Empress Maria (battleship). Battleship "Empress Maria" of the Black Sea Fleet

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TRY TO REMOVE "MARIA" (one of the versions of the death of the battleship "Empress Maria" in 1916) Until now, the minds of historians and specialists are disturbed by the tragic death in 1916 of one of the strongest Russian warships - the Black Sea battleship "Empress Maria".

Ship history:
The decision to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet with new battleships was caused by Turkey's intention to acquire three modern Dreadnought-class battleships abroad, which would immediately provide them with overwhelming superiority in the Black Sea. To maintain the balance of power, the Russian Naval Ministry insisted on the urgent strengthening of the Black Sea Fleet.

To speed up the construction of battleships, the architectural type and the most important design decisions were made mainly on the basis of the experience and model of the four Sevastopol-class battleships laid down in 1909 in St. Petersburg.

battleships "Sevastopol" and "Poltava" in the campaign

This approach made it possible to significantly speed up the process of developing strategic and tactical tasks for new battleships for the Black Sea. The Black Sea battleships also adopted such advantages as three-gun turrets, which are rightfully considered an outstanding achievement of domestic technology.

3-gun turret for 305 mm main battery guns

The bet was made on the broad attraction of banking capital and private entrepreneurship. The construction of dreadnoughts (and other ships of the Black Sea program) was entrusted to two private factories in Nikolaev (ONZiV and Russud)

Preference was given to the Russud project, which "with the permission" of the Naval Ministry was led by a group of prominent naval engineers who were in active service. As a result, Russud received an order for two ships, the third (according to his drawings) was ordered to build ONZiV.
Empress Maria Feodorovna Romanova (wife of Alexander III)

On June 11, 1911, simultaneously with the official laying ceremony, new ships were added to the lists of the fleet under the names "Empress Maria", "Emperor Alexander III" and "Empress Catherine the Great". In connection with the decision to equip the lead ship as a flagship, all ships of the series were ordered by the Minister of the Navy I.K. Grigorovich was ordered to be called ships of the type "Empress Maria".

Ivan Konstantinovich Grigorovich

The design of the hull and the armor system of the "Chernomorets" basically corresponded to the project of the Baltic dreadnoughts, but were partially finalized. The Empress Maria had 18 main transverse watertight bulkheads. Twenty triangular-type water-tube boilers fed turbine units powered by four propeller shafts with brass propellers 2.4 m in diameter (rotation speed at 21-knot speed 320 rpm). The total power of the ship's power plant was 1840 kW.

According to the contract dated March 31, 1912, signed by the Naval Ministry with the Russud plant, the Empress Maria should have been launched no later than July. The complete readiness of the ship (presentation for acceptance tests) was planned by August 20, 1915, four more months were allotted for the tests themselves. Such a high pace, not inferior to the pace of advanced European enterprises, was almost sustained: the plant, which continued to be built, launched the ship on October 6, 1913. coming close war time forced, despite the sad experience of the past, to develop working drawings simultaneously with the construction of ships.

Alas, the progress of the work was affected not only by the growing pains of the factories that built such large ships for the first time, but also by the “improvements” so characteristic of domestic shipbuilding already in the course of construction, which led to an over-design overload that exceeded 860 tons. As a result, in addition to an increase in draft by 0.3 m, an annoying trim on the nose was also formed. In other words, the ship "sat like a pig." Luckily, some constructive raising of the deck in the bow covered this up. A lot of excitement was also delivered by the order in England for turbines, auxiliary mechanisms, propeller shafts and stern tube devices, placed at the John Brown plant by the Russud society. There was a smell of gunpowder in the air, and it was only by a lucky chance that the Empress Maria managed to get her turbines in May 1914, delivered by an English steamer that had slipped through the straits.

A noticeable failure in counterparty deliveries by November 1914 forced the ministry to agree to new deadlines for the ships: "Empress Maria" in March-April 1915. All forces were thrown into the speedy introduction of "Maria" into operation. For her, by agreement of the construction plants, the machine tools of 305 mm guns and the electrical equipment of the towers received from the Putilov factory were transferred.

According to the wartime staffing approved on January 11, 1915, 30 conductors and 1135 lower ranks (of which 194 were extra-conscripts) were assigned to the command of Empress Maria, who were combined into eight ship companies. In April-July, 50 more people were added by new orders of the fleet commander, and the number of officers was brought up to 33.

And then came that unique day, always overflowing with special troubles, when the ship, starting an independent life, leaves the factory embankment.

By the evening of June 23, 1915, after the consecration of the ship, having raised a flag, a guis and a pennant sprinkled with holy water over the Ingul raid, "Empress Maria" began a company. In the dead of night on June 25, apparently in order to pass the river before dark, they took off the moorings, and at 4 o'clock in the morning the battleship set sail. In readiness to repel a mine attack, having passed the Adzhigol lighthouse, the ship entered the Ochakovsky roadstead. The next day they conducted test firing, and on June 27, under the protection of aviation, destroyers and minesweepers, the battleship arrived in Odessa. At the same time, the main forces of the fleet, having formed three lines of cover (up to the Bosphorus !!!), kept at sea.

Having received 700 tons of coal, on the afternoon of June 29, "Empress Maria" went to sea after the cruiser "Memory of Mercury" and at 5 o'clock in the morning on June 30 met with the main forces of the fleet...

Slowly, in the consciousness of her own greatness and significance of the moment, the "Empress Maria" entered the Sevastopol raid on the afternoon of June 30, 1915. And the jubilation that engulfed the city and the fleet that day was probably akin to the general joy of those happy days of November 1853, when, after a brilliant victory at Sinop, she returned to the same raid under the flag of P.S. Nakhimov 84-gun "Empress Maria".

The entire fleet was looking forward to the moment when the Empress Maria, having gone out to sea, would sweep out the pretty tired "Goeben" and "Breslau" beyond its borders. Already with these expectations, "Maria" was assigned the role of the first favorite of the fleet.

In August there was a change of commanders. Prince Trubetskoy was appointed head of the mine brigade, and Captain 1st Rank Kuznetsov took command of the Empress Maria. The commander of the ill-fated battleship, Captain 1st Rank Ivan Semenovich Kuznetsov, was put on trial. The verdict on his punishment was to take effect after the end of the war. But the revolution broke out, and the sailors pronounced their verdict: the former commander of the Empress Maria, without trial or investigation, along with other officers of the Black Sea Fleet, was shot on December 15, 1917 on Malakhov Hill. In the same place and buried knows where.

