Bogatyr-class cruiser

Bogatyr-class cruiser
The Oleg
Class overview
Operators:	Russian Navy Soviet Navy
Built:	1898–1907
In commission:	1902–1942
Planned:	5
Completed:	4
Lost:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Protected cruiser
Displacement:	6,645 long tons (6,752 t)
Length:	134 m (439 ft 8 in)
Beam:	16.6 m (54 ft 6 in)
Draught:	6.3 m (20 ft 8 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft vertical triple-expansion steam engines 16 Normand-type boilers 23,000 hp
Speed:	23 knots (26 mph; 43 km/h)
Complement:	589
Armament:	• 12 × 6 in (152 mm) guns (2 twin turrets and 8 single guns), replaced by 5 inch (130 mm) guns in subsequent refits for all ships • 12 × 11-pounder guns • 8 × 47 mm guns • 2 × 37 mm guns • 2 × 15 in (380 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	• Deck: 80 mm (3.1 in) • Turrets: 127 mm (5.0 in) • Casemates: 80 mm (3.1 in) • Conning tower: 140 mm (5.5 in)
Notes:	Sunk in the Baltic Naval War, 1919

The Bogatyr-class were a group of protected cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy. Unusually for the Russian navy, two ships of the class were built for the Baltic Fleet and two ships for the Black Sea Fleet.

Ships

Battle damage to cruiser Oleg inflicted at the Battle of Tsushima. Photo taken June 1905 at Manila Bay.

• Bogatyr was built by Vulkan yard, Stettin, Germany. Laid down 1898, launched January 1901, completed 1902, scrapped 1922. Her machinery was used to repair the Komintern.

• Oleg was built by New Admiralty Yard, St Petersburg. Laid down 1901, launched August 1903, completed 1904, fought at the Battle of Tsushima, escaped, and was interned at Manila. Finally sunk by British Coastal Motor Boat 4 with a single torpedo in Kronstadt harbour on 17 June 1919 during the Baltic Naval War. The wreck was salvaged and scrapped.

• Kagul (renamed Ochakov, later General Kornilov) was built by Sevastopol dockyard. Laid down 1900, launched October 1902, completed 1905, seized by the White forces in the Russian Civil War and interned in Bizerta in 1920 as part of Wrangel's fleet, sold for scrap in 1933.

• Pamiat Merkuria (later Komintern) was built by Nikolayev dockyard. Laid down 1900, launched June 1903, completed 1907. Mutinied during the revolution of 1905 which delayed completion. Survived the Russian Civil War and served in the Soviet Navy, Black Sea Fleet as the Komintern. Damaged by German bombers in World War II she was sunk as a breakwater in Poti, Georgia on 10 October 1942, after her guns had been removed for use in shore batteries.

• A fifth ship, Vityaz, being built in St. Petersburg was so badly damaged by a fire after laying down that she was cancelled.

Sources

• Cruiser "Komintern" from Black Sea fleet (Russian)
• Bogatyr class
• Whitley M.J – Cruisers of World War Two, an International Encyclopedia, 1995 Arms & Armour Press ISBN 1-86019-874-0