Walrus (gunboat)

After the Crimean War, for the permanent presence of forces in the Far East of Russia, the demonstration of the Russian flag in the oceans, representative service and, possibly, cruising won, a program for the construction of a number of ships of various classes and types, including new ones, was worked out in the departments of the Naval Ministry of the Russian Empire gunboats. The Ministry of the Navy supposed to identify the most suitable type for the Siberian flotilla during the pilot operation of “promising samples” ^[1] .

From the presentation of Count E.V. Putyatin, on March 2, 1859, it was decided to order one of the gunboats of the French private shipyard in Le Havre Chantiers & Atellers Augustin Normand , but the main mechanisms were supposed to be installed in English. September 22, 1859 a contract was signed with the English factory Models and Field for the manufacture of a steam engine, boilers, as well as for the final finishing of the gunboat and preparing it for the transition to the Russian Far East. Observers in England appointed Lieutenant A. A. Peshchurov . The cost of the mechanisms under the contract amounted to 32,480 rubles. After agreeing all the drawings with the representatives of the shipyard, on October 23, 1859, a contract was signed for the construction of the boat with the obligation of O. Norman to prepare it for launching no later than July 1, 1860. The construction cost was 105 566 rubles ^[1] .

The building was laid down on December 27, 1859. The ship engineer, warrant officer X. V. Prokhorov, was appointed construction supervisor. The boat was launched on July 1, 1860, and on August 10 it was put into the East India Docks in (environs of London) for decorating ^[1] .

On October 17, 1860, Captain-Lieutenant A.E. Crown , appointed commander of the boat and adjutant of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, Lieutenant D.S. Arsenyev , appointed senior officer, were sent to London to take the boat. Together with them, the ship’s crew ^[2] set off on the Brenda chartered by the Russian government. January 4, 1861 "Walrus" was taken out of the docks. From that moment, sea trials began. On January 7, in the presence of Count E.V. Putyatin , a speed of 9.82 knots was shown at a mile. At the same time, the vapor pressure was 4 atm, and the indicator power of the machine reached 392 liters. from. at 148 rpm On January 12, the boat sailed to Southampton , where they fixed the screw bent on the eve. On January 29 and 30 in Plymouth , some flaws in the car were corrected and the remaining members of the English acceptance team landed. On February 2, the boat came to Falmouth and the team began preparing the boat for the upcoming long-distance transition to the Russian Far East ^{[3] [4]} .

• Displacement 456.7 tons
• Waterline Length 47 meters
• Breadth Extreme 7 meters
• The average draft is 2.45 meters ^[3] .

Corps

The boat had a wooden hull with a set of oak with ties (readers) at an angle of 45 ° and reinforced by external iron readers. Iron knitsy and beams were located above the boilers and at the helical well. The inner lining went in the opposite direction to the riders and was made of oak boards from 45 to 51 mm thick. The outer skin 83–127 mm thick was drawn from elm and teak . The set and casing were fastened with acacia pins . For fastening in the underwater part of the body, copper bolts and nails were used, and in the surface part - iron. The underwater part was sheathed with copper sheets. From bronze were made: part of the keel in the stern, stern and steering wheel feather ; yellow copper: bollards , planks, grilles over skylights of the engine room and wardroom; from cast iron: kluzy . On the sides of the bow and stern were eight portholes. A teak was used for flooring the upper deck ^[1] .

Mover and main mechanisms

Sailing weapons - a three - masted bark (in various sources of a schooner / biscuit ). As a propulsion device, a two-hazardous lifting screw with a diameter of 1450 mm was also used, the pitch of the screw was 2440 mm. It was driven through a propeller shaft with a diameter of 127 mm from a two-cylinder high-pressure steam engine. Raising and lowering the screw was carried out manually with the help of tongs, which were laid in special holes in the blades. The cylinder diameter of the steam engine and the piston stroke were the same and amounted to 457 mm. Steam for the machine was generated by three boilers with a length of 4900 mm and a diameter of 1400 mm, the total heating surface was 125.2 m². Smoke was discharged through one pipe with a diameter of 700 mm lowered onto the deck. From the adjacent premises, the main mechanisms were separated by two wooden bulkheads with a thickness of 64 mm. The boat developed a maximum speed under pairs of 9.8 knots . Cruising range under pairs of 9-nodal coal reserves (57 tons) was 1080 nautical miles. The autonomy of swimming for five days ^[1] .

During the transition to the Far East, it was necessary to correct boilers several times. According to Lieutenant Commander A. E. Crowne, this was due to a size too small for high pressure boilers ^[5] . In 1869 they were replaced ^[1] .

