Type "Pearl"

Construction and service

common data

Booking

Armament

Built ships

History of creation

With the growing power of Japan, the government Russian Empire in 1898 adopted the "Additional program for the needs of the Far East", according to which it was planned to build several dozen different ships. Among them, 10 cruisers of the second rank were to be built.

Initially, it was planned that the lead ships would be built by foreign manufacturers, after which the purchased ships would undergo comparative tests and mass production of the best one would be organized in Russia.

Pearls during launch

As a result of the competition, in 1898 a contract was signed with Schichau for the construction of the Novik cruiser. However, through long negotiations, in 1901 the Nevsky Zavod partnership managed to conclude an additional contract for the construction of two ships with characteristics not inferior to the Novik. At the same time, a system of penalties was provided for underspeeding and other deterioration in the declared characteristics. In general, the ships were to become very similar to the Novik.

After the conclusion of the contract, the ships were given the names "Pearl" and "Emerald".

The construction was carried out mainly by the own forces of the Nevsky Plant. Despite the tight deadlines for construction, which were established by the agreement, the cruisers were completed with a long delay - only after the start of the Russo-Japanese War.

Design Description

Comparison of the actual values ​​of the characteristics of the ships with the design ones:

Frame

The hull had 17 transverse waterproof bulkheads. All doors in the bulkheads were made watertight and provided with battens on both sides. The bulkheads themselves were assembled from steel sheets with a thickness of 5 - 6 mm.

sheathing:

• sheerstrake and the second belt from the top - double of 12 and 10 mm sheets (8 and 7 mm at the extremities).
• sheathing belt against the armored deck and keel belt - double of 12 and 11 mm sheets within the boiler rooms and engine rooms (9 and 8 mm at the ends).
• two belts under the waterline - 10 mm (7 mm at the extremities).
• the rest of the rows that were under water - 11 mm (8 mm at the ends)
• forecastle lining - 8 mm and 7 mm.
• decks - 8 mm (6 mm at the ends)

The joints of the sheets of the horizontal keel and sheerstrake were connected with a three-row rivet seam, the rest - with a two-row one.

Longitudinal section of the ship

1 - aft torpedo tube; 2 - aft spire; 3 - lag view; 4 - torpedo; 5 - corridor of officer cabins; 6 - bulwark protecting the stern gun; 7 - aft 120-mm gun; 8 - reinforcements for the gun; 9 - wardroom; 10 - senior officer's cabin; 11 - spotlight; 12 - aft elevator for supplying shells from the cellars; 13 - commander's cabin; 14 - mizzen mast; 15 - 6-oar whaleboat; 16 - main stern compass with platform; 17 - blower fan into the boiler room; 18 - 47-mm gun on the roof of the aft cabin; 19 - main mast with a platform for a searchlight and a combat mars, on which machine guns were installed; 20 - steam boat; 21 - boom for launching a 16-oar barge; 22 - onboard 120-mm gun; 23 - 16-row barge; 24 - 12-oar boat; 25 - water supply pressure tank; 26 - bath; 27 - upper navigation bridge; 28 - main bow compass; 29 - wheelhouse; 30 - conning tower with duplicate steering and compass; 31 - foremast; 32 - bow elevator (a raised gazebo with shells is shown); 33 - awning rack; 34 - bow 120-mm gun; 35 - bow spire; 36 - beam crane for lifting the anchor; 37 - wash basins of the team; 38 - forecastle deck; 39 - upper deck; 40 - living deck; 41 - ram bulkhead; 42 - armored deck; 43 - ram; 44 - skipper stores; 45- chain box; 46 - onboard torpedo tube; 47 - cellar of 120-mm and 47-mm shells; 48 - transverse coal pit; 49 - pipe for protecting wires and cables; 50 - 47-mm gun on the forecastle deck; 51 - boiler room; 52 - department of on-board vehicles; 53 - sump pump; 54 - branch of the middle car; 55 - thrust bearings; 56 - cellar 47-mm cartridges; 57 - winch of the elevator of the aft ammunition cellars; 58 - aft cellar of 120-mm shells; 59 - kingston flooding cellar 120-mm shells; 60 - tiller compartment; 61 - propeller onboard vehicle; 62 - propeller of the medium machine; 63 - rudder blade

Booking

• A two-layer armored carapace deck protected cars, boilers, cartridge cellars, and a steering gear.

• The horizontal part of the armored deck is 30 mm (10 mm shipbuilding steel lining and 20 mm super soft nickel armor plates).

• Bevels of the deck adjacent to the board below the waterline by 1300 mm - 50 mm (lining - 15 mm and armor - 35 mm).

• The cylinders of the machines had additional protection from Krupp non-hardened steel 55 mm thick, laid on a 15 mm shipbuilding steel lining.

• Conning tower - 30 mm.

Power plant and driving performance

The power plant consisted of three independent vertical machines for triple steam expansion and 16 water-tube boilers with an operating pressure of 18 atm. Two cars were located in the bow engine room and one in the stern. The total design power of the machines is 17,000 hp, each worked on its own propeller. 16 water-tube boilers of the Yarrow system were housed in six boiler rooms.

The propellers were three-bladed and had a diameter of 4000 mm. The blades were removable and could be rearranged to change the pitch of the propeller.

Coal stock:

• normal - 360 tons;
• full capacity of coal pits - 535 tons;
• Coal consumption - 1.58 kg / h per 1 hp

Auxiliary equipment

The sources of electricity on the ship were four steam-driven electric generators. From them, electricity was mainly supplied to the "combat lights" (searchlights), parking, navigation lights and lighting lamps. The electric motors also drove the rudder spool, cellar elevators, turbines, fans and winches. The power of electric motors ranged from 1 to 50 kW.

The steering gear was located below deck aft; its main element is a two-cylinder steam machine of the compound system. It was possible to steer the wheel from the conning tower, as well as from the bow and stern bridges using an electric drive and a roller gear with a Hooke cardan, and directly from the steering compartment through a manual steering wheel. On the mast there was a rudder position signaling system in the form of red and green cones.

Sump pumps in the engine and boiler compartments ensured the pumping of water from their compartment per hour of operation. In addition, the circulation pumps of refrigerators were adapted to pump water out of their compartments. In order not to make holes in the bulkheads, each compartment of the hold had a separate pump of the Worthington system. To extinguish the fire on deck, there were two pumps of the Ston system.

The ships had a fire system consisting of pipelines and rubber hoses along the entire length of the ship. There were flooding kingstones that served to fill the cartridge, mine and wine cellars in no more than 15 minutes.

Crew and Habitability

Nicholas II on the deck of Zhemchug in 1904

The crew of each cruiser by state:

• 10 officers (2 staff officers and 8 chief officers);
• 3 mechanical engineers;
• 1 doctor;
• 2 holders of state property;
• 3 conductors;
• 51 non-commissioned officers;
• 273 ordinary sailors - a total of 343 people.

Armament

Main caliber

Gun from the "Emerald", installed in the Museum of the Pacific Fleet

Eight 120 mm/45 Kane cannons on central mounts served as the main caliber.

Characteristics:

• Elevation angles - from −7° to +20°;
• Maximum range - 9516 m (with an initial projectile velocity of 823 m / s);
• Rate of fire - 10 rds / min;
• The weight of the entire gun mount is 7.5 tons.

Ammunition for each weapon:

• high-explosive - 50 pcs.;
• armor-piercing - 110 pieces;
• segment - 40 pcs.

The shells were stored in two cellars under the armored deck in the bow and in the stern in arbors of 6 pieces, fed using an elevator with electric and manual drives.

Auxiliary

As an anti-mine caliber, six 47-mm Hotchkiss guns were installed on Meller machines.

To arm the steam boats, there were two 37-mm Hotchkiss guns, which, if necessary, could be installed on ship machines on bed nets.

The death of the "Pearl"

With the outbreak of the First World War, Russian cruisers were attached to the Allied fleet and, with the highest permission, came under the command of the English admiral. On August 21, 1914, the Zhemchug received a personal task to inspect the sea space south of the island of Formosa. From the very beginning of the voyage, Baron Cherkasov established a "resort" mode of service for the team. When ships appeared on the horizon, combat alert was not played. There was no schedule for the rest of the team, the servants were not at the guns at night. Mine devices were not loaded. While moored in the port, the all-clear was played and anchor lights were turned on, the signal watch was not amplified. Unauthorized persons had the opportunity to visit the cruiser, while they descended into any premises. In September, Zhemchug escorted Allied transports, while the ship's commander took liberties when using radio communications: while off the Philippine Islands, he sent an unencrypted telegram indicating his place to Askold.

In early October, Zhemchug was sent to the area of ​​the Nicobar and Andaman Islands for their inspection. Allied cruisers were hunting for the German raider - the cruiser "Emden", which began its combat activities with the capture of the Russian steamer "Ryazan" and actually paralyzed merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean. The allied command assumed the presence of a coastal base on the islands. Having completed the task, the Pearl made a stop in the unprotected port of Blair to load coal, while full lighting was turned on and there were no servants at the guns. Cherkasov himself, taking five officers with him, went ashore and stayed there all evening, although he was informed that the Emden had appeared in the region of this port three times.

Neglect to observe elementary security measures, sooner or later, had to lead to tragic consequences. And so it happened. Having replenished supplies in Rangoon, the Pearl arrived in Penang, located on Prince of Wales Island off the western coast of the Malay Peninsula. Having anchored, Baron Cherkasov requested permission from the English Vice Admiral T. Dzherram, to whom he was subordinate, to overhaul the machines and alkalize the boilers after a long voyage. On the same day, 13 boilers were dismantled on the cruiser, of the remaining ones in working order, only one was under steam, which did not ensure the simultaneous operation of the lighting, projectile supply, fire and water pumping systems. Despite the warning of a possible danger, Cherkasov did not increase surveillance, ordered the anchor lights to be turned on, while the crew rested on the upper deck without observing the combat schedule. On November 14, at 18.00, the commander moved ashore, to the Eastern and Orientel hotel, leaving behind the senior officer of the cruiser, Senior Lieutenant Kulibin.

The commander of the Emden cruiser, frigate captain Karl von Müller, having dealt with merchant shipping, decided to take on the Allied warships. By radio intercepts, the Germans knew the approximate location of their ships. After making calculations, von Muller came to the conclusion that the Allied cruisers had an intermediate base in the Bay of Bengal area. From newspaper reports it was also known that French cruisers often called at the port of Penang, where von Muller decided to pay a night visit, intending to make a surprise attack. On the night of October 15, 1914, the cruiser approached Penang, hoping to enter the harbor at dawn, when it would be possible to navigate in a narrow strait and, moreover, in the morning, as you know, there is the most sound sleep. A fourth false tube was installed on the Emden, which made it look like an English cruiser. Having avoided a collision with fishing boats and not responding to a request from a patrol destroyer, the Germans entered the harbor, where there were many ships with illuminated portholes. We drew attention to one dark silhouette without lights, headed towards it, assuming that these were fighters moored side by side. The ship was adrift, stern to the exit. Going out to the beam of the ship, they determined one mast between the pipes (two wooden masts were removed from the Zhemchug during one of the last repairs) that this was the Russian cruiser Zhemchug. There were no watchmen or signalmen on deck. From one cable, "Emden" fired a torpedo from the right apparatus and at the same time opened fire on the bow of the cruiser, believing that the team was there. Here Muller made a mistake that saved the life of part of the crew, who, on the occasion of hot weather, were actually resting on the upper deck. The torpedo hit the stern of the cruiser from the port side, and the Pearl immediately began to sink.

When the artillery officer Lieutenant Seleznev jumped out onto the deck, he saw a four-tube cruiser in three cables, from which volleys followed, he identified the Emden by the searchlights on the masts. Lieutenant Rybaltovsky in one tunic stood at the yut gun as a gunner. When Seleznev ran to his plutong, he saw a gun with an open bolt, an empty fender for the first shots, and a dead servant. At the gun on the right, the gunners were alive, but they didn’t even have shells in the fenders, and it had not yet been possible to organize the supply of cartridges from the cellars.

