Smolensk (1901 ship)

Smolensk was built by Hawthorn Leslie at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the last in a series of ships of similar concept but increasing capability constructed there for Dobroflot. The hull was large and slender, measuring in length and in beam, powered by twenty-four coal-fired Belleville boilers beneath three tall funnels, and two sets of triple expansion machinery driving twin propellers, which enabled the ship to achieve speeds of better than , and cruise comfortably at around . The engines were designed to continue to provide power if they were battle-damaged, but in military configuration, she carried a total of 470, although only 230 were actually needed to work the ship, the other 240 being assigned in order to serve as prize crews on captured ships. ==Career==

The Smolensk was ordered in 1899 and launched in 1901, ostensibly destined for use on a passenger service to the Far East. The name was assigned in recognition of a substantial contribution to Dobroflot funds from Smolensk Governorate. But construction was overseen by a naval officer, Captain 2nd Rank Pyotr Arkadievich Troyan, and when the ship arrived in Russia in 1902, it was used as a troopship in the Black Sea. Indian Ocean In 1904, the Smolensk was reassigned, with other Dobroflot vessels, to tow the Imperial Navy torpedo boats No. 221, No. 222 and No. 223 to their new base in the Far East, but when the Russo-Japanese War began, her role was changed. The ship thus sailed south on 22 June 1904 (5 July New Style), with Captain Troyan in command, preceded by another Dobroflot ship, the Petersburg. They were both ostensibly carrying a cargo of coal and coastal artillery to Vladivostok, with the Smolensk detaining three as carriers of military contraband to Japan, the Ardova, Scandia and Formosa, which were sent back under prize crews, with orders to sail to Libau in the Baltic Sea. The Smolensk, with her superior range, then turned south, cruising as far as Port Elizabeth in South Africa, though she only encountered one more ship, a small steamer which was simply searched and released. The cruise of the Smolensk and her consort provoked particular alarm in Great Britain, as they were able to detain British merchant ships suspected of carrying military supplies for Japan, and the Royal Navy had no ability to intervene. Above all, offence was taken at the capture by the Petersburg of the prestigious P&O liner SS Malacca in mid-July. More formal objections were raised to the fact that the two raiders had begun their voyage as merchant ships and abruptly switched identities once they arrived in the Indian Ocean. Behind the rhetoric, the raid had the effect of suspending sailings for Japan by the three leading British shipping firms and imposing prohibitive insurance premiums on freight, illustrating the ability of large surface raiders to disrupt global trade for the first time since the age of sail. Political negotiations were initiated by the British government, as a result of which the captured ships were to be released, and the two cruisers were ordered home. The two ships sailed for the Baltic, with some sources dating their arrival at Libau to 30 September 1904 (13 October N.S.), On 3 November 1904 (16 November N.S.), the two ships sailed again to join the Russian Pacific Fleet, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope in company with the more powerful protected cruisers Oleg and Izumrud and two destroyers. On 12 May 1905 (25 May, New Style) the two raiders were detached with orders to escort a convoy of transports to Shanghai and then conduct commerce-raiding on Japanese lines of communication in the Yellow Sea, They thus appear to have avoided being present at the disastrous Battle of Tsushima on 14–15 May 1905 (27-28 May N.S.). After departing Shanghai, Rion captured two more prizes, the German steamship SS Tetartos (2409 brt) and British steamship SS Cilurnum (2123 brt) before arriving at Batavia (modern Jakarta) on 14 June. The Rion now set out to return home. Later that month, the ship rescued passengers and crew from a French vessel which had gone aground off the Horn of Africa, and eventually arrived back at Kronstadt in the Baltic Sea on 18 July 1905 (31 July NS). In 1908 the ship reverted to military control and returned to the Black Sea, serving variously as a military transport, a depot ship and a training vessel, and spending some years simply out of service. In these years, the ship's name alternated depending on her role, being variously Smolensk, or Rion, or simply designated by a number. According to some sources, the ship was sold for scrap in Marseille in 1922, and subsequently broken up in Italy. the naval historian and theorist Sir Julian Corbett condemned their activities, and referred to them as "the two notorious cruisers Dnyepr and Rion". Prime Minister Balfour was more conciliatory, however, reminding the British Parliament that the raiders were simply enforcing the same accepted rules that the Royal Navy had rigorously applied to neutral shipping in her own wars for centuries. ==Notes==