At the very end of the 19th century, far from us, the Russian Imperial Navy was armed with gunboats of two types - seaworthy for long voyages and armored boats for the defense of the Baltic. They coped with their tasks, but, as usual, once an absolutely brilliant thought came to the wise heads of the high authorities: could it be possible to build ships suitable for both these purposes, and even capable of supporting the few Russian battleships in battle? In fact, the seaworthy gunboats did not have armor and at least therefore had to stay away from squadron battles, and the existing armored boats of the "Threatening" class could fire only in a narrow bow sector.
No sooner said than done! In 1891, the then manager of the Naval Ministry N. M. Chikhachev puzzled the Marine Technical Committee with a question: “Will it be much necessary to change the dimensions of the gunboat of the Threatening class, if in the subsequent construction one 9-inch gun is replaced by two 8-inch ones, similar to the Manjur and Koreyets, but retaining their full armor ?"
This is how the epic began with the creation of the gunboat "Brave", which served with honor first in the Russian Imperial and then in the Red Workers 'and Peasants' fleet for over 60 years. Actually, her story is well known and it is unlikely that your humble servant would be able to tell something new about her. However, I would like to draw the attention of a benevolent reader to one aspect. Every time when the question arises about the state of the CMU of the cruiser "Varyag" and the unsatisfactory operation of Niklos's boilers used on this cruiser, they recall that the same boilers were on the gunboat "Brave" and worked there flawlessly. Is this so?
To begin with, let's remember exactly how it happened that Niklos's boilers turned out to be aboard the Brave. The fact is that just at this time it became quite obvious that the cylindrical water-tube boilers used until now ceased to meet modern requirements. Actually, there were exactly three complaints against them: a large specific gravity, a long time for diluting vapors, and an almost inevitable explosion if water gets inside a ship damaged in battle. It must be said that for all the undoubtedly inertness of the naval department in the Russian Empire, the leading experts fully understood this problem and conducted the necessary research. As a result of these, it was decided that the main type of water-tube boilers on the RIF ships under construction would be the boilers of the system of the French inventor and manufacturer Julien Belleville. They were first installed in our fleet in 1887 during the overhaul of the Kuzma Minin cruiser and, having passed extensive tests, showed quite satisfactory results. So initially it was the boilers of the Belleville system that were to be manufactured for the new gunboat, being built on the stocks of the New Admiralty, at the plant in St. Petersburg. However, just at this time, rumors reached the high authorities about the appearance of the newest "miraculous" boilers of the Nikloss brothers' system.
I must say that the declared parameters really boggle the imagination, and therefore it is not surprising that boilers of this type soon began to be used in almost all fleets of the world. However, the Russian experts did not blindly trust the advertisement and decided to wait for the tests of the first ship with a similar CMU - the French cruiser Friant.
The order to observe the tests was received by a naval agent in France (as the naval attaché was called at that time), Lieutenant V. I. Rem 1st. Fans of naval history in our country know Vladimir Iosifovich as the first commander of the battleship Retvizan (which eventually received the same boilers) and the last commander of the battleship Oslyabya, who heroically died in the Tsushima battle. Remember, it was he who shouted to his sailors from the bridge of the dying ship: “Further from the side! Sail further, otherwise you will be sucked into a whirlpool! In this moment, in the face of death, he was great! (Novikov-Priboy).
Lieutenant Baer reacted to the assignment with his usual responsibility and, having carefully studied the tests, made a detailed report. Having also collected some confidential information, he sent it to Petersburg. In particular, the report stated that the vapors in the boilers were ready in 35 minutes (a very good result). The mechanisms worked flawlessly and, in general, the tests were successful. Not without a description of the shortcomings. For example, Baer mentioned that “at the same time, the flame from the pipes rose by 3.5 meters and therefore they urgently had to be put in a second casing, but this did not help much, and during sea trials the pipes glowed red hot and one of them tilted to the side causing a fire . The pressure in the boilers was 13.7 atmospheres with a coal consumption of 911 grams per horse power per hour. An interesting moment, when the salespeople from the Nikloss company advertised the boilers, they compared the specific consumption of the Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon with Nikloss's boilers (736 gr. Per l / s per hour) and our cruiser Russia with Belleville (811 gr. s per hour).
