Russian Torpedo Boat Ismail

The Russian torpedo boat ''Ismail'' was the first ship in the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet to join the mutiny of the battleship in 1905. The torpedo boat was ''Potemkin''s escort and had on board a complement of three officers, 20 sailors, two 37 mm guns and two torpedo launchers. ''Ismail'' brought rotten meat aboard ''Potemkin'' in June 1905, an incident which sparked the mutiny. The commander of ''Ismail'' was Lieutenant Pyotr Klodt von Yurgensburg, a 41-year-old Russian nobleman.

Specifications

''Ismail'' had a top speed of 25 knots and was 127 feet long and 11 feet wide.

Mutiny of ''Potemkin''

During the mutiny of ''Potemkin'' on 27 June 1905 (according to the Western Calendar; 14 June 1905 according to the Julian Calendar), officers from the battleship swam for safety towards ''Ismail''. Yurgensburg hesitated for 20 minutes before deciding to flee the scene, but ''Ismail'' was prevented from doing so when its mooring line became caught in the anchor. When the signalman informed Yurgensburg that his ship was being fired upon with rifles by sailors from ''Potemkin'', he ignored a call to surrender but was eventually halted by three shots from ''Potemkin''s guns, the last damaging the ''Ismail''s funnel. Yurgensburg then surrendered without a fight. All the officers aboard ''Ismail'' were taken to ''Potemkin'' and replaced by five revolutionaries (two stokers, two machinists and a helmsman).

''Ismail'' protected the two launches and 40 sailors who took part in the funeral of the revolutionary sailor Grigory Vakulinchuk in Odessa. The vessel also acted as a go-between when the battleship briefly joined the uprising.

On 19 June (2 July in the Julian calendar) the torpedo boat accompanied ''Potemkin'' to the Romanian port of Constanța, where the battleship's captain asked for supplies from Romanian authorities. In the first hours of the following day, while the Romanian response was yet to come, ''Ismail'' tried to enter the Romanian port, but was shot at by the Romanian cruiser '' Elisabeta'', who fired two shots in front of the torpedo boat to warn her off: first a blank charge then an explosive charge. ''Ismail'' returned to ''Potemkin'' and anchored next to the battleship. The Romanian response came several hours later, a refusal to give any supplies to the mutineers. The two warships subsequently left the port in the afternoon of that same day.

On 23 June (6 July in the Julian Calendar) there was an attempted counter mutiny when some sailors rushed the helm, wanting to return to Sevastopol. They failed in their attempt to seize control of ''Ismail'' and the torpedo boat accompanied ''Potemkin'' to Constanţa under tow. On 24 June (7 July), only two hours from their destination, a wave severed the towline; but ''Ismail'' stayed with ''Potemkin'' until she reached the Romanian port of Constanța.

''Potemkin'' reached her destination at 23:00 on 7 July and the Romanians agreed to give asylum to the crew if they would disarm themselves and surrender the battleship. ''Ismail''s crew decided the following morning to return to Sevastopol and turn themselves in, but ''Potemkin''s crew voted to accept the terms. Captain Negru, commander of the port, came aboard at noon and hoisted the Romanian flag, then he allowed the battleship to enter the inner harbor.Neal Bascomb, ''Red Mutiny'', pp. 286–99

References

Bibliography

* Bascomb, Neal. '' Red Mutiny: Eleven Fateful Days on the Battleship Potemkin''. New York, Houghton Mifflin, 2007. .
* Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik. ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905''. London:Conway Maritime Press, 1979. .

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Potemkin mutiny
1886 ships