G86 



RUSSIA. 



and " Peresvyet," of 12,694 tons, to be fitted with 

 14,400 horse engines, and to carry 4 10-inch guns, 

 with 6 6-inch, 6 4.7-inch, and 30 small quick-firers. 

 Another new ship will have a displacement of 11,- 

 000 tons. The " Sissoi Veliky," launched in 1894, 

 the " Rotislav," launched in 1896, and a new ship 

 now building are powerful turret ships of 8,880 

 tons, with 16-inch armor plates, 4 12-inch guns, 

 12 6-inch and 18 small quick-firers, and 8,500 horse 

 power engines, making 16 knots. Besides the three 

 great battle ships mentioned above, there are build- 

 ing for the Baltic fleet 3 first-class cruisers and 24 

 torpedo boats of the largest size. 



In the Black Sea. the barbette ships " Tchesme," 

 " Ekaterina II," and " Sinope," launched in 1886 

 and 1887, have a displacement of 10,180 tons, com- 

 pound armor plating 18 inches in thickness, and 

 2 56-ton disappearing guns coupled in barbettes at 

 each angle of the triangular citadel, with 7 6-inch 

 and 14 smaller quick-firing guns. These were fol- 

 lowed by the " Dvenadzat Apostoloff," of 8,076 tons, 

 carrying four of the great guns, and in 1892 by the 

 " Georgi Pobiedonosetz," of 10,300 tons, which has 

 the 6 12-inch guns and 76-inch quick-firers, with 24 

 smaller ones, which was further improved in the 

 " Tri Sviatitelia," launched in 1893, having, like its 

 predecessor, a belt of 16-inch armor, but displacing 

 12,480 tons, permitting an armament of 4 12-inch 

 guns, 8 6-inch quick-firers, 4 of 4.7-inch bore, and 

 52 small ones, with the same steam power, 10,600- 

 horse, giving a speed of 16 instead of 16^ knots. 



The " Vladimir Monomach," of 5,700 tons, launched 

 in 1882, and the " Dmitri Donskoi," launched in 1883, 

 having a somewhat lighter armament and with the 

 same engines, 7,000 horse, making 16 knots instead 

 of 15, were the earliest of the Russian belted cruis- 

 ers. The " Admiral Nachimoff," of 7,700 tons, which 

 was launched in 1885, made better speed with a more 

 powerful armament. The " Pamiat Azova," of 6,000 

 tons, launched in 1888, carries an 8-inch gun in a 

 barbette on each broadside, with a quick-firing bat- 

 tery of 13 6-inch and 17 smaller guns, and with 

 8,000 horse engines, can speed nearly 19 knots. The 

 " Rurik," launched in 1892, having a displacement 

 of 10,933 tons, with engines of 13,250 horse power, 

 has a very strong armament, consisting of 4 8-inch, 

 16 6-inch, 6 4.7-inch quick-firing and 8 smaller 

 guns, can steam 18 knots, and, with a coal capacity 

 of 2,000 tons, has a cruising radius of 20,000 miles 

 at a mean speed of 10 knots. More powerful is the 

 cruiser " Rossia," displacing 12.300 tons, with en- 

 gines of 18,000 horse power, giving a speed of 18 

 knots, and an armament of 4 8-inch, 24 6-inch, 6 

 4.7-inch quick-firing, and nearly 40 smaller guns. 

 Another cruiser, now building, is an improvement 

 on this last vessel, having 14,000 tons displacement. 

 The "Gromoboi" has about the same dimensions as 

 the " Rossia." The " Oushakoff," " Seniavin," and 

 "Apraxin," built for coast defense, are strongly 

 armed cruisers of good speed. Two new cruisers, 

 the " Diana " and " Pallada," have a displacement 

 of 6,500 tons, engines of 11,610 horse power, and an 

 armament of 6 6-inch, 6 4.7-inch, and 35 smaller 

 guns, all quick-firers. These vessels were launched 

 in the autumn of 1898, also the battle ship " Os- 

 lyabya." Her sister ship, the " Peresviet." was 

 launched on the Neva on May 19. The " Aurora," 

 a sister to the " Diana," has been begun. New 

 docks at Sevastopol were completed in May. An 

 armored cruiser of 8,000 tons was ordered to be 

 built in the new shipyard at Nikolaieff, where a 

 new battle ship, the " Prince Potemkin Tavrich- 

 esky," a counterpart of the ' Three Saints," is being 

 built. The Government gave orders abroad for two 

 more ships of the type of the " Oslyabya," each of 

 13,000 tons, as well as for a cruiser of the " Aurora " 

