Mine cruisers - the ancestors of destroyers
Destroyers could make the transition from the Baltic to the Far East under their own power (accompanied by a floating base, of course), but they were not capable of fighting together with a squadron: the waves that were defined as “working weather” for a cruiser or battleship became a struggle for survival for a ship under 150 tons. Approximately the same can be said about fighters or counter-destroyers, called upon to fight enemy destroyers, whose displacement was somewhat greater, but this did not change the situation. And to use torpedo weapon I wanted to be in a squadron battle!
The answer was a class of ships that in Russia were called "mine cruisers", in Great Britain - "mine gunboats", and in France - "mine avisos". These ships were supposed to combine the qualities of a torpedo boat, a destroyer, and at the same time have sufficient seaworthiness to operate as part of a squadron. The first to decide to build such cruisers were the French...
On August 16, 1879, the Conseil d'Armiaute decided to adopt a shipbuilding program for 1879. The program included a clause on the construction of four high-speed torpedo ships, protected from light weapons fire from the bow. They were to accompany squadrons of battleships, and serve to protect ports, which is why they were initially called "coastal defense torpedo boats." These were to be ships with a displacement of about a thousand tons, slower (with a speed of 14-15 knots) than torpedo boats, but significantly more seaworthy. Subsequently, classifying them as coastal defense ships was recognized as a mistake, and it was decided to reclassify the ships that had not yet been built as mine avisos (however, the French classification of ships is more complicated than Newton's binomial) - their task was to attack enemy ships in remote harbors, where they feel safe.
Marie Anne Louis de Bussy 1820-1903 French shipbuilder
The project of the French shipbuilding luminary Louis de Bussy was based on Armstrong's Arturo Prat-class ships, a transitional type from a gunboat to a light cruiser. The ships' displacement was 1240 tons, and steam engines with a capacity of 3,5 indicated horsepower provided a speed of 17 knots. The central part of the ship was covered with a carapace armor deck 10-20 mm thick, and another one was located above the engines - a flat anti-splinter armor deck. According to the French engineer, such armor protection should have been sufficient against the guns of the British cruisers of the Iris and Comus types. The ships were planned to be armed with 5x100-mm guns, 4x37-mm Hotchkiss revolver guns and five above-water torpedo tubes.
"Condor" is the first mine advice note.
All four mine avisos were commissioned in January 1883 and were named Condor, Epervier, Faucon and Vautour. They were small armored cruisers with a long ram, one funnel and three masts, one of which was later dismantled. The armament... It was serious: five 100 mm guns, four 47 mm and six 37 mm Hotchkiss guns and four torpedo tubes. But it was considered too powerful for destroying torpedo boats! After all, according to the views of the time, a torpedo boat needed only a few shells to go to the bottom. In general, the next series (mine aviso type "Bomb") was made with a displacement three times smaller and with armament of 4x2-mm guns and five 47-mm Hotchkiss revolver guns, with two above-water torpedo tubes and a speed of 37 knots.
Mine aviso "Leger"
It must be said that speed for ships of this class soon became considered one of the main indicators: if a simple torpedo boat was protected by its small size, then it was much easier to hit a mine aviso, so only speed was its salvation. True, it soon became clear that a torpedo boat was far from such an easy target, and the armament should be strengthened. In fact, this is exactly what was done on the 500-ton mine avisos "Leger" and "Levrier", which received 1x65-mm gun, 3x47-mm and two 37-mm revolver guns. Plus - two torpedo tubes of increased caliber (450-mm instead of 350-mm) on the deck and one in the stem.
Mine gunboat Rattlesnake
But the British were in no hurry with their ships of this class. True, they went their own way. Instead of creating fast ships, but armed with a large number of small-caliber quick-firers, they installed small, slow-moving, but very solidly armed ships. The 559-ton Rattlesnake-class mine-laying gunboats, designed by Nathaniel Barnaby (the first hull was launched on September 16, 1886), were the first ships to receive a triple-expansion steam engine, but, despite this, could not give more than 19 knots. But they had a thin (17,5 mm) armored deck, and most importantly - a 1x4-inch gun and a 6x47-mm Hotchkiss quick-firer. Mine armament - 4x360-mm torpedo tubes.
Mine gunboat "Sharpshooter".
Attempts to improve these not very successful ships resulted in the appearance of a series of 13 mine-laying gunboats of the Sharpshooter type, which had a traditionally low speed, but the main caliber of 2x120-mm guns, which made all other mine-laying cruisers prey for the British gunboats. Of course, if they could catch them at their 19 knots of speed... An enlarged version of the Sharpshooters - the mine-laying gunboats of the Alarm type - had the same artillery armament, but instead of 360 mm torpedo tubes there were 3 tubes with a caliber of 450 mm. Well, the speed was also not a record - 18,7 knots.
