Russian frigate Kamchatka (1841)

Kamchatka was a three-masted steam frigate of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was built in New York City in 1841 for the Baltic Fleet.[2]

For other ships with the same name, see Russian frigate Kamchatka.
History
Russian Empire
Name: Kamchatka
Builder: William Brown shipyard, New York City
Cost: $418,919 [1]
Laid down: 24 April 1840
Launched: 4 November 1840
Completed: September 1841
Decommissioned: 28 May 1866
In service: 20 September 1841
Out of service: 1867
Fate: Dismantled for timber
General characteristics
Class and type: Steam frigate
Tons burthen: 2124 t
Length: 60 meters
Beam: 11 meters
Propulsion: Sail, plus two 540 hp (400 kW) steam engines
Speed: 10 knots (19 km/h)
Armament: 14/16 guns

Description

The mechanical installation of the ship consisted of two steam engines with cylinders with a diameter of 1,574.8 millimetres (5.167 ft). The largest diameter of the paddle wheels was 9.14 metres (30.0 ft), the length of the blades - 3.2 metres (10 ft), width - 0.61 metres (2.0 ft).[3] The engines, boilers, and machinery was made by H.R. Durham and Co.[4]

Kamchatka had 12 thirty-six pounders on the gun-deck. On the upper deck she had 2 ninety-six pounders on pivot at the bow and stern, and 2 sixty-four pounders on pivot fore.[4]

Her bow was decorated with a big golden eagle.[5]

One English account[4] reported that she was designed rather poorly with heavy engines and boilers of 450 tons able to produce only 260 horse-power, only about a half of what English steamers would have at that time for the similar engines and boilers. She also used almost as twice fuel as the similar steamers of her time.

Service

On her maiden voyage she traveled from New York City to Southampton in 22 days, consuming 590 tons of coal.[4] Taking in account that she sailed on that passage for about three days the daily consumption of coal was about 31 tons. Just the cost of the burned coal in 2019 dollars would be around $138,000. (Coal prices in 1840-1850 in the US were somewhere around $8 per ton.)

She made several long voyages under Captain (later Admiral) Johan Eberhard von Schantz.[1] In 1845 she voyaged to the Mediterranean Sea in support of the Russian Royal family.

She was decommissioned 1866 and broken down for wood in 1867.[6][7]

gollark: Honestly, this sort of reckless utilization of months concerns me.
gollark: [ARBITRARY TIMESPAN] begins soon? Exciting.
gollark: We actually got a 36-page document from the careers department a week or so after the start of term. The careers department is just some (mostly geography) teachers doing extra university/careers-related work, though.
gollark: I see.
gollark: My school has lots of advice and documentation on university stuff stored in various places.

See also

References
  1. von Schantz, Johan Eberhard (in Finnish)
  2. Кротков, Аполлон Семенович. Повседневная запись замечательных событий в русском флоте (in Russian). OCLC 922637607.
  3. Головнин, Ю. И. (2005). "ru:Пароходофрегаты Балтийского флота". Гангут (in Russian). Saint Petersburg. 36: 44–59.
  4. The Mechanics' Magazine. J.C. Robertson, London. 1841. p. 433.
  5. Боголюбов, Алексей Петрович, 1824-1896, author. Записки моряка-художника.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Веселаго, Феодосий Федорович (1872). Список русских военных судов с 1668 по 1860 г (in Russian). СПб.: Тип. морского министрества. pp. 108–109.
  7. Российско-американские сюжеты. alliruk.livejournal.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-04-14.
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