By the way, the fact that the flames burst out of the pipes directly indicated that a significant part of the heat is not utilized in the boilers, but flies out, heating the pipes and chimneys along the way. On the other hand, this case is not so rare when tested. This is how the first commander, Sukhotin, described the tests of the cruiser Aurora. "From all its three chimneys, fiery torches, two sazhens (4.3 meters) high, were beating and steam was etched incessantly."
In other words, on tests, the boilers of the Nikloss brothers' system showed themselves to be quite efficient, although not devoid of shortcomings. However, they also had very important advantages. In particular, excellent maintainability.
Boilers were considered ideal in terms of convenience and speed of tube replacement. This required only a few minutes, and, according to the assurances of Nikloss plant agent N. G. Epifanov, there was no need to stop the steam supply to the boilers, or open the necks, or get inside the collector, which would be necessary in the case of Yarrow boilers. The presence of a separate lock (connecting bracket) for each tube made it possible to replace only a damaged tube without extending the entire battery, as, for example, in Belleville boilers. Full interchangeability ensured the unhindered replacement of the tubes of the lower rows, which were under intense influence of the flame, with the tubes of the upper row, which, according to the firm, “never wear out and always remain as if new”. The complete rearrangement of the tubes on the Friant took 6-8 hours. It was further argued that due to the possibility of systematic cleaning of the tubes from scale, soot and soot, all the characteristics of Nikloss boilers (unlike Yarrow boilers) remain unchanged throughout their service life. Finally, the simplicity and ease of maintenance of the boilers was proved by the absence of any additional units: cleaners, heaters, regulators and economizers. In the affairs of the MTC, a "confidential" recall of the commander of the "Friant" was preserved, in which it was said about the possibility of disassembling the boilers in parts without opening the decks and about replacing the pipes without the help of the factory workers. Ease of flame control was also noted due to a moderate layer of coal on the grate and strictly dosed systematic (after 2-5 minutes - R. M.) tossing it up, no boiling when the water level changes, no leakage in the pipe joints, easy maintenance of the required speed and extremely fast change of it without any harmful consequences for boilers. “We have nothing to worry about for them,” the French commander summed up his review.
However, even before receiving these data, the head of the Naval Ministry ordered the installation of Nikloss boilers on the Brave gunboat under construction. Obviously, Admiral Chikhachev hoped that the competition between the Belleville and Nikloss factories would have a beneficial effect on the price of the units they supply. In principle, this is what happened. If the Franco-Russian plant undertook to supply a set of boilers of the Belleville system for 140,000 rubles and at the same time did not give any guarantees either for the steam output or the timing of execution, then the French were also ready to provide guarantees and asked for a set of 311,000 francs or 115,070 rubles (with duty 126,070 rubles). For the naval department, constrained in funds, the last argument turned out to be decisive, and the parties shook hands. This is how the first ship with boilers of this type appeared in the Russian navy.
I must say that this approach seems to me to be completely justified. Reports by reports, and tests during service on a real ship will provide much more complete information about promising equipment. Moreover, if this experience turns out to be not very successful, the gunboat, whatever one may say, is a much less valuable combat unit than an battleship or a cruiser. And the possible damage from such an error will be minimal.
Since the construction of the Brave was carried out by the state-owned New Admiralty, there is nothing surprising that it was delayed. However, this shipbuilding enterprise was "famous" not only for its timing, but also for its "quality". However, more on that later. Be that as it may, but on August 15, 1897, the boat first entered the factory test of machines.
