crafts

Battleship Empress Maria blueprints. "Empress Maria" Design and main parameters

Russia's southern maritime borders coexisted with the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years. Permanent wars forced the Russian tsars to keep modern warships in the Black Sea. In 1907, she bought two battleships and eight destroyers from European countries. New ships with existing old ones created a real threat to the Crimean coast of Russia. After 4 years, the southern neighbor ordered the construction of three newest dreadnoughts. Nicholas II had to respond to the buildup of naval forces from a potential enemy.

At the first stage, the Admiralty planned the production of three new battleships of the Empress Maria type. In 1911, the construction of 3 ships began at the Nikolaevsky Shipyards:

"Empress Maria";

A few years later, after the launch of the first samples, the fourth similar ship "" was laid down.

Design and main parameters

Battleships of the "" project were built at shipbuilding yards in the northern regions of the country. Their design was taken as a basis for the development of dreadnoughts for the Black Sea Fleet. However, there were some differences:

The maximum speed was reduced to 21 knots;
Strengthened the protection of the outer part of the ship and vital installations;
Increased the elevation angle of the 305 mm guns;
The appearance of 8 destroyers in Turkey forced to strengthen anti-mine artillery - 16 120-mm guns were replaced by 20 units of 130-mm equipment.

The hull of the Black Sea dreadnoughts consisted of 3 types of steel. The deck had a slight rise in front. The length of the vessel was 168 m, the total carrying capacity was 24,500 tons. Viability was provided by 4 Parsons steam turbines and 20 Yarrow boilers. In the first tests, a maximum acceleration of 21.5 knots was achieved. To manage the ship required a staff of 1,200 people.

The main armor belt was sheathed with steel plates 262.5 mm thick. Turrets for 305 mm guns were covered with 250 mm sheet steel, the command cabin was armored with a 300 mm panel. These indicators exceeded the protection of the Sultan Osman I dreadnought under construction for the Ottoman Empire.

Construction of the ship "Emperor Alexander III"

The armament of battleships of the type "Empress Maria"

Main caliber - 12 guns 305 mm. The equipment was located on 4 three-gun towers. The placement of the installations was similar to the arrangement at Sevastopol - in a linear manner. This ensured the operation of all gun equipment in cases where the enemy was on one side of the side. When the enemy appeared in front of or behind the ship, only one three-gun installation could fire.
Anti-mine artillery - 20 130-mm guns with a barrel length of 55 calibers, located in casemates.
Anti-aircraft artillery - 8 75-mm guns;
Torpedo launchers - 4 onboard 450-mm systems.

If you compare the Russian dreadnought with the battleship under construction for Turkey, you can see that the number of weapons in the Ottoman Empire exceeded the number of guns in the Empress Maria. However, the Russian ship was superior to the enemy ship in terms of firing range.

Model “Empress Maria”

Model “Empress Catherine the Great”

The beginning of the service - the first losses

In the context of the outbreak of World War I, it was necessary to ensure the presence of a Russian dreadnought in the Black Sea as soon as possible. All forces were directed to the completion of the construction of at least one ship. The dates were shifted due to delays in the supply of additional equipment. Despite the lag and minor problems, the battleship "Empress Maria" was placed at the disposal of the command of the Black Sea Fleet.

On June 26, 1916, the first combat unit of the dreadnought type arrived in Odessa. After 3 days, she went to the open sea, where the enemy battleship Goeben and the cruiser Breslau were already located - both German-built with a German crew on board. The ships were acquired in the ownership of Turkey, but continued to lead them from Prussia. The appearance of the "Empress Maria" suspended the plans of the enemy. Now they rarely left the Bosphorus.

On July 9 of the same year, information was received that the Breslau went to sea. The commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Kolchak, who was on the Empress Maria, personally supervised the operation. Together with a squadron of destroyers, he went to intercept. Aviation carried out air support for the fleet - it stopped the attack from an enemy submarine. It seemed that the German-Turkish ship had no chance. However, a sudden bad weather allowed the Breslau to evade pursuit and return to the Bosphorus.

On an October morning in 1916, a tragic event occurred. The crew of the ship witnessed a fire in the hangar area with shells for the main caliber guns. A few minutes later, an explosion thundered, killing a large number of people and mutilating part of the ship. After the second explosion, the battleship rolled over and sank.

Service of other dreadnoughts

The dreadnought "Empress Catherine the Great" entered service in the fall of 1916. He took part in several military operations. However, in the spring of 1918, it was decided to scuttle the battleship in order to evade its capture by German troops.

"Emperor Alexander III", later named "Will", first went to sea in 1917. After the signing of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty, all warships based in Sevastopol were obliged to return to their native harbor, which at that moment was controlled by Germany. It was a period when great changes took place inside Russia - each ship independently made a decision about its future fate. Lenin gave the order to sink all the ships so as not to fall into the subordination of the enemy. The Volya crew voted to return to the Crimea. After some time, the city was occupied by the Volunteer Army. The ship once again changed its flag and name. This time it was named "General Alekseev" and was the flagship of the White Fleet. After numerous skirmishes with the Reds, the dreadnought began evacuation - first to Turkey, then to Tunisia, where it stood for several years. Only in the 30s the ship was transported to Brest, where the French designers carefully studied it and handed it over for disassembly.

The fourth Black Sea battleship was launched in the second half of 1916. The revolution that began later and the internal disagreements of the new political system did not make it possible to complete the construction of the ship. At the same time, they also did not forget to rename it - in the spring of 1917 it became "Democracy". A few years later, the unfinished ship was sent for scrapping.

All 4 Russian dreadnoughts, intended for patrolling in the Black Sea, had a difficult tragic fate. Completed combat units managed to show their qualities in World War I. By a fatal coincidence, a strong explosion occurred on the lead battleship. The commission of inquiry could not determine for certain the cause of the fire. It was assumed that this was not an accidental fire, but an intentional arson. A series of difficult events in the country and a frequent change of leadership did not allow the ships to adequately continue their service.

An interesting fact is that the Turkish battleships, rumors about which became the reason for the construction of Russian dreadnoughts of the Empress Maria type, were never delivered to Constantinople. In view of the outbreak of World War I, Great Britain terminated the contract and refused to supply powerful ships to the ally of its main enemy - Germany.

After the Russo-Japanese War, the Black Sea Fleet retained all of its warships. It included 8 battleships built in 1889-1904, 3 cruisers, 13 destroyers. Two more battleships were under construction - "Evstafiy" and "John Chrysostom".

However, reports that Turkey is going to significantly strengthen its fleet (including dreadnoughts) demanded adequate measures from Russia. In May 1911, Emperor Nicholas II approved a program for the renewal of the Black Sea Fleet, which provided for the construction of three battleships of the Empress Maria type.

The Gangut was chosen as a prototype, however, taking into account the features of the theater of operations, the project was thoroughly reworked: the proportions of the hull were made more complete, the power of the mechanisms was reduced, but the armor was significantly strengthened, the weight of which now reached 7045 tons (31% of the design displacement against 26% by " Gangute).

