International Naval Journal

3-11

Authors: Alejandro Anca Alamillo, Nikolay W. Mitiukov

Among the ships and vessels that were in Cuba in 1898 as part of the Spanish naval forces, the former New York's water buses, purchased with voluntary donations in 1895, stand out. Unfortunately, serious publications completely ignore information about them. And as an analysis of the literature has shown, the biographies of these courts have not yet been the object of anyone’s research. In this regard, the purpose of the work was to reconstruct the history of one of these river boats – the boat «Leon Abbett», in the Spanish fleet «Esperanza». The main material for the work was American and Spanish periodicals of that time. Since the early biography of the «Leon Abbett» from the moment of its construction in 1889 was practically not reflected in the local American press, it was assumed that while the ship was owned by the builder «Otterson & Seaman», no machines were installed on it, perhaps awaiting wishes potential buyer. As a result, when, after the death of the owner of the company, the ship was acquired by retired Colonel Payne in 1891, he was forced to additionally purchase machinery and a boiler for the ship. The ship was actively used until 1893, repeatedly appearing on the pages of gossip columns. Then, for a number of reasons, the owner lost interest in the ship and it was laid up until 1895, when it was purchased for the needs of the Spanish fleet in Cuba. Having received the new name «Esperanza», the ship entered the fleet as a 3rd rank gunboat. The almost complete lack of information about the ship’s participation in the fight against insurgents in Cuba and in the Spanish-American War allows us to assert that it was used as a crew ship on the Havana port. The last mention of the «Esperanza» dates back to January 1899, after which it was probably transferred, along with other infrastructure of the Havana port, to the Cuban side.

35-41

Authors: Andrey V. Rozhkov

A comparative analysis of the weight loads of the French cruisers of the Second World War was carried out among themselves and with the weight loads of cruisers from other countries. The first generation French cruisers had very heavy mechanisms; only the Japanese cruisers were heavier in order to achieve greater speed. Due to the heavy mechanisms, there was practically no weight left for armoring. In terms of armor, the first generation French cruisers were the most poorly protected. The experience of the designers made it possible already on the first generation cruisers to reduce the weight of the power plant and hull, and made it possible to make a reservation comparable to that of the English "Kent"-class cruisers. During this time, lightweight and compact power plants were created, the saved weight was used to strengthen the armor. In terms of protection, the second generation French cruisers were better than the British, sometimes even at the level of the Japanese and Italian ones. In the class of destroyers and leaders, similar measures made it possible to create the world's fastest ships in their class. The world speed record among displacement ships, set by the leader of the destroyers "Le Terrible": 42.93 knots with a displacement of 2,853 tons and an average power of the mechanisms of 86,443 hp. has not been beaten to this day, and is unlikely to ever be beaten due to considerations of expediency.

3-11

Authors: Antonio G. ErceLizarraga

Currently, coal ships are almost completely a thing of the past. Liquid fuel made operation much easier. However, for ship modellers and lovers of the history of the fleet, the construction of coal bunkers is of a redistributed interest. The paper describes the design of coal bunkers and covers their necks. Larger ships usually used massive filler caps to seal the bunkers, while smaller ships had threaded connections. Movie and photo evidence of coal loadings are given. Bunkering for coal ships was of great importance. We remember that when Admiral Camara's squadron arrived in Port Said, the lack of coal prevented his further movement, which prevented him from continuing his march to the Philippines. Thus, the presence or absence of coal could have important strategic implications. Coal loading was a hard and dirty job that led to chronic diseases in those who took part in it. After loading, it was usually necessary to wash the ship and wash clothes. To speed up loading, competitions were held, and an orchestra accompanied the work of the crew.

22-33

Authors: Vladislav V. Zhdanov

From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet rivermen found themselves in the thick of military events – they transported units of the Red Army, military cargo, refugees, equipment and people from evacuated enterprises. Part of the river vessels, together with the crews, were transferred to the fleet and converted into military vessels. Participating in hostilities, they inevitably suffered losses – there were Soviet riverboats, both sunk and captured by the enemy. Unfortunately, the topic of the use of Soviet river vessels by Germany in the occupied territories is not at all represented in Russian literature. The few references to this are extremely eclectic and do not give a sense of the whole picture as a whole. In part, the problem of using Soviet ships was raised only in the Pinsk flotilla. Thus, this article is the first attempt to tell about these events. Former ships of the Soviet river fleet were used during the Great Patriotic War by at least several German structures. These are three Field Waterways Departments (Feldwasserstraßen-Abteilung-2, 3 and 4), the river fleets of the former Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs, as well as the structures of the German Dnieper Shipping Company. In addition, the occupying authorities organized shipbuilding in Pinsk, eventually building about a hundred barges.

3-12

Authors: Alejandro Anca Alamillo

As is generally known, Francisco Franco Bahamonde was one of the generals who served the Second Spanish Republic and who joined at the last minute the military coup devised by General Mola that led to the Civil War (1936-29). His prestige as a military man led him to be appointed Head of State, a position he would hold for almost 40 years leading a very personal dictatorial regime. Although he always wanted to be a sailor, due to circumstances not yet clarified, he was not, although he would always show great interest in the navy and sympathy for everything related to ships. This article aims to capture this link through a series of anecdotes.