On a measured mile, we made three runs in different directions, with an average deepening of 3.3 m with an average speed of 14.25 knots. The boilers were operated by ship specialists under the direction of two representatives from Nikloss. The couples did not hold well and the full pressure was not achieved. The machines developed only 150 rpm, instead of the required 165. During the tests, the inner smoke casing was red-hot, the outer bulged and burned. The temperature in the living deck jumped to 43 ° Reaumur, and above the boilers and even higher - the legs burned through the boots, in the boiler room - 37 °, while the fans gave such a weak stream of air that it did not extinguish the candle flame (such were then the control devices).
Again, it cannot be said that the results obtained were anything out of the ordinary. Factory tests are carried out in order to identify existing defects and enable builders to correct them.
By the way, the Nikloss brothers themselves were present at the repeated tests. On the whole, they were satisfactory. It was possible to measure the full power of the mechanisms - at 152 rpm it turned out to be equal to 2200 HP, as promised by the boiler designers. After a full stroke in the right boiler No. 2, a third of the water-heating pipes were replaced, for which they blocked the wounds on the main line, released water through the main refrigerator, removed the pipes, examined them and put them back in place; they pumped in water with a donkey, raised the pressure and connected it to the main line. It all took three quarters of an hour. In other words, excellent maintainability has been fully confirmed. At the end of October of the same year, the mechanisms of the boat were fully accepted into the treasury. It must be said that, unlike our time, when the ship is completely surrendered to the fleet, the work of each contractor was taken separately to the treasury. It turned out like in a miniature of Raikin (senior): “Do you have any complaints about buttons? No, sewn to death! Well, what about the non-ready ship accepted into the treasury …
Fitting work, correction of minor defects in the hull and auxiliary mechanisms, installation and testing of artillery continued for another year. But be that as it may, at the very end of August 1899, the "Brave" set out on its maiden voyage. The boat was commanded by the captain of the first rank Stepan Arkadievich Voevodsky. The personality is very remarkable! Suffice it to say that ten years after the events described, he will become Minister of the Navy and Vice Admiral. And who knows if Brave played a decisive role in this rise of his career?
But let's start in order. The fact is that just at that time our last autocrat Nikolai Alexandrovich was visiting Copenhagen. As you know, his mother was a born Danish princess Dagmar (in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna), and Nicholas II and his family often visited relatives. The customs of that time demanded that the commanders of Russian warships following the Danish straits must visit their monarch for the expression of loyal feelings. Of course, Voevodsky is much better known as a courtier than a naval sailor, could not ignore this honorable duty in any way. The sovereign greeted his sailors very graciously and, one might even say, friendly. Of course, he asked: "How was the voyage?" And here Ostap, excuse me, the Voevodsky suffered! The thing is that the gunboat entrusted to his command was built so "qualitatively" that the first trip was almost the last for her! While the ship was on completion and almost never went out to sea, everything was more or less decent, but as soon as it left the cozy Gulf of Finland, it began. The first leak was discovered literally a few hours after the exit. At the junction of the armored deck and the shelf, a gap formed and water began to flow into the skipper's compartment. As soon as they had time to close it up, water appeared in the hold of the steering compartment and the officer's provision cellar. As it turned out later, some "craftsman" instead of a rivet, hammered a bolt into the hole in the casing! Further breakdowns followed as if from a cornucopia. The casually made windows were smashed, the steering gear failed three times. Continuous leakage of the upper deck along the rivets was observed. Water from the mine compartment was generally pumped out without stopping. Boilers? There were also problems with the boilers!
