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Varyag 1st grade armored cruiser

Varyag was the first in a series of 6,000-ton cruisers for long-range reconnaissance. It was designed on the basis of Aurora-type cruisers, in order to surpass the "Elsvik" class cruisers, which at that time were part of many fleets of the world. Unreliable boilers (by 1903, the speed was only 20 knots, the cruising range was variously estimated between 3.700 to 4,300 miles, the complete lack of artillery protection and the location of all guns along the sides restricted its use in the squadron.

That is to say, the intended concept of operations for this ship was that it would cruise independently of the fleet, engaging enemy ships of inferior armament, and using superior speed to evade enemy ships with equal or superior armament. The glorious demise of this ship came when it found itself trapped in precisely the situation for which it was not designed.

Although privateering was considered to be destroyed by the Paris declaration of 1856, still not all the states had joined it by the end of the 19th Centruy. Cruiser Warfare, or crusing, meant operations against the enemy's maritime trade and against neutral commercial ships, if the latter brought military items that are used for the conduct of war, ie, so-called military smuggling. The recognition of cruiser operations as a legitimate way of waging war is based on the fact that privately property is not considered to be inviolable at sea, as it is considered on land. Even such continental state like Russia, ¾ of all trade went by sea. The desire to put cruiser war in the first place, with the help of this alone to force peace, was often observed in the history of sea wars. Tempting to do without a large fleet, replacing it with cheap cruising and privateers.

However, reality never justified such hopes. But, despite the lessons of history, the idea of warfare by means of cruiser operations was revived in France and Russia the 1880s and the beginning of the 1890s. They hoped to cope with England by such warfare. Cruiser operations are particularly difficult, and need a port for the renewal of fuel reserves. Therefore, to wage such a war, one must have coal stations, which weak sea powers just do not have. This strategy is extremely difficult in the case of remote ports, in particular, if the prize has a shortage of fuel. In practice, all this often led to the destruction of captured ships at sea. The hopelessness of such a situation is so obvious that the right to destroy even a neutral prize was denied under the London Declaration on the law of the sea wars of 13 (26) February 1909.

The most famous cruiser of the Russian Empire was built in America - it was a common practice, the domestic industry could not cope with the war orders, and the tsarist government often bought the newest ships abroad. For example, simultaneously with the Varyag, new battleships and cruisers were built for Russia in France and Germany. The builder of the future "Varyag" ["Varangian"] was the company from the USA William Cramp & Sons. The cruiser was built by the end of 1900. The American company delayed the delivery of the ship for almost a year, although the promised speed of construction was an important factor in choosing the construction site. The purchase cost Russia 4.9 million rubles in gold (more than $2 billion at current prices).

The new ship received the name "Varyag" - in honor of the legendary Viking naval warriors of the medieval Baltic. Dazzling white, the new ship, according to eyewitnesses, was very beautiful, reminding his contemporaries rather an ocean-going yacht than a 1st-rank armored cruiser. It was distinguished by the “Varyag” and high speed, but the reliability of the mechanisms and the protection of artillery guns were sacrificed to it — what else will be affected in the course of the historical battle.

In popular publications, there is an estimate that the combat value of the Varyag was low. Indeed, due to poor quality work performed during the construction in Philadelphia, the Varyag could not develop a contract speed of 25 knots, thus losing the main advantage of the light cruiser. The second serious drawback was the lack of armor shields in the main caliber guns. With 12 guns of 152 mm caliber, the Japanese did not have any cruiser of this class. But on the Japanese Asama all the guns were closed in turrets, then on the Varyag they just stood on the open deck. The total weight of armor on the “Asama” reached 2,699 tons - more than a quarter of the displacement. The artillery of the Russian cruiser did not have any armor protection and was mostly located openly on the upper deck. The total weight of armor on the Varyag was 526 tons, five times less than on the Asama. The inequality was aggravated by the fact that in order to inflict significant damage on its armored enemy, Varyag was forced to use armor-piercing ammunition, whose destructive power was many times inferior to high-explosive shells of the Asama.

