''Afrika'' (Russian - ''Африка'') was a sail- and steam-powered second-class cruiser of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

. She was 2775 tonnes, 83 m long, 11.06 m in the beam and had four boilers powering a single vertical triple expansion steam engine. Her maximum speed was 12.75 knots, whilst her crew was 148 sailors and 12 officers. Those who served aboard her included Alexey Abaza and Hans William von Fersen. Built by John Roach and Sons at the

Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

shipyard in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester i ...

, she was launched in May 1877 under the name ''Saratoga''. She was acquired by Russia exactly a year later for $335,000 and sailed for Europe on 29 December 1878 under her first captain

Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev or Alexeyev (russian: Евге́ний Ива́нович Алексе́ев ( – May 27, 1917) was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, viceroy of the Russian Far East, and commander-in-chief of Imperial Rus ...

. She anchored at

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...

in summer 1879 to have her armament installed - this became her home port. These were five 152 mm guns, four 107 mm guns and 25.04 mm guns. She was accepted into the Russian fleet on 1 February 1879. In 1882 geographers aboard her surveyed parts of the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and w ...

, naming its easternmost point Cape Afrika after the ship. Her second captain Fyodor Vazsilievitch Dubasov was appointed on 2 November 1883. New boilers were installed in winter 1891–1892. In 1898 two torpedo tubes were added and her third captain was appointed, Nikolai Dmitrievitch Dabitch, who held the command until 1900. Also in 1898 admiral Alexei Popov made the first Russian naval wireless telegraphy transmission from ''Afrika'' to the transport ship ''Europe''. In March 1906 she was converted into a naval school, before being permanently anchored in October 1918. She was attached to the Baltic Fleet in December 1920 for use as a transport ship and floating artillery depot, before being sold for scrap to Germany in September 1923.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afrika category:Cruisers of the Imperial Russian Navy category:1877 ships Ships built by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works