The Emden was fired on from three sides, including the Zhemchug, but the German cruiser was not damaged. Passing by the Zhemchug, he turned around on the spot and, going to the traverse, fired a mine from the left apparatus, which, falling under the bridge of the Russian ship, caused the detonation of the cellar. A column of smoke and steam flew up to a height of about 150 m, the hull broke and went forward with its nose, after 15 s only the top of the mast with a rake remained on the surface, like a cross over a grave.

The Emden, skirting the place of death of the Pearl and the sailors floating on the surface, headed for the French gunboat, but at that time a report was received that a ship was approaching the harbor. The Germans turned and, having sunk the patrol French destroyer Muske along the way, went out to sea.

The fishermen were the first to lift the sailors out of the water, then boats and boats of local residents came up from the shore. We had to hurry, a strong current carried people into the strait, and besides, there were sharks here. The commander who ran ashore, according to some witnesses, rushed around the pier and tried to rip off his shoulder straps, while others claimed that he energetically and intelligently organized the rescue of the cruiser's team. All doctors in Penang assisted the injured sailors at the local hospital. After the count, it turned out that midshipman Sipailo and 80 lower ranks were killed, later 7 people died of wounds, 9 officers and 113 lower ranks were injured of varying severity.

The bodies of the dead and those who died from wounds, taken from the sea, were buried in the old Western Road Catholic cemetery. According to the recollections of old nuns, 24 bodies were lowered into the grave, two more people were buried in one of the villages, where the sea washed their corpses. The rest of the dead went to the bottom with the ship or were taken out to sea.

The surviving sailors returned to Vladivostok aboard the auxiliary cruiser Oryol on 3 December. And on the 27th, the Eagle, having received 152-mm shells and other supplies for the Askold cruiser, left for Singapore. On board were seconded officers from the cruiser Zhemchuge - Lieutenant Rybaltovsky and midshipman Osipov. After the transfer of goods for Askold, the auxiliary cruiser headed for Penang. Upon arrival at the port, a cast-iron cross was installed in the cemetery and work began on the sunken ship. By January 23, they managed to raise one 120-mm gun, which was on the poop, a machine gun, six optical tubes from sights, and a stern searchlight. The work was greatly hindered by the current, a large amount of silt, the clutter of the deck with debris from structures, and a large list of the hull to starboard. In early February, work was curtailed at the direction of the Russian consul and the Eagle, taking 14 of the wounded from the Zhemchug team who remained there from the local hospital, departed for Singapore, where he took part in suppressing the uprising of the sepoy regiment. They returned to Vladivostok only at the end of March 1915. The removed 120-mm gun, after cleaning the bore, was recognized as having lost its value due to the shells found inside. It went under the water unlubricated and with powder deposits after firing, which led to its rapid corrosion in sea water. This, perhaps, was the main reason for the termination of lifting work on the Zhemchug.

On September 11, 1915, the naval court in a closed session announced the verdict in the case of the death of the cruiser. Captain 2nd rank Cherkasov and senior officer Senior Lieutenant Kulibin were brought to justice. The commander was charged with negligent attitude to the service; in addition, he admitted that he was accompanied by his wife, moving on private steamers from port to port, where the cruiser stopped, and he informed her in letters and telegrams of the places of stops. Senior Lieutenant Kulibin, remaining in command, did not take appropriate measures. The court sentenced both, taking into account the impeccable service and awards for Russo-Japanese War, deprive ranks, orders, other insignia, exclude from the naval service, deprive the nobility, all rights and advantages and give it to the correctional-detention department of a civilian department (Cherkasov for 3.5 years, Kulibin for 1.5 years) or lack of places - in the prison of the civil department for the most difficult work. When the verdict was confirmed, the emperor imposed a resolution: demoted to sailors and sent to the front. Cherkasov ended up on the Caucasian front, and Kulibin in the naval brigade near Riga, over time, both distinguished themselves, received St. George's crosses and were reinstated in ranks. Baron Cherkasov died in France in 1942, and Kulibin was seriously wounded during the February Revolution and died soon after.

I must say that in the story of the death of the "Pearl" and the allied command showed itself not with better side. The security of Penang Bay was poorly organized. The destroyer, who was on patrol, having not received an answer to his request, apparently did not report to the headquarters about the passage of an unknown ship. There were no barriers at the entrance to the port, which contributed to the daring attack of the Emden on the ships that were in the harbor.

Cruisers of the 2nd rank, built in Russia for the Baltic Fleet according to the technical drawings of Novik purchased from the Shikhau shipyard (the construction was supervised by ship engineer Malkovich-Sukhotsky). The last armored cruisers of the Russian fleet.

Architecture practically did not differ from the prototype. but the armament was somewhat strengthened, the power plant was changed, the speed dropped significantly. The consumption of coal was 25 tons per hour. Unlike its predecessor, which had only a mainmast with a topsail, the new cruisers received three masts.

The main caliber was located in the same way as on the Novik.

The vehicles were covered from above with 76-mm armor caps. The deck was made of nickel armor, the conning tower was made of much more reliable Krupp armor.

"Emerald", which was part of the 2nd Pacific squadron, participated in the Tsushima battle. In the daytime battle, he practically received no damage, losing 4 people wounded. At the time of the surrender of the squadron of Rear Admiral Nebogatov, the cruiser developed full speed and broke away from the enemy, heading for Vladivostok.

However, on the night of 05/17/30/05/1905, as a result of a navigational error, it jumped onto the rocks in St. Vladimir Bay and was blown up the next morning by the decision of the cruiser's senior officers, who mistakenly feared it would be captured by the Japanese landing force. The crew by land moved to railway station Ocean, and from there he arrived in Vladivostok.

The Zhemchug, which survived the Tsushima battle (it was interned by the Americans in Manila), was rearmed in 1911: 8-120 mm L / 45 (additional guns were installed on the upper deck near the midship), 4-47 mm guns, b-7.62 -mm machine guns, 3-450 mm surface torpedo tubes.

The crew number was 334 people. The spar was dismantled and replaced with a single mast, as on the Novik.

With the outbreak of World War II, the ship operated in the Pacific Ocean against German raiders as part of the Siberian Flotilla. In the autumn of 1914, the "Pearl" was in the roadstead of the port of Penang (British Malaya). On the night of October 15/28, the German cruiser Emden entered the base (the crew installed a false fourth chimney on the ship to disguise it as British cruisers). The Russian ship stood with extinguished boilers, the commander went ashore in the evening.

At 5.15 Emden launched a torpedo from a distance of 6 cables (1.1 km), and a minute later opened fire on it from all guns almost point-blank (300 meters). The guns of the "Pearl" were not loaded, the watch service was so stunned by what had happened that not a single shot was fired in response. After 10 minutes, rounding the cruiser, the Germans fired a second torpedo: the explosion of the bow cellar broke the cruiser in half and sank at a depth of 30 meters 15 minutes after the start of the battle.

Of the 335 crew members on board, 81 people died, 129 were injured (7 of them died soon after). The commander of the cruiser, Captain 2nd Rank Cherkasov, was demoted to sailors for slovenliness and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. Later, the British raised the cruiser and dismantled it.

"Pearl": the way to Madagascar

Arriving on September 29 in Libau as part of a squadron, Zhemchug immediately began loading coal. The last artisans were sent to St. Petersburg, having made their way from Revel to Libava; the squadron commander allowed only four people to remain on the cruiser as warranty specialists. Nevsky Zavod entered into an agreement with each of them. They undertook to escort the ship to the last European or other port outside the combat area and monitor the operation of mechanisms and boilers, and obey the rules of the ship's service. The plant paid them 500 to 350 rubles for every month of business trips until they returned home, depending on the position - a very significant amount for a Russian worker. Similar agreements were concluded with those accompanying the cruiser Izumrud.

On October 2, Zhemchug left the last Russian port in the Baltic forever. The lead cruiser in the detachment was the 2nd rank cruiser Almaz under the flag of Rear Admiral Enquist. Zhemchug took the third place in the column, behind Svetlana. The first coal loading took place near Langeland Island in the Great Belt - 85 tons of cardif were taken from a German coal miner. And then an emergency happened on the cruiser: when launching boat No. 2 (by the way, the Zhemchug got steam boats from the unfinished Volga mine transport), the bow cable burst, the stern davit bent and the boat went into the water. A buoy was immediately thrown, but the search yielded no results. Then they also drowned the damaged davit in an attempt to transfer it to the Kamchatka floating workshop.

When entering the Atlantic Ocean, the steering gear failed - the Hooke cardan broke. In general, malfunctions and breakdowns in the mechanisms of the "Pearl" during the campaign happened quite often.

On October 13, the ships entered the bay of Ponteverdo on the West Coast of Spain, where a German coal steamer was already waiting for them. In order to wait for Russian ships in the bay, a part of the car was dismantled on German transport, simulating a serious breakdown. A few hours later, having collected the car, the coal miner moored to the side of the Pearl. Special coal sacks were loaded in the hold of a German ship and were delivered by arrows to the deck of the cruiser, where the coal was poured into the open necks and entered the coal pits through the sleeves. They loaded all night, by morning 225 tons were received. Having exchanged telegrams with the Suvorov, at noon the Zhemchug weighed anchor and two hours later entered the wake of the Svetlana. Soon the steering gear failed again, the attempt to switch to electric failed, it also failed. I had to stop the car and do repairs.

In the port of Tangier on the coast of Africa, where the squadron battleships of the 2nd detachment and the cruiser of the 2nd squadron were already located (in addition, the English cruiser Diana and the French Kleber were also stationed here), coal was loaded using barges, by the evening managed to take only 73.7 tons. This was the first experience of loading with their own watercraft.

In Tangier there was a division of the squadron. Old battleships with cruisers of the 2nd rank headed for the Suez Canal.

The first armored detachment with large cruisers was to go around Africa.

On October 28, the detachment of Rear Admiral Felkerzam, which included Zhemchug, anchored in Souda Bay, located in the north-west of Crete, at that time it was used for the parking of Russian stationary. The detachment arrived late in the evening and immediately began loading coal from German ships. "Pearl" took 330 tons, but at the same time drowned 12 bags of coal.

On November 5, they went out to sea for artillery firing, fired at the shield from auxiliary barrels. A 37-mm barrel on special couplings was inserted directly into the barrel of a 120-mm gun, firing was carried out with cast-iron cores (solid shells) on the move against a fixed shield. All operations, with the exception of removing the cartridge case, were carried out as in live firing. A total of 300 37 mm rounds and 180 47 mm practical rounds were expended. The next day the shooting continued. They practiced lesson No. 9 - they fired from all guns with shells with a reduced charge of gunpowder, having used up 60 120-mm and 90 47-mm practical shells. In addition, 700 three-line machine gun cartridges were used up.

After waiting out the storm, the ships weighed anchor on November 8 and, lining up in two wake columns, left Suda. The detachment included destroyers who had arrived here earlier along with transports.

After squadron evolutions, the ships conducted joint firing alternately with different sides. Zhemchug expended 22 120mm rounds and 58 47mm practical rounds, not counting machine gun rounds.

The British press allegedly published reports from Suda, which spoke of the atrocities of Russian sailors on the Cretan coast. The number of killed natives was also called - 15 people. The Russian consul informed the Naval Headquarters that there were indeed minor clashes with local residents, which are common in such cases, but everything was settled on the spot by the police and our non-commissioned officers. One bill was paid for some damage in the amount of 240 francs.

November 11 "Pearls" entered the "Svetlana" in the bay of Port Said and moored stern to the pier. We began to take water from the approaching barge. The next day, the cruiser, having accepted the pilot, entered the channel, at night they moved to the Great Salt Lake, illuminating the path with a bow searchlight. The rest of the night passed in the lake, and in the morning they continued to move along the canal. In the middle of the day, dropping anchor in Suez and moving to the transport "Kiev", on the "Pearls" they began to receive coal and water.

On November 14, early in the morning, the detachment set off for Djibouti. In the Red Sea, a mine officer inspected pyroxylin for subversive parties and whitehead mine firing cups. At the same time, the checkers were weighed and compared with the formula value, as well as a litmus test. The sample showed no decomposition of explosives.

On November 18, the steering gear failed at night, again due to the failure of Hooke's hinge. The electric also refused to operate, had to break down and turn on the "Unable to steer" lights. They switched to control from the steering compartment, the commands were transmitted by voice, after which they set in motion and removed the lights. It took days to fix the damage.