On the other hand, during the Russo-Japanese war, Japan, in principle, did not have a single armored cruiser capable of withstanding the Varyag and similar weapons for the Askold, Bogatyr or Oleg. True, the fighting took shape in such a way that the crews of Russian cruisers never had to fight with an adversary of equal numbers or class. The Japanese have always acted for sure, compensating for the shortcomings of their cruisers by a numerical superiority.

In the meantime, Varyag caused only admiration - on arrival in Kronstadt, in May 1901, the royal family with a retinue of courtiers visited the novelty. Visitors were delighted. However, the mother of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, the empress dowager, Maria Feodorovna, in those days still made an alarming note in her personal diary following a visit to the cruiser: as if the cruiser has some damage and is almost hopeless. I don’t know if they are right, but for the three-day visit I didn’t manage to notice in the cruiser’s crew any signs of the usual hustle and anxiety during technical problems ... ”

In December 1903 the cruiser received an order to leave Port Arthur and go to the shores of Korea. Officially, Varyagu, in the language of the time, was to serve as a “hospital” in the Korean port of Chemulpo (now the sea suburb of Seoul, the capital of South Korea). "Inpatient" then referred to as military ships, stationed in foreign harbors to support their diplomatic missions. At that time, it was a common practice, and in the port of Chemulpo, military vessels were still near the ships, the “hospitals” of England, France, the USA and Italy, defending their embassies.

Under these conditions, the cruiser Varyag and the gunboat Koreyets given to it guaranteed the support of the embassy in case of any provocations. After all, the political struggle of Russia and Japan for influence on the peninsula has long been going on around Korea for a long time, which will soon lead to open war.

So even before the start of the war, Varyag served Russian diplomacy. But for the cruiser itself, it turned out to be a disaster - he met the beginning of a possible conflict in isolation from the main forces of the fleet. In fact, the Varyag turned out to be hostage to the diplomatic maneuvers of Tsar Nicholas II - the Russian autocrat, realizing the closeness of the war, believed that the initiative to begin hostilities should be left to the Japanese, so that they looked "aggressors" and Russia found itself in a "moral" gain, as the defending side.

February 6 (all dates are given in a new style - DV) 1904 Japan broke off diplomatic relations with Russia, but did not officially declare war. At dawn on February 9, the crew of the Varyag cruiser, led by captain Vsevolod Rudnev, having no connection with the top command, could only guess at the start of an open military conflict. They did not know anything on board the Varyag and that the Japanese destroyers, without declaring war, attacked the squadron in Port Arthur.

The battle of Chemulpo is still the dark page of Russian military history. Its results are disappointing, and there are still many misconceptions about the participation of "Varyag" in this battle. In reality, the battle was led by a group of four Japanese cruisers, two more cruisers participated only sporadically.

At 12 hours 20 minutes the Japanese opened fire on the ships. Two minutes later, Varyag and Koreets returned fire. The commander of the French cruiser Pascal wrote in his diary of the Russians, “We saluted these heroes who were walking so proudly to die!” Excellence in forces immediately affected the course of the battle. The Japanese literally bombarded the Varyag with heavy shells. Already 18 minutes after the discovery of fire, a 152-mm projectile from the Japanese cruiser “Asama” hit the “Varyag”, destroying the front-range finder and causing a fire.

In total, the battle of Russian ships with the Japanese squadron lasted 55 minutes. During this time, "Varyag", received numerous underwater holes and engulfed in fire, lost almost all weapons. Of the twelve 152-mm cannons on the cruiser, only two remained, of the twelve 75-mm - five, all 47-mm cannon were disabled. The design features of the light cruiser, when the protection of the ship was sacrificed to theoretical speed, had an effect.

