The Imperial Russian Torpedo Cruiser Design of 1913

[Tzoli]

Since the creation of the fist modern torpedo in 1866 by Robert Whitehead (UK) and Giovanni Luppis (AH) many nations tried to design and build warships which use this weapon as their primary armament and in large numbers. Before the conversion of IJN Kitakami and IJN Oi to torpedo cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy just before WW2 there were already proposals to utilize this weapon by larger cruiser or capital ship sized vessels. Italy in fact created a mainly torpedo armed battleship to destroy enemy blockades around the eve of WW1. But Russia too was considered to build such vessels though on a slightly smaller scale, on cruiser or smaller battleship hull.

The design itself started it's life as a regular battleship for the Black Sea fleet with 4 triple turrets and a maximum calibre of 406mm Cannons. Discussions between the Admirality and the designers eventually led to designs with increasing torpedo armament and reduced main weapon calibre eventually ending in the finished design. With more then 80 torpedo tubes and 12x 180mm guns and heavy armour, the ship would be a deadly opponent to any kind of vessel it could face. The final design while in armament wise could be considered as a heavy cruiser, the displacement main belt and turret armour would classify her on the battleship type.
 

The Specifications of the design:

Dimensions: 203,4m x 25,5m x 8,2m
Displacement: 23.000tons standard
Engine Power: 72.000shp, 2 shafts
Maximum Speed: 52km/h (28knots)

Maximum Range: 2.300km on 26km/h (1.250nm on 14knots)
Armour: Belt: 400mm, 450mm near the citadels and 50mm at ends, Deck: 85mm (75+10) with 40mm (20+20) lower deck
Armaments:
4x3 180mm Guns
84x1 457mm Torpedo tubes

 

Schematic drawing:

 

Armour layout:

 

From:

http://www.e-reading.link/chapter.php/1007019/15/Vinogradov_-_Poslednie_ispoliny_Rossiyskogo_Imperatorskogo_flota.html

[davidalcock]

first thought WOW she would certainly disrupt any opposing battleline!!!

second idea the JAPANESE counterpart-a KONGO with Q  turret and most a/c replaced with 50+ LONG LANCE TUBES hull and deck mounted !!!!

[csatahajos]

Fascinating concept but probably would make much more sense to utilize a lesser number but higher caliber torpedo (like 10 tubes per side but with 21"+ torpedo tubes). I think on the other hand that WWi showed very well (like the case of Lützow) that underwater tubes were not the way to go as they were a serious weakness in the ship's own TDS: I imagine that this ship would capsize in 2 minutes from a single torp hit if I look at the internal arrangement...

[foche]

plus the fact it must be hard to aim with such thing .... is this designed for close torpedo launch ? 

[Tzoli]

plus the fact it must be hard to aim with such thing .... is this designed for close torpedo launch ? 

 

With 42 torpedoes per side? Are you kidding? You can wreak havoc in an entire fleet with that many and if it able to turn another 42 to finish the job!

[Kubanetz_Ilya]

In the book "Last Giants of the Russian Imperial Navy" it is written that this ship had belt thickness around a citadel of 400 mm, in extremities - 150 mm, beams - 300 mm. 450 mm were only in the fighting cabin.

The image with the scheme 300-450-300 has no relation to this project. This scheme was assumed for battleships.

 

With 42 torpedoes per side? Are you kidding? You can wreak havoc in an entire fleet with that many and if it able to turn another 42 to finish the job!

 

Such ships were supposed to be used at least in couple...

Unrealized projects of the Russian submarines also often had a large number of torpedo tubes. For example, there was a project of the underwater cruiser of the engineer Zhuravlev with the displacement of 4500/5435 tons, he had 30 external torpedo tubes of system Dzhevetsky and 60 torpedoes.