Armored decked lightning. Cruiser II rank "Novik". New commander
Almost the first thing that S.O. Makarov, taking command of the squadron - the organization of almost daily exits of the destroyers in the night patrols. It was a difficult decision, given that the 24 of the destroyers at that time were fully operational only 6, and two more, although they could go to sea, but had problems of mechanisms. But…
The problem was that the Japanese, so to speak, became completely impudent. The two strongest Russian battleships and, albeit imperfect, but still the first-ranking armored cruiser, were disabled: in this state, the Pacific squadron could not give the United the fleet general battle with the hope of success. The Russian fleet could not gain dominance at sea and, reluctantly, could be reconciled for some time, but it was impossible to put up with the fact that the Japanese managed to manage the outer raid of Port Arthur at night. What this led to, we well know - as a result of a night mine setting by the Japanese, Petropavlovsk and S.O. Makarov, and during the command of V.K. Witgeft at the very first exit of the squadron at sea, while anchoring in the outer raid, the battleship Sevastopol was blown up by a mine. It was already bad that the ships of the squadron left the outer raid, having failed to defend it, now the release of armadillos was possible only in the "big water" and took a lot of time. But under V.K. Witgeft Port Arthur’s outer raid generally represented, so to speak, the central mine position of the Japanese. Russian ships were locked in their own harbor, and despite all the efforts of the marshalling caravan, any exit from the internal raid was fraught with grave losses.
"Novik" in combat painting
In other words, the struggle for the sea should not be put off until Retvizan, Tsesarevich and Pallas returned to service. It had to start right now, with regaining control over the water area at Port Arthur: in no case could the Japanese forces be allowed to operate regularly at the main fleet base. The solution of this problem was also beneficial because in the event of military clashes and damage to the Russian ships, the port and repair facilities were in close proximity, but the damaged Japanese ships would have to go hundreds of miles to their bases, which for small-sized destroyers could be fraught.
Stepan Osipovich Makarov understood all this well. Surely, he also realized that such warfare could give our destroyers invaluable combat experience, which was more safe and easier to get in close proximity to its own base than in any other way. And therefore, already on February 25, the day after arrival, he sent two destroyers, “Decisive” and “Tracking”, to the night watch. C.O. Makarov assumed that the Japanese destroyers were operating from some kind of “jump airfield”, and therefore sent the destroyers to reconnoitre, in order to identify the Japanese mine-carrying base in the 90 region miles from Port Arthur. At the same time, the "Resolute" and "the Watchful One" were instructed to attack the cruisers or transports of the Japanese, if they met, but to avoid a battle with the enemy destroyers without the utmost need.
Further events are well known - “Decisive” and “Watchful” saw a large enemy ship at Dalinsky Bay and tried to attack it, but being unmasked by torches firing from the pipes, they were discovered by Japanese destroyers, and, as a result, could not get into the attack. Both Russian ships returned to Port Arthur at dawn, but were intercepted by the 3 fighter squadron - they had nothing left but to accept the battle, in which the “Resolute” managed to break through under the protection of the coastal batteries of Port Arthur, and “Watching Died heroically.
We will not now dwell on the circumstances of the last battle of the courageous crew of this ship: when S.O. Makarov learned the circumstances of the case, he immediately went to the sea to the rescue of the “guarding”, holding the flag on Novik, followed by the “Bayan”. Alas, the battle took place at a distance of about 10 miles from Port Arthur and the Russian cruisers did not have time - by the time they arrived at the scene of the action, they could no longer help the heroic destroyer.
Of course, the Russian cruisers bombarded the Japanese destroyers. But the fire from a long distance was not effective, and the Japanese, taking advantage of the speed, quickly retreated, but they could not be pursued - on the horizon appeared the main forces of H. Togo, who were going to bomb Port Arthur. So the cruisers had no choice but to return.
Lieutenant N. Cherkasov, who was on the Golden Mount and was watching the “guarding” battle, believed that the Japanese cruisers almost cut off the Novik, coming between him and Port Arthur, and the latter managed to escape only because of their excellent speed, but the Japanese do not confirm. In their official historiography, the Japanese point out that they sent the 4 battle group Sotokichi Uriu to the battlefield of the destroyers as part of Naniwa, Takachiho, Niytaki and Tsushima, and this was done even before the Russian cruisers appeared . But 4-th combat squad did not have time, and approached the battlefield only when the battle was already over, and the destroyer "Carp" tried to tow the "guard". Finding that Russian cruisers were approaching the Japanese destroyers, S. Uriu rushed to their aid, but saw that the Southers had abandoned the sinking Russian destroyer and was leaving at full speed. Now the Japanese destroyers were not threatened, and the 4 combat detachment did not join the battle and turned away, stopping the rapprochement.