What changes in the balance of forces at sea did the entry into service of the Empress Maria make, how did it change with the outbreak of the war, and what effect did it have on the construction of the following ships? The extremely threatening situation before the war, when the appearance of Turkish dreadnoughts, already equipped in England for sailing, was expected in the Black Sea, remained tense even after England did not release the ships ordered by the Turks. A new and already real danger was now posed by the German battlecruiser "Goeben" and the cruiser "Breslau", whether because of the political maneuvers of the British Admiralty or because of their phenomenal luck, who managed to fool the allied Anglo-French naval forces and broke into the Dardanelles.

battlecruiser Goeben

Normal displacement 22,979 tons, total 25,400 tons. Waterline length 186 m, maximum length 186.6 m, width 29.4 m (including anti-mine nets 29.96 m), draft 8.77 m (bow) and 9, 19 m (stern), average draft 9.0 m, side height along the midship frame 14.08 m.
The power plant consisted of 2 sets of steam turbines Parsons (Parsons) with direct transmission to the shaft, located in three compartments. High-pressure turbines (rotor diameter 1900 mm) were located in two bow compartments and rotated the outer propeller shafts. Turbines low pressure(rotor 3050 mm) were in the aft compartment and rotated the internal shafts. The ships were equipped with 24 Marine-Schulz-Tornycroft water-tube boilers with small-diameter tubes and an operating steam pressure of 16 atm. The total design capacity of the ship's installations is 63296 kW / 76795 hp.

Armament: Main caliber artillery - 5 x 2 x 280 / 50 mm guns (810 rounds), gun inclination angles from -8 to 13.5 °, firing range - 18.1 miles. The towers of the main caliber were placed in a diagonal pattern. The starboard turret looked forward with guns, and the left side turret looked into the stern. Each of them had a firing sector of 180 ° on the near side and 125 ° on the opposite side. The elevation of the trunnions of the guns above the load waterline: bow tower 8.78 m, onboard 8.43 m, stern 8.60 and 6.23 m. Ammunition - 81 armor-piercing shells for each gun. The mechanism for turning the turrets and vertical aiming of the guns is electric.

Medium-caliber artillery - 10 150/45-mm guns. Ammunition 1800 shells, firing range up to 13.5 miles. Anti-mine and anti-aircraft artillery - 12 88/45-mm guns. Ammunition 3000 shells. Later, instead of four 88-mm, 4 22-pound anti-aircraft guns were installed; and since 1916, all 88-mm guns (except for anti-aircraft guns) were dismantled. Torpedo tubes (500 mm): 1 in the bow, 2 on the sides, 1 in the stern; ammunition 11 torpedoes. The cruiser was equipped with Zeiss rangefinders. In 1914 correction posts were installed on the ship at the tops of the masts.

Now the "Empress Maria" eliminated this advantage, and the entry into service of subsequent battleships gave a clear advantage to the Black Sea Fleet. The priorities and pace of building ships have also changed. With the outbreak of the war, the need for destroyers, submarines and landing craft necessary for the future Bosphorus operation became especially acute. Their order slowed down the construction of battleships.

"Empress Maria" in Sevastopol

On the "Empress Maria" they tried their best to speed up the program of acceptance tests that had begun with the departure from Nikolaev. Of course, we had to turn a blind eye to many things and, relying on the obligations of the plant, to postpone the elimination of imperfections for a while after the official acceptance of the ship. So, a lot of criticism was caused by the air-refrigeration system of the ammunition cellars. It turned out that all the "cold" that was regularly produced by the "refrigeration machines" was absorbed by the warming up electric motors of the fans, which, instead of the theoretical "cold", drove their heat into the ammunition cellars. The turbines also made us worry, but there were no significant problems.

On July 9, the battleship was brought into the dry dock of the Sevastopol port for inspection and painting of the underwater part of the hull. At the same time, the clearances in the bearings of the stern tubes and propeller shaft brackets were measured. Ten days later, when the ship was in the dock, the commission began testing underwater torpedo tubes. After the withdrawal of the battleship from the dock, the devices were tested by shooting. All of them were accepted by the commission.

On August 6, 1915, the battleship Empress Maria went to sea to test anti-mine caliber artillery. On board was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet A.A. Eberhard.

Andrey Avgustovich Ebergard

Firing from 130-mm guns was carried out on the move 15 - 18 knots and ended successfully. On August 13, the selection committee met on board the battleship to test the mechanisms. The battleship took off from the barrel and went to sea. The average draft of the ship was 8.94 meters, which corresponded to a displacement of 24,400 tons. By 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the number of revolutions of the turbines was brought up to 300 per minute and they began a three-hour test of the ship at full speed. The battleship made tacks between Cape Ai-Todor and Mount Ayu-Dag, at a distance of 5 - 7 miles from the coast in deep water. At 7 pm, full-speed testing of the mechanisms was completed and on August 15 at 10 am the battleship returned to Sevastopol. The commission noted that during the 50 hours of continuous operation, the main and auxiliary mechanisms operated satisfactorily and the commission found it possible to accept them into the treasury. In the period from August 19 to 25, the commission accepted torpedo tubes, all ship systems, drainage facilities and capstan devices into the treasury.

By August 25, acceptance tests were completed, although the development of the ship continued for many more months. At the direction of the fleet commander, in order to combat the trim on the nose, the ammunition of two bow towers (from 100 to 70 shots) and the bow group of 130 mm guns (from 245 to 100 shots) had to be reduced.

Everyone knew that with the entry into service of Empress Maria, the "Goeben" would not leave the Bosporus without extreme need. The fleet was able to systematically and on a larger scale solve its strategic tasks. At the same time, for operational operations at sea, while maintaining the administrative brigade structure, several mobile temporary formations were formed, called maneuver groups. The first included "Empress Maria" and the cruiser "Cahul" with destroyers allocated for their protection. Such an organization made it possible (with the involvement of submarines and aircraft) to carry out a more effective blockade of the Bosphorus.

armored cruiser "Cahul"

Technical details:

Year of launching - May 2, 1902
Length - 134.1 m Beam - 16.6 m Draft - 6.8 m Displacement - 7070 tons
Engine power - 19500 hp
Speed ​​- 21 knots
Armament - 12-152 mm, 12-75 mm, 2-64 mm, 4 machine guns, 2 torpedo tubes
Personnel - 565 people
Reservation - 35-70 mm armored deck, 140 mm conning tower, 127 mm turrets, 102 mm casemates
Ships of the same type: Bogatyr, Oleg, Ochakov

Only in September-December 1915, maneuver groups went out to the enemy’s shores ten times and spent 29 days at sea: the Bosphorus, Zunguldak, Novorossiysk, Batum, Trebizond, Varna, Constanta, along all the shores of the Black Sea, one could then see a long and squat creeping on the water silhouette of a formidable battleship.

