Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky

From SpottingWorld, the Hub for the SpottingWorld network...
40px
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
300px
Battleship Sissoi Veliky
in the Mediterranean, 1897
Career Russian Navy Ensign
Name: Sissoi Veliky
Builder: New Admiralty Shipyard, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Laid down: Template:OldStyleDateNY, 1891
Launched: Template:OldStyleDateNY, 1894
Completed: September 1896
Commissioned: Template:OldStyleDateNY, 1896
Fate: Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima,
10:05 Template:OldStyleDateNY 1905
General characteristics
Type: Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement: 10,400 long tons (10,567 t)
Length: 107.23 m (351 ft 10 in)
Beam: 20.73 m (68 ft 0 in)
Draught: 7.77 m (25 ft 6 in)
Propulsion: 2 shaft Reciprocating vertical triple expansion (VTE) steam engines
12 Belleville boilers
8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
1,000 tons coal
Speed: 15.7 knots (18.1 mph; 29.1 km/h)
Range: 2,800 nmi (5,200 km) at 10 knots (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Complement: 586
Armament: • 4 × 305 mm (12 in) guns (2×2)
• 6 × 152 mm (6 in) guns (1×6)
• 12 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns
• 18 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns
• 6 × 457 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:

• Belt: 6-14 in (152-406 mm)
• front bulkhead: 6-9 in (152-229 mm)
• rear bulkhead: 6-8 in (154-203 mm)
• conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)
• casemates: 5 in (127 mm)
• turret walls: 12 in (305 mm)
• turret domes: 2.5 in (63 mm)

• main gun elevators: 10 in (254 mm)

Sisoy Veliky (Russian: Сисой Великий) was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy, the fifth battleship built according to the 1881 shipbuilding program,[1] and the second Russian battleship built to a pre-dreadnought standard with four 12 inch (305 mm) guns in two armored turrets and 6 inch (152 mm) secondary artillery mounted in the casemates of her central citadel. She was named after the Battle of Hogland which coincided with the day of St. Sisoes the Great of Egypt in the Orthodox calendar.

Construction of Sisoy was marred by organizational, logistical and engineering problems and dragged for more than five years. Sisoy was commissioned in October 1896 with an appaling number of design and construction faults, and only a few of them were fixed during her life time. Immediately after sea trials Sisoy sailed to the Mediterranean to enforce naval blockade of Crete. On March 3, 1897 she suffered a devastating explosion of the aft gun turret that killed 21 men. After nine months in the docks of Toulon she sailed to the Far East to reinforce Russian presence in the area. In the summer of 1900 Sisoy supported the international campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in China. A landing company from Sisoy and Navarin reached the Embassy Row in Beijing and defended it from the mob for more than two months.[2]

In 1902 Sisoy returned to Kronstadt for repairs, and again very little had been done until the early losses of the Russo-Japanese War hastened formation of the Second Pacific Squadron. Sisoy sailed out to the Far East with the rest of the Baltic battleships and met her fate in the Battle of Tsushima. On Template:OldStyleDateNY 1905 she survived the daytime artillery duel with Admiral Togo's forces. The crew overcame the fire and prevented an explosion of ammunition magazines, but could not contain flooding. During the night the Japanese destroyers scored a torpedo hit against Sisoy. In the morning she lost propulsion and the crew surrendered to Japanese armed merchantmen. The abandoned ship sank at 10:05 Template:OldStyleDateNY.