According to the opinion of the chief ship mechanic of the boat, KP Maksimov, most of the tubes, rearranged from the upper rows to the lower ones, were removed with difficulty; cast-iron "lanterns" and safety clamps often broke, and their fragments had to be simply drilled out. Many stuck tubes could only be removed with a chain wrench and a blowtorch. The slightest death of the tubes broke its hermetic connection with the box. Dismantling and especially assembling the boilers required from the stokers not only great skill and utmost accuracy, but almost engineering knowledge, which, of course, they did not possess. And the fact that the boilers were nevertheless in a satisfactory condition on the transition from Kronstadt to Toulon and during the voyages in the Mediterranean was explained only by the exceptional zeal and boundless dedication of the chief mechanic of the boat K. P. S. A. Voevodsky, literally did not take his eyes off the boilers and machines, personally entered into all the little things, corrected all the problems with his own hands, replacing the drivers and stokers, which, of course, as S. A. Voevodsky emphasized, “is not normal state of affairs ". True, against the background of other troubles, boiler malfunctions were somehow lost. In the end, they did work!
And now the brave captain of the second rank dumped all this homespun truth on the head not of anyone, but of the tsar! As you can imagine, in those days (as, by the way, in ours) it was not customary to initiate the top leaders of the state into "minor troubles." It is clear that the tasks before them are on a planetary scale, and it was considered (and is considered) bad form to distract them with not too important details. In addition, dear Stepan Arkadyevich, neither before nor after the events described, was neither a truth-seeker nor a truth-seeker, but, apparently, the parquet sailor was seething in his soul and, expressing what he thought about domestic shipbuilding, in terms the gallant captain of the second rank was not shy !
After listening to his officer (and taking note of him) Nikolai Aleksandrovich was slightly … taken aback. Yet not every day you learn so many unpleasant truths about your subordinates. However, he did not cut it off from the shoulder and ordered the appointment of a commission in order to study the real state of affairs. Alas, the verdict of the commission assembled in La Seyne was disappointing. All the defects that Voevodsky spoke about were confirmed, and in addition, many others were identified. Upon learning of this, the sovereign ordered to conclude a contract with the French company "Forges and Chantier de la Miditterrand" on the pier of which he underwent an inspection, in order to eliminate all problems. It should be noted that the French shipbuilders carried out all the necessary work very scrupulously. We can say that the gunboat brought to the dock of the Toulon Arsenal was first disassembled, and then reassembled, but already, so to speak, by hand. In the course of these works, many examples of the "technological ingenuity" of Russian artisans were revealed, the listing of which would take too much space and time.
The work ended on May 23, 1900. After correcting all the deficiencies noticed, an acceptance certificate was signed. So, thanks to the talkativeness of the captain of the 2nd rank Voevodsky, "Brave" was subjected to a high-quality "European repair", which cost the Russian treasury 447,601 francs 43 centimes (172,239 rubles), that is, more than a quarter of the cost of building the hull.
This acceptance certificate in a different situation could have been a verdict for many high ranks of the Russian naval department, but our last tsar turned out to be true to himself. There were no organizational conclusions. "Where is the landing?" Nobody asked that. Yes, and the post of "Minister of Construction" at that distant time was not yet …
As a result of all these events, an interesting thing turned out. New boilers were installed on the gunboat "Brave" for the purpose of conducting comprehensive tests. However, for reasons that had nothing to do with their design, these tests were not completed in full. Indeed, it is difficult to inspect machines and boilers when the ship has spent most of its time in completion and at the dock repairing the hull. In addition, any mention of the gunboat and its commander caused a reaction among the high ranks that most of all resembled a toothache. However, the latter has since been under the supervision of the emperor, and the admirals did not succeed in ruining his career. However, the issue of installation on ships under construction arose again. The American industrialist Charles Crump, who received a very large order from the Russian government, managed to convince the customer of the need to install Nikloss boilers on the Retvizan and Varyag. The contract for both ships was signed on April 11, 1898. One of the arguments in favor of the Nikloss brothers' products was the "quite satisfactory performance" of these boilers on the gunboat "Brave".
List of sources used:
Khromov V. V. Gunboat "Brave".
L. L. Polenov Cruiser Aurora.
Balakin S. A. Battleship "Retvizan".
Melnikov R. M. Cruiser "Varyag".
Materials of the site wargaming.net.
