''Veliky Knyaz Konstantin'' (russian: Великий князь Константин) was the name of a

torpedo boat tender The torpedo boat tender was a type of warship developed at the end of the 19th century to help bring small torpedo boats to the high seas, and launch them for attack. During the Turko-Russian war in 1877, the Russians requisitioned 19 trade ve ...

of the Russian Navy named after the

Grand Duke Grand duke (feminine: grand duchess) is a European hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. In status, a grand duke traditionally ranks in order of precedence below an emperor, as an approxi ...

''(Veliky Knyaz)''

Konstantin of Russia Konstantin Vsevolodovich (russian: Константи́н Все́володович) (18 May 1186 in Rostov – 2 February 1218) was the eldest son of Vsevolod the Big Nest and Maria Shvarnovna. In 1206 and 1207, he was the prince of Novgoro ...

, and which served in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

Stepan Osipovich Makarov Stepan Osipovich Makarov (russian: Степа́н О́сипович Мака́ров, uk, Макаров Степан Осипович; – ) was a Russian vice-admiral, commander in the Imperial Russian Navy, oceanographer, member of the R ...

, a famous Russian Navy commander, was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the ship. She was laid down as a passenger ship, but was fitted out as a torpedo boat tender to the design of Stepan Makarov in 1877. She carried four small torpedo boats: ''Chesma'' (Чесма), ''Sinop'' (Синоп), ''Navarin'' (Наварин) and ''Miner'' (Минер). On 18 June 1877, she captured and sunk three or four Ottoman

schooners A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. Their crews were rescued and landed. The first vessel ever sunk by self-propelled torpedoes was the Turkish steamer ''Intibah'', on 16 January 1878, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. She was hit by torpedoes launched from torpedo boats operating from the tender under the command of

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References

Ships of the Imperial Russian Navy 1877 ships {{Russia-mil-ship-stub