Subject of this Russian stamp is one of the four modern battleships of Admiral Rozhestvensky's squadron which fought at the Battle of Tsushima. The battleship is the Oryol, (Orel in Gibbons Cat) and a portrait of her paymasters steward, Novikoff (or Novikov-Priboy). appears alongside the illustration of the ship. It was Novikoff who wrote the history or the voyage of the Oryol from the Baltic to the Pacific, and in this gives a vivid description of a great sea-battle which decided the fate of two empires. For this reason he is honoured on the stamp which commemorates his birth. Novikoff was a factual observer and his book is one of the classics of the sea. His description of the "battle" of the Dogger Bank, when Russian ships fired on each other in the belief that they were being attacked by Japanese warships when, in fact, they had run into a group of trawlers (which were sunk), gives the book an intriguing opening. The destruction by the Japanese Navy of 38 Russian warships with their crews, totalling 12,000 men seems the only logical ending and a fateful climax to the drama of indiscipline, disorganisation and incompetence in the Russian ships.
The Oryol was painted black, both hull and superstructure, and her twin turrets, both fore and aft were equipped with 12in. guns. She also had three turrets on either side carrying 6in guns, and two stages higher was a battery deck furnished with 75mm. guns to deal with craft attacking with torpedoes. On the upper deck were bridges, the forebridge having three storeys with a conning tower in the centre - The after bridge had two storeys. Small 47mm. Q.F. guns were fitted at the bridge ends and also electric searchlights. Two huge funnels, painted yellow with black tops, towered amidships and both masts carried long yards. The stamp gives an accurate detailed picture of the Oryol.
SG1763 Sea Breezes 1/54