Ship Archives - Page 2 of 13 - Destination's Journey

Danish Coastal Defense Ship Olfert Fischer

HDMS Olfert Fischer (1903) was a Danish coastal defense ship. The second of her class of three ships (including Herluf Trolle and Peder Skram), she was launched on 9 May 1903 and commissioned on 31 May 1905.

She had an uneventful career, as Denmark remained neutral throughout World War One. Herluf Trolle and her sisters patrolled Denmark’s coast, enforcing her neutrality. Post war, with reduced naval budgets, she was often laid up or used as a training ship. In 1936, it was decided to scrap her, but after she had been used to evaluate aerial bombing. With most of her useful equipment removed and additional armour added to protect a skeleton crew, army and navy bombers dropped a total of 386 small, practice bombs on her from 5 to 17 October October 1936. Only twelve of the 12 kg (26 lb) bombs hit Olfert Fischer.

Olfert Fischer was broken up for scrap from 1937 to 1938. Her main guns were added to the coastal defenses of Holmen Naval Base, where they remained until 1948.

Soviet Battleship Novorossiysk

Novorosiysk (ex-Giulio Cesare) in 1950 at Sevastopol

Soviet Battleship Novorossiysk

Novorossiysk was a Conte di Cavour-class battleship operated by the Soviet Union from 1949 to 1955. Originally the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) battleship Giulio Cesare, she was awarded to Russia as part of war reparations.

Operated mainly as a training ship, she underwent several refits, which included replacing her lights Italian anti-aircraft guns with 37 mm 70-K AA guns. On the night of 28/29 October 1955 an explosion ripped a 4-by-14-meter (13 by 46 ft) hole in the forecastle forward of ‘A’ turret. The flooding could not be controlled, and she capsized with the loss of 617 men, including 61 men sent from other ships to assist. The most likely cause of the explosion was determined to be a World War Two German mine.

Novorossiysk (Ex-Giulio Cesare) in the USSR Navy — Novorosiysk (ex-Giulio Cesare) in 1950 at Sevastopol

Russian Battleship Imperatritsa Mariya

Imperatritsa Mariya was the lead ship of her class of battleships built for the Imperial Russian navy, along with her sister ships Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya and Imperator Aleksandr III. Launched on 19 October 1913, she was completed on 10 June 1915.

During the First World War, she supported older battleships when they sortied to bombard German positions. She twice engaged the Ottoman light cruiser Midilli, but only inflicted splinter damage. In July 1916, Imperatritsa Mariya along with Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya attempted to intercept the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz, which managed to escape.

On 20 October 1916, two explosions (in the forward powder magazine and 40-minutes later in the torpedo compartment) caused Imperatritsa Mariya to sink and capsize killing 228 sailors, while at anchor in Sevastopol. An enquiry concluded that the explosion was probably the result of spontaneous combustion of the nitrocellulose-based propellant as it decomposed.

A salvage operation refloated her on 18 May 1918, however, the Russian Revolution and Civil War prevented further repair work. She was sold for scrap in 1925.

Two of her gun turrets were used as the 30th Coast Defense Battery defending Sevastapol during the Siege of Sevastopol in World War II.