The battleship "Gromoboy". The Russian Navy

The victorious magnificent and majestic cruiser "Gromoboy" once rocked on the waves of the Pacific and guarded the borders of imperial Russia. Even his name was special, power and strength seemed to be laid in this amazing ship.

General information

According to the primary idea, this ship was to become a worthy follower of the cruiser "Russia". At that time, no one else could have guessed that it was the "Gromoboy" - this is the latest armored cruiser in the country. The ship turned out to be powerful and corresponded to all the requirements of its time. After settling all the documentary nuances, and also after the ship had passed all the planned tests, it was sent to the Far East in order to supplement it with the Russian Pacific squadron. Only here the cruiser "Gromoboy" seemed to pursue troubles and setbacks.

History of creation

At a time when the "Gromoboy" was only in the project, the main naval competitor of Russia was the UK with its strongest ships. Exactly seven years, the Emperor Nicholas II decided to spend on building completely new cruisers, which could compete with any power on the sea. As the basis of the project in 1895 it was decided to take the drawings of the cruiser "Russia", which had already plowed the sea and very successfully.

K. Ya. Averin and F. Kh. Offenberg - shipbuilders, who were commissioned to create the "Thunderbolt". The Emperor personally approved them for this post, and also approved each of the drawings. Several steam engines were to be installed on the cruiser, and more than twenty centimeters thick armor was to be installed on the cruiser. The place where the giant was to leave was chosen by the Baltic plant. In this case, only the highest quality steel was used in the construction. And with a weight of fifteen thousand tons, this giant should also be fast.

The construction of the ship was decided in 1897. To implement such a large-scale project it was necessary for years, the biggest difficulty was deliveries to the Baltic plant of expensive and high-quality steel. There were big problems connected with the strikes of workers and the reconstruction of enterprises. This slowed the ship's descent into the water. And yet after a few years, the cruiser "Gromoboy" came out on its first flight.

Construction Features

Unfortunately, the turmoil with the "Thunderbolt" began from the building docks. The fact is that the builders had to change the length and thickness of the armor of the ship. Under the project, it was supposed to be about twenty inches thick, but only five centimeters tall, which, as many thought, was no good. Also, the armor did not go to the tools, for the protection of which only metal shields were prepared. All this, of course, is unfortunate, although there was a positive moment. The ship in the end was easier than planned. This allowed him to achieve greater speed on the water.

Armament

This cruiser could develop a maximum speed of nineteen knots per hour, from weapons can be called a pair of guns Baranovskogo, several underwater torpedo tubes, units of mine fire artillery, more than five hundred different caliber guns.

The cruiser "Gromoboy", whose armament is not very weak, "consumed" a lot of coal, because all the holds were filled to the very top with it and ammunition. Speaking of specifics, even though the cruiser began weighing twelve tons instead of the planned fifteen, it was necessary for him to take at least 1,700 tons of coal in order to maintain the full course.

Trials

The first launch on the water is absolutely unsuccessful. It was carried out in 1900 and revealed all the defects and shortcomings of the building, the most important of which was that the ship simply could not swim, while moving it immediately began to heave a lot forward, even burrowing the bow into the ground, because of which they were flooded with water All holds and lower decks. To this was added, and the fact that on the move it was very vibrated, which was a problem for aimed shooting from the cruiser. It was difficult for the sailors to move around the decks. All the problems were dealt with tirelessly, and by the end of the year each of them was successfully eliminated. It can even be said that the last test met all expectations, because the cruiser "Gromoboy" overtook himself. He managed to develop a speed of over twenty knots per hour.

The first flight "Gromoboy", as planned, was to be carried out to the Far East, it was already almost in winter. Only here again there was a malfunction in the design. The captain immediately drew attention to the fact that the ship heels with his nose down, while significantly. Instead of sitting down again for the calculations and correcting the matter properly, the engineers simply decided to move the heavyweight anchor and partly the cargo to the rear of the ship, which corrected the matter. Finally, the ship went on course.

"Gromoboy" in the case

Those sailors who happened to serve on Gromoboy later recalled that the ship was quite convenient and suitable for long voyages. And that the captain, and the whole crew, were very proud of the speed that the cruiser could develop. In 1901, the team even happened to take part in the festivities about the fact that the Constitution was adopted in Australia.

The ship had a supply of fresh water more than a thousand tons, the crew had the opportunity not to enter the port at all and continue the journey without stops for more than a hundred days in a row. This is certainly a big plus, but only here there was a huge minus at the ship. The sailors had to live in terrible conditions on the ship, because there was practically no free space on the ship. It was difficult both physically and morally.

It was this ship that once disturbed the whole of Great Britain, as, unlike the other units of the Russian fleet, it could compose worthy competition to any British ship. In England, the fleet was modernized as soon as Gromoboy left the docks, and by the beginning of the Russo-Japanese war, Britain was again ahead of Russia in shipbuilding.

And during the war, the cruiser was very tight. The Japanese inflicted a lot of damage on the ship, therefore it was necessary for Gromoboy to undergo long-term repairs, which lasted until 1906. Then the cruiser manifested itself during the training exits, and in the First World War he again fought with the enemy. But at the beginning of the revolution he was ordered to put on a repair in the dock, from where he no longer left the sea. He was sold for scrap.

Thus, a remarkable cruiser of the Russian fleet, which, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, could serve for many years, was simply recycled. But it's a great pity! In the memory of the descendants, the cruiser "Gromoboy" is a real hero.