Lieutenant Ilyin (mine cruiser)

There are no documents that could be used to trace the history of the idea of ​​a mine cruiser in Russia. It is known that the main role in this story was played by Admiral I. A. Shestakov, who was not ready to build large vessels with a displacement of 1.5 - 2 thousand tons. It is difficult to even say which of the mine cruisers already built in Europe served as the prototype of the first Russian ship of this class. The general requirements for the project of the mine cruiser looked like this:

• Displacement - 600-700 tons
• Speed ​​no less than 20-22 knots
• Armament - 37, 47 and 57-mm guns, 5-7 torpedo tubes

According to an order issued to the Baltic Shipyard, the ship was supposed to be 230 feet long, 24 feet wide, 600 tons of displacement, two masts (one of them wooden, 76 feet high), sail area of ​​4000 square meters. ft., six rowing boats (a steam boat, a rowing boat, a whaleboat , a six-oiled yal , two large canvas boats). The crew was to consist of 108 officers and sailors.

The outer hull of the ship should have resembled sailing ships of the 18th century - a noticeable sheer, two full-sized decks, a developed deck and a tank , connected by a solid bulwark . A powerful ram was located in the bow, in which a surface mine was installed almost at the level of the waterline.

The armament of the cruiser under the project consisted of seven 47-mm and twelve 37-mm revolving guns, as well as seven 381-mm mine vehicles.

The power of the car was to be 3,500 horsepower, and the speed was 22 knots.

Design work was carried out in parallel with the construction of the ship. The full set of drawings and the specification of the ship were considered by the Marine Technical Committee only on June 17, 1886 (Journal No. 118).

The cruiser was laid down on August 3, 1885 on a slipway of the Baltic Shipyard. The construction was carried out under the leadership of the head captain of the corps of ship engineers S.K. Ratnik, the captain I.E. Leontyev II, factory builder N.E. Titov and lieutenant A.A. Okhotin.

The body of the mine cruiser was made of steel and recruited along the transverse system. The outer skin was made of 6-7 mm steel sheets riveted in-depth. Above the upper deck between the forecastle and the hollow there was a bulwark with a thickness of 3.5 mm. Cross bulkheads divided the ship's hull into 13 watertight compartments. The armored deck is made of a double layer of 6 mm (over the machine and boiler rooms - 12 mm) sheets. On the forecastle, hollow and upper deck, a flooring of 50 mm pine boards is laid. The conning tower is made of 25 mm steel sheets and is equipped with a steering wheel , machine telegraph , and intercom pipes. Officer's cabins were under a hollow, the team was located on a residential (armored) deck.

The ship’s power plant consisted of 6 locomotive boilers located in three boiler rooms (31–72 frames). In the engine room (72–87 frames) there were two vertical triple expansion steam engines working on two propeller shafts with two-bladed propellers. The actual power of the cars was 3282 horsepower. A drainage main pipe passed through the engine and boiler rooms. Electric lighting (70 incandescent lamps and a combat searchlight with a capacity of 18,000 candles) was provided by two steam dynamos .

Sailing equipment consisted of two light wooden masts 23 m high and two sails with a total area of ​​372 sq. M. m

To reduce the displacement, the builders had to change the design of the armament of the mine cruiser, leaving five 47-mm and ten 37-mm revolver guns and five 381-mm torpedo tubes: two bow, two airborne, one stern (all surface). But even reduced armaments required to bring the crew to 128 people, including 8 officers.

The captain of the 2nd rank A. A. Birilev was appointed commander of the ship. On July 12, 1886, a mine cruiser descended into the water. After a two-month mooring test of the mechanisms, the ship went on a one-month trial voyage, which was extended for another month. After that, trial exits to the measuring line began in order to achieve full contract speed.

On October 11, the speed of the ship with open hatches of boiler rooms was 17.1 knots at 280 rpm, and with closed (forced draft) - 18.7 knots at 310 rpm. On October 16, at one run, it was possible to develop a speed of 19.2 knots, but due to numerous malfunctions the tests had to be interrupted. After docking and eliminating the defects, on October 25, they reached an average (of 7 runs) speed of 19.6 knots at 340 rpm. Attempts to reach contract speed continued until mid-November, but to no avail.

On November 28, the ship hibernated for the wall of the Baltic Shipyard. During the winter, we made a re-installation of cars, cleaned the boilers, and installed new three-blade propellers. On May 23, 1887, “Lieutenant Ilyin” continued the tests, showing a speed of 19.3 knots on one of the runs, after which no attempts were made to reach a higher speed. On June 2-3, the ship made the transition from Petersburg to Revel and vice versa. The machines worked satisfactorily, which served as the basis for the acceptance of the ship into the treasury.

At the end of the tests, the 2nd-rank captain Birilev submitted to the Main Naval Headquarters a detailed report stating that the Lieutenant Ilyin mine cruiser combines the qualities of an excellent reconnaissance vessel and a “destroyer chaser” and can even take part in a squadron battle. However, the commission, led by Rear Admiral N.I. Kaznakov , concluded that the ship did not fully satisfy any of its possible assignments.

According to the results of the commission’s report, the ship made a number of improvements: two onboard mine vehicles were removed, a hand wheel in utah was installed, ventilation of the dynamo compartment was strengthened, two desalination systems of the Zotov system and two additional tanks for drinking water were installed, unsuccessful steam engines for lifting ash were removed and slag from boiler rooms, a manual pump for pumping water from the compartments was installed, the supply of shells to the guns was improved, the first supply fenders were installed.

"Lieutenant Ilyin" never participated in either real intelligence or real combat. The cruiser was assigned to the Baltic Fleet Practical Squadron and was used as a training ship.

In 1902, the cruiser was used for experiments on lifting the observer to a height of 300 m using a train of kites.

On September 27, 1907, the cruiser was reclassified to a messenger ship , retaining its former name.

May 31, 1911 the ship was expelled from the fleet.

Commanders

• хх.хх.1886 - хх.хх.1887 - captain of the 2nd rank Birilev, Alexey Alekseevich
• January 1, 1888 - January 1, 1889 - 1st rank captain Nikonov, Konstantin Petrovich
• hh.hh.hhhh - hh.hh.hhhh - the captain of the 2nd rank Cherkasov.
• xx.xx. 1894 - xx.xx.1896 - Mikheev, Konstantin Borisovich.
• February 5, 1896 - December 6, 1897 - captain of the 2nd rank Baer, ​​Vladimir Iosifovich
• December 6, 1897 - December 6, 1899 - captain of the 2nd rank Mordovin, Mikhail Alexandrovich
• xx.xx.xxxx - December 6, 1903 - captain of the 2nd rank Kolyankovsky
• December 6, 1903 - October 25, 1904 - Captain of the 2nd rank Ellenbogen, Mikhail Alexandrovich
• October 25, 1904 - xxx.xx.xxxx - 2nd-Class Captain Ivanov, Alexander Alexandrovich

Senior Officers

• Bostrem, Ivan Fedorovich
• хх.хх.1894 - хх.хх.1895 - Klapier de Colong, Konstantin Konstantinovich
• December 6, 1897 - xx. December 1899 - lieutenant commander (from April 18, 1899 captain of the 2nd rank) Ellenbogen, Mikhail Alexandrovich

• May 1, 1899 - August 29, 1899 - Behrens, Mikhail Andreevich

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