Reducing the length of the hull by 13 meters made it possible to reduce the length of the armor belt and thereby increase its thickness. Moreover, the size of the armor plates was adjusted to the pitch of the frames - so that they served as an additional support that prevents the plate from being pressed into the hull. The armor of the main turrets became much more powerful: walls - 250 mm (instead of 203 mm), roof - 125 mm (instead of 75 mm), barbet - 250 mm (instead of 150 mm). An increase in width at the same draft as that of the Baltic battleships should have led to an increase in stability, but this did not happen due to overloading of the ships.

These battleships received new 130-mm guns 55 calibers (7.15 m) long with excellent ballistic characteristics, the production of which was mastered by the Obukhov plant. The artillery of the Civil Code did not differ from the "ganguts". However, the towers had a slightly larger capacity due to a more convenient arrangement of mechanisms and were equipped with optical rangefinders in armored tubes, which ensured autonomous firing of each tower.

Due to a decrease in the power of the mechanisms (and speed), the power plant has undergone some changes. It consisted of high and low pressure Parsons turbines located in five compartments between the third and fourth towers. The boiler plant consisted of 20 Yarrow-type triangular water-tube boilers installed in five boiler rooms. The boilers could be fired with both coal and oil.

Slightly increased the normal supply of fuel. But the Black Sea dreadnoughts suffered more from overload than their Baltic counterparts. The matter was aggravated by the fact that, due to an error in the calculations, the Empress Maria received a noticeable trim on the bow, which further worsened the already unimportant seaworthiness. In order to somehow rectify the situation, it was necessary to reduce the ammunition capacity of two main caliber bow turrets (up to 70 shots instead of 100 according to the state), the mine artillery bow group (100 shots instead of 245), and shorten the starboard anchor chain. On the "Emperor Alexander III" for the same purpose, they removed two bow 130-mm guns and eliminated their ammunition cellars.

During the war, the Black Sea dreadnoughts were used quite actively (mainly to cover the actions of maneuverable tactical groups), but only one of them, Empress Catherine the Great, who met the German-Turkish battlecruiser Goeben in December 1915, was in a real battle. The latter used his advantage in speed and went to the Bosphorus from under the volleys of the Russian battleship.

The fate of all the Black Sea dreadnoughts was unhappy. The most famous and at the same time the most mysterious tragedy occurred on the morning of October 7, 1916 on the inner roads of Sevastopol. The fire in the artillery cellars and the series of powerful explosions caused by it turned the Empress Maria into a pile of twisted iron. At 7:16 a.m., the battleship capsized and sank. The victims of the disaster were 228 crew members.

In 1918 the ship was raised. The 130-mm artillery, part of the auxiliary mechanisms and other equipment were removed from it, and the hull stood in the dock with the keel up for 8 years. In 1927, the "Empress Maria" was finally dismantled. The towers of the Civil Code, which fell off during a rollover, were raised by the Epronovites in the 30s. In 19Z9, the battleship's guns were installed on the 30th battery near Sevastopol.

The battleship Catherine II outlived her brother (or sister?) by less than two years. Renamed "Free Russia", it sank in Novorossiysk, having received four torpedoes from the destroyer "Kerch" on board during the flooding (by order of V.I. Lenin) of part of the ships of the squadron by its own crews.

"Emperor Alexander III" entered service in the summer of 1917 already under the name "Will" and soon "went from hand to hand": the Andreevsky flag on the hafel of its mast was replaced by Ukrainian, then German, English and again Andreevsky, when Sevastopol was in the hands of the Volunteer Army . Renamed again, this time to General Alekseev, the battleship remained the flagship of the White Fleet on the Black Sea until the end of 1920, and then went to Bizerte with Wrangel's squadron. There, in 1936, it was dismantled for metal.

The French kept the 12-inch cannons of the Russian dreadnought, and in 1939 presented them to Finland. The first 8 guns reached their destination, but the last 4 arrived in Bergen almost simultaneously with the start of the Nazi invasion of Norway. So they got to the Germans, and they used them to create the Atlantic Wall, equipping them with the Mirus battery on the island of Guernsey. In the summer of 1944, these 4 guns opened fire on Allied ships for the first time, and in September they achieved a direct hit on an American cruiser. The remaining 8 guns in 1944 went to the Red Army in Finland and were "repatriated" to their homeland. One of them has been preserved as a museum exhibit at the Krasnaya Gorka fort.

Battleship "Empress Maria"

By the middle of the XIX century. sailing ships of the line reached perfection. Numerous steamships have already appeared in the fleets, and the propeller propeller has successfully proved its many advantages. But the shipyards of many countries continued to build more and more "white-winged beauties".

On April 23, 1849, the 84-gun ship Empress Maria was laid down at the Nikolaev Admiralty, which became the last sailing battleship of the Russian Imperial Navy.

"Empress Maria" was built according to the same drawings, according to which the ship "Brave" was built earlier in Nikolaev. Its displacement was 4160 tons, length - 61 m, width - 17.25 m, draft - 7.32 m; the sail area is about 2900 m2. The builder of the ship is Lieutenant Colonel of the Corps of Ship Engineers I.S. Dmitriev. On two closed artillery decks and the upper deck, the state was supposed to install 84 guns: 8 bombing 68-pounders, 56 36-pounders and 20 24-pounders. The latter included both conventional cannons and carronades. In fact, there were more guns on the ship - 90 are usually indicated, but the available information often contradicts each other. The crew numbered (again according to the state) 770 people.

"Empress Maria"

The ship was launched on May 9, 1853, and already in July, the Empress Maria, commanded by the captain of the second rank P.I. Baranovsky, made the transition from Nikolaev to Sevastopol. In early August, they went to sea for testing, and then the new battleship took part in the exercises.

At this time, things were moving towards another war: just on May 9, the Russian delegation, headed by His Serene Highness Prince A.S. Menshikov left Turkey. Diplomatic relations were severed. Following this, Russian troops entered Moldavia and Wallachia. Britain and France supported Turkey and decided to send squadrons to the Sea of Marmara. In the current conditions, the governor of the Caucasus, Prince M.S. Vorontsov turned to the emperor with a request - to strengthen the troops in Transcaucasia. The order followed, and in September the task of transferring the 13th Infantry Division to the Caucasus was entrusted to the Black Sea Fleet. For this, a squadron was assigned under the command of Vice Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov. On September 14, the landing of troops on ships began in Sevastopol, and on the 17th, the squadron went to sea. On board the "Empress Maria" were 939 officers and lower ranks of the Bialystok regiment. The landing of troops and the unloading of carts and artillery was carried out by the Black Sea on September 24 in Anakria and Sukhum-Kale.

Events at the Black Sea theater developed rapidly. First, Turkey declared war on the Russian Empire, and 5 days later, on October 20, Nicholas I declared war on Turkey. At this time, the "Empress Maria" was cruising as part of the squadron of P.S. Nakhimov. Unfortunately, the autumn weather on the Black Sea thoroughly battered the Russian ships, some of them were damaged. As a result, by November 11, Nakhimov had only 84 cannon "Empress Maria" (flagship), "Chesma" and "Rostislav" and the brig "Eney". It was on that day in Sinop that the Turkish squadron under the command of Osman Pasha, who had arrived there the day before, was discovered. The enemy was blocked, but it was not possible to attack Sinop - there were not enough forces. The Turks had seven large frigates, three corvettes and two steamships.