Thus, this time, the Novik did not succeed, but, regardless of the actual results achieved, Stepan Osipovich’s exit on a small cruiser had great moral significance for the entire squadron. Recall the description of this episode in Vl. Semenova:
—- Did the admiral himself go to this “adventure”? - the question is alive all interested and quite natural.
The officers gathered on the bridge intensively rubbed the glass of binoculars, strained their eyes ... There was no flag of the commander on the "Askold" ...
-- Well, okay! No way to risk it ... On a light cruiser ... You never know ... - some said ...
—- At Novik! Flag - on Novik! - suddenly, as if choking with excitement, the signalman shouted.
Everything around at once stirred up. The team, throwing breakfast, rushed to the sides. The officers snatched the binoculars from each other's hands ... There was no doubt! On the mast "Novik", this toy cruiser, boldly rushing to the rescue of a lonely destroyer, flew the flag of the fleet commander! ..
Vague talk ran through the ranks of the team ... The officers looked at each other with some kind of not happy, not that bewildered look ...
—- I couldn’t wait! .. I didn’t wait for “Askold” - I moved to “Novik! ..” Damn it! .. This is too much! ..
But it was not "too", but exactly what was required. It was the funeral of the old slogan "not to risk" and replacing it with something completely new ... ".
It must be said that on this night other Russian destroyers also went out to sea - approximately at 01.00, lights were noticed at sea, and S.О. Makarov authorized a detachment of four destroyers to attack the sea. The latter actually found the 4 destroyer of the Japanese and attacked them, but this fight, like the battle of the guarding one, is outside the scope of the topic of our series of articles.
As for Novik, after the unsuccessful morning rescue operation, he and Bayan returned to the external raid and went to the harbor, but immediately became the first targets for the Japanese battleships who started throw-over firing at Lyaoteshan and attempting to aim the passage on the internal raid, on which the cruisers walked, and then firing on the water area of the internal raid. In the course of this bombardment, the Novik did not receive any damage, only a few splinters fell to the deck, without hitting anyone, however.
The next day, February 27, S.O. Makarov led a squadron into the sea for training in joint maneuvering, and of course, the Novik went with the rest of the ships, but nothing interesting happened on that day, and after making various evolutions at different turns, the squadron returned to Port Arthur in the evening.
Then, in the fighting, there was a break, which lasted until the night of March 9, when Japanese destroyers again appeared on the outer roadstead, but were driven away by fire from the patrol vessels. In the afternoon, a Japanese squadron appeared in order to again fire the ships in Port Arthur’s harbor with throw-over fire. However, this time S.O. Makarov brought his main forces to the outer raid, "inviting" the commander of the United Fleet to come close to them for a decisive battle. With a total of five battleships, S.O. Makarov had no hope of crushing the Japanese at sea, but still considered it possible to take the fight under the guise of coastal batteries.
This exit was a completely unprecedented event for the Arthur squadron, because its heavy ships left the inner harbor "low water". The “big water” that day began at 13.30, but already at 12.10 all five battleships were on the outer roadstead, in full readiness for battle. Of course, the cruisers left the harbor even earlier - the exact time when the Novik launched an external raid was unknown, but it arrived there second, after Bayan (07.05) and before Askold (07.40). Nevertheless, the battle still did not take place - the Japanese did not want to be substituted for the fire of coastal batteries, and even an attempt by S.О. Makarov "provoke" the latter with an attack on the armored cruisers of the 2 squad ended with nothing - H. Togo joined his forces, which Stepan Osipovich could not attack anymore, and retreated. As a result, the whole thing was reduced to throw-over shooting - the Japanese again struck a fire strike at the harbor, but received the answer of the Russian artillerymen who had made all the necessary preparations in advance for the reciprocal throw-over shooting. "Novik" 9 March did not show itself in any way and, apparently, did not open fire.
Three days later, the cruiser again left the internal raid, meeting the destroyers returning from patrol, and the next day, March 13, S.O. Makarov again brought a squadron into the sea for evolution, but this time Novik had a special mission. In 05.50, the cruiser entered the outer raid third after Bayan and Askold, but when the squadron, being built, advanced into the sea, Novik and the three destroyers of the 1 squadron, Attentive, Stormy and Battle, were sent to the islands of Miao-tao for their inspection. In 07.10, this small detachment separated from the squadron and went to carry out the order.
