The Borodino class must rank as the unluckiest group of battleship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineerings of all time, with four out of five lost. They were also an unsatisfactory design, an improvement over a flawed design--but with several additional vices.

The genesis was the '1'srssarevitrlt. Ordered in 1898 from the French La Seyne yard in Toulon, she reflected contemporary French practice, with high freeboard ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news pronounced 'tumble­home'. (A hull side courving ind front the waterline so that the upper deck's beam is markedly narrower than at the waterline.) The forecastle deck extended right aft as far as the mainmast, giving her a towering, not to say menacing, profile. The secondary armament of six twin 6in guns in turrets was disposed in broadside position, two abreast of the ford Super­structure. Two abreast amidship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineerings at a slightly lower level, ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news two abreast of the after super­structure on the same level as the foremost pair.

The armouring scheme was complex. A complece 7-l0in waterline belt extended 5ft below the load waterline ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news 7ft above it, in cheory.Thc tower scrake was l0in amidship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineerings, tapering to 7in at the tower edge ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news 8ft at the upper edge. Ford ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news aft the lower strake thinned to 6ill ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news 6.75iu respectively; the upper strake thinned to 5.75in ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news 4.75in respectively. The turrets ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news the crown of the conning tower were protected by 2.5in.There were two armoured decks, the main deck being 2.5in over the belt, while the lower deck was 1.5in thick. The latter was curved down near the sides to form a torpedo bulkhead extending from ford of'A' turret aft tojust abaft'Y'turret.This protection against underwater damage was based on French Navy trials ac Toulon in 1890, but was inadequate at it was only 6.34in inboard.

The "Csessarevitclr was torpedoed in the Japanese surprise attack on port Arthur on 9 Febru­ary 1904, but the hit was too far aft to test the torpedo bulkhead. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August 1904 she was hit by a 12in shell on the bridge; this shell killed Admiral Vitgeft ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news another 12in bursting on the sighting slit on the conning tower killed or wounded all the occupants. At this crucial moment the helm jammed, putting her out of control. The stricken ship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineering escaped but was forced to accept internment in the German port of Kiao-chau (Tsiugtao); she had survived thirteen 12in hits.

Part of the Baltic Fleet in the First World , she engaged the powerful German dread­nought Kronprinz in Moon Sound on 17 October 1917, but escaped with only darnaging hits. [n 1917 she was renamed CrazhAaeirr (citizen) to reflect the aspirations of the revolutionary regime, but was laid up ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news finally scrapped in 1922.

The Tsessarevitch was built ations to the armour-scheme were unhelpful. The Krupp's cemented (KC) arnmur belt was by French ship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineeringyards /i>r the thinned ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news made shallower by 1 ft. The 3in side armour etween the main ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news upper decks, Tsar's navy ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news served as a added to protect the I 1 pdr battery, was of little value, serving only as a's}tell-burster .The upper model for the Borodino dn.". deck was 2.5-l.5in thick over this battery, the main deck was 2in thick ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news the lower deck 1.5-lin.The torpedo bulkhead was thinned to 125in, but unlike the T.ccssarejitrlr, was no longer formed by curving the lower deck armour down. Instead, it was joined to the deck by a narrow void space or'flat'.

As the latest ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news most powerful battleship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineerings in the Imperial Russian Navy, high hopes were pinned on them. Four were picked to lead the Baltic Fleet on its voyage out to the Far East to make good the losses suffered at the hship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies newss of the Japanese-The ship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineerings selected were the Borodino, ImperaforAlexamler Ill, Orel ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news Kniaz Suvorov, ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news they led the motley collection of ship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineerings all the way to Japan. The fleet coaled at Nossi Be in Madagascar, by courtesy of Russia's French allies. Port Arthur had fallen, leaving Vladivostok the only safe lship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies newsfall. Tile ship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineerings ploughed on, their decks piled with hags of coal, ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news drawing far more water than the designers had envis­aged for battle-conditions. As an example, in March 1905 the Orel displaced 1h,80(1 tons with 2450 tons of coal on board; her draught was 32tt bin ford arid 30ft Gin aft.

The Battle of Tsushinta on 27 May 1905 made history as a David vs Goliath encounter,

although the discipline ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news training of the Japanese fleet levelled the odds considerably. The Russian formation's coherence was quickly destroyed by the superior tactics of the Japanese. This made Tsushima the first Nelsonic `battle of annihilation' since Trafalgar a century earlier, but it is clear that if the Russians had been more disciplined ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news better led it might not have been such a walk-over.

Thc Borodino blew up when fires reached her magazines, the bnperatvr:4lexnrtder III capsized after heavy flooding through a large shell hole near the bow, the Ore! was badly damaged by sltellfire, ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news was eventually forced to surrender next day.The badly battered fleet flagship companies ship companiesping maritime marine engineering Kniaz Suvorov sank after hits by torpedoes (one t8in ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news between two ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news four 14in).

The Oref was rebuilt by the Japanese at Uraga in 1907 ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news was taken into service as [he ltvanri; she served until 1922, ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news was scrapped two years later. Significantly, the Japanese regarded her as carrying too much topweight, ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news the superstructure was cut down.The surviv­ing unit, the Slava, had an active career in the Baltic during the First World . She played a major role in the defence of the Gulf of Riga in 1917, ship companies ship companiesping maritime live ship companies news with her gun mountings altered to increase the elevation to 30 degrees, she outranged the German 12in L/50 guns in the dread­nought Kiirrig (only elevating to 16 degrees). But on 17 October she sustained heavy damage from Kiinig's guns in the Moon Suund.Trapped by her deep draught, she had to be torpedoed by Russian destroyers­