Shipyard, Sevastopol | Laid
down | 5 May 1891 | Launched | 9
March 1892 | Commissioned
| 1893 | Displacement
| 11,050 tons | Dimensions
| 103.4 x 21 x 8.5 meters | Speed | 15.2
knots | Propulsion | 2
vertical compound steam engines, 14 cylindrical boilers, 2 shafts, 9,100 ihp |
Guns | 3x2
305-mm guns, 7x1 152-mm guns, 8x1 47-mm 5-barrel revolving Hotchkiss guns, 4x1
37-mm 5-barrel revolving Hotchkiss guns, 7x1 356-mm torpedo tubes | Armor |
belt: 203-406 mm, redoubt: 305 mm, decks: 51-64 mm, gun shields: 51-76 mm, conning
tower: 203-229 mm | Crew | 633 |
|