Reinforcements approached Nakhimov on the 16th - as part of the squadron of F.M. Novosilsky included 120 cannon "Grand Duke Konstantin", "Paris" and "Three Saints". Now the superiority in forces has passed to the Russians (they had even larger frigates - the Kagul and Kulevchi).

On the morning of November 18, the ships, lining up in two columns, began to move towards Sinop. When they almost came close to the enemy ships stretched out in an arc along the coast, they opened fire at 12:28. Two minutes later, Nakhimov ordered Baranovsky to anchor. He hurried a little - the ship had not yet reached the place prescribed by the disposition. Because of this, Chesma turned out to be practically turned off from the battle.

Nakhimov's flagship was fired upon by four enemy ships and coastal batteries. But as soon as the Russians opened fire, the situation immediately changed. The superiority in the number and caliber of guns, the better training of the gunners, had an effect. Already at 13 o'clock the Turkish flagship frigate "Avni Allah", unable to withstand the fire of the "Empress Mary", riveted the chain and tried to get out of the battle. Then the gunners shifted their fire to another frigate, the Fazli Allah. He held out until 13:40, after which the caught fire "Turk" threw himself ashore. Then the guns of the "Empress Maria" suppressed the 8-gun coastal battery, and also fired at the still resisting enemy ships. In total, the battleship fired 2180 shots at the enemy.

At 14:32, Nakhimov ordered to stop the battle, but it took a long time to finish off the Turkish ships that had not lowered their flags or suddenly revived batteries. It was all over by 6 pm. Only the steamer-frigate "Taif" was able to escape. At the exit to the sea, Russian sailing frigates tried to intercept him, as well as steamship-frigates of the squadron of Vice Admiral V. A. Kornilov (Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet) who arrived in time for the battle. After an unsuccessful chase, Kornilov returned to Sinop, and two admirals met on the road.

An eyewitness to the events recalled: “We pass very close along the line of our ships, and Kornilov congratulates the commanders and teams, who respond with enthusiastic cries of “hurrah”, the officers wave their caps. Approaching the ship "Maria" (Nakhimov's flagship), we board the boat of our steamer and go to the ship to congratulate him. The ship was completely pierced with cannonballs, the shrouds were almost all killed, and with a rather strong swell, the masts swayed so much that they threatened to fall. We board the ship, and both admirals throw themselves into each other's arms. We all also congratulate Nakhimov. He was magnificent: a cap on the back of his head, his face was stained with blood, and the sailors and officers, most of whom are my acquaintances, are all black from powder smoke. It turned out that the “Maria” had the most killed and wounded, since Nakhimov was the leader in the squadron and from the very beginning of the battle he was closest to the Turkish firing sides.

Indeed, the "Empress Maria" suffered seriously: 60 holes in the hull, including in the underwater part, a mutilated mast (the bowsprit was broken, the topmasts and masts were damaged). The crew suffered heavy losses - 16 sailors were killed, four officers, including Baranovsky, three non-commissioned officers and 52 sailors were wounded. The state of the ship turned out to be such that Kornilov convinced Nakhimov to transfer the flag to the less damaged Grand Duke Konstantin. When the winners left Sinop on November 20, the "Empress Maria" was taken to Sevastopol in tow by the steamer-frigate "Crimea".

The victory was highly appreciated by the Russian emperor and the whole society. The winners received many awards - orders, promotions, cash payments. The ships, despite the apparent severity of the damage, were also repaired fairly quickly. But the coin also had a second side: Menshikov warned Nakhimov not without reason that the destruction of Sinop was undesirable. It was this circumstance that prompted Britain and France to launch a fierce anti-Russian campaign, which in the spring of 1854 led to war. Now the Black Sea Fleet was inferior to the enemy numerically and, most importantly, technically. The presence of screw battleships and steamships with powerful machines gave the Allies a great advantage. This was the most important reason for the unwillingness of the command to go to sea for a decisive battle.

The landing of the allies in the Crimea and the defeat of the Russian troops on land created a direct threat to the main base of the Black Sea Fleet - Sevastopol. To avoid a breakthrough of the Anglo-French squadron into the Sevastopol bays, on September 11, 1854, five battleships and two frigates had to be sunk in the outer roadstead. The struggle for Sevastopol was long and fierce, both sides suffered heavy losses. The crews of almost all Russian ships (with the exception of steamships) fought on land, and removed naval guns also went into service with the fortress batteries. On August 27, 1855, the French occupied Malakhov Kurgan. The next day, Russian troops left the southern side of Sevastopol and retreated to the northern side along the pontoon bridge. In this regard, the remaining ships of the Black Sea Fleet were flooded in the Sevastopol roadstead, among them was the Empress Maria.

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TRY TO REMOVE "MARIA" (one of the versions of the death of the battleship "Empress Maria" in 1916) Until now, the minds of historians and specialists are disturbed by the tragic death in 1916 of one of the strongest Russian warships - the Black Sea battleship "Empress Maria".

Master Gambs starts a new batch of furniture with this semi-armchair. 1865.

Greetings dear Colleagues!

Let me invite you to a solemn event dedicated to the release of the first model from the Black Sea series of battleships - the model of the battleship "Empress Maria".

Brief historical background.
The decision to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet with new battleships was caused by Turkey's intention to acquire three modern dreadnought battleships abroad, which would immediately provide her with overwhelming superiority in the Black Sea.
To maintain the balance of power, the Russian Naval Ministry insisted on the urgent strengthening of the Black Sea Fleet, which was reported on September 23, 1910 in the Council of Ministers. Developed on the basis of the report and supported by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers P.A. Stolypin, the bill was adopted by the State Duma in March 1911 and approved by Emperor Nicholas II in May. Of the 150.8 million rubles intended for "updating the Black Sea Fleet". 102.2 million rubles were allocated for the construction of three battleships, nine destroyers and six submarines. (the rest of the money was intended to strengthen the means of repair and basing of the fleet). Each battleship, as was soon clarified, cost about 27.7 million rubles.
And already on October 17, 1911, simultaneously with the official laying ceremony, the new ships were added to the lists of the fleet under the names "Empress Maria", "Emperor Alexander III" and "Catherine II" (since June 14, 1915 - "Empress Catherine the Great") .
In connection with the decision to equip the lead ship as a flagship, all ships of the series were ordered by the Minister of the Navy I.K. Grigorovich was ordered to be called ships of the type "Empress Maria".

