Gromoboi

Type:
Armored Cruiser
Class:
Gromoboi (Single ship class)
Builder:
Baltiyskiy Zavod (Baltic Works)
St. Petersburg, Russia
Pennant Number:
N/A
Ordered:
N/A
Launched:
May 8, 1899
Keel Laid:
June 14, 1897
Completed:
November 1899
Fate:
Sold July 1, 1922 to

Combat Victories
Date
Name
Type
Tons
Nationality
Notes
Feb. 11, 1904
Nakonoura Maru
Cargo
1,048
Japan
(a)
June 15, 1904
Idzumi Maru
Transport
3,280
Japan
(b)
June 15, 1904
Hitachi Maru
Transport
6,172
Japan
(b)
June 15, 1904
Sado Maru
Transport
6,223
Japan
Damaged (b)
Notes:
(a):
Assisted by Rossia.
(b):
Gromoboi was operating with cruiser squadron with Rossia (flagship) and Rurik
under the overall command of Vice Admiral Pyotr Alekseyevich Bezobrazov.


Ship's history (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Gromoboi was built by the Baltic Works in Saint Petersburg. Construction began on 14 June 1897, although she was not formally laid down until 7 May 1898, and the ship was launched on 8 May 1899. She was transferred to Kronstadt on 24 November 1899 to finish fitting out, but was forced aground by sea ice. She was freed three days later, but needed repairs to her sheathing. She left Liepaja on 10 December 1900 en route to the Far East and stopped briefly at Kiel, where she was inspected by Prince Henry of Prussia, and at Plymouth where the officers visited the Devonport naval base. She represented Russia at the granting of the constitution to Australia, visiting Sydney and Melbourne in April-May 1901, before visiting Nagasaki in July. Gromoboi finally reached Port Arthur on 29 July 1901. She remained in the Pacific until the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. During this voyage she was commanded by Karl Petrovich Jessen.

By this time, Gromoboi was assigned of the Vladivostok Cruiser Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Karl Jessen. The other ships were the armoured cruisers Rossia and Rurik as well as the protected cruiser Bogatyr. The squadron made a number of sorties against Japanese shipping early in the war. Only one was reasonably successful: in June 1904 the squadron sank Hitachi Maru, which was carrying eighteen 28-centimetre (11 in) siege howitzers and over 1000 troops intended for the siege of Port Arthur.

During the war the bulk of the Russian Pacific Fleet was located in Port Arthur where it was blockaded by the Japanese. On 10 August, the ships at Port Arthur attempted breakout to Vladivostok, but were turned back in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. Admiral Jessen was ordered to rendezvous with them, but the order was delayed. His ships had to raise steam, so he did not sortie until the evening of 13 August. Bogatyr had been damaged earlier when she grounded and did not sail with the squadron. By dawn he had reached the island of Tsushima in the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan. He turned back for Vladivostok when he failed to see any ships from the Port Arthur squadron. 36 miles (58 km) north of the island he encountered the Japanese squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Kamimura Hikonojo tasked to patrol the Tsushima Strait. The Japanese force had four modern armoured cruisers, Iwate, Izumo, Tokiwa, and Azuma. The two squadrons had passed during the night without spotting one another and each had reversed course around first light. This put the Japanese ships astride the Russian route to Vladivostok.

Jessen turned to the northeast when he spotted the Japanese at 05:00 and they followed suit, albeit on a slightly converging course. Both sides opened fire around 05:23 at a range of 8,500 metres (9,300 yd). The Japanese ships concentrated their fire on Rurik, the rear ship of the Russian formation. She was hit fairly quickly and began to fall astern of the other two ships. Jessen turned southeast in an attempt to open the range, but this blinded the Russian gunners with the rising sun and prevented any of their broadside guns from bearing on the Japanese. About 06:00, Jessen turned 180° to starboard in an attempt to reach the Korean coast and to allow Rurik to rejoin the squadron. Kamimura followed suit around 06:10, but turned to port, which opened the range between the squadrons. Azuma then developed engine problems and the Japanese squadron slowed to conform with her best speed. Firing recommenced at 06:24 and Rurik was hit three times in the stern, flooding her steering compartment; she had to be steered with her engines. Her speed continued to decrease, further exposing her to Japanese fire, and her steering jammed to port around 06:40.

Jessen made another 180° turn in an attempt to interpose his two ships between the Japanese and Rurik, but the latter ship suddenly turn to starboard and increased speed and passed between Jessen's ships and the Japanese. Kamimura turned 180° as well so that both squadrons were heading southeast on parallel courses, but Jessen quickly made another 180° turn so that they headed on opposing courses. Iwate was hit around this time, which knocked out three 6-inch and one 12-pounder guns, killing 32 and wounding 43. The Japanese squadron opened the range again when it made a 180° another turn to port. The Russians reversed course for the third time around 07:45 in another attempt to support Rurik although Rossia was on fire herself; her fires were extinguished about twenty minutes later. Kamimura circled Rurik to the south at 08:00 and allowed the other two Russian ships to get to his north and gave them an uncontested route to Vladivostok. Despite this, Jessen turned back once more at 08:15 and ordered Rurik to make her own way back to Vladivostok before turning north at his maximum speed, about 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).