Armament

The initial artillery weapons were: two 203-mm bombing guns on turntables and four 164-mm short smooth-bore guns (30-pound). By the campaign of 1864, the boat was re-equipped with: one 196-mm cannon (60-pound No. 1) on a turntable, one experimental rifled gun of the Armstrong system and four "landing" 87-mm rifled copper guns. Upon arrival in Nikolaevsk, the gun of the Armstrong system had to be dismantled and delivered to the port in view of its unsuitability for use. In 1880, armaments were: one 152 mm steel gun and four 87 mm rifled copper guns. In 1885, two 107 mm rifled and two 42 mm quick-firing guns of the Engstrem system were additionally installed ^[1] .

Team

The gunboat team consisted of 88–90 sailors, of which 5–7 officers ^[3] .

According to the staffing of 1860, the clipper team consisted of 1 head officer , 2 chief officers , 3 non-commissioned officers , 1 corps of engineer-mechanics of the conductor's fleet, 2 midshipmen and cadets , 44 privates of the maritime department, 1 civilian engineer and 16 non-military lower ranks - only 70 people ^[6] .

Later, D. S. Arseniev wrote in his memoirs ^[7] :

“Our team consisted of 70 people, half recruits, but they were all very good, simple, kind people, like all our teams in general, and there was not a single scoundrel between them, as, unfortunately, now they begin to come across between the applicants to military service ... Due to its scarcity, we soon got used to all the people and recognized them. “We have never had any theft between people, no fights, no quarrels and no misconduct.”

Transition to the Russian Far East

On February 11, 1861, the Walrus, under the command of Captain Lieutenant A. E. Crowne, left the English Falmouth and headed for Lisbon ^[8] . Then the boat went to Madeira to replenish the supply of coal. From March 5 to 14, the passage, accompanied by a storm, to Porto Grande . Since March 19, the Walrus went to sea and on March 28 crossed the equator line. On April 16, the boat entered the Rio de Janeiro raid. From April 29 ^[9] to May 19, the transition to Montevideo , while from 9 to 12 the boat survived a hurricane with a severe storm. After eliminating all the damage and replenishing supplies, from May 27 to June 14, sailing to the Strait of Magellan . From June 5 to 7 and 10, the boat withstood severe storms, during which it was necessary to stay under the storm trishels and the fock - staysail , but more often under the tightly rippled mainsail trisel ^[10] . The next day, when the storm subsided, the boat entered the strait. From 16 to 21 stays in Punta Arenas . From June 23 to 27, the Walrus again passed the test of the storm ^[11] . On July 19, the boat left for the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of a storm. On July 25 it circled the northern tip of Chiloe Island and on the 28th day it anchored in San Carlos, where it stayed for 7 days. From 5 to 8 August, the transition to Valdivia . From August 13 to 15, the transition to Valparaiso ^[12] , upon arrival at the port, had to fix the boilers, because during the transition there was a small fire - the wooden kilson under the right boiler ignited, which delayed the boat until September 17 ^[13] . On October 1, the boat anchored in Callao Bay. On the 9th, while parking in the bay, two people were sailing to the boat. The boat arrived only one person - the other drowned before the boat arrived. The Swedish sailor turned out to be saved, who had to escape from the American merchant ship John Parks, being accused and shackled without fault, like his comrade. On October 10, consuls of Sweden and the North American States were invited to the boat, as well as the skipper of the boat John Parks, as a result of which the Swedish sailor was released and released to the Swedish ship ^[14] . October 12 "Walrus" went to sea and crossed the equator line on the 27th. From November 17 to February 6, 1862 stay in Honolulu. On March 17, the Walrus arrived in Nagasaki . On April 15, the Walrus left Nagasaki and on the 25th came to St. Olga’s Bay , and on May 13th at Douai . At the raid, the Abrek clipper was met under the flag of Rear Admiral A. A. Popov , the Kalevala corvette and the Gaydamak clipper, aground. By order of Rear Admiral, the Walrus remained with the poor clipper until May 18, attempting to pull off the clipper, which did not bring success ^[15] . On the evening of May 18, the Walrus delivered the squadron commander to De Castries , and the next morning he went on board with him on board. On the 21st of November, the boat entered the Amur estuary , and on May 24, 1862, arrived in Nikolaevsk (now Nikolaevsk-on-Amur ), where it officially became part of the Siberian military flotilla ^[16] .

In 1863, N. A. Fesun published “From Notes on the World Voyage on the Walrus Boat” . Part II (Appendix to No. 4 of the Marine Collection, 1863). St. Petersburg: Printing house of the Ministry of the Sea, 1863. P. 26. ^[17] and a detailed description of the Strait of Magellan, compiled by him during the transition.

Service as part of the Siberian Flotilla

On June 5, 1862, the Walrus escorted the America ship with the damaged clipper Gaydamak from Douai to De Kastri ^[18] . Further, “Walrus” was delivered by V. M. Babkin to Hakodat , where the temporary base of the ships of the Pacific Squadron of Rear Admiral A. A. Popov was organized. By October, he was in Nagasaki as part of the squadron ( Bogatyr (flagship), Kalevala, Rynda , Novik , Walrus, Sakhalin ) ^[19] .

In 1863, while sailing, east of Cape De-Kastri in the Nevelsky Strait, a can called the Glazenapa was discovered and investigated ^[20] .

During the hydrographic expedition of the Naval Corps of Lieutenant M. A. Klykov off the coast of Sakhalin in June 1866, the river (Sango), which flows into Busse Bay, was named after the ship’s doctor of the gunboat K. V. Shishkevich , later on the river formed the post Muravyovsky (now Korsakov ) ^[21] .

On June 22, 1867, a senior officer, Lieutenant K.K. Grippenberg, was appointed to the post of commander of a gunboat instead of captain-lieutenant Suslov. Under his command, the boat cruised through posts in the Tatar Strait and was in a separate voyage off the coast of the Qing Empire and Japan . From August 11, 1867 to May 11, 1868, K. K. Grippenberg commanded the Vostok schooner, after which he returned to the Walrus ^{[22] [23] [24]} .

In 1869, the boat underwent major repairs ^[3] .

In October 1872, the gunboat "Walrus" and the corvette " Vityaz " under the flag of her commander of the retinue of His Imperial Majesty Rear Admiral M. Ya. Fedorovsky were on the Nagasaki raid to meet the frigate " Svetlana " with Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich on board.

In 1880, the boat was taken under the command of B.K. De Livron and brought it from Shanghai to Vladivostok ^[25] . On September 5 of the same year, he was transferred to the Baltic Fleet and returned to the Baltic ^[26] , and Lieutenant I. I. Podyapolsky was appointed in his place. In 1880-1881, he conducted hydrographic work in the Sea of ​​Japan and Okhotsk . During this expedition, the gunboats were named after a canister in Peter the Great Bay , a mountain in Aniva Bay, a bay in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and one of the lakes of Sakhalin Island ^{[27] [20]} .

On December 14, 1887, the Walrus was withdrawn from the combat structure of the Siberian Flotilla and deposited at the Vladivostok military port. On May 3, 1892, the Walrus, as well as the Sable, were removed from the lists of the Siberian Flotilla and soon sold for scrap ^[1] .

Commanders

• ??. ??. 1860 - ??. ??. 1862 Captain-Lieutenant Crown Alexander Egorovich
• ??. ??. 1862 - ??. ??. 1862 Lieutenant Rogulya Ivan Grigoryevich (interim)
• ??. ??. 1862 - ??. ??. 1864 lieutenant, since 1863 captain-lieutenant Linden Alexander Mikhailovich
• ??. ??. 1865-22.06.1867 lieutenant, from January 1, 1866 captain-lieutenant Suslov Nikolai Alexandrovich
• 06/22/1867 - 08/11/1867 Lieutenant Grippenberg Kazimir Kazimirovich
• 08/11/1867 - 05/11/1868?
• 05/11/1868-03.03.1872 Lieutenant Grippenberg Kazimir Kazimirovich
• ??. ??. 1880–09.09.1880 Captain-Lieutenant De Livron Boris Karlovich
• 09/05/1880 - ??. ??. 1881 lieutenant Podyapolsky Ivan Ivanovich

Senior Officers

• 09.29.1860-19.07.1862 Lieutenant Arseniev Dmitry Sergeevich
• ??. 05.1866-22.06.1867 Lieutenant Grippenberg Kazimir Kazimirovich

Other posts

• ??. ??. 1860 - ??. ??. 186? Lieutenant Fesun Nikolay Alekseevich
• 08/01/ 1862-17.11.1862 midshipman Avelan Fyodor Karlovich
• ??. ??. 1862 - ??. ??. 186? Shishkevich Konstantin Venediktovich (ship's doctor)
• 08/13/1863 - 10/15/18863 Lieutenant Kologeras Leonid Konstantinovich
• 05/09/1864 - 09/28/1864 Lieutenant Leonid Kologeras
• ??. ??. 1865 - ??. ??. 1865 midshipman Dubasov Fedor Vasilyevich
• 05/29/1879 - 06/02/1879 midshipman Egoriev Evgeny Romanovich (officer on duty)
• 06/02/1879 - 12/31/18879 midshipman Egoriev Evgeny Romanovich (auditor)
• 06/07/1880 - 09/16/18880 Lieutenant Egoriev Evgeny Romanovich (shift commander)
• 09/16/1880 - 09/27/1880 Lieutenant Egoriev Evgeny Romanovich (acting commander of the 10th company)
• 09/27/1880 - 12/31/1880 Lieutenant Egoriev Evgeny Romanovich (Acting Auditor)
• ??. ??. 1884 - ??. ??. 1885 Marine artillery corps ensign Bersenev Fedor Arkadevich
• 02.22.1885–30.03.1886 Lieutenant Shamov Alexander Sergeevich (commander of the watch)