Background

In 1881 a committee of admirals headed by Grand Duke Alexey drafted an ambitious program of rearming the Baltic Fleet with sixteen ocean-going battleships and thirten cruisers.[3] The man in charge of shipbuilding, Admiral Ivan Shestakov, saw little use in building uniform ship classes and regularly changed design and construction targets to match foreign novelties of the day.[4] In 1885 the program was reduced to nine battleships; the freed funds were reallocated to torpedo boats in response to German advances with these weapons.[4] The first ten years of the 1881 program were marked by indecision, bureaucracy and shortage of funds[4] and only three battleships were actually built (Alexander II, Nikolay I, Gangut).[5] These were relatively small and slow battleships, each with a single frontal barbette housing 12 ft (305 mm) guns (in case of Gangut, a single gun).[6]

The fourth battleship (the future Navarin) was planned as an even cheaper and smaller (6,400 tons) ship.[7] However, the superiority of the Brandenburg class battleships[8] laid down in Germany compelled the Imperial Navy to lift cost and size constraints and build a large battleship with two main gun turrets.[9] The Saint Petersburg Russian-French Society hastily proposed a draft based on the British Trafalgar class.[9] The Navy hesitated, and awarded the contract to the private company only when after a push from Alexander III.[9] Navarin, laid down in July 1889 and launched in 1891, set the standard configuration for all Russian pre-dreadnought battleships[9] but in 1890, when the Navy discussed plans for the fifth battleship, the future was uncertain.[10] The admirals were still discussing whether the Navy should concentrate on large battleships, smaller coastal defence ships or on the ocean-going cruisers.[10]

Design

300px 300px
1891 draft with barbettes
Post-1893 draft with turrets

In September 1890 the Naval Technical Committee (MTK) rolled out a proposal for a medium-size (8,500 tons, 331 ft (101 m) long) battleship armed with three 12 ft (305 mm) barbette-mounted guns.[10] Codenamed Gangut No. 2, it attempted to blend the hull of Alexander II and the armament of Navarin in a tightly budgeted, compromised design.[10] None of the admirals who reviewed the proposal was satisfied with it, and the MTK was overwhelmed with a flurry of contradicting suggestions.[11] In March 1891 the MTK presented a revised proposal that increased displacement to 8,880 tons, length overall to 352 ft (107.24 m).[12]

According to the 1891 draft, the hull of Gangut No. 2 should have had double side walls in the middle section and double bottom running the whole length of the keel.[12] The space between double walls was divided into 15 watertight transverse section.[12] Inside the inner walls the ship had ten watertight transverse bulkheads of varying height and two longitudinal bulkheads.[12] The spaces between longitudinal bulkheads and inner side walls, 6 to 8 ft wide, served as coal bunkers.[12] The ship's armor had to be assembled of compound plates.[12] The main belt armor reached 14 in (406 mm) in thickness and extended 227 ft (69 m) in length and 7.25 ft (2.19 m) in height, including 4 ft (1.22 m) below water line.[13]

The four main guns were to be mounted in two barbettes covered with 2.5 in (63 mm) thick armored cupolas.[13] The choice of secondary armament caused another round of debate.[13] The MTK initially proposed a combination of Russian model 1877 6-inch guns and Armstrong 4.7-inch guns.[13] Admirals Stepan Makarov and Vladimir Verkhovsky advised against the use of dual calibres, and against using the obsolete 1877 guns.[13] The MTK did just the opposite, dumping fairly recent Armstrong's guns in favor of the 1877 model.[13]

Like many Russian ships before and after it, Sisoy was plagued by regular "improvements" of the original drafts that delayed construction for years.[14] In the beginning of 1893 the MTK again redesigned Sisoy's artillery.[15] The main guns were now placed in Navarin-style turrets with 12 in (305 mm) side armor and 2.5 in (63 mm) thick top plate.[15] The secondary armament was redesigned in favor of 6 in (152 mm), 45-caliber Canet guns, which were becoming the mainstay of the Imperial Navy.[15] Alterations of ammunition elevators to accommodate the larger rounds for Canet guns began only in December 1895.[15] Small artillery was changed more than once and in the end consisted of twelve 47-mm Hotchkiss guns, ten 37-mm Hotchkiss guns and two 63-mm Baranovsky guns.[15]

Construction

File:Sisoy in New Admiralty shed.jpg
Construction of Sisoy Veliky in the New Admiralty shed.

