The Russian monitor, Strelets

I love warships, particularly old ones, and during my visits to St Petersburg, Russia, I've always managed to get as close to the famous cruiser Aurora as possible, although I have yet to get aboard her. I was therefore intrigued and interested by a news item I recently saw that stated that the Foundation for Historic Boats and the Russian Central Military History Museum hope to restore the nineteenth century monitor, Strelets, to her original condition in time for the forthcoming anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War.

Side view of the Uragan-class monitors as built.

Strelets.

The Strelets was one of the Uragan-class monitors built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the mid-1860s. The design was closely based on that of the American American Passaic-class, and the ten ship in the class served their entire service life in the Baltic Sea, protecting Kronstadt and St Petersburg. The ships were:

• Uragan (Hurricane): built by the New Admiralty Yard, St Petersburg. In service from 1865 until she was laid up and decommissioned 1900.
• Tifon (Typhoon): built by the New Admiralty Yard, St Petersburg. In service from 1865 until she was in 1900. She was hulked and served as a mine depot from 1909, and broken up in the 1920s.
• Strelets (Musketeer): built by the Galerniy Island Yard, St Petersburg. In service from 1865 until she was laid up 1900. She was hulked, renamed Plavmasterskaia No. 1, and served as a floating workshop until 1955. Her hull still remains afloat in Kronstadt.
• Edinorog (Unicorn): built by the Galerniy Island Yard, St Petersburg. In service from 1865 until she was laid up 1900. She was hulked, renamed Blokshiv No. 4, and served as a mine depot from 1912. She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918, but she was later returned by the Finns. The ship was renamed as Blokshiv No. 2 in 1932 and survived World War II. She was renamed again in 1949, and became BSh-2, and abbreviated form of Blokshiv No. 2. She was stricken in 1957 and in thought to have been handed over to the Kronstadt Yacht Club for use as a storage barge. Her ultimate fate is unknown.
• Bronenosets (Armadillo): built by the Carr and MacPherson Yard, St Petersburg (later known as the Baltic Yard). In service from 1865 until she was laid up and decommissioned 1900. She was then converted into a coal barge, and renamed Barzha No. 34, then Barzha No. 51 and finally Barzha No. 324. She sank in the Gulf of Finland during a storm during World War I.
• Latnik (Cuirassier): built by the Carr and MacPherson Yard, St Petersburg (later known as the Baltic Yard). In service from 1865 until she was laid up and decommissioned 1900. She was then converted into a coal barge, and renamed Barzha No. 38 and then Barzha No. 326. She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918, and she was broken up by the Finns during the 1920s.
• Lava (Avalanche): built by the Semiannikov & Poletika Shipyard, Saint Petersburg. In service from 1865 until she was laid up and decommissioned 1900. She was hulked, renamed Blokshiv No. 1, and served as a mine depot until 1916, when she was converted into a hospital barge. She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918, but she was later returned by the Finns, and probably broken up in the 1920s, although her hull may have survived until World War I.
• Perun (Perun*): built by the Semiannikov & Poletika Shipyard, Saint Petersburg. In service from 1865 until she was laid up and decommissioned 1900, after which she served as a pilot ship, being renamed Lotsiia (Pilot) in 1915. She was badly damaged during the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921. She was later flooded and deliberately run aground in 1924, and broken up by the end of 1925.
• Veschun (Soothsayer): built by Cockerill & Company, Belgium. In service from 1865 until she was laid up and decommissioned 1900. She was then converted into a coal barge, and renamed Barzha No. 44 and then Barzha No. 327. She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918, and she was broken up by the Finns during the 1920s.
• Koldun (Sorcerer): built by Cockerill & Company, Belgium. In service from 1865 until she was laid up and decommissioned 1900. She was then converted into a coal barge, and renamed Barzha No. 31, then Barzha No. 50 and finally Barzha No. 323. She was abandoned by the Russians when they withdrew from Helsinki in April 1918, and she was broken up by the Finns during the 1920s.

The ships' characteristics were:

• Displacement: 1,600 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 201ft (61.3m)
• Beam: 46ft (14.0m)
• Draft: 10ft 10in (3.3m)
• Propulsion: 2 rectangular boilers providing steam for 1 × 2-cylinder direct-acting steam engine driving one propeller.
• Speed: 6 knots
• Range: 1,440 nautical miles
• Complement: 110
• Armament:
• 1865: 2 × 9in (229 mm) smooth-bore, muzzle-loading Krupp guns (as designed)
• 1868: 2 × 15in (381 mm) smooth-bore, muzle-loading Rodman guns
• 1873: 2 × 9in (229 mm) rifled breech-loading M1867 guns#; 4 x 1 1.75inch (44mm) light anti-torpedo boat guns
• Armour: Hull: 5in (127mm); Gun turret: 11in (279mm); Funnel base: 6in (152mm); Conning tower: 8in (203mm)

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* Perun is the highest god in the Slavic pantheon, and is the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. He is also associated with weapons made of stone and metal.

# The 229mm M1867 guns were based on a Krupp design and built at the Obukhov State Plant, St Petersburg. When they were removed from the Uragan-class monitors, they were emplaced as coastal artillery in the Peter the Great Naval Fortress and the fortress of Suomenlinna in Helsinki.