Pallada (Russian: Паллада) was the last of the four Bayan-classarmored cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was assigned to the Baltic Fleet during World War I where she captured codebooks from the German cruiser Magdeburg that had run aground during the first month of the war. The ship was torpedoed by a German submarine in October 1914 and exploded; none of the crew survived. Pallada was the first warship lost by the Russians during the war.
Design and description
Pallada was 449.6 feet (137.0 m) long overall. She had a maximum beam of 57.5 feet (17.5 m), a draught of 26 feet (7.9 m) and displaced 7,750 long tons (7,870 t). The ship had a crew of 568 officers and men. Pallada was named in honour of the earlier Russian cruiser captured by the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War.[1] Both ships were named for the Greek goddess, Pallas Athena.[2]
The ship used Krupp armour throughout. Her waterline belt was 190 millimetres (7.5 in) thick over her machinery spaces. Fore and aft, it reduced to 90 millimetres (3.5 in). The upper belt and the casemates were 60 millimetres (2.4 in) thick. The armour deck was 50 millimetres (2 in) thick; over the central battery it was a single plate, but elsewhere it consisted of a 30-millimetre (1.2 in) plate over two 10-millimetre (0.39 in) plates. The gun turrets were protected by 132 millimetres (5.2 in) of armour and the conning tower had walls 136 millimetres (5.4 in) thick.[5]
Service
Pallada was built by the Admiralty Shipyard in Saint Petersburg. Construction began on 24 June 1905,[6] although she was not formally laid down until August, and the ship was launched on 10 November 1906. Pallada was completed in February 1911.[7] She spent her entire career with the Baltic Fleet.[2]
On 26 August 1914, during the first month of World War I, the German light cruiserMagdeburg ran aground near the island of Odensholm in the Gulf of Finland. Her escort, the V25-class torpedo boat SMS V-26, failed to pull her off and rescued part of the crew before Pallada and the protected cruiserBogatyr appeared and opened fire. The Germans blew up the front part of the ship, but failed to demolish the rest of the ship. They failed to destroy their naval codebooks, which were discovered by the Russians. A copy was later given to the British where it proved enormously helpful to Room 40 in reading German wireless traffic for much of the war.[8] Together with the armoured cruiser Rurik, Pallada unsuccessfully searched for German ships between Bornholm and Danzig on the night of 27 August. Less than two months later, on 11 October, Pallada was torpedoed by the German submarineSM U-26 and blew up with the loss of all hands, the first Russian warship sunk during the war.[9]
Wreck
On 6 October 2012 the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that the wreck of Pallada had been discovered by a diver group outside Hanko near the coast of Finland in 2000, but the group had waited until 2012 before publishing their find.[10]
The ship is lying in three pieces, all upside-down, at a depth of about 40 to 50 metres (130 to 160 ft).[11] Although the wreck was severely damaged during the sinking and is now covered in silt, a number of details such as a large wooden emblem of the Russian double-headed eagle are still intact. One of the eight-inch turrets is resting on the seafloor next to the bow section.[12]
On 6 September 2013, Helsingin Sanomat reported that the previously largely untouched wreck of Pallada had been looted.[13]
Budzbon, Przemysław (1985). "Russia". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 291–325. ISBN0-85177-245-5.
Halpern, Paul S. (1994). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-55750-352-4.
McLaughlin, Stephen (1999). "From Ruirik to Ruirik: Russia's Armoured Cruisers". In Preston, Antony (ed.). Warship 1999-2000. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN0-85177-724-4.
Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN0-85368-912-1.
von Mantey, Eberhard (1921). Der Krieg zur See 1914–1918 – Ostsee, Bd. 1 (edited by Rudolph Firle). Kapitel 10. - Kapitänleutnant Freiherr v. Berckheim versenkt im Finnischen Meerbusen mit "U 26" am 11. Oktober 1914 den russischen Panzerkreuzer "Palláda" (p. 187-203.). Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn.