Sinking
She sank on June 12, 1897 during a military exercise after hitting an uncharted pinnacle of rock near Vyborg in the Gulf of Finland in 30m of water. There were no fatalities. A gash along the ships bottom led to both boiler rooms flooding and a loss of power to her pumps. Drawbacks in her design with limited damage stability resulted in ineffective counter-flooding. Bulkheads were poorly riveted leading to leaks. The ship settled and sank slowly on an even keel.
A plan to refloat the ship by the Swedish Neptune Company was not carried out, divers recovered some items from the ship in 1898.
She was not popular in the Imperial Russian Navy. Rear Admiral Birilev, her former captain, is quoted as describing her as ".. a vile ship, it's good that she sank, and it is pointless to raise her" (Warship 2005, Conway's Maritime Press, p. 181)
Read more about this topic: Russian Coast Defense Ship Gangut (1888)
Famous quotes containing the word sinking:
“We ask for no statistics of the killed,
For nothing political impinges on
This single casualty, or all those gone,
Missing or healing, sinking or dispersed,
Hundreds of thousands counted, millions lost.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“We all indulge in the strange, pleasant process called thinking, but when it comes to saying, even to someone opposite, what we think, then how little we are able to convey! The phantom is through the mind and out of the window before we can lay salt on its tail, or slowly sinking and returning to the profound darkness which it has lit up momentarily with a wandering light.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“Eternal Venice sinking by degrees
Into the very water that she lights;”
—Edgar Bowers (b. 1924)