November 20 entered the bay of Djibouti. They took coal and water from the Kiev transport. Two battleships, three cruisers, seven destroyers and nine transports gathered on the road. For some reason, the promised coal miners were not in Djibouti, they arrived late, which delayed the exit of the detachment.

Having reloaded coal from German ships, on December 1, the detachment weighed anchor and headed for the Gulf of Aden. Along the way, exercises were conducted on fire and water alarms. The destroyers were in tow. In the Indian Ocean, coal was again taken from the Kiev transport, anchored off the coast of Africa.

The next loading of coal, this time by barges, took place on December 5 at the Ras Gafun roadstead. Water was taken first from "Kiev", then from "Tambov". The next day we moved on, noting along the way with a salute of 31 shots the day of the namesake of Nicholas II.

Svetlana and Zhemchug followed at the head of the marching formation, followed by Si-soi the Great, then transports and destroyers moved in four columns, their formation was closed by Navarin, on the right shell of which Almaz was held.

On December 10, they fired at the pyramidal shield from 120-mm guns using auxiliary 37-mm barrels (shell consumption - 145 pieces), as well as from 47-mm guns with practical shells. Having passed the island of Comoro, they turned to Nossibe Bay (Madagascar), where they arrived on December 15. The next morning, a British-flagged steamer approached the ship, loading of coal began, repeatedly interrupted due to heavy rain.

At the direction of the admiral, 25 people were fired ashore from the Zhemchug every day. The rest put things in order on the cruiser, engaged in its painting.

On December 27, a detachment of cruisers arrived here under the flag of Rear Admiral Enquist, and a day later the first armored detachment approached. The teams on the ships were lined up in front, orchestras played. The independent navigation of the detachment of Rear Admiral Felkerzam ended, and with it a relatively calm life.

"Emerald": the way to Madagascar

The ships assembled in Libava were brought together into a temporary formation, officially called the "Additional detachment of ships of the 2nd squadron of the fleet Pacific Ocean". In the press and in the memoirs, apparently for brevity, he was called the "Chasing Squad", and the wits, seeing the slowness of his movement, dubbed the "Lagging Squad". It includes new, just from the factory, cruiser 1st rank "Oleg", cruiser 2nd rank "Izumrud", fighters "Grozny", "Loud", "Sharp", "Shrill" and "Sharp", as well as auxiliary cruisers " Rion" and "Dnepr" (mobilized ships of the voluntary fleet "Smolensk" and "Petersburg"). To accompany the detachment to Tangier, the training ship "Ocean" was assigned with supplies of coal and boiler water. In Libava, steam boats that limited the sector of fire of 47-mm guns, along with davits, were loaded onto the Irtysh transport.

On November 3, 1904, the commander of the port of Libava, Rear Admiral A.A. Iretskoy, visited the ships for the last time and wished everyone a happy journey. Each commander, including Captain 2nd Rank Ferzen, received three sealed packages that were supposed to be opened upon reaching certain points, in addition, each was given an instruction, which, however, quickly became outdated, and had to be replaced with a new one. This was due to a change in the position of France on the issue of the entry of Russian ships into French-controlled ports along the route. After the prayer service, the ships passed the canal and lined up in two columns led by the Dnepr, with destroyers on the leeward side. From the side of the "Oleg", on which the braid pennant of the detachment commander, Captain 1st Rank L.F. Dobrotvorsky, was raised, shots of a farewell salute were fired.

"Emerald" followed in the left column behind "Oleg". Carrier pigeons captured from the Libau Pigeon Station were released at the designated point. On November 5, we made our first stop near the island of Langeland, where we took a pilot, but because of the fog we could not go far. We took off only a day later, passed Big Bela, after which we anchored in thick snow. The Emerald, in search of a quiet place to load coal from a German steamer, went too far into Danish territorial waters and was expelled from there by a destroyer. The required amount of coal could not be accepted. On the approach to the English shores, the Emerald ran out of boiler water, the desalination plants could not cope. They asked for permission to take water from the "Ocean". We stopped at the English coast, fortunately there was a heavy fog, and began to take water through a hose. During the storm, whaleboat No. 2 and the left shot were washed away by the waves, and when departing from the Ocean, a werp and 100 fathoms of perlin were lost. In addition to other difficulties, it turned out that a fishing net was wrapped around the left propeller. The question arose whether there would be enough coal to reach Tangier, so it was decided to take the Emerald in tow. "Ocean" dragged the cruiser behind him for a whole day, but because of the storm, the tugboat had to be given away.

When it became clear that there was still not enough coal, we went to the Spanish port of Ponteverdo.

The cruisers moored along the sides of the Ocean and began loading. It turned out that the actual cruising range was much less than the calculated one. In addition, the coal received in Libau was of poor quality, gave off a lot of smoke, and burned heavily.

On November 21, they arrived in Tangier, where they found auxiliary cruisers and four destroyers, as well as the French cruiser Kleber, on the roadstead. "Oleg" raised the Moroccan flag and fired a salute to the nations. "Rion" and attached to it "Quirky" and "Sharp" withdrew and went to the Mediterranean Sea. On November 23, they said goodbye to the Ocean, which was returning to Russia, and the ships of the detachment headed east. The Emerald left without taking a full supply of water, and in the evening, having passed Gibraltar, he asked permission to go to Malaga. From "Oleg" a signal followed: "Go where you want, then catch up." Negotiations were conducted by a spotlight on the clouds. True, as the ship's doctor V.S. Kravchenko recalled, the signal from the Oleg had a continuation, not reflected in official documents, “Buy us some wine.” With the permission of the port commander, the Emerald moored directly to the embankment and received a full supply of water.

On November 30, having overcome a strong storm along the way, the cruiser arrived in Souda, where Oleg, Rion with two destroyers and a stationary ship, the brave gunboat, were already located.

To continue the journey on the Emerald, it was necessary to do significant work on the machine installation: to make a new pipe for the circulation pump of the main refrigerator of the left machine; clean all boilers and replace some of the hot water pipes; to sort out the machines, the connections of the main and auxiliary pipelines, the distillers - all this took at least two weeks. To carry out these works, we signed contracts with a plant in Piraeus (Greece).

In the meantime, the authorities in St. Petersburg made a sensible decision - to leave the destroyers of the Sokol type in the Court and return to the Baltic in the spring. Only the "Rezvoi" - its commander, Lieutenant Khokhlov, turned to the manager of the Naval Ministry with a corresponding request - was allowed to proceed further.

On December 23, training torpedo firing took place, during which the scoop of the right mine apparatus was bent. According to the commander's report, the matter looked as follows. In the outer roadstead, the Courts fired three Whitehead mines, the commander decided to anchor so that he could raise the mines from the water on a strong swell, after which it was supposed to continue firing. The crew and officers had lunch, so the captain of the 2nd rank Ferzen himself ordered anchoring. At the same time, the device was not fixed in a marching manner, and when the anchor was released, due to pitching, the scoop was hooked only 1.6 inches from the outer edge. The scoop could not be corrected. The detachment commander requested a new replacement from the Lesner factory.

Along with incessant repairs and coal loading, exercises were regularly conducted in all types of combat training: firing at a shield from auxiliary barrels, equipping a mine raft, landing troops ... If the first could come in handy in battle, then the rest is doubtful: after all, he was not going to the crew of the cruiser will storm the Japanese islands!

Despite prodding from St. Petersburg, the detachment continued to repair ships in the Court. Destroyer No. 213 scurried between Souda and Piraeus, delivering repaired parts. On December 22, he brought another batch of pipelines, one of which turned out to be shorter, so a new one had to be ordered.

On December 26, having received quarantine certificates from the coastal doctor and having completed settlements with the shore, the detachment headed for Port Said. In the right column were "Oleg", "Dnepr" and "Rion", in the left - "Emerald", "Loud", "Terrible" and "Squishy". Two days later, tests were carried out at full speed. The race ended at Port Said. After saluting the Egyptian flag, they entered the canal and anchored to receive coal and water. Then they went along the canal and in the evening arrived at the roadstead of Ismailia, the pilot refused to lead further, referring to the darkness. He was immediately replaced by another, and moved on. At night they entered the Big Bitter Lake and by morning arrived in Suez, where they again received coal and water, standing on the roads. Communication with the city was forbidden - a plague epidemic raged here.

December 31 again went to sea. The commander of the detachment decided to continue the tests at full speed. In parallel, artillery exercises with practical shooting were carried out. The fire was fired in the forward sector at maximum distance.

On January 5, 1905, detachment firing from auxiliary barrels was carried out at shields, which were towed on countertacks by destroyers. The Emerald ran out of ammunition for the auxiliary barrels, and with the permission of the commander, practical shells were used during night firing.

A few hours later, the detachment anchored in Djibouti, where German coal miners were waiting for him, on one of which the sailor urgently needed medical attention. From the "Oleg" they sent a boat for Dr. Kravchenko.

On December 12, the Emerald went out into the bay to complete lesson No. 3. They fired at the shield from small guns. We trained in the visual determination of the distance, and at night - on the Barra and Stroud rangefinders.

Worried about the constant lack of water on the cruiser, Captain 1st Rank Dobrotvorsky assembled a commission of ship mechanics from his detachment, headed by senior mechanical engineer Moelin, and ordered to deal with the state of the engine installation. Trial trips to the sea were made, combined with artillery firing. According to the commission, the consumption of boiler water increased due to poor grinding of the valves of the feed filters and loose connection of the pipe flanges in the boiler rooms. After installing the plugs on the purge valves and tightening the flanges of the pipelines, tests were carried out, during which the daily consumption of boiler water was determined, it decreased by half and turned out to be 34 tons. In addition, the evaporators were repaired on the cruiser. The single-stage evaporators of the Krug installed on the ship in the southern latitudes, with increased salinity of sea water, quickly lost productivity and needed constant repair. To put them in order, according to the commission, it took a week, which the commander of the detachment reported to the Main Staff.

On January 20, the detachment weighed anchor and entered the Gulf of Aden. In the campaign, the commander of the detachment often practiced rebuilding his detachment. On the 26th, they crossed the equator; they did not arrange a holiday for the team on the Emerald. The next day, the cruisers, lining up in front, conducted an artillery exercise. By the end of the day, they entered the roadstead of Dar es Salaam and immediately began loading coal. Two days later they left the raid and went out into the ocean. On January 31, they fired at shields at full speed with maneuvers by the entire detachment. Their continuation was night classes, firing practical projectiles at the pyramidal shield in the light of searchlights. The shield was shot with all the rigging and sails.

On February 1, "Oleg" received the first telegram from "Prince Suvorov", in which the meeting point was indicated. "Emerald" was sent ahead, and at 10 o'clock reported on the steam ships on the course. Soon there was a connection with the squadron. The first congratulations on arrival came from the squadron battleship Oslyabya, from Rear Admiral Felkerzam. A little later - and from Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky, who invited the commanders of the newly arrived ships. "Emerald", included in the reconnaissance detachment, took anchorage next to the "Pearl". The "Catching Up Detachment" ceased to exist as a unit.

Madagascar - Tsushima

Parking in the bay of Nossibe dragged on. In preparation for the continuation of the campaign, the squadron was cleaning the underwater parts of the ships, for which the ship's divers were combined into a brigade, which in turn moved from one ship to another. On the Zhemchug, the commander refused to clean the underwater part, fearing that the protective coating, which was very hastily applied in Kronstadt, would also be damaged. Ship divers periodically had to clean the openings of the kingstones, where fouling was especially intense. In the course of these works on the Zhemchug, a detachment of the rudder plating was discovered with the loss of wooden chucks. The divers fixed the malfunction in nine days, the skin was fixed with through bolts. But the electric control of the spool of the steering machine could not be fixed. To receive the prescribed supply of coal, twice the volume of coal pits, two command rooms and a wardroom had to be covered with coal, in addition, coal was placed in bags on the upper deck and in the boiler rooms. The overloaded deck was deformed, and the 120-mm guns mounted on the waist turned with difficulty. With such a load, the deepening reached 5.5 m, and the speed fell approximately by 1 knot.