About this time Kamimura's two elderly protected cruisers, Naniwa and Takachiho, were approaching from the south. Their arrival allowed Kamimura to pursue Jessen with all of his armoured cruisers while the two new arrivals dealt with Rurik. They fought a running battle with the Russians for the next hour and a half; scoring enough hits on them to force their speed down to 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Azuma's engines again broke down during this chase and she was replaced in the line by Tokiwa. The Japanese closed to a minimum of about 5,000 metres (5,500 yd), but Kamimura then opened the range up to 6,500 metres (7,100 yd).

About 10:00, Kamimura's gunnery officer erroneously informed him that Izumo had expended three-quarters of her ammunition and he turned back after a five-minute rapid-fire barrage. He did not wish to leave the Tsushima Strait unguarded and thought that he could use his remaining ammunition on Rurik. By this time she had been sunk by Naniwa and Takachiho which had closed to 3,000 metres (3,300 yd) of Rurik in order to finish her off. They had radioed Kamimura that she was sunk, but he did not receive the message. Shortly after the Japanese turned back, Gromoboi and Rossia were forced to heave-to to make repairs.

Gromoboi suffered 87 dead and 170 wounded; far more than Rossia's 44 dead and 156 wounded. This was attributable to Rossia's captain's policy of ordering the gun crews for his quick-firing guns on the engaged side to lie down and those on the unengaged side to go below, in contrast to the Gromoboi keeping her light guns manned at all times.[20] Gromoboi was hit fifteen times on the starboard side of her hull and seven times on her port side, plus other hits in her funnels, boats and decks. She also suffered a fire caused by the ignition of excess propellant charges. Despite this number of hits, she was not badly damaged because her waterline belt was not penetrated. She was repaired within two months by the rudimentary facilities available at Vladivostok.

Immediately following her repairs she ran aground outside Vladivostok on 13 October and was not ready for sea until February 1905. The Russians took this opportunity to reinforce her armament with six more 6-inch guns mounted on her upper deck, protected by lightly armoured casemates. Her armament was rearranged as well with her foremost six-inch guns moved from their casemates to the forecastle and the rearmost six-inch guns moved forward. Room for these changes was made by removing many of her lighter guns; she retained only nineteen 75 mm and two 37 mm guns. She also received several Barr and Stroud rangefinders at this time. While testing her new Telefunken radio equipment on 24 May she struck a mine near her forward boiler room. She was able to return to Vladivostok for repairs, but took no further part in the war.

Gromoboi returned to the Baltic Fleet after the war. There she was given a lengthy refit that was finished in 1911. Her engines and boilers were reconditioned, and her rear torpedo tubes were removed. The forward 15-inch torpedo tubes were replaced by 18-inch (460 mm) tubes. Her foremast was removed and replaced by her mizzenmast; her mainmast was moved aft in place of the mizzenmast and searchlights were installed on a platform on each mast. A casemate with 3-inch sides and a 1-inch roof was built around the rear eight-inch guns and the rear six-inch guns were moved aft and protected by a casemate with two-inch sides and a .75-inch (19 mm) roof. The thickness of the upper-deck casemates was increased to two inches. Armoured towers fore and aft were built for her rangefinders. Her light armament was reduced to four 75 mm and four 47 mm guns. Engine trials were conducted in late 1910 and were unsatisfactory as they were overheating while delivering only 9,979 indicated horsepower (7,441 kW). The trials were run again on 27 July 1911 and were more satisfactory as they developed 13,337 indicated horsepower (9,945 kW) while Gromoboi reached 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph).

Gromoboi served in the 2nd Cruiser Brigade of the Baltic Fleet during World War I. She was modified to serve as a fast minelayer with a capacity of two hundred mines. She engaged the German battlecruiser SMS Von der Tann at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland on August 10, 1915.

Her armament was changed in 1916-17[23] as well; she exchanged the six-inch guns on the bow and stern for eight-inch guns. These additions increased her broadside to four eight-inch and eleven six-inch guns. All of her remaining light guns were removed and she received two 2.5-inch and two 47 mm anti-aircraft guns. All of these additions raised her displacement to about 13,200 long tons (13,412 t).

Gromoboi came under control of the Soviet Red Fleet in September 1917. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk required the Soviets to evacuate their base at Helsinki in March 1918 or have them interned by newly independent Finland even though the Gulf of Finland was still frozen over. Gromoboi sailed to Kronstadt in what became known as the 'Ice Voyage' and was placed into reserve shortly after her arrival.

In late October 1920, Gromoboi's crew mutinied and took control of the ship off Kronstadt. They killed Gromoboi's commisars and officers and scuttled the ship.

Gromoboi was refloated and was sold to a German company for scrapping on 1 July 1922; she ran aground in a storm near Liepaja while under tow to Germany in October 1922. She was scrapped in place.


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Page published Feb. 19, 2020