Within a few minutes, smoke was discovered, about which Novik reported to the fleet: it turned out to be English transports. However, S.O. Makarov ordered to continue the execution of the order, and the “Ascold” was to inspect the discovered transports. On the way to Novik, several Chinese junks were seen on the way to the Miao-tao islands, but the “Attentive” sent to them did not find anything suspicious. But in 09.05 a small steamer under the Japanese flag was found, coming from the side of Fr. To-ji-tao and who had a junk in tow. He was heading for the "Attentive", apparently taking him for the Japanese destroyer. Immediately, the entire detachment rushed to intercept the Japanese ship, while the “Attentive”, already finished inspecting the junks, was closest to him. The Japanese steamer, having discovered his mistake, tried to escape by lowering the flag, but, of course, he did not succeed - “Attentive”, approaching him, made two shots. Then the steamer stopped, passed back, and began to remove people from the junk towed by him: but, noticing the approach of Novik and two other destroyers, he did not finish his occupation and again tried to escape. "Attentive" lowered the boat to arrest the junks, and he himself went in pursuit and quickly caught up with the Japanese ship - after several shots, it finally stopped, no longer trying to escape by flight.
During the inspection, it turned out that the prize to the Russian ships was the Japanese ship “Han-yen-maru”. Later it turned out that he was sent by the Japanese to hire the Chinese junks for the needs of the Japanese fleet, but since they refused to hire, they took them away by force. On board the ship, 10 Japanese were found, 11 Chinese, a lot of papers and a rusty Whitehead mine, apparently caught from the water. Part of the Japanese crew probably consisted of scouts, as some Japanese were identified by our sailors as porters and traders who had worked in Port Arthur before the war. Interestingly describes this moment, Lieutenant A.P. Shter:
The captured junk was drowned at once, but the steamer, the bay pre-firebox, was decided to be brought to Port Arthur in tow, which was brought from Novik. However, when the cruiser made a move at 10.00, it developed too much speed, causing the steamer to start scouring, and the tug was pulled out by the windlass, broke the mast and damaged the stem. At Novik, it was decided that the game was not worth the candle, and they drowned it with several shots, after which they went to connect with the squadron at 10.35, which was done without further adventure.
This time, unfortunately, the squadron completed the evolution ahead of time, due to the collision between Peresvet and Sevastopol, as a result of S.O. Makarov ordered to return to Port Arthur, not forgetting, however, to order the ships to check the deviation on the way back.
On the night of 14 in March, the Japanese made another attempt to block the exit from the internal raid of Port Arthur, which was unsuccessful, but Novik did not take part in repelling the night attack. He did not receive an order in 05.02 either, when, after the attack, the destroyers were spotted south of Port Arthur and the coastal batteries opened fire on them. However, heavy Japanese ships appeared around 06.00, and Stepan Osipovich immediately ordered the squadron to go on an external raid. The first, as expected, the order was executed by the cruisers - “Bayan”, “Askold” and “Novik”. At 06.30, the enemy opened fire on the batteries of the Tiger Peninsula, and the cruisers joined them, but the distance to the Japanese was too great, so they soon ceased fire.
According to the Japanese, the Russian cruisers bombarded the destroyers who were rescuing the survivors of the unsuccessful attempt at the barrier, while, according to their words, "Askold" went to the east, and "Bayan" and "Novik" - to the west. Official Japanese historiography does not speak directly about the extreme distances, but notes that the Russians opened fire occasionally, with half of their shells falling undershoots.
