Amur-class minelayer (1898)

The ''Amur''-class minelayers were the first purpose-built, ocean-going minelayers in the world.Russian Minelayers ''Amur'' and ''Yenisei'', p. 205 The class consisted of two vessels: ''Amur'' and ''Yenisei''. Both ships were constructed for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1890s. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 they were assigned to the Pacific Fleet. ''Yenisei'' struck one of her own mines two days after the war began while laying a minefield and sank. One of ''Amur''s minefields sank the Japanese pre-dreadnought battleships and . ''Amur'' was sunk by Japanese howitzers in December 1904 after the Japanese had gained control of the heights around Port Arthur. She was later salvaged and scrapped by the Japanese.

Design and description

The ''Amur''-class minelayers were designed to drop their mines while at high speed and were given a pronounced, overhanging, stern that allowed the mines to be dropped behind the propellers through doors in the stern. Each door was served by a rail that led directly to the mine storage compartments.

The ''Amur''-class ships were long at the waterline; they had a beam of and a draft of .Gardiner, p. 204 They had two pole masts and a ram bow.

The ships had two vertical triple expansion steam engines, each powering one propeller. Twelve Belleville water-tube boilers provided steam. The engines were designed to produce a total of and gave the ship a top speed of . They carried of coal that provided a range of at a speed of .Watts, p. 172

The main armament of the ''Amur''-class ships consisted of five Canet Pattern 1892 50- caliber guns. The gun fired shells to a range of about at its maximum elevation of 21° with a muzzle velocity of . The rate of fire was between twelve and fifteen rounds per minute. The ships also mounted seven Hotchkiss guns. They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a range of . The ''Amur''-class ships mounted one torpedo tube and carried 300 mines.

Service

Both ships, ''Amur'' and ''Yenisei'', were built by the Baltic Works in Saint Petersburg. They were laid down in 1898 and completed the following year. They were assigned to the Pacific Fleet when the Russo-Japanese War began in 1904 and based in Port Arthur. Two days after the Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur on 8/9 February 1904, ''Yenisei'' was laying a minefield at Dalian Bay when one mine broke loose and began floating towards the ship. While maneuvering to avoid the mine ''Yenisei'' accidentally entered the minefield that she'd just laid and hit a mine. The consequent explosion caused eight mines still on the rails to detonate, killing 96 or 100 crewmen and sinking the ship in 20 minutes. The protected cruiser and four destroyers responded to the incident, but ''Boyarin'' hit one of ''Yenisei''s mines. The explosion flooded the ship's machinery spaces and her crew abandoned ship. The cruiser remained afloat, but foundered in Dalian Bay the next day during a storm.Russian Minelayers ''Amur'' and ''Yenisei'', pp. 205-06

On the morning of 15 May 1904, Rear Admiral Nashiba Tokioki led a squadron consisting of the pre-dreadnoughts ''Hatsuse'', ''Yashima'' and to bombard Port Arthur. They encountered a field of 50 mines laid by ''Amur'' the evening before. ''Hatsuse'' hit one mine that disabled her engines and steering and drifted into another mine that caused one of her forward magazines to detonate. The ship sank in about 90 seconds, taking 496 men down with her. ''Yashima'' struck another mine as she maneuvered around the drifting ''Hatsuse'', but she was towed away from the minefield. By the late afternoon ''Yashima''s flooding had become unstoppable and she was abandoned by her crew. Three hours later the ship capsized and sank.

''Amur'' was subsequently besieged in Port Arthur and hit in drydock a number of times by howitzer shells on 8 December 1904. She was knocked over on her port side and rested on the side of the dock at an angle of 68°. On 18 December she was hit again by 30 shells and sunk on her side. The Japanese later raised the ship and scrapped it.Russian Minelayers ''Amur'' and ''Yenisei'', p. 206

See also

* Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records

References

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External links

*{{Commons category-inline, Amur (ship, 1901)

Minelayers
Ships of the Imperial Russian Navy