And yet the capture of "Goeben" remained the blue dream of the entire crew. More than once, the officers of "Maria" had to remember with an unkind word the leaders of Genmore, together with Minister A.S. Voevodsky, who cut off at least 2 nodes of the course at their ship when drawing up the design assignment, which left no hope for the success of the chase.

Information about the exit of the Breslau for a new sabotage near Novorossiysk was received on July 9, and the new commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral A.V. Kolchak immediately went to sea on the Empress Maria.

Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak

Black Sea squadron

Everything worked out for the best. The Breslau's course and exit time were known, the interception point was calculated without error. The seaplanes escorting the Maria successfully bombed the UB-7 submarine that was guarding her exit, preventing her from attacking, the destroyers ahead of the Maria intercepted the Breslau at the intended point and tied it up in battle.

seaplane "Voisin" over "Maria"

The hunt unfolded according to all the rules. The destroyers stubbornly pressed the German cruiser, which was trying to leave, to the shore, the "Kahul" relentlessly hung on its tail, frightening the Germans with its own, however, volleys that did not reach. "Empress Maria", which had developed full speed, had only to choose the moment for the right volley. But either the destroyers were not ready to take on the adjustment of the Mary’s fire, or the shells of the reduced ammunition load of the bow turret were protected on it, not risking throwing them at random into the smoke screen that the Breslau immediately wrapped itself in when the shells fell dangerously close, but that decisive salvo that could have covered the Breslau did not work. Forced to desperately maneuver (the machines, as the German historian wrote, were already at the limit of endurance), the Breslau, despite its 27-knot speed, steadily lost in the distance traveled in a straight line, which decreased from 136 to 95 cables. Saved by chance flown squall. Hiding behind a veil of rain, the Breslau literally slipped out of the ring of Russian ships and, clinging to the shore, slipped into the Bosphorus.

Cruiser Breslau

Displacement 4480 tons, turbine power 29 904 liters. s., speed 27.6 knots. Length between perpendiculars 136 m, width 13.3, average recess 4.86 m.
Reservations: belt 70 mm, deck 12.7, guns 102 mm.
Armament: 12 - 105-mm guns and 2 torpedo tubes.
The series consisted of four ships, differing in the number of screws: Breslau - 4 screws, Strasbourg - 2 screws, Magdeburg and Stralsund - 3 screws each.

In October 1916, all of Russia was shocked by the news of the death of the newest battleship of the Russian fleet, the Empress Maria. On October 20, about a quarter of an hour after the morning rise, the sailors who were in the area of ​​​​the first tower of the battleship Empress Maria, which was standing along with other ships in the Sevastopol Bay, heard the characteristic hiss of burning gunpowder, and then saw smoke and flames coming out of the embrasures of the tower, necks and fans located near it. played on the ship fire alarm, the sailors smashed the fire hoses and began to fill the turret compartment with water. At 06:20, the ship was rocked by a strong explosion in the area of ​​the cellar of 305-mm charges of the first turret. A column of flame and smoke shot up to a height of 300 m.

When the smoke cleared, a terrible picture of destruction became visible. The explosion tore out a section of the deck behind the first tower, demolished the conning tower, bridge, bow tube and foremast. A hole formed in the ship's hull behind the tower, from which pieces of twisted metal stuck out, flames and smoke were beaten out. Many sailors and non-commissioned officers who were in the bow of the ship were killed, seriously wounded, burned and thrown overboard by the force of the explosion. The steam line of auxiliary mechanisms was interrupted, fire pumps stopped working, electric lighting was turned off. A series of smaller explosions followed. On the ship, orders were given to flood the cellars of the second, third and fourth towers, fire hoses were received from the port craft that approached the battleship. The firefighting continued. The ship was towed around with a lag in the wind.

By 7 o'clock in the morning the fire began to subside, the ship was on an even keel, it seemed that she would be saved. But two minutes later there was another explosion, more powerful than the previous ones. The battleship began to quickly sink forward and list to starboard. When the bow and gun ports went under water, the battleship, losing stability, capsized keel up and sank at a depth of 18 m in the bow and 14.5 m in the stern with a slight trim on the bow. The mechanical engineer midshipman Ignatiev, two conductors and 225 sailors died.

The next day, October 21, 1916, a special commission to investigate the causes of the sinking of the battleship Empress Maria, chaired by Admiral N. M. Yakovlev, departed by train from Petrograd to Sevastopol. One of its members was appointed General for assignments under the Minister of the Sea A. N. Krylov. For a week and a half of work, all the surviving sailors and officers of the battleship "Empress Maria" passed before the commission. It was found that the cause of the death of the ship was a fire that broke out in the bow cellar of 305-mm charges and resulted in an explosion of gunpowder and shells in it, as well as an explosion in the cellars of 130-mm guns and combat charging compartments of torpedoes. As a result, the side was destroyed and the kingstones for flooding the cellars were torn off, and the ship, having large damage to the decks and watertight bulkheads, sank. It was impossible to prevent the death of the ship after damage to the outer side by balancing the roll and trim by filling other compartments, since this would take a considerable amount of time.

the bottom of the “Empress Maria” (behind “Cahul”)

Having considered possible reasons of a fire in the cellar, the commission settled on the three most likely: spontaneous combustion of gunpowder, negligence in handling fire or gunpowder itself, and, finally, malicious intent. The conclusion of the commission stated that “it is not possible to come to an accurate and evidence-based conclusion, one has only to assess the likelihood of these assumptions ...”. Spontaneous combustion of gunpowder and careless handling of fire and gunpowder were considered unlikely. At the same time, it was noted that on the battleship "Empress Maria" there were significant deviations from the requirements of the charter regarding access to artillery cellars. During the stay in Sevastopol, representatives of various factories worked on the battleship, and their number reached 150 people daily. Work was also carried out in the shell cellar of the first tower - they were carried out by four people from the Putilov factory. There was no family roll call of the artisans, but only the total number of people was checked. The commission did not rule out the possibility of "malicious intent", moreover, noting the poor organization of service on the battleship, she pointed out "the relatively easy possibility of bringing malicious intent to execution."