Having stood in Madagascar for more than two months, on March 3, 1905, in the afternoon, a squadron of 45 pennants entered the ocean and lined up in a marching order, in which the Pearl and Emerald took a place on the flanks, ahead of the course. After six days of sailing, the first loading of coal from transports took place with their own boats, the next day the work was completed, and the squadron moved on. At the passage to the Malacca Strait, several more loadings of coal took place - more difficult due to bad weather. During the storm, Zhemchug and Izumrud experienced strong side rolling - up to 30 ° on board, due to the lack of side keels.

During the passage through the Strait of Malacca, the "Pearl" and "Emerald" kept on the beam of the "Prince Suvorov". The cruisers were ordered to have pairs for full speed. During the next coal loading, already in the South China Sea, an order was received in the event of the appearance of the enemy to form a battle formation without raising boats. There were rumors about five Japanese submarines waiting for the Russian squadron, as well as about the proximity of the main enemy forces.

Off the coast of Vietnam, at the entrance to Cam Ranh Bay, the squadron met a steamer that was trying to escape, as many as four cruisers were sent in pursuit, including the Pearl and the Emerald. After the inspection, the ship was released, and the cruisers remained at sea. After standing for two weeks, the squadron, under pressure from France, was forced to move to another bay, Van Fong, where Easter was celebrated. Rozhdestvensky's ships wandered around the bays waiting for the arrival of Rear Admiral Nebogatov's detachment. The teams prepared for the battle as they saw fit. On the Zhemchug, for example, they filled up the armored deck in the stern with coal to protect the steering gear.

In response to the information received about the approach of the Nebogatov detachment, Zhemchug and Rion were sent south to Saigon. After an unsuccessful attempt to contact the commander of the cruiser "Diana" (after waiting for several hours at the mouth of the Donnay River, they left with nothing), the "Pearl" lagged behind the "Rion". They were catching up at full speed, but to develop more than 18 knots. failed as the stokers lacked practice. Returning to Van Phong, the cruiser found an empty harbor: both squadrons had already met and crossed into Kuabe Bay. By the way, "Izumrud" and "Dnepr" were also sent towards Nebogatov's detachment, but they also did not find anyone. But the powerful radio station "Ural" intercepted the negotiations "Monomakh", the detachment was given a course to connect. The meeting took place on April 26 at 14.00.

At dawn on May 1, the squadron weighed anchor and set off on its last campaign. Before they had time to leave the bay, the steering gear on the Emerald failed, it took half an hour to repair, the rest of the ships were waiting. The next day, the squadron was engaged in reconciling the rangefinders of Barr and Stroud. Part of the cruisers moved 60 kbt and the distance was determined from them, then comparisons were made. "Pearl" went ahead of the column of the 1st detachment of battleships, and the "Emerald" occupied the same position ahead of the 3rd detachment.

On May 5, a stop was made to load coal from transports. In the evening, "Oleg" detained the ship with a cargo of contraband and brought it to the squadron for paperwork. May 6 marked the birthday of Nicholas II. They performed a prayer service and fireworks in 31 shots. On the same day, Zhemchug detained the Norwegian ship Oscar II, but it was completely empty from Manila. Captain 2nd rank Levitsky ordered the ship to be released, for which, according to midshipman Tavastshern, the adjutant general scolded him with an “iron head”. The steamer, saluting with a flag and holding a signal with the wishes of a happy journey, cut through the formation of the squadron at full speed and retired to the side of Formosa with the latest information about the whereabouts of the Russian squadron.

On May 10, the squadron loaded coal for the last time. "Pearl" for the entire campaign took coal 32 times, a total of 7000 tons. For the last loading in front of Vladivostok, 185 tons were taken. On the same day, the commander announced the order with instructions for conducting the battle. "Pearls" and "Emerald" were assigned the role of rehearsal ships for the battleships "Prince Suvorov" and "Oslyabya". Before the battle, they had to, moving ahead of the squadron, drive all oncoming ships out of the way, and in battle protect the battleships from enemy mine attacks.

On May 12, the last transports separated from the squadron - except for those that were supposed to go to Vladivostok. The next day, the ships were engaged in evolutions, apparently, Rozhdestvensky did not want to join the battle on the 13th, and perhaps there were some other considerations. Introductory information about the position of the enemy was received from the flagship battleship, and the squadron changed formation to meet the enemy from different sides: either in the wake, then in the front line, then the bearing. At this time, a white steamer passed by, for some reason they did not stop it and did not examine it. At noon they passed the island of Quelpart; Tsushima was 150 miles away. The admiral gave his last instructions: to raise the topmast flags tomorrow morning, since May 14 was the day of the coronation of Nicholas II ...

In the battle of Tsushima

The auxiliary cruiser of the Japanese fleet "Shinano-Maru", which was in the sentinel chain, discovered the Russian squadron at 4.00 am on May 14, 1905 and immediately reported its coordinates by radio. Rozhdestvensky was notified of the enemy scout, but did not take any action, although the squadron's fast cruisers could catch up with him and destroy him.

At about 0600, the Izumi cruiser was sighted to the right of the course. From that moment on, Japanese scouts continuously accompanied the Russians. After 09.00, the combat alarm was sounded, "Pearl" and "Emerald" went forward and away from the squadron. The morning was hazy and the end of the column was not visible, the wind was south-west of 4 - 5 points, the cruisers were rocking. The Zhemchug drove the junk heading towards Tsushima Island out of the way - they feared that floating mines could be thrown from such ships in front of the squadron. An hour later, on the "Pearl" they noticed a steamer without a flag, which was moving from the west to the intersection of the squadron's course. The cruiser went at full speed towards him and, having fired a 47-mm gun under her nose, forced her to stop. A boat was lowered from the steamer, which was immediately smashed against the side by the waves. Approaching half a cable, they saw on the deck the Japanese in national clothes, who were on their knees and begged for mercy. By sign they were ordered to leave, which they did with great haste. "Pearl" returned to its place.

At the signal of the admiral, the teams were allowed to dine on a watch basis, for many of the lower ranks of the squadron, 50 g of “white wine” (half a glass of vodka) laid down for dinner turned out to be the last in their lives. The dinner was interrupted by a skirmish with enemy scouts, which arose on the private initiative of the gunner from the Admiral Ushakov. The cruiser "Emerald", firing from the stern guns, bypassed the head of the squadron and took a place behind the "Pearl". The scouts who had been hiding in the fog reappeared, going from left to right at a distance of about 50 kbt. To attract the attention of the commander, a shot was fired from the bow 120-mm gun from the Zhemchug.

At 12.00, being already in the Tsushima Strait, the ships changed course to northeast 23 °. Soon the first armored detachment left the general column to the right, while the Zhemchug was ordered to move to the traverse of the Orel, followed by the Emerald and four destroyers of the 1st mine detachment.

At 13.20, the main enemy forces appeared from the fog, marching in one wake column. When the Japanese battleships lay down on a new course, they opened fire from the Russian squadron, which had not yet completed the reorganization into one column. A few minutes later, the Japanese began to respond, concentrating fire on the flagships - "Prince Suvorov" and "Oslyab". On the right beam of the latter, the "Pearl" was kept, and all flights lay around it. The commander of the "Pearl" noticed a characteristic feature of the Japanese method of firing. At first, all the shells fell in a heap, but with a slight undershoot, then the target was covered, then the flight and again covered. Apparently, having shot one point with the whole detachment and without changing the setting of the sights, they approached and, when covering, lay down on a parallel course. Large fires quickly broke out on the Suvorov and Oslyab. To raise the morale of the team, Captain 2nd Rank Levitsky ordered to open fire from 120-mm guns, although the enemy was poorly visible. When the Oslyabya, listing to the port side and burying its nose, went out of order of the squadron to the right, the Zhemchug cut the line between the Eagle and the Great Shisoy and headed for the sinking battleship, firing at the end Japanese ships. At this time, a 152-mm projectile hit the entrance hatch of the commander's quarters in the stern and disabled the servants of the left 120-mm gun No. 8. Lieutenant Baron Wrangel was mortally wounded by the same projectile; Midshipman Kiselev was also slightly wounded. In order to get out of the fire zone and return to the traverse of the Orel, the commander of the Zhemchug decided to bypass Nebogatov’s detachment from the stern, however, realizing that this would take a long time, he cut through the formation between the battleships of the coastal defense and ended up among the transports. Bypassing the Anadyr, P.P. Levitsky noticed that he could interfere with the firing of General-Admiral Apraksin, and slowed down. At this moment, the auxiliary cruiser "Ural" began to approach the stern of the "Pearl" threateningly quickly. Levitsky ordered to go full speed, but it was not possible to avoid touching. "Pearl" drew the right side of the stern along the bow of the "Ural", while hooking the right screw on its hull. The car stalled, the servants turned off the steam, however, seeing that the telegraph was at full speed, they opened the engine regulator and gave steam to the car. As a result of the touch, the blades of the right propeller were bent, the gunwale was bent and the scoop of the mine apparatus extended into combat position was bent; the charging compartment of the mine broke off and sank, fortunately without exploding.

The commander of the "Emerald", however, without performing such dashing maneuvers as the "Pearl", also sent his cruiser to the "Oslyaba" to save people, with him the destroyers "Buyny" and "Brave" and two others hurried to the dying battleship. When they approached the scene of the tragedy, the ship had already sunk. They dropped a whaleboat without rowers, berths, buoys into the water and stopped the cars to receive people from the water. Seeing the approaching battleships of the 3rd detachment, Captain 2nd Rank Ferzen, in order not to interfere with them, withdrew and attached himself from the outside to the circle of his cruisers protecting the transports. "Emerald" opened fire on Japanese ships in the interval between "Admiral Nakhimov" and "Oleg". Due to the confusion in the formation of transports that shied from side to side, the Emerald often had to change course, stop cars in order to avoid collisions with transports and destroyers, while excess steam was vented into refrigerators that leaked.

"Pearls" at that time was approaching the head battleships of the Russian column. "Prince Suvorov" turned left, pipes and masts were already shot down on it, and "Alexander III", which became the lead, turned right. Noticing destroyers at Alexander III and believing that the admiral might be on them, Zhemchug went towards them at full speed, preparing the whaleboat for descent. The destroyers, on one of which they managed to see the flag officer of the squadron, did not linger and left. At this time, a Japanese armored detachment approached and opened fire on the Alexander III. When the distance to the enemy decreased to 25 kbt, the Zhemchug was given a move, and he left the zone of fire, holding on to the destroyers. At this time, the projectile hit the middle tube of the cruiser, the fragments scattered in different directions hit the right waist 120-mm gun No. 1, disabled its servants and ignited the cartridges in the fenders of the first shots that had not been fired before (in the Tsushima battle, similar cases occurred on many ships). In addition, three cartridges that were on the deck near the gun also ignited. At the same time, the shells were torn, and unburned gunpowder was scattered around the ship. Midshipman Ratkov was shell-shocked by one of the shells. Fragments of the same projectile, penetrating the front tube, hit the bow bridge, where midshipman Tavastsherna was killed and three lower ranks were wounded. At 16.10, in order not to interfere with the fire of their battleships, the Zhemchug joined the detachment of cruisers, entering the wake of the Vladimir Monomakh, and exchanged fire with the Japanese cruisers attacking the transports. At 17.25 the fight stopped. The battleships lined up in a column led by Borodino, there were not enough Prince Suvorov and Oslyabi. Zhemchug followed Almaz on the Oleg shell at a distance of 5 kbt. It seemed that the battle was over and the road to Vladivostok was open...

But at 18.00 the battle resumed. The destroyer "Buyny" approached, holding the signal: "Admiral on the destroyer", however, no one knew which one. At the same time, they saw a signal on the mast of the Anadyr transport: "The Admiral transfers command to Admiral Nebogatov", and on "Nicholas I": "Follow me." The commander of the "Pearl" decided not to get close to his battleships, knowing from his own experience that it was possible to be in the flight zone, and, as he noted, there were no other ships near the Japanese battleships.

Soon, a semaphore was received from Admiral Ushakov about the critical situation of Alexander III, but the commander of the Emerald did not dare to approach him, since he was between the columns of battleships of both fighting sides. When is " Alexander III”rolled over, the “Emerald” approached the place of his death, stopped the cars and began to prepare the rowboat for launch, dropping lifebuoys and berths. Enemy armored cruisers appeared and opened fire on the immobile Emerald. When the distance decreased to 20 kbt, not wanting to tempt fate any more, the Russian cruiser set off. Soon he witnessed the death of the Borodin, which, after being hit by several large shells, went to the right and disappeared. "Nicholas I" bypassed the "Eagle" and became the leader. At dusk the artillery duel ceased.

