The Borodino-class battleships were a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy around the end of the 19th century. Their design was based on that of the French-built modified to use Russian equipment. The first four ships were finished after the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and were among the ships ordered to sail from the Baltic Sea to the Far East to relieve the Pacific Squadron besieged by the Japanese in Port Arthur. Three of these ships were sunk and one was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. The fifth and final ship, , was not completed in time to participate in the war and served with the Baltic Fleet through World War I.
Design and description
Tsar Nicholas II had desired a warm-water port on the Pacific since his accession to the throne in 1894. He achieved this ambition in March 1898 when Russia signed a 25-year lease for Port Arthur and the Liaotung Peninsula with China. Japan had previously forced China to sign over the port and its surrounding territory as part of the treaty that concluded the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, but the Triple Intervention of France, Russia, and Germany forced them to return the port in exchange for a sizeable increase in the indemnity paid by the Chinese. Japan invested much of the indemnity money in expanding its fleet, while Russia began a major building programme ("For the Needs of the Far East") to defend its newly acquired port that included the Borodino-class battleships.McLaughlin, pp. 100–103
The Borodinos were the most numerous class of battleships ever built by Russia. Although they were intended to be near duplicates of Tsesarevich, as soon as the contracts were signed, it became clear that they would be quite different from the French-built ship. The basic problem facing the navy was that the Borodinos would have heavier engines and larger turrets which would require a designer to build a ship which had the same speed, draft, guns and armor as Tsesarevich, but a greater displacement. The new design was drawn up by D. V. Skvortsov of the Naval Technical Committee (NTC). He completed his new design in July/August 1898, one month after the original contract had been signed. The new concept was roughly tons heavier and slightly larger and wider than the Tsesarevich.McLaughlin, p. 137
As might be expected, the Borodinos greatly resembled Tsesarevich, although Skvortsov added two more casemates, each containing four guns, one at the bow and the other aft. These guns were added to the already existing dozen 75 mm guns emplaced along the sides above the armor belt. This caused the tumblehome used on the rest of the hull to be deleted over the twelve guns and flat-sided armor was used in its place. Thus the five Borodino-class battleships had tumblehome hulls only fore and aft of their 75 mm guns emplaced along their sides.McLaughlin, p. 138 The centreline bulkhead between the engine and boiler rooms caused a danger of capsizing if one side flooded and the narrow belt armor became submerged when overloaded. As such, naval historian Antony Preston regarded these as some of the worst battleships ever built.Preston 2002, pp. 50, 55
The ships were long at the waterline and long overall, with a beam of and a draft of , more than designed. Their normal displacement ranged from , more than their designed displacement of . They were designed for a crew of 28 officers and 754 enlisted men,McLaughlin, p. 136 although carried 928 crewmen during the Battle of Tsushima.Campbell 1978, p. 187
The Borodino-class ships were powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam generated by 20 Belleville boilers. The engines were designed to reach a top speed of . The lead ship, Borodino, was fitted with a copy of the La Seyne machinery installed in Tsesarvich and built by the Franco-Russian Works. The remaining four Borodinos were supplied with machinery designed and built by the Baltic Works. Borodinos engines were rated at and its boilers had a working pressure of ; the machinery of her sisters was rated at and their boilers had a working pressure of . Other differences were that Borodino was equipped with economisers for her boilers as well as three-bladed screws, while her sisters lacked economisers and had four-bladed propellers.McLaughlin, pp. 137, 144
Because the ships were being prepared to go to the Far East shortly after completion, they conducted only abbreviated sea trials. Only reached her designed speed during these trials, despite her engines producing only . The engines of her sisters produced more power, but they were slower during their trials. At deep load they carried of coal that provided them a range of at a speed of . The ships were fitted with six steam-driven generators with a total capacity of .
Armament and fire control The main armament of the Borodino class consisted of two pairs of 40-caliber 12-inch guns mounted in French-style, electrically powered, twin-gun turrets fore and aft. The turrets had a maximum elevation of +15° and 60 rounds per gun were carried. The guns fired one shell every 90–132 seconds.Forczyk, p. 29 They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of Friedman, pp. 251–252 to a range of at maximum elevation.Forczyk, p. 28`
The secondary armament of the ships consisted of a dozen 45-caliber Canet Model 1891 (QF) guns mounted in six electrically powered twin-gun turrets on the upper deck. The turrets had a maximum elevation of +15° arc of fire and the center turrets could cover 180°. Each six-inch gun was provided with 180 rounds. Their rate of fire was about 2–4 rounds per minute.Forczyk, p. 30 They fired shells that weighed with a muzzle velocity of .Friedman, pp. 260–261 They had a maximum range of approximately .