To speed up the construction, their architectural type and the most important design decisions were made mainly on the basis of the experience and model of four battleships of the Sevastopol type laid down in 1909 in St. Petersburg.
The construction of dreadnoughts was entrusted to two private factories in Nikolaev.
One, built in 1897 and having some shipbuilding experience (two series of destroyers, towers and machines of the battleship "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky", a number of civil and port ships), belonged to the diversified Society of Nikolaev Plants and Shipyards (ONZiV), the other, under the brand of Russian shipbuilding joint-stock company ("Russud"), was just being created on the territory of the former Nikolaev State Admiralty leased to it.
Preference was given to the Russuda project, which "with the permission" of the Naval Ministry was led by a group of prominent naval engineers who were in active service. They also continued further work at the plant: Colonel L.L. Coromaldi - in the position of chief ship engineer of Russud, captain M.I. Sasinovsky - head of the Technical (design and technology) bureau, lieutenant colonel R.A. Matrosov - one of supervising engineers assigned to the ship. As a result, "Russud" received an order for two ships, the third (according to its drawings) was instructed to build ONZiV (in everyday life - "Naval").
The design of the hull and the reservation system of the Chernomorets basically corresponded to the design of the Baltic dreadnoughts, but were partially modified with an increase in the thickness of the plates: the main armor belt from 225 to 262.5 mm, the walls of the conning towers from 250 to 300 mm, their roofs from 125 to 200 mm, bevel of the armored deck from 25 to 50 mm.
For a better understanding, I will give a brief table.
Design tactical and technical elements of the Black Sea and Baltic battleships

Name of elements	Type "Empress Maria"	Type "Sevastopol"
WEAPONS
Artillery: number of guns - caliber, mm	12 - 305, 20 - 130	12 - 305, 16 - 120
Torpedo: number of torpedo tubes - caliber, mm	4 - 450	4 - 450
BOOKING, mm:
main armor belt	262,5	225
decks (upper + middle + lower)	37.5 + 25 + 25 (in the stern)	37.5 + 25 + 25 (in the stern)
lower deck bevels	50	25
SHIPBUILDING ELEMENTS
Displacement normal, t	22600	23000
Main dimensions, m:
length according to design waterline	168,00	181,20
width with armor	27,36	26,90
draft	8,36	8,30
Travel speed, knots	21	23
Turbine power, l. from.	26000	42000

To protect against air targets on the Empress Maria, on each of their main caliber towers, one KANE anti-aircraft gun (75 mm / 50) was installed on Meller machines.
The impending war forced, despite the sad experience of the past, to develop working drawings simultaneously with the construction of ships. The obligation to copy the drawings of the internal layout from the Sevastopol-class battleships did not make the work much easier: due to the difference in size (“Empress Maria” was shorter by 13 m and wider by 0.4 m) almost all the drawings had to be redone.
The progress of work was also affected by the fact that the factories built such large ships for the first time, and the “improvements” so characteristic of domestic shipbuilding were already carried out during construction. They led to an over-design overload that exceeded 860 tons. As a result, in addition to an increase in draft by 0.3 m, an unfortunate trim on the bow was formed (obviously, from the thickening of the deck in the bow), in other words, the ships “sat down like a pig”. Fortunately, the rise of the deck in the bow (by 0.6m) concealed this.
In this fever, when design and completion work converged in an inseparable tangle of contradictions, decisions had to be made far from optimal, and it was no longer possible to even think about improvements. A rare exception, probably in this period, was the alteration of the navigation bridges of the Maria, which her commander, Captain 1st Rank K.A. Porembsky, persistently petitioned for. The persistence of K.A. The bridges of the "Empress Maria", more fully developed than on other ships, have acquired the necessary functional purpose.
According to the contract dated March 31, 1912, signed by the Naval Ministry with the Russud plant (the preliminary order was issued on August 20, 1911), the Empress Maria should have been launched no later than July, and the Emperor Alexander III - in October 1913 . Their full readiness (presentation for acceptance tests) was planned by August 20, 1915, another four months were allotted for the tests themselves. Such a high pace, not inferior to the pace of advanced European enterprises, was almost sustained: the plant, which itself continued to be built, launched the "Empress Maria" into the water October 19, 1913. It was the day of the great triumph of the Black Sea Fleet, the beginning of its new era.
The descent of the dreadnought was the centerpiece of two extremely eventful days on 17 and 18 October. Celebrations in the presence of the Minister of Marine I.K. Grigorovich, who arrived from the capital, and the ships that came from Sevastopol - the cruiser "Cahul", the yacht-cruiser "Almaz" and the gunboat "Terets" - were held according to a special ceremony.
June 30, 1915"Empress Maria" first appeared on the Sevastopol raid. And the jubilation that engulfed the city and the fleet that day was probably akin to the general joy of those happy days of November 1853, when the 84-gun Empress Maria returned to the same raid after a brilliant victory at Sinop under the flag of P.S. Nakhimov. . And as an echo of those glorious events, the words of a welcoming telegram sounded, in which the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich admonished the new ship with a wish to continue "the traditions of his glorious ancestor in the battle of Sinop." The entire fleet was looking forward to the moment when "Empress Maria", having gone out to sea, would sweep out of it the pretty tired "Goeben" (received the name "Sultan Selim Yavuz" after a fictitious sale to Turkey, this, in naval jargon, "uncle" with his no less annoying "nephew" - the cruiser "Breslau" ("Midili").
Almost immediately, a ship tradition of its own was born - an officer who served on a ship for a considerable time was awarded a special saber with an enamel image of the icon of St. Nicholas the Pleasant (it was made by midshipman G.R. Viren) and engraving of the name of the ship on the blade. The charter on the saber, developed by the ship's wardroom, was approved by the fleet commander and approved by the naval minister.
From July 9 to July 23, 1915, the Empress Maria was in the dry dock of Emperor Nicholas II in Panaiotova Balka (now the Northern Dock). On the ship, propellers, deadwoods, kingstones were inspected, the sides and bottom plating were cleaned and painted with the Moravia patented anti-fouling composition (this composition had a dark green tint, which gave the ships of the Black Sea Fleet a characteristic color scheme).
The dreadnoughts were still left without the obviously necessary structural protection. Fortrals were tested against minefields, and nets were tested against torpedoes. The device for their setting and automatic cleaning was installed in accordance with the patent of the English inventor Kemp: ONZiV acquired a license for its production with the right to use it on all ships built in Russia. As a last resort, to force minefields ahead of the dreadnoughts, it was supposed to launch Sinop and Rostislav, for which protective caissons were already being prepared.
But…..
At dawn on October 7 (20), 1916, Sevastopol was awakened by a series of explosions in the inner roadstead. The battleship "Empress Maria" - the first of the three Black Sea dreadnoughts, which entered service during the ongoing World War - suffered a catastrophe.
There were (and even now) versions of the explosion on the ship - plenty.
But:
In 1933 - already Soviet! - counterintelligence arrested in Nikolaev a certain Verman - the head of the German reconnaissance group at shipyards. In the OGPU, Verman testified that he was preparing sabotage on warships under construction. He also admitted that he led the intelligence network during the 1st World War. Verman's agents worked on ships under repair in Sevastopol.
On the eve of the death of the battleship, Wehrman was deported from Russia, and 4 years later he was awarded the Iron Cross in Germany ...

It is curious that the order to disable or destroy the "Empress Maria" was also received from German intelligence by the agent "Charles", who was actually an employee of the Russian counterintelligence. And yet there was no direct evidence of the involvement of German agents in the death of the battleship for a long time.
But at the end of the Patriotic War after the fall of Koenigsberg, a curious picture was found in the archives of the Abwehr:

A well-known shot is the fire on the Maria after the explosions, but at the same time it is curious in many aspects:
1. Shooting point.
2. Shooting technique.