Recently, the version of “malicious intent” has been further developed. In particular, in the work of A. Elkin it is stated that at the Russud plant in Nikolaev, during the construction of the battleship Empress Maria, German agents acted, at the direction of which the ship was sabotaged. However, many questions arise. For example, why was there no sabotage on the Baltic battleships? After all Eastern front was then the main war of warring coalitions. In addition, the Baltic battleships entered service earlier, and the access regime for them was hardly more stringent when they left Kronstadt at the end of 1914 half-finished with a large number of factory workers on board. Yes, and the German spy agency in the capital of the empire, Petrograd, was more developed. What could give the destruction of one battleship in the Black Sea? Partially facilitate the actions of "Goeben" and "Breslau"? But by that time, the Bosphorus was reliably blocked by Russian minefields and the passage of German cruisers through it was considered unlikely. Therefore, the version of “malicious intent” cannot be considered definitively proven. The mystery of the “Empress Maria” is still waiting to be unraveled.

The death of the battleship "Empress Maria" caused a great resonance throughout the country. The Maritime Ministry began to develop urgent measures to raise the ship and put it into operation. The proposals of Italian and Japanese specialists were rejected due to the complexity and high cost. Then A. N. Krylov, in a note to the commission for considering projects for raising the battleship, proposed a simple and original method.

Alexey Nikolaevich Krylov

It provided for the battleship to be lifted up with a keel by gradually displacing water from the compartments with compressed air, entering the dock in this position and sealing all damage to the side and deck. Then it was proposed to bring the completely sealed ship to deep place and turn over, filling the compartments of the opposite side with water.

The ship engineer Sidensner, a senior shipbuilder of the Sevastopol port, undertook the execution of the project by A. N. Krylov. By the end of 1916, the water from all the stern compartments was squeezed out by air, and the stern floated to the surface. In 1917, the entire hull surfaced. In January-April 1918, the ship was towed closer to the shore and the remaining ammunition was unloaded. Only in August 1918, the port tugs "Vodoley", "Fit" and "Elizaveta" took the battleship to the dock.

The 130-mm artillery, part of the auxiliary mechanisms and other equipment were removed from the battleship, the ship itself remained in the dock in the keel up position until 1923. In four seconds an extra year the wooden cages on which the hull rested were rotten. Due to the redistribution of the load, cracks appeared in the sole of the dock. “Maria” was brought out and stranded at the exit from the bay, where she stood keel up for another three years. In 1926, the battleship's hull was again docked in the same position, and in 1927 it was finally dismantled.

at the dock

The work was carried out by EPRON.

When the battleship capsized during the catastrophe, the multi-ton turrets of the ship's 305-mm guns fell off the battle pins and sank. Shortly before the Great Patriotic War, these towers were raised by the Epronians, and in 1939 the 305-mm battleship guns were installed near Sevastopol on the famous 30th battery, which was part of the 1st coastal defense artillery division.

The battery heroically defended Sevastopol, on June 17, 1942, during the last assault on the city, it fired at the fascist hordes that had broken through into the Belbek valley. Having used up all the shells, the battery fired blank charges, holding back the onslaught of the enemy until June 25.

latest battery protector

So, more than a quarter of a century after firing at the Kaiser cruisers Goeben and Breslau, the guns of the battleship Empress Maria spoke again, raining down 305-mm shells now on the Nazi troops.

Tactical and technical data of battleships of the type "Empress Maria"

To this day, the minds of historians and researchers are haunted by the tragic death in 1916 of one of the strongest Russian warships, the Black Sea battleship Empress Maria.

Ships, like people, have their own destiny. Some of them, having lived a long and glorious life and served their due time, went down in history, others, whose life was fleeting, like a meteorite, left a trace of their short but bright biography forever. The battleship "Empress Maria" has such a short combat fate.

The birth of this ship took place during the period of development of the Russian navy, when the revival of domestic naval power after the tragedy of Tsushima became one of the main tasks.

The predecessors of the "Empress" - a brigade of battleships of the Baltic Fleet: "Sevastopol", "Poltava", "Gangut" and "Petropavlovsk" - an example high level development of domestic shipbuilding and craftsmanship of shipbuilders. The appearance in the Baltic of a powerful group of modern warships has become a reliable defense of Russia's interests in this theater of operations.

However, there was still the Black Sea Fleet, which included obsolete battleships (formerly squadron battleships), which, according to their tactical and technical data, were no longer able to solve combat missions in accordance with the new conditions of war at sea. The decision to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet with new battleships was also caused by the intention of Russia's eternal enemy in the south - Turkey - to acquire three modern Dreadnought-class battleships abroad, which could immediately provide her with overwhelming superiority in the Black Sea.

To maintain parity, the Russian Maritime Department insisted on an urgent strengthening of the Black Sea Fleet by commissioning new battleships.

It was supposed to launch 4 battleships, the tactical and technical data of which were higher than even the Baltic battleships of the Sevastopol type. After many competitions and examinations, the honor of building the first battleship on the Black Sea was granted to the Russud shipbuilding joint-stock company in Nikolaev.

1911, June 11 - along with the official laying ceremony, the new ship was enlisted in the Russian imperial fleet under the name "Empress Maria".

According to the contract, it had to be launched in July 1913, and this deadline was almost met - the Empress was launched on October 6, 1913. Fitting work followed.

1915, June 23 - raising the flags, the battleship "Empress Maria" began a real naval combat life.

The ship of the line had a displacement of 25,465 tons, the length of the vessel was 168 m, and a speed of -21 knots. "Maria" carried twelve 305-mm guns of the main caliber, twenty 130-mm guns, there was anti-mine artillery and torpedo tubes, the battleship was well armored.

At that time, the fighting on the Black Sea was in full swing. The real danger for the Russian fleet was the German battleship Goeben, which broke through the Black Sea straits, and the light cruiser Breslau that always accompanied it, renamed by the Turks respectively Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli. Beautiful "walkers" had powerful weapons, their raids caused a lot of trouble for our sailors.

Already a few months after arriving at the main base - Sevastopol - "Maria" took an active part in military operations against the German-Turkish fleet. Admiral Alexander Kolchak, Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, holds the flag on the ship of the line. Volleys of guns of the main caliber of the high-speed battleship, as well as the commissioning of the same type of ship - "Catherine the Great" - put an end to the impudent actions of German cruisers in the Black Sea waters. In particular, the load on battleships increased in the second half of 1916. In June-October alone, 24 military campaigns were carried out. It was a hard, but quite effective service.

