Russian yacht Standart

	Standart arriving at Yalta, Crimea
History
Russian Empire
Name	Standart
Namesake	Emperor's Naval Standard
Owner	Imperial Russian Navy
Ordered	19 June 1893
Builder	Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen, Denmark
Yard number	183
Laid down	1 October 1893
Launched	10 March 1895
Commissioned	September 1896
Decommissioned	1918
Soviet Union
Name	Marti
Owner	Soviet Navy
Reinstated	1936 (as minelayer)
Fate	Scrapped, 1963
General characteristics (as royal yacht)
Displacement	5557 tons standard
Length	128 m (420 ft)
Beam	15.8 m (52 ft)
Draught	6.00 m (19 ft 8 in)
Propulsion	2 Triple Expansion Steam Engines
Speed	21.18 knots
Complement	355
Armament	8 – 47 mm (1.9 in) guns (Hotchkiss)
General characteristics (as Marti)
Displacement	5665 tons standard, 6198 tons deep load
Length	122.30 m (401 ft 3 in)
Beam	14.4 m (47 ft 3 in)
Draught	6.80 m (22 ft 4 in)
Propulsion	2 shaft, 2 Triple Expansion Steam Engines, 4 boilers
Speed	18,85 knots
Complement	400
Armament	4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) guns (4x1); 7 × 76.2 mm (3.00 in) guns (7x1); 3 × 45 mm (1.8 in) guns (3x1); 3 × 12.7 mm (0.50 in) machine guns (3x1); 320 mines;

The Standart was an Imperial Russian yacht serving Emperor Nicholas II and his family, being in her time (late 19th/early 20th century), the largest imperial yacht afloat. After the Russian Revolution, the ship was placed in drydock until 1936, when she was converted to a minelayer. During World War II, she participated in the defence of Leningrad.

History

Imperial yacht

The imperial yacht Standart (Штандартъ) was built by order of Emperor Alexander III of Russia, and constructed at the Danish shipyard of Burmeister & Wain, beginning in 1893. She was launched on 21 March 1895 and came into service early September 1896.

Standart was fitted out with ornate fixtures, including mahogany paneling, crystal chandeliers, and other amenities that made the vessel a suitable floating palace for the Russian imperial family. The ship was crewed by sailors from the Russian Imperial Navy. During the reign of Nicholas II, Standart was commanded by a naval captain, although the official commander was a rear admiral. Her commander in 1914 was Nikolai Pavlovich Sablin.

Standart in 1909

On October the 9th 1904 (gregorian Calendar) while the yacht was in Tallinn the Tsar hosted a dinner for the admirals and captains of the Baltic fleet 2 days before their departure to the pacific which would end in the Battle of Tsushima.^[1] On 29 August 1907, Standart ran aground on an uncharted rock off the Finnish coast close to the Riilahti Manor. Although damaged, the ship did not sink. She was refloated on 1 September with assistance from the icebreaker No. 1. Subsequently, repaired and returned to service.^[2] With the outbreak of World War I, Standart was placed in drydock.

In 1912, Emperors Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany met on the yacht at Paldiski naval harbour for negotiations.

Soviet minelayer Marti

Minelayer Marti in 1942

After the fall of the Romanov dynasty, Standart was stripped down and pressed into naval service. The ship was renamed 18 marta (18 March), and later Marti (in honor of André Marty). In 1932–1936, Marti was converted into a minelayer by the Marti yard in Leningrad. During the Second World War, Marti served in the Baltic, laying mines and bombarding shore positions along the coast. On 23 September 1941, Marti was damaged in an air attack at Kronstadt, but later repaired and continued service until the end of the war. A mine laid off Hanko by Marti sunk the German submarine chaser UJ.117/Gustav Kroner on 1 October 1941.

After the war, Marti was converted into a training ship and renamed Oka in 1957. She continued serving in that role until she was scrapped at Tallinn, Estonia, in 1963.

Specifications

Displacement: 5557 tons
Length: 370 feet (110 m) between perpendiculars
Length Overall: 420 feet (130 m)
Width: 50 feet 8 inches (15.44 m)
Depth: 20 feet (6.1 m)
Maximum Speed: 21.18 knots

Previous imperial yachts

Alexandria (Александрия)
Livadia
Polyarnaya zvezda (Polar Star – Полярная звезда)

Notes

^ Pleshakov, Constantine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada. Oxford: Basic Books. p. 85. ISBN 1-903985-31-5.
^ Chernyshev, Alexander Alekseevich (2012). Погибли без боя. Катастрофы русских кораблей XVIII–XX вв [They died without a fight. Catastrophes of Russian ships of the XVIII-XX centuries] (in Russian). Veche. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2021.

References

Frampton, Viktor (2012). "Question 25/46: Imperial German Yachts". Warship International. XLIX (3): 225–226. ISSN 0043-0374.
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946
McBride, Keith; Robinson, Richard; Sturton, Ian & Trimbath, Kevin (1991). "Question 12/90". Warship International. XXVIII (4). International Naval Research Organization: 399–402. ISSN 0043-0374.
Twardoski, Marek & Johnson, Harold (1993). "Question 23/90: Imperial Russian Yacht Standart". Warship International. XXX (3): 314–317. ISSN 0043-0374.

External links

Media related to Standart (ship, 1895) at Wikimedia Commons

[Pleshakov85-1] Pleshakov, Constantine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada. Oxford: Basic Books. p. 85. ISBN 1-903985-31-5.

[Cherneyshev-2] Chernyshev, Alexander Alekseevich (2012). Погибли без боя. Катастрофы русских кораблей XVIII–XX вв [They died without a fight. Catastrophes of Russian ships of the XVIII-XX centuries] (in Russian). Veche. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2021.

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