> Remind me about the Tsar in 1915.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Accident and Emergency Academic List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bruce Finlayson
> Sent: 07 December 2006 13:41
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Sir George Alberti
>
> Anyone got a spare battleship? Remember what happened to the Tsar in
> 1915?
>
I think he meant 1905. From what I recall the Tsar stayed in power for a further 12 years presiding over increasing chaos. During these 12 years despite good intentions he continued to trust his own judgement and that of others equally ignorant and as a result introduced policies that were responsible for the deaths of millions.
As an aside, the remainder of the navy disobeyed direct orders in refusing to fire on the mutineers; the mutineers called on the rest of the world for support (and were given none). The leader of the mutiny was promised amnesty by the Tsar (who then had him shot). The Potemkin herself had an undistinguished career thereafter before being deliberately scuttled on the orders of the British Government.
For those interested in Naval History, the Potemkin was a light battleship or pre dreadnought. This particular type of battleship was still being built in 1905. However with the introduction of the dreadnoughts in 1906 it was thought to be obsolete. The Dreadnought Class as some may recall was introduced to a great fanfare. In comparison to the pre dreadnoughts, they were much larger and vastly more expensive. They lacked the light guns of the earlier ships and had only big guns (in response to the naval battles in the Russo Japanese war in which most ships were sunk by big rather than smaller guns operating at long range). As a result they were considerably less flexible, could not defend themselves against close range action from lighter ships, required an escort to prevent them from being sunk and never did anything useful in action. Amazing how far you can go with a metaphor sometimes.
Matt Dunn
Warwick
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