In 09.15 S.O. Makarov brought the remaining ships to an external raid and prepared for battle. After the damage of Peresvet and Sevastopol, he had only three battleships: the flagship Petropavlovsk, Poltava and Peresvet, however, their access to the sea showed X. That the attempt to block the passage with firefighters failed. Strangely enough, this time the Japanese did not dare to take the fight and retreated - in 10.00 the main forces of H. Togo hid behind the horizon. The Japanese themselves explain their unwillingness to fight by the fact that the Russian squadron did not depart far from the coast. On the one hand, such a solution looks cautious on the verge of cowardice, since the Japanese had 6 armadillos and 6 armored cruisers against the entire 3 armored and 1 armored cruisers of the Russians. But, obviously, Kh. Togo did not want to be substituted for the coastal artillery guns - the fact is that the Japanese, it seems, had a somewhat wrong impression of its effectiveness. According to some reports, they assumed that most of the hits on their ships in the 27 battle in January, 1904 G, was the result of the shooting of Russian coastal batteries. This was not true, since the study of hits on Japanese ships in comparison with the calibres of the guns that fired at them suggests that our coastal batteries could never hit the enemy even once. Even if this is wrong, and there were still several hits, in any case, the fortress guns of Port Arthur did not play a significant role in that battle. But Kh. Togo, obviously, thought differently, and did not want to provide the Russians with the opportunity to practice shooting at his battleships, especially since relatively recently the Russians showed very accurate throw-over shooting at long distances.
In general, X. Togo chose to retreat, and our cruisers again did not have a reason to excel.
This was the last case in which Novik participated under the command of N.O. von Essen. The very next day, March 15 invited Nikolai Ottovich S.O. Makarov and said that he was going to appoint him commander of the squadron battleship Sevastopol. Two days later, 17 March 1904, under the shouts of "Hurray!" Team, N.O. von Essen left Novik, being in very ambivalent feelings. He wrote to his wife: “... although this is ... and an increase, but I am not very happy about it. I was used to the Novik, and the cruising service was more to my liking, and everyone there knew me ... ”
Command of the cruiser took Maximilian F. von Schultz, about which N.O. von Essen wrote: "He is a brave, energetic and brave officer, and he does not hurt to surrender my brilliant cruiser, knowing that I give in good hands."
Of course, von Schulz was an experienced and enterprising officer, but not all of him worked out right away. So, March 29 was almost embarrassed - on this day S.О. Makarov once again led the Pacific squadron to the exercises, and at that time a small Norwegian steamer was discovered, which is unknown as it drifted into these waters. At the signal of the comflot, the Novik set off for inspection. The steamer immediately obeyed the orders, but when Lieutenant A.P. Shter went aboard, von Schulz decided not to sail the ship, but to bring the ship to Port Arthur, which he entrusted to the lieutenant on board the ship. In general, the Novik took the boat and left, and A.P. Stur had to bring the “Norwegian” to Port Arthur in some way. All would be nothing, but there was no corresponding lot on the ship, and even if it had been found, in any case there could not be any mined cans delivered by Russian ships on it ... Further A.P. Shter described it this way:
How I managed to safely reach Arthur, I do not understand ... ”.
And then came the tragic day of March 31. As you know, S.O. Makarov ordered a major miner raid on the Elliot Islands, where, according to reports, there could be large Japanese combat and landing forces. The destroyers did not find anyone, but on the way back, the “Terrible”, a breakaway from the main detachment, entered the wake of the Japanese destroyers in the dark and, when the parties recognized each other, were forced to engage in a hopeless battle.
He was assisted by the armored cruiser Bayan, which S.O. Makarov instructed to be ready, at dawn, for a campaign and a battle just for such an occasion. Yet "Bayan" did not have time, by the time he arrived at the scene, the destroyer had already died
However, by this time, reinforcements came to the Japanese - the 3-I combat unit, the “dogs” of “Yosino”, “Takasago”, “Chitose” and “Kasagi”, supported by the armored cruisers “Asama” and “Tokiwa”. Despite the obvious inequality of forces and the shells falling around, the Bayan stopped, lowered the six and the whaleboat, and proceeded to rescue the surviving crewmen of the Terrible. Each of the boats saved two people, and another managed to be raised directly to the cruiser, and in total, five people were saved, and at that time Bayan was fighting. Then, the cruiser, despite the fact that it was observed from two or three more people, sailing, holding on to the wreckage, was forced to raise the boats and returned to Port Arthur: people were taken too far, and to save them, being under fire of six cruisers, no longer possible.
Upon learning that the "Bayan" joined the battle, S.O. In 05.40, Makarov ordered the Diana cruiser on duty to go to his aid, and Askold and Noviku urgently need to breed couples. Shortly thereafter, he was informed about the appearance of six Japanese cruisers - assuming that the main forces of the Japanese were probably following them, Stepan Osipovich in 06.00 ordered the squadron battleships to pick up pairs and in readiness to go to the outer raid.
