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Issues of 2008
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Armor-clad “Gangut” on the bottom of the vyborg gulf
Armor-clad “Gangut” is one of the most interesting showpieces of the so¬called “underwater museum” on the bottom of the Vyborg gulf. The ship was laid down at the New Admiralty in St. Petersburg on May 20, 1889. Eight years later “Gangut” went down. Indeed, it is a short life for a ship; however, some vessels had even lesser period of service as they were sent directly to fierce sea battles. Wreck of a warship in peacetime is an extraordinary and rare occasion. “It is hard to believe that the ship with all the hatches battened could sink in the course of six hours because of such an insignificant damage” — reported Commander In Chief of the Baltic Training squadron Vice-Admiral S. Tyrtov. However, his carelessness was among the reasons that led to the catastrophe. We will talk about it a bit later. During the last two decades of XIX century, the Russian fleet actively searched for the best type of armor-plated ships. It was the time of rapidly developing industry and technology; engineers regularly patented new inventions in the field of artillery, metallurgy, shipbuilding, etc, making previous achievements obsolete. Armor¬clad “Gangut” perfectly illustrates that situation. On May 6, 1890, the ship was floated out. The event was considered a success, and the creator of “Gangut” engineer A. Leontiev “was favoured with propitious attention and gratitude of the Emperor and the General-Admiral”.
Through the next four years the ship was tested; some changes in its construction were made as well. Still, in 1895 “Gangut” was not in its best condition. On its way from Transund to Kronstadt the ship deviated from the fairway and ran aground near Yalkamatala. S. Makarov on board the training ship “Peter the Great” was in charge of the rescue operation, which was successful. By the late spring 1897, all repairs were finished, and “Gangut” put to sea for the last time in its life. On May 1897, the Training squadron of the Baltic fleet left to Transund from Kronstadt. On June 12, “Gangut” headed north of the island of Rondo for firing exercise. The ship fired at targets (anchored wooden shields) for an hour and a half and then set a course for north¬northeast. At 15.45 at a speed of 2,5 knots (4,6 kilometers per hour) people on the deck felt a jar. Coal trimmers clearly heard a grating sound and rattle under the ship’s bottom. Soon water started to flood the engine room. Five minutes later the captain gave the water alert. Some of the pumps were in non-operating state, while the rest could not cope with the rush of water. The crew failed to fother a collision mat under the bottom of the ship. In twenty minutes after the crash water flooded boilers of the stokehold in the bows of the ship and then other stokeholds as well. The armor-clad stopped moving and lights went down; “Gangut” was slowly sinking. Only sound of coming water broke silence on the dying ship. However, there was still hope to save the armor-clad as it was slowly carried to the sandbank Sita-Gatu by the current and wind. Instead of trying to speed up the ship, at 16.35 the captain ordered to cast the right anchor. For some reasons S. Tyrtov sent a boat for help to Transund only in an hour after the accident. By that time, the list to the ship’s right board reached seven degrees. Water was rapidly flooding “Gangut”. Still, the crew bravely fought with coming water. In candlelight seamen pumped out water with hand pumps and even with buckets. At 16.45 the captain ordered to give the international distress signal and to shoot with the one-minute interval in order to attract attention of pilots on the island Tuluran-saari (now Vikhrevoi Island). At 17.20, the crew started to launch signal rockets. In order to encourage and cheer up the crew, the captain ordered to distribute food and wine. At 18.30 several rescue ships arrived to the place of the accident: destroyers ¹ 108, 123, 126 and the cruiser of the II rank “Africa”. The Finnish steamship “Bjorneborg” was among the first ships to offer help to the sinking armor-clad. However, Tyrtov proudly answered that he did not need any assistance and that he could cope with the situation himself. The destroyer ¹ 108 was sent to Vyborg to inform the head of the Navy Ministry about the wreck, while the cruiser “Africa” took “Gangut” in tow and tried to lead it to the nearest sandbank. Unfortunately, the list of the ship reached critical degree and “Gangut” could capsize at any moment. At 20.20 after four hours of persistent attempts to save the ship, it became obvious that “Gangut” would sink. First, S. Tyrtov ordered to evacuate the ill, important documents, navigating maps, cash and personal belongings of the crew to the cruiser “Africa”. The crew left the armor-clad in rescue boats and cutters without getting in panic