The combat activity of the enemy was constrained by the actions of "Mary" and "Catherine the Great". But ... in the dead of night on October 7, 1916, at 00 hours 20 minutes, an explosion occurred on the battleship Empress Maria, which was standing in the Northern Bay of Sevastopol. Then within 48 minutes - another 15. The ship begins to list to starboard and, having turned over, sank. The Russian Navy lost 217 sailors and the strongest warship.

The tragedy shook the whole of Russia. The commission of the Naval Ministry, headed by a combat officer, a member of the Admiralty-Council, Admiral N. Yakovlev, took up the clarification of the reasons for the death of the battleship. During the Russo-Japanese War, he commanded the battleship Petropavlovsk and was on the command bridge of the battleship, which sank after being blown up by a Japanese mine together with Admiral S. Makarov and the headquarters of the 1st Pacific Squadron.

The ship's captain himself was thrown from the bridge by a blast wave, then he was picked up by a boat sent from one of the squadron's cruisers to rescue the Petropavlovsk crew. The well-known shipbuilder, member of the Academy of Sciences of Russia A. Krylov, who became the author of the conclusion approved by all members of the commission, also entered the commission.

During the investigation, three versions of the death of the battleship were presented:

1. Spontaneous combustion of gunpowder.
2. Negligence in handling fire or gunpowder.
3. Malicious intent.

But after considering all three versions, the commission came to the conclusion that “it is not possible to come to an accurate and evidence-based conclusion, you only have to assess the likelihood of these assumptions by comparing the circumstances that emerged during the investigation.”

Of the possible versions, the first two commissions, in principle, did not exclude. As for malicious intent, even after establishing a number of violations in the rules for access to artillery cellars and a lack of control over the repair workers on the ship, the commission considered this version unlikely.

The probability of malicious intent was not confirmed by Admiral A. Kolchak, who arrived on the doomed ship already 15 minutes after the start of the fire. In his testimony after the arrest by the Extraordinary Investigative Commission on January 24, 1920, Kolchak stated: “As far as the investigation (the commission of the naval ministry. - Auth.) could find out, how clear it was from the whole situation, I believed that there was no malicious intent here.

There were a number of such explosions abroad during the war - in Italy, Germany, England. I attributed this to absolutely unforeseen processes in the masses of new gunpowder that were prepared during the war ... Another reason could be some kind of negligence, which, however, I do not assume. At least there was no evidence that this was malicious intent."

In other words, none of the versions put forward by the commission found sufficient factual confirmation.

The investigation into the causes of the death of the battleship "Empress Maria" was also carried out by the Sevastopol gendarmerie department, closely related due to the specifics of their activities, and at the same time fiercely competing with each other, under the command of Colonel Redlov, and an independent counterintelligence department created at the initiative of the sailors at the end of 1915 at the headquarters of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet , whose chief was captain Avtamonov seconded to the Sevastopol gendarme department.

Along with the task of combating "foreign espionage" assigned to the department, special agents, previously maintained by the Sevastopol Gendarme Directorate with funds allocated by the Black Sea Fleet command, also passed into its jurisdiction.

Immediately after the death of the ship, the gendarme department in Sevastopol launched a storm of activity - searches were carried out in apartments, 47 suspects of involvement in the explosion were arrested. A week after the tragedy, Redlov, using the data received from his agents, in a letter addressed to the chief of staff of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, gave possible versions of the causes of the explosion, not excluding that the ship was blown up by spies.

“Among the sailors,” he wrote, “there is definitely a rumor that the explosion was carried out by attackers with the goal of not only destroying the battleship, but also killing the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, who, by his actions lately, and especially by scattering mines at Bosporus, finally stopped the piratical raids of the Turkish-German cruisers on the Black Sea coast, in addition, with his energetic actions in this direction, he caused dissatisfaction in the command staff, especially among people with German surnames, who, under the former commander of the fleet (Admiral Eberhard. - Auth. ) did absolutely nothing.

But none of the versions put forward by the gendarmes subsequently collected a sufficient number of facts.

The course of the investigation was also hampered by mutual bickering between the gendarme department of Sevastopol and the counterintelligence department of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, which was assigned to investigate the causes of this explosion.

The underlying reason for the bickering probably lies in the fact that the counterintelligence department created during the war completely pushed the gendarmerie department out of conducting espionage cases. In a letter to the director of the police department, Redlov, speaking sharply negatively about the activities of the head of the Sevastopol counterintelligence, expressed the opinion that he was completely incapable of investigating the causes of the death of the battleship Empress Maria. These interdepartmental "showdowns" nullified attempts to establish the truth.

New documents already from the archives of Soviet counterintelligence testify to close attention to the "Maria" and other ships of the Black Sea Fleet of military intelligence of Russia's main enemy in the First World War - Germany. It is likely that the persons in question were also involved in the death of the ship. 1933 - the OGPU of Ukraine in the large shipbuilding center of the country - Nikolaev - exposed the residency of German intelligence, which operated under the guise of the Control-K trading company, headed by Viktor Eduardovich Verman, born in 1883, a native of the city of Kherson, who lived in Nikolaev and worked head of the mechanical assembly shop "Plow and Hammer".

The purpose of the organization is to disrupt the shipbuilding program of the USSR military and merchant fleet, which is gaining power. Specific tasks are to commit sabotage at the Nikolaev plant named after Henri Marty, as well as to collect information about the ships being built there, most of which were military. This largest shipbuilding plant in the country was formed on the basis of the same Russian shipbuilding joint-stock company Russud, from the stocks of which the Empress Maria and the same-type battleship Alexander III left. During the investigation, many curious facts were revealed, rooted in pre-revolutionary Nikolaev.

Verman himself was a scout with "pre-revolutionary" experience. During interrogation, he said: “I began to engage in espionage activities in 1908 (it was from that time that the implementation of the new Russian naval program began. - Auth.) in Nikolaev, working at the Naval plant in the department of marine engines. Involved in espionage activities, I was a group of German engineers of that department, consisting of engineer Moor and Hahn. And further: "Moore and Hahn, and most of all the first, began to indoctrinate me and involve me in intelligence work in favor of Germany."

