Battleship Empress Maria. Battleship "Empress Maria" of the Black Sea Fleet

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TRY TO REMOVE “MARY” (one of the versions of the sinking of the battleship “Empress Maria” in 1916) Still excites the minds of historians and specialists tragic death in 1916, one of the strongest Russian warships - the Black Sea battleship "Empress Maria". Secret

Empress Maria

Historical data

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Booking

Armament

Artillery weapons

• 12 (4×3) - 305 mm/50 guns;
• 20 (20×1) - 130 mm/53 guns;
• 4 (4×1) - 75 mm/48 guns Canet;
• 4 (4×1) - 47 mm/40 guns Hotchkiss;
• 4 - 7.6 mm machine guns.

Mine and torpedo weapons

• 4 - 450 mm TA.

Same type ships

"Emperor Alexander the Third", "Empress Catherine the Great"

Design and construction

The decision to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet was caused by maintaining a balance naval forces in the Black Sea, since Turkey intended to acquire three new-built Dreadnought-class ships, which required the construction of its ships as soon as possible. To implement this, the Ministry of the Navy decided to borrow architectural type and key technical components (including three-gun turrets, considered the crowning achievement domestic technology) from samples of battleships of the "Sevastopol" type, laid down in 1909.

The construction of the ships was entrusted to private factories in Nikolaev - ONZiV and Russud. Rossud's project won the design competition. As a result, by order of the Maritime Ministry, Rossud was entrusted with the construction of two ships, and ONZiV one (according to Rossud’s drawings).

On June 11, 1911, three new ships were laid down and included in the fleet lists: "Empress Maria", "Empress Catherine the Great" and "Emperor" Alexander III"Basically, these battleships had a hull and armor structure similar to the design of the Baltic dreadnoughts, but had some modifications. The number of transverse bulkheads was increased to 18, and twenty water-tube boilers triangular type they fed turbine units operating on four propeller shafts with brass propellers with a diameter of 2.4 m (rotation speed at 21 knots 320 rpm). The total power of the ship's power plant was 1840 kW.

It was planned to submit the "Empress Maria" for acceptance tests by August 20, 1915; about four months were allotted for the tests themselves. On October 6, 1913, the ship was launched. High tempo and the eve of the war forced the construction of the ship and drawings - in parallel, despite the sad experience.

The growth of factories parallel to the construction (which were already building large ships - for the first time), the introduction of structural modifications during construction led to an increase in tonnage - 860 tons. As a result, a trim on the bow occurred (outwardly this was not noticeable - it was concealed by the constructive rise of the deck) and the draft was increased by 0.3 m. Difficulties were also caused with the delivery and ordering of turbines, stern tubes, propeller shafts and auxiliary mechanisms from the English John Brown plant. The turbines were delivered only in May 1914; such failures forced Naval Ministry change the ship readiness dates. A decision was made to commission at least one ship as soon as possible, and as a result of this, all efforts were devoted to the construction of the Empress Maria.

Beginning of the battleship's service in the Black Sea Fleet of the Republic of Ingushetia

According to the wartime equipment approved on January 11, 1915, 30 conductors and 1,135 lower ranks (of which 194 were long-term servicemen) were appointed to the Empress Maria’s command, which were united into eight ship companies. In April-July, new orders from the fleet commander added 50 more people, and the number of officers was increased to 33.

On the night of June 25, the Empress Maria, having passed the Adzhigol lighthouse, entered the Ochakovsky roadstead. On June 26, test firing was carried out, and the 27th battleship arrived in Odessa. Having replenished the coal stock by 700 tons, already on June 29 the battleship went to sea with the cruiser Memory of Mercury and at 5 o’clock in the morning next day united with the main forces of the Black Sea Fleet... "Empress Maria" had to confront the battle cruiser "Goeben" and the light cruiser "Breslau" of German construction, which were officially included in the lists of the Turkish Navy, but had German crews and were subordinated to Berlin. Thanks to the commissioning of "Maria", the superiority in enemy forces was eliminated. In connection with this restoration of the balance of power, the issue of the needs for ships of the Black Sea Fleet was also considered, as a result, the construction of the remaining two battleships was stalled, but the construction of much-needed destroyers and submarines for the fleet began, as well as landing craft needed for the planned Bosphorus operation.