Passed marine training (practice)

• ??. ??. 1862 - ??. ??. 1862 midshipman Lavrov Vasily Mikhailovich
• ??. ??. 1864 - ??. ??. 1864 cadet Makarov Stepan Osipovich

In honor of the gunboat "Walrus" are named:

• Bank in Peter the Great Bay , Sea of ​​Japan
• mountain in Aniva Bay
• Bay on Sakhalin Island , Laperouse Strait 45 ° 57'25 "N 142 ° 7'24" E
• Lake on Sakhalin Island 46 ° 48'39 "N 143 ° 14'16" E

• Svetlana (frigate)
• Button accordion (corvette)
• Standard (yacht, 1857)

• Gribovsky V. Yu. Sea gunboats of the "Walrus" type (Russian) // "Shipbuilding": Journal. - 1986. - No. 2 . - S. 65-67 .
• Shirokorad A. B. 200 years of the sailing fleet of Russia. 1696-1891. - M .: Veche, 2007 .-- 448 p. - ISBN 978-5-9533-1517-3 .
• Stepanov A.A. Harbor of the far outskirts. - Vladivostok: Far Eastern Book Publishing House, 1990. - S. 105-106. - 272 p. - 30,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7440-0254-5 .
• V. Latyshev, G. Dudarets. Report of the Commander of the Siberian Fleet and ports of the Great Ocean to the Chief of the Ministry of the Sea on the work of the crew of the gunboat "Walrus" off the coast of Sakhalin, September 2, 1866 // State Chancellor A. M. Gorchakov and the solution of the Sakhalin issue / scientific editor T. P. Roon . - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: GBUK "Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore", 2015. - 520 p. - ISBN 978-1-329-12964-1 .
• Gruzdev A.I. Coastline: name on the map. Toponymic Maritime Dictionary of Primorsky Territory. - Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 1996 .-- 244 p.
• Stepanov A. I. Russian coast: Marine toponymic reference book. - Vladivostok: Far Eastern Book Publishing House, 1976. - 190 p.
• Kopelev D.N. De Livrons. /// Chapter 3. Maritime dynasty and the birth of German nepotism. // In the service of the Empire. The Germans and the Russian fleet in the first half of the XIX century . - SPb. : Publishing House of the European University in St. Petersburg, 2010. - 338 p. - (“Territory of History.” Issue 3). - ISBN 978-5-94380-096-2 . (inaccessible link)
• Shabrova N. I. Sailors - researchers of the Sakhalin coast in 1868 (track records) (Russian) // Bulletin of the Sakhalin Museum: Collection. - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore, 2017. - Issue. 23 . - S. 195-198 .
• Vakulenko Yu. A. Russian outpost in the struggle for South Sakhalin (Rus.) // Bulletin of the Sakhalin Museum: Collection. - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore, 2014. - Issue. 21 . - S. 76-104 .
• Overview of overseas voyages of the ships of the Russian Navy in 1850-1868. - SPb. : Printing Office of the Maritime Office in the Main Admiralty, 1871. - T. I. - 702 p.
• Overview of overseas voyages of the ships of the Russian Navy in 1850-1868. - SPb. : Printing Office of the Maritime Office in the Main Admiralty, 1871. - T. II. - 752 s.
• Likin Yu. A. “Odysseys of the Gaydamak Clipper” (Russian) // Gangut: Journal. - SPb. : Gangut, 2009. - No. 51 . - S. 59-78 .
• Berezhnoy S. S. Linear and armored ships. Gunboats: Directory .. - M .: Military Publishing, 1997. - 312 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-01671-2 .
• Bocharov A. A. Sailors of the Russian fleet on long voyages in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries (Russian) // Elagin Readings: Collection. - SPb. : LLC ITD Ostrov, 2013. - Issue. 6 . - S. 75-86 .
• RGA Navy F.1187, Op.1, D.10
• RGA Navy F.870, Op. 1-3, Unit Khr. 8394
• RGA Navy F.870, Op. 1-3, Unit Khr. 8721
• RGA Navy F.870, Op. 1-3, Unit Khr. 8897

• Shirokorad A. B. Russia and China. Conflicts and Collaboration
• Russian Navy
• Gunboats of the Siberian Flotilla