The MTK rushed Gangut No. 2 into production and, contrary to established practice, ordered structural steel and armor before the project was properly authorized.[16] The ship was laid down on Template:OldStyleDateNY, 1891 in the wooden shed of the New Admiralty, Saint Petersburg (59°55′46.7″N 30°16′45.9″E / 59.929639°N 30.279417°E / 59.929639; 30.279417[17]).[16] On Template:OldStyleDateDY she was officially named Sysoy Veliky to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Hogland which coincided with the day of St. Sisoes the Great of Egypt in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar. Construction was managed by shipwright V. V. Maksimov, and supervised by Admiral Verkhovsky, chief of the Port of Saint Petersburg.[16]

Project management was flawed from the start: bow ram, rudder frame and driveshaft housings were not ordered in time, and the late discovery of this omission substantially delayed work progress.[18] Verkhovsky, having no time to place orders with reliable foreign suppliers, contracted the job to local plants already known for poor work discipline and already loaded with other Navy jobs.[19] The economy of Saint Petersburg area could not sustain even the modest rate of naval rearmament that the government was willing to finance.[14] In April 1893 minor grievances evolved in a full-scale conflict between Verkhovsky and the board of Alexandrovsky Steel Works: a ridiculous charge of 25 roubles nearly brought the work to a full stop.[18] The savvy admiral always blamed the suppliers but did not even attempt to fix the disarray in his own office.[18]

Nevertheless, in April 1894 the completed hull passed static pressure tests.[20] It was launched Template:OldStyleDateNY 1894 during a fleet review attended by Nicholas II of Russia.[20] The triple expansion engines made by Baltic Shipyard were installed in 1895 and tested in the spring of 1896.[21] Commissioning of Sisoy was scheduled for September 1896, but an examination in August revealed that the rudder controls, water pumps, ventilation system and one of the turrets were still missing or defective.[22] The builders hastily equipped Sisoy with rudder controls built for Poltava and delivered the ship for sea trials on Template:OldStyleDateNY, 1896.[22] On Template:OldStyleDateNY she successfully passed the five-hour official trials, making 15.65 knots at 8,635 indicated horsepowers.[22] The Navy desperately needed Sisoy in the Mediterranean and she was commissioned regardless of known faults.[22]

Service

Mediterranean

File:Sisoy Veliky explosion damage 1897 turrets.jpg
Damage to aft 12-inch turret, March 1897.
Further information: Greco-Turkish War (1897)

Immediately after the trials Sisoy was ordered to join the Mediterranean Squadron which was engaged in the naval blockade of Crete in the wake of the 1896 Cretan riots and the Hamidian massacres. The solo maiden voyage revealed more problems with the ship's systems.[23] The lack of ventilation in the steering compartment was so appaling that during the first port call the captain purchased electric fans with his personal money.[23] The copper rings for sealing the portholes during the battle were left in Kronstandt and not found until February 1897.[23] The electrical systems failed one by one before reaching Gibraltar.[24]

On Template:OldStyleDateNY, 1896 the leaking Sisoy reached Algiers.[24] The captain planned to stay there for at least 20 days to complete the most urgent repairs but five days later a telegram from Saint Petersburg forced him to leave for Piraeus.[24] There, the crew hastily managed to seal the seams between armor plates and revive the electrical systems.[24] In February 1897 Sisoy sailed out for Crete. In the end of February she had her first gunnery exercise ten miles off the shore of Souda Bay, Crete.[24] The second exercise held on Template:OldStyleDateNY ended in a disaster. After an hour of target practice the rear turret exploded, killing 16[25] men instantly.[24] Six of the wounded seamen, including the turret commander, died shortly afterwards.[26] The top armor plate, ripped off by the explosion, smashed against the rear bridge and destroyed control instruments and a powered lifeboat.[27] Crippled Sisoy headed to Toulon for repairs.[26]

