Французские "торпиллеры" в русском флоте

Destroyers of the Sturgeon, Trout and Lieutenant Burakov types. French "torpillers" in the Russian fleet - this is how in some documents (from the French torpilleur - destroyer) they unofficially called 16 destroyers ordered from French shipyards on the eve and during the Russo-Japanese War, which made up, perhaps, the largest series of ships of the same type built for Russian fleet abroad. The first five ships of the "Sturgeon" and "Trout" types were built according to the drawings of the famous French shipbuilder Auguste Norman. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, during the defense of Port Arthur, they carried out sentinel and reconnaissance services, often participated in heated skirmishes with Japanese destroyers, three of them took part in the battle near Shantung on July 28, 1904. During the First World War, the two remaining destroyers of the Sturgeon type became part of the Arctic Ocean flotilla, having made the transition from Vladivostok to Aleksandrovsk (now Polyarny) in 1916, where they successfully operated against German submarines. The order at French shipyards for another 11 ships of the Lieutenant Burakov type during the Russo-Japanese War pursued a specific goal - their early commissioning and sending to the theater of operations before the end of the war. But it has not been possible to reach it. Having remained in the Baltic, these ships took an active part in the training of the personnel of the resurgent Russian fleet after such an unsuccessful war with Japan for it. During the First World War, these already rather outdated ships nevertheless carried a difficult patrol and messenger service. The crowning achievement of their military career was their participation in the legendary Ice Campaign of the Baltic Fleet in the spring of 1918.