The activities of V. Werman are described in detail in that part of the archival investigative file, which is called "My espionage activities in favor of Germany under the tsarist government."

After the departure of Hahn and Moor to the Fatherland, the "leadership" of Wermann's work passed directly to the German consul in Nikolaev, Mr. Winshteit. Werman gave exhaustive information about him: “... I learned that Winshteit is an officer of the German army with the rank of Hauptmann (captain), that he is not in Russia by chance, but is a resident of the German General Staff and is doing a lot of intelligence work in southern Russia. From about 1908, Winshteit was appointed vice-consul in Nikolaev. He fled to Germany a few days before the declaration of war - in July 1914.

It so happened that Verman was instructed to take over the leadership of the entire German intelligence network in southern Russia: in Nikolaev, Odessa, Kherson and Sevastopol. Together with his agents, he recruited people for intelligence work in Nikolaev, Odessa, Sevastopol and Kherson, collected materials about industrial enterprises, data on submarine and surface warships under construction, their design, armament, tonnage, speed.

During interrogation, Verman said: “Of the persons who were personally recruited by me for espionage work in the period 1908-1914, I remember the following: Steivech ... Blimke ... Nymeier ... Linke Bruno, engineer Schaeffer ... electrician Sgibnev." All of them are employees of shipyards, who had the right to enter the ships under construction.

Electrician A. Sgibnev was of particular interest. He was responsible for the provision of temporary lighting for military courts under construction at the Russud, including the Empress Maria. 1933 - during the investigation, Sgibnev testified that Verman was very interested in the scheme of the artillery towers of the dreadnoughts. But the first explosion on the battleship thundered precisely under the bow artillery tower. “In the period 1912–1914,” Sgibnev said, “I verbally transmitted information to Verman about the Dreadnought, Maria and Alexander III battleships under construction, within the framework of what I knew about the progress of their construction and terms of readiness of separate compartments of ships.

Thus, Verman possessed the most valuable information about the growing power of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. After the occupation of the South of Russia by the Germans intelligence activities Vermana was rewarded at its true worth. From the protocol of interrogation: “In 1918, on the recommendation of Lieutenant Commander Kloss, I was awarded the Iron Cross of the 2nd degree by the German command for selfless work and espionage activities in favor of Germany.”

Having survived the intervention and the civil war, Verman "settled" in Nikolaev. There, in 1923, he was approached by the secretary of the German consulate in Odessa, Mr. Gan. Reminding Verman of his past services to German intelligence, the diplomat invited him to continue cooperation in his “specialty”. Werman agreed. The intelligence network recreated by him, before being discovered by the Soviet state security agencies, acted very effectively. Viktor Eduardovich was a master of his craft.

But back to the explosion on the Empress. At this time, Verman was deported and had no opportunity to organize an explosion. However, a well-established intelligence network was left in Nikolaev and Sevastopol. Later, he himself spoke about this: “... I personally carried out communications since 1908 on intelligence work with the following cities: ...

Sevastopol, where the reconnaissance work was led by the mechanical engineer of the Naval plant, Vizer, who was in Sevastopol on behalf of our plant specifically for the installation of the battleship Zlatoust, which was being built in Sevastopol. I know that Vizer had his own spy network in Sevastopol, of which I remember only the designer of the Admiralty, Ivan Karpov, whom I personally encountered.

Here the question arises - did Vizer take part in the “completion” of the “Maria” or its repair in early October 1916? At that time, dozens of engineers, technicians and workers were on board the ship every day. The passage to the battleship of these people was not difficult.

Here is what is said about this in a letter from the Sevastopol gendarme department to the chief of staff of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet: how workers at the entrance to the ship were not inspected at all and also worked without inspection. In particular, suspicion is expressed in this respect of the engineer of the company that is on Nakhimovsky Prospekt, at 355, who allegedly left Sevastopol on the eve of the explosion.

There are many questions. But one thing is clear - the construction of the newest battleships of the Black Sea Fleet, including the "Empress", was "patronized" by agents of the German military intelligence in the most dense way. The Germans were very concerned about the Russian military potential in the Black Sea, and they could go to any lengths to prevent Russian superiority in this theater of operations.

In this regard, the information of the foreign agent of the Petrograd police department, who acted under the pseudonyms "Alexandrov" and "Charles", is curious. His real name is Benzian Dolin.

During the First World War, Dolin, like many other agents of the political police, was reoriented to work in the field of foreign counterintelligence. As a result of the operational combinations carried out, "Charles" came into contact with German military intelligence and received the task of incapacitating the "Empress Maria".

Bismarck, whom the Russian agent met in Bern, told him: “The Russians have one advantage over us on the Black Sea - this is the Empress. Try to remove it. Then our forces will be equal, and with equality of forces we will win.

At the request of "Charles" to the Petrograd Police Department, he received an order to accept, with some reservations, the proposal to destroy the Russian ship. Upon his return to Petrograd, the agent was placed at the disposal of the military authorities, but contact with him was not restored. As a result of such inaction, contacts with German intelligence were lost, for the next meeting with which the agent was supposed to go out two months later in Stockholm. After some time, "Charles" learned from the newspapers about the explosions on the "Empress Maria". A letter sent by him in connection with this event to the police department remained unanswered.

The investigation into the case of the German agents arrested in Nikolaev was completed in 1934. The lightness of the punishment suffered by Verman and Sgibnev causes bewilderment. The first one was expelled from Soviet Union in March 1934, the second was sentenced to 3 years in the camps. Actually, what is there to be puzzled about?! They destroyed the hated tsarism!

1989 - they were rehabilitated. The conclusion of the justice authorities says that Verman, Sgibnev, and also Sheffer (who suffered the most severe punishment - they were sentenced to death, although there is no information about the execution of the sentence) are subject to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 16, 1989. “On additional measures to restore justice for the victims political repression that took place in the period of the 30s-40s and early 50s.

And what happened to the remains of the once powerful battleship "Empress Maria"?

A. Krylov, a member of the commission to investigate the cause of the death of "Maria", was appointed chairman of the commission organized under the Marine Technical Committee to raise the ship. It was necessary to seal the compartments of the vessel and supply compressed air to them, to force the ship to float up with a keel. Then, in the dock, having completely sealed the hull, in deep water, put the ship on an even keel.

Work under this project progressed successfully. By the end of 1916, all the stern compartments were squeezed out, and the stern floated to the surface. The ship completely (or rather, what was left of it) surfaced on May 8, 1918.