 type and one like the " Svetlana," and also four tor- 



pedo-boat destroyers. A shipbuilding yard is to be 

 established by the Government at Sebastopol for the 

 express purpose of building torpedo boats and de- 

 stroyers. Of the existing battle ships, the " Peter 

 Veliky" was launched in 1872, the "Alexander II" 

 in 1887. the " Nicolas I " in 1889, the " Navarin " in 

 1891, the " Sissoi Veliky," " Petropavlovsk," and 

 "Poltava" in 1894, the "Sevastopol" in 1895, and 

 the "Perisviet" and "Oslyabya" in 1898. There 

 are 11 armored cruisers of the first class, of which 

 the " Knyaz Pojarski " was launched in 1867, the 

 "General Admiral" in 1873, the "Minin " in 1874, 

 the " Guerzog Edinburgsky " in 1875, the " Vladi- 

 mir Monomach " in 1882, the " Dmitri Donskoi " in] 

 1883, the "Admiral Nakjiimoff " in 1885, the "Pa- 

 miat Azova " in 1888, the " Rurik " in 1892. the 

 "Rossia" in 1896, and the "Gromoboi" in 1898. 

 Of the three first-class protected cruisers, the " Ad- 

 miral Korniloff " was launched in 1887, and the 

 " Diana " and " Pallada " in 1898. The navy now 

 has 44 torpedo craft of the first class, and 81 of the 

 second class. The vessels under construction in the 

 spring of 1898 included 6 first-class battle ships, 1 

 of the second class, 1 large armored cruiser, 1 iron- 

 clad for coast defense, 4 smaller protected cruisers, 



3 gunboats, about 20 destroyers, and a first-class 

 torpedo boat. The Minister of Marine, Admiral 

 Tyrtoff, has elaborated a new naval programme for 

 which he asked for 200,000,000 rubles. The sum of 

 90,000,000 rubles was finally granted, to be spread 

 over the seven years from 1898 to 1905. It was de- 

 cided to build 3 new battle ships of the " Oslyabya ' 

 type, of 12,675 tons each. These will be armed with 



4 improved 10-inch guns of 40 calibers. There are 

 12 new destroyers, repetitions of the famous Eng- 

 lish-built " Sokol," under construction for service 

 at Vladivostok and Port Arthur. Contracts were 

 made in the United States for the construction of 

 two or three large battle ships, of 13,000 tons, to be 

 armed with 12-inch guns. Several torpedo-boat 

 destroyers were also ordered in Philadelphia. 



Commerce and Production. The exports from 

 the Russian empire for 1898 amounted to $;389.r>,")7,- 

 000; from European Russia alone, $373,634,000. 

 The imports of the whole empire were $367.822.000; 

 of European Russia, $339.571,000. The exports in- 

 creased 5 per cent, over those of the previous year, 

 while the imports decreased in a like proportion. 

 The increase in the value of exports was due chiefly 

 to the rise in grain prices in the autumn 10 percent. 

 over those of the previous year, though the grain 

 exports were 3 per cent. less. The exports of maize 

 were nearJy two thirds greater, and those of barley 

 were larger. The exports of flax, hemp, and codilla 

 were $35,556,000, nearly a fifth less, owing to a fall 

 in prices. The exports of mineral oil fell on account 

 of American competition and greater demand at 

 home. The exports of sugar declined by one half 

 by reason of increased home consumption. The ex- 

 ports of timber, mainly to England, amounted 7iearly 

 to $30,000,000. The exports of eggs, which increase 

 year by year, were valued at over $13,750,000. But- 

 ter, wool, hides, furs, and manganese ore were ex- j 

 ported in increased quantities. The increasing ex- 

 ports of manufactured goods are noticeable in every 

 class, especially in cotton goods and iron manufac- 

 tures. As regards imports, there was a larger de- 

 mand for fibers, especially raw cotton, jute, and silk. 

 The imports of cotton came more by sea on account 

 of the fall in price and a temporary difficulty in 

 getting it from central Asia. The imports of ca-t 

 and wrought iron and steel increased in spite of the 

 heavy customs duties, reaching nearly $22.500,000. 

 There was a considerable decrease in tea imports. 

 Imports of chemical products decreased on account 

 of the development of native production. Heavy 

 metallic goods and machinery also decreased, al- 



