Russian battleship Poltava (1894)

Swedish postcard of Poltava
History
Russian Empire
Name	Poltava
Namesake	Battle of Poltava
Builder	New Admiralty Shipyard, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Laid down	19 May 1892[Note 1]
Launched	6 November 1894
In service	1899
Captured	January 1905 by the Japanese after the siege of Port Arthur
Empire of Japan
Name	Tango
Namesake	Tango Province
Acquired	January 1905
Commissioned	22 August 1905
Fate	Sold to Russia, 3 or 4 April 1916
Russian Empire
Name	Chesma
Namesake	Battle of Chesma
Acquired	Bought, 4 April 1916
Renamed	Chesma in 1916
Fate	Taken over by the Bolsheviks, October 1917
Soviet Union
Name	Chesma
Acquired	October 1917
Stricken	3 July 1924
Captured	By the British, March 1919 Recaptured by the Soviets, October 1919
Fate	Scrapped, 1924
General characteristics
Class and type	Petropavlovsk-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	11,500 long tons (11,685 t)
Length	376 ft (114.6 m)
Beam	70 ft (21.3 m)
Draft	28 ft 3 in (8.6 m)
Installed power	14 cylindrical boilers 10,600 ihp (7,900 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range	3,750 nmi (6,940 km; 4,320 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	631–652
Armament	2 × twin 12 in (305 mm) guns 4 × twin, 4 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 10 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 28 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 4 × 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes 2 × 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes 50 × mines
Armor	Krupp armor Waterline belt: 12–14.5 in (305–368 mm) Main Gun turrets: 10 in (254 mm) Deck: 2–3 in (51–76 mm)

The Russian battleship Poltava (Russian: Полтава) was one of three Petropavlovsk-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Squadron shortly after completion and based at Port Arthur from 1901. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, she participated in the Battle of Port Arthur and was heavily damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea. She was sunk by Japanese artillery during the subsequent siege of Port Arthur in December 1904, but was raised by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) after the war and renamed Tango (丹後).

During World War I, she bombarded German fortifications during the siege of Qingdao. The Japanese government sold Tango back to the Russians at their request in 1916. She was renamed Chesma (Чесма) as her former name had been given to a new ship. En route to the White Sea, she joined an Allied force that persuaded the Greek government to disarm their ships. Her crew declared for the Bolsheviks in October 1917, but made no effort to resist when the British captured her during the North Russia intervention in early 1918. In poor condition, the ship was used as a prison hulk. Abandoned by the British when they withdrew in 1919 and recaptured by the Bolsheviks, she was scrapped in 1924.
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