The battleship "Potemkin" was launched in September 1900 from the stocks of Nikolaev. At that time, it was considered the most powerful in the Black Sea Fleet. The creation of this ship became a landmark for the process of transition from obsolete technical solutions to more modern ones.
The project was developed and built by engineer E. Schott, a student of the famous shipbuilder N. E. Kuteinikov.
The battleship "Potemkin" had an elevated forecastle, which made it possible to reduce the flooding of its bow during a storm, and was also distinguished by the ability to raise the axis of the guns up to seven and a half meters above the water. For the first time, centralized control was installed on it during artillery fire, carried out from a post located in the wheelhouse.
In addition, the battleship Potemkin is the very first ship with new boilers, which were designed using water tube units for liquid fuel. For the first time in the Black Sea Fleet, cranes for lifting boats and boats were installed on it.
In the summer of 1902, this is a modern ship,sailed only two years, was sent for completion and re-equipment. The initial deadlines for returning to service were disrupted due to a fire in the boiler room. The damage was significant. The result came
b replace boilers, adapting them to solid fuels. Defects were also found in the turret armor. As a result, the return of the ship to service was delayed until 1904.
The battleship "Potemkin" had a displacement of 12.9 tons, the length of its hull was 113 meters, a width of 22 with a draft of 8.4. The ship moved at a full speed of 16.7 knots with a fuel reserve of 1100 tons.
The battleship's team has been formed since its laying. Especially for him, the 36th naval crew was formed with diversified ship specialists: gunners, machinists, miners. When the "Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky" was finally launched in 1905, 731 people served on board, 26 of them were officers.
The crew, literally from the beginning of the construction of the ship, had close contacts with the revolutionary-minded dockworkers of Nikolaev. Bolshevik literature was even distributed on board. Apparently, therefore, it was decided to carry out the completion in Sevastopol.
At that time circles of Social Democrats began to be created in the Navy under the leadership of the Bolsheviks Yakhnovsky, Gladkov, Petrov. They also included artillery officer Vakulenchuk, who served on the Potemkin, who maintained constant ties with local revolutionaryorganizations of many Russian ports.
In the autumn of 1905, an armed mutiny was planned in the fleet, which was to be decisive for the general action. However, the battleship Potemkin, on which the uprising broke out months earlier, was ahead of the planned events. The reason was the massacre that the command wanted to inflict on the rebellious crew members who refused to eat rotten meat. The response to the repression was the disarmament of officers by sailors and a shootout. The ship's commander, as well as several senior officer ranks, were killed. The rest were taken into custody.
At the same time, Vakulenchuk, who was initially opposed to the uprising on the battleship Potemkin-Tavrichesky breaking out separately from the general movement, nevertheless took command of the ship. However, soon, already in the course of a general uprising, he was killed, and the Bolshevik Matyushenko stood at the head of the revolutionary-minded ship. They were joined by the destroyer N 267, which stood on the Tenderovsky roadstead. Royal squadron battleship "Potemkin" became
ship of revolution.
However, on June 18, he was surrounded by a powerful squadron of eleven warships that intended to destroy him. When the rebel ship decided to ram, there were no shots from the destroyers: their teams, taking the side of their comrades, went out onto the decks with shouts of “hurrah.”
The battleship, on board which no longer had provisions and water, tried to moor in the port of Odessa, and after - Feodosia, where the tsarist army was already waiting for him. I had to head to Constantia and surrender to the Romanianauthorities, who returned the ship to Russia.
In an effort to erase even its name from memory, the battleship was renamed, and its crew remained in Romania as political emigrants.