Investigation revealed both mechanical and organizational causes of the accident. The chain of events, as it was reconstructed in Toulon, started with a failure of the hydraulic breech locking action.[28] The turret crew disabled the hydraulics and resorted to manual breech operation.[28] The gunner responsible for closing and locking the breech had not properly locked the left gun.[29] The turret commander, ultimately responsible for checking the breech before firing, was too busy with calculating the firing solution and training the gun.[30] He delegated the checkup routine to an enlisted man, but this gunner had to attend his own station and was physically unable to look after the breech lock.[30] The panel dropped the charges against the captain and recommended introduction of mechanical fail-safe interlocks that prevent firing action until the breech is properly locked.[30] These interlocks were made standard in the following decade although, as demonstrated by the 1978 explosion on Admiral Senyavin, failsafe mechanics cannot completely rule out lack of common sense among the gunners.[31]

Repairs of Sisoy were contracted to Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée.[26] The French engineers openly ridiculed the quality of Russian workmanship manifested in a 1.5 inch wide open seam in belt armor that ran for the whole length of the ship.[30] The Russian investigators reported a horrifying number of less obvious faults and deemed the ship unfit for sailing.[30] The internal decks of artillery casemates were particularly dangerous: 152-mm shells easily fell through the cracks and wholes in the deck.[30] The Saint Petersburg brass dismissed these concerns, arguing that the gap between armor plates was an inevitable feature of the design, and that the decks and other faults could be fixed by the crew "in spare time".[32] The decks were never properly repaired and contributed to the loss of Sisoy in the Battle of Tsushima.[32]

Far East

File:SisoyVelikiy1892-1905Port-Artur.jpg
Sisoy Veliky in Far Eastern paint scheme. Port Arthur, 1899 to 1901.
Further information: Boxer Rebellion

After nine months in the docks of Toulon Sisoy was assigned to Admiral Dubasov's Far Eastern Squadron (Navarin, Sisoy, Rossiya and Monomakh) and headed to China.[33] The British, alerted by the sudden movement of Russian battleships, dispatched HMS Victorious to shadow her voyage.[33] Sisoy, assisted by a flotilla of tugs, barely passed the shallow entrance to the Suez Canal; Victorious ran aground near Port Said and abandoned pursuit.[33] Aside from this incident the eastbound voyage was uneventful, and Sisoy safely reached Port Arthur on March 16, 1898.[33]

In the summer of 1898 Sisoy sailed to Nagasaki for repairs and returned to its new base in Vladivostok where she stayed for the rest of 1898 and 1899.[34] In April 1900 the fleet sailed to Port Arthur for a massive landing exercise intended to cool down the Chinese insurgents.[34] The warning was not heeded, and the Boxer Rebellion intensified, compelling the imperial authorities to intervene.[35] On Template:OldStyleDateNY 1900 the viceroy of Far East Admiral Alekseyev dispatched the Pacific Fleet from Port Arthur to Taku Forts.[35] Sisoy, Petropavlovk, Dmitry Donskoy and a host of other European ships blocked the mouth of the Hai River, the smaller gunboats moved up the river to protect infantry landing which commenced on Template:OldStyleDateNY.[35] The incursion provoked the Boxer siege of Beijing;[35] the Russians responded with sending a company of enlisted men from Sisoy and Navarin[36] to defend the embassy in Beijing.[37]

The company reached the city without meeting any opposition and at first it seemed that the European troops in Beijing will easily defend the Embassy Row from the disorganized mob.[37] On Template:OldStyleDateNY the rebels received reinforcements from the regular Chinese army and in the afternoon of Template:OldStyleDateNY they waged the first massive assault of all diplomatic missions.[37] One month later the Chinese managed to burn down the Austrian, Dutch and Italian legations.[38] The sailors stood their ground shoulder-to-shoulder with American and French marines until the arrival of reinforcements on Template:OldStyleDateNY.[38] In seven weeks of the siege three men from Sisoy were killed in action and one died of disease, twelve were wounded.[38]