As it turned out after the battle, fires swept over the sixth part of the ship, caused by the hits of enemy shells. Of the 570 people on the Varyag team, an officer and 22 sailors died during the battle. After the battle, another 10 people died from their wounds within 24 hours. 27 people were seriously injured, “less seriously wounded” - the commander of the cruiser Rudnev himself, two officers and 55 sailors. More than a hundred people were injured by small fragments. That is, a third of the team was temporarily or permanently disabled. Burning, barely obeying the helm "Varyag" and the gunboat "Koreyets" retreated to the port of Chemulpo. Here, Captain Rudnev, who was wounded in the head and concussion during the battle, but did not leave his post, decided to destroy the ships so that they would not fall into the hands of the enemy. The Koreon gunboat was blown up by a crew and sank. On the Varyag, after the evacuation of the wounded and the crew to the shore, the sea-cocks were opened, after which the cruiser with a blazing stern fell over onto the port side and went under water.

The results of the battle of "Varyag" with the superior forces of the Japanese squadron were later differently evaluated by military experts and historians. More than once, speculative theories were advanced that the enemy could have inflicted more damage. But public opinion, not only in Russia, but also in European countries, immediately praised the feat of the Russian sailors, who bravely moved into an unequal battle.

In the public consciousness of the country "Varyag" from a dramatic episode of the war immediately turned into a legend, into a heroic myth. Although the Russian-Japanese war lasted another year and a half and had a lot of outstanding and terrible episodes, but it was the “Varyag” in its historical memory that remained its most vivid moment.

The most unexpected award to the commander of the Varyag was the Order of the Rising Sun, sent by the Japanese emperor to Captain Rudnev soon after the end of the war. The Japanese decided to emphasize the heroism of the former enemy (by then fallen into disfavor with Nicholas II), so that their victory looked more significant. The captain of the "Varyag" order on the advice of the diplomats accepted, but never wore ...

Japanese began work on raising the submerged cruiser as early as February 1904. Russian intelligence in Korea tracked their progress, also well aware of the possible propaganda effect conceived by the enemy. In the secret documents of the Maritime Ministry of the Russian Empire, even the thought was then voiced: “it would be extremely important to find a way to prevent this enterprise and blow up Varyag ...”

The Japanese were able to commission a trophy ship only at the beginning of 1908. The prisoner "Varyag" received a new name - "Soya", as the Japanese call the northernmost cape of Hokkaido, from which Sakhalin is visible in good weather. The replacement of the Nikolayss boilers with Miyabara boilers on the Varyag was part of a thorough repair of the machinery, and the cruiser on trial showed a speed of 22.7 knots.

In the Japanese navy, "Soya" was used as a training ship for future officers. The winners in the Russian-Japanese war did not fail to demonstrate their trophy to all states on the shores of the Pacific Ocean - from 1909 to 1913, the former Varyag under the flag of the rising sun visited the ports of the United States, Canada, China, Australia and the Philippines.

But after 1914, Russia and Japan formally turned out to be allies in the war against Germany. In the conditions of a protracted world conflict, the country urgently needed ships to protect the coast of the Barents and White Seas - immediately the thought arose of buying the Japanese trophies of the last war from the Japanese. Initially, negotiations were about the battleships, inherited by the Japanese after the fall of Port Arthur. But, according to legend, Tsar Nicholas II himself made the famous Varyag on the list of redeemed trophies.

For the cruiser, the Japanese were paid almost 4 million rubles in gold - a little less than its original construction in America was worth. And on April 3, 1916, the “Varyag” under the Japanese flag entered the Golden Horn Bay. Thousands of residents of Vladivostok met the famous ship. The next day, the transfer ceremony took place - the Japanese were replaced by a Russian crew, 592 officers and sailors, who had specially arrived in the Far East from the Baltic Fleet. April 9, 1916 on the cruiser was the rite of the church consecration. Only then over the ship raised flags and pennants of the Russian fleet.

In February 1917 he went to the UK for repairs , where he was confiscated by the British, because the Soviet government refused to pay the debts of the Russian Empire. In 1920 resold to German firms for scrap. In 1925, while towing, the ship hit a storm and sank off the coast in the Irish Sea. Part of the metal structures was then removed by local residents. It was subsequently blown up.