"Emerald": breakthrough and death

After sunset, the Izumrud, which had lost its cruisers in the dark, joined the armored detachment, holding on to the left beam of Nicholas I, followed by Eagle, Senyavin, Apraksin, Sisoy the Great, Admiral Ushakov , "Navarin" and "Admiral Nakhimov". Destroyer attacks began. The tail ships, which turned on the searchlights, became the main targets of Japanese torpedoes. The head battleships walked in the dark, which saved them from mine attacks. The building was greatly extended. At dawn on May 15, it turned out that only five ships remained in the detachment: Nikolay I, Orel, Apraksin, Senyavin, and on the left beam - Emerald, from which they soon reported on the smoke they found on the left along course. It turned out that these were Japanese cruisers. N.I. Nebogatoe ordered everyone to suddenly turn to the left and led his ships to them in front formation. However, the Japanese did not accept the battle and turned aside, taking advantage of the advantage in speed. The Russian detachment lay down on the old course, but smoke again appeared behind the stern. The admiral sent the "Emerald" for reconnaissance to clarify what kind of ships; the cruiser went into full swing, and it soon became clear that this was a Japanese detachment, consisting of the cruisers Matsushima, Akitsushima, Hasidate, Itsukushima and three smaller cruisers; the Yakumo cruiser was held separately on the left shell. Returning, the Emerald approached the Nicholas I and Ferzen reported on the results of the reconnaissance in a voice, after which the cruiser took a place on the right beam. Then Rear Admiral Nebogatoe again sent the Emerald to meet other ships that appeared. These were the main forces of the Japanese. Behind them at a distance of 50 - 60 kbt were the cruisers "Niytaka", "Kasagi" and "Chitose". Then the Japanese ships began to approach, surrounding the Russians from three sides. One of them opened fire from a long distance on "Nicholas I", which at 10.30 raised the signal on the international code "Surrounded", lowered the stern flag and raised the signal "Surrender".

Having disassembled the signal, Baron Fersen interrogated the officers who were nearby and ordered to go for a breakthrough. In case of failure, he decided to throw his ship on the Japanese coast and blow it up. The wireless telegraph station was turned on at full spark, clogging the enemy's negotiations. The Japanese cruisers rushing in pursuit began to fall behind, and at 14.00 they disappeared over the horizon. Even during the battle on the Emerald, the steam line of auxiliary mechanisms in the stern machine cracked, and now, with the hard work of all mechanisms, it burst. I had to switch to a manual steering wheel. The stroke dropped to 15 knots.

At 18.00 they laid down on a course leading to a point equidistant from Vladivostok and Vladimir Bay, 50 miles from the coast, and there they were already going to decide where to go. By this time, the damaged pipe was removed and a plug was put in its place. Boilers of the 6th boiler room began to work on the steering machine and auxiliary mechanisms of the stern machine. The stroke was reduced to save coal, in addition, the blowing was stopped so that there were no flame emissions from the chimneys. Refrigerators leaked, salinity appeared in the boilers. The squadron did not have instruments for chemical analysis of water, and therefore the water had to be tasted every 20 minutes. Due to the appearance of salt in the boiler water, it boiled, not steam, but a mixture of water and steam, got into the cylinders of the machines, which made it necessary to reduce speed. When cleaning the furnaces, the stroke dropped to 13 knots, the engine crew worked with all their might. The entire crew was employed on the cruiser, a significant part of the sailors reloaded coal from the bow coal pit to the aft boiler room. And still, there was not enough coal for the full speed necessary for the battle. The whole tree was sent to the furnaces of the boilers, except for the masts and boats. The commander, expecting to meet the Japanese cruisers at Vladivostok, where they, moving directly, could arrive before the Emerald, decided to go to Vladimir Bay. In the same direction was Olga Bay, where there was a telegraph office, and possibly coal reserves, but due to its strategic importance, it, according to the senior officer, could be mined. Ferzen, not without hesitation, decided to go to the bay of Vladimir, take up an advantageous position for defense and call for help from Vladivostok.

On May 16, the place of the cruiser was determined three times astronomically. They approached the bay of Vladimir at the first hour of the night, the lack of coal did not allow them to wait out the dark time at sea. Assuming the presence of the enemy here, the commander gave the command to prepare for battle. Having safely passed the entrance capes of Vatovsky and Baglozen and throwing lots from both sides, at a speed of 4 knots. "Emerald" moved into the middle of the three-cable passage leading to the southern part of the bay. In the dark, we came too close to Cape Orekhov and ran into a reef branching off from it. The grounding was smooth. We sat in full water, with the beginning of the ebb. On the boat, a stop anchor was brought aft. They gave the most full speed to all the machines, helping with the pull of the anchor. The water was receding, the cars were stopped so as not to waste coal. The measurements made showed that the ship sits on a very shallow shallow for 2/3 of the length of the hull. According to the report, only 8-10 tons of coal remained. By the next high water, provisions were brought ashore, all the boats were lowered and part of the crew landed on them, no other measures were taken to reduce the draft. Ammunition was not unloaded and water was not released from the boilers. The second attempt to refloat also failed, the ship sat tightly on the reef, besides, the receiving kingstons of the circulation pumps of the refrigerators clogged with sand, and the coal was running out. The port side of the ship was almost two feet out of the water.

By this time, having looked around, they understood why the ship was stranded. The right bank, steeply plunging into the water, was also covered with light vegetation and seemed much closer in the darkness. The left one, on the contrary, was sloping and turned into a hill at a distance from the coast, and the vegetation on it was dark in color, which created the illusion of its remoteness. Hence the error in the definition of the fairway.

The further development of the situation with the "Emerald" makes us recall the "things of bygone days", when the reformer tsar Peter I, who showed himself to be an excellent psychologist, introduced the institution of a military council in the fleet, including the provision that he was the first to receive the word for a speech on the council junior in rank. Alas, the commander of the "Emerald" did not comply with this clause of the charter - he interviewed the officers individually, which, of course, could not replace a full-fledged military council. It was in this way that the issue of the explosion of the cruiser was resolved. Interviewed one by one, the officers, except for midshipman Virenius and lieutenant Topchiev, did not object to his proposal. If Ferzen gathered a military council, then the first would have to speak out to the ensign of the mechanical part of Shandrenko (who, according to his recollections, was against the explosion), then lieutenant Topchiev and midshipman Virenius would speak, after which most officers would hardly support the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bdestroying the ship. True, this did not prevent the commander from making his own decision, which ran counter to the opinion of the military council, but in this case, full responsibility would fall on him.

Ferzen, on the other hand, believed that the need to blow up the ship was due to the impossibility of taking off on his own, the futility of waiting for an ambulance from Vladivostok, the difficulty of repulsing the enemy, since only two guns (the poop and the right fender) could fire at the stern and, ultimately, the decision not to give the cruiser to the enemy .

For undermining, it was decided to use the charging compartments of Whitehead mines. For some reason, the first one was laid in the provisional cellar at the bulkhead of the forward cartridge cellar, the second - in the lower aft cartridge cellar between the arbors with 120-mm cartridges, while the tubes of segment shells were put on impact. A fickford cord with a 20-minute burning wick tied to it was brought to the charges. The work was supervised by a senior officer, Captain 2nd Rank Patton-Fanton-de-Verraion, the mine officer Lieutenant Zaozersky, the watch chief Lieutenant Romanov and eight lower ranks were preparing the explosion. The team lined up on the shore, a signal was given from one of the hills, and at two o'clock in the afternoon the first explosion occurred. However, there was no visible damage, only a fire broke out in the bow. The second explosion, which thundered a little later, completely destroyed the stern up to the midships. The fire in the nose reached the cellars with cartridges, and they began to burst, the cannonade continued for about half an hour. From Olga Bay, a telegraph message was sent to Vladivostok about what had happened, and the cruiser Rossiya, which had already gone to the aid of the Emerald, was returned.

Six days later, Fersen examined the skeleton of the cruiser, which was still smoldering in the lower compartments, and found that the vehicles, especially the side ones, were too well preserved and could be useful to the Japanese to restore the Novik. Each of them was laid on the charging compartment of Whitehead mines. As a result of the explosions, not a single whole part remained on the ship. In marching order, the team proceeded to Vladivostok, accompanying ... a herd of cattle, collected along the route on the instructions of the Vladivostok authorities. Sailors were met with an orchestra. The officers were allowed, if desired, to leave for Russia, and the lower ranks were left in Vladivostok.

The first officials who visited the cruiser, or rather what was left of it, were Japanese officers. Admiral Yamada received an order with the cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, accompanied by the first detachment of fighters, to examine the Emerald. At 0800 on June 30, 1905, the enemy cruisers took up a position at sea, the first detachment was sent to the bay. Upon his return, the admiral was informed that the wrecked Russian cruiser was sitting on the rocks off Cape Orekhov. Apparently, the report of the commander of the fighter detachment was not convincing, so the admiral sent the senior officer of the Nissin cruiser, Captain 2nd Rank Hidesima, for re-examination. Satisfied with his report, Yamado departed with a detachment to his shores.

The Russian authorities found time to deal with the Emerald only two and a half months later. On September 15, 1905, the destroyers Terrible and Bravy left Vladivostok with the task of inspecting the Emerald and removing everything that was possible from it. The destroyers sailed along the coast, going into all the bays and questioning the population about the situation and the presence of the Japanese in this area - after all, the war was not over yet. It turned out that the inhabitants of the surrounding villages plundered state property from the Emerald, creating entire wagon trains for its export. There was even an attempt to remove auxiliary steam mechanisms, but there was no boat of suitable carrying capacity. On September 18, the destroyers entered the bay and anchored near the cruiser.

The act of inspection by the commission from the destroyer "Grozny" stated that the cruiser's hull was preserved up to the second pipe, but badly burned, then - a shapeless mass of iron flooded with water. The hull lists up to 30° to starboard, everything inside is burned. Of the five 120-mm guns found on the deck, all have no locks (they were thrown into the sea before the explosion), one is heavily littered, two are in good order, all the machines are fit for repair. Many surviving auxiliary mechanisms, windlass, chains, steam dynamos, boilers, boiler headers, spare boiler tubes, bottoms, machine parts. In the coal pits accessible for inspection, there are up to 35 tons of coal, which is still burning in some places. For removal, transport is required with a work boat, divers, tools, and devices for lifting heavy units. The destroyer teams removed from the cruiser: Whitehead's mine without a charging compartment, Ston's pump, Kraft's donk, Worthington's pump, two pedestals of 47-mm guns, a watermaker's coil, various keys, a lot of copper and bronze parts. At the same time, it was found that a lot was stolen from the ship. In the surrounding villages locals pour lead parts from the Emerald into various products. On the shore, where 50 boxes of rifle cartridges were hidden, only one was found.

Before leaving the bay, the commander of the destroyer Grozny, Lieutenant Tigerstedt, ordered that an inscription be painted on both sides of the cruiser in white paint: “The law severely punishes the robbery of an abandoned ship,” in addition, he gave the bailiff in Olga Bay a telegram about the ban on touching anything on the ship, and return what was taken. True, many local residents were illiterate, and the rest of the inscription brought a lot of fun minutes, and one must think that by that time the residents had managed to steal everything that could be useful in the household. The surname of the commander of "Grozny" betrays in him a law-abiding foreigner who never knew the psychology of a Russian peasant.

Later, the issue of scrapping the cruiser was raised repeatedly, but each time ended in nothing. By the summer of 1907, two "Izumrudov" 120-mm guns were delivered to Vladivostok, but they turned out to be suitable only for scrapping. At the request of St. Petersburg, the skeleton of the Emerald was even put up for public auction, which failed miserably. Which is not surprising: the GUKiS assigned the primary price of 50 thousand rubles. was unreasonably high. In the end, on December 18, 1908, the cruiser was transferred into private hands to the "free mechanic" Stashkevich, who undertook to supply the Vladivostok port with metal and removed equipment in the amount of 10 thousand rubles. However, for two years of leisurely work on dismantling the vessel, only 7,971.4 rubles worth of materials were received from Stashkevich, which served as the subject of a trial. The cruiser was finally dismantled already in Soviet time.