At 21.00, the admiral flag was lowered and S. Tyrtov and other officers went to the steamship “Dnieper”. The commander of “Gangut” captain of the I rank K. Tikotsky walked round the ship for the last time: visited his cabin, ship’s hospital and wardroom… He made sure that everybody left the armor-clad, and then lowered the ship’s flag. He was the last to leave “Gangut”. Nine minutes later the armor-clad instantly went under water. What an irony of fate! “Gangut” sank just two miles away from the place where it suffered wreck the year before and only seven cable lengths (about 1,3 kilometers) from a sandbank where it could be safe. The wreck of the one of the most modern armor-clads during standard training campaign (surrounded by squadron of ships) in quite weather in a well¬known fairway shocked and alarmed officials in the Navy Ministry. A special commission that held investigation of the accident named four main reasons of the catastrophe: poor execution of hydrographic activities during training, significant drawbacks and failures in the design of the armor-clad, poor quality of shipbuilding works (for example, the commission discovered serious lack of metallic rivets, which were replaced by wooden plugs that were easily pushed out by the flooding water), and unprofessional organization of the rescue operation. It seemed that officials of the high rank from the Navy Ministry as well as the commander of the Training squadron Vice-Admiral S. Tyrtov would be punished for their negligence. However, his brother Admiral P. Tyrtov was the head of the Navy Ministry and submitted to the General-Admiral Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich who was in charge of supervising the Russian fleet. Thus, using family ties S. Tyrtov escaped from inevitable punishment. Five days later, the Emperor Nicolas I expressed the royal gratitude to Tyrtov “for determination and professionalism of the flag¬captain, the captain and officers of the armor-clad “Gangut”, who managed to preserve order on the sinking ship and save the crew”. In summer 1897, Russian divers examined the sunken ship. They found out that the armor-clad lied on its left side at a depth of twenty meters. In 1898, the Russian Navy Ministry signed a contract with the Swedish firm “Neptune” on hoisting “Gangut” from the bottom of the sea. In 1898 and 1899 the Swedes almost managed to put the ship on its keel. Then they demanded additional financing, but the Navy Ministry most likely refused, because soon the Swedish company stopped the operation and led its ships away. On July 24, 1899, the Navy Headquarters ordered to hoist canons and other important mechanisms from the armor-clad. On August 18 under the Imperial edict, “Gangut” was excluded from the list of warships of the Russian Navy, as the armor-clad could not be restored. In 1901, the students of the Kronstadt diving academy obtained rapid¬firing Gotchkis canons, the mine setting apparatus and a wooden painted double-headed eagle from the stern of the ship — the coat of arms of the Russian Empire. The divers also managed to save two gilded and carved medals — enlarged copies of the golden medal rewarded to navy officers who took part in the Gangut battle. Nowadays the eagle is situated in the Central Navy Museum (St. Petersburg) while the fate of the medals is unknown. As to the XX century, in 1988 the joint Soviet-Polish diving expedition examined the armor-clad and found two copper-bound steering wheels, brass rail stanchions, door locks, brass plates from the canons and a fragment of the stern’s decoration that was not saved in 1901. Now “Gangut” lies at a depth of 29–30 meters with the list 15 degrees on its left side. The captain’s bridge is above the bottom on 10–11 meters. The golden coat of arms of the Russian Empire at the bows of the ship and a decoration representing the Old-Russian boat is preserved in good condition. 305-mm canon in the ship’s gun¬turret and 152-mm and 229-mm canons are preserved undamaged too. The interiors of the captain’s cabin — carved wooden panels, doors, bronze and glass lamps are intact. Taking into consideration that evacuation of the ship’s property and equipment took only twenty minutes, the majority of things including alcohol and tableware in the wardroom was most likely left on the ship. Several years ago, experts of the Ecological Safety Foundation in the North-West Federal District examined “Gangut” and stated that it did not threaten ecological safety of the region. Probably one day a unique museum will be opened there; all that we need is help of the city’s authorities and sponsors.
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