The armored cruiser "Memory of Azov" is the successor to the heroic sailing battleship "Azov", which distinguished itself in the Navarino naval battle in the bay of the Ionian Sea. For this battle, he was awarded the St. George banner, which was transferred to the armored cruiser built at the B altic Shipyard in 1890. The first trip to the Far East on it was made by Tsarevich Nikolai - the future emperor.
Key Features
The cruiser "Memory of Azov" was designed in 1885 by the B altic Shipyard. His specification contained the main technical characteristics of the ship:
- Displacement - 6734 tons.
- The length of the cruiser at perpendiculars is 340 feet 10 inches.
- 377' 4" load line length.
- Width - 50 feet with skin.
- Total weight - 384 t.
- Armor belt across the entire waterline, thickness - 37mm, width - 6 feet, with a total weight of 714 tons.
Armament:
- Guns 8-inch, 35-caliber - 2 pieces.
- 6-inch, 35-caliber guns - 14 pieces.
At the B altic Shipyard on June 24, 1886, an official celebration of the laying of a new ship was held, which was attended by Alexander III. The launch of the cruiser was timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the completion of the construction of the boat of Peter I. It took place on 1888-20-05. The descent ceremony was attended by a team assigned to the cruiser, consisting of 197 sailors and 14 officers under the command of Captain 1st Rank N. Lomen.
Ship completion
According to the decision of Alexander III, the cruiser "Memory of Azov" was intended for the voyage to the Far East of Tsarevich Nicholas. After that, outfitting work was carried out on the warship. They consisted in giving elements of luxury to the premises in which the heir will travel.
Unprecedented beauty furniture, unique items of equipment were delivered here, sanitary and hygienic premises were finished with tiles on mastic. All this had a huge weight and weighed the ship up to 70 tons, which led the shipbuilders to despair, since the design was a struggle for every extra pood.
First voyage
The cruiser "Memory of Azov" 1890-23-08 set sail. From the B altic he had to go to the Black Sea to pick up the Tsarevich. When leaving the B altic, the ship ran into a powerful storm, which it withstood with honor. The Turks decided to close the Bosphorus in order not to letmilitary ship in the Black Sea. The Tsarevich had to go to Trieste, where a cruiser was waiting for him, the path of which lay to the Suez Canal.
Then the course of the ship went east to the island of Ceylon. After him, the course was India, where in the port of Bombay on 1890-19-10 he anchored. Here, according to the plan, they were supposed to stand for a month and a half, during which the heir could get acquainted with the sights. But they were delayed in Bombay until January 31, waiting for the approach of the cruiser Admiral Kornilov, which was supposed to pick up the brother of Tsarevich Georgy Alexandrovich, who fell ill with tuberculosis.
The armored cruiser returned to Ceylon, from where it passed through Singapore, Bangkok, Saigon, Shanghai, Nagasaki to the port of Vladivostok. Here the heir stepped off the ship. During the voyage, commander Lomen fell ill, who was replaced by Captain 1st Rank S. F. Bauer. The ship remained in Vladivostok, and the heir went by rail to St. Petersburg. This trip was marked by the production of two Easter eggs by Faberge. Inside them were miniature gold models of the cruiser "Memory of Azov".
The cruiser continued to serve in the Far East. His duties included the protection of the Russian coast. Under the command of a new commander, one of the most experienced naval officers, Captain 1st Rank P. G. Chukhnin, he makes a trip to Kronstadt, where he arrived in the summer of 1892. Until 1893, repairs are underway, after which the ship continues to serve in the Russian squadron in the Mediterranean Sea and is deployed in the Greek port of Piraeus.
Service in the Far East
In November 1894, the armored cruiser "Memory of Azov" was urgently sent to the Pacific coast, towing the mine cruisers "Gaydamak" and "Rider" in turn. Upon arrival in Japan, the Russian squadron, by order of the Japanese government, was divided into ports. In Nagasaki, the cruiser is with the ship "Vladimir Monomakh". Later, they are joined by the flagship "Emperor Nicholas I" under the command of the legendary Rear Admiral S. F. Makarov.
During the exercises, the mine cruiser "Vsadnik" rammed the cruiser "Memory of Azov", which suffered damage to the underwater part of the copper and wooden plating. This damage was repaired by a team of divers and engine room sailors. After the withdrawal of Japan's claims to the Liaodong Peninsula, the Russian squadron departed for Vladivostok. The ship has been serving in the Pacific for six years. In 1899 he returned to the B altic.
As part of the B altic Fleet
In the B altic, the cruiser "Memory of Azov" (the photo below was taken during this period) becomes the flagship of the training squadron and participates in demonstration maneuvers in 1901. The government decides to overhaul the ship in connection with its inclusion in the lists of the Pacific squadron, but due to the unfinished repair in the Russo-Japanese War, it does not participate.
Riot on the ship
The cruiser continued its service as the flagship of the training squadron. Students of artillery classes and various courses for junior ranks were trained here. In the turbulent times of 1906, the cruiser servedrevolutionary-minded sailors who raised an uprising on the ship, prepared by the Revel branch of the RSDLP. As a result, the former sailor of the battleship Potemkin quietly entered the ship, who was arrested, which started a mutiny. Having shot the officers calling to order, the lower ranks with the students seized the ship, urging the crews of the nearby ships to do the same.
Without receiving support from them, we decided to force them to do it by force with artillery shelling. During the mutiny, 7 officers and a conductor were killed, 6 officers and 2 conductors were wounded. The surviving officers on their own managed to reason with most of the students and, armed, repel the rebels, as a result of which they were arrested. 91 lower-ranking employees and 4 sailors were brought to trial, of which 17 people were shot.
The cruiser "Memory of Azov" received a new name - "Dvina". The former name was returned in March 1917. After a torpedo attack by the British on 1919-19-08, the cruiser received a hole and sank in the Kronstadt harbor.