Thus ended the short combat career of the 2nd rank cruiser Izumrud. The ship, which received only a few fragmentation hits in the battle, which wounded seven lower ranks, was destroyed as a result of fear of the ubiquitous Japanese. At any other time, Fersen would have been put on trial for the premature destruction of the cruiser, but against the general background of the Tsushima shame with the death of almost two dozen ships and the surrender of five ships with two admirals, this did not look like a malfeasance. According to many naval officers, the baron, if not put on trial, then should not have been rewarded. However, he received high award- a golden saber with the inscription "For bravery".

"Pearl": Tsushima - Manila

After the Pearl joined the detachment of cruisers of Rear Admiral Enquist, she went with him all the way to Manila. On the evening of May 14, the cruisers were moving, often changing course at high speed, by 21.00 Svetlana and Almaz were behind. In complete darkness, the Zhemchug also almost got lost, but Captain 2nd Rank Levitsky, smelling smoke and showing his call signs with Ratier's lantern, took a place on the left beam of the Aurora so as not to lose sight of Oleg. At 23.00 they left the strait, expecting the admiral to go through the Western Korea Strait. By midnight, the intention of the junior flagship to enter the East China Sea became clear. After a day's stress, the team fell asleep at combat posts, with the exception of those who were on duty.

On the afternoon of May 15, the vehicles for the transition of Rear Admiral Enquist to the Aurora were stopped. Captain 2nd rank Levitsky asked "Oleg": "Does the admiral intend to try to go to Vladivostok." Captain 1st rank Dobrotvorsky answered for the commander of the detachment: "Try it yourself if you find yourself strong enough to go through the entire Japanese fleet." From the Aurora they asked if the Pearl could reach Manila. According to the morning report, there was not enough coal; but the senior ship's engineer reported on the possibility of reaching, provided that the economic 10-knot course was followed. Rear Admiral Enquist hoped for greater favor from the Americans than from the Chinese, who would certainly force the Russian cruisers to disarm if they entered Shanghai. In Manila, it was supposed to be repaired, take full supplies and make an attempt to break through to Vladivostok. What this hope was based on is hard to say, because the United States declared its neutrality in the Russo-Japanese War. Thus, the fact that the auxiliary cruiser Lena was interned in the United States testified that the Americans were not going to make exceptions for the Russians. Perhaps the admiral was delaying the unpleasant moment of disarmament, and the possibility of meeting with Japanese cruisers off the Philippine Islands was much less than in Shanghai.

On the way to the south, the ships repaired damage, counted human and material losses. On the "Pearl" were killed 2 officers and 7 lower ranks; 3 officers and 18 lower ranks were wounded (one later died). The cruiser did not receive significant damage during the battle. The most serious was a hole in the middle pipe, but it did not affect the safety of navigation. Little ammunition was used up, and all the guns were in good condition. True, the stern mine apparatus and one Whitehead mine located in it were damaged. Onboard mine vehicles were not prepared for battle at all, they could be flooded with water due to their low location and fairly fresh weather on the day of the battle.

The commander did not mention the requirements of the officers to go to Vladivostok in his report on the results of the battle. Most of all, the command was concerned about the amount of coal: would it be possible to stretch it to Manila and what to do if the enemy appeared?

On Saturday May 21 at 12.35 a detachment of ships appeared on the horizon. At 12.40 on the Aurora they raised the signal: "Alarm", but after 15 minutes it turned out that the squadron was American. Accompanied by her, on the last tons of coal, three Russian cruisers entered Manila Bay and anchored.

The first communication with the American admiral encouraged Enquist, but the US government did not find grounds for permission to repair Russian ships. On May 25, the final verdict arrived: either the Russian ships were disarmed, or they left Manila in 24 hours. The stalemate was resolved by a telegram from Nicholas II: “In view of the need to repair the damage, I authorize you to give an undertaking to the American government not to participate in hostilities. Nicholas." On May 27, 1905, the war for the crews of the detachment's ships ended. On this day, the locks of the guns were handed over to the local arsenal, the officers gave a subscription not to leave the island, Rear Admiral Enquist vouched for the lower ranks. The demand of the Americans to dismantle the mechanisms was rejected under the pretext that the machines would be necessary to keep the ships during the typhoons that often raged in Manila Bay.

On August 23, 1905, the Portsmouth Peace Treaty between Russia and Japan was signed in the United States, and in anticipation of its ratification, the ships of the Russian detachment began preparations for returning to their homeland. "Pearl", as less damaged in the battle, was prepared for the ocean crossing by September 18, the rest - by October 5. September 28 "Pearl" and "Aurora" went to sea to test cars. Due to the fouling of the bottom, the Zhemchug showed a speed of 2 knots. less contract.

"Pearl": in the Far Eastern waters

On the morning of October 9, 1905, Rear Admiral O. A. Enquist received an official notice from the American commander, Admiral Reuter, that the detachment was free.

The next day, the locks of the guns were received from the arsenal of the port of Cavite and were soon installed in their places. The commander of the "Pearl" received an order from St. Petersburg to separate from the detachment and independently follow to Vladivostok. 150 tons of coal were loaded onto the deck of the cruiser. October 14 at 12.20 "Aurora" and "Pearl" left the bay of Manila, exchanging triple "cheers" with the American flagship. "Aurora" came out to determine the deviation of compasses, and "Pearl" headed north. The cruisers parted forever.

At that time, papers were sent to St. Petersburg with orders for work that had not been completed in Manila, as well as for equipment lost during the campaign and battle. The Zhemchug needed a lifting device for the cylinder heads of the main machines; new on-board machine fan; 6 cast-iron pipes of garbage ejectors; copper pipes of refrigerators; three blades of the right propeller; steering wheel trim; roller steering gear; infirmary distiller; one projector diffuser glass; a new scoop for the stern mine apparatus; 10-core steering cable; steam launch and davit to it; reinforcements for two 120-mm waist guns and rail mine supply.

And in Vladivostok, unrest grew. There were many in the city military units formed from spares and recruits. They camped in tents, they received very meager food, the transfer to the reserve was delayed, all this, together with agitation, fueled discontent. Many parties aspired to seize power. At this time, the cruiser Zhemchug came here. The ship's crew provided excellent material for propaganda work. Already in November 1905, she was listed in the report of Rear Admiral Greve as unreliable. While P.P. Levitsky dealt with sedition on the Voronezh transport, the cruiser’s crew was intensively processed by coastal agitators and, as a result, during the second Vladivostok uprising, they joined the rebellious garrison with weapons.

On January 10, 1905, two armed sailors appeared on the cruiser and, in an ultimatum form, demanded that the crew be released ashore. Senior officer captain 2nd rank Vyazemsky reported to the commander; when he went on deck, some of the sailors with rifles were already crowding around the gangway. The sailors answered the commander's order to put down their weapons with silence, and the agitators who arrived declared that they were acting as representatives of the garrison of the fortress. The sailors, despite the exhortations of the officers, went down to the ice and went to the city. After a rally of many thousands, a motley crowd moved to the center and was met with machine-gun fire, dead and wounded appeared. The rebels captured the city for a while and expelled units loyal to the command from it. Troops sent from Manchuria, led by General Mishchenko, crushed the uprising. The crew of the Zhemchug cruiser was disarmed and decommissioned ashore, after which all the sailors (1200 people from different ships and from the Siberian crew) were expelled from the city, and 402 sailors were put on trial.

In 1906, on the roadstead of Vladivostok, the port ship "Userdny", breaking the ice for the passage of the cruiser "Zhemchug", hit her in the bow and damaged the stem and two plating sheets. The cruiser, just taken out of the dock, had to be put back in for repairs, which cost the treasury 1,400 rubles. The investigation came to the conclusion that the car itself switched to forward, although the command was given to reverse.

During the third Vladivostok uprising, the Zhemchug team did nothing. In November 1907, the crew of the messenger ship Shilka, dissatisfied with the authorities, seized the ship, which at that time was sailing off Kamchatka. Zhemchug was sent against the rebels, the team of which, apparently, by that time was considered quite trustworthy. The cruiser caught up with the Shilka, an armed clash took place between them, both ships were damaged. As a result, order was restored, and the very fact of the rebellion was hidden by the authorities. Perhaps it was just a spontaneous action on the basis of the abuse of power by the commander and officers.

Since May 1906, the Askold and Zhemchug cruisers were part of the Siberian naval crew. In troubled times, the cruiser, worn out during the war, was not repaired. For a significant period he was in the armed reserve. Due to the dismissal of spares, as well as the reduction of the service life to 5 years, there was a shortage of personnel on the ship, especially specialists. By new organization Siberian flotilla "Pearl" in 1907 became part of the Vladivostok detachment.

Despite the poor technical condition of the engine plant, the cruiser annually sailed through the bays of Primorye and, alternating with the Manjur gunboat, carried out station service in Shanghai. In May 1907, he was sent to help the French cruiser Shanzi, which had landed on rocks off the coast of China, but by the time the Frenchman arrived, the waves had broken up. In addition, the Zhemchug made short voyages to Chinese ports. In 1908, he brought Ambassador Chamberlain Malevich-Malevsky to Japan, and his predecessor, Chamberlain Bakhmetiev, to Vladivostok. The firing course was carried out rigorously. The ship went under one stern machine, only half of the boilers were in operation. By 1909, tubes for refrigerators and boilers were ordered, as well as spools for high pressure cylinders and low pressure cylinders, part of the order was completed by the Nevsky Plant.

By this time, Baranovsky's decommissioned landing guns (they were replaced by machine guns) and unreliable throwing mines, which were still in service with steam boats, were handed over to the shore.

Since the beginning of 1910, the "Pearl" was in a major overhaul. In October and November, he went to sea several times to test machines. The cruiser at that time was commanded by the captain of the 2nd rank Vyazemsky, former first senior officer of the Zhemchug (during the First World War, Vyazemsky, with the rank of captain of the 1st rank, died commanding the battleship Slava).

The repaired cruiser spent the 1911 campaign in practical navigation as the flagship of the flotilla commander. In May, the Minister of War from the Zhemchug inspected Peter the Great Bay. In August, on the roadstead of Vladivostok, Japan handed over the Angara transport captured in Port Arthur, it was accompanied by old acquaintances of Zhemchug, the armored cruisers Nissin and Kasuga under the flag of Rear Admiral Yashiro.

The 1912 campaign of the year "Pearl" began on April 15 with mine and artillery firing. In summer, he sailed through the bays of Primorye and the Tatar Strait to the Imperial Harbour. In August, he participated in joint maneuvers of the army and navy, which have become traditional. Having made an autumn voyage through the bays of Peter the Great Bay, on November 2 the cruiser joined the armed reserve in the Golden Horn Bay.

The next year, Zhemchug, having started the campaign on April 5, spent sailing near its shores, as well as in Shanghai and Hankou, where it served as a stationer. I met 1914 there, guarding Russian citizens and reporting on the situation in China, where the revolution took place. In mid-May, he arrived in Vladivostok and began to overhaul the machines and clean the boilers. His commander, Captain 2nd Rank K.P. Ivanov 13th (by imperial order, he was established to be listed in the lists of the fleet at number 13, under which he participated in the last battle of the Rurik cruiser, being its last commander) was promoted to captain 1st rank. At that time, a new statute of the military order of St. George the Victorious was adopted, in which the provision on the production of St. George Knights in the next rank was restored, and Ivanov, on the 13th for the above-mentioned battle, was awarded George the 4th degree. It is interesting to note that Ivanov 13th replaced Ivanov 6th at Zhemchug. A month later, Ivanov 13th was transferred from the Siberian Flotilla to the Baltic Fleet. The last commander of the Zhemchug, Captain 2nd Rank Baron I.A. Cherkasov, took command of the Zhemchug.

