 Pallada underway | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | New Admiralty Shipyard,St Petersburg, Russia |
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | Svetlana |
| Succeeded by | Varyag |
| Built | 1895–1903 |
| In commission | 1902–1922 |
| Completed | 3 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Scrapped | 1 |
| Preserved | 1 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Displacement | 6,657–6,897long tons (6,764–7,008 t) |
| Length | 416 ft (126.8 m) |
| Beam | 55 ft (16.76 m) |
| Draft | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 3 × shafts, 3 ×triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 19knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Complement | 571–81 officers and crewmen |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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ThePallada-class cruisers (often known in Russia as "Diana-type protected cruisers",Russian:Бронепалубные крейсера типа «Диана») were a group of threeprotected cruisers built for theImperial Russian Navy (IRN) in the late 1890s. One ship of the class,Aurora, is still crewed by the Russian Navy, and maintained as amuseum ship.
ThePallada cruisers were built in theNew Admiralty Shipyard inSaint Petersburg to reinforce theBaltic Fleet. However, the cruisers were intended to operate oncommerce raiding operations worldwide, especially in the Far East. Initially the Imperial Russian Navy looked at foreign designs, including theRoyal Navy′sApollo class and then theAstraea class before deciding to proceed with a domestic design. Although the armor protection of thePallada class was still light, it represented a significant improvement over preceding Russian cruiser designs.
The orders forPallada andDiana were placed in December 1895 and forAurora in June 1897. However, due to the very long construction period required for these vessels they were already obsolete upon entry into service. As part of this same construction program, the Russian Navy had received cruisers of similar size from abroad (Varyag,Askold,Bogatyr), which were delivered between January 1901 and August 1902, and which were superior toPallada class in several aspects, including their maximum speed of 23knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).
ThePallada-class cruisers had a displacement of 6,731 tons (standard) or 6,932 tons (maximum), with a length of 126 metres (413 ft), beam of 16.8 metres (55 ft) and draft of 6.4 metres (21 ft). Powered by three triple-expansion steam engines with a total of 13,000horsepower (9,700 kW), they had attained speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). The ships had a range of 3,700nautical miles (6,900 km; 4,300 mi) with a coal stock of 972 tons and 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) cruising speed. The deck armor was 50–62 mm (2.0–2.4 in) thick, and the command post had 150 mm (5.9 in) armor. The crew numbered 578 men.
ThePallada-class cruisers were armed with eight152 mm 45 caliber Pattern 1892 guns, which was one of the best Russian guns at the time. These and the twenty-four75-mm guns as secondary armament were Russian variants of the FrenchSchneider et CieCanet guns. The ships also were equipped with eight 37-mm Hotchkiss cannons and three 380-mm torpedo tubes, along with two Baranowski 63.5-mm-L / 19 landing guns.
Soon after her commissioning at the end of 1901Pallada andDiana were sent toPort Arthur for use in the Russian Pacific Squadron.[1] All three ships of thePallada class were used in combat during theRusso-Japanese War of 1904-1905, but without significant success.Pallada was blockaded within the confines of Port Arthur and was sunk at anchor.Diana broke out of the blockade in an attempt to reach home, but was interned inSaigon.Aurora sailed with the Second Pacific Squadron, which was annihilated at theBattle of Tsushima;Aurora escaped, but was interned atManila.
After the war,Pallada was raised by the Japanese and commissioned into theImperial Japanese Navy as the Japanese cruiserTsugaru. InWorld War I,Diana andAurora served with the Russian Baltic Fleet.Aurora subsequently achieved fame for firing the shot which is considered the start of the Russian October Revolution.