18-25

Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov

During the Great Patriotic War, many ships were mobilized for the needs of the Red Army. Unfortunately, not all information was reflected in the funds of the military archives. Many ships retained civilian crews, and probably remained on the list of civilian departments and services. The purpose of this article, using the example of the fleet assigned to Sarapul, is to try to estimate the possible proportion of mobilized ships. For this, a comparison was made between the pre-war and post-war composition of the fleets of the farms of the Sarapul region of the Udmurt ASSR. Due to the small numerical pre-war composition of the fleet, Sarapul farms took an extremely limited part in the Great Patriotic War. Most likely, the reduction of fleets during the war years is more associated with the natural aging processes of the material part, and not with the mobilization of ships. Apparently, only the Osvod ships were mobilized, after the end of the war they returned. An analysis of the composition of the ship confirms the mobilization of no more than 2-3 ships.

30-33

Authors: Vladislav V. Zhdanov

Naval ships and merchant marine vessels transferred to the USSR on account of reparations after the end of World War II are well described in the literature. Even special reference books were published. But as for river reparations, the information in the literature about them is extremely eclectic. It does not create a holistic picture, and often the type or year of construction is not reported about the ships, being limited only by the very fact that this is a reparation. Meanwhile, if we evaluate the contribution of river reparations to the restoration of the post-war economy of the USSR, then it should be recognized that it far exceeded the role of sea reparations. The article provides statistical data on the importance of river vessels received by the USSR in the post-war economy of the country. In addition, a large number of ships received at the time of the end of the war embodied the latest achievements of German shipbuilding. As a result, some of the types, after a comprehensive study, became prototypes for the creation of Soviet post-war river vessels.

3-30

Authors: Kent R. Crawford, DonaldE. Carlucci

The period known as the ‘Second Industrial Revolution,’ roughly from 1859 to 1883, affected the world’snavies no less than any other human endeavor. The wooden warship that had held sway from the 16thcentury gave way to iron hulls and iron armor. Sail power gave way to steam engines. And in the fieldof ordnance, smooth-bore cannon firing spherical solid shot or explosive shell were superseded by rifledcannon – Great Guns – firing elongated shot and shell to greater ranges with greater accuracy. All of thenaval Powers faced the same two problems; which new technologies would be accepted and developed,and what to do with their stocks of cast-iron smoothbore guns. As a ‘medium’ Power, the choices madeby Spain, coupled with a lack of industrialization, led to limited but brilliant successes, but ultimatefailure.

52-57

Authors: Pedro R. Barreiro

The gunboat «18 de Julio» served in the Uruguayan navy fulfilling different functions, from its purchase in 1907 until the middle of the 20th century. After being retired from active service, he was transferred to a sports club in the city of Salto, on the Uruguay River, to be used as a social headquarters. This ship was built in 1884 in Leith, Scotland. Its first owner named it «Lady Nell» and the next, changed the name to «Normania». Before its time as a warship it was a luxurious steam yacht, which also had three masts and triangular sails. It had electric light and steam heating and private bathrooms in all cabins, as well as a spacious saloon with brass chandeliers on the ceiling, comfortable leather chairs, and two pianos. The dining room took up the entire beam of the ship. A smaller saloon included a library. She ended her days as a pleasure boat in the port of Buenos Aires, where she was acquired by the Uruguayan government to incorporate it into its military navy.

3-63

Authors: Kent R. Crawford, Donald E. Carlucci

The decades of the 1860s and 1870s were characterized by one of the most thorough-going Technical Revolutions the world had ever seen, which has been characterized as the ‘Second Industrial Revolution.’ And this Revolution affected the world’s Navies no less than every other human endeavor. In the field of ordnance, iron smooth-bore cannon firing solid round shot were replaced by rifled cannon, initially to lob elongated exploding shell with greater accuracy, but soon firing elongated solid shot needed to pierce armor plate. History recalls the many designers and/or manufacturers of the Great Guns. Yet the work of lesser known figures has been overlooked. This is a continuation of the story of Captain A.T. Blakely, R.A. by examining the work of John Mercer Brooke, a licensee, and his successor, Josiah Vavasseur. Context is provided by an examination of the gradual abandonment of the Armstrong System reliance on wrought iron and the eventual adoption of steel by the British Government.

74-80

Authors: Jesús María Medel Soteras

Throughout the ХХ century Spanish feluccas and sailing boats (A and B-classes) were of great importance in the work of the customs service. Most of them appeared in the customs fleet as a result of the confiscation of former ships detained with smuggling. As a result, practically no different from similar fishing and smuggling vessels, they could quietly fulfill their sentinel functions, at the most unexpected moment, detaining violators. Unfortunately, there is still no work allowing a systematic analysis of the service of vessels of A and B-classes. In this publication, compiled on the basis of the memoirs of Spanish customs veterans and the archive of the customs service, an attempt is made to reconstruct the biographies of vessels of A and B-classes, as well as photographic materials that give an idea of their appearance.