This picture is widely replicated on the Web today, but - with one peculiarity - it is in the "Internet version" - a mono-picture. Actually, this is a STEREO image.
A similar technique was used by photographers at the beginning of the century for sure. She was called - "binocular panoramic photography". A "special "device" for viewing them was even invented. A long, 45 cm rail, at the bottom of which there is a handle for holding, at one end of the rail there is some kind of optical glasses with lenses, and at the other there is a movable carriage with a frame-holder where it is inserted the photo.
You insert a photo, zoom in or out depending on your vision to the "glasses" - and a semblance of a stereo image appears ...
This is exactly what the photograph of the fire on the "Maria" discovered in Königsberg is.

Such a shooting technique required not only careful pairing of the "stereo effect" point with two lenses, but also "pre-reconnoitered, selected and prepared position"- it took a long time to prepare for the shooting and carefully choose the place and angle. But - for this it was necessary to KNOW what and when will happen at this point, at this time.
That is, the photographer, whose picture later ended up in the Abwehr archive, needed to know that something extraordinary was going to happen at that time and in that place ...
When the battleship capsized during the catastrophe, the multi-ton turrets of the ship's 305-mm guns fell off the battle pins and sank. Shortly before the Great Patriotic War, these towers were raised by the Epronovites,
When creating the railway transporters TM-3-12, 305-mm machine tools and some other mechanisms taken from the Empress Maria's three-gun turrets, as well as electric motors that were dismantled during the modernization of the cellars of the battleship Paris Commune, went into action.
The famous 30th coastal battery (BB No. 30) was armed with four 305-mm guns, 52 calibers long. Of these, three (No. 142, 145 and 158) had an elongated chamber of the Military Department (gun brand "SA"). Fourth gun (#149), had a chamber shortened by 220 mm, like the guns of the Naval Department (brand "MA"). This was revealed only during test firing in 1934. It was this gun No. 149 that was removed from the Empress Maria. Filmed first, back in 1928 or 1929.
And in view of the fact that the diversity of guns did not have a special effect on dispersion during salvo firing, the commission for accepting the battery decided to leave the gun in place, but use charges specially selected for its weight.
The fate of the commanders
In August 1916, there was a change of battleship commanders. Prince Trubetskoy was appointed head of the mine brigade, and Captain 1st Rank Ivan Semyonovich Kuznetsov took command of the Empress Maria. After the death of the battleship, he was put on trial.
The verdict on his punishment was to take effect after the end of the war. But the revolution broke out, and the sailors pronounced their verdict: the former commander of the Empress Maria, without trial or investigation, along with other officers of the Black Sea Fleet, was shot on December 15, 1917 on Malakhov Hill. It is also buried there, no one knows where.

Model.
The model was built from scratch.
Patterns for the manufacture of the case frame for the model were kindly provided to me by Alexei Kolomiytsev.
And in the manufacture of all other structures, he used literature and the Internet.

During the construction of the model, the following literature was used:
- AJ-Press - Encyklopedia Okretow Wojennych 30 - Pancerniki typu Impieratrica Maria
- Ships of the Fatherland, issue 02. "Linear ships of the Empress Maria type" (Gangut-SPb library, 1993)
- Aizenberg B.A., Kostrichenko V.V. "Dreadnoughts of the Black Sea" (Novorossiysk, 1998)
- Vinogradov S.E. "The Last Giants" (St. Petersburg, 1999)
- Vinogradov S.E. "The battleship "Empress Maria"" (St. Petersburg, 2000)
- Vinogradov S.E. "Empress Maria" - return from the depths (St. Petersburg, 2002)
- Melnikov R.M. "Battleships of the "Empress Maria" type" (midship frame No. 81, 2003)
- Aizenberg B.A., Kostrichenko V.V. "Battleship "Empress Maria". The main secret of the Russian fleet" (M: Eksmo, 2010)

Also, during the construction of the model, information was used from open sources on the Internet, in particular from the resources:
- http://flot.sevastopol.info/ship/linkor/impmariya.htm
- http://www.nkj.ru/archive/articles/12061/
- http://kreiser.unoforum.pro/?0-25-0
- http://www.dogswar.ru/forum/viewforum.php?f=8
- http://tsushima.su/forums/viewtopic.php?id=5346

Partially, this information was used by me as a reference material, and some quotes from the listed literature and from the above sites were used by me when compiling this explanatory note.
And, of course, photographs of both the ship itself and its models, built at different times and by different people, were of great help in creating the model.

As with the construction of previous models, all sorts of different materials came to hand, but mostly Evergreen plastic. Sheets of various thicknesses, curly bars, tubes and tubules…. Well, any improvised materials from the apartment, even straws for a cocktail, went into action. Acupuncture needles helped a lot (there are such procedures).
The GK towers were taken from the remains of my models of the "Sevastopol" series.
All turning products for the model were made for me by Vladimir Dudarev, for which many thanks to him!
Hull - standard: DP, a set of frames, stuffing with foam and putty with ordinary construction putty.
Deck - small-radial veneer with a thickness of only 0.4mm, Plastic base 0.75mm,
And then, obviously, the most interesting part of all this construction went on: the application of strips of Munz metal to the deck, which prevented the detachment of the deck flooring when firing from the main caliber guns.
The münz-metal strips were applied to the deck as before - with acrylic paint using masks.
The coloring of the model is acrylic.
Those who wish to learn more about the process of creating a model can go to:
In conclusion, I want to say the following: the model I presented is as of the beginning of 1916.
And further.
Many nuances from the creation, design features and service of these beautiful ships, I saved "for later". After all, there are still stories about other models of ships of the Black Sea series. Hope you see them soon.
In conclusion, I would like to express huge thanks to all participants of our Forum (and not only ours, and not only the Forum), who were not left indifferent by the process of creating this model.

Sincerely, Alexey Lezhnev.

Ship history:
The decision to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet with new battleships was caused by Turkey's intention to acquire three modern Dreadnought-class battleships abroad, which would immediately provide them with overwhelming superiority in the Black Sea. To maintain the balance of power, the Russian Naval Ministry insisted on the urgent strengthening of the Black Sea Fleet.

To speed up the construction of battleships, the architectural type and the most important design decisions were made mainly on the basis of the experience and model of the four Sevastopol-class battleships laid down in 1909 in St. Petersburg.

battleships "Sevastopol" and "Poltava" in the campaign

This approach made it possible to significantly speed up the process of developing strategic and tactical tasks for new battleships for the Black Sea. The Black Sea battleships also adopted such advantages as three-gun turrets, which are rightfully considered an outstanding achievement of domestic technology.

3-gun turret for 305 mm main battery guns

The bet was made on the broad attraction of banking capital and private entrepreneurship. The construction of dreadnoughts (and other ships of the Black Sea program) was entrusted to two private factories in Nikolaev (ONZiV and Russud)

Preference was given to the Russud project, which "with the permission" of the Naval Ministry was led by a group of prominent naval engineers who were in active service. As a result, Russud received an order for two ships, the third (according to his drawings) was ordered to build ONZiV.
Empress Maria Feodorovna Romanova (wife of Alexander III)

On June 11, 1911, simultaneously with the official laying ceremony, new ships were added to the lists of the fleet under the names "Empress Maria", "Emperor Alexander III" and "Empress Catherine the Great". In connection with the decision to equip the lead ship as a flagship, all ships of the series were ordered by the Minister of the Navy I.K. Grigorovich was ordered to be called ships of the type "Empress Maria".

