"Vandal" was a river oil tanker built in 1903 at the Sormovo Plant in Nizhny Novgorod. It went down in history as the world's first motor ship and, at the same time, the world's first diesel-electric ship: it was the first vessel to use an internal combustion engine as its main propulsion engine. The idea belonged to the outstanding Russian engineer Konstantin Petrovich Boklevsky (1862–1928).[1][2]
History of Construction
The vessel was commissioned by the Nobel Brothers Partnership. It ordered three steel barges from the Sormovo Plant — "Vandal", "Sarmat", and "Skif" — each 74.5 m long, 9.5 m wide, and with a side height of 2.4 m, intended for carrying oil along the Rybinsk–St. Petersburg route. Their dimensions allowed them to pass through the locks of the Mariinsky Canal System, and the strength of their hulls allowed them to sail on Lakes Onega and Ladoga. The vessels were built with the later installation of power equipment in mind.[2]
In 1903 the finished hull of "Vandal" was towed to St. Petersburg, where in 1904 the L. Nobel plant (later known as "Russky Diesel") installed three four-stroke, three-cylinder, non-reversible diesel engines, each rated at 120 hp (88 kW). Because diesels of the time had no reverse gear, the engineers adopted a diesel-electric scheme: the diesels turned electric generators, which supplied current to electric motors on the propeller shafts at the stern of the vessel. Switching the windings of the electric motors made it possible to move astern.[2]
Technical Specifications and Operation
"Vandal" had a carrying capacity of 820 tons and a speed of 13 km/h.[1] The vessel was used to carry kerosene to St. Petersburg from the Nobel Brothers Partnership's depots on the shore of Lake Ladoga near the mouth of the Svir River.[2] Following "Vandal", a sister diesel-electric ship, "Sarmat", was built at the Sormovo Plant.[2]
The design scheme of "Vandal" became the model for later vessels of this type. The groundbreaking idea was adopted in Germany, Great Britain, and Denmark, while Russia secured itself leadership in motor-ship building for several years.[1] Boklevsky later also used diesel engines in creating the first military river vessels — turreted monitors for the Amur.[1]
Later Fate
After the revolution the tanker was renamed "Rossiya" and worked first in the Volga State Shipping Company and, before the Great Patriotic War, in the Sheksna Shipping Company. In 1941 the vessel was evacuated to the Lower Volga, and then to the Northern Caspian. In September 1944, during a storm, "Rossiya" broke in two on rocks and sank. After the war both halves of the hull were raised and repaired in Baku, and from the spring of 1947 the ship was operated in maritime conditions as a non-self-propelled vessel. In March 1956 the vessel was given back its historical name, "Vandal". From 1977 "Vandal" lay idle at its moorings near the Ali-Bayramly pier in Azerbaijan.[2]
Sources
- osnmedia.ru — The Tanker "Vandal": A Masterpiece of Russian Shipbuilding
- stroytrans.info — The World's First Diesel-Electric Motor Ship "VANDAL," Tanker