Civil war, intervention, post-war devastation forced to forget about the "Empress". The ship was in the dock on wooden cages-supports upside down. In 1923, the hull of the battleship sank due to rotten supports, giving a deflection; The dock was flooded due to damage. While the dock was being repaired, the battleship was stranded at the entrance to the bay, and in 1926 it was dismantled for scrap.

Later, the artillery turrets of the ship were also raised, the 305-mm artillery guns of which continued their combat service. In 1941–1942 they were installed near Sevastopol on the 30th coastal defense battery during the assault on the city. They inflicted considerable damage on the advancing fascists. Only on June 25, 1942, storming the 30th battery, the enemy lost up to 1000 people killed and wounded.

Thus ended the combat biography of the battleship, which died for "unspecified reasons."

The battleship "Empress Maria" inherited its name and heroic past from the flagship of Admiral PS Nakhimov. The sailing "Empress Maria" led the Russian squadron in the famous Battle of Sinop on November 18, 1853, which added another worthy page to the annals of the glorious victories of the St. Andrew's flag. The battleship "Empress Maria" worthily carried the combat watch in 1915-1916, increasing the glory of its predecessor.

And both ships have only one year of service and the common place of death is the native Sevastopol Bay. Why the sailing "Empress Maria" lay at the bottom of the bay is known. In August 1854, she was scuttled to block the Anglo-French squadron from entering the Sevastopol Bay. What made the battleship "Empress Maria" plunge into the waters of the Black Sea is still a mystery.

First year of the Great Patriotic War was the heaviest and most bloody. In the Crimea, the fascist invaders fiercely rushed to the main base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

In the suburbs, on coastal defense batteries, enemy attacks were repelled by giant 305 mm guns from the First World War. These amazing cannons defended Sevastopol for one year, reliably closing the approaches to the naval base. But at one time, the guns became participants in another tragedy. They were raised from the bottom of the Northern Bay of Sevastopol from the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet that died under strange circumstances. Empress Maria».

battleship "Empress Maria" - a revolutionary project of the Russian Imperial Navy

The Russian Empire emerged defeated from the Russo-Japanese campaign of 1905. Then it became obvious that the navy was hopelessly outdated. Completely new modern approaches to the creation of warships were required. In 1908, at the shipyards of Nikolaev, they laid new battleships. The project was named "Emperor" and the series consisted of four ships. Head battleship « Empress Maria was laid down on October 17, 1911.

battleship "Empress Maria" before launching

at the factory wall

battleship "Empress Maria" leaves the factory

on a raid

Emperor Nicholas II aboard the battleship "Empress Maria" 1915

By that time, the history of the Russian fleet did not yet know more powerful warships. The revolutionary nature of the project consisted in a new way of booking the hull, thanks to which battleship « Empress Maria was virtually invulnerable. On the ship were four English turbines of the company " Parsons". The speed and maneuverability of the battleship surpassed all known warships not only of the Russian Empire, but also of the world. The command of the fleet counted the days and hours remaining before the launch of this miracle ship.

The first World War. Two German cruisers were sent to the Black Sea Goeben" And " Breslau". They reigned supreme in the territorial waters of the Russian Empire, supporting the Turkish fleet.

June 25, 1915 battleship « Empress Maria"left the Nikolaevsky port and, under heavy guard, headed for the Sevastopol base. This day was a triumph not only for shipbuilders, but also for the navy. For several months of stay in the Black Sea battleship « Empress Maria"crippled a lot of Kaiser's ships and threw Turkish troops hundreds of kilometers deep into their own territory. The troops landed from the battleship participated in the capture of Trebizond. In a panic, the Turks left their forts and fled to the mountains to avoid the blow of the power of the main caliber battleship. As the war progressed, it became clear battleship « Empress Maria"justified the hopes placed on it, the combat operations involving the ship were remembered by the enemy for a long time. During her first year of service, the ship made more than 20 combat raids, sank many Turkish ships, and the German cruiser " Breslau"In July 1916, having received many holes, miraculously escaped from the fire of the main guns battleship « Empress Maria". Having fought gloriously, in the fall of 1916, the warship was put on the Sevastopol raid for prophylaxis. And this autumn has become battleship fatal.

explosion in North Bay

Earlier morning on September 7, 1916 in Sevastopol did not portend trouble. Over the North Bay, as usual, a wake-up call was given to the crews of the ships. A new day has begun and battleship « Empress Maria Everything went according to a certain schedule. Suddenly, a powerful explosion shook the air. Frightened residents poured onto the embankment and witnessed a terrible picture. Standing on the roads in his native bay died battleship « Empress Maria". The sailors, who were at that moment on the embankment of the Northern Bay, nonchalantly watched their comrades die. The wounded were stacked right on the shore and here they began to provide first aid. Acrid black smoke hung over the city. Hundreds of people screamed and burned alive on the battleship in the bowels of the decks. By evening, the extent of the disaster became known: 225 sailors died, 85 were seriously injured.

moment of explosion

ship in smoke

By the highest command, a commission of the Maritime Ministry was convened to investigate the causes of the disaster. battleship « Empress Maria". The commission included the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Kolchak, and the largest shipbuilder of the Russian Empire, Krylov.

The investigation has completely restored the full picture the death of the battleship. At 06:20 in the morning, the first explosion thundered under the bow tower of the ship. Then a fire started, which was localized by the team. At 07:00, sea water flooded the powder magazines, but 15 minutes later there was another much more powerful explosion. As a result, the front chimney was torn out of the battleship, the nose fell off, the ship lay on the starboard side and sank.

During the work of the commission, hundreds of officers and sailors were interrogated battleship. case materials" Empress Maria” numbered in the thousands of pages. Two versions of the tragedy were immediately put forward: spontaneous combustion of gunpowder and negligence in handling warheads. However, artillery officers battleship all as one showed during the investigation that high-quality gunpowder was supplied to the ship and spontaneous combustion was excluded. When asked by the commission whether it was possible to freely enter the powder magazine, Prince Russov, the commander of naval artillery replied that the hatch into the powder magazine was not locked at all and anyone could enter there, and this is already negligence.

On October 29, 1916, the commission completed the investigative proceedings. As a result, an official conclusion was issued: It is not possible to come to an accurate and evidence-based conclusion. We only have to assess the likelihood of these assumptions, comparing those found out during the circumstances ". Somehow strange, the authoritative commission turns a blind eye to the version of a deliberate explosion and draws vague conclusions.

