Type: armoured boat 

Series: military fleet

The country: Russia, 1886 

Scale 1:100

Volume: 42 sheets A4

The instruction in English

 

In March 9, 1864 the construction of "eight new armoured ships", which the marine establishment supposed to build in Russia solely of domestic materials, was officially approved. For the building they have chosen the project of the English company "Mitchell & Co.", which after the improvement of the shipbuilding technical committee was the grounds for the concluding of the contract for the building of two twin-tower boats. In January 14, 1865 the contract with the merchant S.G. Kudriavtsev for the building of "two iron armoured tower ships" was concluded. In May 1865, after the stocks of the "Galerny Island" were prepared, the hull operations started. By the order as of May 29, 1865, the boats were named "Charodeyka" and "Rusalka". In May 25, 1866 the official laying of the ships took place. The ships were launched in August 31, 1867, and by spring 1869 they were prepared for navigation. In 1869 the both ships were included into the armoured squadron of the Baltic Sea. The first sailings discovered many constructive disadvantages of the tower boats; the most significant of them were the small height of the above-water side and the bad maneuvering capabilities. Under the roughness of just 1-2 points and the small speed, the water flooded the upper deck, penetrating inside the hull through the gaps between the deck and the towers and in the other openings. In 1870-1874 one succeeded in removing a number of disadvantages of the construction. The tragic wreck of the "Rusalka" with the whole crew, headed by the experienced commander, captain 2nd class V.H. Iyenish occurred in September 7, 1893. It happened during the wind force 8 on going from Revel to Gelsingforce. The special commission mentioned the most probable reasons of the wreck of the ship as follows: the loss of speed by the ship as a result of the flooding of the firerooms through the entrance hatches; the loss of control as a result of break of the steering rope. The ships of the type "Rusalka" are the last and the most improved ships of the coastal defense on the Baltic with the minimal height of the completely armoured above-water side. In the course of their building it was determined the necessity of combining of solid defense with sufficient seagoing abilities. The solving of this problem was reflected in the further types of the armoured ships - the tower frigates.