The death of the "Pearl"

With the outbreak of the First World War, Russian cruisers were attached to the Allied fleet and, with the highest permission, came under the command of the English admiral. On August 21, 1914, the Zhemchug received a personal task to inspect the sea space south of the island of Formosa. From the very beginning of the voyage, Baron Cherkasov established a "resort" mode of service for the team. When ships appeared on the horizon, combat alert was not played. There was no schedule for the rest of the team, the servants were not at the guns at night. Mine devices were not loaded. While moored in the port, the all-clear was played and anchor lights were turned on, the signal watch was not amplified. Unauthorized persons had the opportunity to visit the cruiser, while they descended into any premises. In September, Zhemchug escorted Allied transports, while the ship's commander took liberties when using radio communications: while off the Philippine Islands, he sent an unencrypted telegram indicating his place to Askold.

In early October, Zhemchug was sent to the area of ​​the Nicobar and Andaman Islands for their inspection. Allied cruisers were hunting for the German raider - the cruiser "Emden", which began its combat activities with the capture of the Russian steamer "Ryazan" and actually paralyzed merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean. The allied command assumed the presence of a coastal base on the islands. Having completed the task, the Pearl made a stop in the unprotected port of Blair to load coal, while full lighting was turned on and there were no servants at the guns. Cherkasov himself, taking five officers with him, went ashore and stayed there all evening, although he was informed that the Emden had appeared in the region of this port three times.

Neglect to observe elementary security measures, sooner or later, had to lead to tragic consequences. And so it happened. Having replenished supplies in Rangoon, the Pearl arrived in Penang, located on Prince of Wales Island off the western coast of the Malay Peninsula. Having anchored, Baron Cherkasov requested permission from the English Vice Admiral T. Dzherram, to whom he was subordinate, to overhaul the machines and alkalize the boilers after a long voyage. On the same day, 13 boilers were dismantled on the cruiser, of the remaining ones in working order, only one was under steam, which did not ensure the simultaneous operation of the lighting, projectile supply, fire and water pumping systems. Despite the warning of a possible danger, Cherkasov did not increase surveillance, ordered the anchor lights to be turned on, while the crew rested on the upper deck without observing the combat schedule. On November 14, at 18.00, the commander moved ashore, to the Eastern and Orientel hotel, leaving behind the senior officer of the cruiser, Senior Lieutenant Kulibin.

The commander of the Emden cruiser, frigate captain Karl von Müller, having dealt with merchant shipping, decided to take on the Allied warships. By radio intercepts, the Germans knew the approximate location of their ships. After making calculations, von Muller came to the conclusion that the Allied cruisers had an intermediate base in the Bay of Bengal area. From newspaper reports it was also known that French cruisers often called at the port of Penang, where von Muller decided to pay a night visit, intending to make a surprise attack. On the night of October 15, 1914, the cruiser approached Penang, hoping to enter the harbor at dawn, when it would be possible to navigate in a narrow strait and, moreover, in the morning, as you know, there is the most sound sleep. A fourth false tube was installed on the Emden, which made it look like an English cruiser. Having avoided a collision with fishing boats and not responding to a request from a patrol destroyer, the Germans entered the harbor, where there were many ships with illuminated portholes. We drew attention to one dark silhouette without lights, headed towards it, assuming that these were fighters moored side by side. The ship was adrift, stern to the exit. Going out to the beam of the ship, they determined one mast between the pipes (two wooden masts were removed from the Zhemchug during one of the last repairs) that this was the Russian cruiser Zhemchug. There were no watchmen or signalmen on deck. From one cable, "Emden" fired a torpedo from the right apparatus and at the same time opened fire on the bow of the cruiser, believing that the team was there. Here Muller made a mistake that saved the life of part of the crew, who, on the occasion of hot weather, were actually resting on the upper deck. The torpedo hit the stern of the cruiser from the port side, and the Pearl immediately began to sink.

When the artillery officer Lieutenant Seleznev jumped out onto the deck, he saw a four-tube cruiser in three cables, from which volleys followed, he identified the Emden by the searchlights on the masts. Lieutenant Rybaltovsky in one tunic stood at the yut gun as a gunner. When Seleznev ran to his plutong, he saw a gun with an open bolt, an empty fender for the first shots, and a dead servant. At the gun on the right, the gunners were alive, but they didn’t even have shells in the fenders, and it had not yet been possible to organize the supply of cartridges from the cellars.

The Emden was fired on from three sides, including the Zhemchug, but the German cruiser was not damaged. Passing by the Zhemchug, he turned around on the spot and, going to the traverse, fired a mine from the left apparatus, which, falling under the bridge of the Russian ship, caused the detonation of the cellar. A column of smoke and steam flew up to a height of about 150 m, the hull broke and went forward with its nose, after 15 s only the top of the mast with a rake remained on the surface, like a cross over a grave.

The Emden, skirting the place of death of the Pearl and the sailors floating on the surface, headed for the French gunboat, but at that time a report was received that a ship was approaching the harbor. The Germans turned and, having sunk the patrol French destroyer Muske along the way, went out to sea.

The fishermen were the first to lift the sailors out of the water, then boats and boats of local residents came up from the shore. We had to hurry, a strong current carried people into the strait, and besides, there were sharks here. The commander who ran ashore, according to some witnesses, rushed around the pier and tried to rip off his shoulder straps, while others claimed that he energetically and intelligently organized the rescue of the cruiser's team. All doctors in Penang assisted the injured sailors at the local hospital. After the count, it turned out that midshipman Sipailo and 80 lower ranks were killed, later 7 people died of wounds, 9 officers and 113 lower ranks were injured of varying severity.

The bodies of the dead and those who died from wounds, taken from the sea, were buried in the old Western Road Catholic cemetery. According to the recollections of old nuns, 24 bodies were lowered into the grave, two more people were buried in one of the villages, where the sea washed their corpses. The rest of the dead went to the bottom with the ship or were taken out to sea.

The surviving sailors returned to Vladivostok aboard the auxiliary cruiser Oryol on 3 December. And on the 27th, the Eagle, having received 152-mm shells and other supplies for the Askold cruiser, left for Singapore. On board were seconded officers from the cruiser Zhemchuge - Lieutenant Rybaltovsky and midshipman Osipov. After the transfer of goods for Askold, the auxiliary cruiser headed for Penang. Upon arrival at the port, a cast-iron cross was installed in the cemetery and work began on the sunken ship. By January 23, they managed to raise one 120-mm gun, which was on the poop, a machine gun, six optical tubes from sights, and a stern searchlight. The work was greatly hindered by the current, a large amount of silt, the clutter of the deck with debris from structures, and a large list of the hull to starboard. In early February, work was curtailed at the direction of the Russian consul and the Eagle, taking 14 of the wounded from the Zhemchug team who remained there from the local hospital, departed for Singapore, where he took part in suppressing the uprising of the sepoy regiment. They returned to Vladivostok only at the end of March 1915. The removed 120-mm gun, after cleaning the bore, was recognized as having lost its value due to the shells found inside. It went under the water unlubricated and with powder deposits after firing, which led to its rapid corrosion in sea water. This, perhaps, was the main reason for the termination of lifting work on the Zhemchug.

On September 11, 1915, the naval court in a closed session announced the verdict in the case of the death of the cruiser. Captain 2nd rank Cherkasov and senior officer Senior Lieutenant Kulibin were brought to justice. The commander was charged with negligent attitude to the service; in addition, he admitted that he was accompanied by his wife, moving on private steamers from port to port, where the cruiser stopped, and he informed her in letters and telegrams of the places of stops. Senior Lieutenant Kulibin, remaining in command, did not take appropriate measures. The court sentenced both, taking into account the impeccable service and awards for the Russo-Japanese War, to deprive them of their ranks, orders, and other insignia, to exclude them from the naval service, to deprive the nobility, of all rights and advantages, and to give them to the correctional and detention department of the civilian department (Cherkasova for 3.5 years, Kulibin for 1.5 years) or in the absence of places - in a civil department prison for the most difficult work. When the verdict was confirmed, the emperor imposed a resolution: demoted to sailors and sent to the front. Cherkasov ended up on the Caucasian front, and Kulibin in the naval brigade near Riga, over time, both distinguished themselves, received St. George's crosses and were reinstated in ranks. Baron Cherkasov died in France in 1942, and Kulibin was seriously wounded during the February Revolution and died soon after.

I must say that in the story of the death of the "Pearl" and the allied command showed itself not from the best side. The security of Penang Bay was poorly organized. The destroyer, who was on patrol, having not received an answer to his request, apparently did not report to the headquarters about the passage of an unknown ship. There were no barriers at the entrance to the port, which contributed to the daring attack of the Emden on the ships that were in the harbor.

The history of the appearance of the memorial plaque began with an essay by Elena Chekulaeva "At dawn, in Penang ...", published in the magazine "Around the World" (No. 2/95). It described the death of the Russian cruiser, as it was presented "according to the materials of the yellowed local newspapers" of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. And, in addition, the essay talked about the monument on the grave of Russian sailors, erected in Soviet times, which was looked after by the shipping company "Hi Tong Shipping", whose leader is Mr. Theo, who is also an Honorary Consul Russian Federation in Penang.

But the thing is that the monument was unnamed: “To the Russian sailors of the cruiser Zhemchug, a grateful Motherland” - this inscription exhausted all the information about our compatriots who died far from Russia. And remembering so recently popular words: "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten", in the magazine "Around the World" they decided to find the names of the dead sailors and immortalize them on a Russian monument in Penang. The names of 88 victims were found in the Russian State Archives Navy in St. Petersburg.

The editors of the magazine "Around the World" allocated money for the manufacture of a commemorative plaque. Her sketch was made by one of the oldest employees of the Institute of Oceanology Russian Academy Sci. V. Burenin, using computer graphics methods, it was implemented by the artist of the magazine "Around the World" K. Yansitov. A brass board measuring 30x40 cm was ordered from the Moscow company VLAND.

Having received such an unusual order, the head of the company, Vladislav Borisov, told the editors that, by common agreement of the company's employees, a plaque in memory of Russian sailors buried far from Russia would be made free of charge. The board was consecrated in the church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki, after which, together with the correspondents of the magazine "Around the World" went to Malaysia.

A great help was provided by the representative of Sovfracht in Kuala Lumpur, K. Prostakov, who agreed on the technical aspects of installing the plaque on the monument and communicating with the city of Penang (Georgetown), located on an island a little over two hundred kilometers from Kuala Lumpur. Russian Ambassador V.Ya. Vorobyov, busy with urgent matters, told the correspondents through his assistant that the Honorary Consul of Russia in Penang would take care of the board.

“We will do everything for their memory,” Mr. Theo Sen Lee said in Russian, accepting the plaque. And he kept his promise. In October 1995, as soon as the consequences of the flood, the strongest in the last three decades, were overcome, in which the correspondents of our magazine also found themselves in Penang, the plaque was installed on the monument. The editors of the Vokrug Sveta magazine received photographs showing the installation of the board.

During the historical search, new information about the death of the Zhemchug cruiser, the fate of its commander, as well as the fate of the monument on the grave of Russian sailors, became known. This information, some of which appears in print for the first time, made it necessary to historically reconstruct the tragic episode in the history of the Russian fleet and the events that followed, focusing on the Russian monument in Penang.

And so, on October 13/26, 1914, the Zhemchug, a cruiser of the Siberian Flotilla, seconded to the allied Anglo-French squadron with the outbreak of hostilities, returned to the port of Penang, on the island of the same name in the Strait of Malacca, from where at the end of September he went on a campaign in search of the German cruiser Emden. The commander of the Zhemchug, Captain 2nd Rank Baron I.A. Cherkasov, received from the English Admiral Jerama, under whom he was, permission for a seven-day call to sort out the mechanisms and clean the boilers. In connection with the actions of the Emden in this area, the commander of the Russian cruiser was advised to take all precautions while anchoring in Penang Bay. But captain Cherkasov did not take proper measures, practically not preparing the ship for a possible attack by Emden. On the evening of October 14/27, he himself went ashore to his wife, whom he called to Penang from Vladivostok for the duration of the Pearl's stay.

Early on the morning of October 15/28, the Emden raider entered Penang, which, as his senior officer Helmuth von Mücke stated in his memoirs, hoped to catch the French armored cruisers Montcalm and Duplex here and attack them while anchored. The Germans undertook a military trick: a fourth false pipe made of tarpaulin was placed, so that in poor visibility, the Emden could pass for the English cruiser Yarmouth. The French destroyer Muske, who was on guard duty, fell for this trick and, in the predawn twilight, let the Emden into the bay, even giving the go-ahead with a light signal.