Due to the accelerated pace of construction of the Maria and carrying out acceptance tests, it was necessary to turn a blind eye to a number of deficiencies (the air refrigeration system that supplied “cold” to the ammunition cellars pulled “heat” there, since the “cold” was absorbed by the warming up electric fan motors; some concern was caused and turbines), but no significant problems were identified.

Only by August 25 were the acceptance tests completed. But fine-tuning of the ship was still required. So, for example, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet ordered the ammunition of the two bow turrets to be reduced from 100 to 70 rounds, and the bow groups of 130-mm guns from 245 rounds to 100, to combat the trim on the bow.

"Maria"'s first fight

Everyone knew that with the entry into service of the Empress Maria, the Goeben would now not leave the Bosphorus unless absolutely necessary. The fleet was able to systematically and on a larger scale solve its strategic tasks. At the same time, for operational operations at sea, while maintaining the administrative brigade structure, several mobile temporary formations were formed, called maneuver groups. The first included the Empress Maria and the cruiser Cahul with destroyers assigned to guard them. This organization made it possible (with the involvement of submarines and aircraft) to carry out a more effective blockade of the Bosphorus. Only in September-December 1915, maneuver groups went to the enemy’s shores ten times and spent 29 days at sea: Bosphorus, Zunguldak, Novorossiysk, Batum, Trebizond, Varna, Constanta, along all the shores of the Black Sea, one could then see a long and squat creature spreading across the water silhouette of a formidable battleship.

And yet, the capture of the Goeben remained the blue dream of the entire crew. More than once Maria’s officers had to give unkind words to the leaders of Genmore, together with Minister A.S. Voevodsky, who cut off at least 2 knots of speed from their ship when drawing up the design assignment, which left no hope for the success of the chase.

Information about the departure of the Breslau for a new sabotage near Novorossiysk was received on July 9, and the new commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral A.V. Kolchak immediately went to sea on the Empress Maria. Everything was going as well as possible. The course and time of departure of Breslau were known, the interception point was calculated without error. The seaplanes escorting the Maria successfully bombed the one guarding its exit. submarine UB-7, preventing her from launching an attack, the destroyers ahead of the Maria intercepted the Breslau at the intended point and engaged it in battle. The hunt unfolded according to all the rules. The destroyers stubbornly pressed the German cruiser trying to escape to the shore, the Cahul relentlessly hung on its tail, frightening the Germans with its salvos, which, however, did not reach. "Empress Maria", having developed full speed, had only to choose the moment for the right salvo. But either the destroyers were not ready to take on the responsibility of adjusting the Maria’s fire, or they were saving the shells from the reduced ammunition load of the bow turret, not risking throwing them at random into the smoke screen with which the Breslau was immediately enveloped when the shells fell dangerously close, but that decisive salvo that could have covered Breslau did not happen. Forced to desperately maneuver (the machines, as the German historian wrote, were already at the limit of endurance), the Breslau, despite its 27-knot speed, was steadily losing in straight-line distance, which decreased from 136 to 95 cables. It was an accident that saved the day - a squall. Hiding behind a veil of rain, the Breslau literally slipped out of the ring of Russian ships and, clinging to the shore, slipped into the Bosporus.

Death of the battleship

In October 1916, all of Russia was shocked by the news of the death of the newest battleship of the Russian fleet, the Empress Maria. On October 20, approximately a quarter of an hour after the morning rise, the sailors who were in the area of ​​the first tower of the battleship “Empress Maria”, which was stationed along with other ships in the Sevastopol Bay, heard the characteristic hiss of burning gunpowder, and then saw smoke and flames coming out of the embrasures of the tower, necks and fans located near it. A fire alarm was sounded on the ship, the sailors pulled apart the fire hoses and began to fill the turret compartment with water. At 6:20 a.m., the ship was rocked by a strong explosion in the area of ​​the cellar of 305-mm charges of the first turret. A column of flame and smoke rose to a height of 300 m.