In 06.40, the Novik launched an external raid, with Diana and three destroyers on it. They saw the Bayan on the cruiser, which was about three miles from the Novik, and immediately went to him: and in the 3-4 miles from the Bayan, the already mentioned six Japanese cruisers could be seen. Having approached the Bayan, the Novik apparently went to his wake, obviously, by this time the distance to the Japanese cruisers was already too great, so the Novik commanders did not shoot. Following the "Bayan", "Novik" returned to the external raid and entered the wake of the squadron of cruisers.
07.00 went to Petropavlovsk on an external raid, followed by a quarter of an hour later - Poltava, but the rest of the battleships were delayed, as the strong wind did not allow the port boats to quickly deploy their noses to the entrance, and Peresvet in 07.45, removing from the anchor He also managed to stick to the shoals, with which he acted only half an hour later. At the same time, Stepan Osipovich, having learned from the commander of “Bayan” that he was unable to save several people from the “Watchman” crew, led his detachment into the sea. In this case, the system, apparently, was so - the first, showing the way, went "Bayan", followed by the flagship "Petropavlovsk", to which Poltava and a squadron of cruisers walked into the wake. The destroyers were abeam the Poltava.
Approximately at 08.00, going to the place of the death of “The Terrible” on the “Bayan”, which took the lead far ahead, found the Japanese cruisers 6, its commander, Robert Nikolaevich Vyren, raised the signal “I See the Enemy”. In 08.15, the Japanese from a distance 50-60 cables opened fire on Bayan. C.O. Makarov ordered his only armored cruiser to take his place in the ranks of cruisers, which was done. Then, as the Japanese noted in their official historiography: “The enemy, taking advantage in strength, took an offensive course of action and headed towards the detachment.” At this time, the structure of the Russian ships was: “Petropavlovsk”, “Poltava” (mistakenly identified by the Japanese as “Sevastopol”), “Askold”, “Bayan”, “Diana”, and “Novik”.
Why S.O. Makarov did not use the Novik for its intended purpose, for reconnaissance of the enemy, but put it at the very tail of the column, from where the cruiser did not shoot a single shot? We cannot know this for sure, but, probably, the reasons of the Russian commander were as follows. Taking the squadron from Port Arthur, he already knew that six Japanese cruisers were somewhere nearby, and the horizon in the direction where the enemy was expected was covered with fog. In this situation, any intelligence officer risked being detected by superior forces at a distance, although quite large, but still allowing the possibility of heavy projectile hits. It is obvious that “Bayan”, also conceived by its creators as a scout for the squadron, in such a situation was much better suited for this role, and besides, had to show the place of the death of “The Terrible”. Joining "Bayan" and even "Novik", obviously, did nothing in terms of intelligence, almost did not strengthen the artillery power of "Bayan", but created the risk of heavy damage to "Novik".
Further well known. Soon 9 of Japanese ships appeared on the horizon, which were identified as 6 battleships on the Russian squadron, 2 armored cruisers (these were Nissin and Kasuga, which first appeared near Port Arthur) and the “Chin-Ien” type ship. Of course, a small Russian detachment could not fight with such forces, and Stepan Osipovich ordered the retreat, and on the way back the cruisers and destroyers went ahead, and the battleships covered their retreat, as it were. Then, returning to the outer raid, S.O. Makarov decided, as has already been repeatedly before, to fight the Japanese under the guise of coastal batteries, but, coming to the position, Petropavlovsk exploded.
After the death of the flagship battleship, the ships stopped the course and proceeded to rescue the survivors. Then, the junior flagship of the squadron, Prince Ukhtomsky, took her back to the internal raid, but “Victory” was blown up while trying to enter service. Not understanding that the cause of all this was mines exposed at night from Japanese destroyers, the squadron decided on ships that they were attacked by submarines and opened fire on the water, aiming at any target that could resemble a submarine periscope. Thus, Novik used up 3 * 120-mm, 12 * 47mm and 4 * 37-mm projectile. Alas, but in 31 March 1904, our armored cruiser did not fire a single shot at the real enemy ships - the squadron returned to the internal raid, and in the same place 13.20 anchored Novik.
To be continued ...
- Andrei from Chelyabinsk
- Armored decked lightning. Cruiser II rank "Novik"
Armored decked lightning. The cruiser of the second rank "Novik". Design features
Armored decked lightning. Cruiser II rank "Novik". Cost / Efficiency Criterion
Armored decked lightning. Cruiser II rank "Novik". Fight 27 January 1904 g.
Armored decked lightning. Cruiser II rank "Novik". Not yet arrived S.O. Makarov
Information