Ivan Konstantinovich Grigorovich

The design of the hull and the armor system of the "Chernomorets" basically corresponded to the project of the Baltic dreadnoughts, but were partially finalized. The Empress Maria had 18 main transverse watertight bulkheads. Twenty triangular-type water-tube boilers fed turbine units powered by four propeller shafts with brass propellers 2.4 m in diameter (rotation speed at 21-knot speed 320 rpm). The total power of the ship's power plant was 1840 kW.

According to the contract dated March 31, 1912, signed by the Naval Ministry with the Russud plant, the Empress Maria should have been launched no later than July. The complete readiness of the ship (presentation for acceptance tests) was planned by August 20, 1915, four more months were allotted for the tests themselves. Such a high pace, not inferior to the pace of advanced European enterprises, was almost sustained: the plant, which continued to be built, launched the ship on October 6, 1913. The approaching wartime forced, despite the sad experience of the past, to develop working drawings simultaneously with the construction of ships.

Alas, the course of work was affected not only by the growing pains of the factories that built such large ships for the first time, but also by the “improvements” so characteristic of domestic shipbuilding already in the course of construction, which led to an over-design overload that exceeded 860 tons. As a result, in addition to an increase in draft by 0.3 m, an annoying trim on the nose was also formed. In other words, the ship "sat like a pig." Luckily, some constructive raising of the deck in the bow covered this up. A lot of excitement was also delivered by the order in England for turbines, auxiliary mechanisms, propeller shafts and stern tube devices, placed at the John Brown plant by the Russud society. There was a smell of gunpowder in the air, and it was only by a lucky chance that the Empress Maria managed to get her turbines in May 1914, delivered by an English steamer that had slipped through the straits.

A noticeable failure in counterparty deliveries by November 1914 forced the ministry to agree to new deadlines for the ships: "Empress Maria" in March-April 1915. All forces were thrown into the speedy introduction of "Maria" into operation. For her, by agreement of the construction plants, the machine tools of 305 mm guns and the electrical equipment of the towers received from the Putilov factory were transferred.

According to the wartime staffing approved on January 11, 1915, 30 conductors and 1,135 lower ranks (of which 194 were extra-conscripts) were assigned to the command of Empress Maria, who were combined into eight ship companies. In April-July, 50 more people were added by new orders of the fleet commander, and the number of officers was brought up to 33.

And then came that unique day, always overflowing with special troubles, when the ship, starting an independent life, leaves the factory embankment.

By the evening of June 23, 1915, after the consecration of the ship, having raised a flag, a guis and a pennant sprinkled with holy water over the Ingul raid, "Empress Maria" began a company. In the dead of night on June 25, apparently in order to pass the river before dark, they took off the moorings, and at 4 o'clock in the morning the battleship set sail. In readiness to repel a mine attack, having passed the Adzhigol lighthouse, the ship entered the Ochakovsky roadstead. The next day they conducted test firing, and on June 27, under the protection of aviation, destroyers and minesweepers, the battleship arrived in Odessa. At the same time, the main forces of the fleet, having formed three lines of cover (up to the Bosphorus !!!), kept at sea.

Having received 700 tons of coal, on the afternoon of June 29, "Empress Maria" went to sea after the cruiser "Memory of Mercury" and at 5 o'clock in the morning on June 30 met with the main forces of the fleet...

Slowly, in the consciousness of her own greatness and significance of the moment, the "Empress Maria" entered the Sevastopol raid on the afternoon of June 30, 1915. And the jubilation that engulfed the city and the fleet that day was probably akin to the general joy of those happy days of November 1853, when, after a brilliant victory at Sinop, she returned to the same raid under the flag of P.S. Nakhimov 84-gun "Empress Maria".

The entire fleet was looking forward to the moment when the Empress Maria, having gone out to sea, would sweep out the pretty tired "Goeben" and "Breslau" beyond its borders. Already with these expectations, "Maria" was assigned the role of the first favorite of the fleet.

In August there was a change of commanders. Prince Trubetskoy was appointed head of the mine brigade, and Captain 1st Rank Kuznetsov took command of the Empress Maria. The commander of the ill-fated battleship, Captain 1st Rank Ivan Semenovich Kuznetsov, was put on trial. The verdict on his punishment was to take effect after the end of the war. But the revolution broke out, and the sailors pronounced their verdict: the former commander of the Empress Maria, without trial or investigation, along with other officers of the Black Sea Fleet, was shot on December 15, 1917 on Malakhov Hill. In the same place and buried knows where.

What changes in the balance of forces at sea did the entry into service of the Empress Maria make, how did it change with the outbreak of the war, and what effect did it have on the construction of the following ships? The extremely threatening situation before the war, when the appearance of Turkish dreadnoughts, already equipped in England for sailing, was expected in the Black Sea, remained tense even after England did not release the ships ordered by the Turks. A new and already real danger was now posed by the German battlecruiser Goeben and the cruiser Breslau, whether because of the political maneuvers of the British Admiralty or because of their phenomenal luck, who managed to fool the allied Anglo-French naval forces and broke into the Dardanelles.

battlecruiser Goeben

Normal displacement 22,979 tons, total 25,400 tons. Waterline length 186 m, maximum length 186.6 m, width 29.4 m (including anti-mine nets 29.96 m), draft 8.77 m (bow) and 9, 19 m (stern), average draft 9.0 m, side height along the midship frame 14.08 m.
The power plant consisted of 2 sets of steam turbines Parsons (Parsons) with direct transmission to the shaft, located in three compartments. High-pressure turbines (rotor diameter 1900 mm) were located in two bow compartments and rotated the outer propeller shafts. Low-pressure turbines (rotor 3050 mm) were located in the aft compartment and rotated the internal shafts. The ships were equipped with 24 Marine-Schulz-Tornycroft water-tube boilers with small-diameter tubes and an operating steam pressure of 16 atm. The total design capacity of the ship's installations is 63296 kW / 76795 hp.

Armament: Main caliber artillery - 5 x 2 x 280 / 50 mm guns (810 rounds), gun inclination angles from -8 to 13.5 °, firing range - 18.1 miles. The towers of the main caliber were placed in a diagonal pattern. The starboard turret looked forward with guns, and the left side turret looked into the stern. Each of them had a firing sector of 180 ° on the near side and 125 ° on the opposite side. The elevation of the trunnions of the guns above the load waterline: bow tower 8.78 m, onboard 8.43 m, stern 8.60 and 6.23 m. Ammunition - 81 armor-piercing shells for each gun. The mechanism for turning the turrets and vertical aiming of the guns is electric.

Medium-caliber artillery - 10 150/45-mm guns. Ammunition 1800 shells, firing range up to 13.5 miles. Anti-mine and anti-aircraft artillery - 12 88/45-mm guns. Ammunition 3000 shells. Later, instead of four 88-mm, 4 22-pound anti-aircraft guns were installed; and since 1916, all 88-mm guns (except for anti-aircraft guns) were dismantled. Torpedo tubes (500 mm): 1 in the bow, 2 on the sides, 1 in the stern; ammunition 11 torpedoes. The cruiser was equipped with Zeiss rangefinders. In 1914 correction posts were installed on the ship at the tops of the masts.

