Soveren class Battleship
| Soveren class Battleship | |
|---|---|
| Class overview | |
| Name | Soveren class Battleship |
| Operators | Far Eastern Imperial Navy |
| Planned | 3 |
| Built | 3 |
| Active | 1 |
| Destroyed | 2 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Type | Battleship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 132.6 metres (435 ft) |
| Beam | 21.8 metres (72 ft) |
| Draught | 8.43 metres (27.7 ft) |
| Propulsion | 3 shafts, 3 VTE steam engines |
| Power |
|
| Speed | 18 kts |
| Range | 6200 nm at 10 kts |
| Complement | 770 |
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
Development
After the naval expansion of Far Eastern Empire had started, foreign navies, specially the British begun to make counter moves to face the threat of the large cruisers of Far Eastern fleet. British introduced so-called second class battleships being stationed in China to counter Far Eastern cruiser force. To protect the cruisers, 3 special type of "cruiser-battleships" were decided to reinforce the Imperial fleet. Far Eastern Empire turned into France as there were no battleship building experience in the domestic shipbuilders. As with the Khabarovsk class cruisers, Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard was given the task to develop these specialized ships. The french shipyard used their own Jauréguiberry battleship-design and basic layout for the Far Eastern ship. It featured larger hull for large coal storage intended for long range operations with the cruisers. Main armament was fitted in typical french lozenge arrangement in single turrets accompanied by 8 twin 120mm turrets. Two additional ships were build in domestic shipyards after the same design.
The Soveren class were unique ships intended originally for rather specialized task for which they were heavily criticized. However even during the construction of the ships the balance of power in Asia had turned dramatically. Japan had emerged as new rising power and after victorious war against China, it now had the Chinese battleships in its own service. Japanese also planned to us the war-indemnities to build even larger fleet based around modern battleships. This forced Far Eastern Empire to follow and to start their own fleet expansion program. Thus the new cruiser-battleships were now obsolete in their concept and inadequate to face the new Japanese threat. However construction of all three ships continued and they entered service as second-class battleships. None were ready for the 1898 war against Spain.
In service, Slava and Suyzeren served in the First Squadron despite having weaker armament as the follow-on battleships. Soveren served as flagship of the Light Squadron. Both Slava and Suyzeren were sunk at the battle of Tsusima in 1905.
Ships in class
| Name | Builder | Laid down | Launch Date | Entered Service | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soveren | Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seine, France | April 1895 | June 1897 | September 1899 | Extant in 1920 |
| Slava | Admiralteyskiye verf, Vladivostok | May 1896 | November 1897 | December 1899 | Sunk in 1905 |
| Suyzeren | Admiralteyskiye verf, Vladivostok | May 1896 | January 1898 | February 1900 | Sunk in 1905 |