Sisoy remained in the Far East for another year; in December 1901 accumulation of mechanical troubles that could not be fixed in Far Eastern docks compelled the fleet commander to send her back to the Baltic.[38] Sisoy returned to Libau via Nagasaki, Hong Kong and Suez in April 1902.[39]

The last voyage

File:Sisoy Veliky Reval 1904.jpg
Nicholas II on the deck of Sisoy Veliky prior to its departure to the Far East.
Further information: Russo-Japanese War

In May 1902 Sisoy attended a fleet review honouring the state visit of President of France Émile Loubet.[39] In June she moved into a drydock in Kronstadt. All available financing was diverted to the completion of the Borodino class battleships and the new cruisers, and repairs of Sisoy proceeded at a slow pace.[39] She had her artillery, boilers and ventilation system replaced, but once again it turned out that the repairs were poorly done and needed a thorough rework.[39]

The Russo-Japanese War broke out in the Pacific on Template:OldStyleDateNY. In March 1904 the Navy assigned Sisoy to the Second Pacific Squadron departing to the Pacific with Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky in command.[40] Despite the urgency, calls to speed up repairs of Sisoy and completion of the new ships were stonewalled by the Ministry of the Navy until the shocking loss of Petropavlovsk on Template:OldStyleDateNY.[41] Admiral Birilev, the new Governor of Kronstadt, hastened the repairs by striking out "unnecessary" jobs.[41] Sisoy went into action with new rangefinders, searchlights and small calibre guns but her rotten internal decks were never mended.[41] Manuil Ozerov, the captain of Sisoy, expressed concern about her stability, but on at least three occasions Birilev suppressed his reports, arguing that past experience is sufficient proof of Sisoy's seaworthiness.[42]

Template:OldStyleDateNY the Second Pacific Squadron sailed from Saint Peterburg to Reval were it wasted nearly a whole month in preparation to a fleet review.[43] Tsar Nicholas II personally visited each battleship and harangued the crews in anticipation of a victory over Japan.[44] On Template:OldStyleDateNY the squadron left the last home port, Libau, and sailed to Tangier.[45] Here, Rozhestvensky split his forces.[45] The battleship core continued their way across the Cape of Good Hope, the cruisers and transports were ordered to rendezvous with Black Sea Fleet ships in Souda Bay and then take the short route via the Suez Canal.[45][46] Rozhestvensky planned to keep Sisoy and Navarin with the main force, but suddenly assigned them to Nebogatov's cruiser squadron.[45] Sisoy, for the second and last time in her life, safely crossed the canal and reunited with Rozhestvesky's fleet at Nosy Be, Madagascar.[45] Rozhestvensky stayed there for two months, perfecting the gunnery drill. Despite regular exercise, the gunners of the new Borodino class ships could not match the level of Sisoy and other old ships.[45] The voyage from Madagascar to Cam Ranh took 28 days at an average speed of 7 knots, and again Sisoy's mechanical problems showed up, slowing down the squadron.[47] In less than a month she suffered twelve failures of boiler tubes and heat exchangers,[47] steering failed four times.[48]

Tsushima

File:Sisoy Veliky 2nd squadron 1905.jpg
2nd Pacific Squadron (Sisoy on the left) heading to Tsushima.
Further information: Battle of Tsushima

Template:OldStyleDateNY, 1905 the squadron left the Vietnamese harbor for the last leg of its journey to Tsushima.[49] Sisoy was sailing in the left column of the Russian order of battle, second in line after junior flagship Oslyabya.[49] At 13:15 Template:OldStyleDateNY the Russians sighted the Japanese fleet.[49] 24 minutes later Sisoy opened fire simultaneously with flagship Suvorov.[49] Sisoy started firing at Kasuga and Nisshin and soon engaged Iwate, hitting her with a single 12-inch shell.[49]