Mine cruiser "Lieutenant Ilyin"
But this is England and France, and what about Russia? And in our country, the head of the Naval Ministry, Admiral Ivan Shestakov, was an ardent supporter of such ships. So ardent that he himself took part in the development of the project of the first Russian mine cruiser. Since relations with the French after the Franco-Prussian War were warming up right before our eyes, the French had no special secrets from the Russians, and the new ship was supposed to be something between the Condor and the Bomb. Moreover, the design and construction were carried out in such a hurry (and in such secrecy!) that the mine cruiser, named Lieutenant Ilyin, was launched faster than most of its French prototypes - in 1886.
Mine cruiser "Captain Saken"
Since haste is important only when catching fleas, the ship turned out to be frankly crude. With a full displacement of 714 tons, it was armed with a whole battery of small-caliber guns: 5x47-mm and 10 37-mm Hotchkiss revolver guns! True, the side-by-side placement of artillery was more defensive than designed to destroy enemy destroyers. There were seven 381-mm torpedo tubes, but their placement also could not be considered successful. But the main thing... The ship's speed should have been at least 22 knots, but in reality, the "Lieutenant Ilyin" could not give even 20. The mine cruiser "Captain Saken", laid down in Nikolaev on May 9, 1886, was even slower - the maximum it could squeeze out was 18,3 knots per measured mile, despite the fact that it was much more modestly armed: 6x47-mm guns, 4-37-mm and three torpedo tubes of 381-mm caliber. True, the rotating torpedo tubes were removed from the "Saken" during construction (this technology was too unusual at that time), and a few years later, the fixed ones...
Mine cruiser "Vsadnik"
In general, the torpedo cruisers of domestic construction were not that bad, but... They had problems with speed, so it was decided to resort to ordering ships abroad. Not long before, Austria-Hungary ordered seven torpedo cruisers of the Meteor type from the Schichau shipyards. The Russian Naval Ministry liked the ships, and the Germans received the order: along with nine torpedo boats of the Abo type, the Schichau firm was ordered the lead ship of the series, the Kazarsky, and then two more, the Voevoda and the Posadnik (the ships were initially ordered by the King of Montenegro Nicholas I, but he was unable to buy them), and three were decided to be built in Russia - two, the Vsadnik and the Gaidamak, at the Creighton shipyard in Abo, and one, for the Black Sea, at the Admiralty shipyard in Nikolaev (Griden).
The ships were designed and built taking into account the mistakes made during the construction of the Lieutenant Ilyin and Captain Saken, so they turned out to be quite successful. At least, on average, they produced 22 knots. On average, since the ships built at the shipyards in Abo were overweighted by the Finns, and they could produce a maximum of 20 knots, but the Nikolaev Griden became the fastest of the series - 22,5 knots, which was excellent for ships of the late 80s - early 90s of the last century.
Mine cruiser "Griden"
What were the ships of this series like? They were large destroyers, built on the model of the divisional destroyers of the Kaiserliche Marine - with a standard displacement of 400 tons, a full displacement of 430 tons, a length of 60,2 meters, a width of 7,42 meters and a maximum draft of 3,5 meters. There was no armor, a steam engine with a capacity of 3510 horsepower served as an engine, armament - 6x47-mm guns and 3x37-mm Hotchkiss revolver guns. Torpedo armament was represented by two torpedo tubes - one fixed in the bow and one rotating on the deck - this was the first case of using a fully rotating torpedo tube in the domestic navyIn comparison with the Ilyin and Saken, the ships turned out to be successful, and most importantly, they cost almost half as much.
Mine cruiser "Abrek"
A successful project, by its very existence, requires continuation. True, there is always a desire to improve it a little. The Abrek became such an improved mine cruiser of the Kazarsky type. First of all, the ship's armament was strengthened - 2x75-mm and 4x47-mm guns were installed, the torpedo armament was limited to one rotating torpedo tube on the deck - in front of the mizzen. The ship's speed was lower than that of the Kazarsky, but not significantly - 21,5 knots, but its seaworthiness was excellent: in 1898, the ship passed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea through the Bay of Biscay with its eternal storms without a hitch.
No comment ...
Mine cruisers are often called an unsuccessful class of ships that had no continuation. In my opinion, this is a controversial issue. The fact is that in 1905, following the Russo-Japanese War, a meeting was held in the Naval Technical Committee to decide on the development of mine forces. The main question that was raised at the meeting sounded something like this: "What to build, small destroyers or mine cruisers?" Of the 23 participants in the meeting, 14 spoke in favor of mine cruisers. Requirements for future ships were developed, and although no final decision was made at that time, these requirements became the basis for designing ships that... And this is already another story, and it deserves a separate story!
Information