Port Artur class Battlecruiser

Port Artur class Battlecruiser
Class overview
Name	Port Artur class Battlecruiser
Operators	Far Eastern Imperial Navy
Planned	2
Built	2
Active	2
General Characteristics
Type	Battlecruiser
Displacement	14400 tons standard 15900 tons full load
Length	153.6 metres (504 ft)
Beam	22.3 metres (73 ft)
Draught	7.63 metres (25.0 ft)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 VTE steam engines
Power	32 Belleville water-tube boilers 23,500 ihp (17,500 kW)
Speed	22 kts
Range	6500 nm at 10 kts
Complement	896
Armament	2 × 2 254mm/45 KO 1902 g gun 8 203mm/45 KO 1893 g gun 12 120mm/45 KO 1892 g gun 4 457mm torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 152 mm Deck: 51-76 mm conning tower: 152 mm

Development

With the creation of the 1st squardon or "battlesquardon" as it was often called, Far Eastern naval planners begun to study the most effective way of using the fleet. With closely following the Japanese pattern of assigning armored cruisers to the battlefleet to act as fast scouts Far Eastern Imperial navy moved the concept even further. A whole new type of ship classification was made; Lineynyye Kreysera or "Cruiser of the line". In other words it was a first incarnation of battlecruiser. Operational testing of the concept was started prior the Far Eastern-Japanese war but was not entirely adopted before the war started. Older armored cruisers were used to trial the new concept.

First new units build for the new classification were the Port Artur class. They were labeled armored cruisers in western naval publications but were classified as Lineynyye Kreysera from the start. As a design they followed the pattern of the Slavnyy class battleships. Main armament was the new 254mm/45 guns with heavy secondary battery of 203mm guns. Both ships were still under construction when the war started. After the war, minor modifications were made for the ships, most notable being deletion of the 76mm and 47mm anti-torpedoboat guns altogether.

Ships in class

Name	Builder	Laid down	Launch Date	Entered Service	Fate
Port Artur	Admiralteyskiye verf, Vladivostok	August 1903	April 1905	August 1907	Extant in 1920
Nakhodka	Admiralteyskiye verf, Vladivostok	August 1903	September 1905	November 1907	Extant in 1920

See Also

Ships of Far Eastern Imperial Navy 1920