Port Artur class Battlecruiser
Port Artur class Battlecruiser | |
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Class overview | |
Name | Port Artur class Battlecruiser |
Operators | Far Eastern Imperial Navy |
Planned | 2 |
Built | 2 |
Active | 2 |
General Characteristics | |
Type | Battlecruiser |
Displacement |
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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 |
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Speed | 22 kts |
Range | 6500 nm at 10 kts |
Complement | 896 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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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 |
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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 |