Tsessarevich (1903) Tsessarevich (1903)Tsessarevich (‘Crown Prince’) was built in France and closely resembled French battleships of the time, with outwards-bulging sides and large armoured fighting tops in the masts. It survived the end of the Tsarist era to receive the name ‘Citizen’ under the Soviet regime.
With three widely separated coastlines to protect, Russia required a large naval force. The majority of its battleships were built in Russian yards, but two of the ships that fought the Japanese were foreign-built, Retvisan at Philadelphia, and Tsessarevich at La Seyne-sur-Mer, France.
Tsessarevich did not take part in the Battle of Tsushima (1905) and underwent numerous modifications following the disastrous Russian defeat.
Laid down on 7 August 1899, launched on 23 February 1901, it was commissioned on 3 September 1903. Though the Russian Marine Technical Committee had produced a specification, the design was heavily influenced by French practice. The same yard had built Jauréguiberry and the design chief, Lagane, produced a ship on very similar lines, though larger, with a bulging tumblehome hull and a narrow superstructure enabling sponson-mounted side guns to fire fore and aft. Greater dimensions enabled the main and secondary guns to be mounted in twin turrets.
The immensely tall funnels, broad yards and bulging sides of Tsessarevich made a strong impression on its visit to Portsmouth, England, in 1913.
The hull had Lagane’s longitudinal bulkhead, dividing the armoured deck, and intended for anti-torpedo protection. It separated the two engine compartments, making it possible for one to continue functioning if the other should be put out of action. But it also meant that inflowing water could cause the ship to list or even capsize. Nevertheless, this bulkhead, installed for the first time in Tsessarevich, was incorporated in many post-Dreadnought battleships. Krupp-type armour was fitted, the reduced thickness compared with earlier ships demonstrating its resistance power. The guns were manufactured by Schneiders of Le Creusot to the design of Canet, the leading gun designer of the time. Two pole masts were fitted, the aftermast having a derrick attached. Gantry-type davits between the funnels launched the ship’s boats.
Specification
Dimensions |
Length 118.5m (388ft 9in), Beam 23.2m (76ft 1in), Draught 8.5m (27ft 11in), Displacement 13,122 tonnes (12,915 tons) |
Propulsion |
20 Belleville boilers, 2 vertical triple-expansion engines, 12,155kW (16,300hp), 2 screws |
Armament |
4 305mm (12in) guns, 12 152mm (6in) guns, 16 75mm (3in) guns, 4 47mm (1.9in) 3-pounder guns; 6 457mm (18in) torpedo tubes |
Armour |
Belt 230–150mm (9–5.9in), Main turrets 254mm (10in), Secondary turrets 150mm (5.9in), Conning tower 254mm (10in), Deck 57mm (2.25in) |
Range |
10,186km (5500nm) at 10 knots |
Speed |
18 knots |
Complement |
779 |
Tsessarevich had been ordered for the Pacific fleet and was immediately deployed to Port Arthur as flagship. In the unannounced attack on Port Arthur (8 February 1904) which preceded Japan’s declaration of war against Russia, it was struck by a torpedo and remained out of action for several weeks. On 10 August it led the fleet out to fight the Japanese, who were attempting to blockade the port, and the day-long battle of the Yellow Sea began, with both fleets firing from extreme range of around 9100m (10,000yd). At 18:00 a shell splinter killed Admiral Vitgeft on the Tsessarevich’s bridge and a few minutes later further hits virtually wrecked the bridge and jammed the steering wheel, sending the ship into a sharp turn. Mistaking this for a planned movement, other ships followed the crippled flagship, breaking the Russian line and creating confusion among the captains. The advent of darkness and depleted ammunition stocks forced the Japanese Admiral Togo to break off the engagement and the Russian fleet was able to return to Port Arthur, except for Tsessarevich which, escorted by three destroyers, was able to make the Chinese port of Tsingtao (Qingdao), then an enclave of German control (from 1898 to 1914), where it was interned until the war ended. Thus Tsessarevich did not participate in the Battle of Tsushima.
One of the results of that battle was that the tumblehome style of construction – used also in the five Borodino-class battleships, built in Russia, which had been partially modelled on Tsessarevich – was abandoned. Three out of the four participating Borodino-class ships were sunk at Tsushima and the design was blamed for instability in action, especially when water entered the hull. Tumblehome was dropped from the naval architects’ resource-list until the twenty-first century and the US Zumwalt destroyer.
In 1905 Tsessarevich was transferred to the Baltic Fleet, which had lost its battleships at Tsushima, and it continued to be based at Kronstad. A courtesy visit was made to Portsmouth, England, in 1913. In World War I it was engaged on Baltic patrols. With the end of the Tsarist regime in April 1917, the ship was renamed Grazhdanin, ‘Citizen’, and a sailors’ committee replaced the former command structure. In 1917 it was with the Gulf of Riga Squadron along with the Borodino-class battleship Slava (commissioned in October 1905) and a force of cruisers and destroyers.
On 17 October 1917, the Riga Squadron was attacked in Moon Sound, between the island of Muhu and the Estonian coast, by a German force including the Dreadnought-type battleships König and Kronprinz Wilhelm. Slava, heavily damaged, was scuttled by its crew, but Grazhdanin survived. By 1918 it was obsolete and probably unworkable. Hulked in that year, it was sold to Germany for scrapping in 1924.
Deck plan: the laterally-mounted 75mm (3in) guns were situated so close to the waterline as to be of little offensive value.
Gun calibres
The 305mm (12in) gun was the standard big gun of the Imperial Russian Navy from 1886 until 1906. Originally modelled on a German Krupp gun of 35 calibre, from 1892 an improved version was used, based on French Canet designs supplied to the Russian Obukhov Works at St Petersburg by Schneiders. These were of 40 calibre. Calibre is used in two senses, first as an expression of the diameter of the barrel (the bore) and projectile, as in a 305mm (12in) gun firing a shell of the same diameter; second as an expression of the barrel’s length as a multiple of the bore. A 305mm (12in) 40 calibre gun has a barrel length from breech-face to muzzle of 40 times the bore: 12.2m (40ft). The 40 calibre guns fitted to Tsessarevich had greater velocity, range and precision than the older 35 calibre guns: 10.67m (35ft) firing shells of the same weight.