Now the "Empress Maria" eliminated this advantage, and the entry into service of subsequent battleships gave a clear advantage to the Black Sea Fleet. The priorities and pace of building ships have also changed. With the outbreak of the war, the need for destroyers, submarines and landing craft necessary for the future Bosphorus operation became especially acute. Their order slowed down the construction of battleships.

"Empress Maria" in Sevastopol

On the "Empress Maria" they tried their best to speed up the program of acceptance tests that had begun with the departure from Nikolaev. Of course, we had to turn a blind eye to many things and, relying on the obligations of the plant, to postpone the elimination of imperfections for a while after the official acceptance of the ship. So, a lot of criticism was caused by the air-refrigeration system of the ammunition cellars. It turned out that all the "cold" that was regularly generated by the "refrigeration machines" was absorbed by the warming up electric motors of the fans, which instead of the theoretical "cold" drove their heat into the ammunition cellars. The turbines also made us worry, but there were no significant problems.

On July 9, the battleship was brought into the dry dock of the Sevastopol port for inspection and painting of the underwater part of the hull. At the same time, the clearances in the bearings of the stern tubes and propeller shaft brackets were measured. Ten days later, when the ship was in the dock, the commission began testing underwater torpedo tubes. After the withdrawal of the battleship from the dock, the devices were tested by shooting. All of them were accepted by the commission.

On August 6, 1915, the battleship Empress Maria went to sea to test anti-mine caliber artillery. On board was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet A.A. Eberhard.

Andrey Avgustovich Ebergard

Firing from 130-mm guns was carried out on the move 15 - 18 knots and ended successfully. On August 13, the selection committee met on board the battleship to test the mechanisms. The battleship took off from the barrel and went to sea. The average draft of the ship was 8.94 meters, which corresponded to a displacement of 24,400 tons. By 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the number of revolutions of the turbines was brought up to 300 per minute and they began a three-hour test of the ship at full speed. The battleship made tacks between Cape Ai-Todor and Mount Ayu-Dag, at a distance of 5 - 7 miles from the coast in deep water. At 7 pm, full-speed testing of the mechanisms was completed and on August 15 at 10 am the battleship returned to Sevastopol. The commission noted that during the 50 hours of continuous operation, the main and auxiliary mechanisms operated satisfactorily and the commission found it possible to accept them into the treasury. In the period from August 19 to 25, the commission accepted torpedo tubes, all ship systems, drainage facilities and capstan devices into the treasury.

By August 25, acceptance tests were completed, although the development of the ship continued for many more months. At the direction of the fleet commander, in order to combat the trim on the nose, the ammunition of two bow towers (from 100 to 70 shots) and the bow group of 130 mm guns (from 245 to 100 shots) had to be reduced.

Everyone knew that with the entry into service of Empress Maria, the "Goeben" would not leave the Bosporus without extreme need. The fleet was able to systematically and on a larger scale solve its strategic tasks. At the same time, for operational operations at sea, while maintaining the administrative brigade structure, several mobile temporary formations were formed, called maneuver groups. The first included "Empress Maria" and the cruiser "Cahul" with destroyers allocated for their protection. Such an organization made it possible (with the involvement of submarines and aircraft) to carry out a more effective blockade of the Bosphorus.

armored cruiser "Cahul"

Technical details:

Year of launching - May 2, 1902
Length - 134.1 m Beam - 16.6 m Draft - 6.8 m Displacement - 7070 tons
Engine power - 19500 hp
Speed - 21 knots
Armament - 12-152 mm, 12-75 mm, 2-64 mm, 4 machine guns, 2 torpedo tubes
Personnel - 565 people
Reservation - 35-70 mm armored deck, 140 mm conning tower, 127 mm turrets, 102 mm casemates
Ships of the same type: Bogatyr, Oleg, Ochakov

Only in September-December 1915, maneuver groups went out to the enemy’s shores ten times and spent 29 days at sea: the Bosphorus, Zunguldak, Novorossiysk, Batum, Trebizond, Varna, Constanta, along all the shores of the Black Sea, one could then see a long and squat creeping on the water silhouette of a formidable battleship.

And yet the capture of "Goeben" remained the blue dream of the entire crew. More than once, the officers of "Maria" had to remember with an unkind word the leaders of Genmore, together with Minister A.S. Voevodsky, who cut off at least 2 nodes of the course at their ship when drawing up the design assignment, which left no hope for the success of the chase.

Information about the exit of the Breslau for a new sabotage near Novorossiysk was received on July 9, and the new commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral A.V. Kolchak immediately went to sea on the Empress Maria.

Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak

Black Sea squadron

Everything worked out for the best. The Breslau's course and exit time were known, the interception point was calculated without error. The seaplanes escorting the Maria successfully bombed the UB-7 submarine that was guarding her exit, preventing her from attacking, the destroyers ahead of the Maria intercepted the Breslau at the intended point and tied it up in battle.

seaplane "Voisin" over "Maria"

The hunt unfolded according to all the rules. The destroyers stubbornly pressed the German cruiser, which was trying to leave, to the shore, the "Kahul" relentlessly hung on its tail, frightening the Germans with its own, however, volleys that did not reach. "Empress Maria", which had developed full speed, had only to choose the moment for the right volley. But either the destroyers were not ready to take on the adjustment of the Mary’s fire, or the shells of the reduced ammunition load of the bow turret were protected on it, not risking throwing them at random into the smoke screen that the Breslau immediately wrapped itself in when the shells fell dangerously close, but that decisive salvo that could have covered the Breslau did not work. Forced to desperately maneuver (the machines, as the German historian wrote, were already at the limit of endurance), the Breslau, despite its 27-knot speed, steadily lost in the distance traveled in a straight line, which decreased from 136 to 95 cables. Saved by chance flown squall. Hiding behind a veil of rain, the Breslau literally slipped out of the ring of Russian ships and, clinging to the shore, slipped into the Bosphorus.

Cruiser Breslau

Displacement 4480 tons, turbine power 29 904 liters. s., speed 27.6 knots. Length between perpendiculars 136 m, width 13.3, average depression 4.86 m.
Reservations: belt 70 mm, deck 12.7, guns 102 mm.
Armament: 12 - 105-mm guns and 2 torpedo tubes.
The series consisted of four ships, differing in the number of screws: Breslau - 4 screws, Strasbourg - 2 screws, Magdeburg and Stralsund - 3 screws each.

In October 1916, all of Russia was shocked by the news of the death of the newest battleship of the Russian fleet, the Empress Maria. On October 20, about a quarter of an hour after the morning rise, the sailors who were in the area of the first tower of the battleship Empress Maria, which was standing along with other ships in the Sevastopol Bay, heard the characteristic hiss of burning gunpowder, and then saw smoke and flames coming out of the embrasures of the tower, necks and fans located near it. A fire alarm was sounded on the ship, the sailors smashed the fire hoses and began to flood the turret compartment with water. At 06:20, the ship was rocked by a strong explosion in the area of the cellar of 305-mm charges of the first turret. A column of flame and smoke shot up to a height of 300 m.