The official conclusions of modern historians coincide with those of the 1916 commission. It's all due to simple negligence. The explanation is so simple that it is hard to believe in it. We are too accustomed to look for tragedy in the peculiarities of the Russian character.

Meanwhile, the fact of Kolchak's conversation with one of his close acquaintances is known for certain. Then he said that as a commander, a version of the usual naval negligence is beneficial to him, but as an officer and an honest person, he must admit that it was sabotage.

Later, officers and sailors tried to prove their innocence. Shifting the blame on each other, the sailors blamed evil fate and ubiquitous spies for what had happened.

unknown circumstances of the tragedy

On that tragic night, Commander Voronov was on duty in the main tower. His duties were to inspect the artillery cellar, and measure the temperature of the room where the ammunition was stored. On the morning of October 7, Mr. Gorodyssky was also on combat duty on the ship. At dawn, Gorodyssky ordered his subordinate Voronov to measure the temperature in the cellar main tower. Voronov went down to the cellar and no one saw him again. And after a while the first explosion thundered. Commission of Inquiry the death of the battleship « Empress Maria”tried to blame the senior artillery officer Gorodyssky for his negligent attitude to the performance of his duties.

The body of Commander Voronov was never found among the remains of the crew. However, the investigation commission still suspected Voronov of involvement in the tragedy, but did not provide direct evidence. Later, the commandant was assigned to the missing, and Gorodyssky, accused of negligence, happily escaped punishment, blaming the deceased subordinate.

The Russian Imperial Navy lost its warship and lost absurdly neither in the campaign nor in battle. The Naval Commission never completed the work, the October Revolution prevented it. Most officers battleship « Empress Maria” ended up in immigration, and none of them was ever punished for negligence. Gradually the tragedy of the ship was forgotten. However, after 70 years in the death battleship « Empress Maria new shocking facts appeared.

The modern English writer Robert Merid, who has long been interested in the death of the battleship Empress Maria, once undertook his own investigation. He wrote: " Lieutenant of British Naval Intelligence John Haviland, serving in the period from 1914 to 1916 in Russia, left Russia under an allied contract of the Entente a week after the explosion of the battleship Empress Maria and after some time showed up in Britain already in the rank of lieutenant colonel. Shortly after the end of the war, Haviland retired and left the country. After some time, he showed up in Canada with relatives. He bought land in Edmonton and began to develop it. He lived the measured life of a wealthy man in the street. But in 1929, Haviland died under strange circumstances. There was a fire in the hotel where he spent the night, and Haviland could not jump out of the second floor window and was burned alive, being the only one who died in that fire. All the guests escaped from the burning house, and even a young woman with a child and a paralyzed old man in a wheelchair managed to leave the hotel, and the former commando officer was unable to».

The thought suggests itself - who was disturbed by the colonel sitting on his lands while in retirement. Studies of film and photo archives have come to unexpected results - British intelligence lieutenant colonel John Haviland and the Russian commander Voronov are one and the same person. The same Voronov who disappeared on October 7, 1916 at the time of the explosion battleship « Empress Maria».

Also, shortly before his death, some Russian immigrants attempted on him, and among them a former electrician battleship « Empress Marie I ”Ivan Nazarin is a native of the village of Belyaevka, Odessa province. Moreover, it turned out that Voronov was also from this village. So why did the fellow villagers not recognize each other. If Ravens is a Haviland saboteur, then why didn't Nazarin expose him right away. And why should Nazarin after 13 years search for and encroach on Haviland. This surname pops up under other circumstances.

In 1932, the Stalinist security officers neutralized a spy group at the shipyards of Nikolaev, led by engineer Verman. The sabotage group existed since 1908. Werman served as a senior electrical engineer. The group was engaged in sabotage and the collection of information of a military-technical nature. At the first interrogations in the offices of the OGPU, Verman said that in 1916 the group was preparing a sabotage against battleship « Empress Maria"And it was led by saboteur Helmut von Stitthoff. The legendary saboteur was considered the best specialist mining and undermining warships. The command relied on his sabotage experience, since it was very difficult to blow up the battleship - the shipyard was carefully controlled by Russian security agents. In the summer, Helmut von Stitthoff got a job at the Nikolaev shipyard as a simple electrician. It was supposed to start battleship « Empress Maria» explosives and blow up right at the dock. However, at the last stage of preparing the sabotage, something went wrong. The agent immediately canceled the operation and left for Berlin. Wehrman's group continued to work independently. Subsequently, the German command accused her of having links with British intelligence.

After an unsuccessful attempt to blow up a warship " Empress Maria» Helmut von Stitthoff was transferred to the next task. During this period, British intelligence, namely Colonel Haviland, tried to recruit him.

In 1942, behind the walls of the GESTAPO, the honored German saboteur Helmut von Stitthoff was shot. The facts of his cooperation with the military intelligence of the USSR appeared as an accusation. The thread leading to the unraveling of doom battleship « Empress Maria» broke off. Now the archives of England, Germany and Russia remain silent.

snapshot death battleship « Empress Maria"came from Koenigsberg, liberated in 1945. In a house destroyed by bombing, Soviet soldiers accidentally found a fascist archive. There, sprinkled with plaster, lay an album. It contained a series of photographs battleship « Empress Maria". One of the pictures shows the moment of the explosion. One got the impression that someone knew in advance the date and place of the sabotage and carefully prepared to capture everything.

Secret death battleship « Empress Maria" has not yet been disclosed. As soon as the experts start digging up some version, the thread of the investigation suddenly breaks.

one of the turrets of the battleship "Empress Maria" after lifting in 1933

The civil war and post-war devastation made everyone forget about the tragedy in Sevastopol. In the autumn of 1922, a decision was made to raise the battleship. Divers who examined the ship's hull at the bottom of the northern bay observed a sad picture - battleship plunged into silt and overgrown with shell rock. Huge gun turrets, uprooted by the explosion, lay helpless beside them. It was painful to realize that these twisted pieces of metal were the former flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, but even dead battleship Cruising range - 2960 miles;
Crew - 1300 people;
Marine Brigade;
Armament:
Guns 305 mm - 12;
Guns 130 mm - 20;
Torpedo tubes 457 mm - 4;
Booking:
The thickness of the armor belt in the bow and stern is 125 mm, in the middle part is 262.5 mm;
The thickness of the turret armor is from 125 to 250 mm;
The thickness of the armor of the conning tower is 250 mm;