When the smoke cleared, a terrible picture of destruction became visible. The explosion tore out a section of the deck behind the first tower, demolishing the conning tower, bridge, bow funnel and foremast. A hole formed in the hull of the ship behind the tower, from which pieces of twisted metal protruded, flames and smoke came out. Many sailors and non-commissioned officers who were in the bow of the ship were killed, seriously wounded, burned and thrown overboard by the force of the explosion. The steam line of the auxiliary mechanisms was broken, the fire pumps stopped working, and the electric lighting went out. This was followed by another series of small explosions. On the ship, orders were given to flood the cellars of the second, third and fourth towers, and fire hoses were received from port craft that approached the battleship. Firefighting continued. The tugboat turned the ship with its log in the wind.

By 7 a.m. the fire began to subside, the ship stood on an even keel, and it seemed that it would be saved. But two minutes later there was another explosion, more powerful than the previous ones. The battleship began to quickly sink with its bow and list to starboard. When the bow and gun ports went under water, the battleship, having lost stability, capsized upward on its keel and sank at a depth of 18 m in the bow and 14.5 m in the stern with a slight trim on the bow. Mechanical engineer midshipman Ignatiev, two conductors and 225 sailors were killed.

The next day, October 21, 1916, she left by train from Petrograd to Sevastopol special commission to investigate the causes of the death of the battleship “Empress Maria” under the chairmanship of Admiral N.M. Yakovlev. One of its members was appointed as a general for assignments under the Minister of the Navy A.N. Krylov. In a week and a half of work, all the surviving sailors and officers of the battleship Empress Maria passed before the commission. It was established that the cause of the death of the ship was a fire that broke out in the bow magazine of 305-mm charges and resulted in an explosion of gunpowder and shells in it, as well as an explosion in the magazines of 130-mm guns and torpedo combat charging compartments. As a result, the side was destroyed and the kingstons for flooding the cellars were torn off, and the ship, having suffered great damage to the decks and watertight bulkheads, sank. It was impossible to prevent the death of the ship after damage to the outer side by leveling the roll and trim by filling other compartments, since this would take considerable time.

Having considered possible reasons of a fire in the cellar, the commission settled on the three most probable: spontaneous combustion of gunpowder, negligence in handling fire or gunpowder itself, and, finally, malicious intent. The commission’s conclusion stated that “it is not possible to come to an accurate and evidence-based conclusion; we only have to assess the likelihood of these assumptions...”. Spontaneous combustion of gunpowder and careless handling of fire and gunpowder were considered unlikely. At the same time, it was noted that on the battleship Empress Maria there were significant deviations from the requirements of the charter regarding access to artillery magazines. During the stay in Sevastopol, representatives of various factories worked on the battleship, and their number reached 150 people daily. Work was also carried out in the shell magazine of the first tower - it was carried out by four people with Putilovsky plant. A family roll call of the artisans was not carried out, but only the total number of people was checked. The commission did not exclude the possibility “ malice”, moreover, noting bad organization service on a battleship, she pointed out “the relatively easy possibility of carrying out malicious intent.”

IN Lately version of “malice” received further development. In particular, the work of A. Elkin states that at the Russud plant in Nikolaev during the construction of the battleship Empress Maria, German agents acted, on whose instructions sabotage was committed on the ship. However, many questions arise. For example, why were there no sabotages on the Baltic battleships? After all Eastern front was then the main one in the war of warring coalitions. In addition, the Baltic battleships entered service earlier, and the access regime on them was hardly more stringent when they were half-finished with big amount The factory workers on board left Kronstadt at the end of 1914. And the German spy agency in the capital of the empire, Petrograd, was more developed. What could the destruction of one battleship on the Black Sea achieve? Partially ease the actions of “Goeben” and “Breslau”? But by that time the Bosporus was reliably blocked by Russian minefields and the passage of German cruisers through it was considered unlikely. Therefore, the version of “malice” cannot be considered conclusively proven. The mystery of “Empress Maria” is still waiting to be solved.

