Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov
Baltic Shipyard, Saint Petersburg
1904-1905
13,516 ts; at Tsushima: 14,151 ts
121 m
23.3 m
8.00 m
788 man
12 Belleville boilers, 2 triple-expansion steam engines 15,800 hp 2 screws
17.5 kn
2,590 sm at 10 kn
- 4 × 305-mm-L/40-Geschütze
- 12 × 152-mm-L/45-Canet-Geschütze
- 20 × 75-mm-L/40-Canet-Schnellfeuergeschütze
- 20 × 47-mm-L/43-Hotchkiss-Schnellfeuergeschütze
- 4 × 381 -mm torpedo tubes
1545 ts coal
- Belt armor: 190 - 203 mm
- Main towers 249 to 254 mm
- Secondary towers: 152-203 mm
- Command status: 254-304 mm
- Main deck: 50 mm
The Knyaz Suvorov (Russian Князь Суворов ) was a battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy, the fourth of five ships of the Borodino class. Was named the ship after the Russian Generalissimo, Prince (Russian Knyaz, since 1799) Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov ( 1730-1800 ). It was after a march of about 18,000 sm with two sister ships on May 27, 1905 sunk at the Battle of Tsushima.
The Borodino class
The Borodino class, based on the plans of the 1899-1901 built in France Zessarewitsch. The Russian naval command had at the conclusion of the construction contract insisted that one could build five more ships of the same kind in Russia and modify as necessary, so that they comply with the requirements of the Russian Navy. Accordingly, the ships of the Borodino class were from 1899 to 1905 built on Russian shipyards: Borodino, Imperator Alexander III, Orel, Knyaz Suvorov and Slava. .
Like the Zessarewitsch, then these ships suffered because their focus was too high, the side walls in the so-called Tumblehome design above the waterline were inside, the current in the mid-fuselage longitudinal bulkhead is a danger of capsizing conjured up, and the low belt armor was pressed at full combat load under water. The Kasemattgeschütze were so deep that they were unusable due to rough seas. Added to this was that the ships had weaker machines as the Zessarewitsch despite greater weight. All three sunken ships at Tsushima Class capsized before they sank. The ships are therefore of some shipbuilding experts considered the worst ever built battleships ( Preston 2002).
History
Tsushima
The Knyaz Suvorov was in 1901 placed on the Baltic works in St. Petersburg to Kiel. She ran in September 1902 from the pile and was completed in September 1904 and put into service with her sister ships (except the unfinished Slava ) assigned to the Second Pacific Squadron under Vice Admiral Roschestwenski. Roschestwenski took the Knyaz Suvorov as his flagship. Already on October 15, 1904 Roschestwenskis fleet went to the eight - month journey more than 18,000 nautical miles to East Asia.
The Knyaz Suvorov, under the command of Capt. Ignatius, was very fast heavily damaged in the Naval Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905. She got as lead ship of the Russian battle line running from significant hits of the Japanese battle fleet. A hit hit the bridge and wounded the commanding admiral heavy, so that the fleet was not controlled from this point, because a signal was not given about the remaining ships.
Hit hard they had to swerve out of the line of battle, and gave the wounded Admiral Roschestwenski on a torpedo boat, so he could be brought to safety. In the further course of the battle, the ship received another serious hit and lost the connection to the Russian line of battle. Short term fell between the ship and the squadron was accidentally shot by the Russian ships, who considered it a damaged Japanese battleship. Finally, the ship was just like the remaining to his cover auxiliary cruiser Kamchatka hit by Japanese torpedo boats final, capsized and sank.