Shipbucket

Hello again!

One of the better armoured cruisers to issue forth from french shipyards around the turn of the century was the Bayan, built for the imperial russian Navy and commissioned 1903. She was smaller than most simlilar ships at 7.800 tons and relatively weakly armed, but was considered a good seaboat and reasonably comfortable and maneuverable for her time. That's what she looked like upon delivery:



Like all russian armoured cruisers (except the old Admiral Kornilov), Bayan deployed to the far east and fought the Japanese in 1904 in a really cool-looking green paintjob:



Like most large russian ships, Bayan was sunk in Port Arthur by japanese siege artillery, but later salvaged and refitted for japanese service, receiving rangefinders and english pattern secondary guns, plus losing her main turrets in favour of two additional 6-inch guns:



Although they had less than two years worth of fun with her, the russians were sufficiently impressed by her to order a sister-ship in France in 1905. Named Admiral Makarov, she was commissioned 1908 when already obsolescent. She was 1,8 meters longer than Bayan due to finer lines aft, had only one mast at a rather ridiculous position, larger-caliber torpedo tubes and slightly stronger tertiary armament of 20 (rather than 16) 75mm guns with shields (Bayan's 75mm had no shields):



The central mounted mast was removed after a year and replaced with two masts placed at the same spots as on Bayan:



In 1917, the Admiral Makarov was upgunned with a third 203mm gun (unshielded on a pivot mount just forward of the mainmast), four additional 152mm guns amidships and 2 75mm or 63mm (sources are contradictory on that point) flaks. In exchange, all 75mm guns were removed.



In 1905, the Russians bought not only the Admiral Makarov, but also her plans to build another two clones on domestic yards. Both took till 1911 to complete, at which time they were completely outdated. They lacked the bow tertiary casemate, but had two 75mm guns in the stern casemates, bringing the total to 22. They also lacked the turtledeck bow construction of Bayan and Admiral Makarov and had slightly different masts and smaller bridges. They were named Pallada and Bayan after ships lost against the Japanese in 1904/5. Bayan II had the same stern as Bayan I, thus was 1,8m shorter than Admiral Makarov:



Bayan II was reconstructed along the same lines as Admiral Makarov in 1917; both were unceremoniously scrapped a few years after the first world war:



Pallada II had the same stern and length as Admiral Makarov; otherwise she was identical with Bayan II. She was involved in capturing Germany's naval codes in 1914 when a boarding team of her secured them on the wrecked SMS Magdeburg; her part in winning World War I for the allies thus was probably greater than all five Queen Elizabeths added up. A few weeks later, she was torpedoed by U26 and sank with all hands.



Greetings
GD

I can't get over how ugly French warships of that era were... very handsome drawings of them, though!

Nah...these are handsome ships - overall!

GD: that paint scheme they applied during the Russo-Japanese War is called Olive drab.

_________________
My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

Excellent drawings Garlicdesign.

these are lovely.

Absolutely beautiful ships. I think these may be among the best-looking of the armoured cruisers...

Great drawings, ugly ships! I think the rendering of the hull curvature is handled as well on this drawing as on any drawing I've seen here.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I thinks the ships look great. Thanks for your work, GD.

I'm personally a great fan of the French pre-dreadnaught area design (not cause I’m French no,no,no.....) and i agree it can be considered ugly.
But in this particular case this ship as not of a particularly French style. To me It look "neutral".

Anyway, I’m especially glad to see this great treat reactivated..............................

_________________
"You can rape history, if you give her a child"
Alexandre Dumas

JE SUIS CHARLIE

Lovely drawings that's for sure. Not enough Imperial Russian Navy on the main site.

_________________
"The first rule is not to lose; The second rule is not to forget the first rule"