russian monitor russian class monitors built imperial_russian_navy 1860s served entire career aside hitting rock long completed uneventful career sank storm loss hands memorial built modern commemorate loss decade later wreck rediscovered bow mud prompted new theory loss design description feet long waterline beam feet maximum draft feet inches ship designed displace long tons turned overweight actually displaced long tons crew numbered officers crewmen ship simple horizontal direct acting steam engines driving single propeller engines designed produce total indicated horsepower steam provided coal fired rectangular fire tube boilers achieved ihp speed approximately knots mph sea trials carried maximum long tons coal boilers initially armed pair inch rifled model guns forward gun turret pair inch guns aft turret guns replaced pair inch rifled guns inch guns replaced turn longer powerful inch guns light guns use torpedo boats known fitted aboard ship 1870s received pounder inch guns mounted turret tops variety smaller guns included millimeter quick firing guns inch guns single millimeter hotchkiss guns millimeter hotchkiss revolving cannon ship complete waterline belt wrought iron inches thick amidships inches bow inches stern armor backed inches teak circular turrets protected armor inches thick walls ship oval conning tower inches thick deck inch thick amidships reduced inches ends ship construction service named mythological creature ordered january construction began june admiralty shipyard saint_petersburg formal keel laying june launched september completed cost construction considerably delayed late deliveries drawings material death original builder ship struck rock finnish coast june damaged plating badly run aground prevent sinking served entire career assigned march ship boilers replaced reclassified coast defense ironclad february sinking command captain 2nd sailed harbor september bound escorted russian cloud captain 2nd hours departure weather deteriorated storm gale force winds rain lost charge sight noon sailed arrived safely trace monitor found corpse sailor washed ashore finnish island extensive searches sea failed locate ship january commission appointed investigate convened rear admiral commander detachment letting sea bad weather losing contact monitor commission concluded ship steering gear failed water entered ship caused lose power caused turn parallel waves superstructure demolished extensive flooding soon overwhelmed small reserve cause obviously sank loss members crew monument september ninth anniversary loss ship monument erected sculpted takes form bronze angel standing granite pedestal discovery wreck claimed found divers soviet salvage agency attempt salvage location match ship discovered spring joint project launched commercial diving company aim finding sunk years earlier july wreck located kilometers south museum research vessel mare days later deep divers precisely located wreck unusually wreck near vertical position following sinking vessel bow meters directly downward muddy gulf buried half length divers found stern lost vessel rising meters sea bed rudder turned starboard wreck generally intact fishing nets aft turret fallen ship vertical position wreck inspired new theory loss nautical archaeologist believes taking water forward leak ventilation bow heavy captain decided turn possibly return ship capsized turn engines running forward speed flooded forward hull meant descended vertically drove hull muddy sea
Russian monitor Rusalka