The death of the battleship “Empress Maria” caused a great resonance throughout the country. The Naval Ministry began to develop urgent measures to raise the ship and put it into operation. Proposals from Italian and Japanese specialists were rejected due to complexity and high cost. Then A. N. Krylov, in a note to the commission for reviewing projects for raising the battleship, proposed a simple and original method. It provided for lifting the battleship up keel by gradually displacing water from the compartments with compressed air, inserting it into the dock in this position and repairing all damage to the side and deck. Then it was proposed to bring the completely sealed ship to deep place and turn it over, filling the compartments on the opposite side with water.

The execution of A. N. Krylov’s project was undertaken by naval engineer Sidensner, senior shipbuilder of the Sevastopol port. By the end of 1916, the water from all the stern compartments was pressed out with air, and the stern floated to the surface. In 1917, the entire hull surfaced. In January-April 1918, the ship was towed closer to the shore and the remaining ammunition was unloaded. Only in August 1918 did the port tugs “Vodoley”, “Prigodny” and “Elizaveta” take the battleship to the dock.

Life after death

The 130-mm artillery, some of the auxiliary mechanisms and other equipment were removed from the battleship; the ship itself remained in the dock in a keel-up position until 1923. For more than four years, the wooden cages on which the hull rested rotted. Due to the redistribution of the load, cracks appeared in the base of the dock. “Maria” was taken out and stranded at the exit of the bay, where she stood keel up for another three years. In 1926, the battleship's hull was again docked in the same position and in 1927 it was finally dismantled. The work was carried out by EPRON.

When the battleship capsized during the disaster, the multi-ton turrets of the ship's 305-mm guns fell off their combat pins and sank. Shortly before the Great Patriotic War these towers were raised by Epronovites, and in 1939 the battleship’s 305-mm guns were installed near Sevastopol on the famous 30th battery, which was part of the 1st coastal defense artillery division. The battery heroically defended Sevastopol; on June 17, 1942, during the last assault on the city, it fired at the fascist hordes that broke into the Belbek Valley. Having used up all the shells, the battery fired blank charges, holding back the enemy's onslaught until June 25. So, more than a quarter of a century after firing at the Kaiser’s cruisers Goeben and Breslau, the guns of the battleship Empress Maria began to speak again, raining down 305-mm shells, now on Hitler’s troops.

From the conclusion of the commission that tested the ship: “The air refrigeration system for the artillery magazines of the Empress Maria was tested for 24 hours, but the results were uncertain. The temperature of the cellars has hardly dropped, despite the daily operation of the refrigeration machines.”

Captain 2nd Rank A. Lukin

“Pre-dawn breeze. The silhouettes of ships turning gray in the early morning darkness turn their noses towards him. It felt cold. Dew wet the deck and towers. The sentries wrapped themselves tighter in their sheepskin coats—the watch commander, midshipman Uspensky, glanced at his watch. Wake up in a quarter of an hour. I went up to the control room once again to look at the book with the senior officer’s orders. On all ships the bells struck 6 am.

Reveille!

The bugles sounded. The pipes whistled. Sleepy people reluctantly run out. Below the gangway, the sergeant major is cheering them on in a bass voice. The team huddled in the washbasins, near the first tower...

The ship shook. The cabin began to shake. The light went out. Confused as to what had happened, the senior officer jumped up. An inexplicable crash was heard. An ominous glow illuminated the cabin.

In the washbasin, putting their heads under the taps, the crew was snorting and splashing when a terrible blow thundered under the bow tower, knocking half the people off their feet. A fiery stream, shrouded poisonous gases yellow-green flame burst into the room, instantly turning the life that had just reigned here into a pile of dead, burnt bodies...”

Sailor T. Yesyutin

“There was such a deafening explosion that I involuntarily froze in place and could not move further. The lights throughout the ship went out. It became impossible to breathe. I realized that gas was spreading throughout the ship. In the lower part of the ship, where the servants were located, an unimaginable cry arose:

- Save me!

- Give me some light!

- We're dying!

