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The ''Amur''-class minelayers were the first purpose-built, ocean-going minelayers in the world.〔Russian Minelayers ''Amur'' and ''Yenisei'', p. 205〕 The class consisted of two vessels: ''Amur'' and ''Yenisei''. Both ships were constructed for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1890s. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 they were assigned to the Pacific Fleet. ''Yenisei'' struck one of her own mines two days after the war began while laying a minefield and sank. One of ''Amur''s minefields sank the Japanese pre-dreadnought battleships and . ''Amur'' was sunk by Japanese howitzers in December 1904 after the Japanese had gained control of the heights around Port Arthur. She was later salvaged and scrapped by the Japanese. ==Design and description== The ''Amur''-class minelayers were designed to drop their mines while at high speed and were given a pronounced, overhanging, stern that allowed the mines to be dropped behind the propellers through doors in the stern. Each door was served by a rail that led directly to the mine storage compartments.〔 The ''Amur''-class ships were long at the waterline; they had a beam of and a draft of .〔Gardiner, p. 204〕 They had two pole masts and a ram bow.〔 The ships had two vertical triple expansion steam engines, each powering one propeller. Twelve Belleville water-tube boilers provided steam. The engines were designed to produce a total of and gave the ship a top speed of . They carried of coal that provided a range of at a speed of .〔Watts, p. 172〕 The main armament of the ''Amur''-class ships consisted of five Canet Pattern 1892 50-caliber guns.〔 The gun fired shells to a range of about at its maximum elevation of 21° with a muzzle velocity of . The rate of fire was between twelve and fifteen rounds per minute. The ships also mounted seven Hotchkiss guns.〔 They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a range of . The ''Amur''-class ships mounted one torpedo tube and carried 300 mines.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Amur-class minelayer (1898)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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