A number of smaller guns were carried for defense against torpedo boats. These included twenty 50-calibre Canet QF guns mounted in hull embrasures. The ships carried 300 shells for each gun. They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of to a maximum range of at an elevation of +13°.Friedman, p. 264 The Borodino-class ships also mounted sixteen or eighteen Hotchkiss guns in the superstructure.McLaughlin, p. 142 They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of Smigielski, p. 160 at a rate of around 15 rounds per minute.
The ships carried four torpedo tubes, two of which were mounted above water in the bow and stern while the two broadside underwater tubes were located near the forward 12-inch magazine. Four torpedoes were carried for the above-water tubes and six for the submerged tubes. They also carried 50 mines to be laid to protect their anchorage in remote areas.
The Borodino class were originally fitted with Liuzhol stadiametric rangefinders that used the angle between two vertical points on an enemy ship, usually the waterline and the crow's nest, to estimate the range. The gunnery officer consulted his references to get the range and calculated the proper elevation and deflection required to hit the target. He then transmitted his commands via a Geisler electro-mechanical fire-control transmission system to each gun or turret. While fitting out, these rangefinders were replaced on the first four ships by two Barr and Stroud coincidence rangefinders that used two images that had to be superimposed to derive the range. Perepelkin telescopic sights were also installed for their guns, but their crews were not trained in how to use them.Forczyk, pp. 27–28, 57
The waterline armor belt of the Borodinos consisted of Krupp armor and was thick. The armor of their gun turrets had a maximum thickness of and their deck ranged from in thickness. The armored lower deck curved downwards and formed an anti-torpedo bulkhead.McLaughlin, pp. 136–137
Ships + Construction data Ship Namesake Builder Cost Laid down Launched Entered service FateMcLaughlin, pp. 145–146 (Бородино) Battle of BorodinoSilverstone, p. 373 New Admiralty Shipyard, Saint Petersburg 14.572 million rubles 23 May 1900 8 September 1901 August 1904Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 27 May 1905 (Император Александр III) Tsar Alexander III of RussiaSilverstone, p. 376Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg 13.979 million rubles 3 August 1902 November 1903 (Князь Суворов)Alexander SuvorovSilverstone, p. 378 13.841 million rubles 8 September 1901 25 September 1902 September 1904 (Орёл) EagleSilverstone, p. 380 Galernyi Island Shipyard, Saint Petersburg 13.404 million rubles 1 June 1900 19 July 1902 October 1904 Surrendered at the Battle of Tsushima, 28 May 1905, renamed Iwami by the Japanese, and scrapped or sunk as target, 1924–1925 (Слава) GlorySilverstone, p. 385 Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg 13.841 million rubles 1 November 1902 29 August 1903 October 1905 Scuttled during the Battle of Moon Sound, 17 October 1917
Service history On 15 October 1904, Knyaz Suvorov, flagship of Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, commander of the 2nd Pacific Squadron, and the other three Borodino-class battleships set sail for Port Arthur from Libau along with the other vessels of the squadron.Forczyk, p. 9 Rozhestvensky had received numerous reports of Japanese agents and torpedo boats disguised as fishing vessels before sailing and he ordered maximum alertness after coaling at Skagen, Denmark on 7 October. Early on the evening of the following day, when the squadron was near the Dogger Bank, the auxiliary repair ship Kamchatka reported that she was under attack by torpedo boats in the rain. About four hours later, the squadron encountered British fishing trawlers working the Dogger Bank in the fog and opened fire on them at very short range.Pleshakov, pp. 91–97 One trawler was sunk and at least three others were damaged; several fishermen were killed and others wounded.Hough, pp. 42–44 The battleships also fired upon and damaged the cruisers and in the confusion. The incident enraged the British population and caused a diplomatic incident with the British that nearly led to war until Russia apologized and agreed to pay reparations on 29 October.Pleshakov, pp. 98–109
Rozhestvensky led his ships down the Atlantic coast of Africa, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and reached the island of Nosy Be off the north-west coast of Madagascar on 9 January 1905 where they remained for two months while Rozhestvensky finalized his coaling arrangements. During this time, he learned of the capture of Port Arthur and changed his destination to Vladivostok, the only other port controlled by the Russians in the Far East. The squadron sailed for Camranh Bay, French Indochina, on 16 March and reached it almost a month later to await the obsolete ships of the 3rd Pacific Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov. The latter ships reached Camranh Bay on 9 May and the combined force sailed for Vladivostok on 14 May. While exact figures are not available, it is probable that the ships were approximately overweight as they were overloaded with coal and other supplies; all of which was stored high in the ships and reduced their stability. The extra weight also submerged their waterline armor belt and left only about of the upper armor belt above the waterline.McLaughlin, pp. 141, 167
Battle of Tsushima