warship Archives - Page 3 of 18 - Destination's Journey

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.

Imperatritsa Mariya Under Construction

Imperatritsa Mariya in Service

Imperatritsa Mariya at Sevastopol — Imperatritsa Mariya

Imperatritsa Mariya After Capsizing and Being Scrapped

Imperatritsa Mariya after exploding and sinking at her moorings in Sevastopol

Imperatritsa Mariya capsized — Imperatritsa Mariya after exploding and sinking at her moorings in Sevastopol

Danish Coastal Defense Ship HDMS Herluf Trolle (1899)

HDMS Herluf Trolle (1899) was a Danish coastal defense ship. The first of her class of three ships (including Olfert Fischer and Peder Skram), she was launched on 2 September 1899 and commissioned on 7 June 1901.

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 sold for scrap in 1934.

Displacement	3,494 long tons (3,550 t)
Length	82.88 m (271 ft 11 in) pp
Beam	15.06 m (49 ft 5 in)
Draft	4.93 m (16 ft 2 in)
Installed power	6 × water-tube boilers 4,200 ihp (3,100 kW)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Complement	254
Armament	2 × 240 mm (9.4 in) guns 4 × 150 mm (5.9 in) guns 10 × 6-pounder guns 3 × 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon 8 × 1-pounder automatic guns 3 × 457 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt armor: 178 to 203 mm (7 to 8 in) Gun turrets: 170 to 190 mm (6.5 to 7.5 in)

Postcard for Danish coastal battleship Herluf Trolle — Herluf Trolle class 2-view line drawing

Russian Battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya

Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya on trials

Russian Battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya

Commissioned on 18 October 1915, Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya, was the second of the three Imperatritsa Mariya-class dreadnoughts built for the Imperial Russian Navy. Her two sister were Imperatritsa Mariya and Imperator Aleksandr III.

During the First World War, she engaged the Turkish battlecruiser Yavûz Sultân Selîm (ex-German Goeben) once, but only inflicted splinter damage while taking no damage herself. The majority of her service saw her covering the actions of smaller vessels during which she did not fire her armament apart from briefly engaging the Turkish cruiser Midilli on 25 June 1917.

Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya was renamed Svobodnaya Rossiya (Free Russia) after the February Revolution of 1917. The ship sailed from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk on 30 April 1918 as German troops approached the city. Svobodnaya Rossiya was scuttled on 19 June by four torpedoes fired by the destroyer Kerch in Novorossiysk harbor to prevent her from being turned over to the Germans as required by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. She was partially salvage in the 1920s.