In the bay, among the illuminated "merchants", "Emden" found only one dark silhouette of a warship. Coming almost close to its stern, the Germans established that it was the Russian cruiser Zhemchug. The same H. von Myukke recalls:
“Peace and silence reigned on it. We were so close to him that in the faint light of the dawning day, everything that was happening on the Russian cruiser was clearly visible. But neither the commander of the watch, nor the watchmen, nor the signalmen were visible. From a distance of about one cable length (185.2 m - author), we fired our first mine from the starboard apparatus and at the same moment opened fire with the whole side on the bow of the Zhemchug, where she slept in her bunks most of commands. Our mine exploded in the stern of the cruiser. It was as if he was stirred up by this explosion. The stern was thrown out of the water, and then she began to slowly sink. Only after that did the Russians discover signs of life...

Meanwhile, our artillery maintained a furious fire on the "Pearl" ... The bow of the cruiser was riddled in a few minutes. Tongues of flame engulfed the entire forecastle. Through the holes in the side, the opposite shore was visible.

Finally, on the Zhemchug they gathered their strength and opened fire on us. The guns on it were larger than ours, and Russian shells could do us great harm. Therefore, the commander decided to release a second mine. The Emden, passing by the Zhemchug, turned around and headed towards it again. The second mine was fired from a distance of about two cables. A few seconds later, a terrible explosion was heard under the forward bridge of the Russian cruiser. A giant column of gray smoke, steam and water spray rose to a height of about 150 m. Parts of the ship's hull were torn off by the explosion and flew through the air. It was evident that the cruiser had broken in half. The nose section has separated. Then the whole ship was covered with smoke, and when it dissipated, the cruiser was no longer visible, only fragments of its mast sticking out of the water. On the water among the wreckage, people swarmed. But "Emden" was not up to them.

Towards the departing "Emden" rushed the French destroyer "Muske", who realized his tragic mistake late. His attack was a gesture of desperation - he was sunk by the Emden with three volleys. The wounded lieutenant L.L. Seleznev, who was in the water, saw this: “A column of black smoke rose in the place of Muske, and it was all over.”

"Pearl" and "Muske" became the last victims of "Emden", total number which, not counting these two warships, amounted to 22 ships (including the Russian ship Ryazan, which sailed from Vladivostok to Hong Kong). The German raider that discovered itself on October 27 (November 9) was overtaken by the Australian cruiser Sydney near the Cocos Islands and sunk. By the way, the surviving part of the team escaped on the shore, and later on the junk sailed across the Indian Ocean, reaching the mainland. Arriving in Germany after their odyssey, the team was received by the Kaiser, who, in commemoration of his merits, added a second surname to everyone - Emden.

As a result of the attack on the Zhemchug, which was sunk in five minutes, one officer and 80 lower ranks were killed, seven sailors later died of wounds. The deceased officer was midshipman A.K. Sipailo (1891-1914), who held the post of watch officer on the Zhemchug.

The naval court, held in August 1915 in Vladivostok, found guilty of the death of the cruiser and the people of the commander, captain 2nd rank Ivan Cherkasov and senior officer, senior lieutenant Nikolai Kulibin, who replaced the commander who had gone ashore. They were deprived of "ranks and orders and other insignia", expelled from the naval service and "on deprivation of the nobility and all special rights and privileges" were given to "correctional prison departments of the civil department": Cherkasov - for 3.5 years, and Kulibin - for 1.5 years. By the highest confirmation of the verdict of the Vladivostok Naval Court, both of them were demoted to sailors and sent to the front. Contrary to the assertion of the author of the essay "At Dawn, in Penang ...", the archives contain information - and quite complete - about their future fate. Sailor 2 articles Baron Ivan Cherkasov fought on the Caucasian front in the Urmia-Van Lake Flotilla, was awarded the soldier's St. George's Cross and in April 1917 was reinstated in the rank of captain of the 2nd rank. It is known that I. A. Cherkasov died in France in March 1942 and was buried in the Sainte-Gensvieve-des-Bois cemetery near Paris. Sailor Nikolai Kulibin fought on Western front in the naval brigade, received two St. George's crosses and in September 1916 was restored to the rank. Soon he was promoted to captain of the 2nd rank. He died in the hospital in August 1918 from a wound received back in the February days of 1917, when he commanded the destroyer Movable.

In December 1914, the auxiliary cruiser Eagle entered Penang to perform diving operations on the sunken Zhemchug. Most likely, it was the sailors of the "Eagle" who brought and installed a cast-iron cross on the grave of their dead compatriots, which has survived to this day and is captured in the photograph of E. Chekulaeva. In any case, it was this cross that was seen in 1938 by the Cossacks of the Platov Don Choir, who happened to be on tour in Penang. But contrary to the stories of the author of the essay "At Dawn, in Penang ..." that "throughout all the years until 1975" local residents took care of the grave of Russian sailors, the picture seen by the Cossacks was bleak. “There was no one to take care of the Russian graves, and they fell into complete desolation and almost leveled with the surface of the earth. On the iron cross erected on the mass grave, there was once a tablet (probably copper), but it was stolen,” wrote B. Kutsevalov, administrator of the choir, in issue #214 of the Clock magazine. The Cossacks decided to allocate funds from the choir fund to put the graves in order. “A marble slab with the names of those buried according to the cemetery records was built with these funds, the cross was repainted with black paint, several bushes and trees were planted around the graves, and then a wreath of fresh flowers was solemnly laid,” says the author of the article “Platovites on the way” Boris Kutsevalov.

This article also contains a photograph of a plate with nine surnames written in English, since "it was not easy to decipher Russian surnames." E. Chekulaeva also gives the same figure, telling how she finally managed to find these names “in the land administration of the northeastern region” of the state of Penang, where they were preserved, since 9 sailors probably died in the hospital. But for some reason he cites only eight surnames, giving them in his own reverse translation into Russian: Kanuev, Sirotin, Eraskin, Olenikov, Graitasov, Chuvykin, Lieutenant Cherepkov, Shenykin (the ninth surname Bragoff is also on the plate. Not indicated by the author of the essay ). We give seven real Russian surnames, named in the list of the lower ranks of the crew of the cruiser Zhemchug, who died of wounds in the “Penang Civil Hospital”, and we will talk about the other two below. This list, compiled by the cruiser's ship's doctor, court adviser Smirnov, includes: non-commissioned officer Braga Samuil, sailors Konev Petr, Syrvachev Stepan, Eroshkin Illarion, firemen Olein and kov Kirill, Gryadasov Grigory and engineer Chebykin Grigory. Comparing the two lists, the doubt involuntarily arises whether someone can “recognize the name of a grandfather or great-grandfather” from the first of them.

Special mention should be made of two names from the tombstone erected by the Cossacks, who were included in the list found by E. Chekulaeva in the land administration. Already in the 220th issue of the magazine "Sentry" B. Kutsevalov, according to letters from readers, was forced to place amendments to his article, including the following: "Among the thirteen officer ranks commanders There was no Lieutenant Cherepkov on the Zhemchug cruiser, and only one officer was killed in this battle, namely midshipman Sipailo, so the information I received from the caretaker of the Penang cemetery is not true. But in reality - and there are documents on this subject in the RGA of the Navy - "lieutenant" Cherepkov Alexei was a non-commissioned officer, senior miner of the cruiser "Orel", who died on February 2, 1915 as a result of an accident during diving operations on the "Pearl" and was buried nearby with the mass grave of his sailors.

As for the second surname, Zpepuksh, among others, placed on the slab, mentioned by the author of the essay and translated as Shenykin, then she - or similar to her - is not in the lists of the lower ranks of the "Pearl", who died in battle and died from wounds, nor in lists of the surviving wounded, listed in a special order of the commander of the Siberian flotilla to make a record of a combat wound. It can be assumed that this is a deceased sailor from the Orel, since, apart from this cruiser, there were no other warships of the Russian fleet in Penang.

How many Russian sailors were buried in Penang? E. Chekulaeva gives the number 82, identifying the number of those buried with the number of the dead, incorrectly indicated. After all, even in the quote she cites from the local newspaper, it says: "... Many of the bodies that were in the water were so disfigured that they were buried in the sea." This message is supplemented by the Cossacks: "As a result, about 80 people died - many drowned, being wounded, some went to the bottom along with the ship's hull." And even without that it is clear that it is impossible to bury all those who died during the sinking of a ship at sea. The Cossacks, who were cleaning up Russian graves in 1938, reported that they learned from the old nun and the cemetery caretaker who were present at the burial that 24 people were buried in total.

In the early 70s, with the consent of the Malaysian government, it was decided to restore the dilapidated monument. In 1972, the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy reported to the Soviet ambassador in Malaysia that the monument is ready and will be delivered to Penang by a merchant ship. It was assumed that the restored monument would be opened in 1974 - on the 60th anniversary of the sinking of the "Pearl" - with the participation of a warship of the Pacific Fleet. However, the opening of the monument took place only on February 5, 1976 and without the participation of a warship, which the authorities did not give permission to enter Penang. It is interesting to note that the Chinese Xinhua News Agency protested in connection with the installation of a monument to "the sailors of the aggressive navy tsarist Russia participants in the imperialist war.

In October 1979, on the anniversary of the death of the Pearl, a wreath-laying ceremony took place in Penang, marked by an article in Pravda. And in May 1990, a large anti-submarine ship of the Pacific Fleet "Admiral Tributs" came to Penang on an official visit, the crew of which laid wreaths at the monument to the dead Pacific sailors.

In conclusion, in addition to the names of the deceased midshipman Sipailo and the seven sailors who died from wounds, we present a list of the lower ranks of the Zhemchug cruiser crew who died in battle on October 15/28, 1914 (the list is stored in the Russian State Administration of the Navy.) Here are these 80 names and surnames:

Averyanov Petr, Akimov Sergey, Alexandrov Alexander, Alekseev Nikolay, Babkin Ivan, Baev Nikolay, Baranov Fedor, Boyko Afanasy, Vavilov Egor, Vagin Georgy, Dedov Anisim, Demin Andrey, Zherebtsov Petr, Kalinin Stepan, Kirillov Daniil, Kiryanov Fedor, Kistenev Afanasy , Kovalchuk Moses, Kolesnikov Alexey, Kolesnikov Mikhail, Kolobov Trofim, Kolpashnikov Alexander, Korneev Philip, Kostyrev Yakov, Kosyrev-Kolesnikov Pavel, Kupriyanov Yakov, Kurbatov Pimen, Levashov-Lushkin Evdokim, Leus Gury, Lobanov Dmitry, Loginov Kuzma, Maltsev Yakov, Fedor Merkulov, Afanasy Musyak, Ilya Negodyaev, Feoktist Nifontov, Grigory Novikov, Ivan Ogaryshev, Petr Panin, Sergey Pekshev, Mikhail Permykin, Vasily Pichugin, Alexey Pozhitkov, Ignatius Ponomarev, Yakov Popov, Alexander Prokhorov, Vasily Savin, Diomede Savinov, Ivan Sadov , Semkin Alexey, Serovikov Dmitry, Sigay-lo Artemy, Simagin Ivan, Sitkov Gerasim, Sudorgin Petr, Sukhikh Yakov, Sysoev Petr, Sychev Egor, Telegin Fedor, Tennikov Roman, Terentiev Arseny, Tin Tyakov Lavrenty, Tomkovich Alexander, Tretyakov Ilya, Fedorov Andrian, Fedoseev Stepan, Fominykh Illarion, Frolkov Alexey, Khoroshkov Ivan, Khristoforov Zakhar, Khristoforov Stepan, Chadov Ivan, Chulanov Semyon, Shebalin Sergey, Shepelin Afanasy, Shishkin Dmitry, Shcheglov Andrey, Shmyg Vasily , Yakovlev Ivan, Yakushev Ignatius.

By publishing this mournful list, we hope that someone will discover the name of their ancestor.

From now on, one of the countless Russian graves scattered around the world has ceased to be nameless.

V. Lobytsyn, I. Stolyarov, I. Alabin | Photo by I. Zakharchenko