Borodino (1901)

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1990 part version: >>Click here<<

History

'Borodino' (named after the Battle of Borodino, 1812) was launched in 1901 and entered service in August, 1904. She was the lead ship of her class of five ships. Soon after her completion, she was put to use as by October of 1904, she was attached to the newly formed Second Pacific Squadron under the command of Vice admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky and embarked on a long voyage around the world, to take part in the ongoing Russo-Japanese war. After a tiresome, several month long journey, the Second Pacific Squadron finally reached the Tsushima Strait where they engaged the Combined Japanese fleet under the command of Admiral Togo Heihachiro. The battle was devastating for the Russian forces, losing many of their ships. Among the lost ships, were the flagship of the Squadron, Borodino's sistership Knyaz Suvorov and another one of her sisters, Imperator Aleksandr III. After the mentioned ships, being the first two ships of the Russian formation fall out of the line, Borodino took their place as the leader.
In the late afternoon hours, as the battle is near its end with the Russian fleet being devastated, Admiral Togo orders his fleet to disengage. At around 19:00, at the Japanese Battleship Fuji having already loaded its main guns before Togo's order came, the crew decided to clear the barrel by firing one last salvo in the direction of the burning Russian fleet. By this point, Borodino received numerous hits and is merely a floating pile of burning steel. Fuji's salvo suddenly hits her and manages to detonate one of her forward 6 inch magazines which starts a chain reaction ending in a massive explosion. Borodino sank with only one survivor of her crew of 855.

Engaging the Japanese fleet

Now about my build!

This build features:
- Accurate size and speed (with functional propellers and rudder)
- Usable Primary, Secondary and Tertiary battery
- Usable Torpedo tubes
- Full Bridge and conning tower interior with usable equipment
- A walker model to walk around on the bridge and conning tower
- Centralized aiming system with a detailed rangefinder HUD
- Highly detailed exterior (featuring my first even rust effect)

Controls:

Activation Groups:

AG6 - Walker activate/deactivate (deactivation will make him go back to the starting point)
AG6 + LandingGear - Walker to one deck lower
AG7 - Lights
AG8 - Ship Controls

Ship Controls:

VTOL - Propulsion
Trim - Steering

Cameras:

CAM1 "Grigori" - Walker first person view
CAM2 "Grigori orbit" - Walker third person view (note: you can't turn him in this view)
CAM3 "Gunnery" - Gun aiming

Info for the Gunnery HUD:

Colors:
- RED - Gun is not capable of reaching the set bearing
- ORANGE - Gun is capable of reaching the set bearing but is still doing so (the turn a bit a slow)
- GREEN - Gun is aiming at the set bearing

Note: the torpedo tubes can only be aimed by turning the whole ship, they don't rotate on their own. When the torpedoes are selected, they are only green when you are aiming in the general direction of their aim (0°, +/-90° or 180°, plus/minus a few degrees), however, they can be fired even when the director shows them as red, with +/-45° compared to their actual aim: for example, the forward tube's actual aim is 0°, but at +40°, you'll still fire the forward torpedo, however at +50°, you'll fire the right side torpedo and so on)

The guns can hit your own ship, especially if you are aiming down (setting the ranging to a negative %) so be careful with that.

Other info:

You can use the bridge equipment (Steering wheel, Engine Order Telegraph) both in VR and with your mouse on screen, just click and hold the handles on them
The text on the Engine Order Telegraph is in Russian for the sake of authenticity, but here is a rough translation:

The door on the bridge can by opened and closed by clicking on the door handle

Gallery:

Sailing in formation behind Imperator Alexandr III

Some more formation sailing

Conning tower interior

Casemate guns ready

Some rusting is visible on Borodino by the end of her journey

Signals hoisted

Flying the colors of the navy

Fire!

Enemy warship about to receive a package

Torpedo away!

"What if Borodino's sinking was photographed", a photoshopped in-game screenshot of what Borodino might have looked like as she was sinking

As always, I hope you like this build and have fun with it!