At 14:40 a heavy shell exploded next to Sisoy′s bow, damaging the bow torpedo tube. Shortly after it a 12-inch and a 6-inch shell hit the belt armor near the water line, causing a local flooding in the front compartments.[50] In the following hour Sisoy was hit by one 12-inch, three 8-inch and three 6-inch shells which disabled fore turret hydraulics, set the casemates on fire and at the same time severed the firefighting water pipes.[51] The worst hit occurred at 15:15, when an 8-inch shell exploded inside the central casemate and killed or disabled most of the port side gunners. The fire spread down to 6-inch ammunition storage, which was promptly flooded. Both surgeons were incapacitated by poisonous fumes when the fire reached Sisoy's infirmary, and for the rest of the battle the wounded of Sisoy were deprived of medical help.[52]

At 15:40 Ozerov steered the burning Sisoy away from the line of fire and joined the Russian cruiser formation.[51] By 17:00 the crew overcame fire and Sisoy returned into action, heavily listing to port.[51] She took her place in line behind Navarin at the moment when the Japanese battleships ceased fire and the Russians hoped to leave the battlefield without further casualties.[53]

File:Captives from Sisoy in Sasebo.jpg
Survivors of Sisoy in Sasebo Naval Hospital

One hour later Admiral Kamimura re-established contact and engaged the fleeing Russians.[53] Russian ships were knocked out one by one; Sisoy survived this phase of the battle unharmed. After sunset Sisoy joined the group of survivors assembled by Nebogatov but was unable to keep pace with Nebogatov's flagship Nikolay I.[53] Sisoy and Navarin fell back, supporting Ushakov with gunfire.[54] At 19:30 Sisoy sighted the Japanese torpedo destroyers fanning out for a target run.[55]

It was the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla under command of Kantarō Suzuki, which had already sunk Navarin and Suvorov.[56] The swarm attacked at close range (under 600 yards), in apparently uncoordinated but lethal waves.[57] Sisoy repelled the first (19:45) and the second (22:30) waves; the third one scored a torpedo hit at 23:15[55] and damaged rudder and propellers.[58][59] Sisoy could still be steered with her engines, but flooding intensified and by 3:15 of Template:OldStyleDateNY the bow submerged to the point where forward movement was no longer possible.[55] Ozerov realized that Sisoy could not make it to Vladivostok;[60] he reversed the engines and headed crabwise to Tsushima Island, hoping to beach the crippled ship.[55]

By 6 a.m flooding forced Ozerov to shut down the engines.[60] The crippled Monomakh passed by Sisoy, unable to offer any help.[60] At 7:20 Japanese armed merchantmen Shinano Maru, Dainan Maru and Yavata Maru converged at the stationary ship.[61] When they came within 6,000 meters from Sisoy Ozerov signalled: "I am sinking. I am asking for assistance."[62] The Japanese responded with a straightforward question, "Do you surrender?"[62] Ozerov hoisted the white flag.[62] At 8:15 the Japanese boarding party of one officer and 31 enlisted man boarded Sisoy and raised the flag of Japan but failed to hoist down the Russian flag.[55] The Japanese attempted to tow their prize to safety, but soon realized that Sisoy was doomed.[55] They moved the Russian prisoners onto their ships and hoisted down the flag of Japan.[55] At 10:05 Sisoy capsized and sank, still bearing the Russian flag.[55]

Sisoy had lost 59 men killed in action and 66 were wounded. The Japanese captured 42 commissioned and warrant officers and 571 enlisted men.[62] A few more men, including surgeons Vladimir Podobedov and Konstantin Kalyevich, died on board the Shinano Maru.[52] The survivors were brought to Sasebo, around thirty wounded were treated in Sasebo Naval Hospital.[52] They returned to Russia in the end of 1905 - beginning of 1906.[52] 118 enlisted men were awarded the Cross of St. George, captain Ozerov was awarded Swords to the Order of St. Vladimir[52]. He retired as a Rear admiral in 1909.