In the darkness, I could not come to my senses and understand what had finally happened. In desperation, he rushed upstairs through the compartments. On the threshold of the fighting compartment of the tower, I saw a terrible picture. The paint on the walls of the tower was in full flame. Beds and mattresses were burning, and comrades who had not managed to get out of the tower were burning. Screaming and howling, they rushed around the fighting compartment, rushing from one side to the other, engulfed in fire. The door leading from the tower to the deck was a continuous flame. And this whole whirlwind of fire rushed into the tower just from the deck, where everyone had to escape.

I don’t remember how long I was in the fighting compartment. The gases and heat made my eyes watery, so I saw the entire fighting compartment of the turret, engulfed in fire, as if through mica. My vest began to light up in one place and then in another. What to do? No commanders are visible, no commands are heard. There was only one salvation left: to rush into the flaming door of the tower, the only door that was the exit to the deck. But I don’t have the strength to throw myself from the fire into an even bigger fire. And standing still is also impossible. The vest is burning, the hair on my head is burning, my eyebrows and eyelashes are already burnt.

The situation is desperate. And suddenly, I remember, one of Comrade Morunenko’s team (served since 1912) was the first to rush through the flaming door - onto the deck. We were amazed by such heroism, and all the sailors, and I with them, one after another, began to throw ourselves in turn at this terrible door. I don't remember how I flew through the furiously raging fire. Even now I don’t understand how I survived...

It was difficult to swim. My throat was dry. I felt sick. The burned areas hurt from the salt water. My right leg was cramping. It became difficult not only to swim, but even to stay on the water. Well, I think it's gone! There is no salvation in sight. I looked back and was even scared: I swam and swam, but only went some twenty to thirty meters away from the ship. This circumstance, I remember, greatly weakened me. I began to get exhausted and no longer swam, but only tried to stay on the water. To this end, I greedily grabbed the floating pieces of wood from the deck of the ship and tried to stay on them. But the strength was declining, and the shore was still far away.

At that moment I saw that a small two-oared boat was coming towards me. When she approached me, I began to grab her sides, but could not climb into her. There were three sailors on the boat, and with their help I somehow got out of the water. Others were swimming near us. We didn't have time to save them, and the poor fellows sank. Not because the boat did not want to take them - the sailors on it made every effort to save them - but they could not do anything.

At this time, a longboat from the battleship “Catherine the Great” approached us. The longboat is very large and could take up to 100 people on board. We managed to approach the side of the longboat and board it. We started rescuing drowning people. It turned out to be not so simple. There were no poles, no circles, no hooks. We had to hand the floating and exhausted man an oar, then take him by the hands and drag him on board. But we still caught about 60 people, took 20 people from other boats and went to the battleship “Catherine the Great”. This ship stood not far from our burning ship. We came aboard the Catherine. Many of the burned and wounded sailors could not go. They were supported by less disfigured sailors. We were accepted onto the ship and sent straight to the infirmary for dressing.”

The conclusion of the commission to investigate the events: “On the battleship “Empress Maria” there were significant deviations from the statutory requirements regarding access to artillery magazines. In particular, many of the tower hatches did not have locks. During the stay in Sevastopol, representatives of various factories worked on the battleship. No family checks were carried out on the artisans.”

"In the depths of the bay North side The battleship Empress Maria, which exploded in 1916, floats keel up. The Russians continuously worked to raise it, and a year later, the colossus was lifted keel up. The hole in the bottom was repaired underwater, and the heavy three-gun turrets were also removed underwater. Incredibly hard work! Pumps worked day and night, pumping out the water there from the ship and at the same time supplying air. Finally its compartments were drained. The difficulty now was to put it on an even keel. This almost succeeded - but then the ship sank again. They began work again, and after some time, the “Empress Maria” again floated upside down. But there was no solution on how to give it the right position.”

"Empress Maria"- battleship-dreadnought Russian fleet, the lead ship of the same type.

Story

"Empress Maria" in 1916

During sea trials of the battleship, a trim on the bow was revealed, due to which the deck was flooded during waves, the ship did not obey the rudder well (a “pig landing”). On demand Standing Committee the plant took measures to lighten the bow. Of interest are the comments of the Standing Commission that tested the battleship: “The air refrigeration system for the artillery magazines of the Empress Maria was tested for 24 hours, but the results were uncertain. The temperature of the cellars hardly dropped, despite the daily operation of the refrigeration machines. Ventilation is not performed properly. Due to wartime, we had to limit ourselves to only daily tests of the cellars.” By August 25, acceptance tests were completed.

