1:42 Scale
A great deal of historical research has been focused on one of the most important events
in the history of the Russian Navy—the Battle of Tsushima.
Among the many books on the topic is the novel Tsushima by Aleksei Novikov-Priboi.
The battleship was leading the squadron, though she was ablaze and listing to starboard.
The towers and the admiral’s bridge were on fire.
Flames were coming out of gunports, casting purple reflections on the water.
The next thing I saw left me with heart-tearing pain. Borodino, without leaving the formation,
suddenly capsized to starboard, after firing one last salvo from her 12-in aft turret.
Borodino, named after the famous battle of the French invasion of Russia (1812),
was the lead ship of the newest class of Russian ironclad battleships.
They were the most advanced warships of the Russian Navy in the beginning of the 20th century.
The series consisted of five ships.
Battleship Imperator Aleksandr III was named after the Russian tsar
who in pre-revolutionary times was known as the Peacekeeper,
the father of the last Russian monarch, Nikolai II.
The next ship was Knyaz Suvorov, named in tribute to the great Russian general Alexander Suvorov.
She became the flagship of the 2nd Pacific Squadron.
The fourth ship of the series, Oryol, was the only one to survive the Battle of Tsushima
despite extensive damage from enemy artillery.
The fifth battleship, Slava, was commissioned in 1905, too late to see combat in the Russo-Japanese War.
The length of each battleship was about 120 m, and their beam was more than 23 m.
The armor was strong: up to 194 mm thick and manufactured using the most advanced technology
in the factories of Krupp in Germany.
Inside, the hull was divided into compartments to maximize survivability under fire.
The primary armament of these new battleships consisted of turrets positioned on the bow and stern,
each with twin-mounted 305-mm guns.
The medium caliber included 12 152-mm guns installed in six twin turrets located on the sides.
These gun turrets could be used in any weather conditions, unlike those on Japanese or British ships
that had to be battened during powerful rains or storms to prevent flooding.
Casemate batteries on the bow, stern, and amidships mounted 75-mm
Canet guns to provide defense against enemy destroyers.
Both armor and armament put the Borodino-class battleships on a par with the most powerful warships of their time.
However, the advantages of Borodino also defined the main shortcoming of the class—too much weight,
overloading her hull structure.
As a result, the actual displacement of the ship surpassed 15,000 tons,
while the draft increased by more than 1 m and reached 9 m.
At the same time, the highly advanced turrets, which were driven by electric motors, were not synchronized.
The first prototypes of a central director system were developed only five years later.
The “36-gun ironclad warship” was laid down in a solemn ceremony in May 1900
in the presence of the Emperor Nikolai II.
The next year Borodino was launched and in September 1904 she was commissioned.
In October 1904 Borodino joined the 2nd Pacific Squadron to accomplish an unprecedented cruise from the Baltic Sea
to the Sea of Japan through three oceans—Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific.
The cruise proved the good sea-going qualities of Borodino.
The battleship was able to withstand intense storms, passing through heavy seas with a slight roll.
At the same time, the ship was not particularly comfortable for her crew,
which undoubtedly affected her combat capabilities.
In addition, throughout the entire cruise the crew had to carry out the physically challenging shifting of coal,
which was stored everywhere—even in the central battery, mess hall, and upper deck.
For the long voyage, she was loaded with double her allowed weight of coal:
2,200 tons instead of the specified 1,100, which caused her to ride even lower in the water.
As a result, the main armor belt went underwater, thus decreasing the height of the protected freeboard.
The constructional and operational overload impaired the reserve buoyancy
and the overall stability of the ship in combat.
On May 14, 1905, after 220 days at sea, the Russian Squadron entered the Korea Strait
east of the Tsushima Islands,
where the Japanese fleet was waiting. The Battle of Tsushima began...
The gun crews on the Russian ships were using armor-penetrating shells.
Borodino kept up a continuous fire with all her guns, but the distance to the Japanese ships
did not allow inflicting any serious damage.
After just 50 minutes of battle, two Russian battleships were disabled and one was sunk.
Borodino became the leader of the Russian Squadron.
She held out at the head of the formation for four and a half hours,
until the end of the daylight combat, when she was sunk.
As soon as the battleship Imperator Aleksandr III was damaged,
Borodino took her place in the head of the squadron.
The enemy immediately shifted fire to her.
The main forces of the Japanese squadron concentrated all their guns at the leading ship.
Borodino was maneuvering: first, she turned to north, trying to battle through the rear of Japanese fleet;
then the battleship steamed to southeast and broke away from the enemy as a fog moved in.
Later Borodino turned again to northwest, towards Vladivostok,
and then she encountered the enemy once more.
A new battle broke out...
A shell hit the conning tower of the Russian battleship.
The captain of the ship, Petr Serebrennikov, and several officers were killed by shrapnel.
Borodino changed course to the south, and the Russian Squadron
disappeared in the fog and smoke once again.
Then, after receiving new orders, she turned again towards Vladivostok and met the enemy.
Borodino developed a heavy list to starboard.
The ship was constantly raked with shrapnel, causing heavy casualties.
Her batteries were on fire, and there were not enough hands to extinguish the flames.
However, Borodino kept on firing at the Japanese with the aft turret and the few remaining secondary guns
while trying to maneuver.
The last shot of the daytime battle was fatal for Borodino.
A shell from a 305-mm gun of the Japanese battleship Fuji
scored a direct hit on the foremost 152-mm bow turret on the starboard side.
A powerful explosion shrouded the battleship in fire and smoke.
She capsized and quickly sank.
Only one sailor out of 866 crew members survived.
The time was 7:10 in the evening.
Sailors from other Russian ships remembered: when Borodino disappeared under the water,
the last sunset light was fading out on the horizon— just like a candle, lit in remembrance of the heroic death
of the Russian flagship.
That’s how she went down in the history of the Russian Navy:
battleship Borodino, a symbol of the heroism of Russian sailors.