When the smoke cleared, a terrible picture of destruction became visible. The explosion tore out a section of the deck behind the first tower, demolished the conning tower, bridge, bow tube and foremast. A hole formed in the ship's hull behind the tower, from which pieces of twisted metal stuck out, flames and smoke were beaten out. Many sailors and non-commissioned officers who were in the bow of the ship were killed, seriously wounded, burned and thrown overboard by the force of the explosion. The steam line of auxiliary mechanisms was interrupted, fire pumps stopped working, electric lighting was turned off. A series of smaller explosions followed. On the ship, orders were given to flood the cellars of the second, third and fourth towers, and fire hoses were received from the port craft that approached the battleship. The firefighting continued. The ship was towed around with a lag in the wind.

By 7 o'clock in the morning the fire began to subside, the ship was on an even keel, it seemed that she would be saved. But two minutes later there was another explosion, more powerful than the previous ones. The battleship began to quickly sink forward and list to starboard. When the bow and cannon ports went under water, the battleship, having lost its stability, capsized keel up and sank at a depth of 18 m in the bow and 14.5 m in the stern with a slight trim on the bow. The mechanical engineer midshipman Ignatiev, two conductors and 225 sailors died.

The next day, October 21, 1916, a special commission to investigate the causes of the sinking of the battleship Empress Maria, chaired by Admiral N. M. Yakovlev, departed by train from Petrograd to Sevastopol. One of its members was appointed General for assignments under the Minister of the Sea A. N. Krylov. For a week and a half of work, all the surviving sailors and officers of the battleship "Empress Maria" passed before the commission. It was found that the cause of the death of the ship was a fire that broke out in the bow cellar of 305-mm charges and resulted in an explosion of gunpowder and shells in it, as well as an explosion in the cellars of 130-mm guns and combat charging compartments of torpedoes. As a result, the side was destroyed and the kingstones for flooding the cellars were torn off, and the ship, having large damage to the decks and watertight bulkheads, sank. It was impossible to prevent the death of the ship after damage to the outer side by balancing the roll and trim by filling other compartments, since this would take a considerable amount of time.

the bottom of the “Empress Maria” (behind “Cahul”)

Having considered the possible causes of a fire in the cellar, the commission settled on the three most likely: spontaneous combustion of gunpowder, negligence in handling fire or gunpowder itself, and, finally, malicious intent. The conclusion of the commission stated that “it is not possible to come to an accurate and evidence-based conclusion, one has only to assess the likelihood of these assumptions ...”. Spontaneous combustion of gunpowder and careless handling of fire and gunpowder were considered unlikely. At the same time, it was noted that on the battleship "Empress Maria" there were significant deviations from the requirements of the charter regarding access to artillery cellars. During the stay in Sevastopol, representatives of various factories worked on the battleship, and their number reached 150 people daily. Work was also carried out in the shell cellar of the first tower - they were carried out by four people from the Putilov factory. There was no family roll call of the artisans, but only the total number of people was checked. The commission did not rule out the possibility of "malicious intent", moreover, noting the poor organization of service on the battleship, she pointed out "the relatively easy possibility of bringing malicious intent to execution."

Recently, the version of “malicious intent” has been further developed. In particular, in the work of A. Elkin it is stated that at the Russud plant in Nikolaev, during the construction of the battleship Empress Maria, German agents operated, at the direction of which sabotage was committed on the ship. However, many questions arise. For example, why was there no sabotage on the Baltic battleships? After all, the eastern front was then the main one in the war of warring coalitions. In addition, the Baltic battleships entered service earlier, and the access regime for them was hardly more stringent when they left Kronstadt at the end of 1914 half-finished with a large number of factory workers on board. Yes, and the German spy agency in the capital of the empire, Petrograd, was more developed. What could give the destruction of one battleship in the Black Sea? Partially facilitate the actions of "Goeben" and "Breslau"? But by that time, the Bosphorus was reliably blocked by Russian minefields and the passage of German cruisers through it was considered unlikely. Therefore, the version of “malicious intent” cannot be considered definitively proven. The mystery of the “Empress Maria” is still waiting to be unraveled.

The death of the battleship "Empress Maria" caused a great resonance throughout the country. The Maritime Ministry began to develop urgent measures to raise the ship and put it into operation. The proposals of Italian and Japanese specialists were rejected due to the complexity and high cost. Then A. N. Krylov, in a note to the commission for considering projects for raising the battleship, proposed a simple and original method.

Alexey Nikolaevich Krylov

It provided for the battleship to be lifted up with a keel by gradually displacing water from the compartments with compressed air, entering the dock in this position and sealing all damage to the side and deck. Then it was proposed to bring the completely sealed ship to a deep place and turn it over, filling the compartments of the opposite side with water.

The ship engineer Sidensner, a senior shipbuilder of the Sevastopol port, undertook the execution of the project by A. N. Krylov. By the end of 1916, the water from all the stern compartments was squeezed out by air, and the stern floated to the surface. In 1917, the entire hull surfaced. In January-April 1918, the ship was towed closer to the shore and the remaining ammunition was unloaded. Only in August 1918, the port tugs "Vodoley", "Fit" and "Elizaveta" took the battleship to the dock.

The 130-mm artillery, part of the auxiliary mechanisms and other equipment were removed from the battleship, the ship itself remained in the dock in the keel up position until 1923. For more than four years, the wooden cages on which the hull rested rotted. Due to the redistribution of the load, cracks appeared in the sole of the dock. “Maria” was brought out and stranded at the exit from the bay, where she stood keel up for another three years. In 1926, the battleship's hull was again docked in the same position, and in 1927 it was finally dismantled.

at the dock

The work was carried out by EPRON.

When the battleship capsized during the catastrophe, the multi-ton turrets of the ship's 305-mm guns fell off the battle pins and sank. Shortly before the Great Patriotic War, these towers were raised by the Epronovites, and in 1939 the 305-mm battleship guns were installed near Sevastopol on the famous 30th battery, which was part of the 1st coastal defense artillery division.

The battery heroically defended Sevastopol, on June 17, 1942, during the last assault on the city, it fired at the fascist hordes that had broken through into the Belbek valley. Having used up all the shells, the battery fired blank charges, holding back the onslaught of the enemy until June 25.

latest battery protector

So, more than a quarter of a century after firing at the Kaiser cruisers Goeben and Breslau, the guns of the battleship Empress Maria spoke again, raining down 305-mm shells now on the Nazi troops.

Tactical and technical data of battleships of the type "Empress Maria"

Displacement:	standard 22600 tons, full 25450 tons.
Maximum length:	169.1 meters
Length according to design waterline:	168 meters
Maximum width:
Nose side height:	15.08 meters
Midship Height:	14.48 meters
Board height in the stern:	14.48 meters
Hull draft:
Power point:	8 steam turbines of 5333 hp each, 20 boilers, 4 FSH propellers, 2 rudders.
Electric power system:	alternating current 220 V, 50 Hz, 4 turbogenerators of 307 kW, 2 diesel generators of 307 kW.
Travel speed:	full 20.5 knots, maximum 21 knots, economic 12 knots.
cruising range:	2960 miles at 12 knots.
Autonomy:	10 days at 12 knots.
Seaworthiness:	no limits.
Armament:
artillery:	4x3 305mm turrets, 20x1 130mm guns, 5x1 75mm Kane guns.
torpedo:	4x1 450-mm underwater TA.

radio engineering:	2 radiotelegraph stations for 2 kW and 10 kW.
	1220 people (35 officers, 26 conductors).