With the ship's entry into service, the balance of power in the Black Sea changed dramatically. From October 13 to October 15, 1915, the battleship covered the actions of the 2nd brigade of battleships (“Panteleimon”, “John Chrysostom” and “Eustathius”) in the Coal region. From 2 to 4 and from 6 to 8 November 1915, he covered the actions of the 2nd brigade of battleships during the shelling of Varna and Evsinograd. From February 5 to April 18, 1916, he took part in the Trebizond landing operation.

In the summer of 1916, by decision Supreme Commander Russian army Emperor Nicholas II of the Black Sea Fleet was received by Vice Admiral Alexander Kolchak. The admiral made the Empress Maria his flagship and systematically went to sea on it.

On October 20, 1916, a powder magazine exploded on the ship, and the ship sank (225 dead, 85 seriously wounded). Kolchak personally led the operation to rescue the sailors on the battleship. The commission to investigate the events was unable to find out the causes of the explosion.

Raising the ship

During the disaster, multi-ton turrets of 305 mm guns fell off the capsizing battleship and sank separately from the ship. In 1931, these towers were raised by specialists from the Special Purpose Underwater Expedition (EPRON). Some media reported that in 1939, the battleship's 305-mm guns were installed in the fortification system of Sevastopol on the 30th battery, which was part of the 1st artillery division of coastal defense, and three guns were installed on special railway platforms - conveyors TM-3-12. , however, this information is nothing more than a retelling " beautiful legend", which began with the fact that the 30th battery had gun mounts from the Empress Maria. It is reliably known that in 1937 one of the guns was re-barreled at the Barrikady plant in Stalingrad and sent as a spare barrel to a warehouse in Novosibirsk, where it remained for the rest of the time. According to S.E. Vinogradov, it is safe to assume that none of the eleven remaining guns had anything to do with the defense of Sevastopol in 1941-1942.

Work on raising the ship began back in 1916 according to a project proposed by Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov. This was a very extraordinary event from the point of view of engineering art, and quite a lot of attention was paid to it. According to the project, compressed air was supplied to the pre-sealed compartments of the ship, displacing water, and the ship was supposed to float upside down. Then it was planned to dock the ship and completely seal the hull, and then deep water put it on an even keel. During a storm in November 1917, the ship surfaced with its stern, and completely surfaced in May 1918. All this time, divers worked in the compartments, unloading ammunition continued. Already at the dock, 130 mm artillery and a number of auxiliary mechanisms were removed from the ship.

The operation to raise the ship was led by Admiral Vasily Aleksandrovich Kanin and engineer Sidensner. In August 1918, the port tugs “Vodoley”, “Prigodny” and “Elizaveta” took the surfaced hull of the battleship to the dock. In conditions civil war and due to the revolutionary devastation the ship was never restored. In 1927 it was dismantled for metal.

The battleship Empress Maria after docking and pumping out water, 1919.

This is how a sailor from the German battle cruiser Goeben, who witnessed the work being carried out, recalled this event:

In the depths of the bay near the Northern side, the battleship Empress Maria, which exploded in 1916, floats keel up. The Russians continuously worked to raise it, and a year later, the colossus was lifted keel up. The hole in the bottom was repaired underwater, and the heavy three-gun turrets were also removed underwater. Incredibly hard work! Pumps worked day and night, pumping out the water there from the ship and at the same time supplying air. Finally its compartments were drained. The difficulty now was to put it on an even keel. This almost succeeded - but then the ship sank again. They began work again, and after some time, the “Empress Maria” again floated upside down. But there was no solution on how to give it the right position.

Version of the death of the battleship

In 1933, during an investigation into sabotage at the Nikolaev shipyard, the OGPU arrested German intelligence agent Victor Wermann, who was allegedly recruited by German intelligence services back in 1908. From him confessions it follows that he personally led the operation to destroy the “Empress Maria”. This version the death of the battleship was not refuted by anyone.