Commons-logo.svg
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
[[Commons: Category:Battleship Sisoy Velikiy

| Battleship Sisoy Velikiy

]]

Notes

  1. ↑ Fifth, including Gangut which is usually classified as a coastal defence ship rather than a true battleship. Fourth, if Gangut is excluded.
  2. ↑ May 18 to July 23, 1900 - Bogdanov, p. 29.
  3. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 5.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Bogdanov, p. 6.
  5. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 7.
  6. ↑ Gangut was ridiculed by the officers: "One mast, one funnel, one gun. One [big] misconception." (Russian: "Одна мачта, одна труба, одна пушка. Одно недоразумение.") - Bogdanov, p. 7.
  7. ↑ Bogdanov, pp. 7-8.
  8. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 8, uses synonymous Russian designation: Worth class battleships, after SMS Wörth.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Bogdanov, p. 8.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Bogdanov, p. 11.
  11. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 12.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Bogdanov, p. 14.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Bogdanov, p. 15.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Bogdanov, p. 41.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Bogdanov, p. 40.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Bogdanov, p. 16.
  17. ↑ Bogdanov, drawing 24 depicting the 1897 launch ceremony. The Sisoy stood on the westernmost slipway, with Poltava and Senyavin to the east.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Bogdanov, p. 17.
  19. ↑ In 1893-1895 Saint Petersburg yards were building five battleships and dozens of torpedo destroyers and gunboats - Bogdanov, p. 41.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Bogdanov, p. 42.
  21. ↑ Bogdanov, pp. 43-44.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Bogdanov, p. 44.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Bogdanov, p. 45.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 Bogdanov, p. 47.
  25. ↑ Fifteen Russian enlisted men and one hired French civilian - Bogdanov, p. 48
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Bogdanov, p. 48.
  27. ↑ Bogdanov, pp. 47-48.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Bogdanov, p. 49.
  29. ↑ Bogdanov, pp. 49-50.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 Bogdanov, p. 50.
  31. ↑ During a gunnery practice held on June 13, 1978 one of 152-millimeter guns of Senyavin did not fire. Mechanical interlocks promptly locked the breech, prohibiting opening it with the powder charge still loaded. However, the gunners manually defeated the safety, forced the breech open and engaged the gun hydraulics, sending another shell into the already loaded breech. The resulting explosion killed 37 men. - Shirokorad, p. 186.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Bogdanov, p. 51.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Bogdanov, p. 52.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Bogdanov, p. 53.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Bogdanov, p. 55.
  36. ↑ According to Bogdanov, p. 59, the landing party also included one man from Razboynik.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Bogdanov, p. 59.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 Bogdanov, p. 60.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 Bogdanov, p. 62.
  40. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 64.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 Bogdanov, p. 66.
  42. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 67.
  43. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 68.
  44. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 69.
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 45.4 45.5 Bogdanov, p. 71.
  46. ↑ Corbett, p. 39.
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Bogdanov, p. 72.
  48. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 73.
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 Bogdanov, p. 74.
  50. ↑ Bogdanov, pp. 74-75.
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 Bogdanov, p. 75.
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 52.3 52.4 Gladkih.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 Bogdanov, p. 76.
  54. ↑ Corbett, p. 299.
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 55.3 55.4 55.5 55.6 55.7 Bogdanov, p. 77.
  56. ↑ Evans and Peattie, p. 122.
  57. ↑ Wilmott, p. 117: "what was a series of uncoordinated, ad hoc attacks that in some measure owed their efficiency precisely to that fact".
  58. ↑ Wilmott, p. 117.
  59. ↑ Corbett, p. 305: "taken her aft and entirely wrecked her rudder".
  60. ↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 Corbett, p. 305.
  61. ↑ Bogdanov, p. 77; Corbett, p. 307. Yawato soon left to pursue Monomakh - Corbett, p. 308.
  62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 Corbett, p. 308.

References

fr:Grand Sissoï ja:シソイ・ヴェリキィー (海防戦艦) ru:Сисой Великий (броненосец)

Retrieved from "https://ship.spottingworld.com/wiki/index.php?title=Russian_battleship_Sissoi_Veliky&oldid=8483"