Russian ship Sviatoslav (1845)
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 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Russian Empire | |
| Name | Sviatoslav |
| Builder | I. S. Dimitriev, Nikolaev |
| Laid down | 16 May 1843 |
| Launched | 7 November 1845 |
| Fate | Scuttled, 13 February 1855 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Sultan Makhmud-class ship of the line |
| Displacement | 3,790 metric tons (3,730 long tons; 4,180 short tons) |
| Length | 196 ft (60 m) |
| Beam | 53 ft 6 in (16.31 m) |
| Draft | 26 ft 7 in (8.10 m) |
| Armament |
|
Sviatoslav was a Sultan Makhmud-class ship of the line built for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet in the 1840s. The ship participated in the Crimean War in 1853–1855, beginning with an operation to carry reinforcements for the Imperial Russian Army stationed in the Caucasus in October 1853. Storm damage prevented her from taking part in the Battle of Sinop the next month, but the British and French intervention in the war after that battle led ultimately to Sviatoslav's loss. The Russian fleet withdrew to Sevastopol to avoid battle with the Anglo-French fleet, and during the ensuing Siege of Sevastopol, she was converted into a hospital ship and eventually scuttled in February 1855.
The eight Sultan Makhmud-class ships of the line were ordered as part of a naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the Russian Black Sea Fleet during a period of increased tension with Britain and France over the decline of one of Russia's traditional enemies, the Ottoman Empire. Beginning in the 1830s, Russia ordered a series of 84-gun ships in anticipation of a future conflict, and the Sultan Makhmuds accounted for nearly half of the nineteen vessels built.[1]
Sviatoslav was 197 feet 4 inches (60.15 m) long, with a beam of 52 ft (16 m) and a draft of 23 ft 8 in (7.21 m) to 26 ft 7 in (8.10 m). She displaced 3,790 metric tons (3,730 long tons; 4,180 short tons) and measured 2,500 tons burthen. The ship was built with a round stern to increase its strength.[2]
The ship carried a heavier armament than her earlier sister ships; as the last member of the class, by the time Sviatoslav began construction Russia had started to manufacture shell-firing Paixhans guns. She received four of these 68-pound guns in addition to the standard battery of twenty-eight 36-pounder long guns on the lower gun deck and thirty-two 36-pound short-barreled guns on the upper gun deck. In her forecastle and quarterdeck, she mounted twenty 24-pound gunnades and two 24-pound carronades, eight 18-pound carronades, one 12-pound carronade, and three 8-pound carronades. In 1853, all of the carronades were removed from the ship, leaving just the gunnades, and the next year six 18-pound short-barreled guns were added.[2]
